Attention Whatcom County NRA members: You now have a reason to own your guns. Volunteer "Minutemen" began patrolling stretches of the Whatcom County Canadian border yesterday. Minutemen are best known for constantly patrolling the Mexican border and drawing attention to illegal immigration. Sixty to 100 volunteers, most of whom have some military or law enforcement experience, are expected to patrol the remote sections of the Whatcom County border all month long.
A bunch of hippies, probably from Bellingham, have held protests against the Minutemen at the Peace Arch. This is ridiculous. We need all the border patrol help we can get. While the U.S. Border Patrol does not support the Minutemen, they don't stop them either because Minutemen obey the law. The U.S. Border Patrol simply doesn't want to acknowledge that our border security is poor and that they need the help.
Illegal immigration at the Canadian border hasn't been a huge problem like it has at the Mexican border, but the drug-smuggling, border-crossing tunnel discovered in July should spark interest in our local border security. It sparked the interest of Minutemen, and we should welcome their voluntary efforts.