By Shay Totten | Vermont Guardian
posted October 13, 2005
http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/102005/MinutemenVermont.shtml
DERBY LINE, Vermont — The Minutemen, who gained national attention for their patrols along the Arizona-Mexico border and arrest of hundreds of illegal immigrants, are finding more than just a cooler climate as they plan a similar effort in Vermont.
While cheered by many along the southern border with Mexico, Vermonters have been less enthusiastic about the all-volunteer group. Several dozen plan to be on hand this weekend near Newport and Derby Line to "greet" the Minutemen volunteers.
A group of Minuteman Project volunteers from around New England will be near Derby Line this weekend and next weekend to patrol the forested border between Vermont and Canada, according to a group spokesman.
The Minutemen, who go their start as a group of civilian volunteers patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border to catch illegal immigrants, claim to be responding to requests from people in northern states for help in setting up volunteer border watches, and also argues that terrorists try to enter the country both from the south and north.
The denunciation by several groups in Vermont comes on the heels of strong words by former Gov. Howard Dean, who is now chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dean accused the group of spreading fear and hatred in the United States.
On Oct. 7, Dean released a statement through the DNC condemning attacks against immigrants in Georgia, and called on Pres. George Bush to also condemn the attacks. Pres. Bush considers the group's members vigilantes.
"I call on President Bush … to call on extremist members of his own party to end their anti-immigrant rhetoric and support for the Minutemen vigilante group, both of which are helping spread fear and hatred in America," Dean said.
The project's co-founder Jim Gilchrist, who is also a congressional candidate for a California House seat, called Dean's remarks about the border watch movement "irresponsible, divisive, and defamatory."
"Howard Dean is once again showing himself to be completely out of the mainstream, rejecting the wisdom of the American people," said Gilchrist in a statement, "and this time he has crossed over the line by defaming the character and impugning the motives of all those many thousands of patriotic Americans who make up the Minuteman movement."
Gilchrist claims that an August poll showed that 81 percent of Californians were concerned about illegal immigration, including 69 percent of Latinos polled.
However, two groups in Vermont believe that the Minutemen Project is racist and doesn't reflect Vermonters' long support for open borders with Canada.
"Vermont's northern border has a long history of openness and flux. Today, tens of thousands of Vermonters, especially in the north, trace their roots to ancestors who called themselves Quebecois and Abenaki," said Thomas Naylor, a co-founder the Second Vermont Republic, along with members of the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective, in a statement.
" Those that decided to stay and make the Green Mountains their home decided to do so in the spirit of justice, fair mindedness and freedom," the statement continued. "Exemplary of this sentiment was the establishment and maintenance of the Underground Railroad. Vermonters decided how to manage their border without allowing those with no ties to this land to alter our perceptions of how our land is to be used."
According to a spokesman for the New England chapter of the Minutemen Project, Vermont is a testing ground for the organization, and it hopes to expand to other northern border states eventually.
"What transpires in October will just be the beginning of our activities in New England," said Jeffrey Buck, the director of the New England Minutemen Association. "We will only be in Vermont this month, but plan on expanding to New Hampshire and Maine eventually. We will find Minuteman work to do in the southern New England states as well. We have had numbers of people contact us from around New England, in New York State and beyond to volunteer. We will only be having a limited number of volunteers with us on our border watches, however. And we will only be out for two weekends."
This email was cleaned by emailStripper, available for free from http://www.papercut.biz/emailStripper.htm