Just How Dangerous Is It to Cross the Border Illegally?

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," October 17, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Welcome back to "Hannity and Colmes." I'm Sean Hannity, reporting from St. Louis tonight.

Illegally crossing the Mexican border into the United States is a dangerous journey, yet thousands risk their live crossing each year. This exclusive video was shot by Minutemen out on patrol along the Arizona border where they encountered four illegals who were there in excruciating heat for days without any water supplies.

Now, the Minutemen say they rescued the men by providing them with water and alerting Border Patrol to their location, and their urgent need for medical attention.

Joining us now, the president of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, Chris Simcox.

Chris, this has become, actually, fairly common for people like yourself that are out patrolling the border, that people, they have no water. They're parched. They're in medical need, for medical assistance. And you've helped out on a number of occasions. This is not something new to you.

CHRIS SIMCOX, MINUTEMEN CIVIL DEFENSE CORPS: No, it's not. It highlights the benefits of the citizen activist on the border. That makes 180 life-saving rescues in the past three years.

We were very gratified that we came across those gentlemen, and it shows the good work of the Minutemen volunteers.

HANNITY: What is the problem you've been having in Vermont? These, quote, "domestic terrorists" that you identified that have threatened violence against you. They've been showing up at your meetings, causing property damage, advocating violence, et cetera. What is that all about?

SIMCOX: Well, it's very similar to what you saw in Toledo, Ohio. We had the same police presence at a rally in Chicago on the same day, where it took 150 riot police, heavily armed, to keep back a mob of communist, socialist, anti-American protestors, who ended up being an anti-Bush, antiwar rally. And the police had to bring in riot police to stop people from, you know, rioting over — over a simple issue, such as securing our borders in the name of public safety.

HANNITY: You know, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said something last Friday the first time, that the Senate is going to tackle border security and enforcement first before turning to this other issue of guest worker programs and some other things. Isn't this a direct response to the public outcry over the need to secure the borders now?

SIMCOX: Yes, it is. And that shows that our efforts are paying off. Congressmen and senators across the country know and they'll tell you that what they hear from their constituency is the number one issue is border security and public safety. We need to stop the gangs, stop the drugs, stop the potential for terrorists to come in. We need to stop the slave trade going on. In fact, I challenged Jesse Jackson to sit down and bring an end to the human suffering, the people that are being exploited.

HANNITY: It's interesting, because here we're showing the Minutemen involved in a humanitarian effort, getting people medical care and some water. It's not the first time you've done it.

But there's always — people that brought up the issue, "Well, this may be race motivated in some way." But you have gone through an excruciating process of insisting the people that have any agenda other than border security be excluded from your group. And for the people that said, why only the Mexico border, now you're up on the Canadian border, correct?

SIMCOX: Yes, we're on the Canadian border. And still people are playing the race card. You're racist. You're a threat to society. Come on. The people coming in are a threat to our society.

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: It's Alan in New York. Thank you for doing our show. Why are there increasing number of anti-Minutemen resolutions, including those being drafted in Brooks County, Cameron County, El Paso, Laredo in Texas? Why is that happening with increasing frequency, do you think?

SIMCOX: You know, it's confusing to me, Alan. Even in Washington state, we had a city council who claimed that we were racist, that we had actually murdered people. I think it's time for us to...

COLMES: I'm not even saying racist. Why are all these communities saying they don't want you there? And if, indeed, over and over again, you have communities say, we prefer you not to be in our community, will you respect the wishes of any individual community who doesn't want Minutemen in the community?

SIMCOX: No, those are meaningless resolutions. In fact, those are a violation of our constitutional rights and civil rights. Again...

COLMES: Why go where you're not wanted?

SIMCOX: — issue. We are wanted. And that's a small minority of people, who again, get a lot of attention. You talk to most of the people, especially in Texas — how come we have over two million acres of ranch land?

COLMES: Because those are individual ranchers, but if individuals vote, if there was a referendum, if there are city councils and they overwhelmingly say, "You know what? This is our community. We would prefer that Minutemen not be part of it," why not respect the wishes of whatever local community wishes you were not present?

SIMCOX: Well, first of all, we're not in those communities, so it shows the ignorance of those city council members, the fact that we don't work in cities. We work in outlying rural areas.

COLMES: Their communities?

SIMCOX: To help ranchers and private properties. We're not in their communities. What are they going to say, that American citizens who believe — have a certain belief are not welcome in their cities?

COLMES: You're not in Brooks County, not in Cameron County, not in El Paso, not in Laredo, not in any of those places?

SIMCOX: No, we're not it El Paso. Some of those counties we are in, but we're on private property. This is a private property issue, and it's a constitutional right issue. Are they saying that they want to violate our civil rights to free speech? That sounds like these city council members should be removed from office.

HANNITY: All right, Chris, we'll continue to follow the story. The number one issue of homeland security is right there at the border, and we'll continue to follow it. Thanks for being with us.

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