Vietnam vet holds vigil on border

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ON A HILLTOP NEAR CAMPO, Calif. -- Britt Craig poked his head and a 9 mm pistol out the van's door with a start. He had been asleep, as were his two "attack cats."

"You surprised me," said Mr. Craig, a member of the California Minutemen whose two-tone brown van has been a fixture here along the U.S.-Mexico border since July. "I didn't hear you until you called out. Neither did the cats, I guess."

A combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, retired commercial fisherman and songwriter from St. Augustine, Fla., Mr. Craig was among a handful of armed civilian volunteers manning observation posts last month in the isolated hills near Campo, Calif., a community of 3,200 on the U.S.-Mexico border 50 miles east of San Diego.

"If we really want to secure this border, we can do it. It's as simple as that," said Mr. Craig, 56, sitting atop a 4,500-foot "commanding view" of the region frequented by smugglers bringing marijuana, cocaine and heroin to willing buyers in the United States, and also bringing illegal aliens.

"It's just a matter of will," he said, gently scolding his cat "Janey" for falling asleep on watch.

In the next several weeks, he plans to travel along the entire U.S.-Mexico border to stand vigil at each place a Border Patrol agent has died -- starting at the west side of Smugglers Canyon at the Border Field State Park near San Diego, where Border Patrol Agent Catherine Hill was fatally injured in April 2003 when her vehicle rolled off a cliff while she was on patrol.

"These men and women risk their lives every day to protect America," said Mr. Craig. "We are out here to support and pay tribute to them for their efforts."

Mr. Craig's group, the California Minutemen, was organized by James Chase, one of the founders of the Minuteman Project in Arizona in April, which successfully fielded nearly 900 civilian volunteers over a 30-day period to staff observation posts along a 23-mile section of the Arizona-Mexico border.

Mr. Chase, a retired U.S. Postal Service worker, has since broken away from the original group, now known as the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), and has renamed his organization the California Border Watch. He described the differences in the two groups as "small," noting that while MCDC volunteers wear only sidearms, he allows "any legal weapon," which includes rifles and shotguns.

He also said that while MCDC has a policy of no contact with the illegal aliens they observe, his volunteers are allowed "polite conversation" and "emergency assistance."

"Organizationally MCDC keeps a tight rein and let a lot of people go for minor issues and personal disagreements," he said. "I only let people go for racism, violent tendencies, breaking the law and unethical behavior. We are more like a family of like minds."

Mr. Chase, also a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran, said he hoped his organization and similar sister groups across the United States grow in number and, eventually, field enough civilian volunteers to man posts and conduct patrols all along the border, both north and south.

Mr. Craig, who was among more than 100 civilian volunteers who signed up to man observation posts and conduct foot patrols along an especially rugged 16-mile section of the Mexican border here, said he operates within the California Border Watch as an independent group, hoping only to bring national attention to the problem of border security.

"Illegal immigration has become a billion-dollar industry," Mr. Craig said. "And while some of us might believe that an 'open door' policy should be pursued, we don't believe those entering the country should crawl in through the window.

"Our rights come from the Constitution and accepting the civil responsibilities included in that document is part of being a law-abiding citizen," he said.

Looking somewhat like a pirate with his black eye patch, tousled blond hair and a swarthy tan gained after four months outdoors, the former Marine -- who lost an eye after stepping on a mine during fighting in Vietnam in 1967 -- said the presence of civilian volunteers along the border to assist federal immigration agents is "essential" in protecting the United States from terrorists and drug and alien smugglers.

"It's a matter of sovereignty," said Mr. Craig, whose van sits just three feet inside the makeshift metal fence that separates the United States and Mexico. "If you don't claim your right to real estate, you lose it."