News (Noticias) Tagged ‘minutemen’

For the most part, Taqueria del Sol has avoided culinary and cultural abominations. (Even their saltine cracker-coated chicken, a sometimes special, has honest roots in the South’s community cookbook tradition, wherein broccoli and squash casseroles alike gain crunch by way of crumbled Ritz crackers.)

Instead, Taqueria del Sol — which now has a catering operation and will soon open a fourth location 70 miles up the road in Athens — has, in this day of Minutemen patrols and razor-wire fencing along the Rio Grande, accomplished something miraculous, a border straddle.

Taqueria del Sol is Southern: They serve hacked pork barbecue, topped with coleslaw. And it’s Mexican: That barbecue comes tucked in a flour tortilla, and the slaw is chocked with jalapeno.”*

John McCain is generating outrage among a border watch organization for accepting an invitation to a controversial Hispanic group.

Al Garza, national executive director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, is expressing outrage over Senator McCain’s (R-Arizona) planned attendance to the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza. Garza claims the group espouses the re-conquering of the southwestern United States for assimilation back into Mexico.”*

When members of an anti-illegal immigration group offered to sponsor litter cleanup on local roads, they never imagined California officials would offer them an Adopt-a-Highway stretch near a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 5, the main artery carrying illegal migrants north from the U.S.-Mexico border.

On Friday, lawyers for the San Diego Minutemen told a federal judge that the state had no right to rescind the offer after state legislators complained to the California Department of Transportation. The group asked that its blue Adopt-a-Highway sign be put back where it stood without incident for about six weeks until the agency removed it in January.”*

Sen. John McCain is the all-but-official Republican presidential nominee, but don’t tell that to illegal immigration opponents in Texas.

They’re fanning out across the state before Tuesday’s primary to ask people to vote for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“You got two people left, so we are putting our faith behind Huckabee,” said Shannon McGauley, president of the 500-person-strong Texas Minutemen. “He may have his faults, too, but at least he did not try to shove amnesty down our throats.”"*

*From: http://www.sptimes.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

When California awarded the San Diego Minutemen, a group well known for its border monitoring in search of illegal immigrants, a permit last Nov. 21 to clean a stretch of highway including the Border Patrol checkpoint at San Onofre, complaints from immigrant advocacy groups and Hispanic lawmakers were swift and strong.

Opponents said they feared violent confrontations between the Minutemen and immigrants, and in January, the state agreed. It rescinded the group’s Adopt-a-Highway assignment along two miles of Interstate 5 and offered an alternative in eastern San Diego County.”*

*From: http://www.nytimes.com/
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The protesters gather every morning before dawn, monitoring the entrance to a fenced compound called the Macehualli Work Center. They are trying to shut the place down. They wave placards and take photos of anyone driving in to pick up the day laborers who congregate there. They want nothing less than to save America from what they call “the invasion.”

“Most of us don’t feel safe on the Phoenix streets without being armed,” says Wes Pecsok, a contractor who keeps his pistol in an inner vest pocket. “We’re not going to be intimidated by these thugs. ”

The protesters are members of the Minutemen, Riders USA, United for a Sovereign America. They find a common bond in their rage, their fury at the government, their loathing of Hispanics in the U.S. illegally. They say that many immigrants carry disease, and kill cops, and rape children.”*

*From: http://www.insidebayarea.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The leader of the San Diego Minutemen says the group is seeking legal advice a day after the state transportation department, citing safety concerns, decided to relocate the group’s Adopt-A-Highway site near the Border Patrol’s San Clemente checkpoint to a less-traveled stretch along state Route 52.”*

*From: http://www.signonsandiego.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., said it regrets that the mayor did not act sooner to accept the resignation of Frances Semler from the Kansas City Parks Board. “Unfortunately because of the mayor’s lack of leadership and sensitivity to the Hispanic community, it is now too late for NCLR to bring its Conference to Kansas City in 2009,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO. At the request of its Kansas City Affiliates, NCLR removed its 2009 Annual Conference from Kansas City after Mayor Mark Funkhouser appointed Semler, an active member of the extremist Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, and refused to accept her resignation when she first offered it.

The Minuteman, a self-avowed vigilante group, is listed as a “nativist-extremist” organization by the Anti-Defamation League. Chris Simcox, one of the Minuteman’s founders, was convicted in 2003 of carrying a weapon into a national park while searching for undocumented immigrants.

