Minuteman National Blog

Things that will make you totally cynical...

Arizona Daily Star Editorial

It seems pretty much anything is fair these days when it comes to swaying public opinion in the debate over border enforcement — even a bit of obfuscation.

Case in point: The announcement earlier this week that a Utah National Guard unit had arrived in Yuma to support the Border Patrol.

The arrival of the 55 Utah guardsmen last Saturday prompted a flurry of news stories, including an Associated Press story that ran Tuesday in the Arizona Daily Star describing them as "the first to begin work under President Bush''s plan to crack down on illegal immigration."

The plan, of course, is the president''s promise to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border over the next year — a move the more cynical among us might attribute to the wheeling and dealing that led to the successful effort to get an immigration-reform package approved by the Senate.

It turns out the Guard unit, now working to improve roads and fencing near San Luis, had been scheduled for border duty for months, long before President Bush announced the new troop deployment.

Their mission here was to be just the latest in an ongoing effort by the National Guard in support of the Border Patrol. According to the Provo Herald, that changed suddenly on June 2, when the Guard unit got new orders from their superiors in Washington. The new orders didn''t change the work they would be doing, but it did put their work under the umbrella of the president''s plan, now dubbed "Operation Jump Start."

The AP had reported earlier in the week that the Utah Guard deployment was not a part of the president''s deployment plan. On June 3, when it got word from its Utah staff about the change in orders, the AP reported that as well, without delving deeply into the reason behind the change — after all, the information was accurate.

~SNIP~

To read the entire article: http://www.azstarnet.com/opinion/132974.php

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From today''s Front Page Magazine:

A Pathway to Citizenship -- and Political Extinction

By Don Feder
Front Page Magazine

Politicians who want to put illegal aliens on a pathway to citizenship may soon find themselves on a pathway of their own – the high road to political extinction previously trod by Federalists, Whigs and others who lacked the courage to confront reality.

A special election in California and the outcome of the Utah Republican state convention are the first shock waves of what promises to be the electoral equivalent of the bombs that took out Al-Zarqawi.

The Democrats were expected to win Tuesday’s congressional election in a district 30 miles from the Mexican border. The vote was to fill the unexpired term of Republican Randy “Duke” Cunningham, convicted of bribery.

Voters were angry over Cunningham’s greedy betrayal of their trust and ready to send a proverbial message to Washington.

In the first round of balloting, Democrat Francine Busby (a school teacher and member-in-good standing of the National Education Association) led a multi-candidate field with 44% of the vote. Republican Brian Bilbray had an anemic 15%.

But on Tuesday, Bilbray shot up 30 points to win the seat with 49.5% to Busby’s 45.2% -- after the latter gave a big, wet kiss to illegal immigration.

Just 5 days before the vote, Busby was campaigning at a senior center in Escondido. A man who spoke Spanish said he’d really like to help the teacher, but he didn’t have “papers” – meaning he was in the country illegally.

No problemo, Busby enthused: “Everybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help …. You don’t need papers for voting.”

If you’re an open-borders candidate urging illegal aliens to commit voter fraud, best be sure a Minuteman volunteer isn’t in the audience taping your comments.

Sadly for Busby, one was. Her remarks were reported in the San Diego Union. The tape ran on local talk shows. Busby claimed she had “misspoke.” (How’s that for originality?)

Bilbray stressed securing the borders and came out strongly against a guest worker program. Senator John McCain cancelled a campaign event for the Republican – which might also have boosted Bilbray’s standing with supporters of American sovereignty.

Now, Busby can go back to mis-educating America’s youth, and Congressman-elect Bilbray will go to Washington.

In Utah, 5-term Congressman Chris Cannon lost the endorsement of the Republican state convention to political newcomer John Jacob (52% to 48%). Do you know what it takes for the regulars who dominate state conventions to reject an incumbent Congressman of their own party?

Cannon is now forced into a primary for his party’s nomination. Should he lose, the political seismograph will be registering 8 on the Richter scale.

Again, immigration was the issue.

