A Report from the Santa Cruz Minute Maids

On Saturday, September 17, Friends of the Border Patrol (FBP)'s plans to begin border activities were preemptively shut down as activists from across the state banded together for a mass disruption. Caravans swept through border regions surrounding Calexico and Jacumba in search of vigilantes, focusing on areas of high border activity and previous Minuteman sightings, but found all to be quiet on the southern front.

At 8:00 am, protesters met prospective trainees for the self-appointed civilian border policing group, Friends of the Border Patrol, at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in San Diego. They banged pots and pans, held banners, obstructed entrances, and called for an end to racist violence. Aspiring border patrollers attempted two citizen’s arrests against protesters. One arrestee, a white male, was released immediately. The second, a Latino, was held inside a cop car for about an hour before being released with a citation for battery. Although this protest had seemed to be merely a prelude to the main event, it turned out to be crucial: Friends of the Border Patrol’s failure to mobilize significant numbers for their planned launch that weekend was blamed in part on intimidation by the morning’s resistance.

Audio: Jen Discusses Resistance to Border Vigilantes

San Diego IMC coverage: Breaking Border Paradigms