Minuteman Project: July 4th Weekend

This weekend's muster took place at Three Points. Upon arriving at the VFW hall in Three Points I saw the Minuteman Project's newest toy! Watch out drug runners...

I volunteered for what we were calling "The Danger Line." We were calling it that due to the heavy drug traffic through the area. Sound, light and radio discipline were heavily stressed by the line leader, that way hopefully any confrontations with drug runners could be avoided.

The first night I was assigned along with a man from Texas to a post at the intersection of a street and a dirt road in a wash that paralleled the street. We sat behind a prickly pear between the street and the wash and began to listen for footsteps. It was difficult due to an Cessna flying circles around us overhead. Soon however we heard footsteps just past the wash to the south. Now the rule for Three Points is we need a visual confirmation of humans before we call it in- there are many cows in the area and can sound a lot like human footsteps. We kept our eyes open for any sign of what we were hearing, but it was too dark and we did not have any night vision. The footsteps moved to the east and then turned north toward the street just to the east of our position. We contacted the next post over to see if they could see anything, but they were as blind as we were. Shortly afterward we heard footsteps crossing the street. We never were able to get a visual, but it sounded like about 10 to 20 people crossing the street. This is when I decided I needed night vision.

At this point the plane left. We began to speculate that the plane was using thermal vision to locate and guide a group through our line. If they were carrying drugs, it's possible...

A while later we headed back to the truck to get a bite to eat. While there, we thought we heard footsteps again, this time going to the west across the dirt road. We listened and both heard what sounded like water bottles being filled- there was a water tank right there. Suddenly we heard unmistakable Spanish, and the footsteps moved straight in our direction.

In what little light there was we saw several people walk off the dirt road and into the wash where we were standing. Because they were going to walk straight into us anyway, the safest thing to do was to light them up with our flashlights. It's safer to startle them at a distance than startle them right on top of us. The people in this photo are Minutemen, but it shows where we saw the people turn into the wash.

The three or so people in the front of the line began to sit on the ground. When the rest of the group ran, the three who were beginning to sit decided to run too. We saw at least 7, and we heard several people still crossing the street. We estimated the group to be 12 people. We did not chase after them, we just shut off our lights and called Border Patrol. While waiting, we could hear the group move east and west and east again looking for a place to cross our line.

Within minutes a Border Patrol truck was there and we could see a spec of light in the sky to the north rapidly getting closer. Before we knew it the Border Patrol helicopter was flying over our heads with its 100 trillion candlepower search light turning the night into day. Border Patrol asked us to turn on all the light we could, so we complied. Our MagLites and even 10 million candlepower spot lights just seemed like LED penlights compared to the helicopter.

While we were assisting the Border Patrol, someone threw a rock at us. The guy I was with heard it whiz by his head and we both heard it land in the bushes behind us. We never saw who threw the rock.

Despite all the light, only two were caught. They were found clinging to a tree trying to hide. From what I was told they were doing well too. They were almost passed by.

Here are the two who were caught sitting behind the Border Patrol truck. They claimed that their group had only 7, but we know there were at least a few more than that.

The rest of the night was quiet. Thankfully I was able to drive back into Tucson and get a good night's sleep in a real bed. That evening I went back to Three Points for night two, but was sure to stop by Wal-Mart to buy Generation 1 night vision. It's not great, but it's better than nothing.

I was assigned basically to the same location, but about 100 feet east down the wash. This time I was with the son of legal Mexican immigrants. He was HAM licensed and operating as our radio relay for the night.

I parked my car across the dirt road. We were afraid that it would be too visible so we covered as much as we could with a tarp, if anything to break up the profile.

We sat on an embankment on the south of the wash in some bushes. This gave us a lot of cover and at the same time gave us a good view of the wash as well as a pathway paralleling the wash to the south.

The night was quiet for quite a while until I heard a noise coming from the south. I slowly turned around to take a look but didn't see anything, even through the night vision. Suddenly I heard what sounded like a demon from the depths of hell billowing steam from its nostrils, and the sound of hooves galloping right for me! I looked in every direction at once, but saw nothing! Then all was quiet. Still saw nothing. Looked harder. Saw nothing. I figured the demon wanted us to move to a different location, so we complied.

Our new location was east about 50 feet where the pathway met with the wash. We hid in some bushes where we had a good view of the wash and the path. Soon we were alerted by another sound. It wasn't human, that's for sure. But if it was a demon, it was a lot smaller than the last one. Before too long I saw it with the night vision and was able to get it on film. Looks like this demon has a taste for prickly pear...

A few minutes later we were visited by the Border Patrol helicopter which apparently saw us on their thermal scope and went past to post lighting us up. It was a little frustrating, but I prefer seeing them check us out than ignore possible illegals or drug runners. Our little mouse demon decided that the helicopter was too much for him and left for the night.

Soon another post reported a sighting, and said that they were moving our direction. We moved across the wash to a more hidden location. Border Patrol was called, and we could hear the group looking for a place to break through our line. When Border Patrol arrived, they asked us to light up the area. We complied, and moved back to where we had just been a while before because we could shine our light down the pathway. We moved down the path a bit with our lights trying to spot anyone, but we didn't. In fact no one did, so we went back to our post and sat and listened again.

Every once in a while I thought I heard a sound to the east, but I figured it was only a rabbit. Three hours after the Border Patrol left, at around 4:30, the birds began to sing and the sun began to think about rising. Now it was still extremely dark, so when the illegal that had been hiding behind a bush only 30 feet from us stood up and ran quietly to the wash we could not see anything. I scrambled to get my night vision, but I was too late. I guess he figured he had to do something before the sun came up... He had been sitting there 30 feet from us for THREE HOURS!

After the sun came up we decided to take a look at the surrounding area. We walked down the wash a bit to a lay-up. The next several photos are things that we found left in the desert.

The item in the center of this photo is exactly what it appears to be. This one had not been used so I decided to post the photo. Some that I have found have been used.

This is very typical of a lay-up. This is pretty much a random photo from the lay-up.

The garbage goes on, and on, and on. I could post photo after photo after photo of all the trash that is littering the desert.



This is a rather nice shirt! I almost considered taking it but the risk was too high, especially with clothing.






How did this get out in the desert? At a lay-up? Either someone was the victim of identity theft or illegals are taking advantage of our health care.





This is a booklet that is given to illegals before they cross the border. It is produced by Groupo Beta, a Mexican government group that is supposed to "protect immigrants."





On this page, a member of Groupo Beta is frightening a man with a gun using his strong muscles.






This lets the "immigrants" know that the mean Border Patrol will try to separate mothers and children. Don't let them!






Don't bribe the Border Patrol! This one is actually important- bribing is very common in Mexico, and a Mexican citizen may actually have to be told that America is actually not as corrupt.





Another example of possible identity theft. Let's hope there was no Socialist Security Number on that...







This information pamphlet apparently didn't do any good.








Click on the photo to enlarge and read the paper.








The last night I sat in a team with two others right along the paved street, a bit west of where I had been the last two nights. It was fun to play with the night vision, but the night was completely uneventful.