~SNIP~

To read the entire article at Front Page Magazine, click here: A Pathway to Citizenship -- and Political Extinction

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Newt Gingrich has a very interesting commentary today at Human Events Online on yesterday''s election results wherein a Minuteman is featured:

It''s Immigration, Stupid
By Newt Gingrich
Human Events Online

Excerpt:

The third (and most fascinating) was an enormous revelation by the Democrat. At a rally, someone told her (in Spanish) that they were for her but were undocumented (meaning they were in the United States illegally). Ms. Busby responded by suggesting that it was OK for a person in the United States illegally to be active in her campaign. Unfortunately for her candidacy, a Minuteman volunteer in the audience caught her words on tape and gave it to San Diego talk radio hosts. The following day, her willingness to pander to non-citizens became the centerpiece of the campaign and she was on defense for the last five days until the election.

~SNIP~

To read the entire article at Human Events Online: It''s Immigration, Stupid

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

MINUTEMEN TO PRESIDENT BUSH
“WE DON’T TRUST YOU TO SECURE THE BORDER.”

PHOENIX, AZ (June 7, 2006) – Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (“MCDC”), issued the following statement in response to President Bush’s amnesty blitzkrieg media tour:

“The president is crossing the country trying unsuccessfully to foist his non-amnesty amnesty upon the American people, who have the good sense to know what ‘is’ is. As the elections across the country yesterday proved, the American people want border security first, border security now and border security before anything else will be considered.

"There is no ‘growing consensus’ among the American people for granting amnesty for illegally entering this country, granting amnesty to businesses who hire illegally, granting amnesty to illegals for income tax evasion, document fraud and identity theft, or even for the U.S. government playing coyote and selling American citizenship for a $2,000 ‘fine.’

“There is, however, an overwhelming consensus among the sovereign American people to secure the border first. The urgent need is not for ‘comprehensive immigration reform’ cum amnesty/guest worker/massive immigration increases. The president is spreading fear and mistrust of the government. The American people are not naive, and this administration and the Senate should stop acting as if we are. We do not trust the president to secure the borders. Let him first prove that he will provide the national security he is sworn to at our borders—then we can figure out what to do with the estimated 12-20 million illegals already in this country.

“When you secure the borders, cut off welfare and social services to illegals at the expense of the American taxpayer, and strictly enforce the laws against hiring illegally, the problem of what to do with the estimated 12-20 million illegals already in this country will drastically shrink in size and scope. The president knows this and so do the rest of our politicians who want to reward their open-borders donors with an unending flood of slave-wage labor. The American people know better than to buy President Bush’s spin.

“The Minutemen challenge the president to back up his urgent border security statements by immediately deploying 36,000 armed National Guard, reserve or active duty soldiers to the border to wrest operational control back from international criminal cartels. There is no conflict with posse comitatus as this is not a law enforcement matter but a matter of national security.

"The president should also immediately require every employer to use the ‘voluntary’ Social Security verification system, as this is the first step in determining the true scope of the illegal migrant worker problem.

"If he will institute these measures to gain the confidence of the American people, he will prove that he is serious about securing our borders. Then and only then will the American people have the trust and confidence in our government to move on to deliberations regarding ‘comprehensive immigration reform.’”

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To President Bush: ''We don''t trust you''

At the May 27 groundbreaking of the new Minuteman fence to be constructed on private land along America''s southern border, about 300 Minutemen and several dignitaries met to officially launch the privately-funded undertaking.

Among those attending were Minuteman Civil Defense Corps leader Chris Simcox, Rep. Steve King of Iowa, Arizona governor candidate Don Goldwater, and Alan Keyes--all of whom addressed the group, along with a line-up of other secure-border supporters.

Dr. Keyes delivered the keynote speech.

Below is the text of Dr. Keyes'' remarks on this historic occasion.

Click here to see a full gallery of photos from the Renew America website

__

ALAN KEYES: Thank you very much. God bless you. God bless you all. We always say that. But there are times, I think, when we ought to stand back and realize that the truth of the matter is that sometimes when we say, "God bless you," what we''re really saying is you are a blessing from God.

