Since the start of this month I've been in Three Points, Arizona, west of Tucson by a good thirty-five miles. I've been volunteering as a legal observer of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a group that monitors for undocumented immigrants crossing through Arizona's southern deserts. For those reading along from Arizona State, a former alum, Ray Ybarra, is directing the legal observer efforts as a fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union (A.C.L.U.). He's a great person to learn from.
Three Points is a very strategic, intelligent spot for the Minutemen to patrol. It's a major corridor for migrant traffic, and it's far enough north of the border that the Mexican human rights arm, Grupo Beta, isn't making as extensive an effort at redirecting crossers away from the Minutemen as they did last year. At least that's the rumor. In any case, thus far the Minutemen have reported sightings of a thousand-plus migrants, and roughly a third of that number in apprehensions.
I'm inclined to believe that their numbers are inflated, judging from the chatter--or therefore lack of--on their radios. Spotting fifty-plus migrants is possible, although highly improbable. I'd venture to say that they're spotting closer to thirty.
For the last two days, the Minutmen have dropped from three full-time shifts to one afternoon shift. Their number of volunteers have decreased as well, from a peak of thirty on either morning (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) or evening (4 p.m. to midnight) patrols to roughly fifteen on the lone evening shift. This, however, excludes the recent arrival of the "Raging Grannies", a retired crew of women ostensibly sent out to do public relations work with local and international (Belgian, I think) press.
From what observers have told me about last year, the press is largely absent from this year's round of Minutemen patrols. The first weekend was really busy. There was a Spanish news team out, along with, of course, Fox News, serveral Indymedia groups and plenty of local stations. The one-time Minutemen line of fifty quickly shrank to around half that size. Recently, however, the founder and C.E.O. of the Minutman Civil Defense Corps., Chris Simcox, announced that the Minutemen had allied with several ranchers to erect fencing on their property at or near the border. I imagine that this will bring them some more attention in the coming weeks. Personally, I don't see that ranchers or the Minutemen will make any movement on fencing i.e. walls. At best, they might have a nominal rise in volunteer applications.
I write "applications" because the reported "thousands" of Minutemen patrolling the border are nowhere to be found. Although volunteers might apply, they remain largely absent from the actual efforts along the border. This shouldn't really come as a surprise to anybody. People sign up, but they don't always show up. This is how volunteering normally goes.
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