Herndon Residents take a stand

A Hispanic advocacy group is challenging plans by the Herndon Minutemen to videotape and report findings on illegal aliens at the town's day-laborer center, describing such actions as racial profiling. Herndon-area Minutemen plan to videotape and photograph employers hiring illegal aliens at a recently approved day-laborer center, follow them to work sites and report them to the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and state employment agencies, which is perfectly legal under the current law. The group also plans to monitor zoning violations, identify cases in which absentee landlords rent to illegal aliens and investigate instances of city officials offering public services to illegal aliens.

Modeling their approach on Houston's "Operation Spotlight," the Minutemen aim to hinder illegal immigration in Herndon by cracking down on employers, landlords and city officials who illegally aid aliens. The larger, Arizona-based Minutemen group has thousands of civilian members patrolling borders from California to Texas and in eight northern states this month through the "Secure Our Borders" program.