Vacation Illegal Observer

2006-04-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks, between work, school, and time constraints, it's taken me most of the month to get all this down for y'all to read... i hope you enjoy the story of my vacation from March 22d to April 2d.

WOW !!! What an active week and a half this has been!!! I took Vacation from work to celibrate my birthday and had eleven wonderful days in Three Points Arizona. The VFW and the Minuteman of one of Three Points hosted my visit and REALLY threw down for my birthday, so to start I'll say thank you to all my friends that shared, and made possible that great day. Well, my vacation started March 21st as soon as i got off work, so I raced home, threw my gear in my truck, and headed out on what turned out to be one hell of a trip. I got to Three Points, AZ at about 2am and let me tell ya, it was cold !!! I got a little fire going in the burn pit to try and warm my bones and got to setting up camp. Freezing my tail off setting up, I could only think how bad the Illegals must have it out in the desert with no fire to warm up with. After setting up I copped a quick nap and was up and ready to have some fun, after all, I was on vacation right?
Well, the MMo1 of Three Points showed up and we farted around all day Wednesday, and Thursday looking at the areas we would be operating. Friday we got down to business and were out really looking for the illegals we knew were out there but came up dry.. nothing to be seen. I went on a long drive out in the desert and found quite a few HUGE layup areas that had reciently been used, and came across something that pissed me off to no end... baby diapers!!! Not just any baby diapers, these things were so small they would only fit maybe a 1 to 2 month old infant. Later on in the day I was walking out at the end of Coleman Road when I hear a vehicle moving at a high rate of speed in my direction and lo-and-behold there's a Border Patrol vehicle comming to check things out. Because I had a weapon on me that was in plain view, I made sure I kept my hands in front of me so thay could see I wasn't holding any weapons. We engaged in some small talk about the border when they asked me if I was a local and knew where a road was to get to a location on their GPS, thats when I showed them my new toy... I had hooked up my GPS to my laptop which had a great mapping program (that I got for free by the way, if you'd like to check it out go to www.jdmcox.com, I highly recommend it) and typed in their LAT/LONG and showed them the satelite pictures and topographical maps of the area that they wanted to go. Those BP Agents loved that program so much they got the website from me for the map program so they can use it themselves. Anyway, we parted ways and I thanked them for the great job they're doing and reminded them to be safe, and wouldn't you know it, that actually thanked ME for helping them! Damn that made me feel good. Little did I know then that wouldn't be the last time the Border Patrol Agents would thank me that week. Dusk fell rapidly and I returned to my camp to relax a bit and plan what I was going to do the next day.
Saturday I went for another long drive in the Desert to check out some more layup areas and came across one of the largest layup's I've seen to date... on top of a hill (LAT/LONG Northing 32 Deg 9' 6.14" by Westing 111 Deg 18' 13.21") along the powerlines north of highway 86 there must have been 50 tons of trash, backpacks, clothing and hygene gear all inside a 100 by 300 foot area.

