Financial Ties Questions

Finding out about how the Minutemen Civil Defense Corp. runs their finances is a complex process that could lose anyone.

In fact, that’s why most of the members I’ve talked to have no idea where the money they donate goes after they write their check– making comments like, “We have to put our trust in them that they are putting it, (the donations), towards the right things,” one volunteer during the September muster told me.

On their Web site, MCDC states that the Minutemen Border Fence Project to which people donate is:

“… a project of the Declaration Alliance — a public policy and issues advocacy organization that aggressively addresses the intensifying assaults that the American Republic continues to endure — at home, and abroad. Declaration Alliance is a 501(c)(4) not-for-profit, tax exempt organization.”

Also, the organization has an IRS 990 form from 2006 available for their non-profit, Minutemen Foundation, Inc., which is where all the donations are apparently funneled.

But my questions come in the same form as ex-members such as former Arizona Chapter Director Stacey O’Connell and others asked before they were terminated by Chris Simcox. On the 2006 990 IRS form, there was a total of $87,500 claimed. This left an additional $177,599, (give or take $177, 559), unaccounted for if you know that one volunteer named Jim Campbell from Fountain Hills, Ariz. gave a donation of about $100,000 alone.

Here is a link to view the IRS 990 filing from the Minuteman Foundation, Inc., as well as an article by the Washington Times that may shed a little more light on the situation.

It makes me feel uneasy to know that many of the volunteers don’t know how they’re donations are handled in great detail. In all, this has left some pretty big questions unanswered, and proven much more complex a situation than I had thought.

In the Gray

Just as we all know that everything isn’t black or white, neither can every member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corp. be classified as either good or bad.

While Simcox and the other leaders have shown that they aren’t always upfront about how they run their organization, I don’t think it is fair for the general volunteers be labeled with the same negativity.

Many of the volunteers in the MCDC join and serve because they truly want a better, more free America– and are willing to dedicate ther time and effort to make sure that happens. I don’t think that’s bad, or it makes them bad. It’s just another example of how diverse groups of thinkers can have differences and be accepted in this country.

So when Simcox claims that I came into this project with a bias, and that I will “do a hit piece on us (them) like all the rest and it will make no difference,” unfortunately he and the rest of the MCDC leadership made an unfortunate mistake in judgement. Although they still would never believe it, I probably gave them the biggest chance to prove wrong what the rest of the media has been saying about them since the beginning of my project.

It’s unfortunate that a few bad apples can ruin the whole barrel to the public who perceive them. I understand this, and think others should take that into account as well.

Guilty by association

Apparently I have horns, or breathe fire– because the leadership of the MCDC seem to be running scared.

This weekend’s muster didn’t work out– again– but I’m not that surprised at it falling through. Instead, I’m incredibly shocked at the treatment I recieved by Simcox and the other leaders of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. following the e-mail I sent to Garza and copied the others on after he requested me not go this weekend.

Up until this point, I knew most of the leadership wasn’t fond of me, but I had mistakenly thought  Simcox at least agreed that, as a journalist, I was entitled to attend the muster like all other press. I was dead wrong.

Barely 15 minutes after copying Simcox on the e-mail, I received one of the nastiest replies I have ever received. Although it upset me on a personal level at first, it revealed the founder’s ugly side, and lead me to the conclusion I had been trying to avoid up until this point– Simcox is the king of manipultators in his organization, drowned in paranoia that everyone is out to get him.

Here is what he wrote me, his e-mail written to look like I was copied by “accident”:

“Guys,

I respected Gene’s wishes and did not have Kendall attend musters – his decision, his edict.

Gene, now that you have stepped away I just wanted to give the young lady what she wants- I gave permission to Kendall to sit the line and freeze her ass off with the rest of us. We have nothing to hide. I know she has been a conniving little pain in the butt, but then most liberal art college so-called journalists are the same way, even the 20 something reporter from the Ukraine we spoke with this week was a flaming liberal – so what. She will do a hit piece on us like all the rest and it will make no difference – we are winning this fight for law and order and to fix our broken borders and our broken immigration system.

She is after me and wants to create this situation to see how I will react – she wants as many people as possible to criticize me from inside the organization – this goes much bigger in scope but considering she is working with Stacey O’Connell, well that ruins her credibility with me, but then it’s my credibility that she’s after.

I try and keep things simple and move on to the next problem.

We don’t need this friction.

If you guys feel so strongly that she be banned then we will deal with how she spins it.

If we let her go on the line – we will deal with how she spins it – we are damned no matter what we do -so I will stand behind your decision.

I pretty much feel the whole thing is ridiculous and not worth any more of our time.

Chris Simcox”

I thought the reaction Simcox had was especially interesting, however, because from the beginning of this project I have tried my hardest not to automatically believe what articles written in the past have said. Instead, I have tried to give every Minuteman the benefit of the doubt as much as possible.

