MINUTEMEN URGE CITIZENS TO DEMAND BORDER SECURITY REMAIN A CONGRESSIONAL PRIORITY THIS YEAR
PHOENIX, AZ—In response to reports in today’s Washington Times Newspaper, that Congressional Democrats will wait at least six years before attempting to address our nation’s border security crisis, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) urge all citizens to call their Congressman and demand that border security remain a priority in this year’s Congressional session. While last month’s Senate vote proves that amnesty will not be tolerated by American voters, the Minutemen applaud the efforts of Congressman Lamar Smith (R-RX), Peter King (R-NY) and Brian Bilbray (R-CA) for taking the initiative through House Resolution 499 to enforce provisions of the 2006 Secure Fence Act and are actively encouraging citizens to call, e-mail and fax their support for this House resolution rather than taking the apathetic approach underway by Congressman Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL) and other members of the Democratic Leadership.
“I call upon the Democrats in Congress who campaigned to secure the borders to repudiate Representative Emmanuel’s statement and resolve the border security crisis now, not in six years,” states Chris Simcox, MCDC Founder and President. “We will continue to remind them and their constituents of this clear and present danger, until our borders are secured.”
When the Senate attempted to ramrod its ill-considered amnesty legislation last month, Minutemen flooded Capitol Hill with office visits, phone calls and over three million faxes to shut it down. MCDC will now encourage citizens to demonstrate their support for the Congressmen advancing Border Security First, and to question any Representatives who are not publicly advocating for passage of House Resolution 499 rather than waiting years to secure our nation’s porous borders.
Currently, the Minuteman message of “border security first” has provided a growing impetus for the creation of 92 MCDC nationally-sponsored chapters, organized at the state and local levels.
MCDC has been stalwart in advocating that border security be implemented immediately with funds already allocated to the Department of Homeland Security’s treasury through the 2006 Secure Fence Act. MCDC has rejected numerous Bush administration and Congressional calls for massive spending from hypothetical billions of new dollars for unproven “virtual” border security in exchange for amnesty programs.
Unlike the U.S. government, the Minutemen have already been implementing a plan for border security that is more than “virtual” and that includes an effective material barrier—by volunteering 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. To educate the public and force federal government attention to the realities of border security, Minuteman volunteers have taken steps to build this fence along the border utilizing state of the art technology with 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, and recently featured in National Geographic magazine.
Simcox concludes, “If we wait to solve this problem, our country will be overrun by drug dealers, terrorists and thugs who can’t be stopped or apprehended. This apathetic approach to border security dictates the need for a resounding moral outrage by all citizens.”
