Rep. Jack Kingston has proposed legislation that “would prevent any federal funds designated for the Department of Homeland Security (U.S. Customs and Border Patrol) to be used to tip off foreign governments about the location of organizations operating near the U.S./Mexico border, like the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. Tipping off foreign governments about the location of a civilian militia could threaten the safety of civilians.” So he says in an email send out to bloggers.
AMENDMENT TO H. R. 5441, AS REPORTED
(Homeland Security Appropriations, 2007)
Page 62, after line 17, insert the following:
SEC. 537. None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to provide a foreign government information relating to the activities of Non-Integrated Surveillance Intelligence System, as defined by DHS OIG—06—15, operating along the international border between Mexico and the states of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, unless required by international treaty.
Since it’s unlikely we would be tipping off, say, the Swedish government about the activities of vigilante groups on the Mexican border, the vagueness of the amendment’s wording is odd. The real question is why we’re simultaneously tipping off the Mexicans and yet allowing these groups to operate as quasi-official Border Patrol agents.
