Anarchists
angry
CAMPO — The prospect of a neighborhood watch project on the border near Campo brought an estimated 200 protesters up from town for a day in the country last Saturday, July 16. There, they entertained many and frightened a few with threatening remarks, and forays on vehicles driving through their encampment near the border monument at the Pacific Crest Trail.
Some spent the night in tents near the monument and others arrived Saturday morning for a planned rally. They spent several hours marching around the residential neighborhood that contains the community’s post office, community center, border patrol station, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2080.
The latter was of particular interest to protesters, since Border Watch organizer Jim Chase was using it as a sign-up area for arriving volunteers, who were then sent down to the border where they were harder to find and disrupt. The group congregated several times before the VFW and shouted insults and slogans, including, “Racists go home,” and “Cracker go home,” and “Get the hell out of here.”
In the evening, a crowd charged the VFW, which was holding its monthly steak fry with a number of community members who routinely go out to dinner there. The group was pushing at the ramp leading into the building when deputies interspersed themselves and pushed the crowd back.
Incidents included an attack on Senator Bill Morrow, who said he had traveled down to see the border watch operation in person. Morrow reported that he was spit on and his aide was kicked in the leg.
“It was a mob on the edge of violence, Morrow said. “This is an example of what the Minute Men have to go through.”
Morrow and a number of people, many of whom had nothing to do with the watch at all, were accosted by a man who would run up and place his bullhorn directly next to his victim’s ear and shout as loudly as possible.
A local rancher rode up on a motorcycle to listen to the group’s morning rally on the corner of SR 94 and Forrest Gate Road. When it was discovered that the man was not a supporter of open borders, members of the group gathered around him and began to press against him and shout so loudly that
The Alpine Sun was unable to speak to him. The Alpine Sun was also aggressively pushed by the wall of protesters around the man until deputies waded in and dispersed them.
Among the groups who had issued calls to disrupt the operation were Gente Unida,
Border
Angels, and Opposing Repression Globally And Nurturing Independent
Communities. Their various websites say members support socialism, anarchy, and open borders and announced their intention to follow watchers around, make noise, and aggressively attempt to incite violence from watchers.
Attendees hailed from Los Angeles, San Diego, Chula Vista, Oceanside and other urban centers. So far as The Alpine Sun could learn, none were local to the rural border.
Deputies and U.S. Border Patrol agents had previously met with Chase to establish ground rules and deputies were well prepared Saturday with extra staffing, about 10 patrol units, and an incident command trailer. California Highway Patrol officers also made a strong showing, with an estimated five patrol units.
On Saturday night, with border watchers scattered between Campo and Jacumba to the east of the border monument, and protesters camped at the border monument, deputies and officers took possession of a high point between the two groups.
The Mexican consul was also in Campo on Saturday, in case there were human rights complaints. According to border patrol spokesmen, there were no human rights complaints as of Monday.
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Billie Jo Jannen/The Alpine Sun
Between 100 and 200 border watch protesters storm the Campo VFW’s monthly steak fry, shouting threats and curses and calling diners racists and other names. Deputies stopped the crowd at the ramp leading to the front door. The group focused on the VFW in a series of forays throughout the day.
Above, deputies shooed residents back inside the
VFW clubhouse as others worked on moving hostile
protesters out of the yard and parking lot. |
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Residents
riveted
CAMPO — Residents, many of
whom routinely round up illegal aliens on their
properties and turn them over to border agents, had a
chance to share their stories with visitors from all
over the United States when volunteers came to town to
support better border controls.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars
Post 2080 did land sale business on steak fry night when
non-members may come in and enjoy a social dinner and
drinks.
The draw was a variety of
border watch volunteers who hailed from points at home
— Campo, Potrero, Boulevard and Dulzura — and from
points across the United States, including Georgia,
Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, Colorado, Texas,
and Northern California.
Volunteers included people from
all walks of life.
An Escondido policewoman drove the border in Kevlar and
two pistols in armpit holsters.
Microbiologist Heather
Evans, of San Pedro, arrived with her military fiancé
David McClelland of Los Angeles.
Gary Lane of Dulzura
arrived Sunday after a Saturday night incident at his
home where a pair of illegals had attempted to steal his
car. He is fed up with the border, as is Matt Jones of
Campo, who turned out Saturday night out of curiosity to
see how a border watch would work.
Mike Bird, of Georgia, married
a Peruvian girl a year and a half ago. She is still in
Peru and the couple are waiting on approval of her
immigration application before they can be reunited —
a process that he is quick to note is not endured by the
people coming over the rural border.
Barry Ames of Lake Forest,
Calif. is tired of having the street in front of his
home used as a de facto hiring hall for illegals — and
of his mail being rifled by same.
James Chase, the organizer of
this operation, hails from Oceanside and was a
participant in the Arizona border watch earlier this
year.
As a Vietnam veteran and
lifetime member, he is able to use the VFW post and
Campo officers have been helpful in seeing that he and
his wife/assistant have workspace.
Chase is not doing
backgrounding and training as the FBP is for its highly
publicized September action, he is holding regular
briefings to ensure that people have guidance about
where to go and fully understand the rules regarding
weapons and travel along the border.
Among his chief concerns is
that no one react to protesters’ insults. The fallout,
should someone lose his temper over a noise or
projectile assault, could shutdown the operation and
have lasting consequences for others.
“These guys are trained to
try to make us lash out,” Chase said. “We have to
stay in control.”
Chase also emphasized that no one is to interfere in any
way with people coming over the border: “A drug
smuggler can walk right past us...just report them and
the Border Patrol will get them.”
Rural
agents in short supply
Chase told volunteers in a
Sunday briefing that border watchers were hard pressed
to find agents, estimating that there might be one every
two miles between Campo and the Imperial County line.
An agent later commented that
this was a generous estimate:
“We’re lucky if we have 15
agents per shift,” the agent said.
The Campo station is
responsible for a stretch of border 28 miles long.
Agents have, in the main, been
transferring out to Arizona where the opportunities for
advancement are greater, he said. An agent who was
attacked in Jacumba by smugglers has returned to work.
Asked how agents felt about the
border watch volunteers, he said, “We love having them
here. The more eyes, the better.”
The agent’s name is withheld
by request.
According to Agent Sean Isham,
apprehensions in the Campo area of responsibility
areless than half what they were last year. From Oct. 1,
the start of the agency’s fiscal year, to July 13,
2004, arrests numbered 42,768. For the same time period
this year, apprehensions for Campo numbered 20,464. Of
those, 1,138 were OTM (other than Mexican).
Residents
on board with FBP
While protesters were
straggling back to their homes Sunday, and Chase was
signing up a small flurry of new volunteers, a number of
locals had their weekly meeting in Boulevard to prepare
for the next round of border watching.
Slated to begin Sept. 16,
Mexican Independence Day, organizers of the Friends of
the Border Patrol operation say they already have 1,000
volunteers, about 50 of which are local residents who
meet weekly to help plan the operation.
All volunteers are to undergo a
background check before acceptance and local people are
being recruited to ensure that activities are designed
for maximum benefit to locals.
Chase’s operation is slated
to continue through early August. |
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