“The Minutemen advocate division and intolerance, and their members openly harass and intimidate Hispanics solely based on their appearance. The Kansas City Hispanic community did not accept the mayor’s tacit endorsement of such policies, and we supported their views,” said Murguía.

“From the beginning, the mayor has consistently refused to act on this issue and failed to take direct action,” added Murguía. “We thank the community partners in Kansas City who stood with us, including our Affiliates, the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and the religious community.”

In October, the NCLR Board of Directors voted to move the 2009 Annual Conference from Kansas City to a different site. NCLR has signed a contract for this new location, which will be announced in the next few weeks.”*

*From: http://www.nclr.org
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Your recent coverage on the new Arizona immigrant laws was good, but simply astonishing in the implications. It never fails to amaze me that our citizens and representatives don’t seem to connect the common threads of some social problems.

Some see a dire “immigrant problem,” where the issue is really an immigration problem: The U.S. has simply fallen into an almost medieval view of the world since 9/11 and is severely curtailing access to the country, when we desperately need the talent, energy and labor of our newest immigrants. Who do you think will perform essential services, pay taxes and balance the budget, and pay Social Security in this still-young century?

Few in the U.S. want their children to grow up to be laborers, maintenance staff, highway workers, janitors or service staff, or to change sheets and bedpans in nursing care, or other humble but essential positions. Immigrants are willing to do so. Do you think the Minutemen who so bravely threaten immigrants will care for you in your elder years? Do they do any tangible good? Fear is not the answer. Terrorists get passports and visas!”*

*From: http://www.timesunion.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

“On The Line” is a documentary film that focuses on “The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps”, a vigilante group that patrols the United States border. The Minutemen describe themselves as a neighborhood watch group whose mission is to secure the United States border.

The film also follows one journalist’s story; as Brown struggles with her own identity during the nearly two years spent documenting the Minutemen.

The daughter of an immigrant, a Latina woman with mixed ethnicity and a journalist, Brown finds her place among the Minutemen, and eventually is forced to look at her own ethnicity and where she fits within American Society.”*

*From: http://carolynebrown.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Hispanic.com (www.hispanic.com) announces the launch of its weekly, live online chat series. Community and business leaders from around the nation will hold live, online interactive chats as featured guests. Scheduled include politicians, artists, sports figures, community activists, immigration leaders, and many multi-cultural figures. Talk and ask your questions, live.

The January lineup includes:

January 16, 3pm PST, 5pm CST, 6pm EST
Starting Your Own Business: Multicultural Women Are Doing It
-Denise Barge; Director, Minority Investment Development Corporation

January 21, 2pm PST, 4pm CST, 5pm EST
MBA, Business School, How To Get Into Your Dream School & Land That Job
-Maureen Hall; Director; Academic Programs & Services; Michigan State Univ. College of Business MBA, formerly at Georgetown Univ. School of Business

January 22, 3pm PST, 5pm CST, 6pm EST
Latin American Beers…U.S. Beer Drinkers Love’Em
-Harry Schuhmacher, Editor, Beer Business Daily

January 28, 4pm PST, 6pm CST, 7pm EST
Kansas City, Immigration, Hispanics, Minutemen; Minutemen Convention in Kansas City Feb. 1-2
-Rita Valenciano, Kansas City Community Leader

January 29, 3pm PST, 5pm CST, 6pm EST
Let’s Play Ball!: Latinos Play Sports & Caribbean World Series Feb. 2-7
-Ralph Paniagua y Beto Villa; CEO Latinobaseball.com & The Spanish Voice of The NY Yankees

In February our chats include “Ask the Immigration Lawyer”, “Ask The Dentist”, “Ask the Cosmetic Surgeon”, a professional Hispanic bodybuilder etc.

Logon to the “Chat” section during the live chat you’d like to view, it’s that simple. No registration is required.

January ‘08 Guests hispanic.com/topics/january08chats.aspx
February ‘08 Guests hispanic.com/topics/february08chats.aspx
Chat Page hispanic.com/chat.aspx

To receive a newsletter with updates on Hispanic.com’s live guests write:
guests@hispanic.com

About Hispanic.com:
Hispanic.com is your site for live chats, events, and Hispanic information from around the country.”*

*From: http://www.hispanicprwire.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

Want to see America unraveling? Come here, to Thomas Road and 35th Street, to M. D. Pruitt’s furniture store. Come on Saturday morning and stand near the eight delivery trucks barricading the parking lot, like the wall of an urban Alamo.

