WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressmen Tom Tancredo (R-CO) decried a recently-disclosed U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) practice of tipping off the Mexican military to the location of Minutemen volunteers. According to a story in this morning’s Inland Daily Bulletin, CBP notifies the Mexican government of when and where the Minutemen are planning to monitor the border and if violence is used by the Minutemen against illegal aliens. There has not been one verified instance of Minutemen volunteers using violence against illegal aliens.

“The Mexican military doesn’t exactly have a ‘good government’ reputation. The Border Patrol has documented more than two hundred incursions into the U.S by the Mexican military, and Texas sheriffs even apprehended Mexican government vehicles that were used to ferry drug runners across the border. By tipping off Mexico’s military to the Minutemen’s location, the U.S. government is asking for trouble,” said Tancredo.

“Heavily-armed military officials stationed only yards from civilians are at least intimidating. I can only surmise that the Border Patrol bureaucrats’ spying is meant to have a chilling effect on the Minutemen’s recruitment of more volunteers,” said Tancredo.

“The Minutemen haven’t been accused of breaking the law. Quite the contrary—they have gone out of their way to aid law enforcement and ensure the safety of our border. The U.S. government has no grounds upon which to stifle the Minutemen’s constitutional right to organize,” Tancredo concluded. “I want to know the legal basis for CBP informing a foreign government of the activities of private citizens who are obeying the law.”