Ya know, the Illegals not only take our jobs, but they trash our beautiful desert that Americans won't trash... go figure. Sunday started out with a GREAT breakfast at the VFW. If you're ever in the Three Points area on a Sunday between 8am and 11am stop in for a breakfast that will knock your socks off, and the price can't be beat either, only $5 and you won't go away hungry. Sunday was much the same as Saturday only this time I did something not only stupid, but down right dangerous and not recommended at all, especially if you have knees as bad as mine are... I decided I was going to walk a trail with very fresh footprints on it and track the Illegal Aliens a bit. I rode out with the MMo1 of Picture Rocks in his truck, when we got to where we were going to step off he off loaded his horse and followed some fresh sign that he had spotted, while I took off on another trail. We linked up about 45 minutes later at a cattle watering tank and my fellow MMo1 said he was going to turn back. I told him I wanted to keep going on foot and he told me he'd meet me on the other side of the hills from where we were at the time in about an hour or so. Well, off I go on my treck and a few minutes later I came across a plastic baggie that contained some kind of white powder that weighed maybe a pound.
I took a picture of it and continued on my journey. It was a VERY warm day and I was sucking down the water at an alarming rate and should have turned back, but true to my Aries sign, I continued on. I followed a small wash at the base of the hills for aobut 500 meters and decided to go up on the ridge and over on to the other side of the hills. As I came to a saddle between two small peaks I saw what appeared to be some water bottles and clothing in a bush at the bottom of this draw, so I go and check it out. What I saw in this draw made me sick, it was a MAJOR layup area. There were trees and bushes where the ground beneath was cleared into a sleeping area, and there wasn't just one or two, there had to be as many as 50 or so there... with lots of discarded clothing, backpacks, water bottles and other assorted trash.
If you're interested in knowing where this layup is, the LAT/LONG is between Northing 32Deg 9' 18.44" by Westing 111 Deg 19' 0.28" and Northing 32 Deg 9' 28.16" by Westing 111 Deg 18' 13.20". Let me tell you, this is one spooky area when you're walking by yourself, even in the middle of the day.
Well, I wrapped up my treck through the desert, having drank well over a gallon of water in just a couple hours time, and I was dehydrated as hell. I met up again with MMo1 of Picture Rocks and we headed back to camp to discuss what we'd seen durring the day.
Come dawn on Monday morning everyone was up and about early. Seeing as how I was on vacation I decided to lounge around a bit and have some coffee and enjoy the cool chill of the morning. At about 9am I went for a drive out in the desert, not really expecting to see anything I had my dog with me so he didn't have to stay at camp all day. Well, I'm driving down a dirt road somewhere at about 9:30 am and see a guy kneeling behind a bush... CONTACT !!!!! I counted seven Illegal Aliens. I made a quick call to the Border Patrol dispach and reported what I was seeing, where I was, and that I'd be waiting for the BP Ground Unit in my vehicle, but that I'd be following the Illegals. I'm idling down another dirt road parallel to the Illegals route of march and look down into my truck for no more than two seconds... when I look up the illegals had simply disappeared. I was amazed. I turned around and decided to wait for the BP out by the main dirt road and just point them in the direction the Illegal Aliens had gone. When I get up to the main dirt road I spotted a dark grey van with blacked out windows that just looked way too suspicious out in the middle of the desert. The van passes me at no more than 4 feet, and I notice the driver is a young Mexican looking fellow. I turned to see the license tag and it's got California tags!!!! Warning bells are going off in my head telling me this guy is here to pick up the illegals. I decided to follow him for a while, and contacted the Border Patrol with this new bit of information, and was told "thank you, we'll have an agent out shortly". I just KNEW this van was a coyote... I turned my vehicle around to follow the guy and the driver of the van shagged ass trying to put as much distance between me and him as possible... sorry fella, you're not going to outrun a 350ci 4x4 on a dirt road in your two wheel drive passenger van. I dogged the van on these dirt roads for aobut 10 minutes trying to stall him until the BP could take over and get this guy. Not wanting to kill myself I backed off and let him go. I made a call to the MMo1 of Three Points who was at his house relaxing after just getting out of the shower and told him this bit of info and he told me he was on his way to back me up. A few minutes later he calls me back saying he spotted the van and was following him down the hardball road towards town and he was going to call the BP... a few minutes later I called him back and he told me that the Border Patrol was on the scene and that the van had taken off into the desert, crashing through a State Trust Land barbed wire fence and getting stuck into a ditch... MMo1 of Three Points was helping the BP agents search for this guy in the thick brush and cactus... in his flip flops!!! Remember your shoes next time MMo1 !!!! HAHAHA. In a search for the driver of the van the Border Patrol agents on teh scene located and captured twenty illegal aliens... TWENTY JOBS SAVED JUST FROM ONE PHONE CALL !!! I drove down to where the van drove into the desert to take some video for my records and the BP agents thanked me for helping them.

