Utah Minutemen Head South to Protect More than Just the Border

by Chelsea Warren - 14 Oct 2008

Modern-day Minutemen call Utahns to action and rally people to defend the U.S. border.

The Utah Minuteman Project, an organization of Utah citizens dedicated to protecting the U.S. against illegal immigration, prepares to travel to the Arizona/ Mexico border this weekend to help local border watch groups on patrol.
Utah State House Representatives Stephen Sandstrom (R-Orem) and Chris Herrod (R-Provo) will accompany them.
Eli Cawley, chairman of the board of the UMP, stressed the importance of this event, which is known as a muster, in supporting border watch organizations.
"It is important for us to be aware and to lend a hand," Cawley said.
The Minutemen go down twice a year, in April and October, to help watch the border and receive first-hand education on the issues of border control.
Participants in this event pay their own way, which has an estimated cost between $600 and $1,200. Five-time muster participant Norm Davis said the financial contribution is "no small commitment."
Muster members lend their eyes and ears to border patrol members to cover the wide stretches of desert terrain.
"We provide support as observers for these agents covering 15-20 mile stretches," said Davis, the elected chairman of standing subcommittees for UMP.
Minuteman participation in these musters has drawn criticism from several community groups, including officials in Arizona border patrol.
"We do not support what the Minutemen do and they are not invited to our musters," said Mario Escalante, public affairs officer for the Tucson sector of the U.S. border patrol. "Not only do we have to worry about someone smuggling people or dope across the border, but you have to worry about this civilian putting themselves in harm's way. It makes our job that much more difficult."
Davis said the participants act only as observers and do not participate in the dangerous aspects of suspect apprehension.
Community member Alex Segura founded the Utah Minuteman Project in response to the increased frequency of illegal immigration and its effects on the community, Cawley said.
"This organization is important for people to know about because we are one of the only ones battling for our language, culture and borders for our children and grandchildren," Cawley said. "People say 'diversity this' or 'compassion that,' but it comes down to battling for our nation."
The UMP board of directors comprises Hispanic and other non-white members, which Cawley said defies any ideas that they might be a prejudice-based group.
"La Raza y MIChA say we are terrible monsters and racists," Davis said. "We love Mexican people; we just don't want illegals in our country."
University of Utah MIChA organization member Denise Cantaeda said she personally understands the Minuteman reasoning for going to the border, but that the work is better left to trained professionals.
The forefront issue in illegal immigration is not one of race, Davis said, but one of respecting the law and going about appropriate channels to obtain entry into the U.S.
"I have family members from China and Germany who paid thousands of dollars to get a green card legally," Davis said. "They respected the law and sacrificed to get here."
http://nn.byu.edu/story.cfm/69806

Governors denounce Chaffetz's 'tent cities' idea

PROVO — Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have distanced themselves from Jason Chaffetz's claim that his idea to detain illegal immigrants in tent cities surrounded by barbed-wire fences came from the Western Governors' Association.
Chaffetz, the Republican nominee for Utah's 3rd District seat in the U.S. House, only regrets using the word "tent."
Chaffetz has been under fire lately for his position that illegal immigrants who have committed crimes should be held in tent cities surrounded by barbed-wire fences. His immigration policy also would detain undocumented immigrants in those facilities if they don't return to their countries of origin.
Chaffetz tied his idea to a proposal by the WGA, which includes Huntsman, who is his former boss, and Richardson.
"What did (Sheriff) Joe Arpaio do in Maricopa County (Arizona)?" Chaffetz said at the state Republican convention. "He put up tents. He put barbed wire around them. Now this isn't some wild Jason Chaffetz plan, this is a concurrent resolution — a joint resolution — between Republican and Democratic governors."
Huntsman, who has endorsed Chaffetz, recently told radio journalist Doug Fabrizio that Chaffetz's suggestion of a tent city was "extreme" and different from the WGA proposal.
"I heard somebody reference the Western Governors' model," Huntsman said on the live broadcast. "I was involved with drafting that with (Arizona Gov.) Janet Napolitano. We talked about a regional correctional facility to handle some of the overload that the states can't handle. Nobody talked about tent cities with barbed-wire fences around (them)."
Richardson, a Democrat, went further.
"Mr. Chaffetz's immigration proposal is offensive and inhumane and should be rejected out of hand," Richardson said. "His statements do nothing more than add more of the same divisive political rhetoric that incites confrontation and does not solve the problem, and is not what the Western Governors' Association supports."
Chaffetz said Thursday his idea is simply a cheaper alternative to the WGA's call for federal correctional facilities in the West.
"We agree on the need and the function if not the form," Chaffetz said. "I recognize the word 'tent' is sensational."
Chaffetz said a company in the 3rd District, Sprung, makes quality tents for the military and correctional facilities that are a far cry from those available at Cabela's. Images of the tents can be found at sprung.com by clicking on "Industry Gallery" near the bottom of the home page and then clicking on "Correctional Facilities."
"These tents are being used in Idaho, Florida, Texas, Hawaii and even in Washington County," Chaffetz said. "I keep getting tripped up by the word 'tent.' I could do better if I called them eco-friendly, highly portable, innovative structures."
Chaffetz continued Thursday to blame the ongoing controversy on misrepresentations from his Democratic opponent, Bennion Spencer, whose staff sent a letter to the WGA requesting a response to Chaffetz's plan.
Spencer was quoted in an Associated Press story saying that Chaffetz would put people "in a tent city because of their ethnic persuasion."
"I've never taken the position I want to round everybody up based on ethnicity and throw them in a tent city," Chaffetz said. "That's a complete fabrication and a lie. If someone said we should, I'd get whipped up over it, too. That's irresponsible. Fortunately, I've never taken that position."
Spencer continued to say Thursday that Chaffetz's plan is offensive, calling it racial profiling. Now, he said, the issue is helping him raise money. The AP story was published around the country and led to radio appearances by Spencer that he said prompted donations.
"When my financial disclosures come out you'll see donations from Florida, New Jersey, Missouri," Spencer said. "People have heard me on the radio, and they're sickened by his immigration position. They go online and give me money. They go, 'Stop the Nazi.'"

