Fanatical Factions

Minuteman Project

Vigilante border patrol groups have operated for several years in the American Southwest but have expanded greatly in the past few years, spurred on by the media attention given to the so-called "Minuteman Project."

In April 2005, Chris Simcox, who founded the Arizona-based Civil Homeland Defense, a border vigilante group, and Jim Gilchrist, based in California, joined forces to create the Minuteman Project, whose purpose was to gather thousands of volunteers for a month-long watch for illegal border crossers in Arizona.

The project, which was highly publicized among right-wing extremists and White supremacists, attracted far fewer volunteers than expected during its first week, though many who did participate were armed. However, the publicity generated by the event resulted in numerous Minuteman chapters and spin-offs forming across America, even in states such as New York, Virginia, Vermont, and Illinois. These groups use the same radical rhetoric: that the United States is being "invaded" by Mexicans who must be stopped.

That message was clear at a three-day summit, "Unite to Fight Against Illegal Immigration," held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May 2005. More than 400 anti-immigration activists gathered at the event to hear speakers describe illegal immigrants as "the enemy within" and "illegal barbarians," while suggesting that America was "at war" with illegal immigrants and urging people to "take America back."

As reported by the SPLC in its Intelligence Report, "The Nativists," Gilchrist's vision of the future of America is "plainly apocalyptic." The country will have "100 tribes with 100 languages," a situation from which "mayhem" will result."

I see neighborhood armies of 20 to 40 going out and killing and invading one another," he said. Too many immigrants, he added, could even result in a full-scale civil war - a situation he suggested might be avoided by inciting a revolution in Mexico.

"Illegal immigrants will destroy this country," Gilchrist said. "Every time a Mexican flag is planted on American soil, it is a declaration of war."
Later, Gilchrist wasn't talking like that anymore. In 2005, he was a candidate for Congress from Southern California. Gone was the rhetoric about civil war and private armies. In fact, Gilchrist began to carefully enunciate support for legal immigrants.

It is not the first time that Gilchrist has changed his views. He started out as a registered Democrat, and then became a Republican. Gilchrist ran for Congress on the ticket of the American Independent Party (AIP) - the organization founded by former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, then a self-avowed segregationist who promised from the steps of the Alabama Capitol to defend segregation "forever." (Today, AIPs platform does not mention race. Affiliated with the far-right Constitution Party, the AIP is notable for its antigovernment stand.)

Gilchrist, a retired accountant, ran on a single credential: the fact that he is co-founder of the Minuteman Project. Gilchrist is a close friend of Barbara Coe of CCIR (above) and has served as a member of CCIR.

During an anti-immigration rally in Los Angeles, Gilchrist said, "They (Latinos and immigration supporters) are the minions of anarchy. They stand against everything these stars and stripes stand for. They believe in segregationism, they want to turn that black woman against that Asian woman and that Asian woman against this white man. Because to divide us by race, they can easily conquer the United States of America."

Simcox, co-founder of the Minuteman Project, was arrested in 2003 by federal park rangers for carrying a weapon illegally while tracking immigrants on federal land. Although he has been interviewed on national news programs, this fact is rarely brought to light.

Simcox has testified before Congress and been interviewed, repeatedly, on CNN. A frequent guest on the Fox News show Hannity & Colmes, Simcox travels the country giving paid lectures at anti-immigration conferences.