'Minutemen' Open New Front in Fight Against Illegal

[Judi Lynn]

'Minutemen' Open New Front in Fight Against Illegal ImmigrationCitizen Group Targets Illegal Laborers Where They Work

HERNDON, Va., Nov. 2, 2005 — Opposition to the 10 million to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States is growing. A citizen's group called the Minutemen, which conducts Mexican border patrols, is heading to the nation's suburbs, where migrant workers go for work.

"I think that we as people have the right to stand up and say, 'Enough is enough. It's got to stop," said Diane Bonieskie, a Minutemen volunteer.

In Herndon, Va., for example, 15 members of the Minutemen gathered to take their war on illegal immigration to the heart of suburbia. They were armed with paper badges, walkie-talkies, digital cameras and video recorders.

The Minutemen show up where illegal immigrants wait to be picked up for day jobs. They photograph the workers and their employers and plan to give the pictures to immigration and tax officials.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1275372&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[Tesla]

1. I thought they wanted into the country for jobs, if they just wait

Bush will send all our jobs there!!!

[izzybeans]

2. The phrase toy cop comes to mind, but so does Brownshirt wannabe

Next we'll be reading about firing squads.

[LizW]

3. My question always is, how can you tell by looking

at a person that he or she is in the country illegally?

I wonder how the suburban construction companies and lawn service owners are going to react to people from outside the community coming in and taking their pictures and threatening to send the to tax officials?

[amandabeech]

5. It's pretty clear that these are local Minutemen.

If you read the story closely, it is a local chapter.

[alarcojon]

14. The answer, of course, is "you can't tell"

but that won't stop racist asswipes from fucking with ME and my family.

Even some of the day laborers are legal. And do we really think they'll stop at photographing day laborers and their employers? Next stop - your local Mexican grocery store.

[hedgehog]

4. I think the Minutemen finally found the right target

The problem isn't the illegals, the problem is that the labor laws are fast becoming a sham. Minimum wage, over-time, workmen's comp etc mean nothing when your competition is the guy standing around at the 7-11. I've got nothing against illegals. They're good people and I work with them every day. I'm going to say something else that's going to make a lot of people here mad. Small contractors and small farmers are trapped by this situation as much as anyone else. When you have to fight for every contract and sell your produce to the big boys like Walmart, you can't afford to play by the rules. It's a bad situation that's killing this country and I don't know how we get out of it. At least the Minutemen are making people look at it for once instead of just driving by.

[Bridget Burke]

7. Too bad they're racists--according to the Southern Poverty Law Center

www.splcenter.org/intel/news/item.jsp?aid=13

Below is a review of "The Line in the Sand"--a documentary about the Minutemen. The review, at a progressive site, finds that racism abounds in the group. If you wish to find favorable reviews, Google will give you several options--including Stormfront.

www.onepeoplesproject.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=848&Itemid=2

(Why do they use the phrase "Line in the sand"? The only example that springs to mind is the apocryphal line drawn by Travis at the Alamo. That didn't end well.)

[endarkenment]

8. Our small farmers don't sell to walmarts

and they have a great relationship with their Jamaican 'guest workers', some of whom have been working with the farmers, family to family, for generations. Nobody else in town would do the work they are doing, it's hard work and the pay, by local standards, is not that good. Seasonal farm labor has been part of the agricultural economy for my entire life and undoubtedly goes back much longer than that. The last thing our few surviving farms need is for meddling rightwing militia wanna-bees to use their labor pool as fertilizer for their racist xenophobic nonsense.

Recognize the 'minutemen' for what they are: a rightwing militia using racism and xenophobia as an organizing tool. They are using the classic fascist tactic of exploiting working class anxiety for their own vile purposes. Don't play along.

[meegbear]

6. Would you like to send our colored cousins home again?

My friend.
All you have to do is follow the worms.

[underpants]

9. "Got me?" check out super citizen going stealth at the Amoco

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1275372


Funny-the people who LIVE THERE don't seem to mind this too much in fact they are building the workers a place to stay...and get some language classes.....etc.

This is a issue in the Va. Governor's race and guess what.....wait for it....it is being misrepresented by the Republicans. I would be shocked if this Minuteman BS wasn't in some way tied to the Kilgore campaign.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092100880.html
The Herndon Town Council voted last month to establish a center on a 12-acre site at Sterling and Rock Hill roads where as many as 150 workers could wait to be picked up for construction and other jobs. The center would be operated by Project Hope and Harmony, a social services agency, and would include such offerings as English language classes, a tool-lending service and training for the mostly Hispanic workers. The workers have congregated informally for years in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven a few miles away.

[amandabeech]

12. I'd feel a lot better about this if Project Hope and Harmony offered

the service to inner-city young black men along with transportation from their home neighborhoods to hiring sites in the suburbs.

Training in the construction trades and even remedial classes in language arts when needed could benefit them, too.

[Orrin_73]

10. I didn't know Va

bordered Mexico. :evilgrin:

[underpants]

16. It doesn't

it borders Honduras and Guatemala

Apparently

There are many aliens here....of many kinds....some even want to be Governor (there has to be SOME explanation).

[Tatiana]

11. Don't these people have anything better to do? n/t

[auburngrad82]

13. Who thinks these idiots are doing this just for attention?

Oh, oh, pick me! Pick me!

:bounce:

[underpants]

15. I'd be shocked if this wasn't tied to the Kilgore campaign

This was brought up in the debate and is featured now on negative Kilgore ads (there are no other kind) on Democrat Tim Kaine.

See my post above-the Herndon officials voted to build a center to house these workers during the day (until someone gets them for the day to work) and offer some training. Basically the LOCALS are okay with this (going on for over 20 years) but big bad Repubs are coming in and telling them what to do with their own community.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the story was-THIS IS KILGORE DOING THIS.