BLAINE – The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, which has a strong base along the U.S.-Mexico border, has started operating along Whatcom County’s northern border to watch for people illegally entering the country from Canada.
The group formed a year ago after concerns developed about the number of immigrants crossing the U.S. border from Mexico. Its first patrols were in Arizona.
Members opted to also monitor the 4,000-mile northern border, even before a drug-smuggling tunnel was discovered in July.
About 20 volunteers, who pay $50 to join, completed training and began monitoring the U.S. border last weekend.
“The principle of it is to get the government to realize as citizens, we believe after 9/11 that things haven’t been done,” said Betsy Madan, 48, of Lynden. She and her husband are among the volunteers.
The U.S. Border Patrol does not endorse what the Minutemen are doing, nor does it stop them as long as they follow the law.
Between 60 and 100 volunteers – most from the Northwest and many retired military or law enforcement – are expected to come through for the monthlong operation, said Tom Williams of Deming, a retired police psychologist and former Marine who leads the Washington Minuteman Detachment.
Volunteers wear colored armbands to identify themselves and carry walkie-talkies and binoculars. They’re trained to call the proper law enforcement agency and the Minuteman command center if they see anything illegal.
Observers are not supposed to confront anyone, Williams said.
The Minutemen will provide the Border Patrol with rosters of people they will have onsite and lists of which people are armed, said Joe Giuliano, deputy chief of the Blaine Border Patrol Sector.
“They’re here to present their political agenda,” he said. “It is their right. They can keep doing that until they interfere with us or break the law.”
The Minutemen are not prepared to deal with the unique challenges of the northern border, said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., whose district includes Whatcom County and the Blaine sector’s border crossings.
“Where our southern border battles a great deal of illegal immigration, the northern border’s threats are more often drug-, gun- and money-smuggling by criminal organizations,” Larsen said in a statement. “These unique threats call for trained law-enforcement professionals who are skilled in dealing with organized crime and our border’s unique geography.”
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