FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SIMCOX CHALLENGES SENATE

MINUTEMEN URGE SENATE TO PLACE AMERICA’S NATIONAL SECURITY BEFORE INTERESTS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS IN BORDER BILL DEBATE

(PHOENIX, AZ) February 15, 2006 – Chris Simcox, President of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, issued the following statement challenging the Senate to place the national security interests of the American people ahead of Latin American countries that are sending a special delegation to Washington, D.C. next week to pressure the Senate against passage of the Sensenbrenner-King bill on border security and illegal immigration:

“The United States Senate has a sworn obligation to protect American citizens from foreign invasion. The Sensenbrenner-King bill passed by the House last year and up for consideration by the Senate next month is a good step in fulfilling that obligation. The Minutemen urge the Senate to pass that bill and resist the outrageous demands of the eleven Latin American countries for unsecured U.S. borders, amnesty and guest worker programs for their citizens who have broken our laws. Anyone proposing to enact amnesty/guest worker programs before the border is secured is endangering America.

“For decades, the United States has been the economic and political safety valve of these Latin American governments for millions of citizens that those governments are too inept and corrupt to provide a bright future. Being a compassionate nation, America has tolerated wave after wave of illegal immigration from those countries and others. However, in a post 9/11 world the status quo of open borders, rampant criminal activity and human slave trafficking can no longer be tolerated by any nation that wishes to survive.

“The campaign by the eleven Latin American governments against the Sensenbrenner-King bill shows a profound disrespect for the sovereignty of the American people. These foreign governments have promised to ‘use everything (they) have’ to prevent the Senate from passing the Sensenbrenner-King bill and securing our borders.

“The Minutemen are in favor of legal, well-regulated immigration that respects immigrants and protects them by upholding the rule of law. However, our primary concern is the national security of the United States.

“The eleven Latin American governments prefer to force their citizens on the United States rather than fulfill their obligations to them. They have condemned their people to nightmarish journeys where they risk rape, forced prostitution, robbery, murder and being abandoned by their smugglers to die horrible deaths in the desert in order to escape their countries and illegally enter the United States.

“While most illegal aliens simply seek work and a better life in America, criminal gangs like MS-13, narco-traffickers, human traffickers and potential terrorists are taking full advantage of our unsecured borders. American citizens living on the border, and increasingly in the interior, are paying the price with their lives, property and deteriorating communities. America’s law enforcement officers are being threatened and attacked on a daily basis by illegal aliens and foreign criminals as they seek to enforce our immigration laws.

“The Minutemen urge the Senate to put the safety and security of the American people first, and for those Latin American governments to do the same for their citizens. Those governments, and all governments, are put on notice that the Minutemen will act to protect our borders until the federal government finally secures the borders.”

Simcox Challenges Senate - Minutemen Urge Senate to Place America's National Security Before Interests of Foreign Governments in Border Bill Debate