Irvine, Calif. – Organizers of the Minuteman Project, a volunteer group that patrols the border to keep out illegal immigrants, say this spring’s marches supporting immigrants have been an unexpected recruitment tool, drawing in Americans who feel uneasy about the burgeoning immigration movement but may have considered the organization a pack of gun-toting vigilantes.
“We’re not trying to be more mainstream – mainstream has found us,” said Stephen Eichler, the group’s executive director.
“They’re saying, ‘These guys actually have teeth; they don’t all chew tobacco; they don’t all have a gun rack in the back of their truck.’ They’re saying, ‘They believe what I believe,’ and they’re joining us.”
Laurie Lisonbee of Orem, Utah, a registered Republican, said only one issue matters to her now.
“My vote will go to the candidate who’s the toughest on immigration, whether they’re Democrat or Republican,” she said from her home. “Before, we were pretty much the types of people who would call our congressmen and not take to the streets, but that’s all changed now.”
The Minuteman Project first gained attention last year when Orange County resident and former tax accountant Jim Gilchrist helped lead its first 30-day patrol of the border in Arizona. The group has added mainstream political tools, including a network of local chapters and e-mail lobbying campaigns.
In December, Gilchrist, a former Republican, ran as a third-party candidate in a special House election in Orange County, Calif., and finished a respectable third, with 25 percent of the vote.
Since this spring’s huge pro- immigrant rallies, 300 people nationwide have applied to start local chapters, Eichler said, and the group’s goal is 500 chapters by December and a membership of 1 million within 1 1/2 years.
Eichler said the organization’s membership has climbed to more than 200,000.
But Heidi Beirich, deputy director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which monitors the Minuteman Project for racist rhetoric, said that estimate appears to be ridiculously high. She offered no estimate of her own.
“At the border during this last outing, they had maybe 50 people. If they have 200,000 people, it doesn’t seem right,” she said.
Beirich also questioned the premise that pro-immigrant rallies will help the Minuteman Project. She said many recruits may attend one or two rallies, but leave after they discover what she called the group’s extremist attitudes.
