Announcing a new website in El Paso to fight the Minutemen.

http://antiminuteman.elpaso.8m.com/

HARLINGEN, Texas - Cameron County officials passed a resolution Tuesday opposing citizen border patrols, citing respect for immigrants, confidence in federal law enforcement and a shared history with Mexico.

The resolution against "the presence of Minutemen or other vigilante groups" passed unanimously during a meeting of the Cameron County Commissioners Court in Brownsville.

"The safe and legal passage of immigrants and foreign visitors to Cameron County is important to the civic life of our county," the resolution reads. "The future growth of Cameron County depends on the continued good will of our brothers in Mexico."

The Minutemen drew international attention in April, when they trained binoculars along the Arizona border in an effort to show how sending more personnel and resources could staunch the flood of illegal immigration.

They said they helped apprehend 335 illegal immigrants and would expand to other border states - Texas in October.

Al Garza, state president of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, said last week the group would come sooner to Texas to fill in for any area U.S. Border Patrol agents sent to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

He said there were about 50 volunteers for a Texas deployment that would stretch from ranch land about 75 miles north of the border to the border itself.

On Tuesday, Mr. Garza said the group was looking for sites but planned to come, resolution or not, starting sometime between Friday and Sept. 24.

"They can't stop us from assembling and protesting illegal immigration," he said. "By doing that they're advocating illegal immigration. That's what it's all about."

Several Texas entities have said "No thanks" to the Minutemen.

Last spring, 11 Texas Democrats in the state Legislature signed a resolution asking Gov. Rick Perry to say the Minutemen were not welcome in Texas.

"I don't think that there's any doubt that there's a tinge of racism beneath the surface in their attempt to try to stop immigrants from Mexico," state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, the resolution's author, said at the time. Mr. Perry refused, saying he could not ban people from legal activity.

In August, El Paso passed a resolution against such groups.

Last weekend, members of a small Cameron County church near the border distributed more than 1,800 white ribbons to protest the civilian patrols.