Minutemen in Houston, Armed Only Need Apply

Oy

I, unfortunately, and in Houston. I will let you know what I see... if anything.

I, personally, think these people need a hobby.

TTF

sigh

Looks to me like they have one. Should be interesting to watch.

Yeah-it's having meetings which is the same as saying sat on backsides.

War of words heats up at Minuteman session
LULAC leader confronts a corps member over the plans to videotape day-labor workers
By CYNTHIA LEONOR GARZA
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle


Tim Johnson / Associated Press
ISSUE: Bill Braux, right, a Minuteman Civil Defense Corps member and Rick Dovalina, of LULAC, engage in a verbal scuffle Sunday at West Houston Airport, where a Minuteman training session was held.

A four-day training session for members of the controversial Minuteman Civil Defense Corps turned heated Sunday when a LULAC leader confronted one of the group's members.

Rick Dovalina, past national president and current district director for the League of United Latin American Citizens, got into a verbal scuffle with Minuteman member Bill Braux, who became incensed after Dovalina took down his license plate number.

"You have the right and I don't?" Dovalina shouted at Braux, who kept asking why he needed his license plate number.

The Arizona-based Minuteman group, which is opposed to illegal immigration, supports keeping vigilance on the nation's borders and inland in areas with large immigrant populations.

The incident took place during a press conference in the parking lot of the West Houston Airport, where members trained for an upcoming October border watch. The training did not focus on local plans to videotape and photograph day-labor workers and their employers, said the group's national president Chris Simcox.

Still, Dovalina said LULAC is concerned about the how the Minutemen will be able to distinguish Hispanics who are undocumented from those who are citizens.

"Because they're Hispanic, is that the criteria you use to take their picture and to take their license plate down?" Dovalina said.

Aug. 19, 2005, 11:56PM

Minutemen will be armed while patrolling Houston
By EDWARD HEGSTROM
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The Minutemen will come to Houston bearing arms.

Leaders of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of Texas had earlier said volunteers observing Houston's day laborers in October would carry nothing but video cameras.

But leaders now say those involved in the operations targeting local illegal immigrants will be allowed to carry arms as long as they comply with all federal and state laws.

In fact, those who have a concealed-weapons permit are being offered a discount on joining the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. An Arizona-based organization, the Minutemen started out by patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border in April to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing, but the group has announced it will conduct a variety of operations here this fall.

Members are normally charged $50 to join, with the money used to conduct a criminal background check. Those with a valid concealed-weapons permit can have that fee waived, since they already have undergone a background check and met other requirements, such as a handgun course, to get the permit, said George Klages, spokesman for the Minutemen in Houston.

Klages said the Minutemen are all responsible, law-abiding citizens, and the use of arms will not cause problems here.

"About 50 or 60 percent of our members are veterans," he said. "These are people who know how to handle a weapon."

But critics worry about the Minutemen carrying arms in the city, and they think the group is giving special incentives to those able to carry concealed weapons.

"They only want people who are armed," said Juan Alvarez, a member of the Coalition Against Intolerance and For Respect, a newly formed group advocating for Houston day laborers. "It will incite violence."

Bill Parmley, the original leader of the Minuteman Texas chapter, said he had discouraged the use of weapons, particularly in urban operations such as the observations of the day laborers who wait for work on Houston streets.

Parmley resigned last month, citing racism among local members in the Goliad chapter. He now says he worries about the Minutemen being armed.

"Just because you can pass one of these concealed-weapons courses doesn't mean you have the mental capability to carry a firearm," he said.

Nationally, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps has no policy forbidding members from carrying arms.

"We actually prefer that everyone have a concealed-weapons permit," said Chris Simcox, the head of the group.

But Simcox said weapons will be less important in a place like Houston than on the border, which is more dangerous and more remote.

Simcox has gotten in trouble with the law for being armed.

In January 2003, Simcox was arrested by federal agents, accused of entering Coronado National Monument in Arizona while armed.

He was convicted of entering a federal park with a loaded weapon and offering false information to a federal officer, both misdemeanors, and was sentenced to two years' probation, court records show.

Simcox noted that there were no signs marking the park boundary, and that park rangers seemed to be waiting for him.

Houston police are aware that some of the Minutemen will be armed, and officers will make sure that all laws are obeyed, said Lt. Robert Manzo, an HPD spokesman.

I for one , am pleased at the stunning results of the minuteman movement, why just last week my car was washed by a fellow of name Jose, which when confronted about his legal status in this country responded with a curt: que?
Now this here week I got my car washed by a guy named Jesus, clearly a good ole Christian boy , not very talkative though, seemed to me as if I spoke to him in a language foreign to him.....

/sarcasm off (in case you couldn't tell )

Aug. 27, 2005, 9:42PM

Organizers close a meeting to the media because the day laborers are said to be fearful
By EDWARD HEGSTROM
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The Minutemen aren't scheduled to patrol the streets of Houston for another month, but already they're having an effect among day laborers.

A day labor organizational meeting scheduled for Saturday had to be closed to the media because the workers are afraid, organizers said.

The leaders also say they have noticed that fewer contractors are picking up workers from the corners where day laborers, most of them undocumented immigrants, gather, which they also attribute to fear of the Minutemen.

"They're very scared," Maria Jimenez, a leader of the Coalition Against Intolerance and for Respect, said of the workers.

The coalition organized the meeting Saturday so that day laborers would have the chance to meet with Francisco Pacheco from the National Day Labor Organizing Network, a group based in Los Angeles.

Jimenez said she could not estimate how many day laborers would be able to attend the meeting.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an Arizona group calling for reduced illegal immigration, has announced that it will begin Operation Spotlight in Houston this October. Minuteman volunteers will observe day laborers and write down the license plate numbers of the contractors who pick them up.

"The situation here is becoming more delicate," Pacheco said after touring day-labor sites Friday.


Response to arrival
He said Saturday's talks were to focus on educating workers on their rights, and coaching them on how to respond to the arrival of the Minutemen.

"The correct response, of course, is nonviolent," he said.

Having worked in areas such as Long Island, New York, where conflicts have risen between residents and day laborers, Pacheco said he thinks such tension hurts an area. "It divides a community," he said.

In addition to a drop in contractors, Jimenez said she has noted that some day laborers have abandoned their usual corners, which she thinks is driven by fear. She and other organizers concede that it might encourage the Minutemen even more to hear they're already having an effect.

"This is already starting," Juan Alvarez, another leader of the coalition, said of the fear. "We can't reverse it."