I thanked them for their super fast response, took a few pictures of the illegals aliens I helped catch and bid the agents a good and safe day. I cruised around a little more but decided to call it a day and head back to camp... it was 10:30am.
I woke up early on Tuesday... about 8 am (hey, I work nights, 8 am is WAY early for me) and had a cup of coffee and relaxed a bit. I decided to take a drive out in the same area that I spotted the illegals the day before. As I'm driving down a rutted dirt road I see a guy kneeling down behind a small tree and looking off to his left like he has some buddies over there... I called the Border Patrol and as I was on the phone with BP relaying the condition of this guy, I see 6 illegals cross the road about 50 meters from me. The BP dispach said that they were on the way so I decided to see what I could do to help out the guy ducking under the tree. I got out of my truck and asked the guy in my broken spanish if he was ok and did he need food and water... I reassured him that it was OK and that I wasn't going to hurt him, and that I wasn't the police or La Migra and that if he'd like he could have some of my water and some food i had in my truck. TO my surprise the guy came out of the bushes with two other fellas and with no problem came up to my truck for the water and food. In my very poor use of the Spanish language and this one guy's pretty good grasp of English we were able to communicate and I learned that his name was Jose. He and his friends had been in the desert for 5 days and had no food for 2 days, and the water that they did have had been from cattle water tanks. I mean their water was nasty... Jose told me that if I hadn't come along and found them that they would have been in big trouble... in his words... "one more day, no more Jose". The Border Patrol sent out two units and I let them know what I'd seen and heard in the area and they took the 3 illegals into custody. Not bad for a day's work... it was 9:45 and I was ready to head back to camp for a nap.
On Wednesday we decided to get some quads out and have some fun... myself and a Three Points local took off riding the trails just having a good old time when we spotted two illegals standing about 50 feet from us so we stopped to see what they were going to do. I got on my phone right away to the BP and reported that I saw 2 illegals and they said they were sending a couple guys out to take a look around. To my utter astonishment the two illegals turned out to be FIVE and they started walking right towards me !!! These were young guys ages from 22 to 26, and they'd been in the desert for 5 days and had been lost for two days going in circles and were out of food. I struck up a conversation of sorts with these guys and to be honest, I don't think we understood anything each other was saying... but I made sure to get it all on video just for my records. When the Border Patrol showed up a few minutes later these five guys each said something to my camera that I didn't understand, were waving to me, and giving me a "thumbs up" gesture with big smiles on their faces. As they were getting into the back of the BP truck, with waves and smiles, I heard "Gracias" and "Hasta luego"... later I asked the Minuteman of One of I-10, who coincidently is an American/Mexican, to interpret what these guys were saying to me... each one of the illegals thanks ME for saving their lives and helping them get out of the desert alive !!! WOW, what can make a guy feel better than to hear someone thank them for saving their life? I tell ya, I felt ten feet tall right about then... it really made me feel good to know that I did my part to save not one.. but FIVE lives !!!!!
Thursday was pretty much a bust... just lots of driving around and nothing to report. That is.. until it was getting to be dusk. Me and a World War II Navy Veteran decided to take a ride out to a major illegal alien pick up area to see what we would see... As we were comming close to the end of the road I told my partner that I had an Idea... I'd pull up to the end of the road.. turn my truck around and honk the horn and just see what happens... sure as shit an Illegal alien comes up to the barbed wire fence where I was parked and was trying to talk to me... he quickly understood that I wasn't the welcome wagon and took off back into the desert. I made the call to the BP and they said they were sending someone out to check things out. A couple minutes after the guy goes back into the desert, what looked like a plumbing van pulls up to the end of this road and the driver, speaking in spanish kept saying "amigo... Amigo..." I told him in English that "I'm not the Amigo you're looking for" and he did some REALLY eratic driving trying to get away from me but I did just happen to get his picture as he was turning his van around.
