Up-close and personal with a frontline Minuteman.
by Sher Ziev
Below is a continuation of the interview I conducted with Minuteman Project (MMP) volunteer, Steve Hall.
Steve continues his dialogue…
Steve: “My participation involved interfacing with the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriffs Department worked closely with us to insure that no laws were broken. They came to our base on a daily basis and were active on the border. They investigated any alleged incidents with illegal aliens and were satisfied that we were observers and nothing more. The Border Patrol administration chose to have no contact with our project other than quickly responding when we reported an illegal crossing. While the Border Patrol administration did not approve of our project publicly, several of their field officers quietly approached our members and thanked us for our efforts to gain additional funding for their department and our participation. We think the Border Patrol field officers are a hard working group and need more resources to get the job done.”
Sher: What is your overall impression of the Minutemen and women and the project, as a whole?
Steve: “When dealing with volunteers drawn from all over the country, you would expect a wide range of age, skills and maturity. Fortunately we had a very mature group of volunteers who worked well together. Of the 800 or so who applied and arrived on scene, very few were turned away or asked to leave after being a volunteer for a short period of time. Any who did not seem to be of a sufficient maturity level or were not motivated by a desire to safely observe and not make contact with illegal aliens, were asked to leave. I observed only five or six volunteers who were asked to leave after starting. They either would not participate within the strict guidelines of lawful conduct or had personal motives outside our project’s objectives.
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