Gov. Praises ‘Minuteman’ Campaign

SACRAMENTO —  Calling the nation’s borders dangerously porous, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday praised the private “Minuteman” campaign that uses armed volunteers to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the U.S.

Schwarzenegger said in a radio interview that the federal government is failing to secure the border with Mexico, and he cast the hundreds of private citizens who have been patrolling the Arizona-Mexico border since April 1 as a popular response to government inaction.

“I think they’ve done a terrific job,” Schwarzenegger said of the “Minuteman” volunteers, who plan to expand to California in June. “They’ve cut down the crossing of illegal immigrants a huge percentage. So it just shows that it works when you go and make an effort and when you work hard. It’s a doable thing.”

The governor added that, “It’s just that our federal government is not doing their job. It’s a shame that the private citizen has to go in there and start patrolling our borders.”

President Bush has denounced the Minuteman volunteers as vigilantes.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expressed surprise that Schwarzenegger would be “praising efforts by untrained volunteers to patrol the borders. The best course ... would be to add an additional 2,000 border patrol agents.”

The leader of a Mexican American group called the governor’s comments “shameful” and “nothing short of base racism.”

“I think we’re seeing the real Arnold Schwarzenegger. The mask has now fallen,” said Nativo V. Lopez, state national president of the Mexican American Political Assn. “Those of immigrant stock should have no illusions about what his real sentiments and feelings are toward them.”

Just last week, Schwarzenegger and his aides sought to clarify his statement to a convention of newspaper publishers that the nation should “close the borders.” Before his speech was over, an aide told reporters that Schwarzenegger had meant to say that the U.S. should secure its borders -- not shut them down.

Schwarzenegger has frequently sought advice from former Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican who used the issue of illegal immigration to fuel his reelection campaign in 1994. Schwarzenegger also has hired several former Wilson staff members, including his chief of staff, Pat Clarey.

An organizer of what is being called the “Minuteman Project,” Chris Simcox, said he welcomed Schwarzenegger’s endorsement.

“It’s gratifying to see that elected officials are responding to the will of the people,” Simcox said in an interview Thursday.

He said there are about 15,000 volunteers who have committed to patrolling the border in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. The group is also incorporating, assembling a staff and opening a national fundraising campaign, Simcox said. He added that he planned to call Schwarzenegger.

Volunteers may carry firearms if they choose, he said, but they obey all local laws. Their practice is not to apprehend people but to report instances of illegal crossings, he said.

“We don’t involve ourselves in taking the law into our own hands,” he said.

Margita Thompson, the governor’s press secretary, said: “At this point, the governor does not oppose” the group coming to California.

As far as the charge of racism against the governor, she said: “It’s not racist to ask the federal government to enforce its laws. Everyone should be united in wanting to protect our national security.”

In his interview with KFI-AM (640), the governor said he was deeply troubled by illegal crossings and what he described as an inadequate federal effort to tighten borders. He said he was especially disturbed by footage he had seen recently on Fox News showing “hundreds and hundreds of illegal immigrants coming across the border.”

Schwarzenegger said the nation is sending the wrong signal by making water available to migrants as a convenience.

Humanitarian and religious groups, such as Humane Borders and No More Deaths, provide water for immigrants crossing the border. Federal wildlife officials have provided water stations in the desert for animals but have been criticized for not providing enough for people.

Said Schwarzenegger, “What we’re doing basically is, by not really securing the borders, we’re saying: ‘Look, here are the various water stations. Here are the places where you can cross the borders. Here is where we’re going to help you.’ The whole system is set up to really invite people to come in here illegally, and that has to stop.”

Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, an immigrant rights group, responded to the governor’s comments. “I assure you, nobody is coming here for the water, and the stations we have set up by various organizations is a humanitarian effort.

“We don’t respond to Arnold Schwarzenegger; we respond to a higher authority. We’re a nonpolitical, humanitarian organization.”

Asked by the hosts of the “John and Ken Show” why Bush called the volunteers vigilantes, Schwarzenegger said: “I really cannot tell you exactly what his thinking is. I’m sure he’s trying to solve the problem as well as anyone can. And he maybe has more information than you and I have. Why he has a policy about the border the way he has, I don’t know. I’ve not had that conversation with him.

“But the next time I see him, I will have that conversation.”

Schwarzenegger’s opponents in the Legislature voiced outrage at the governor’s comments.

Aides to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) said he was furious and promptly called Schwarzenegger to complain.

Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, a Democrat from South Gate, blasted the governor’s comments as “scapegoating and immigrant bashing.”

“To support vigilantism is completely against the oath he took” to uphold the law, De La Torre said. “It goes way beyond normal law enforcement, normal border patrol jurisdiction. It’s just off the charts. For him to say this puts him to the right of President Bush. This is completely out of the mainstream in California.”

In the same radio interview, the governor also asked a Spanish-language Los Angeles television station, KRCA-TV Channel 62, to remove a billboard it erected with the words “Los Angeles, Mexico.” The governor said such sentiments -- implying that Los Angeles was now part of Mexico -- would encourage illegal immigration.

Some conservatives welcomed Schwarzenegger’s comments.

“Obviously, we are very happy the governor is beginning to side more and more with those of us who have been taking the problems with illegal aliens seriously,” said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a volunteer group. “The governor gets that illegal aliens are a problem facing California.”

Times staff writer Richard Marosi contributed to this report from San Diego.