Politics & Government

Minuteman Civil Defense Corps Disbanding — Sort Of

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps announced this week that it will disband as a corporation. However, as a hate-mongering group of anti-immigration fanatics, local factions of the organization will continue to "stand guard" at the border, according to the group's president.Carmen Mercer, president of the Minutemen, tells New Times that...
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The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps announced this week that it will disband as a corporation. However, as a hate-mongering group of anti-immigration fanatics, local factions of the organization will continue to “stand guard” at the border, according to the group’s president.

Carmen Mercer, president of the Minutemen, tells New Times that the group has decided to ditch its corporate status to hopefully avoid potential lawsuits that could harm the movement as a whole.

Mercer is nervous that members of the Minuteman movement could take their anti-illegal-immigrant crusade too far and do something illegal (Shawna Forde ring any bells?) and the organization could be held accountable.

“We believe the liability issue is just too great,” Mercer says. “It only takes one bad apple to ruin the accomplishments and progress we’ve made over the last eight years.”

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Mercer says Americans are too mad right now to just sit quietly, and she herself is “fed up with our government.”

“You saw what happened with the healthcare debate and the Tea Party people,” Mercer says, referring to recent violent backlashes attributed to rogue members of the Tea Party movement. “People will not just sit in their lawn chairs anymore.”

Just because the corporate aspect of the movement is gone, Mercer says that doesn’t mean the group is giving up the “fight.”

“We’ll stay on the border, and in the Legislature until our demands are met,” she says.

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