The Minutemen

Smile, said Timothy Dwyer in The Washington Post, you're on vigilante camera. The Minuteman Project, the Arizona-based citizens' patrol devoted to stopping illegal immigration, is no longer just keeping its eyes on our borders. In Herndon, Va., a group of about 60 Minutemen are staking out the local 7-Eleven, where immigrant day laborers gather in the hope of finding work. Armed with video and still cameras and walkie-talkies, the Minutemen monitor the immigrants and their bosses alike, then turn the tapes and their observations over to the Internal Revenue Service. George Taplin, the local Minuteman leader, says he hopes only to force the IRS into cracking down on the many businesses that hire illegals. 'œWhat we want, bottom line, is for the illegal aliens to leave,' he said. 'œAnd if there is no work, they will.'

'œAh, but there you have the problem,' said The Washington Post in an editorial. 'œThere is work' for illegal immigrants—'œenormous amounts of it.' Whether it's picking vegetables, busing tables, or cutting lawns, illegals fill literally millions of drudge jobs that most Americans refuse to do. 'œNo amount of spying on, photographing, or hassling undocumented day laborers and their employers will eliminate this irrepressible demand.' With their childish shenanigans, the Minutemen have again shown that they are 'œunderemployed amateurs more interested in posturing than problem solving.'

Michelle Cottle

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