The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), the anti-immigration group “whose ‘civilian border watch’ operations generated widespread media coverage and a flood of donations, appears to be imploding.”
Chris Simcox, founder and president of what grew into the largest and most powerful Minuteman group in the country, in late May reportedly fired 14 of the MCDC’s 27 state chapter leaders, plus one regional leader and three national officers. The firings came after the leaders pressured Simcox to meet with them in person to discuss concerns about Simcox’s financial accountability and leadership style. [...]
Simcox has been under fire from MCDC chapter leaders and rank-and-file members since last summer, when he began refusing to account for the $1.6 million to $1.8 million in private donations he said MCDC had raised by the end of May 2006. That sum included $600,000 for the “Minuteman Border Fence,” which Simcox touted in a slick fundraising materials as a high-tech “Israeli-style” barrier, but which turned out to be little more than a barbed-wire cattle fence.
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