July 18, 2005 – Spurred by April’s protests along the Arizona-Mexico border by a group of people taking the country’s anti-immigrant laws into their own hands, new self-appointed border guard efforts are popping up across the country.
As reported by The NewStandard earlier this year, volunteers who blamed immigrants for the nation’s social ills organized border patrols along the US-Mexico border. Many of the members of the Minuteman Project expressed nativist leanings and several carried firearms as they watched the border for illegally crossing immigrants and harnessed media attention to challenge the government’s handling of immigration issues.
Since then, at least 40 such groups have formed in regions ranging from Southern California to Appalachia, according to the Associated Press. Groups in eighteen states are officially affiliated with the Minuteman Project. In addition, several unaffiliated organizations with similar objectives and names have cropped up in recent months.
The California Minutemen began patrols this past weekend. According to the LA Times, the group was outnumbered by protesters, observers and media on Saturday, its first official day. San Diego News 10 reported that only six volunteer border vigilantes returned to their posts Sunday.
Other similar efforts are expected later this year. The American Border Patrol and Minuteman Project plan to begin their own watches of the California border, according to a statement released last month.
