The minutemen were armed.
A citizen of the USA is allowed to carry a gun. In some states it is legal as long as it is not concealed. But, in 'that' context it is a mechanism of self-defense.
In the context the Minutemen carried weapons it was as police officers and they weren't.
Why any of that was allowed to happen is beyond anything I understand. It should have never existed, but, it did.
The Minutemen literally were acting as police and giving themselves not just the right to protect themselves but to act to intervene in a hostile manner to stop border crossings. If that meant confrontation to act in self-defense thus using a weapon that is 'aggravation' under the laws of the USA and they would be minimally in violation of 'aggrivated assault' and possibly leading to 'manslaughter.'
The actions of the Minutemen are NOT lawful. They were never commissioned under the direction of any Sheriff to carry on as they did. They need to be disarmed, dissolved and possibly charged with crimes.
The position of the radial right in Arizona is contrary to the position of George W. Bush. They are following the rantings of a person once Governor of Alaska for half a term. The actions in Arizona are in response to the rantings of Sarah "The Slick" Palin. I don't ever recall a rock star having this much influence in any government legislature. It is irresponsible and stupid.
- Deploy border fence; end “catch and release”- State of the Union 2008 quote
- Take pressure off border with guest worker program - State of the Union 2007 quote
- Letter from Catholic Church: Don't make priests enforcers
- Our economy could not function without the immigrants - State of the Union 2006 quote
- Support a humane guest-worker program that rejects amnesty - State of the Union 2006 quote
- Reversed GOP’s support fo English-only education - Bush reversed the Republican Party’s support for English-only public education and stopped cuts in school funding for the children of illegal immigrants.
- It’s time to permit temporary guest workers - State of the Union 2005 quote
- Temporary workers ok, but no amnesty
BUSH: We’re increasing the border security of the US. There ought to be a temporary worker card that allows a willing worker and a willing employer, so long as there’s not an American willing to do that job, to join up. I don’t believe we ought to have amnesty. I don’t think we ought to reward illegal behavior. There are plenty of people standing in line to become a citizen. If they want to become a citizen, they can stand in line,
too. And here is where my opponent and I differ. In September 2003, he supported amnesty for illegal aliens
. KERRY: We need a guest-worker program. We need is to crack down on illegal hiring. And thirdly, we need an earned-legalization program for people who have been here for a long time, stayed out of trouble, got a job, paid their taxes, and their kids are American. We got to start moving them toward full citizenship, out of the shadows.
George W. Bush: Temporary workers ok, but no amnesty.
George W. Bush: A time-limited worker card for the illegal immigrants.
George W. Bush: Don't believe we ought to have amnesty.
John Kerry: A guest-worker program alone won't solve the problem.
John Kerry: Temporary workers ok, and earned amnesty ok.
- Support temporary worker program but oppose amnesty- State of the Union 2004 quote
- “We must make our immigration laws more rational, and more humane,” Bush told 200 Latino supporters attending his first White House announcement of the election year. “I believe we can do so without jeopardizing the livelihoods of American citizens.” What Bush calls his “temporary worker” program was eagerly embraced by business groups but condemned as stingy and impractical by advocates for immigrants. Many said it has little chance of passing Congress in the form Bush described.
According to David Frum in 2003:
- Bush envisioned a Mexican border open to labor, to trade, and open to investment-especially investment in energy. Mexico had banned foreign investment in its energy industry in 1938, and ever since, Mexican oil production has been controlled by the state monopoly, Pemex. If Mexico opened itself to the exploration and development of its oil resources by American entrepreneurs & technology, Mexican oil might possibly displace Arab oil from the US market altogether.
- For this energy “quid,” Mexico would of course demand some equally valuable “quo”-and in Bush’s mind that “quo” was immigration reform. Bush believed that immigration was valuable to the US and praised it again and again in public speeches and his private conversations.
- So the Bush administration designed a system for regularizing the Mexican-US labor relationship-not an amnesty like that of 1986, but a grander system for enabling Mexicans to work in the US temporarily and then to go home again.
- $500M to cut INS application time to 6 months - Bush campaign promise
- Welcome Latinos; immigration is not a problem to be solved. Bush [would] divide the INS into two agencies: one to deal with the enforcement components of border protection and interior enforcement, and another to deal with the service components of naturalization. Bush will change the INS policy so that spouses & minor children of permanent residents can apply for visitor visas while their immigration applications are pending. He will reverse the presumption that such family members will violate their terms of admission, and will encourage family reunification. - Bush speech 2000
Campaign statements by Bush in 2000 below:
- High tech: More H-1B worker visas; less export controls
- Farm policy: Open markets abroad; more H-2A worker visas
- Latinos enrich us; family values go past Rio Grande
- We must do a better job of stopping those who seek to come into our country illegally. I support strict border enforcement programs such as Operation Hold the Line, which concentrate border patrol officers and resources at known border-crossing points. I believe it is far more compassionate to turn away people at the border than to attempt to find and arrest them once they are living in our country illegally.
- Bush pledged to revisit guest worker programs and other ways for immigrants to come into the country, but said he would insist on immigration controls and a waiting period before citizenship.