For the last seven weeks, a sidewalk protest here by Latino immigrants has blossomed into a feverish reality show, attracting Minutemen, mariachis, children dancing in Mexican folk costumes, white racists, United Nations observers, Phoenix police officers and Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies.”*

*From: http://www.nytimes.com
Traducido: usando Google o Altavista/Babel Fish

In our national dialogue about our broken immigration system, our political leaders have two choices: They either can come together to find solutions that are practical and fair, or they can fuel the flames by appealing to worst in us by creating fear and confusion around the issue. Unfortunately, in his run for Congress, Minnesota state Sen. Dick Day has chosen the latter path.

According to a recent report in the Star Tribune, Day, R-Owatonna, recently traveled to Arizona at the invitation of a group called the Minuteman Project. It’s been widely reported that the Minutemen are a group of civilian vigilantes that take the law into their own hands by patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border fully armed, without the official sanction of the United States Border Patrol or local law enforcement. Their members advocate the immediate expulsion of all undocumented immigrants in the country, no matter the effect on our economy and society, and for the construction of a 700-mile-long fence along the border, no matter the cost.”*

Dick Day took an unusual campaign trip this month as a Republican candidate in Minnesota’s First Congressional District, which spans the whole of southern Minnesota from Wisconsin to South Dakota.

Day traveled more than 1,600 miles farther south.

The Republican state senator from Owatonna went to the U.S.-Mexican border at the invitation of the activist anti-open border Minutemen Project. He came away convinced that pressing for controls on illegal immigration will be the key to a victory against incumbent Democrat Tim Walz.”*

I am standing in the Arizona desert, 35 miles north of the Mexican border, searching for illegal immigrants with two men I barely know. Both are carrying handguns.

It’s dark and cold, and a stiff breeze claws at my back.

I’m freezing, but I can’t move around to warm up. The guys I’m with — Minutemen from Florida — worry I’d make too much noise, revealing our position to anyone lurking in the desert.”*

The debate over immigration in the United States is coming to UF on Wednesday.

Jerome Corsi, co-author of the book “Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America’s Borders,” will argue the issue with Juan Andrade, president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute.

The debate will take place at 8 p.m. in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom, stated a news release from Accent, Student Government’s speakers bureau.”*

Fields is one of about 300 Floridians who have joined the controversial Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, the national group that seeks to end illegal immigration. Recently, he and three other Florida members spent from a few days to a full month in the Arizona desert, looking for Mexicans and other foreign nationals crossing illegally into the U.S.

There are Minuteman chapters in Central Florida, South Florida and North Florida. Members tend to be middle-aged, politically conservative, strongly pro-military — and predominantly non-Hispanic white.

“There’s a lot of interest,” said Bill Landes of Haines City, the group’s director for North and Central Florida. “These are people who love their country.”"*

At first, I just wanted the saga of the grandmother Minuteman member to go away.

I knew early on that this story was bad news. It had the potential to bring negative publicity for my hometown of Kansas City. It promised undue publicity to the Minutemen organizations. And I could see it becoming so mired in emotion that the very real issue of immigration reform would be sideswiped.

All that and more happened when the cycle of news began to unfold. It began in June, after Kansas City’s mayor appointed a member of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps to a prominent city board. The appointment, and its aftermath, seeped into the pages and Web site of The Kansas City Star. It has been quite a ride, with challenges for nearly every section of the newspaper.”*

Mexico’s former president, Vicente Fox, said there are two types of local governments when it comes to immigration: Those that are “humane” and understand the benefits of immigrant workers, and those that are “really going too far, and violating human rights in certain situations.”

That was his response after a question about Cobb County’s new program to deport illegal immigrants from its jail.”*

“The following is a letter of hope for those fighting the good fight during this ugly period of American nativism. Its author is Michael O’Neill of Long Island’s Sag Harbor and a champion of immigrant rights. It is respectfully presented here with his permission.

