Allegations fly in California Minuteman Project

By: ERIN SCHULTZ - Staff Writer | Monday, July 25, 2005 9:58 PM PDT ∞

An aide to state Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Carlsbad, has filed a police report saying he was kicked in the shin by a UC Riverside professor and protester more than a week ago while visiting the border in support of the California Minuteman Project.

The alleged confrontation is one of several reports of trouble in Campo, the tiny southeast San Diego County border town where a group of about 30 anti-illegal-immigration activists calling themselves the California Minuteman Project has set up camp to watch the U.S.-Mexico border and report illegal crossers to the Border Patrol.

A group of about a dozen protesters who want the Minutemen to pack it up and go home have also been camping in the town, with larger groups forming for weekend rallies.

Reports of scuffles between the Minutemen and the protesters, such as the one the Morrow aide has alleged, have been surfacing in recent days.

The aide, Mark Belgen, who works in Morrow's Carlsbad office, reported to San Diego County Sheriff's deputies late last week that he was kicked on July 16 by a protester whom he later identified as UC Riverside ethnic studies professor Armando Navarro, who heads an immigrant rights group called the National Alliance for Human Rights.

Belgen said Monday he was not injured in the incident and did not require treatment.

Navarro said Monday that the charge was a serious matter and that he had no comment on the incident. Navarro, an outspoken opponent of border watch groups, said he would like to comment on the allegations, but because of the seriousness of the matter, would decline comment until further notice.

Belgen, who traveled to Campo with his boss in support of the California Minuteman Project, said he wants to press charges against Navarro. He was unhurt in the alleged incident and said he waited a week to file a police report because he did not know that kicking constituted assault.

There have been more serious reports, including those of shots being fired in the area. Minuteman volunteers have said they heard shots fired while they patrolled Jacumba, a border town about 25 miles east of Campo. No one was hurt. Border watchers said the shots came from the Mexican side of the border. The lieutenant in charge of the area for the San Diego County Sheriff's department did not return repeated calls Monday, but a spokeswoman for the department said many of the reports were unsubstantiated.

Two human rights groups have alleged that separate incidents involving gunfire, which residents say is not uncommon along that stretch of the border, were aimed at migrants crossing the border. Those allegations and the origin of the reported shots could not be substantiated Monday.

"We are looking into what happened but right now we just don't have all the facts," said Christian Ramirez, head of the San Diego Chapter of a human rights group called American Friends Services Committee. "It's all hearsay at this point."

Organizers say the California Minuteman Project, modeled after a similar border watch in Arizona earlier this year, was created to report illegal crossers to the Border Patrol and to bring media attention to the lack of resources and security at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Opponents say the Minutemen, some of whom carry guns, are racist vigilantes who promote violence against migrants.

Both sides have traded barbed comments face-to-face in Campo and through the media, and both have used propaganda to strengthen their numbers.

Each side also has accused the other of lying to the press about incidents in Campo.

Because the Minuteman Project and the protesters spread out to hold night vigils along the very rural border, and because there are only a handful of sheriff's deputies in the area, few reports of violence from the volunteers and the protesters have been substantiated.

Minuteman volunteers have said belligerent protesters have taunted border watchers and surrounded their supporters, screaming "Racists, go home!" Morrow, who visited Campo on July 16, said protesters surrounded a car in which he was riding with Minuteman organizer Jim Chase of Oceanside, using bullhorns to scream in their ears.

"I'll never forget it," Morrow recalled last week when asked about the incident. "This was an angry, ugly mob that appeared to be very close to violence."

Protesters have said the Minuteman volunteers have brandished their weapons and used racial slurs.

"They have guns and are acting like G.I. Joe on the border," said Enrique Morones, head of a group called Gente Unida, which has organized protests and rallies against the Minuteman Project. "It's a recipe for disaster."

Belgen, the aide who alleges he was kicked, said the incident took place during a confrontation between several protesters and himself outside Campo's Veterans of Foreign War post, the headquarters for the Minuteman effort.

Contact staff writer Erin Schultz at (760) 739-6644 or eschultz@nctimes.com.

First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, email addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.