Boston Globe Online - Ariz. militias keep watch on border


Apparently, the "oppressive" United States continues to be a draw for folks who live in other places.

The 47-year-old father of two says his binoculars are to spot ''illegals.'' The gun is to protect himself in case he runs into trouble. The cap is to let everyone know that Americans like him are no longer willing to let Mexicans sneak in over the border.


Bouton belongs to Civil Homeland Defense, one of several citizen groups that have taken up unofficial patrolling along the border in recent months.

What's with the quotes around "illegals?" They are, aren't they?

Anger has been mounting over the flood of migrants crossing into the Arizona desert since 2000, after US authorities cracked down on safer, more populated border areas in Texas and California.


That anger has been stirred by fear that illegal immigration from Mexico is somehow linked to terrorism, although there are no reports of terrorists ever crossing the Mexican border and the number of Border Patrol arrests has declined.


''We're not down here just for Mexicans,'' said Bouton, a retired Marine. ''We're down here for terrorists. The government is not going to get involved until something like 9/11 happens again, and then we're going to find out the bomb went through here.''


The citizen militias - Civil Homeland Defense, Ranch Rescue, and American Border Patrol (not to be confused with the government's US Border Patrol) - all want US troops sent to the border. They add that if the government won't protect the border, they will.


Although none of the groups has been linked to any violence, authorities in Mexico are worried about the patrols.


Mexican lawmakers traveled to Tucson a few weeks ago to appeal to Arizona officials to stop what they consider vigilante groups hunting Mexicans. Legislator Efren Leyva called the groups a time bomb that could shatter US-Mexico relations. He tied them to 40 incidents in which 92 people were detained, saying each ''had the risk of violence.''


''We are very worried about these people who want to take justice into their own hands,'' Leyva said. ''A Mexican migrant could get seriously hurt.''

Well, perhaps they should do a little better job policing their own border to protect their citizens!

The US Commission on Civil Rights is pressuring the US Justice Department to investigate the patrols.

The US Commission on Civil Rights is now spending our money on worrying about other country's citizens?

[Full story at link above.]