Minuteman Project

This article is about an active organization. For disbanded group founded by Chris Simcox, see Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.
For other uses, see Minutemen (disambiguation).
Minuteman Project
LeaderJim Gilchrist
Dates of operationApril 2005–present
Active regionsUnited States: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas (in the organization's peak time)
IdeologyAmerican nationalism
Size1,200 volunteers (claimed)

The Minuteman Project is an organization which was founded in the United States in August 2004[1] by a group of private individuals who sought to extrajudicially monitor the United States–Mexico border's flow of illegal immigrants.[2] Founded by Jim Gilchrist and Chris Simcox, the organization's name is derived from the name of the Minutemen, militiamen who fought in the American Revolution.[3] The Minuteman Project describes itself as "a citizens' Neighborhood Watch on our border", and it has attracted the attention of the media due to its focus on the issue of illegal immigration.

In addition to border watching, the Minuteman Project created a political action committee which lobbied for representatives who supported proactive immigration law enforcement and focused on resolving border security issues. Members of the Minuteman Project believe that government officials have failed to protect the country from the threat of invasion by foreign enemies.[4] They strongly support building a wall and placing additional border patrol agents or military personnel on the Mexico–United States border to curb free movement across it. Roughly half of the Minuteman Project's members strongly oppose amnesty as well as a guest worker program, and an overwhelming number of them oppose sending funds to Mexico to pay for the improvement of its infrastructure.[5]

  1. ^ "CTV News – Top Stories – Breaking News – Top News Headlines". Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  2. ^ "Bush decries border project". The Washington Times. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
  3. ^ "Border Minutemen tarnish good name of real patriots". Yakima Herald-Republic. February 25, 2005. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  4. ^ Stewart, Julie; Bendall, Michele (2014). "Jobs, Flags, and Laws: How Interests, Culture, and Values Explain Recruitment into the Utah Minuteman Project" (PDF). Sociological Perspectives: 1–22. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
  5. ^ McCarty, Justin (May 1, 2007). "The Volunteer Border Patrol: The Inevitable Disaster of the Minuteman Project". Iowa Law Review. 92 (4): 1459–1492. Retrieved November 20, 2016.