Civilian 'Minutemen' Group Also Heading to the Border

In addition to police, the DPS, the National Guard and now the Army, there will be a contingent of heavily armed citizens at the border to meet the migrant caravan, Newsradio 1200 WOAI reports.

Shannon McGaulty of the Texas Minuteman militia says they have members in three locations along the southern border and expect hundreds more to join the effort to help the border patrol.

"We are available if they have a request for us, okay?  Other than that, we're observing and reporting, and we're going to report to the Border Patrol anything out of the norm."

And while they'll be heavily armed, he says they're not there to confront any undocumented migrant.  At the same time, he says they're not going to sit back and watch if an American is in harm’s way.

"We're not going to let an agent be harmed in our presence, either. But that has not happened in 13 years."

But all this attention is not sitting well with border land and business owners, who feel like this is addressing the symptoms of a broken immigration system and not the root cause.

Monica Weisberg-Stewart is the chairwoman of the Texas Border Coalition Committee on Border Security and Immigration.

"What's going to happen next month when another group decides to march through, like they do?  Every month we have another group coming to this country and our laws are allowing them to do it."

And the McAllen business owners says if the ports of entry are shut down by Customs Border Protection, that will have a ripple effect across the country that will means the loss of millions of dollars in productivity.

"All those trucks, all that produce and all that goods?  That's not coming for the border. That's coming for the rest of the united states," she says.  "You can economically stifle this country in a matter of minutes."


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