EXTREMISTS AT BORDER MINUTEMAN PROJECT ABOUT MORE THAN ENFORCING POLICY.

Byline: Amanda Susskind and Joanna Mendelson

RECENT news accounts of the Minuteman Project to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border miss the point. It's one thing to create policies and direct government resources to address illegal immigration into this country. It's quite another to condone armed and untrained civilians patrolling the border.

People should be aware that the recent Arizona-Mexico vigilante activity is the brainchild of extremists who have proved themselves willing to use radical tactics to promote an extreme anti-immigrant agenda.

The Minuteman Project was highly publicized among right-wing extremists from militia groups to white supremacist organizations and attracted a variety of fanatics and extreme anti-immigration activists. A number of neo-Nazi adherents showed up for the first weekend of events, which was endorsed by Shawn Walker, spokesman for the neo-Nazi National Alliance. That's the organization whose founder wrote ``The Turner Diaries,'' which inspired Timothy McVeigh.

National Alliance fliers designed to coincide with the event were circulated in numerous communities along the Arizona border. They described illegal immigration as an ``invasion'' that will cause white people to be ``a minority within the next 50 years.''

Many other white supremacist groups endorsed the Minuteman Project, including the notorious neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations, which actively promoted the project, proclaiming it ``a call for action on part of ALL ARYAN SOLDIERS.''

Leaders of the Minuteman Project included members of active border vigilante groups. Before getting involved with the Minuteman Project, co-founder Chris Simcox was most well-known for creating a border vigilante group he called ``Civil Homeland Defense.'' He was also convicted last year of two misdemeanor counts and sentenced to two years of probation for carrying a loaded firearm onto the Coronado National Memorial, a National Park Service property.

Simcox told a crowd in California in March 2003 that ``so far, we've had restraint, but I'm afraid that restraint is wearing thin. Take heed of our weapons because we're going to defend our borders by any means necessary.''

Given these sentiments, it is no surprise that the efforts of right-wing extremist groups to take the law into their own hands and administer their own form of ``justice'' coincide with a wave of border violence in Arizona that has included execution-style slayings. Violent incidents against illegal immigrants have been both brutal and frequent, further intensifying the atmosphere of fear and suspicion on both sides of the border.

The tide of armed vigilantism has risen in Arizona, adding heat and hatred to the desert state, while doing nothing to solve legitimate problems. Whether proclaiming an imminent loss of American ``culture'' due to immigration or organizing armed patrols to hunt humans, these anti-immigration extremists have deliberately confused border control policy with intolerance and paramilitary activity. They promote a culture of lawlessness and defiance that will only add to, not solve, America's border problems.

The situation on the Arizona-Mexican border is one that nobody really wants. A significant increase in illegal immigration, as well as other cross-border activities such as drug smuggling, has alarmed many citizens. As bad as that is, however, it is becoming increasingly acceptable to espouse xenophobic and intolerant ideology toward the immigrant community - a community becoming victimized by extreme hatred. Whatever one's views on border security, it is worth taking a minute to look beyond its organizers' benign self-descriptions and learn the real agenda behind the Minuteman Project and its ilk.