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A look at the journey of the undocumented, and the racist vigilantes that protest them, as we continue our fund drive.

On Saturday, February 18th, Minuteman Project co-founder Chris Simcox of Arizona visited the city of Costa Mesa. He was one of the featured speakers for a council meeting of the John Birch Society. At the Hilton hotel, where the meeting was held, Simcox urged those in attendance to oppose any “guest worker,” or amnesty bills in Congress. He was also on hand to recruit volunteers to join him for an April patrol of the U.S.–Mexican border. Claiming that a previous joint operation with James Gilchrist had effectively shut down a 23 mile stretch of the border, Simcox’s planned patrol in April is much more ambitious. In April he plans to observe 800 miles along the border. In a rare moment of honesty, Chris Simcox referred to the US-Mexico war during his speech, saying, “I don’t care about the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo! Your country got beat! Our army got what it wanted! And that’s history! You follow by our rules now!”

As the quality and quantity of jobs in the US continues to plummet, immigrants become scapegoats. The issue has become a flashpoint even in the US Congress where the House of Representatives recently passed a draconian bill called the “Border Protection Anti-Terrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act.” Today we spend the morning taking a look at two documentaries on immigration and the racist reactions it has sparked.