Thousands To Join Vigil Along Both U.S. Borders

More than 15,000 volunteers will man observation posts and conduct foot and horseback patrols this fall along the Mexican border from Texas to California and in seven states along the Canadian border in a new Minuteman vigil to protest what organizers call the government’s lax immigration enforcement policies.

Chris Simcox, who heads the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said volunteers from throughout the country who are “concerned that the U.S. government must be made to act and take control of our borders” are signing up in record numbers for the new monthlong patrols set to begin Oct. 1.

“We want a secure U.S. border and an end to the blatant disregard of the rule of law regarding illegal immigration,” Mr. Simcox said. “Nearly four years after the September 11 attacks on America, we should be doing a better job of securing our borders.

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He said the new volunteers will be deployed in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas and that other Minuteman groups will patrol the border regions of Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Vermont and Washington. They will observe and report to the U.S. Border Patrol, but not detain, those attempting to illegally cross into the United States, he said.

In Arizona, more than 850 volunteers stood watch near Naco to reduce the flow of illegal aliens in one of the nation’s most-traveled immigration corridors. Their goal was to show that increased manpower on the border would effectively deter illegal immigration.

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