Self-appointed bouncers

"The Circus is Back in Town," Victor Landa, San Antonio Express-News Sept. 18, 2006

The Minutemen are back at the border. This time, they picked Laredo, and reports indicate that most Laredo residents would rather they go home. ... ...why are the Minutemen — who, by the way, have proven they need more than a one-minute warning to defend our border because it takes time to pack an SUV and organize a press conference — wasting their time in Laredo? I'm convinced the answer is Hispanic Heritage Month. For four weeks, we'll be celebrating Latinos from the Carolinas to California; the noise will be deafening, the news coverage will be intense, the attention will be hard to ignore. The last thing they want is for foreign Latinos to get the wrong idea. So the Minutemen have gone again to the southern border, along with the Guard and the threat of a two-layered fence. We're having a party, and they are our self-appointed bouncers. Maybe what these people should do is use their enthusiasm in a truly creative way. Maybe they should line their lawn chairs along all the exits of airports that handle international flights. Imagine if this citizen patrol were to stop and question anyone they felt might be a threat to our country. After all, isn't that how the terrorists got in?