MINUTEMAN PROJECT by Sarah Harter

Fox News, CBS, CNN and other major news networks are broadcasting the Minuteman Project resulting in a national controversial issue.

I support the Minuteman Project because I am somewhat familiar with the issues at hand since I lived five years within three miles from the Arizona-Mexico border in a place known as Miracle Valley, Arizona.

Exactly who are the Minutemen?

The Minuteman Project is a group of 480 citizens from nearly every state in our country and who take their inspiration from the Massachusetts militias of 1773.

These citizens of the United States serve as volunteers who have taken up positions along a 35-mile section of the Arizona-Mexico border and watch out for undocumented immigrants, drug traffickers or terrorists attempting to enter the United States.

They notify agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service if they see any violators.

Project organizers said they are law-abiding citizens engaged in what they called America’s largest ever neighborhood-watch plan.

The Mexican government is reprinting what some think of as a guidebook to help illegal immigrants avoid capture and prosecution after entering the United States.

Called the “Mexican Migrant Guide,” its purpose is to help people who already have decided to enter the United States to diminish their risk of death and to inform them of their rights if they are arrested.

Meanwhile in Mexico City, government officials criticized the Minuteman Project volunteers by saying they are racist and that they violate human rights.

My father recently received an email at Miracle Valley from Bethany Spicher of MCC U.S. Washington Office stating “I was concerned that your institution has offered space to those involved in the Minuteman Project. To me, the project seems unhelpful in working toward reform of our nation’s immigration system, which would allow migrants to enter our nation in a safe, orderly and legal manner. As I understand it, those crossing out southern border are fleeing economic oppression caused, in part, by our own nation’s trade agenda. They will continue to come, despite the barriers, and continue to die in the desert until our nation’s policies change.”

According to the Sierra Vista Herald Newspaper (March 30, 2005), “The 370-mile Arizona border is considered the most vulnerable stretch of the 2,000-mile southern border.

Of the 1.1 million illegal immigrants apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol last year, 51 percent crossed into the country at the Arizona border.

I have seen the illegal activity on our border.

My father serves as president of Miracle Valley Bible College in southeast Arizona. We have experienced illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Central Latin countries crossing each night into the US. There is the drug traffic that occurs often in the area.

The border at Miracle Valley, Arizona is an open large valley. This offers a wide opportunity for illegal people, including terrorist, to enter into the United States.

In fact, recent intelligence revealed that Al-Qaeda terrorist are likely to enter the U.S. through the Mexico border.

Drusilla Montemayor, who owns a horse ranch two miles from the border, said an average of between 20 and 30 illegal immigrants come across her property nightly according to the Sierra Vista Newspaper dated April 2, 2005.

I support the Minuteman Project because it is bringing international attention to the problem of illegal immigrants, the drug traffic and possible terrorist that cross our southern border, especially in Arizona.