And right now as America faces what I think is the greatest crisis of our institution in its history, across the board, one of the most important examples of that crisis is right here. When a country loses the will to defend its borders, when a country loses the will to assert its identity, when a country loses the will to stand in defense of its way of life, that country is doomed. And I think all of us have to be fearful, if you listen to what''s coming out of Washington and coming from our president, and so forth, that we are hearing the confirming echoes of that doom coming down the corridors of our present and the future that we should be leaving our children and our grandchildren.

Now, I''m here to tell you right now that however we may sometimes feel discouraged, that however we may sometimes think that there is no hope, you need to remember that when we pray to God for a blessing, you have come forward to be the answer. You have come forward to be the defenders.

[cheer, applause]

You have come forward to be the examples of the American spirit that built this country and will defend its future.

And we also have to be clear about something else, because part of me feels like, as you very well know, we shouldn''t be here at all, the truth of the matter. After all, we go through the motions every few years, we send folks off to Washington, D.C., we elect them to the House, we elect the Senate. What is their first duty? To listen to them these days, you''d think that their first duty would be to serve the money bags who put money into their political coffers--but that is not their first duty. To listen to them these days, you would think that their first duty is to kowtow to foreign potentates and presidents, like Vicente Fox, instead of the people of the United States. But that is not their first duty.

[applause]

To listen to them talk today, you would think their first duty was to respond to the needs and wishes of all those folks throughout the world who wish that they were in America. But that''s not their first duty.

The oath that they swear, every single one of them, is to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States.

[applause]

And that Constitution is not the work of foreign governments, it is not the work of foreign people, it is the work of the people of the United States. It is to us that they owe their allegiance.

[applause]

We are left to our obvious conclusion, if, as the president himself said--and I don''t care, did any folks in this country realize how breathtaking it was for the President of the United States, well into the sixth year of his terms of office, to look the American people in the eye, and as if it were a really fantastic and wonderful revelation that he had just discovered--to tell us that we do not have control of our borders?

[laughter]

Now, this is very good, don''t you think? This is like the fellow who is hired to guard your property telling you that you don''t have any security!

I''m thinking to myself, "Well, Mr. President, you''ve been at work for six years now. I''d like to know what you''ve been doing with all that time!"

He tells us now that he''s going to get to work, that he''s going to do the job that he should have been doing all along. And what''s even more appalling is that after September 11th, you would have thought it would have been fairly clear--they tell us we''ve got to secure our ports of entry, they tell us we''ve got to secure the airports, they tell us we''ve got to seriously examine everybody who''s coming through into the country--and meanwhile they have left the southern border of the United States wide open to every individual who is willing under the cover of darkness and deceit to come into this country.

[applause]

And they acknowledge hundreds of folks coming across every day, and we''re supposed to believe that in the midst of all those people, they are just wonderfully innocent, hopeful immigrants coming across to seek a better life.

I think that in the midst of a lot of those people, there would have to be a few of those folks who are coming across to take our lives, not to seek a better life for themselves!

So, what do we do? Well, what we are told we ought to do, given the Senate''s bill, is we ought to deal with the problem of all of the illegal folks who have come--and the things that they need in order to regularize their lives--and then maybe somewhere down the road, a little piecemeal here and there, they''ll deal with the security of our border. And that shows you where their allegiance lies--and it doesn''t lie with the people of this country. Because, if they took that allegiance seriously, there would only be one priority for the President, for the Senate, for the House--as they have, thankfully, shown us--and that priority is clear: security first, security now, security before anything else will be considered.

[cheer, applause]

And everything else they offer us, as [Rep.] Steve King was just telling us--here we are, sort of like the young lady who is taking care of the first child by her boyfriend, who then tells her, "Don''t worry about birth control. Trust me."

[laughter]

Well, we''re taking care of having to deal with the problem of millions of people who have come into this country as a result of the dereliction of duty of these political elites. And they wish us to accept what they told us in ''86 and ''94 and every time they turned around: "Trust us! Trust us! Trust us!" I think we need to send them a good, clear, strong message: "We don''t trust you anymore!"

