This corrects an earlier version of this story.
Traditionally tight-knit anti-illegal immigration organizations are roiled in internal conflict.
Struggles for power and finances have led leaders in the movement to split ties with Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project.
Bickering continues over who has control of the original Minuteman organization and once faithful members are now deserting the group. Barbed e-mails and accusations fly among the former Minuteman loyalists.
“I’m fighting on three fronts,” Gilchrist said. “I’m fighting the Federal government, I’m fighting the reconquistas, and I’m fighting the people defecting from my own organization.”
Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project, which has become nearly synonymous with the anti-illegal immigration movement, is under fire from many other like-minded groups.
William Gheen, of the North Carolina-based Americans for Legal Immigration political action committee (ALIPAC), said Gilchrist is a threat to the anti-illegal immigration movement. Gheen said people in his organization receive bizarre e-mails from the Minuteman founder.
“We see Gilchrist as prone to act against the good of the movement,” Gheen said. “He has a pattern of broken alliances and relationships.”
Gilchrist said groups like ALIPAC see him as competition for fundraising dollars.
“As long as the Minuteman Project exists, we take away from their donor base,” Gilchrist said.
Huntington Beach resident and California Coalition for Immigration Reform founder Barbara Coe was one of the former Minutemen who wrestled the organization away from Gilchrist in 2007.
Coe was one of first to rush to the border with the Minutemen in 2005, but she said the unity that once united the activists has devolved into internal strife.
“I am very distressed about the shadow that has been cast on the movement,” Coe said.
Coe said the struggles make it difficult for anti-illegal immigration groups to present a united front, limiting the effectiveness of the movement.
Gilchrist sees the same phenomenon. “You’ve got every group attacking every other group,” he said. “90 percent of our time is spent on infighting, and 10 percent is devoted to the issue.”
