We Will Prevail — Silencing Americans will not work

Glenn Spencer, American Border Patrol – Aug. 14, 2009

This week Dr. Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center came to Phoenix at the invitation of its mayor to warn Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to distance himself from American Border Patrol, the organization I head.

“These are not people who anybody who is in public life should be spending time with,” Beirich said. “These are parts of our horrible past, especially the racism, that we’ve been trying to get over.” She said it was dangerous for the sheriff to associate himself with American Border Patrol.

To the best of my knowledge, my organization, American Border Patrol, has never had anything to do with Sheriff Arpaio or the Maricopa County Sheriffs office. We have never spoken with him or anyone in his organization. We have never sent him information or solicited his support. He has never contacted us. We support Joe Arpaio in his work, but it is admiration from afar.

So what is Beirich talking about? What is it about American Border Patrol that Sheriff Arpaio should avoid? Are we a bunch of crooks ripping off the American People?

American Border Patrol, or ABP, is a non-profit 501 c (3) Arizona corporation. It was incorporated in 2002. Today it is in good standing and can solicit tax-deductible donations from every state in the union except Minnesota where approval of our application is expected shortly. ABP”s books are audited every year by an independent CPA firm. According to the IRS, it is a charitable organization. I earn no salary and have invested nearly one million dollars to aid ABP.

But what does ABP do that frightens SPLC so? SPLC has claimed that ABP has “abused” migrants and detained them illegally. Where is the evidence that such things have ever happened? There is no evidence because such things never happened – ever. SPLC has fabricated these things for its own purposes. It is lying.

And why is it that SPLC stands alone in its attack on ABP? If we go around abusing migrants and detaining them illegally, where is the ACLU? Where is MALDEF? Why aren’t these groups coming to the aid of poor migrants suffering from such abuse? To my knowledge SPLC is the sole accuser and it presents no evidence to back its claims. But that doesn’t seem to bother the media. They report SPLC’s claims anyway.

Source:
We Will Prevail — Silencing Americans will not work
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