POST SCRIPTS

Gilchrist and others, have campaigned long and hard to bring order a sense of order and security to an otherwise chaotic scene along our Southern border. His growing army of volunteers are every day citizens and they simply watch certain remote desert areas along the US/Mexico border for illegal intrusion. If they find it, they report it to the U.S. Border Patrol, thats all. They don't make don't make arrests or even detain people and they are sure not a racist organization as some have alleged.

For this law abiding activity the Minutemen have been hounded unmercifully by the ACLU looking for an excuse to sue them into oblivion. The ACLU tried to get them on an abuse charge as if they had roughed up a captured illegal alien, but when the truth came out the Minutemen were totally vindicated. A video tape showed the alleged incident of abuse. They were merely giving water and a free souvineer tee shirt to an illegal alien who surrendered without incident to the U.S. Border Patrol. It made the ACLU look foolish and they have since backed off to a safer distance, but they are still in that predatory mode, according to the Minutemen.

President Bush has unkindly and erroneously referred to them as "vigilantes." Now, we've discovered that the American government currently tips off the Mexican government to their area of operations. The Mexican government then passes this information along to "persons of interest" who find it very helpful. Mexican drug lords, running drugs across our border, they have threatened to use their corrupt influence to cause them harm, no doubt they need such intel if they are going to be successful.

So far, none of these powerful entities have been able to stop the Minutemen. They've proven to be a hard target, they break no laws, they are not vigilantes nor a hate group, they're just another form of the "neighborhood watch", trying to protect America from illegal invasion by a host of criminals and illegal aliens. Despite our own governments unhelpful tactics, the Minutemen have aided in the capture hundreds of illegal entries and they've saved lives, rescuing individuals stranded in the desert, out of food and water.

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing more than 10,000 Border Patrol agents, said agents have complained for years about the Mexican consulate's influence over the agency.

"It worries me that the Mexican government seems to be unduly influencing our enforcement policies. That's not a legitimate role for any foreign nation," Bonner said, though he added, "It doesn't surprise me."

The dangerous fiasco that has emerged along the US/Mexican border is a product of extreme government neglect and it's enough to make the average American want to vote out every incumbent in office and start over. If they did, it would be a recognition that we finally get it, we've had enough of the ineptness, corruption, dirty tricks and gross self indulgence that has become the hallmark of our Congress since the late 1970's.

The President could secure that border tomorrow, if he really wanted too and do what 85% of American citizens want him to do.