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The Minuteman Project is an activist organization started in April 2005 by a group of private individuals in the United States to monitor the United States–Mexico border's flow of illegal immigrants. Co-founded by Jim Gilchrist, the name derives from the Minutemen, militiamen who fought in the American Revolution. The Minuteman Project describes itself as "A citizens' vigilance operation monitoring immigration, business, and government. Brings awareness to the careless dissregard of government to enforce immigration law." and has attracted media attention to illegal immigration.

Public and Civic Reaction

Garden Grove incident

On May 25, 2005 James Gilchrist spoke in Garden Grove, California to the California Coalition for Immigration Reform at the Garden Grove Women's Club. Hal Netkin, a Minuteman supporter, came to the event. Netkin's car was surrounded as he arrived at the Garden Grove Women's Club, 9501 Chapman Ave., and demonstrators rocked the vehicle and banged on it, Garden Grove Police Lt. Mike Handfield said some of the 300 demonstrators were there "not to protest but to commit criminal acts" and "A small contingent of people that were troublemakers had backpacks filled with full cans of soda that they were throwing and also cans filled with marbles that they threw." Lt. Handfield said, ""We determined it was reasonable for him to move forward" through the crowd surrounding his car. Two people who were standing in front of Netkin's car fell down when he moved forward. Both went to the hospital. The police declared an illegal assembly. "It got out of control in terms of protesters getting violent," Lt. Handfield said. On the other hand, Jan Tucker, who accompanied state and local leaders of the League of United Latin American Citizens to the talk, stated that the crowd outside the building was peaceful.

Columbia University incident

On October 4, 2006, approximately forty students and demonstrators stormed the stage of Alfred Lerner Hall during a Minuteman presentation at Columbia University in New York City, where Board Members Marvin Stewart and Gilchrist had been invited to speak. The student protesters rushed onto the stage with a yellow banner hurling a slew of racial slurs towards Stewart. The protesters then gathered outside the Columbia University gates and continued chanting. The protest was quickly broken up by security. The event spawned a public discussion at Columbia over freedom of speech and transparency regarding the process through which controversial speakers are invited to speak. Columbia University president Lee Bollinger stated in a campus-wide email that "No one ... shall have the right or the power to use the cover of protest to silence speakers." The event was monitored by several media organizations. Neil Cavuto of Fox News interviewed Stewart, a black American, to announce a "Hate Crime" lawsuit against Columbia University for the racial insults that Stewart endured during his 55 minute speech.

T-shirt incident

On April 6, 2005, three Minuteman Project volunteers convinced a 25-year-old man to hold a T-shirt and pose for a photograph and a video with one of the volunteers. The T-shirt, which was also worn by volunteer Bryan Barton, read "Bryan Barton caught me crossing the border and all I got was this lousy T-shirt".

The volunteer approached the young man near a main highway while off duty from patrolling. He then contacted the Border Patrol. The volunteer gave the Mexican man some food and tried a little conversation in Spanish, while the suspected illegal immigrant held up a lettered T-shirt. He gave $20 to the man as the U.S. Border Patrol arrived and took the man into custody. Critics of the MMP raised questions about the incident, but an investigation by the Cochise County Sheriff's office cleared the volunteer of any wrongdoing. The Border Patrol and the Mexican consul agreed that no crime had been committed.

The ACLU issued a press release concerning this incident. Bryan Barton since ran a San Diego congressional district, the video of the actual incident can be viewed and downloaded at his campaign site.

August 2007 fake murder video

In August 2007 the Southern Poverty Law Center reported the surfacing of two videos which appeared to depict the murder of an illegal immigrant along the Mexico/California border by two Minuteman vigilantes. These videos appeared briefly on Youtube but were removed. In this video, a figure is videotaped in night vision being shot while two narrators exchange obscene comments expressing satisfaction about doing so.

A few days later, Minuteman representatives confirmed to a San Diego TV station that the videos were made by members of the Mountain Minutemen group and that they were fake. Robert "Little Dog" Crooks, who admitted making the video, said "we're old men and we're bored" and said he made the video to express a political opinion about an immigration bill being debated. Minuteman Project leader Jim Gilchrist would later ban cooperation by members of his group with the Mountain Minutemen in response to the video incident.

Stopping aid to illegal border crossers

In January 2006, the actions of California Minutemen helped influence the cancellation of a program sponsored by Humane Borders and the government of Mexico to supply over 70,000 maps to migrants to aid their illegal entry into the United States. Miguel Angel Paredes, a spokesman for Mexico's National Human Rights Commission said "This would be practically like telling the Minutemen where the migrants are going to be" and as such, they'd have to "rethink this, so that we wouldn't almost be handing them over to groups that attack migrants."

Relations with the US Border Patrol

The author of "'Illegals: The Imminent Threat Posed by Our Unsecured U.S.-Mexico Border'", writes that the U.S. Border Patrol Union Local 2544, which covers the Tucson sector of the border, endorses the Minuteman Project.

"We want to make it clear – because we've had a lot of questions about this – we have not had one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent in this sector about the Minutemen... Every report we've received indicates these people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents; they're courteous. Many of them are retired firefighters, cops, and other professionals, and they're not causing us any problems whatsoever".

OneWorld US, an internet news journal, reports that Border Patrol officials have expressed concern over the accidental tripping of border sensors.

Support for the Minute Men

On April 28, 2005, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the Minuteman Project during an interview on "The John and Ken Show" on Los Angeles radio station KFI, saying that the group had been doing "a terrific job". He reiterated his supportive comments the following day, noting that the Minutemen would be welcome to patrol the border between California and Mexico.

Other supporters have included the Council of Conservative Citizens, national radio hosts Sean Hannity and Michael Savage, politicians from both major political parties, Tennessee radio host James Edwards and Virginia activist Mark Hopkins.

See also

• Border Film Project

References

This article has an unclear citation style. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation and footnoting. (September 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

1. CTV.ca | Armed Americans patrol B.C.-Washington border
2. Man Freed After Driving Into Minuteman Protesters - News Story - KNBC | Los Angeles
3. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/law/sirr/SIRR_Statement.pdf
5. American Civil Liberties Union: ACLU of Arizona Denounces Unlawful Imprisonment of Immigrant by Minuteman Volunteer
6. http://www.votebarton.com/videos/bryan_barton_border_crossing.WMV
7. New Video Appears to Show Vigilante Border Murder | Hatewatch
8. Authorities: Minuteman Video Showing Immigrant Being Shot Is Fake - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego
9. http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=1519
10. Associated Press (2006-01-26) Mexico Halts Border Maps Hand-Out
11. Washington Times (2006-01-27): Mexico nixes border maps for migrants
12. Border agents approve of 'Minutemen'
13. OneWorld U.S. Home / Today's News - Abuses Feared as Citizens Begin Patrol of U.S.-Mexico Border
14. Governor endorses Minutemen on border / He parts with Bush on armed volunteers stopping illegal immigrants in Arizona

External links

• Minuteman Project Official site
• California Minutemen & Border Watch Federation HQ
• Washington State Minutemen
• Minuteman Party
• Campo California Minutemen
• Chicago Minuteman Project

• Organizations based in Arizona
• Organizations established in 2005
• History of Arizona
• Illegal immigration to the United States
• Immigration political advocacy groups in the United States
• Mexico – United States relations