Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders

by Jim Gilchrist, Jerome R. Corsi

The issue of securing America's borders has taken on new importance since 9/11. Few organizations have responded to the challenge like The Minuteman Project. The Project is not a call to arms, but a call to voices seeking a peaceful and respectable resolution to the chaotic neglect of this vital issue by members of U.S. local, state and federal governments charged with applying U.S. immigration law. It is not just a call to bring national awareness to the shambles that is U.S. immigration law enforcement but a reminder to Americans that our nation was founded as one governed by the rule of law, not by the whims of mobs of illegals who endlessly stream across our borders, overcrowding schools, hospitals -- and jails. Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders is sure to be one of this year's most controversial books.

Genres: Politics

375 pages, Hardcover

First published July 25, 2006

Reviews

[AManForAllSaisons]

One of the worst books I have read in my adult life. The author plays fast and loose with facts and figures to perpetuate his thesis of a coming immigration apocalypse. He twists definitions to suit his perspective, one example would be when he is trying to argue that there are at least 30 million illegal immigrants in the US. He arrives at this figure by including all possible children born in the US to illegal immigrants, who are guaranteed citizenship by the United States Constitution.

He also makes the specious accusation that since all illegal immigrants are by definition criminals (having committed the crime of illegal entry or overstaying visas), that they are therefore predisposed to perpetrating other illegal acts. He makes the leap from a malum prohibitum crime (immigration) to suggest that many (if not mos

t) illegal immigrants are also likely to commit malum in se crimes such as murder and rape.

This book is a nationalistic, jingoistic and borderline racist attempt to scare up nativist fervor among the political right. While I was reassured to read that the Minutemen are unarmed and only report illegal immigrants to the authorities, and do in fact provide first aid and other assistance if needed, the tenor of the book and the way in which the author makes his arguments belies the benign nature of their actions. Is it little wonder that the movement this author started has led to neo-Nazi groups patrolling our southern border armed with semi-automatic weapons?

America does need to address the illegal immigration problem in a realistic, pragmatic way. However this book moves us no further towards real solutions. As the spouse of a legal immigrant, I know the great costs in both finances and time in immigrating legally. Until we make it easier to enter

this country legally, illegal immigration will continue to draw the desperate, the tired, the poor, the sick, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE STORY OF THE ANTI-ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION "VIGILANTE" BORDER PATROL

James "Jim" Gilchrist (born 1949) is the American co-founder and president of the Minuteman Project, an activist group whose aim is to prevent illegal immigration across the U.S. southern border.

The Introduction to this 2006 book states, "This book tells the story of The Minuteman Project, of how Jim Gilchrist founded the organization, what the group has accomplished, and the major work that remains to be done to resolve the difficult issue of illegal immigration. It explains... its dangers to America's sovereignty as a nation, to the security of our homeland, to the safety of our citizens, and to the financial strength under which our nation has prospered." It also argues that "the vast majority of those who cross the border illegally are nothing more than opportunists... who hope to take advantage of the social services that American taxpayers provide to the poor." (E.g., public schools, emergency rooms at hospitals.)

Noting that President Bush called the Minutemen "vigilantes," he writes, "We want to raise national awareness of the decades-long disregard of our illegal-immigration crisis, and we want to prove that the mere physical presence of watchers can seal the border. We're not vigilantes." (Pg. 9) He describes the Project as "'pro-immigration,' as long as that immigration is legal." (Pg. 225)

He notes ironically that the illegal immigration of criminals, gang members, and drug traffickers is probably not related to the jobs that are available in the United States, as "Drug dealers bring their business with them." (Pg. 37) He argues that members of labor unions "should be frightened," if employers are able to illegally hire immigrants at below-union wage rates. (Pg. 58) He rejects the argument that immigrants are needed to do the jobs "that Americans won't do," because "job statistics show that there is no job an American won't do... Even in the low-paying, menial job categories, Americans still hold most of the jobs." (Pg. 77)

He decries the fact that even a person apprehended at the border is most often simply deported; even if they have been returned to Mexico previously. "Once the person is back in Mexico, Mexican authorities do nothing to detain the person. The person is released immediately to try once again to cross the border illegally." (Pg. 165-166) More controversially, he asserts that since most Latino illegal aliens are Catholic, and the Catholic Church "has a declining membership... the church sees these Hispanic immigrants as future parishoners." (Pg. 296)

An opinionated and controversial book, it is a very clear presentation of the point of view of the Minutemen, and will be of considerable interest to anyone studying this issue.