The Minuteman Project (MMP) is a group of reportedly 6,500 volunteer citizens who are attempting to address and curb illegal immigration in the United States by patrolling the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada borders. The purpose of the group, in its own words, is:

to bring national awareness to the decades-long careless disregard of effective U.S. immigration law enforcement. It is a reminder to Americans that our nation was founded as a nation governed by the “rule of law,” not by the whims of mobs of ILLEGAL aliens who endlessly stream across U.S. borders….

Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious “melting pot.”

The result: political, economic and social mayhem. [Link]

Not surprisingly, the MPP has generated a signficant amount of controversy: it has been accused of being racist, ineffective, illegitimate, and of having ties to Neo-Nazis. Last year, legal observers from the American Civil Liberties Union and the University of Arizona monitored the activities of the MMP volunteers, before the MMP left Arizona in April 2005. One concerned onlooker had this to say about the MMP’s work:

“It’s going to encourage a lot of negative implications for brown-looking people, if you want to call it that, racial profiling….” [Link]

To be sure, citizens can be an integral part of a wider law enforcement initiative. For example, community policing — which involves collaborative efforts between the police and members of the general public, and which demands compassion from the police towards the communities they serve — has shown encouraging signs of success, particularly in areas with high concentrations of minorities, such as Miami. However, the MPP is not a part of an official border patrol program; it is a self-appointed entity that acts in isolation and with an unfortunate view of diversity and multiculturalism. Moreover, there are fears from human rights organizations as to how the MMP actually carries out its patrolling efforts - through directly confronting migrants, apprehending them, or worse.

There is, obviously, a human element involved with immigration (e.g., the sacrifice involved, the struggle to cross, and the motivition to provide a better life for the immigrant, his or her family, and those back “home”). The stories of Indians coming to the United States with little or no command of the English language, modest amounts of money, and uncertain job prospects come to mind. In fact, these stories lead me to appreciate all newcomers and immigrant hopefuls.

The Border Film Project researches this human element. In order to understand “the humanity present on both sides of the border,” the Project selected an unusual means: it

distributed hundreds of disposable cameras to two groups on different sides of the U.S.-Mexico border: undocumented migrants crossing the desert into the United States and American Minutemen trying to stop them. [Link]
The photos themselves are extremely gripping and present an interesting insight into the differences between the migrants and the Minutemen.

To anyone concerned with the MPP’s mission and its work, the MPP announced this week that it is not only returning to Arizona, but is expanding its operations to other states, including California, New York, and Washington.

Yes my friends, bring your passport - even for domestic travel.