The%20Minutemen%20Civil%20Defense%20Corps

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The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps
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• Klan Border Watch
• October 1977
• San Ysidrio, CA port of entry
• Sought to revive past influence of Klan in
  immigration policy
• KKK supported the the 1924 National Origins Act,
  which explicitly racialized US immigration policy
  until 1965

Inspiration?
David Duke Founder of Louisiana KKK
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Chris Simcox

• President and Founder of the Minutemen Civil
  Defense Corps

• Arrested January 2003, in Arizona federal park
  for carrying a .45 caliber handgun while looking
  for immigrants

SPLCenter.org, Minutemen Leader has Troubled
Past
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Minutemen Civil Defense Corps

• Over 65 Chapters in over 30 States
• Claims membership of 9,000 card carrying members
• Has carried out at least six nationally organized
  border patrols or operations
• Has four chapters in Kansas Wichita, Topeka,
  Emporia, Kansas City

http//www.minutemanhq.com/
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California Minutemen (MCDC)
California has the largest concentration
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Border vigilante / Minutemen timeline

• Early 1990s
• Voices of Citizens Together (VCT) Anti
  Immigration Group in California
• Calls for illegal immigrants and American-born
  children to be rounded up and deported
• 2000
• VCT Founder Glenn Spencer forms American Border
  Patrol in Arizona
• 2002
• Chris Simcox forms the Tombstone Militia
• January 2003
• Chris Simcox arrested for carrying loaded pistol
  on federal lands while searching for immigrants
• October 2004
• Minuteman program launched

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Minutemen Timeline Continued
April 2005Deployment of 150-200 volunteers along
24 mile strip of Mexico-Arizona borderApril 2006
Month long border patrolSummer 2006Minutemen
split into Minutemen Project and Minutemen Civil
Defense CorpsSeptember 27, 2007Operation Secure
America PatrolFebruary 2008Minutemen Civil
Defense Corps National Conference in Kansas City
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The Minutemen and White Supremacists
Minutemen Rally in California
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Racist and Neo-Nazi Ties

• The Minutemen have
• been documented to
• include members
• from

Stormfront National Alliance Aryan Nation
SPLCenter.org Nazis, Racists Join Minutemen,
Spring 2005 Hate Groups Target Undocumented
Workers? http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12599386/
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Racist and Neo-Nazi Ties

• Two Minutemen members who describe themselves as
  neo-Nazis hold up a sign similar to one of the
  National Alliance
• At least 6 National Alliance members had joined
  the Minutemen by 2005

SPLCenter.org Nazis, Racists Join Minutemen,
Spring 2005 Texas Hold Em, Winter 2006
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California Minutemen Rally
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The Minutemen and Anti-Immigrant Violence
Minutemen Rally in Phoenix, AZ
Christian Science Monitor, Minutemens Message
on Immigration On a Roll?, May, 2006
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Minutemen Volunteers In Their Own Words

• It should be legal to kill illegals. Just shoot
  'em on sight. That's my immigration policy
  recommendation. You break into my country, you
  die.
• Carl, 69-year old retired Special Forces
  veteran.

SPLC.org, Arizona Showdown, Summer 2005
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Minutemen Volunteers In Their Own Words

• this may sound a little weird, but I just have
  more respect for the lives of stray cats and dogs
  than I do illegal aliens.
• -Volunteer at Minutemen Projects month long
  Arizona Patrol

SPLC.org, Arizona Showdown, Summer 2005
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In their own words, cont.

• "You get up there with a rifle and start
  shooting four or five of them a week, the other
  four or five thousand behind them are going to
  think twice about crossing that line."
• Volunteer at Minutemen Projects month long
  Arizona Patrol, and member of white supremacist
  group National Alliance.

SPLC.org, Arizona Showdown, Summer 2005
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In their own words, cont.

• "The thing to do would be to drop the bodies
  just a few hundred feet into the U.S. and just
  leave them there, with lights on them at night,"
  he said. "That sends the message 'No
  Trespassing,' in any language."
• -Volunteer at Minutemen Projects month long
  Arizona Patrol.

SPLC.org, Arizona Showdown, Summer 2005
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The Minutemen Umbrella of Legitimacy?

• "We are a peaceful demonstration. We're doing
  this
• peacefully, the way our founding fathers wanted
  us to.
• We don't need baseball bats and tire irons and
  guns ...
• We can do this peacefully, same way Martin Luther
• King sought justice for American blacks. We're
  followers
• of Gandhi and Martin Luther King..."
• Jim Gilchrest, Arizona border Patrol 2005

"I hope he Gilchrist doesn't believe that crap.
I realize he's gotta be all PC for the media, but
come on Gandhi didn't wear a gun. We're in a
race war, not a peace march. - National Alliance
member and Minutemen volunteer at Arizona Border
Control 2005
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Minutemen Spin-offs

• State Chapters in Texas and California
• June 2005 - Two Mexicans wounded in separate
  shootings along 14-mile stretch of border being
  patrolled by California Minutemen

SPLCenter.org, Playing Rough, Fall 2005
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National Support for Minutemen

• David Duke, founder Louisiana KKK, former
  candidate for President

Ron Paul, presidential Candidate, Republican
Party
Voted YES to H.R. 5441, preventing the US
government from informing the Mexican government
on where the Minutemen patrols are located.
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Minutemen in Kansas

• The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps has four
  chapters in Kansas
• Wichita, Topeka, Emporia, Kansas City
• Membership estimated at several dozen
• Most chapters have monthly meetings
• Most focus on employers of undocumented workers

Heart of America MCDC, http//www.kansasminutemen.
com/
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Ed Hayes

• Director of Kansas branch of Minutemen Civil
  Defense Corps (MCDC) Commander of KC Branch

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Frances Semler
Kansas City Parks and Recreation Commissioner and
MCDC member
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Kansas City Conference

• Regional Leadership Conference
• February 1-2 2008
• Uptown Theater, Kansas City
• Hosted and Organized by Ed Hayes
• MCDC Leaders from Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois,
  Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado,Oklahoma, and Texas

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Links
http//www.splcenter.org http//www.minutemanhq.c
om http//www.kansasminutemen.com/ http//dneiwert
.blogspot.com/2005/08/ http//www.indybay.org http
//www.adl.org http//www.ontheissues.org http//w
ww.splcenter.org http//nominutemeninkc.pbwiki.com
/links-and-resources
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