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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>LEADERS OF
MINUTEMAN PROJECT<BR>TAKE UP DIFFERENT TACTICS, GOALS<BR><BR>By Alex Meneses
Miyashita, Hispanic Link News Service June 22, 2005<BR><BR><</FONT><A
href="http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=LATINOS-MINUTE-06-22-05&cat=II"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"
size=3>http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=LATINOS-MINUTE-06-22-05&cat=II</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>><BR><BR>- Following its initial demonstration
in April along the Arizona border,<BR>three of the leaders of the Minuteman
Project have parted ways, with each<BR>staking out new turf.<BR><BR>Founder
James Gilchrist, of California, now heads Minuteman Project, Inc.,<BR>which he
says will concentrate on internal U.S. immigration issues and will<BR>target
employers who hire undocumented immigrants.<BR><BR>Arizona-based newspaper
publisher Chris Simcox, co-founder of the original<BR>group, now runs the
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He says his group has<BR>chapters in Arizona,
California, New Mexico and Texas, and it plans weekend<BR>and holiday patrols in
New Mexico.<BR><BR>He says it will launch longer-term efforts in California on
Sept. 16,<BR>followed in October with actions elsewhere.<BR><BR>Former Minuteman
volunteer James Chase has created the United States Border<BR>Patrol Auxiliary,
which is based in California. Its chapters have adopted<BR>the names Arizona
Minutemen, California Minutemen, New Mexico Minutemen and<BR>Texas
Minutemen.<BR><BR>One of his groups, the 40-member New Mexico Minutemen, has
taken the lead,<BR>starting patrols June 12 along a portion of the state's
border with Mexico.<BR><BR>Chase identifies his missions as ensuring national
security. He says his<BR>organization's priorities are to prevent terrorists,
drug smugglers and<BR>felons from coming into the country.<BR><BR>Chase says his
border patrol auxiliary will report immigrants crossing the<BR>border without
documents, but would distinguish itself from Simcox's group<BR>and the original
Minuteman Project in that "if people come across the<BR>border, we will give
them water, food and blankets."<BR><BR>But Mike Gaddy, director of the New
Mexico chapter of the group headed by<BR>Simcox, said members of the New Mexico
Minutemen could end up joining his<BR>group of about 950 members in an effort to
reconcile conflicts between the<BR>two leaders.<BR><BR>Paul Martinez, director
of the League of United Latin American Citizens<BR>Council in Las Cruces, New
Mexico, says that regardless of their<BR>differences, both groups are going to
exacerbate racial tensions in the<BR>state.<BR><BR>Martinez emphasizes that his
organization is particularly concerned about<BR>civil rights violations
committed by any of the citizen militia groups. It<BR>is trying to identify
provisions in the state law that could be used to<BR>prevent these groups from
engaging in further activities. He adds that he is<BR>also encouraging
immigrants to report abuses.<BR><BR>New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has
expressed strong opposition to the<BR>groups. Similarly, 11 state senators in
Texas have come out against civilian<BR>border patrols.<BR><BR>In spite of
criticism from a number of groups in his state, California Gov.<BR>Arnold
Schwarzenegger has declined to back away from his public praise of<BR>the
efforts of the original Arizona Minuteman Project.<BR><BR><BR>Alex Meneses
Miyashita is a reporter with Hispanic Link News Service. He may<BR>be contacted
by e-mail at </FONT><A href="mailto:alex@hispaniclink.org"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>alex@hispaniclink.org</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman"
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