Nearly 500 volunteers have already joined the Minuteman Project, anointing themselves civilian border patrol agents.

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/02/14/ed.edit.minuteman.0214.html
"This is a direct challenge to President Bush," said Chris Simcox, an organizer of the Minuteman Project. "You have continued to ignore this problem. Our state officials, senators and congressmen will do nothing. So this is a last-ditch effort to roll up our sleeves and do it ourselves."

But it's an effort the Border Patrol neither wants nor needs. Border Patrol agents note that they deal with armed drug smugglers every day. The prospect of hundreds of armed citizens roaming the desert in search of illegal immigrants is alarming and unwelcome.

However well-intentioned organizers of the Minuteman Project may be, it has whipped up genuine enthusiasm on neo-Nazi and white supremacy Web sites. As a result, the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, is monitoring the project closely.

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With their keen interest in security and surveillance, they could work as civilian contractors at Green Zone checkpoints in Baghdad, or help train Iraqi police recruits.