Minutemen

The True Intentions of Civilian “Minutemen”

A frightening video of an American civilian shooting a Mexican immigrant on the Mexico/U.S. border was posted on youtube.com recently. This civilian was identified as a member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps. Unfortunately, this organization has been reigning terror on Mexican immigrants without the public being accurately informed.

We have come to adopt the term, “Homeland Security”, as a part of our everyday vocabulary. Whenever we visit the airport, or watch George W. Bush on television, the term is subliminally seared on our minds. Our priority of threats in the United States is clearly skewed, as we show equal concern for the nuclear arms race as we do for illegal immigration. However, immigration being at our doorstep, it was inevitable for such action to take place.

The title, “Minutemen”, came about during the American Revolution. These were men, such as the infamous Paul Revere, who were patriots to their country and helped warn the colonies that the British were coming. Today, the title of minutemen has an entirely different connotation and purpose. These modernized “Minutemen”, have taken the law into their own hands. This organization has slowly been growing, and ranges from members who were former law enforcement agents to undergraduate college students. Their original claim of intent was to peacefully spread out along the U.S./Mexico border and report illegal immigrants to the border patrol agency, all in the name of patriotism. They were told by state and government officials to assemble peacefully, and not to physically detain incoming immigrants. This seemed like a good idea for the government, having unpaid civilians monitor our borders. However, situations began to escalate as numbers increased and firearms became a common accessory. The fact that Texas and Arizona are relatively lax in their gun control policies did not help either.

Some of these minutemen began emerging as influential leaders who realized that they could control the impressionable and the ignorant. They started fictitious rumors that would undoubtedly start a fire under those who could not think logically for themselves. Many of these leaders began preaching about a “La Reconquista”, a theory which contends that Mexico and Latin America, at large, are conspiring to conquer the American southwest. However, unlike some other conspiracies, the proponents of “La Reconquista” offer no piece of evidence to support their accusations other than the fact that many Latin Americans are entering into the country. The shame of it is, there are many members of this organization who actually believe such nonsense and feel a threat that doesn’t exist.

The repercussions for forming such an unorganized and misinformed group are beginning to surface. There are large Mexican crime syndicates that work in and around many border towns. Some of these such as the 18th street gang and Mara Salvatruchas have started working as insurgents rather than common street gangs. There have been reported attacks on immigrants by the Minutemen, some that happened to be relatives of these gang members. This scenario only shows signs of escalating, as both organizations possess firearms