Ariz. Groups Aim to Stop Illegal Immigrants

By Evelyn Nieves
Washington Post Staff Writer

TOMBSTONE, Ariz. -- About one block from the legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral, Chris Simcox, a slight, wiry former schoolteacher, was sounding off
about the rampant lawlessness he says has once again taken hold in these here parts.

"It's the Wild West all over again," Simcox said as a stagecoach escorting tourists through quaint little streets clop-clopped past his office at the Tombstone
Tumbleweed newspaper. "Our government should be patrolling this country. But it isn't. We're just gonna have to do it ourselves."

And so it happened that Simcox, 42, who moved to this burg (population 1,500) a year ago from Los Angeles -- buying the town's dying weekly newspaper to give
it and himself a fresh start -- came to sound "a call to arms." Using the front page of the Tumbleweed, in October Simcox called for a "Citizens Border Patrol Militia"
to "deter illegal invaders" from Mexico from entering the United States.

"We're like a neighborhood watch group at the border," he said, minutes before the group, now called the "Civil Homeland Defense," began its first training session
last weekend near the border about 25 miles from Tombstone. "We're not armed. We don't wear camouflage. We're just there for homeland security."

But if Simcox's border patrol is not armed (he is prone to carrying a .45 on his hip), others are. In this dusty, open desert country once haunted by cowboys and
outlaws, armed civilian border patrol groups who scare off border crossers or, in some cases, hold them at gunpoint, are becoming an increasing presence.

The groups, such as Ranch Rescue and the American Border Patrol, say their purpose is to plug the holes in southern Arizona's porous border, protect citizens and
expose the federal government's failure to protect the United States from drug- and people- smuggling.

To critics, these angry patrols are a greater risk to society than poor migrants risking their lives for low-paying jobs in the United States.

Both the groups and their critics point to recent violence to prove their point -- describing cases in which either U.S. citizens were kidnapped or shot by Mexican
drug traffickers, or where migrants were shot by vigilantes. And the groups and their critics say the situation in the desert is getting more volatile -- either because
smugglers are becoming more heavily armed or because the citizens groups are becoming more confrontational.

"In the most general terms, these groups are really trying to play on people's fears and concerns as a way to foster their own agenda," said Jennifer Allen, co-director
of Border Action Network, a Tucson-based organization that monitors border activities and their effects on communities. In a report released last month, Border
Action Network said groups such as Ranch Rescue and the American Border Patrol have connections to a national network of anti-immigrant, racist, white
supremacist organizations. Residents, the report said, are worried and scared of them.

The Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which conducted a four-month investigation into the border groups, considers Ranch Rescue a vigilante
organization with ties to anti-government groups. It says American Border Patrol bears watching because its founder, Glenn Spencer, a former California-based talk
radio host, is an anti-immigration activist with ties to racist groups. Spencer denies the charges of racism, citing former officers of the U.S. Border Patrol and other
law enforcement organizations who are in the group.

About the only point the citizens patrols and their critics agree on is that both blame the federal government's border strategy for the untenable situation. By building
up security in urban areas, such as San Diego, the U.S. Border Patrol has funneled illegal traffic into the remote reaches of the desert, where the federal agents are
less of a presence. No longer do immigrants come by the twos and threes, guided by one paid escort, or coyote. The dangerous rural stretches have led to a market
for highly organized smuggling rings -- often the same ones that smuggle drugs. The rings transport immigrants by the dozen through mountain and desert, and often
trespass across private lands on their way to pick-up spots along the U.S. highways.

The U.S. Border Patrol says it has stepped up its efforts in the Tucson sector of the border. But illegal border crossings were up 63 percent last fall, compared with
the same period in 2001. Between Agua Prieta, Mexico and Douglas, Ariz., directly across the border, there is often no border security presence, said Jack Foote,
the Abilene, Tex.-based founder of Ranch Rescue. "Agua Prieta has become a staging area for smugglers," he said. "We've seen them cross hundreds at a time."

Foote said the heavy increase in border crossings through private ranches in Douglas and other border towns here in Cochise County prompted the formation of
Ranch Rescue, an all-volunteer network with independent chapters in nine states (Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas and
Washington). Ranch Rescue was inspired, Foote said, by the well-publicized tribulations of an armed rancher, Roger Barnett of Sierra Vista. He owns a restored
German tank, and says he and his brother have captured and "arrested" more than 2,000 border crossers. "We're interested in direct aid to the landowners," Foote
said. "If we're lobbying, what does that do for the landowner tonight? Instead, I can pick up some barbed wire, and I can help him fix his fence. That helps him
today."

In October, Ranch Rescue made big news in Cochise County. Thirteen heavily armed, camouflage-clad Ranch Rescuers camping along the flimsy barbed-wire fence
that separates much of the border, scared off two bands of drug smugglers who dropped 279 pounds of marijuana on land owned by the Nature Conservancy.
Television crews were impressed. But Cochise County officials fumed that the group, accompanied by a reporter for Soldier of Fortune magazine, called the media
before calling the sheriff or U.S. Border Patrol.

Embarrassing the government is part of the plan, said Glenn Spencer, whose American Border Patrol began its operations Jan. 2. It uses armed members with
high-tech video surveillance equipment to detect border crossers and broadcast their moves on the Internet. On Jan. 4, Spencer said, the group was called by a
rancher complaining of border crossers through his property. They filmed 30 suspected border crossers being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol on the rancher's
property and broadcast the tape live on their Web site.

"The objective of American Border Patrol is to do a couple of things," Spencer said. "It will be a think tank-neighborhood patrol. We're not vigilantes; we're not
kooks. We carry guns, because our position is guns are not illegal. They are commonly worn by people in this part of the country, because laws are not enforced."

The U.S. Border Patrol responded tersely when asked about the civilian patrols and their claims. "The United States Border Patrol appreciates the community's
support in identifying areas where there is illegal activity," spokesman Mario Villarreal said. "If illegal activity is observed by someone in the general public, we highly
recommend that they immediately call law enforcement personnel. We discourage private parties from taking matters into their own hands."

But that is precisely what the groups say they are compelled to do.

At the first formal training for Simcox's Civil Homeland Defense, at least as many journalists and cameras showed as members on Jan. 4 -- half a dozen, and perhaps
twice that many, last Sunday. But if Simcox was disappointed, he didn't say so. Wearing an American flag baseball cap and wraparound sunglasses, he excitedly
gave his walkie-talkie-carrying members -- including retired military members, a lawyer and the owner of the Tombstone O.K. Café -- a pep talk on their mission
"to protect the sovereignty of our borders."

Then the group went on a dry run, walking up and down a road and talking to each other about what they saw -- or, in this case, didn't see.

His invitation to the media to see his group in action -- and dispel notions that they're "a bunch of racist redneck vigilantes" -- scared away some members, he said.
He added that dozens of people had called to express interest or support, and that he had also received calls from dozens of "real militia groups" offering to come
and help scare away border crossers.

Although Simcox initially called for a "militia," he now says using the term was a mistake. "I didn't realize that Americans are so stupid that they think militias are a
bad thing," he said. "We better be glad we have them, because they keep the government in check."

In Tombstone, a touristville of square, weathered clapboard buildings, many residents have opposed Simcox's group. They say it makes the contented town seem
paranoid and anti-immigrant. But Simcox said his critics have simply failed to see the patriotism of his call. "We're doing what President George W. Bush has told us
to do," he said. "We're volunteering to help protect our country."

                                               © 2003