[applause]

And I want to say it outright. I''m a Republican, . . . but it''s about time that we look G.W. Bush in the eye and tell him, "We don''t trust you, either!"

[applause]

Not on this issue! Not now!

What we need, in order to restore our trust is not your promises, not your talk, not your 614 pages of legislation you don''t intend to enforce. What we need now, as the only thing that we will accept, is results that finally get this border back under control of the American people, where it belongs!

[applause]

Here''s why you give me particular hope. You give me particular hope, because I look back at the history of the country, and though they tend to forget it, America wasn''t built by the government. The government was built by the people.

We do remember that, don''t we?

Before it extended its reach, people had to reach out. They had to explore, they had to clear, they had to build, sometimes they had to fight and struggle and give their lives. We stand on ground that was not first claimed by the American government, it was first claimed by the courage, the ingenuity, the perseverance of the American people.

[applause]

And as it was claimed in the first place, so it must be defended now--and that''s why you''re here.

You''re here to remind folks who think that every time an American steps forward to take the initiative now, they should be told to wait for the government to act, wait for the government handout, wait for the government research, wait for the government to do it--we have never waited on the government before, and we''re not going to start now.

[applause]

And though we all may have very good reason, given the record over the last several decades, to not trust the political elites, somebody explain to me why it is that any of them would look at the American people, and when we step forward and say we want to help in our own defense--we want to do what''s necessary to defend our own property, our own families, our own homes, our own lives in the way that has been our great tradition--can you tell me on what grounds they dare to tell us that they don''t trust us?

I think it''s about time that they acted like the people who built this country in the first place, people who aren''t willing to trust the government first, not when we can trust to our own courage, to our own work, to our own discipline, to our own character.

[applause]

I want to tell you, Chris [Simcox], given the things that I''ve seen you''ve been doing for Americans everywhere--because you''ve been reasserting the truth of the sovereignty of our people, you have been reasserting truth that, yes, it is, as Lincoln said, "government of the people, by the people, for the people," and we will still step up to the plate to get the job done.

[applause]

[unintelligible] that''s what these [unintelligible] of defense symbolize. They try to pretend that it''s some kind of barrier, that it''s against somebody who is in Mexico or anywhere else in the world. That''s not true. We are acting for our people, we are acting for our country, we are acting for our children, we are acting for our posterity.

We are doing what Americans have always done, and in doing so, I don''t think we deserve the distrust and fear of our leaders. We deserve not only their understanding and their support, we deserve that they will fall in line, as they have had to do before, and accept the leadership of the American people.

[applause]

I just want to tell you that I have been both moved and proud to be able to work in any capacity at all to help the folks who are organizing this great effort, to take the lead and to reassert the spirit of our country.

They are doing so, I think, with an admirable sense that what they''re doing is not only on behalf of just themselves or their region or their states or their own ambition. It''s on behalf of all of us. This is why I am reminded of what it means to be a people who not only share a common identity, but who will serve our common good and work to a common purpose.

I sometimes have to fear, when I look at what our politicians do, that some of them have entirely forgotten that at the end of the day, that''s what citizenship is about. That''s what their job is about. It''s not everybody for themselves, grabbing what little piece of the pie we can. It''s everybody showing a willingness, yes, to take care of ourselves, while we take care of the business of our communities, and our families, and our country. And that''s what you exemplify. The true spirit of American self-government.

So, what we''re doing here is not just building a fence. We are rebuilding a character. We are redefining a people. We are reminding ourselves and the people of our country and people all over the world that the American people have made a difference. Because, though we come from every voice and color and creed and kind, we stand together now on a common creed of self-government and liberty that has allowed us to make the difference.

[applause]

And the good spirit and the good example--I think you''re going to move people all over this country. You have already started a debate and discussion that is redefining the terms of this issue and will continue to do so. But even more than that, you are going to become the focal point of what will begin to revitalize American politics. That will uphold people of [strength] and faith and of courageous folks who are standing with them.

