News
Minuteman founder speaks in GV
By Ellen Sussman, Special to the Green Valley News
“About 50 percent of all illegal aliens and drugs enter the U.S. through the Tucson Sector. We don’t want these people coming into the country — and certainly not into Green Valley. If the federal government wasn’t broken, there wouldn’t be a need for an organization like the Minuteman.”
These were comments made Tuesday evening by Don Severe, president of the Green Valley Chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He spoke at Casa de Esperanza where he welcomed the founder and president of MCDC Chris Simcox.
“From day one, this was an activist organization,” Simcox said. He told about its origin in 2002. While at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Ajo, he saw large numbers of illegals. Reporting this to Park Rangers, he was told that they warn citizens to be careful, and that little could be done.
In the post 9/11 world, Simcox said, if migrants could enter so easily, it wouldn’t be long before dangerous illegals could enter the U.S. through various points of entry.
“Homeland Security needs a strong front line. The idea was to go and embarrass the federal government. If they won’t give U.S. Border Patrol the resources they need, we will. Our goal is to be the most responsible citizens we can be,” he told the audience of about 85 Minutemen and guests.
National crisis
Simcox said there would soon be a national crisis if something wasn’t done, so the organization grew from 40 to 400 and now has a membership of 12,500 with 103 chapters in 38 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Starting with a 30-day sit-in at the U.S./Mexican border in 2004, he said, the media came en masse. “We made history. There were citizens who said, ‘Enough is enough.’ We grew from a border operation to an internal operation and we got Washington’s attention.”
Simcox told of Mexico’s current problems by drug cartels and said, “This is our country. I feel the drug cartel problem will get worse before it gets better ... we may well need military intervention because of the drug cartels.”
Albert Fresquez, public relations officer for the U. S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, was also a speaker and reaffirmed Simcox’s comments.
“Tucson is the epicenter of the immigration problem. It’s where most apprehensions occur,” he said.
Summarizing different programs now in operation, one, “Arizona Denial,” focuses on targeting certain sections of the border where any illegals caught are prosecuted. “It’s difficult to prosecute large numbers. It takes a lot of cooperation from different agencies and requires a tremendous amount of manpower,” Fresquez explained.
However, the program is showing results as 82 percent of those prosecuted and deported back to Mexico are not returning because they know they’ll be prosecuted and returned again.
The “Alien Transfer Exit Program” takes illegals that entered the U.S. via the Arizona/Mexican border and returns them to Mexico via San Diego in an attempt to separate them from smugglers. Some illegals are flown from Tucson to Mexico City to get them away from the border.
“We’re trying to break the cycle of re-entry. Deportation is a deterrent,” Fresquez said.
Citing statistics for fiscal year 2008 that ended Sept. 30, he said there were 317,386 apprehensions and 812,142 pounds of marijuana were seized. This compares to 378,239 apprehensions in fiscal 2007 and 897,535 pounds of marijuana seized.
However, the number of illegal aliens with a criminal history increased from 41,446 in fiscal 2007 to 47,933 in fiscal 2008.
Seizing the moment, Green Valley Chapter President Severe said, “If 317,000 were caught, how many weren’t caught?”
Much criticism
He said the organization gets a lot of criticism, but countered with, “There are a lot of dangerous people out there ... we observe and report. We don’t get involved in apprehensions.”
Severe said there are numerous home burglaries in Green Valley, especially in the summer, when homes are vacant.
Minuteman State Director Gene Cafarelli summarized the workings of the organization statewide and said of the 38 states with Minuteman chapters, Arizona is second largest after California and Arizona has 1,500 volunteers.
For further information: www.minutemanhq.com.
Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer in Green Valley. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.
These were comments made Tuesday evening by Don Severe, president of the Green Valley Chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. He spoke at Casa de Esperanza where he welcomed the founder and president of MCDC Chris Simcox.
“From day one, this was an activist organization,” Simcox said. He told about its origin in 2002. While at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Ajo, he saw large numbers of illegals. Reporting this to Park Rangers, he was told that they warn citizens to be careful, and that little could be done.
In the post 9/11 world, Simcox said, if migrants could enter so easily, it wouldn’t be long before dangerous illegals could enter the U.S. through various points of entry.
“Homeland Security needs a strong front line. The idea was to go and embarrass the federal government. If they won’t give U.S. Border Patrol the resources they need, we will. Our goal is to be the most responsible citizens we can be,” he told the audience of about 85 Minutemen and guests.
National crisis
Simcox said there would soon be a national crisis if something wasn’t done, so the organization grew from 40 to 400 and now has a membership of 12,500 with 103 chapters in 38 states, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Starting with a 30-day sit-in at the U.S./Mexican border in 2004, he said, the media came en masse. “We made history. There were citizens who said, ‘Enough is enough.’ We grew from a border operation to an internal operation and we got Washington’s attention.”
Simcox told of Mexico’s current problems by drug cartels and said, “This is our country. I feel the drug cartel problem will get worse before it gets better ... we may well need military intervention because of the drug cartels.”
Albert Fresquez, public relations officer for the U. S. Border Patrol, Tucson Sector, was also a speaker and reaffirmed Simcox’s comments.
“Tucson is the epicenter of the immigration problem. It’s where most apprehensions occur,” he said.
Summarizing different programs now in operation, one, “Arizona Denial,” focuses on targeting certain sections of the border where any illegals caught are prosecuted. “It’s difficult to prosecute large numbers. It takes a lot of cooperation from different agencies and requires a tremendous amount of manpower,” Fresquez explained.
However, the program is showing results as 82 percent of those prosecuted and deported back to Mexico are not returning because they know they’ll be prosecuted and returned again.
The “Alien Transfer Exit Program” takes illegals that entered the U.S. via the Arizona/Mexican border and returns them to Mexico via San Diego in an attempt to separate them from smugglers. Some illegals are flown from Tucson to Mexico City to get them away from the border.
“We’re trying to break the cycle of re-entry. Deportation is a deterrent,” Fresquez said.
Citing statistics for fiscal year 2008 that ended Sept. 30, he said there were 317,386 apprehensions and 812,142 pounds of marijuana were seized. This compares to 378,239 apprehensions in fiscal 2007 and 897,535 pounds of marijuana seized.
However, the number of illegal aliens with a criminal history increased from 41,446 in fiscal 2007 to 47,933 in fiscal 2008.
Seizing the moment, Green Valley Chapter President Severe said, “If 317,000 were caught, how many weren’t caught?”
Much criticism
He said the organization gets a lot of criticism, but countered with, “There are a lot of dangerous people out there ... we observe and report. We don’t get involved in apprehensions.”
Severe said there are numerous home burglaries in Green Valley, especially in the summer, when homes are vacant.
Minuteman State Director Gene Cafarelli summarized the workings of the organization statewide and said of the 38 states with Minuteman chapters, Arizona is second largest after California and Arizona has 1,500 volunteers.
For further information: www.minutemanhq.com.
Ellen Sussman is a freelance writer in Green Valley. Contact her at ellen2414@cox.net.
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