Calls went out to the Border Patrol, and my fellow Minutemen of One to come out there and back my ass up that stuff was going down in a HUGE way... Well.. true to Border Patrol fashion they showed up a few minutes later with a chopper overhead trying to look for this van and any of the illegals that were in the area.... after a few minutes of flying around We see the chopper land just up the road from us so we drive (we should have just walked) the 200 feet to where the chopper landed. One of the agents on board came out of the bird and was asking us what we'd seen and which way the illegals and the van went. We told him the info he needed to know and we voulenteered to walk out in the area where we believed the illegals to be. I tell ya... Those BP guys are great... they flew over us at no more than 50 feet with their HUGE spotligt on us for a little bit then flew off to check out another area real close... as we were walking along wouldn't you know it.. my damned flashlight went dead!!!!! Note to self.. make sure you put fresh batteries in your torch before you go for a walk.... The chopper pilots saw that my light went out and hovered over my truck so I'd have a reference of where to walk to, when they saw that we were safely back they took off looking for the illegals again... I soon got a call that there was another van in the area and before I knew what happened there was Border Patrol EVERYWHERE !!!!!! Well, the chopper flew around a bit and spotted one of the vans driven off into the desert. My partner and I went to this van the took a look inside.. HOLY COW !!!!!!!! there were 5.. count 'em folks.. FIVE rotisserie chickens, three 12 packs of coke, and a couple loaves of bread!!!
True to my scrounging background, and not wanting any of this food to go to waste... I took it. MMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I'm here to tell ya.. that was some pretty good eatin'. A special thanks goes out to the human smugglers that left that food behind... without your thoughtfulness I would have had to pay for my meals the next few days. y'all saved me at least $40. Not long after we secured the van the BP chopper spotted the van that me and my partner spotted a little earlier... it was empty.. except for that 12 pack of Bud Light which we happily took with the permission of the agent that was on the scene at the time. No illegals were caught to my knowledge this night, but tghanks to the Minuteman of One, the BP had two pretty good vans to auction off in two weeks. After the second van was secured the Minuteman of One retired for the night back to camp.. it was just after midnight.
Friday was a total bust.. nothing to see and nothing to report... but we did have a few laughs talking about what had happened the night before. and ya know.. we did have some of that chicken and soda... I decided on a beer... what the hell.. it was free.
Saturday was a wierd day altogether. No one really wanted to go out until later in the day, so we lounged about, ate some chicken, had a few ice cold cokes and joked around. In the early evening I decided to stop by the Kings Anvil Ranch and talk with one of the ACLU folks that I knew.. Mr Ray Yberra. While we may not be "friends", and we see things from different sides of the issue, I've come to know Ray as a pretty good guy once you get to talking to him. I told him that I was headed back up to the area where the vans had been busted the night before and asked him if he and some of his folks would like to ride along. Ray unfortunately declined, but a few of his Legal Observers wanted to come along. They all Jumped into the back of my truck, and some other folks wanted to come along, so they jumped into their van... Just as we were pulling up to the end of the road where I spotted the first van the night before, we all noticed another van parked at the end of the road... IT WAS ANOTHER PICK UP!!!!!!! I made a quick call to the Border Patrol and reported that I saw at least 20 people get out of the van.. that's right.. TWENTY were in the van already and more were being stuffed in... With God as my witness, less than 3 minutes later the BP had a chopper overhead looking for the illegals and the van driver. When I first got to the end of the road and saw the van, I stopped about 30 - 50 feet away just in case the driver tried to make a break for it I would have enough room to get out of his way, after all.. I had passengers I didn't want to get hurt. The van that was following me, what I thought to be Legal Observers pulled their van right up to, and blocked in the coyote van and made sure they couldn't get away. Now, I may be wrong, but isn't inhibiting someone's free passage detaining them? Anyhow, the first BP ground unit on scene showed up and I walked over to tell the agent what I'd seen and which way the illegals went. When the door opens to the BP truck I said "Hey man, they went..." and I was interupted by a VERY feminine voice asking me what I had...I swear on everything that is Holy, this woman didn't stand but 5'4" and weigh 125 pounds soaking wet with all her gear on... I said "Excuse me, MA'AM..." and I told her what I'd seen and which way the illegals went. In a true act of bravery this little woman took off into the desert BY HERSELF after at least 20 illegal aliens!!! I turned to the ACLU folks there and said... "that little woman has bigger balls than I have, I'd never walk out there by myself like that". Not long after the BP agent heads out after the illegals another BP agent arives and I let him know which way the other agent went and he took off after her. A couple minutes later here comes this little woman with 11 illegal aliens in tow... DAMN I WAS IMPRESSED !!!!! While all this was going on I was asked questions by the ACLU folks, (who were very polite by