The controversial civilian patrol group that helped capture hundreds of illegal immigrants along the Mexico-Arizona border and won praise from California’s governor is getting a pre-emptive cold shoulder in Texas, reports the Associated Press. Minuteman Project organizer Chris Simcox warned that if Congress didn’t buttress the U.S. Border Patrol with National Guard or other military troops this summer, the patrol would deploy to California in August and Texas in October.
But although Minuteman organizers said nearly 1,000 volunteers from around the country were ready, Texas civil rights groups, clergy, newspaper editorial boards and politicians are folding up the welcome mats. “I think it’s a problem all of Texas has with having vigilante groups from other parts of the country come to our state to try to tell us how to run our business,” said state Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, an author of a resolution that urged Gov. Rick Perry to oppose Minuteman plans. Eleven senators signed it, and Democratic state Sen. Rodney Ellis wrote Perry that Minutemen “are not welcome in Texas.” Perry responded that he can’t ban people from legal activity.