Minuteman National Blog

The ACLU last week attempted to have the Minutemen thrown off of a private ranch because the ranch owner leases land to the State of Arizona. The article incorrectly reports that the MCDC didn''t have permits, but we already HAD permits PRIOR to the commencement of operations April 1st. They do report that the land office decided we didn''t need them.

In addition, the Minutemen contracted with the ranch owners to do ranch work there, including some cleanup of land completely trashed by crossing illegal aliens.

From the Associated Press, via the KVOA News website:

ACLU fails to toss Minutemen from state lands

Members of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps can continue patrolling on state trust lands without permits because they''ve been invited by ranchers leasing the land and agreed to do ranch work, a state official said.

The decision ends an attempt by the American Civil Liberties Union to get Arizona to force the volunteer anti-illegal immigration activists off the land because they hadn''t gotten state permission.

"They are authorized to be there under the terms of the lease," deputy state Land Commissioner Richard Hubbard said Tuesday. He said a state employee who had told the Minutemen members on Monday they needed permits was incorrect.

The group is carrying out a monthlong patrol south of Three Points on the private King''s Anvil Ranch southwest of Tucson. Pat King, whose ranch includes some state trust land that she leases, said she has a contract with the Minutemen to monitor cattle, pick up trash and fix fences.

King is a supporter of the Minutemen and said the ACLU efforts were wrong.

"Those American Civil Liberties Union persons up there are not concerned about me at all," King said. "So they are not really the American Civil Liberties Union are they? Because they don''t give a darn about what has happened to my constitutional rights to property."

The ACLU''s Ray Ybarra said his group complained about the Minutemen to the state Land Department last week.

~SNIP~

To read the entire article, click on the title link!