Update 1 p.m: Border Patrol Media office representative, Ramon Rivera, has reviewed his records and ent us an email:
Sen. Day did not officially visit the Tucson Border Patrol Sector.
Yesterday, we speculated that a press release from Dick Day's congressional campaign was the template for Mark Brunswick's Star Tribune article. A source in the media shared the press release with us.
Here's the opening:
Senator Dick Day Tours US / Mexico Border
Congressional Candidate Visits Popular Border Crossing Paths in Southern Arizona, Participates in Surveillance Exercises with Volunteer Minutemen Project, US Border Patrol
St. paul – Today State Senator and US Congressional Candidate Dick Day (R-Owatonna) reported on a recent weekend trip to the US / Mexico border south of Three Points Arizona.
Responding to an invitation from members of the Minutemen Project, Day traveled to Arizona to tour well-traveled border crossing paths and participate in surveillance exercises with volunteer Minutemen members and officers from the US Border Patrol.
“I’ve always been the kind of person who needs to investigate the truth for myself,” Day said today in a report to media on his recent trip. “When I decided to make border control and illegal immigration reform a bedrock of our campaign for Congress, I knew I needed to see the problem firsthand. I’m really grateful to both the private citizens who hosted me and the official Border Patrol officers who gave me a wonderful firsthand education on our immigration crisis.”
This got us wondering: can any American citizen go out and ride with the Border Patrol, or do individuals need advance permission? After all, the Border Patrol is stretched pretty thin, and we imagine that the hardworking professionals would have their hands full what with people sneaking across the border in Arizona.
That question led us to call the Border Patrol's National press headquarters in Washington, D.C., to see how a citizen would get permission to conduct surveillance with the Border Patrol. We were put in contact with Ramon Rivera, Border Patrol Assistant Chief, Border Security Operations.
The impressively professional Rivera explained the process to us. Yes, the press and dignitaries can ride along with the Border Patrol, but all requests for such arrangements come through his office. He did not recall that Senator Day from Minnesota had made such arrangements. We asked him to review his files and make sure that that is the case.
Rivera said that the Border Patrol does not conduct joint operations with the Minutemen. Like all Americans, the Minutemen can go to southern Arizona and watch on lands that are accessible to the public, and can call the Border Patrol if they spot suspicious behavior. The Border Patrol responds to all calls. Rivera stressed that the Minutemen were indeed law-abiding and non-violent; he also stressed that the Border Patrol does not conduct surveillance exercises with them.
Thus, we are left to conclude that Day went out with the Minutemen, but he did not ride along with the Border Patrol, and the headline on his press release and this sentence:
Responding to an invitation from members of the Minutemen Project, Day traveled to Arizona to tour well-traveled border crossing paths and participate in surveillance exercises with volunteer Minutemen members and officers from the US Border Patrol.
is deeply misleading.
How did this turn up in the Star Tribune article? Let's look at the Border Patrol paragraph:
Accompanied by members of the Minuteman Project and later by federal Border Patrol agents, Day drove and hiked miles back into the desert, where, he said, he encountered thousands of discarded backpacks and hundreds of pairs of shoes strewn along the path known locally as the Amnesty Trail. Illegal immigrants had discarded the clothing and equipment after making it across the border.
Here's the press release paragraph:
From 9:00 in the morning until 2:00 am at night, Day says their team patrolled one relatively small stretch of the US / Mexico border. Hour after hour they followed recent tracks through the mountainous desert terrain, often stumbling upon piles of rubbish Day called shocking. Throughout the desert backcountry, he explained, hundreds of backpacks, heaps of clothing, empty water bottles and other garbage is discarded by incoming illegal aliens each night attempting to lighten their load.
Even Day's press release doesn't say that he did this with the Border Patrol. The rest of the details are pretty close.
Did Mark Brunswick call the Border Patrol to fact check, or did he just take Day's press release as gospel--and fill in the dots? Did anyone at the Star Tribune check the story out with the Border Patrol?
We eagerly wait to heard more from the dedicated professionals at the Border Patrol. If Day didn't clear his visit as should, did he really work with the Border Patrol--or just the Minutemen?
I'm not sure how I came across this posting, but let me assure everyone, Senator Dick Day did in-fact talk with 3 U.S. Border Patrol agents for a period of approximately 20 minutes at MM15 on Hwy 286 with 18 apprehensions that were waiting for Wackenhut transportation.
The agents were also talking with Darla Jaye, from the Darla Jaye Show (KMBZ Radio Kansas City).
I personally asked for permission from the senior B.P. agent if we could take pictures, etc.
Therefore, the article in question is correct, however, NO...I did not get a chance to go through proper channels at the time. The pictures are available...
Dave Bertrand
Media Relations Director (AZ)
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC)
Posted by: Dave Bertrand | November 30, 2007 at 09:45 PM