Minutemen focus on Utah

The monthlong Minuteman Project may be over. But now, three Utahns who traveled to Arizona last month to participate in the civilian border-watching effort are bringing the Minuteman Project home.

They're creating the Utah Minuteman Project in an effort to bring visibility to the illegal immigration issue by targeting businesses and working for policy change.

"It's time for the citizens to take back our state and country," said Minuteman Jeff McNeil. "We want to extend the call to all patriots in the state of Utah."

Minuteman Wally McCormick said the Utah group's motto will echo that of the Minuteman Project: "to do the job the government isn't willing to do."

The group is the latest to enter the illegal immigration-issue arena in the Salt Lake Valley. Others include Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement and Save America. Meanwhile, groups such as RAZ-PAC and Utah Coalition of La Raza have worked to promote immigrant rights.

Hispanic rights activist Tony Yapias says there seems to be a snowball effect of "let's blame the immigrants."

"The undocumented are basically unprotected," he said. "They make easy targets."

Yapias says when he first heard about UFIRE he was very concerned, but says he hasn't yet seen any real danger to the Hispanic community.

"Our community has learned to accept this anti-immigrant feeling is going to be here for a while," Yapias said.

Minuteman Alex Segura, also a UFIRE board member, said the group's target is businesses. The group's first action will be a protest, planned for June 17, of two Holladay banks that accept for identification matricula consular cards and the new driving privilege cards — both used by illegal immigrants.

Such businesses, he said, are "aiding and abetting (people) breaking federal law."

Details of protests and public meetings will be posted online at the group's Web site, www.utahminuteman.com, Segura said. It's affiliated with the national Minuteman Project, which has announced plans for a future border watching effort, though the details have yet to be released.

Segura said he wants the group to be more active and visible than UFIRE has been. He hopes the name recognition will help.

"At least 90 percent of the people I talk to have heard of the Minutemen before they've heard of UFIRE," Segura said.

The organizers said they also want to work with the St. George-based Citizens Council on Illegal Immigration and other individuals and groups around the state.

"I think it's both realistic and necessary that these activities are going on all across the state," McNeil said. "We need to get the citizens of the state signed up."

Yapias, however, says the Minutemen are simply "dressing up the pig, putting new lipstick on it."

"These are the same people involved in other organizations saying . . . let's create something new, we're going to be more active," Yapias said. "What this says to me is some of these groups that organized themselves haven't been that effective. For the most part (legislators) don't want to be associated with them."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com

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