Civilians Plan April Border Patrol

Adopting language from the American Revolution, civilian border watchers plan to stage mass volunteer patrols along a busy smuggling corridor in Cochise County next April.

Organizers of the Minuteman Project said the monthlong effort is meant to draw national attention and pressure the government to more aggressively guard the U.S.-Mexican border.

“This is a mini Boston Tea Party,” said Chris Simcox of Tombstone, one of the project’s organizers. “We want this to be a shot heard all the way to Washington.”

In response to recruitment efforts, immigrant advocacy groups renewed long-standing objections to volunteer border patrols, which they said promote illegal “vigilante” activity.

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