Minutemen as Humanitarians?

MCDC member Peter Leeds isn’t what you think of when you think “Minuteman”. In fact, it was only after reporting on the September muster that I found out that to be a Minuteman, you can be more than just a guy in a lawnchair with binoculars. Leeds is one of these select few.

Leeds is currently the head of the Minuteman Search and Rescue group in Arizona– a section of the group that only takes only “the cream of the crop” members, he says.

To me, SAR does some of the most interesting work in the organization , especially considering the heartless,  immigrant-hater image other outside groups have tried to reinforce about the Minutemen.

As Leeds explained, being a member of the search and rescue team takes a lot of training and time. Many hours  of special training similar to military boot camp training where members must demonstrate strength and endurance, as well as become certified by the American Red Cross are required before members are admitted.

Search and Rescue members can spend from 8 to 10 hour shifts searching the desert for illegal immigrants who need medical attention, and up to 60 hours in a weekend collectively.

On a typical night with Search and Rescue, Leeds said there are three missions that must be completed. First, SAR members are there to support the “line,” or people staked in their lawn chairs at posts. The second mission is to seek out illegal immigrants that may need help or water, and the third is the tactical mission– or to “cover the flanks” of the border patrol and areas they may have missed.

Above is a video I found on YouTube.com that was taken on one of these night missions. It shows how members of SAR treat the sores on the man’s feet and legs, and then provide him with Advil and water while he waits for the border patrol.

The Reluctant Reverend

When I recently spoke with the Rev. Robin Hoover, president of the humanitarian group Humane Borders, and pastor of the First Christian Church in Tucson, Ariz., he was definitely nice– there’s really no denying that.

I guess I’ve just got to stop assuming that people will match what I think they will be, or act like. For instance with Hoover, I pictured what many heads of churches are like–charismatic, inviting, warm, and for the most part, talkative.

Hoover was just the opposite.

With a down to business nature that seemed more curt than quaint, Hoover, who has a Ph.D in political science and has written a paper on vigilantism, was more than disinterested in talking about “vigilantes” such as the Minutemen.

I found this really interesting, especially since in the past he has been grouped with Isabel Garcia and Jennifer Allen’s groups that so strongly oppose the border. Instead, it seemed that the reverend’s approach was that, if he simply refused to talk much about the Minutemen and the other vigilante groups, they would eventually go away.

I’ve got to hand it to him, practices like putting the bad child  in a corner and ignoring them often worked in kindergarten, so maybe this new approach will eventually have some effects too?

Click here to hear more on what Hoover thinks about other border issues.

Profile of a Minuteman: Jeff of Buckeye

Back at September’s muster, I hadn’t even properly met Jeff, 52,  before I could gather what a character he was going to be.

With a loud laugh that rumbled through the camp like I’d imagine Santa Claus’ would sound like, my first impression was watching him hold his sides in pain from chuckling how my photographer and I had barely missed a humongous rattlesnake slithering across the path just a moment before.

Dressed in light washed Wrangler jeans complete with gun holsters at his side, a straw cowboy hat, boots, and a t-shirt emblazoned with a Minuteman logo, Jeff had the mannerisms of a cowboy and the attitude of a new puppy. Immediately, he became enamored with why we were at the camp, and jokingly insisted that my photographer take his picture, posed with his guns of course, so that the public wouldn’t be disappointed by the group’s lack of vigilantism.

An Arizona native living on the outskirts of Buckeye, Jeff said he drove all the way to Tombstone to sign up for the group on opening day back in April of 2005. After serving in the army’s special forces, Jeff said he’d never been “much of a joiner” since his stint in the military until the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. Since joining, he said he’s attended four musters a year.

But although many of the volunteers attend musters frequently, Jeff said he has to scrimp and save and plan far in advance to come. Jeff explained that with his wife being an invalid who spends every night on a dialysis machine and who has had a brain annurism and two strokes this year alone, it’s really hard to leave– even for a good cause.

“My wife’s 100 percent behind me because she knows we’ve got more people coming through our state than even California,” he said. “We pay money into the health care system with the taxes that they (illegal immigrants) then use, and it’s really killing us.”

But even as a delivery truck driver, a job that is being filled rapidly by cheaper laborers, Jeff said he doesn’t hate the immigrants– or even the competition they give him.

“As a regular, working guy, I don’t mind the competition as long as it’s even,” he said. “They’re just tired people trying to do better–I get that. I don’t hate these people. But, it’s not too much to just fill out the forms (to get into the country legally).”

“They aren’t the first vigilantes, and they won’t be the last”

Jennifer Allen of Border Action Network

Jennifer Allen said she is sick of the publicity stunts and over-blown egos that come with the Minutemen and other civilian vigilante groups “patrolling” the border.