License to Minutemen: The GOP In the Driver’s Seat

In the noisome living room of the nativist hard right, for the GOP Militant today, there is only a cesspool darkness of the future of our nation. A darkness threatening to overtake the U.S. by a demographic ascendancy and territorial conquest; this darkness has replaced that traditional vanquished enemy, godless communism, by a far more subversive danger spreading over America’s interior, throughout its breath and width. There is no longer any lip service to “Morning in America” given the future framed by a permanent Midnight in America where darkness descends upon our culture as a dark people of color rise to become the democratic majority.”*

“The Board of Directors of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S., today authorized NCLR’s President and CEO, Janet Murguía, to move the 2009 Annual Conference from Kansas City to an alternate site. NCLR acted on the request of its Kansas City Affiliates to move the Conference after Mayor Mark Funkhouser appointed an active member of the extremist Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to a city commission and failed to respond to community leaders offended by this action.

“Our decision is a clear expression of support for Kansas City’s Hispanic community,” said Monica Lozano, NCLR Board Chair. “An active member of the Minutemen should not be an official representative for a city that purports to believe in diversity.”

According to Lozano, the Mayor’s lack of responsiveness to the Hispanic community’s pleas to address this issue persuaded them to act. “We are dismayed,” she said, “by the Mayor’s complete lack of understanding of what a Minuteman city official symbolizes to his Hispanic constituents and to the Latino community nationwide. We have to stand by our community and by our principles,” stated Lozano.

“As someone from the Kansas City area, this is a very sad day for me. The Mayor has failed to take direct action and we hold him fully accountable. From the beginning, he has completely misunderstood this situation. The Minuteman is a group that has undeniably sown division and intolerance wherever it has gone and whose members have harassed, intimidated, and menaced human beings, often simply based on their appearance,” stated Murguía.

A number of watchdog organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Anti-Defamation League, and the Center for New Community, have documented the links between the Minutemen and White supremacist and other hate groups. SPLC has termed the Minutemen as a “nativist extremist” group that “targets people, rather than policy. They do not limit themselves to advocating, even in forceful terms, for stricter border security…Instead, they go after the immigrants themselves.”

“Joining the Minutemen because you have an issue with illegal immigration is like joining a White supremacist group because you have an issue with affirmative action,” said Murguía.

“We deeply appreciate the support we have received from the NAACP and other community leaders in Kansas City. I want to especially thank Congressman Cleaver for his heroic attempts to resolve this issue. But at the end of the day the Mayor has made his choice, which he clearly has the right to do. We also have the right to choose where we spend our hard-earned dollars for an event that recognizes, celebrates, and honors the numerous contributions of the Latino community. And we will continue to support organizations, such as our Affiliates in Kansas City, that work hard to open the doors of opportunity for their communities,” concluded Murguía.”*

“The New York-based CNN producer wanted to know, “What about the situation in Kansas City, with the mayor, the Minutemen and Latino community, speaks to something more universal for the nation?”

She was fishing for an angle to tell our saga to a national television audience. Thankfully, this producer is also a proud graduate of the University of Missouri’s journalism program. She has no desire to exploit elements: a Minuteman grandmother given a plum parks board position, Heart of America folks gone rabid at the idea of illegal immigrants among them, and two leading civil rights organizations attempting to flex muscles via the 1960s boycott strategy.

By the week’s end, Kansas City will know if it will play host to three future conventions — the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza and the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps — or not. The national boards of the civil rights groups will meet. The producer will hang her story on their decisions”*

“The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a spinoff group of disaffected Minuteman members plan separate monthlong deployments along the border, beginning Friday and Saturday.

The Minuteman group said it will have members on patrol along the Mexican border in Arizona, California and Texas, and also plans to post members along the Canadian border in Washington state.

In Arizona, the group will conduct a border watch at the King Anvil Ranch near Three Points, about 40 miles southwest of Tucson in the Altar Valley.”

“A routine city hall appointment threatens to turn Kansas City into a new front in the U.S. debate over illegal immigration, even though the closest Mexico border crossing is hundreds of miles (kilometers) away.

Anger has been simmering among Hispanic leaders since the summer, when newly elected Mayor Mark Funkhouser appointed Frances Semler, a dues-paying member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), to the city’s parks and recreation board.

Critics say the group is a racist band of vigilantes patrolling the Mexican border with guns and intimidation.”

“MTV Tr3s is giving voice to Latino youth who are ready to go beyond the politics and rhetoric of the immigration debate when it broadcasts “Beyond Borders: An MTV Tr3s Immigration Forum,” a historic, first-ever of its kind on network TV event, on Saturday, September 29th at 6 PM. The 30-minute televised forum brings together artists, young people and expert panelists from the worlds of music, politics, academia, media and pop culture to explore solutions to the immigration crisis and discuss its impact on their families, education and everyday lives.

