Question and Answer commentary on L.A.'s Declaration against citizens and the Minutemen
By Hal Netkin
Q. The L.A. leaders say that immigration policy must also take into consideration and strive to protect civil and human rights of immigrants. What's wrong with that?
A. The statement assumes that the minutemen and their supporters want to violate the rights of illegal aliens. This couldn't be further from the truth. The Minutemen operate within the law to support enforcement of the law. And the Minuteman Project requires that all members pledge to obey the rule of law. Read the pledge.
Q. If the pledge were adhered to, why would the L.A. City Council say that the Minutemen violate the rights of immigrants?
A. The L.A. City Council, the ADL (Anti-Defamation League), and all the co-signers of their slanderous declaration have chosen to make wild accusations that they can't back up. There has never been ONE instance of a Minuteman member violating in any way, the rights of anyone including illegal aliens. If Mayor Villaraigosa or any of the Los Angeles city council members have knowledge of a Minuteman member violating anyone's human rights, please email me <[email protected]> with details on names and places and including source information, and I will post on this website (I won't hold my breath).
Q. Are the claims true in the declaration that "These groups, which have conducted their own unauthorized patrols along the United States-Mexico border, use anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric to exploit mainstream fears of unchecked immigration, especially Latino immigration?"
A. According to the U.S. Constitution, the first amendment guarantees the right to freely assemble whether it be in a town hall meeting or along the border. There is no authorization required.
Again the L.A. City Council, the ADL, and all the co-signers of their slanderous declaration have chosen to make wild accusations that they can't back up. Their reasoning is simple: anyone who wants immigration controlled and the law enforced is automatically an anti-immigrant xenophobe who hates Latinos.
Hopefully, the rally at city hall by the multi-ethnic members of the Minuteman Project should have obviated their concerns about xenophobia.
Q. What about the Declaration's allegation that Anti-immigration rhetoric is used to promote a message of intolerance of undocumented persons and of Latinos in general?
A. Race or being Latino has nothing to do with the objectives of the Minutemen.
Read my lips L.A. Council : they're not "undocumented persons," They're illegal aliens -- and yes, most Americans are fed up (intolerant) with our government's refusal to enforce the law to prevent just anyone who wants, to cross the border at will.
Q. Is the declaration correct when it says that Vigilante civilian patrol groups are usually armed during their border patrols, creating the potential for violence and creating an atmosphere of fear and lawlessness?
A. The dictionary defines a vigilante as someone who punishes lawbreakers personally and illegally rather than relying on legal authorities. Read my lips L.A. Council : The Minutemen do not punish illegal aliens or violate their rights -- they report them to the Border Patrol. The Minutemen are no more vigilantes than your neighborhoods' Block Captains.
Being armed with an unconcealed firearm anywhere in Arizona is not against the law. The Minutemen do not create an atmosphere of lawlessness -- that's already created by armed drug smugglers against whom the Minutemen are protecting themselves. The need for protection along the border was exemplified on January 3, 2007, when National Guardsmen who are under orders to retreat when confronted by armed illegal border crossers, had to do just that. Watch CNN video: Dialup Broadband.
Q. Is it true that Members of hate groups, such as neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups, have expressed support for civilian patrol and anti-immigration groups, through participation in patrols, protests and rallies?
A. It is NOT true that Nazi and white supremacist groups officially participate in Minutemen patrols, protests and rallies. However, the fact that there are neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups who want to cut immigration does not mean it is an inherently bad idea any more than Hitler having been a vegetarian serves as an argument against vegetarianism. Reputable polls show that the majority of Americans want illegal immigration halted. Surely, they are all not Nazi's or white supremacists.
By the L.A. Council's reasoning, they are all communists because the CPUSA (Communist Party, USA) agrees with their declaration against the Minuteman Project and in fact have their own resolution on illegal immigration.
