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November 11, 2005

Minutemen Part 13

Why do we have groups like the Minutemen? Because of stories like these told by sheriff Gonzalez of Zapata County near Laredo. WOAI reports:

"Illegal aliens will come across, and once they come across they will even change into better clothing, come out of the brush, and simply surrender to the Border Patrol," he said. "They get processed and they get a certificate telling them to go to a hearing before an immigration judge, and then they let them go. Of course, they don't show up for the hearing."

Gonzalez says border sheriffs and Border Patrol agents alike think the system, which is known locally as 'catch and release' or 'a notice to disappear' is ridiculous.

Gonzalez also blasted the system in place to check to see whether people coming across the border are criminals.

"You could have committed 100 murders in your home country, and your name wouldn't show up on this system because it does not register crimes committed out of the United States," he said.

At this point it seems like the Minutemen reporting the crimes they see do not even matter since even if the criminals are captured, they are released right away. At least the Minutemen have helped to publicize the problem. Yet one more failure of the Bush administration and the supposedly law and order Republicans.

Previous Minutemen post.

Posted by Pete at November 11, 2005 09:04 AM

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Comments

There is currently an initiative being sent out for signatures that proposes a state-funded immigration patrol in California. I'm not excited about the state paying for something that the feds are responsible for. They justify it by saying that the cost would be 200-300 million a year, but the economic savings would be in the billions. I'm not buying it. Maybe if one of the minutemen went nuts and shot and/or tortured an immigrant the rest would be scared away. Seriously, I'm totally expecting that to happen. Some of those minutemen are a little too Michigan Militia.

Posted by: Jeff at November 11, 2005 10:06 AM

Seriously, I'm totally expecting that to happen. Some of those minutemen are a little too Michigan Militia

The only incident I know of is when some of the MM were provoked and shoved around by ACLU members who got violent.

Posted by: Tony at November 19, 2005 10:51 PM