On Thursday I got to interview Allen, the founder of the Tucson-based organization  Border Action Network, that works with immigrant and border communities in southern Arizona to ensure that their rights are respected. She is a prominent player in the illegal immigration controversy, and has joined ranks with other border rights crusaders like Isabel Garcia whenever possible to speak out against civilian patrol groups like the Minutemen.

“With their pro-military attitude and garb, they’ve created a chaotic environment down there,” she said. “They are only thinking about the short term, not the long term effects of what they’re doing, which only shows their ignorance and how little they know about the circumstances surrounding this issue.”

Unlike Garcia, I was extremely pleased that Allen was more than willing to talk specifics about allegations against the group and other ones like it. One of the common accusations made by anti-Minutemen groups in the past has been that the group mistreats the immigrants they find in the desert, and in many cases severely abuse these people. Where I got hung up, was until I talked with Allen, I couldn’t find any specific documented instances to substantiate these claims.

Allen pointed me to a petition put together by people who claimed they have been wrongfully detained or hurt by vigilante groups, which can be found on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ Web site. She said that more than 1,000 people had signed the petition, citing abuses done to them by vigilante groups like the Minutemen, even though the majority were from other groups. The only problem, is that when I looked for this petition, I either overlooked it or it was no where to be found.

Something I found really interesting, however, is that although Allen said that vigilante groups were responsible for many of the human rights violations, a report put out by her organization in 2007 shows vigilante groups are only responsible for about 1 percent: abuse_documentation_2007

This is definitely something new to think about.

And the Drama Continues

As of now, I feel like I have lost the key to door of the Minutemen organization. Without my even knowing it, my photographer and I have seem to have become exiled.

Last week I spoke to Chris Simcox by phone after I had recieved an email from Executive Director Al Garza that, in not so many words, told me I was no longer welcome to come out to any more of the organization’s musters. I only have my own assumptions as to what happened.

Simcox had told me to sit tight for a few days–and give him till Wednesday–to provide a few days to let things cool off with his state and executive directors and hopefully talk them into letting us go this weekend afterall. But after Wednesday came around and I hadn’t gotten any answers, I gave him a call in the morning and left him a voicemail. Then the late afternoon rolled around–still no callback– and I called again, with no answer.

Even though Simcox has been really good about answering his phone in the past, I know he’s a busy man, and I didn’t want to seem too impatient. That is, until Thursday around 4 p.m. — when he STILL didn’t call! This morning I decided to call for the last time and left him voicemail, but I still haven’t heard back from him. Am I being ignored by him now, too?

There’s one thing that has really got me thinking about the group and it’s inner-workings though, and that’s what Simcox told me on the phone last Thursday:

“If we can’t have you come out this weekend, I’ll do my best to make it happen the following weekend when Gene, (the state director), isn’t there. That way I won’t be stepping on his toes or making him feel like I’m dismissing his authority,” he had said.

What does this kind of statement say about the founder and his two other authorities of the group? I thought about that for a while, really mulling it over. To me, this is an interesting depiction of what little respect each of these guys have for one another– having the state director throw a fit to override the founder’s authority,  then Simcox saying that he was willing to go behind his back to accommodate us, and the executive director playing the middleman and spokesman for them both.

Wow, these guys not only don’t trust us–they don’t trust each other!

Shaking in their Boots

I thought my relationship with the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. was going well until the seams came loose Thursday and I realized that having your cake and eating it too doesn’t usually work out. Even though I knew dealing with a group like this as a member of the media wasn’t going to be easy, I was optimistic. Up until now I feel like I have gone out of my way to be as respectful and appreciative as possible, while still maintaining my journalistic responsibility to report.

Some of the leaders of the group have apparently thought otherwise.

In the past, MCDC has been more than willing to accommodate members of the press to accompany volunteers on night watches to observe what the group does at the border. Every high-ranking official within the group I’ve talked to, except the current Arizona state director and national executive director, had OK’d it for me as well. So when I was told that I wasn’t allowed to go on the night watch during the September muster, you can see why I was a little confused.

During my interview with founder Chris Simcox, however, he reassured me that during the upcoming October muster my photographer and I would be more than welcome to come. That was the plan for the next weekend, until I received a fishy email from the state director and national executive director telling me this:

“Dear Ms. Kendall Wright,

As MCDC executive director, it is my duty to ensure the safety of all volunteers as well as guests through the efforts of sensible, intelligent, and strong leadership.

Our Arizona chapter has proven time and again, to have met all media requests while instilling safety as part of that commitment. I believe we have accomplished that and much more in accommodating your requests.

You have interviewed Chris Simcox, myself, Gene Cafarelli, and numerous others while visiting our muster. Given the nature and perils that have intensified at our current border watch location, I find it imperative to postpone your upcoming visit this Saturday to attend a night  border watch. This decision comes after much thought in terms of safety for you, your companion , and of course, our volunteers.”

