Minuteman Civil Defense Corps

Not to be confused with Minuteman Project.
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps
LeaderChris Simcox
J. T. Ready
Dates of operationApril 1, 2005 – March 22, 2010
Active regionsArizona, California and Texas
IdeologyAmerican nationalism
Libertarian conservatism
Survivalism
Size900 volunteers

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps was a volunteer group at one time headed by Chris Simcox (an Arizona newspaper publisher) and dedicated to preventing illegal crossings of the United States border with Mexico. Arguing that the government was insufficiently concerned with securing the border,[1] they organized several state chapters, with the intention of providing law enforcement agencies with evidence of immigration law violations.[2] The group was one of several that emerged for the proliferation of civilian border patrol groups at the US-Mexico border. Arguably, the emergence of these groups can be linked to the increasing criminalization and securitization of immigration. Simcox stated that the group merely reported incidents to law enforcement, and did not directly confront immigrants. There was a standard operating procedure (SOP) that was to be followed by Minutemen volunteers, with rules including not speaking to, approaching, gesturing towards or having physical contact in any way with any suspected border crossers.[3] According to Anthony Ramirez of the New York Times, the organization "has been criticized as being a right-wing militia".[4]

  1. ^ "About Us". Archived from the original on July 5, 2006. Retrieved July 9, 2006.
  2. ^ "MM Brochure" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 19, 2006. Retrieved July 22, 2006.
  3. ^ "Standard Operating Procedure for Minuteman Civil Defense Corps". Archived from the original on October 16, 2006. Retrieved October 12, 2006.
  4. ^ Ramirez, Anthony (June 4, 2006). "Angry Exchanges, To and Fro, at Rally". NY Times. Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved October 20, 2018.