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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Minutemen Kick Off Return Engagement In Arizona, Other States THREE POINTS, Ariz. – Minuteman volunteers concerned over the continued flow of illegal immigrants across the border from Mexico gathered Saturday with lawn chairs, binoculars and cell phones for a new monthlong campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the issue. A year after their first watch-and-report operation along the border in southeastern Arizona, members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps embarked on a much larger effort in the busy migrant-smuggling corridor. “I'm concerned about what's not being done by the government – hasn't been done, apparently,” said J. Glenn Sorensen, a retired school administrator now living in Flagstaff. Sorensen, who was not involved with the Minutemen last year, said he thinks the organization has accomplished part of its intended purpose already, “to draw national attention to an insecure border. I don't think anybody wants to close the border – I certainly don't – basically I think they need to be secure.” No one in the group had any illusions about their campaign's effectiveness, since it targets a relatively short section of the border for just a month. However, it comes at a time when Congress is debating proposals seeking to reform immigration laws, which have drawn supporters of legitimizing illegal immigrants to demonstrations in a series of cities across the country. “This is like sticking a finger in the dike,” said Ken Raymond, a retired electrical engineer and airplane mechanic from Tucson. Each month, thousands cross into Arizona. So far this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, agents have caught more than 48,000 illegal immigrants in the area staked out this weekend, up 53 percent from the same period a year earlier. About 150 volunteers had gathered by midmorning Saturday, with organizers expecting several hundred more. The group says it plans similar exercises along the border in California, New Mexico and Texas, and along the Canadian border in Washington, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York state. President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox support a so-called guest worker program that would allow illegal immigrants already holding jobs in the U.S. to stay. But the Minuteman organization's national leader, Chris Simcox, says the group's message is clear: “We want border security first.” The Minuteman members arrived Saturday at a ranch about 35 miles southwest of Tucson before heading out to set up observation posts on private property about 30 miles north of the border. Along with their binoculars, cell phones and radios, a number wore sidearms. They were all under strict orders to call the Border Patrol and to avoid confronting intruders or drawing their weapons, said Simcox and Stacey O'Connell, in charge of the Arizona chapter. Although last year's patrols were nonviolent and disciplined, there are still concerns about having armed groups in a busy trafficking area, Gus Soto, a Border Patrol spokesman, said last week. Minuteman leaders have said that all the group's members have been screened to weed out members of racist organizations. Still, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union-Arizona say they're concerned over “the potential for taking actions and ... attempting to enforce immigration laws,” executive director Alessandra Soler Meetze said.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
Maybe the lesbian patriots will be thus motivated to join in.
Maybe the lesbian patriots will be thus motivated to join in. Plus Catholic priests, inasmuch as it was a little Dutch boy.
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