[applause]

But we know that everyday, in politics today, that they may think it''s all right to serve their special interest and their ethnic masters, and all of this, we are going to insist once again on a politics that serves our nation, that serves our people, that serves our principles, that serves our future. We will take nothing less.

[applause]

It''s a great beginning. . . . I am reminded that it''s only a beginning. But Aristotle said, with some wisdom, I think, that "The beginning is more than half the whole." What he meant by that, I think, is quite clearly demonstrated. To finish the job, you must have the whole commitment, heart, and faith that will get the job done. With your courage over the last several years, you have shown that whole--that holy commitment.

And I believe that it is one of those sacred moments that God will bless. So, I say it again: God bless you. But I say, as well, may God continue to bless all of us in this country for the work that you have done, for the things that you will achieve. I don''t know what you''re getting at the moment, but I''m sure of this: in the fullness of time there will come those Americans who will know what liberty means, because you have fought the good fight--who will stand within a country still secure in its boundaries, because you have stood for their defense, and who will breathe to you and to God Almighty a word of thanks that will come from their hearts--hearts you may never know, but who will remember you as the generation that began the recovery of American greatness.

God bless you.

[applause]

END TRANSCRIPT

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

ARIZONA GOVERNOR AGAIN VETOES ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM

PHOENIX, AZ (June 6, 2006) – Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (“MCDC”), issued the following statement on the veto today by Governor Janet Napolitano of the crucial illegal immigration bill passed by the Arizona legislature:

“Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano today has dealt a serious blow to border security and America’s sovereignty by ensuring that the Arizona border with Mexico remains wide open and the attractive nuisance of endless welfare and social programs at the expense of the American taxpayer remain in place. A key part of the Republican budget Gov. Napolitano vetoed today includes a border security measure which allocates $50 million for a radar system to detect illegal border crossers, $55 million for local communities to use for costs related to illegal immigration and border enforcement, and several million dollars related to employer sanctions to go after businesses that purposely employ illegal aliens.

“Gov. Napolitano has signed veto after veto after veto of every substantive measure passed by the Republican-led Arizona legislature to combat a terrorist infiltration at the border, a tsunami of migrants and an unprecedented crime wave by drug smugglers, thieves, rapists, human traffickers and murderers who cross our frontier at will. Her actions are a disgrace to the office of Governor of Arizona.”

The measure includes the following major border enforcement provisions:

• Providing for technology to address the flood of illegal border crossers with $50 million over the next two years to facilitate a high-tech radar detection system at the border.
• Deployment of National Guard to the border with a $10 million appropriation to perform actual National Guard responsibilities.
• Denies public benefits to illegal aliens and prohibits any government entity in Arizona to accept any identification unless it was issued by a U.S. state or federal authority, or federally recognized Indian tribe.
• Grants to local agencies of $55 million to assist in border interdiction, enforcement and detention. Grants are awarded by the Arizona Border Enforcement Security Team made up primarily of local law enforcement officials.
• Ending any sanctuary policies that may exist in counties, cities and towns, requiring political subdivisions to support full compliance of laws related to illegal immigration.
• $28.8 million to the Gang & Immigration Task Force which includes funding for 100 new DPS officers for border enforcement.
• Prohibits illegal aliens from participating in various social welfare programs.
• Illegal aliens and the businesses that hire them now face consequences for flaunting U.S. law. HB 2577 provides for employer sanctions for businesses that knowingly employ illegal aliens, including fines, penalties and possible revocation of business license. (Includes additional $2 million to the Attorney General for enforcement).
• Creates a secondary offense for criminal trespass in Arizona by virtue of entering and remaining in the state illegally with the first offense being a misdemeanor. Provides a tool by which local law enforcement can either refer offenders for prosecution or transfer them to federal authorities.
• Clarifies that peace officers are permitted to enforce federal immigration laws.
• Addresses the environmental impact of illegal immigration with $850,000 for prisoner clean-up crews and $200,000 for an environmental impact study of the effects of illegal immigration.
• To the extent money is made available from the federal government for border enforcement, border initiatives will be funded by federal dollars.

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