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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0212290204dec29,1,406893.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed
NOGALES, Ariz. -- The battle over immigration policy is heating up in the Arizona desert, where humanitarian organizations are setting up water stations to aid illegal immigrants and self- described "gun-toting patriots" are trying to catch people crossing the border illegally.
The dispute is expected to grow as border traffic increases after the holidays, with illegal immigrants returning to the United States after visiting their families in Mexico or Central America.
The newly formed Civil Homeland Defense group is conducting armed patrols of the border, citing the area as a prime spot for terrorists to enter as well.
But organizations aiding the immigrants call these patrols dangerous and say they are a throwback to the Old West, when armed posses carried out vigilante justice across the southwestern U.S.
"All we want is for our border to be secure from terrorists or anyone who wants to harm the United States," Chris Simcox, the homeland defense group's founder, said with a loaded .45- caliber pistol holstered on his right hip.
"Letting everyone enter is just not good policy," he added.
When the flow of immigrants steps up in the coming days, many of Simcox's 300 followers--some on horseback--will try to stop people at the border. Their mission: make citizens arrests and detain the thousands who are expected to enter Arizona illegally along a desert trail just west of town.
It's become such a hot topic in these parts that Rep.-elect Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) has asked the U.S. Border Patrol to keep close tabs on Simcox's group because he fears "innocent people could get shot."
Grijalva said this section of the border has seen a large increase in foot traffic since Sept. 11, 2001, because the Border Patrol has cracked down on the flow of illegal immigrants at major crossing points.
But this 20-mile trail is already fraught with danger, most of it from the desert's harsh elements. Bandits also roam the area in four-wheel-drive vehicles and are suspected in numerous robberies and unexplained deaths in recent months.
In all, 133 illegal immigrants have died attempting to enter this area in the last 12 months, officials say. Most of them perished from dehydration after becoming lost in the desert.
During the same period, the Border Patrol said it arrested 156,950 undocumented immigrants who crossed into Arizona illegally. At least twice as many may have made it through, officials estimate.
Shootings feared
Armed civilians are the last thing that's needed on the border, said Robin Hoover, president of Tucson-based Humane Borders.
"I don't even want to think about all the shootings that could happen in the desert with vigilantes out there when immigrants start coming back into the U.S. after the holidays," Hoover said.
"This situation with vigilantes could get really out of hand fast," he added.
Humane Borders places fresh drinking water at numerous desert locations to keep immigrants from dying of dehydration. Some of the water stations have been vandalized, activists say.
Simcox, editor and publisher of the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper, issued a "Call to Arms" in a banner headline two months ago, asking residents along Arizona's southern border to form a people's militia to patrol the region.
Simcox, 42, a former California schoolteacher, said more than 600 people responded, and since then small groups have begun patrolling a section of the border just south of Tombstone, site of the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.
`Our patriotic duty'
"If the Border Patrol was doing its job, we wouldn't have to get out there," Simcox said. "So it's up to us to do our patriotic duty and step in. You should see the way these people leave the desert all full of trash and strewn with old clothes."
Those who fail to show valid proof of citizenship will be handcuffed and turned over to immigration authorities, Simcox said.
Jose Matus, director of the Tucson-based Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras (Indigenous Alliance Without Borders), said armed private citizens patrolling the border could ignite a skirmish, perhaps involving gunfire.
"Let's face it: Anything can happen out in the desert when it's completely dark," Matus said. "It's going to be a very difficult time around here when the first person shows up dead at the hands of some vigilante."
In two months of patrols, Simcox says, his group has turned back hundreds of illegal immigrants and has seized a large cache of marijuana being smuggled into the country.
And the vigilantes haven't fired a shot, he added.
But that may change in the coming days, Simcox acknowledged, because the desert path just west of town was known as a site for narcotics smuggling long before it became popular among illegal immigrants traveling north.
Word of the vigilante patrols already has begun to resonate with those seeking to enter the United States looking for jobs. They say it is simply another obstacle that must be overcome on their journey north.
"I don't want to cause anyone any problem," said Marcos Sanchez, one of three Mexicans who entered the U.S. illegally one recent afternoon and emerged from the Arizona desert after a three- day trek.
"We are just looking for work here and don't want to cause anyone any harm. It's difficult enough to take a chance to get here," Sanchez said while he walked along a road about 15 miles outside Tucson.
Rough time in desert
Sanchez said he and his companions had heard about the vigilante patrols on the U.S.-Mexican border. But they decided to cross anyway to look for jobs in Tucson or Phoenix.
They had been lost in the desert for a day before reaching a small clearing, not far from where Hoover's group had placed a large tank of fresh drinking water.
None of them had eaten for 48 hours, and sleeping in the desert this time of year is a bad idea because temperatures dip below freezing, he said.
"We haven't slept in two days because we don't have blankets and we ran out of food," Sanchez said. "I think it was a mistake to come here. We want to go home."
This should be a very interesting situation. I wonder if these guys will actually start picking them off as they cross the boarder.
I guess people are sick of just talking and now they are going to take some action.
