Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Apr 13 2005 (IPS) — The Minuteman Project, whose volunteers have been attempting to track down undocumented immigrants along the U.S.-Mexican border since the beginning of the month, is apparently a far cry from the large, aggressive and effective campaign that it had hoped to become.

But that does not mean it does not represent a dangerous phenomenon, say human rights activists.

Although the organisation claims that its volunteers have helped apprehend 268 immigrants since they began to carry out "patrols" along the border near Tombstone, Arizona in early April, U.S. and Mexican government sources deny that this is true.

The good news, said Carlos Flores, one of Mexico’s consuls in Arizona, is that Minuteman "is not what it promised to be."

The diplomat said that so far, there has only been one report of an immigrant making contact with the Minuteman volunteers.

According to Flores, three members of the group were approached by an exhausted Mexican immigrant who asked them for water and help in contacting the Border Patrol.

The Minuteman volunteers videotaped the conversation, gave the man some money, and asked him to put on a t-shirt that read "Brian Barton (the volunteer’s name) caught an illegal immigrant and all he got was this t-shirt".

The Minuteman Project, which takes its name from the New England militias that fought British forces during the 1775-1783 American Revolution, caused quite a stir after announcing that during the month of April it would patrol a 20-mile stretch of border between Arizona and the Mexican state of Sonora with more than 1,000 volunteers, most of whom were former members of the military.

In addition, the group’s web site said, at least 20 of the volunteers would patrol the border with different kinds of aircraft.

Participants were invited to "spend up to 30 days along the Arizona border as part of a blocking force against entry into the U.S. by illegal aliens," while camping out on land made available by local property owners.

They would stage day and night patrols to "spot these intruders with the aid of binoculars, telescopes, and night vision scopes, and inform the U.S. Border Patrol of the location of the trespassers so that…agents can intercept and detain them."

In Mexico, the government of President Vicente Fox, the legislature, and human rights organisations have complained loudly about the vigilante group.

But reports by Mexican and U.S. officials indicate that the Minuteman volunteers actually number less than 100, and are mainly retirees, who have neither planes nor helicopters.

The vigilantes basically spend their days sitting around in their camp, chatting and playing cards. The few guns they have are put away nearly all of the time, say the reports.

Nahyeli Mendivil, director of operations for the Border Action Network, a Tucson, Arizona-based immigrant advocacy group, commented to IPS by telephone that Minuteman is a threat "because of what could happen in an extreme case, rather than due to its real dimensions."

Although the volunteers are a small group, one of them could lose control and cause a tragedy, by shooting an immigrant, for example, said Mendivil.

Moreover, the group’s message – that foreign nationals must be blocked at all costs from entering the country – is merely based on xenophobia, which is simply unacceptable, said the activist.

According to official statistics, nearly half of the just over one million Mexicans apprehended by the Border Patrol in 2004 entered the country over the Arizona border.

Border Patrol spokesman Salvador Zamora said that while it was possible that Minuteman could cause trouble, so far the volunteers had merely been enjoying camping out together.

With respect to the detentions in which the group claims to have participated, Zamora said the immigrants were apprehended by Border Patrol agents with no participation by the Minuteman volunteers.

The group’s stated intention is to help "protect our country from a 40-year-long invasion across our southern border with Mexico," and to draw attention to what it sees as the U.S. government’s failure to adequately enforce U.S. immigration laws and provide the required "manpower and funding".

"At the current rate of invasion the United States will be completely over run with ILLEGAL aliens by the year 2025," says James Gilchrist, the former U.S. Marine and Vietnam veteran who heads the Minuteman Project.

Flores, the Mexican consul, said the members of the anti-immigrant group could be arrested if they threaten anyone with their weapons.

Seven undocumented Mexican immigrants were held at gunpoint Tuesday at a freeway rest stop in Arizona by army reservist Patrick Haab, who is not a member of the Minuteman Project.

Haab was arrested by the police and will be charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Minuteman is just one of several anti-immigrant groups active along the U.S.-Mexican border. Some of the organisations, however, have less than 10 members.

Ranch Rescue, Civil Homeland Defence and American Border Patrol are among the vigilante groups sporadically active in several southern U.S. states.

The vigilantes, dressed in military fatigues or sporting cowboy boots and hats and driving SUVs or on horseback, track down undocumented immigrants in the most remote desert areas along the frontier, to turn them over to the Border Patrol.

"These groups generate tension around the migration problem, and they don’t see or don’t understand that it is a phenomenon that requires an integral solution, such as a law that would legalise the foreigners who are already in the country," said Mendivil.

Around 400,000 Mexican immigrants make it past the increasingly tight U.S. border controls every year. But more than one million fail in the attempt and are deported.

There are currently 39.9 million people of Mexican birth or descent living in the United States, including five million undocumented immigrants.

The Mexican government is pushing for the regularisation of the status of immigrants currently living in the United States, but the George W. Bush administration is only seeking a new law that would grant temporary work permits.