Some officials have expressed alarm at the Minuteman organizers' acknowledgment that some of their volunteers may be armed with handguns, as permitted by state law. But Deborah Sattler, 42, a volunteer from Irvine, Calif., said such fears are overstated.
"No one I know [who's going] has a gun or wants a gun," said the mother of two. She plans to bring her son, 11, though not permit him on the border patrols.
Michael King of American Border Patrol, a citizen watchdog group that posts images from the U.S.-Mexico border to draw attention to illegal immigration, rides along the border in Arizona.
(Paul Connors -- AP)
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But Border Patrol officials say they fear for the safety of well-intentioned volunteers -- whose help, they hasten to add, they do not need.
"I don't think they realize the violence that occurs here on a daily basis," said Andy Adame, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in Tucson. Since the federal government began putting a greater squeeze on the border, immigrant smugglers have become more desperate and dangerous, he said. "It used to be rock-throwing, now it's shootings."
He added that the border is now lined with a variety of sensors that he fears could easily be set off by a Minuteman volunteer: "What if an agent goes out there with night-vision goggles and sees someone armed?"
Human-rights and civil-liberties organizations, meanwhile, are condemning the effort but said they are also stepping carefully for fear of adding to a circus-like environment on the border.
"It has the potential of being quite the volatile mix," said Eleanor Eisenberg, director of the Arizona American Civil Liberties Union, which intends to send "legal observers" to watch for abuse against immigrants. Tucson-based Border Action Network is pushing law enforcement to prosecute vigilantes but is otherwise discouraging affiliates from going to counter-protest.
"Our membership is mostly Latinos," said Jennifer Allen, the group's director. "It's just not safe."
