College Republicans bring 'Minuteman' for campus speech
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ISSUE: 11/08/07 > NEWS > College Republicans bring 'Minuteman' for campus speech
“In the absence of government, we are the government,” a founding member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps told a Belmont audience Monday.
With that statement, Chris Simcox demonstrated a basic philosophy of the organization that is self-described as a “National Citizens Neighborhood Watch securing the American border.”
Simcox is president of the group, which many of its opponents call a vigilante organization because it places armed citizen border patrols on the U.S. borders with both Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Canada.
He said he and 9,000 Minuteman volunteers had petitioned the government to step up to the challenges of halting illegal immigration and the government had not responded.
“Our government has failed us miserably,” he said, the Minuteman Web site behind him showing an outline of the United States covered with stars and stripes. “We as citizens have not only a civic duty but a moral obligation to intervene.”
Simcox, who lives in Arizona but travels nationwide for speaking engagements, said there is an orderly system for bringing people to the United States from other countries, “but it needs to be streamlined. Ever since NAFTA, they’ve turned a blind eye. We exported manufacturing, so then we needed cheap labor here.”
With that labor, however, came not only people willing to do hard labor, but also people from drug cartels who wanted to make money off “America’s addictions,” Simcox claimed.
“Our president, our government, say, ‘It’s a free market,” he added. “[The government] has left us no choice but to go to the borders, set up lawn chairs and use our binoculars.”
Simcox offered many numbers to support his claims, including more than 30,000 aliens sighted by the Minuteman volunteers and more than 13,000 apprehended. He said all observations are reported to the U.S. Border Patrol.
“We are pro-immigration,” Simcox said, though some audience members pointedly disagreed with him in the question-and-answer session that followed his address.
What the group opposes, he said, is illegal immigration, which results in Americans’ “citizenship being diluted.”
“While we [Americans] have to take off our shoes at the airport, our government has left the front and back doors wide open,” he said.
Even though Simcox met no violent opposition at Belmont University, in October 2006 at Columbia University, two Minutemen speakers were violently interrupted and banned from speaking by protesters. The college, on the other hand, did not officially ban the group from the campus. Simcox said he knew nothing about he himelf or the group being banned from any campuses in any way.
“I’ll continue to talk on campuses around the country,” said Simcox. “Actually, I’m coming back [to Tennessee] in the spring.”
After his address at Belmont Monday, Simcox was to go later in the day to Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
At the end of the convo, Simcox felt that he had done what he set out to do.
“What [the people] need are facts,” said Simcox. “I came here to provide facts. Many did not hear it, but I hope I made them think.”
Rob Martin, president of the Belmont College Republicans, said that by inviting the Minutemen to Belmont, he was not intending on stirring up controversy.
“We didn’t realize it would be so controversial,” said Martin. “Belmont students are open-minded… [and] we wanted to get some talk going on campus about the issues facing [the 2008] presidential candidates.”
Martin, however, did not dismiss the fact that there was tension in the room during the convocation.
“Tension is good because it makes people think,” said Martin.
Martin also stressed that he, as the president of the Belmont College Republicans and as a person does “not subscribe to some of [Simcox’s] beliefs.” He would not comment on which of the beliefs he disagrees with.
Travis Harvey, who welcomed the audience prior to Simcox’s address, said that in addition to the College Republicans, the Leadership Institute also helped bring Simcox to campus. The Leadership Institute, based in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Arlington, Va., states that it’s mission “is to identify, recruit, train, and place conservatives in politics, government, and the media.”
Harvey also said he and others associated with the event Monday “are starting a new newspaper for conservative and libertarian voices” and asked the audience to let the administration know that diverse voices are needed.