© 2008 Deseret News Publishing Company All rights reserved
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700265411,00.html?pg=2

Immigration Contributing to Economic Crisis, Experts Say

FAIR-Washington

With American financial markets facing severe crises meriting intervention from the federal government, several experts have recently argued that granting subprime mortgages to immigrants - both legal and illegal - have played a role in bringing about the current economic decline. During "the boom years," many immigrants took out high-interest fixed-rate loans or subprime mortgages with a low entry rate that later rose sharply in order to buy homes in the United States that they could barely afford. (Reuters, January 30, 2008)
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) pointed out in April of last year that recent immigrants often turn to subprime lenders for several reasons. (USA Today, April 25, 2007) According to NCLR, 35% of Hispanic families do not have checking accounts. Furthermore, recent immigrants typically do not have credit histories and are more likely to have undocumented income. This in turn causes immigrants to seek out lenders who do not require income verification. Additionally, subprime lenders have been supported by politicians and community organizations wishing to promote minority homeownership. The subprime crisis led NCLR last year to call for a moratorium on subprime home foreclosures. (Id.)
Subprime loans have been instrumental in bringing about a recent fourfold increase in home foreclosures in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. (Cape Cod Online, July 3, 2007) Pam Parker, a mortgage prevention counselor at the Housing Assistance Corporation in Barnstable County, observed that many immigrants had taken these loans "because they don't know our language and they don't know our culture." (Id.) In 15 San Diego County, California zip codes - where home values have fallen as much as 40% - roughly 45% of home loans granted in 2005 and 2006 were subprime. (The San Diego Union-Tribune, July 20, 2008) According to Gabe del Rio, vice president of lending and homeownership at San Diego-based Community HousingWorks, many of the individuals who come to his agency for financial counseling are recent immigrants who spoke little English and did not understand the terms of their subprime loans. (Id.)

***UMP PRESS RELEASE***

October 1, 2008
Contact: Alex Segura

Since April 2005 members of the Utah Minuteman Project have been involved performing border patrols to subsidize the work of the U.S. Border Patrol.
Our patrols provide any extra set of ears and eyes as well as a voice to help the border patrol and their officers who serve as our country’s first line of defense to keep unauthorized people and cargo from entering into the United States.
We have planned yet another trip to the Arizona Mexico border October 18th to the 20th. We will work in conjunction with the local border watch groups to help patrol in the capacity of neighborhood watch volunteers.
This year a Republican member of the House of Representatives Stephen Sandstrom from District 58 has enlisted us to assist him during this October’s eighth border watch event.
He has also invited Rep. Chris Herrod from District 62 a Republican to join in the October event and he has accepted.They will be joined by Utah Minuteman Project Founder Alex Segura and Director Eli Cawley.
House members will inspect the new fencing, patrol the Arizona Mexico border both during the night and day, will be actively involved in meeting with local residents who live along the border fence, with Tucson sector border patrol officers, Tucson sector legislators as well as with local law enforcement personal.
This trip is planed as a way to have members of the Utah legislature directly involved in the everyday lives of the people who live and work on the border and what they endure.
There are also the indirect effects of Utah laws that encourage illegal immigration from Mexico through Arizona and its ill effects on Arizona as a result, even in the face of Arizona’s new get tough law.
Our hope is to have the House Members bring back their experience and pass it along to their counterparts in the legislature as a guide to understand the effects of the immigration laws they draft here have on other bordering states and their citizens.