By Al Garza
National Executive Director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

During my youth, I served this country proudly in the Marine Corps in Vietnam, along with some great Americans. I now have that opportunity once again to serve my country with other great Americans, through my role with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. We are a volunteer organization filled with patriots who stand watch on our nation’s borders in support of the brave men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol.

We are motivated by the rule of law and the need to secure the borders of the United States for the sake of our children and our grandchildren. Like our Founding Fathers, we are willing to sacrifice our lives and fortunes “in order to form a more perfect union,” even when we are discouraged by the actions of our elected leaders in Washington, who often forget that they “deriv[e] their just powers from the consent of the Governed…”

Minuteman Civil Defense Corps volunteers do not engage in hate speech, bigotry, violence, vigilantism or launch unjust personal attacks against law-abiding citizens. In fact, we are commissioned to witness to the injustice of the “we hate America crowd” led by the National Council of LaRaza who have exposed their true motives when they threaten Kansas City Mayor Mark Funkhouser for refusing to fire Frances Semler from her appointed post on the Park Board without cause; an action that would result in most private employers receiving an expensive lesson in employment law.

I urge the citizens of Kansas City to question the actions of the National Council of LaRaza, a group which claims to stand for civil rights, but extorts your Mayor with threats of defamation and boycott if their demands are not met—demands that a grandmotherly civic leader be terminated for her affiliation with a patriotic organization. I find their actions demeaning to all Hispanic Americans, and undermining of our civil liberty and patriotism.

After all, can any organization that encourages people to violate our laws truly claim to love America? Can you truly love America if one of your stated goals is to violently reclaim U.S. soil in the name of Mexico through a movement known as Reconquista?

Unlike LaRaza’s selfish agenda, our Minuteman mission is peaceful and responsible for saving the lives of hundreds who entered our country illegally and were left to die in the desert, be forced into prostitution or otherwise exploited for their cheap labor. Securing the borders is pro-immigrant. Minutemen volunteers are showing our federal government and fellow citizens the national security effectiveness for the protection of all that will result from the construction of a double-layered physical fence, and a simple increase in the number of Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops stationed on our borders.

As citizens, we have a moral obligation to provide immigrants a safe passage—by our rules—while also protecting the citizens of the United States from invasion, disease and criminal behavior. The immigration problems we face can be resolved when employers, elected officials, the judicial system and law enforcement agencies at the local, state and national levels work together to enforce all immigration laws.

Minuteman activities are inclusive, conducted by men and women, naturalized as well as native-born citizens, college students and members of the Granny Brigade who fill a void on a mission that continues to receive strong support from millions of Americans. Our volunteers will travel from all over America to the U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canadian borders next month for our national muster. They will observe and report illegal activity to the proper authorities. Furthermore, they will call, write and fax their Members of Congress to voice their opposition to the on-going lobbying campaigns advancing amnesty legislation.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps conducts our activities for the “general welfare” of all legal citizens of the United States and the protection of all innocent human life. Can LaRaza really claim they do the same thing?