Minuteman Project and Gov. Schwarzenegger
Glynn Custred
May 9, 2005
Last Thursday Governor Schwarzenegger praised the
action of the
Minutemen in Arizona, a volunteer citizen's group modeled on the
neighborhood watch program and designed to focus public attention on the
problem of illegal immigration. During the last week of the Minuteman
Project I traveled along some 250 miles of the US-Mexico border in
Eastern
and Central Arizona, talking to Minuteman leaders and volunteers as well
as
to Border Patrol agents all along the international line. After having
actually been there, and having reviewed data from elsewhere, I am
convinced
that Governor Schwarzenegger has indeed done the right thing by
recognizing
the value of the Minuteman Project for what it is; a plea for the
country to
face a major policy issue.
The stream of migration now flooding across our southern border will
eventually have consequences well beyond what the "willing worker,
willing
employer" slogan of the Bush administration implies. For example,
Harvard
economist George Borjas, in Heaven's Door and elsewhere, discusses the
economic consequences of current immigration patterns, and Harvard
political
scientist Samuel P. Hunting has examined consequences beyond the
economic
sector in Who Are We? The Challenge to America's National Identity.
Other
serious investigators have also dealt with different aspects of the
issue.
One particularly value source is the
Center for Immigration
Studies in
Washington D.C.
The Clinton administration, however, ignored illegal immigration during
its
time in office, eventually abandoning the enforcement of employer
sanctions.
And the Bush administration seems to have purposely put a de facto end
to
what enforcement was left. For example, the Livermore sector of the
Border
Patrol was, according to a former Border Patrol supervisor, "man for man
the
most productive in the country", yet it was shut down last year. Also
Border
Patrol agents are no longer allowed to engage in sweeps and sustained
pursuits. Instead they are restricted to the border and to stationary
interior checkpoints. One agent says that this policy is like putting a
ten
yard enforcement limit around a bank. If a bank robber gets that far he
can
keep the money. In this regard Joe Dessaro, recently retired Border
Patrol
agent and union chief from San Diego wrote in his farewell message to
the
union that the Border Patrol is "one of the most inefficient and
misleading
agencies in the history of government". An on-duty agent hundreds of
miles
away echoed that sentiment when he observed that "the whole thing is the
biggest bunco job in history, spending millions not to do the job."
What the Minutemen want is that the enforcement agencies be allowed to
do
their job by enforcing the laws already on the books. For this the Bush
administration has called them "vigilantes". The Minutemen, and women, I
spoke to, however, are responsible citizens from such occupations as
education, business, engineering, law enforcement, the military etc.,
intent
on holding their government to the standard expected of any open
democratic
society; enforcing democratically enacted laws without deception. Nor
are
the Minutemen about to go away. Plans are in the works to expand their
activities not only in all four states along the Mexican border, but on
the
Canadian border as well in an organization modeled on Civil Defense of
the
Second World War.
No matter what one's position is on immigration, we should all insist on
bringing the matter into the open forum of public debate where important
issues are honestly discussed and where public policy is formulated in a
democratic manner. If the Minuteman Project can achieve that goal it
will
have been a success, and Governor Schwarzenegger's role in the process a
sign of responsible leadership.
Glynn Custred
is co-author of Proposition 209 and is a professor at California State
University Hayward.