“The immigration debate has ignited the passions of young people across the country but the issues are particularly personal for our audience,” said Lily Neumeyer, Vice President of Programming and Production for MTV Tr3s. “This forum was designed to elicit real solutions young people have for an issue that impacts them directly and indirectly.”

Hosted by prominent Latino journalist Gustavo Arellano, “Beyond Borders: An MTV Tr3s Immigration Forum” features panelists Residente of the Latin Grammy winning group Calle 13, U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra, Voto Latino representatives “Ugly Betty” actress Ana Ortiz and West Coast rapper Malverde, and a representative from National Council of La Raza. The Forum is broadcast from Cal State L.A., site of the first Chicano Studies program in the country.

The Forum also allows the MTV Tr3s viewing audience a chance to be a part of the discussion, adding their thoughts to the discussion by submitting their questions online at mtv3voces.com or by texting 22444 to submit their comments and questions. Viewer-generated content will appear during the show as an on-screen crawl.

Calle 13’s “Pal Norte” (Going North), the Grammy-nominated single from the duo’s chart-topping current album, with Latin hip-hop outfit ORISHAS, is the theme song for “Beyond Borders: An MTV Tr3s Immigration Forum.” The song has been called “a biting indictment of immigration policy in the Americas” that “highlights the harsh realities that immigrants are faced with when coming to the U.S.”

According to a poll conducted over mtv3voces.com, 60% of respondents feel that immigration is the most important issue affecting Latino youth and 76% of respondents said that a Presidential candidate’s position on immigration would define their vote.

Forum host Arellano reinforced that there are many sides to the immigration issues facing students, however the Forum set out to explore potential solutions.

“Out of nearly three million students who will graduate from U.S. high schools this year, a group of around 65,000 will not have the opportunity to go to college. Not because they lack the motivation but because of the status passed on to them by their parents,” said Arellano. “One possible solution that is explored in “Beyond Borders’ is a piece of legislation called the DREAM Act that strives to help young undocumented immigrants gain legal status and pursue higher education.”

Lily Neumeyer is Executive Producer of “Beyond Borders: An MTV Tr3s Immigration Forum;” Ryan Kroft is Supervising Producer; Vanessa Whitewolf is Producer; Dave Diomedi is Director.

The premiere broadcast of the “Beyond Borders” Forum on September 29th at 6 PM directly follows the premiere broadcast of the latest installment of MTV’s award-winning “True Life” series, “True Life: I Live on the Border,” which will be simulcast on MTV and MTV Tr3s at 5 PM. “True Life: I Live on The Border,” documents the journey of three young people caught up in the struggle where two different worlds intersect. From those who have physically climbed barbed wire fenced in an attempt to find a better life, to others who patrol the border with armed weapons in hand, everyone living on the border has a story to tell. Two of the people featured in the documentary, a member of the Minutemen and an undocumented high school student, are participants in the Forum and give their perspective on how the topic affects young people’s lives.

“Beyond Borders: An MTV Tr3s Immigration Forum” is also part of MTV’s renewed Emmy-Award winning campaign, “Choose or Lose.” First launched in 1992, “Choose or Lose” has consistently re-invented political activism, connecting with young people on their terms and breaking down the barriers between American youth and those running for office. The campaign has fueled several of the largest youth voter turnouts in US history, including in 2004, when it helped inspire nearly 22 million 18-30 year olds to register and vote.

MTV Tr3s is in 6.2 million Hispanic TV households and 31.9 million total TV households, making it the most-widely distributed TV network dedicated to superserving today’s bicultural Latino youth. MTV Tr3s’ programming is rooted in the fusion of American and Latino music, cultures, lifestyles and languages. Music programming is at the core of MTV Tr3s and the channel features hitmakers, emerging artists and new sounds that resonate with young U.S. Latinos. In addition to music programming, MTV Tr3s programming slate also features lifestyle series, news, documentaries and other long-form programs that celebrate US Latino hybrid identity and culture.

Voto Latino inspires the next generation of Americans to register and vote through youth-targeted media that leverages the inspirational power of the Latino community’s artists of screen and stage. Voto Latino received the 2006 Gold Promax Award for its Public Service Announcements and received an Imagen Award nomination. Voto Latino launched the first national voter registration campaign use text messaging in an effort to incorporate the latest technology with civic participation. Both Ana Ortiz and Malverde are members of Voto Latino’s Artist Coalition. “