the way, thank you all for being so nice) and the folks from the van that followed me out there. The folks from the van were almost without exception pretty nice too. There are two VERY notible exceptions. Two folks from the van that followed me out there were VERY rude constantly trying to provoke confrontation. Well, let's just say that that didn't go over well with me and I let them both know in no specified terms that I HATE rude people and that if they insisted on being rude to me they could expect me to be the most evil son of a bitch they've ever met. They had nothing to say to me after that.. I wonder why? I went back to answering the question of the ACLU kids, who I'll also add asked some VERY good questions. After all, they are students at Prescott College. No matter what many folks think of the ACLU, they do have some very pretty women in their ranks. What can I say, they ARE cute.
Sunday came and I was livid over the way the two idiots had acted the night before, so much so that I had a talk with Ray Ybarra later and told him that if his people acted like that and that if we didn't get an appology his folks would never ride with us again, and he could expect no more cooperation from me or the MInuteman of One. Ray, I must say is a class act, first he appologized, and thanked me for taking his folks out with me the night before... but he wanted me to know that the folks in the van were NOT his people.. they were from Indymedia...well now, that makes sence, Indymedia sent a goon squad out to try to provoke a nasty response from me. I'm sure they got more than they bargained for. They can threaten old men and women who can't defend themselves too well, but me, at 5'11" and 280 pounds of pissed off they din't want to mess with? what a bunch of chicken shits. I go out of my way to be nice to these folks and they want to be assholes.. OK, we can play that game.
Monday came and I had to go and do the work thing again as I'm leaving my street I see a white Chevy Caprice 3 streets down from me run a stop sign and get right on my rear bumper. Inside this car were four hispanic men, gang banger types. They rode my rear bumper for a couple blocks even though I slowed down to idle speed in my truck. Suspicious wouldn't you say? I pull off the road and the caprice goes on...
Tuesday afternoon I decide to leave a bit early just in case I am being followed. As I'm pulling out of my driveway who do I see pulling onto my street? The very same caprice as monday with the same 4 guys in it. I drive down the road and this car gets right on my bumper again... OK.. lets play this game. I stopped my truck again and the car drives on...
Wednesday I decide to leave an hour early for work, only this time I took my trusty video camera. I pull off my street and dont' see anyone. Hmmmm, maybe I was a bit paranoid.. they aren't following me after all. I drive maybe 100 meters up the street and guess who is on my rear bumper again? DING DING DING DING !!!!!!!! White chevy caprice with 4 hispanic gang banger types in it... I turn on my video camera and get it ready. When it's ready I stop my truck in the middle of the road and lean out with my trusty camera recording, making sure that the folks in the caprice KNOW I'm taping them. Once they pass me I follow behind them as they sped away, get their tag number, and real good footage of the car and it's occupants... I took the video to the police and told them about what had been going on the past 3 days. They ran the tag and it came back to a fella with the last name of Martinez out of Apache Junction, AZ... he don't have insurance on his car either. Now you tell me, I leave my house at three diffenent times and the VERY same vehicle gets right on my bumper.. Is this just coincidence? Well.. since I got them on video, and they KNOW I got them on video, it's funny that I haven't seen them back. Just in case they are reading this. I am better than you. You know this. I made you the first day you followed me. Go ahead, try it again, I'll know. As always you won't catch me half stepping. I know who you are and where you live, funny huh? I have a great memory, and a kick ass camera. I just happend to be recording when they ran your tag. I have your name and address. Show up again in my neighborhood and you can expect me to be sitting at your front door.
After a fun filled week and a half I was responsible for in whole or in part for 40 Illegal aliens headed back to Mexico, and 3 coyote vehicles being recovered by the Border Patrol. Much of the credit goes out to my fellow Minutemen of One who were there to back me up as I was there to back them up... Y'all are the greatest. I can't wait for our next operation... The good times, the great friends, and the wonderful food that was made by our very own Mrs Minuteman of One of Three Points. Thanks goes out to the VFW for a great surprise birthday party they threw for me... it was the best I think I've ever had. Last, and certainly not least is the U.S. Border Patrol... You men and women are the reason we go down to the border. Your support and thanks make it all worth it. Keep up the good work folks.. see y'all real soon... Jimmy

Minuteman of One in Mesa AZ

Vacation Illegal Observer

Plane spots IA's

Gilchrist in the Middle

Air flight recon mission

minutemen take to the air