Something seemed really off about this to me, and that’s when I called Simcox and found out that my photographer and I had seemingly made some waves within the group’s authority the last time we had met. According to Simcox, the state director complained about our prescence during the September muster and said we violated people’s privacy, had questioned his authority, and shown disrespect.

That’s not how I remembered it.

But if there’s one thing for certain, it’s not that these men are good or bad– it’s that they’re certainly scared of something.

From Nobody to Somebody

Something about Simcox seems really fishy– and I’m not sure if it’s him or the news outlets that have created this underlying stench. After my 2-hour interview with him, I went home and reflected on the man I had just met. Sure, he  definitely seemed to have an underlying arrogance about him and a hunger to drive his point about immigration home, but he wasn’t nearly the monster the stories make him out to be– right?

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of articles on Web sites such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights law firm known for its tolerance education programs and legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups, and have begun questioning what I really know about the Simcox.  Afterall, this was the guy they referred to as a “failed actor” until his he took a starring role in the immigration debate.

While, the man I had talked with didn’t seem to be the mentally unstable extremist that one article made him out to be, the article was very convincing. For example, court records revealed that Simcox’s second ex-wife, Kim Dunbar, filed an emergency appeal in September 2001 to obtain full custody of their teenage son, after she is quoted as saying she was afraid he’d suffered a mental breakdown and was dangerous, (she said he’d threatened to kill himself with a knife in their kitchen and destroyed furniture).

After reading these articles, I’ve started to question whether my perception about Chris Simcox is correct, or if he is so skilled in dealing with the media that I’ve somehow been duped? I believe the old saying that goes ‘don’t believe everything you read or see,’ but many of these articles include views from people who have known Simcox fairly intimately, which makes it hard for me to disbelieve them. Once again, I am finding it extremely difficult not to jump to the conclusions I am so desperate to find!

The Leader of the Other Pack

Have you ever felt like you’ve heard it all before? Like you have been stuck in a room with a movie running on repeat for weeks on end? That’s how I’ve been feeling lately.

Working on my first in-depth project, I think I really understand now how authors can get sucked into their stories– where they begin to breathe, eat and sleep whatever they’re writing about. Before this I never thought that old men dressed in camo and lounging in lawn chairs would become literally the stuff of my dreams, believe me.

I guess that’s why I am so excited for tomorrow’s interview with Isabel Garcia, a Pima County attorney who works with the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, ( The Human Rights Coalition), and is probably one of the most outspoken opponents to the MCDC movement. This interview will certainly provide me with a new twist to my story, especially since she seems like a colorful character to interview. Well, maybe not colorful in the quirky or funny way, but in her relentless passion against anything that she feels is harming, stereotyping or subjecting immigrants to unfair treatment.

Even while I haven’t interviewed Garcia yet, I can already tell from what I have read and seen that she is just as strong a proponent of her cause as Simcox is of closing the borders– and also as controversial. Here in Arizona, Garcia has not only been outspoken about the problems the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. is causing, but also Sheriff Joe Arpaio. In one of the most recent incidents, she led a protest outside a bookstore in Tucson where people hit a pinata resembling the Sheriff.

Garcia is shown here holding the pinata head of the Sheriff– only resulting in added controversies to those that were already swirling about her.

I know she calls Simcox crazy, but is there any way these two could really be two sides to the same coin? This should be fun…

Meeting the Man Behind the Curtain

On Monday, I felt how Dorothy must have felt when she and her friends arrived outside the gates of the all-powerful Wizard of Oz. The anticipation that they must have felt, wondering whether he would really provide them with what they were seeking, is how I felt while I waited for Chris Simcox, founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. at Cactus park in Scottsdale.

Since I first started researching MCDC, Simcox has seemed to be the subject of all the talk– the man behind the curtain, if you will. With the media and the public, he’s been extremely controversial– characterized to be anything and everything from a racist, a redneck, a white supremacist, and pretty much a nationalist kook. Within his organization, however, he’s been put on a pedestal and praised for his patriotism. As with anything, I knew things wouldn’t be black and white; that both sides would probably have a little truth to them that would be up to me to find out.

Another thing you should know though, is that Simcox is an extremely busy guy who is hard to get a hold of. Basically, unless you go through all the watchdogs under him or personally know someone in the organization, you won’t even find a contact email for him on the MCDC Web site.

So when I finally got my interview with Simcox at a park in Scottsdale, I felt the most anxious before an interview that I had been throughout this whole process. I was about to meet the man behind it all, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he would really be like–but more importantly, if I would get the answers to questions I’d had since the beginning.

Just like Dorothy’s shock at finally meeting the Wizard of Oz, Simcox proved to be so different from the force I had imagined. Shorter, leaner and more laid back that I was expecting, he showed up wearing jeans, a plain black t-shirt and a cap that read something like “American Patriot.”

This was him?! He didn’t even have two heads or horns! I guess it wasn’t as easy to put him into a nice little box as I would have thought.