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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Skeptical but fed up, Texas ranchers meet Minutemen Skeptical but fed up, Texas ranchers meet Minutemen Associated Press GOLIAD, Texas - Ranchers fed up with illegal immigration from Mexico planned to meet Monday with a volunteer border-patrol group in one of the first welcoming signs members of the Minutemen Project have received in Texas. Owners of thousands of acres of South Texas ranchland say immigrants have damaged their land and made the town unsafe. They say the answer may be the Minutemen, who in April monitored the Arizona-Mexico border and reported suspected illegal crossings to authorities. Minuteman leaders have said they will begin to patrol the Texas-Mexico border in October. But their expected arrival has been met with suspicion and concern from politicians, law enforcement officers and South Texas residents who say the group is made up of vigilantes and possibly racists. Despite urging from state legislators and members of Congress, Gov. Rick Perry has said he can't stop them from conducting legal activity along the border. Unlike Arizona, where the border is largely public land, the Texas-Mexico border is mostly privately owned, overwhelmingly Hispanic and more urban. Minutemen opponents wonder how the volunteers will distinguish illegal immigrants from legal Hispanic residents. Minuteman organizer Chris Simcox has said that the meeting's location in Goliad, about 200 miles north of the border, is pure coincidence. But in 1836, Mexican forces massacred Texas revolutionaries in a skirmish that is remembered in the battle cry: "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" "I felt it was fitting that the first Texas chapter start here," said Bill Parmley, a Goliad rancher who invited the Minutemen. Parmley said about 1,000 South Texas landowners are interested in forming Minutemen chapters. Parmley said ranchers have complained that illegal immigrants have broken their fences and left piles of trash at campsites, among other damages. Goliad, a town of about 2,100 people southeast of San Antonio, has become a hub for smuggling illegal immigrants. Parmley said authorities have struggled to contain the problem. Laredo police spokesman Juan Rivera said any citizen has a right to contact police about illegal immigration. But he said officers will crack down on anyone who doesn't have proper concealed handgun documentation, is trespassing or disrupting police duties on the border. "If we find they are hindering our operations, they're going to be held accountable," he said. "We've been doing this for a long time, and we know our territory better than anybody." Minutemen say their goal is to help secure the border. They will avoid trespassing charges by only patrolling land owned by members of Minutemen chapters across the region. "All we are is an extra set of eyes," said Shannon McGauley of Arlington who is founder of Texas Minutemen, one of several organization formed to support the Minutemen Project. "It's like having an extra couple of guys to help you so long as you don't jam them up."
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#2. To: Mr Nuke Buzzcut (#0)
MMP bump.
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