MINUTEMEN ANNOUNCE OPERATION “STAND YOUR GROUND” AT PRESS CONFERENCE
27 March 2007
PHOENIX,AZ—This afternoon, Chris Simcox, founder and President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), along with MCDC Phoenix Area Director Don Goldwater held a press conference in Wesley Bowling Park to announce the MCDC bi-annual thirty day border watch operation, as a message to the nation entitled “Stand Your Ground.” The border operations are scheduled for the entire month of April and over 3,500 Minutemen volunteers from around the country will participate in the border muster organized throughout the states of California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, New York and New Hampshire.
“Unfortunately, our nation’s border remains under siege by drug cartels, human smugglers, violent criminals and arms dealers,” stated Chris Simcox, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President. “Field agents and supervisors of the United States Border Patrol, as well as ordinary fellow citizens, continue to praise the work of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and have encouraged us to continue our operations in order to shed light on the situation that President Bush and the Congress refuse to recognize.”
Currently, the Minuteman message of “border security first” has provided growing impetus for the creation of 78 chapters organized nationally at the state and local levels. MCDC border monitoring activities have led to the apprehension of over 13, 466 illegal entrants since October 2002, and have provided life-saving aid to over 286 illegal entrants. History has shown that April and October are the busiest times of the year for both illegal crossings and drug trafficking, which the Minuteman observe and report to U.S. Border Patrol agents along the frontier.
Minutemen volunteers will monitor over 800 miles of our nation’s border during the bi-annual, thirty day national muster that is designed to reduce the illegal crossings and drug trafficking that have also surged with the recent talk of political “amnesty” for illegal entrants. Reduced crossings will save lives, and reduce Americans’ tax dollars from being exploited by illegal aliens who seek use of our nation’s social services.
In addition to border monitoring efforts, the Minutemen continue to volunteer their time, energy and personal funds in order to build highly effective demonstration security fencing on private ranch land, expensed through private donations obtained from thousands of citizens nationally. Minuteman volunteers have taken steps to build fence along the border utilizing the fiber optic mesh produced by FOMGuard, USA, also currently in use on U.S. military installations, the DMZ in Korea and the West Bank in Israel.
Simcox continued, “It remains the duty of the citizens of the United States to remain vigilant and voice concern about our unsecured borders. The first step in reforming our broken border security and immigration system is to demand our frontiers be secured, and the laws of this nation strictly enforced.”
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) is a peaceful, law-abiding and citizen-led initiative organized to stand watch at our borders and in our neighborhoods, report illegal activities to the proper authorities, and build border fencing on private lands using private donations. Additionally, MCDC seeks to urge local and federal officials to enforce our immigration laws in order to keep our families and country safe. MCDC conducts border watch operations that assist the activities of the U.S. Border Patrol, reports employers of illegal aliens, and advocates to keeps tax dollars from being used for illegal alien benefits.
