Tucson, Arizona Thursday, 8 May 2003
By Ignacio Ibarra
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Saying U.S. authorities have failed to take action, a Tucson-based border advocacy group will launch a media campaign in Mexico today aimed at finding victims of border vigilante violence.
The Border Action Network, working with Mexico's Party of the Democratic Revolution in Nogales, Sonora, will begin placing posters and billboards around the city and run daily radio ads asking victims to come forward.
The organization will also make lawyers available to help those who want to file criminal complaints.
In a news release written in Spanish, the network said it and other groups want to turn up the heat on "racist ranchers."
Last month, Jennifer Allen, the group's director, and other group members gave Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard a petition with 2,000 signatures asking his office to investigate border-watch groups.
Allen said Goddard told her he wanted to meet with other community groups with strong views on immigration issues before making a decision. His response is tantamount to ignoring violations of law, Allen said.
In a written response, Goddard said, "It is simplistic to think that this critical matter can be solved in a few weeks. Our office is working steadily to help find a way to protect all parties.
"The attorney general is committed to ensuring that Arizona's laws are not broken, either by undocumented immigrants or 'vigilantes.' To this end, we are working with the U.S. Attorney's Office, have met with the Border Alliance Network and plan to speak with local ranchers."
Cochise County's chief criminal prosecutor, Vincent Festa, said he has received no complaints or seen a case supporting criminal prosecution.
"We've had numerous cases where the Sheriff's Office has gone out and investigated. And in nearly all of those cases, the witnesses had been deported back across the border and were unavailable to us," he said. "Even so, I'm not aware of any case that rose to the level of criminality."
He said state law allows citizens to threaten deadly force and use physical force to stop or deter an act of trespass.
Mexican Consul Miguel Escobar Valdez said he has interviewed many of the illegal border crossers involved in encounters with Cochise County residents in which the illegal border crossers say they were threatened and intimidated by guns and dogs.
None of them, he said, has filed a complaint.