National Minuteman Leader Calls New Bush Border Fence Plan A ‘Sham’

By MARTIN BARTLETT

EL PASO, Texas – The National Executive Director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps says the Bush administration’s decision this week to sidestep some environmental rules in the construction of hundreds of miles of border fencing is nothing more than “smoke and mirrors.”

Al Garza, speaking on his cell phone from Huachuca City, Ariz., said he believes the federal government is deliberately trying to get into protracted legal battles with land-owners along the border. He believes the government is likely to use those lingering legal battles as an excuse to put off construction of fencing along hundreds of miles of the U.S.-Mexico Border.

“It’s a sham,” Garza said. I don’t think this administration is at all interested in securing the border.”

Minuteman groups began month-long patrols at several locations along the U.S. Mexico border this week including near Columbus, N.M.

He also said recent spikes of drug cartel violence in Mexico — like those in Ciudad Juarez — have lead to a spike in the number of undocumented immigrants the volunteer group sees cross the border.