Border Patrol Tips Mexico to Minuteman Sites

The U.S. Border Patrol has been tipping off Mexican authorities about the whereabouts of Minuteman civilian patrols that are seeking to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

According to documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the Border Patrol is to notify the Mexican government about the location of Minuteman and other civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegals crossing the border.

"Now we know why it seemed like Mexican officials knew where we were all the time," said Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.

"It's unbelievable that our own government agency is sending intelligence to another country. They are sending intelligence to a nation where corruption runs rampant, and that could be getting into the hands of criminal cartels.

"They just basically endangered the lives of American people." U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mario Martinez confirmed the notification process, saying it is meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants' rights are being observed, according to the Daily Bulletin in Ontario, Calif.

"It's not a secret where the Minuteman volunteers are going to be," Martinez said.

He added that Mexico's official perception of the Minutemen and other civilian groups is that they are vigilantes, and the Border Patrol hoped to allay that concern by entering into the cooperative agreement with Mexican authorities.

But Minutemen members say that reporting their location to Mexico nullifies their efforts to intercept illegal aliens.

And T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council – a union representing more than 10,000 Border Patrol agents – told the Daily Bulletin that agents have complained for years about the Mexican consulate's influence over the agency.

"It worries me [that the Mexican government] seems to be unduly influencing our enforcement policies. That's not a legitimate role for any foreign nation."