By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
NOGALES, Ariz. -- The Minutemen are out in force in the region of Green Valley and Arivaca and some Arizona businessmen are arming themselves with shotguns to chase away the heavily-armed Minutemen, the self-proclaimed militia at the border.
The Minutemen are unwelcome vigilantes, say humanitarian groups and residents who are unpersuaded by the television hype and U.S. propaganda inspiring racism and border hysteria.
The Minutemen have been gathering at local businesses where they are unwanted.
"They park at Continental and the frontage road in Green Valley on a regular basis and yesterday they met in numbers in the parking lots of the Amado Mini Market, The Longhorn restaurant and the Cow Palace," said one volunteer searching for people dying along the border on Tuesday, Aug. 21.
Already, some area businessmen have chased the Minutemen off their property with shotguns. The Cow Palace Restaurant, however, appears to have let them stay in the area around the business.
On the road to Arivaca from Nogales, the buses labeled "Wackenhut" are usually parked outside the Cow Palace and Longhorn, waiting to be filled with migrants. Wackenhut, now owned by the Danish corporation G4S, is part of the new hired security at the border taking over duties of the Border Patrol.
The Minutemen's presence at this time is an overt attempt to dis-empower and discourage Arizona residents from mobilizing and opposing permanent checkpoints along I-19, human rights volunteers said.
"Our communities south of Tucson need to pass an ordinance against the Minutemen vigilantes like Austin, Texas did recently," one volunteer said.
"Do not be intimidated by these vigilantes."
Related articles:
Video shows Minutemen tearing down migrant camp
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/13892340/detail.html
.
Minutemen shooting at people in San Diego area
http://www.ocregister.com/column/one-minuteman-courtney-1815640-attorney-mailly
.
Newly-elected Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., vows no border wall
Arizona Daily Star
Note: One error in this article in the Arizona Daily Star:
There is already one U.S. spy tower, with others planned, on the Tohono O'odham Nation near San Miguel on tribal land. It is near Homeland Security's migrant detention center, the holding "cage" where Indigenous women and children are temporarily imprisoned before being deported.
Further, a spy monitoring station for the southern Arizona spy towers will be on tribal land. Although officials say the nine spy towers in southern Arizona are not functioning, scanner communications report images are being received at the Tucson command center.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/197095
Austin unanimously passes resolution opposing Minutemen vigilantes:
http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=390
Photos by Brenda Norrell: Wackenhut bus waiting to be loaded with migrants at Three Points, Ariz., near Tohono O'odham border; Crosses remembering migrants who have died in the desert by Pan Left Productions
Response to Censored Blog, from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in Tucson
"The links you have on your web page are not about our group. Our Group, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, is a peaceful national neighborhood watch group. The group in the links on your web page is a group out of California called "Minuteman Project". They are a totally different group with no ties to our group. Our group actually has a nationally certified Search & Rescue team that looks for illegal aliens and provides them with water, food, and medical attention if needed. Our group doesn't detain or try to stop any illegals. We actually have a policy that prevents our members from having any contact, other than humanitarian, with any illegals. We let the Border patrol do the questioning, tracking, and detaining, that is their job, not ours.
I hope this sheds some light on what we really do, not more media hype."
Lance Altherr
Tucson Chapter Leader, Minutemen Civil Defense Corps
TucsonMM@msn.com
Return to Censored homepage:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
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