Minutemen now have a Central Florida Chapter

October 15, 2006

John James, 66, a retired engineer, was fed up with national leaders who have failed to seal the borders and was also tired of stories from Americans claiming their jobs went to illegal immigrants. The Florida resident recently started the Northeast Central Florida Chapter of the Minuteman, an area covering Volusia, Flagler, Putnam, Brevard, Seminole and Lake counties.

James acknowledges the chapter isn't going to stop illegal immigration. "The best we can do is make it tough for them to stay," he said. He wants to report businesses that hire undocumented workers and lobby local politicians to crack down on employers and landlords of illegal immigrants.

The group has about 17 members, James said, explaining that there are more who want to join “but are afraid of being branded vigilantes or subversives.”

The group, he said, aims to get politicians to honor the oath they took to protect the nation from the "invasion" of "illegals" he believes are responsible for bringing once-eradicated diseases and Central American criminal gangs to America's small towns.

James says he believes anti-illegal immigration groups' estimates that there are between 20 and 30 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

The group plans to gauge support for a local ordinance similar to one passed in Hazleton, Pa., last summer that suspends licenses of business that hire illegal immigrants and fines landlords who rent to them. Around the country, other municipal governments have passed similar legislation, but the ordinances are being challenged in courts. Opponents argue they encourage discrimination against Hispanics.

The local Minuteman chapter also plans to hinder undocumented workers from finding jobs. They plan to begin developing "intelligence" about where local businesses are finding day laborers and hope to capture company trucks on videotape hiring workers and then turn the tape over to law enforcement officials.

Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, said the agency encourages the public to report immigration violations. "Obviously, our agents will take the information and take appropriate action," she said.

And if they don't, the local Minuteman chapter will, James said, by picketing homes of people the group suspects are employing illegals. They will also contact the company's insurance carrier and report its hiring practices in hopes the company will lose its coverage.

James said he has had confrontations with the Mexican immigrants before he started the chapter. But he's also had positive encounters, like the time his wife's car broke down on U.S. 17 in the rain and a Hispanic male who didn't speak English was the only one to stop and help.

James stresses the group is against illegal immigration, not against Latinos or immigrants, and will not tolerate racism. A background check is required for group members involved with field operations, he said.

"We have absolutely no problem with immigration but it has to be legal immigration," he said.