And while Simcox and the others feel that associating with former Minutemen like Stacey O’Connell makes me discreditable, trying to get both sides of the story is what any journalist should do– and well, his reaction just lets me know that I am doing my job!

Profile of a Minuteman: Preston of Oklahoma

As the stub of his cigar burned steadily, the thick white smoke that wafted my way delved me into the comfortable old memories of an America as Preston had known it. This is a nostalgia for a place where he said he remembered people had had values and morals, and a dedication to serve in order to keep their country safe– a quality he feels has been lost over the years.

“Most of our members just love America,” he said. “They’re not doing this because of personal reasons, but just because they remember what America used to be like. It was a different place then, and the values got lost in the shuffle. Now it’s just out of control.”

A retired parol officer and a Vietnam veteran with degrees in Criminal Justice and Ethics , Preston is the state director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corp. in Oklahoma who traveled to King’s Anvil Ranch for the September muster. With an air of grand-fatherly wisdom, albeit arrogance, Preston explained that he felt first compelled to join the group when he began noticing the government had failed in “taking a stand on our southern borders.”

Since then, he said witnessing the mistreatment of the illegal immigrants by their coyotes has only encourages his opinion that the group is taking the right actions on the border.

“It’s so sad that these people are being victimized and in many cases, turned into slaves,” he said. “What upsets me, is that more people need to wake up and get involved to end some of this chaos.”

An Outsider’s View

This past Friday, Oct. 31, I got a chance to talk with Dr. Victoria Phillips, a social psychology professor from Arizona State University. At first, I hadn’t even thought of interviewing a social psychologist about MCDC, but when it was suggested to me by my professor, I thought it was a great idea that would give me a little insight into the motivations of the volunteers that are part of the organization.

Although Dr. Phillips only had basic knowledge about MCDC and their role on the Arizona border, I filled her in on what I had observed about the group, specifically in how they interacted with each other and me, (as the media).

Just with any group, Dr. Phillips said that the MCDC volunteers  have probably always held a similar viewpoint about immigration that they do now–developing stronger, however, when they joined a group with other like-minded people. The main thing that stuck out from what she said though, was the underlying reason the group has lasted.

She said she believed that the individuals were not motivated primarily by their urge to follow the laws, as they insist, but instead by their innate fear of losing control over the environment around them.

Made up of mostly military-trained senior citizens, she said that it is most likely after chaos of 9/11, that creating this group was a way that these people could find a way of at least controlling their own environment–and ultimately finding a focused purpose again.

This was an angle that I had thought about before, but I found it was even more interesting to hear it coming from a professional outsider.

This is a funny Farside comic I found that parodies MCDC

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.

Terms Related to the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. You May Want to Know

After talking to my adviser for this project, it was brought to my attention that many people are completely unaware of the meaning behind some of the terms used regularly in describing the  Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. Like anything, it’s often the easiest to understand something when you know the history and structure behind something. So here it is — a complete breakdown of what I’ve learned about MCDC in the short three or so months I have been reading and interviewing the group:

The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. is a non-profit, anti-illegal immigration group dedicated to securing U.S. borders. The group was started by former California elementary school teacher Chris Simcox after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 in April of 2005, and is still the current leader. In an effort to secure the borders, thousands of Americans have joined the ranks of MCDC with their lawn chairs and binoculars to be what they have called ‘the eyes and ears’ of the nation.

Although the group carries weapons when they watch the border during “muster” weekends, all of the group’s officials have been clear to explain that it is only for the safety of their members and are never actually used unless in fear for their life. So far, I have not found any incidents of MCDC members abusing this priveledge.

During one of these watches, if a volunteer sees an illegal immigrant they are instructed not to talk with the person, but to provide water and food if needed and then call the border patrol. Although the group has been labeled by many as “racists” and “vigilantes,” they maintain that their mission is not about hating immigrants, but highlighting the federal government’s insufficient protection of the borders and the problems illegal immigration has caused within the U.S.

Terms:

Muster - the weekend or sometimes weekly border watches that are held on private owner’s ranches that back up to the Mexican border.

SOP- this stands for ‘Standard Operating Procedures,’ which must be followed by all MCDC volunteers during a muster. Below is a link:

http://www.minutemanhq.com/hq/sop.php

SARS - this stands for Search and Rescue; a part of the group dedicated to searching for illegal immigrants who may be in need of desperate help in the desert.

Minuteman Project- an organization started by Jim Gilchrist to monitor the flow of illegal immigrants across the southern border and bring light to the issue in the federal and state governments. Gilchrist was at one time associated with Simcox’s organization, but split in 2005 to form his own group after tensions among the leaders.

Sector - this is a pre-determined area, usually two to three miles long that a pair of volunteers will monitor during a shift within a muster. Sectors are generally  along a road, sometimes called “the line.”

Station - this is a home base or post that a pair of volunteers will stay at during a shift.

Chain of Command is as follows: Chapter Leader, Operations Officer, Media Coordinator, Communications, Sector Chiefs,  Shift Leaders, Volunteers.