In South Texas, more speak out against Minutemen Cameron County officials are the latest to reject the group's intent to monitor migrants
By JAMES PINKERTON Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Rio Grande Valley Bureau
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3352787
BROWNSVILLE - As organizers of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps finalize plans with 500 volunteers for next month's border-watching operation in South Texas, local leaders from El Paso to Brownsville are working hard to discourage them.
On Tuesday, the Cameron County Commissioners Court unamiously passed a resolution opposing the Minuteman operation, joining governments in El Paso and Laredo that have rejected the group's intent to set up surveillance camps on the Texas-Mexico border. The resolutions call for enforcement strictly by federal officers.
''They're opportunists. ... they can't blow their noses without it being covered by the media," said John Wood, a county commissioner from Brownsville. ''I don't think they'll contribute anything to enforcing immigration laws in the (Rio Grande) Valley."
But the president of the Minuteman's Texas chapter, Al Garza, said his group wouldn't exist if U.S. authorities enforced immigration laws: ''If they started enforcing the law, even at the local level, there would be no need for us."
The Minuteman organization assembled more than 800 volunteers on a remote stretch of the Arizona border in April, in an effort to focus attention on a hotspot for the entry of undocumented migrants. Since then, Arizona and New Mexico have declared emergencies because of the influx of migrants.
Garza said the location of border-watching operations had not been finalized, adding that it depended largely on the number of volunteers who come for the Oct. 1 start date.
He said so far 500 people have signed up to help, but he would not confirm that any property owners along the border had invited them to set up observation posts, or what towns they would operate in.
"It's hard to say, we've got so many selected areas — it's still up in the air," said Garza, who was in Arizona. ''We have four or five areas, and it will hinge on how many people we have."
And the Minuteman group confirmed Tuesday that it has abandoned plans to begin the Texas operation earlier, after saying last week they were needed to ''stand in the breach" left by 200 U.S. Border Patrol agents called to assist with the Hurricane Katrina recovery.
In McAllen, U.S. Border Patrol supervisory agent Julio Salinas said the agency ''discourages private parties from taking matters into their own hands."
Salinas indicated Minutemen were not needed, because the agency has ''a close relationship with the communities in the Valley" who call when they witness unlawful immigration.
As the date for the operation nears, churches, immigration rights groups, Hispanic activists and local governments have expressed deep misgivings about the Minutemen.
''Our position is they're not welcome here — we're not inviting them," said Xochil Mora, a spokeswoman for the city of Laredo.
The Laredo City Council passed a resolution Aug. 15, exhorting citizens and landowners not to cooperate with any ''self-help" group that ''spies or tattles" on suspected illegal immigrants.
Mora said the city also was concerned about the legal liability if anyone were to be injured in a public area, or on private property.
In recent years, South Texas juries have handed down stiff criminal sentences and large monetary awards in cases where undocumented migrants were shot while trespassing on private property.
For that reason, some ranchers are not eager to invite the Minutemen onto their property, experts say.
''South Texas ranchers are very independent," said Nestor Rodriguez, a University of Houston sociology professor and immigration expert. ''I don't think they're the type who look for outsiders to tell them what to do."
But longtime South Texas rancher Tobin Armstrong, whose family has owned a large cattle ranch in Kenedy County since 1852, said he supports the Minuteman's aims. But he doubts the South Texas operation will be effective.
"Their intentions are good, but it's absurd to think this is going to solve the problem," Armstrong said. ''You can't correct this problem unless you are willing to sanction people who hire illegal aliens."
The mayor of Brownsville said he plans to introduce a resolution opposing the upcoming Minuteman operation at a Sept. 20 City Council meeting.
Mayor Eddie Trevino, a private attorney, said, ''You have a situation that will be ripe for potential conflict. And when you've got some volatile elements, people who are scared on one hand and people who are armed, it's just a recipe for disaster."
But Garza, the group's Texas leader, bristled at local governments who condemned the group ''just for exercising our constitutional rights."
''To pass such a resolution is ignoring the federal law. That means they are advocating illegal immigration, and that in itself is against the law," Garza said, adding the group ''is not there to cause problems, break laws, or any such thing; we are there to enforce laws."
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