Not On Our Watch: Yuma Patriots celebrate a year doing patrols

When Flash Sharrar set out to start a local civilian border watch group a year ago, nobody took the group seriously, the co-founder of the Yuma Patriots recalled.

Sharrar, a former soldier, was serious.

The event that motivated him was the loss of his son's Ford Explorer in an alleged holdup in the Imperial Sand Dunes. The robbers, suspected of coming from Mexico, robbed his son - who had recently returned, unscathed, from a tour in Iraq with the Army - at gunpoint in his own country.

Sharrar went to Mexico and reclaimed the stolen Ford Explorer, which now had a smashed hood, a crushed roof, was riddled with bullet holes, blood stains and only one tire with air in it.

He fixed up the vehicle and headed out to the desert with dozens of other Yuma residents concerned over the lack of security on the border. And so began the Patriots' patrols.

But as Sharrar, a Yuma business owner, patrolled canal levees and desert roads in the now hoodless, banged-up sport utility vehicle, he began to have his doubts.

"I started off with 80 guys, but all they wanted to do was shoot people, and I realized very quickly this was not the way to do this," Sharrar said.

Sharrar said he and other members "weeded out" the group to what are now about 40 individuals "who care about the country."

For nearly a year, the Patriots have been patrolling the sections of the border near Yuma, notifying the U.S. Border Patrol of any illegal immigrants they see entering the country.

In the process, they've been shot at, called racists and have had run-ins with the Cocopah Tribe on those occasions when their patrols took them onto tribal land and have had a somewhat rocky relationship with the Border Patrol.

They've tried to counter what they say is a bad rap given them by Mexicans and immigrant groups, and they've been criticized for carrying guns with them on patrols.

Yuma immigrant advocate Fernando Quiroz said the Patriots come across as ignorant in their interviews on the radio.

"They forget about the humanity of it ... they think (immigrants) are less than human," Quiroz said.

But Sharrar said the Patriots have assisted in some 1,500 apprehensions made by the Border Patrol. At one point, the Border Patrol kept statistics on how many apprehensions the Patriots assisted in, but Rick Hays, spokesman for the patrol's Yuma sector, said those numbers are no longer kept.

Hays added that the patrol appreciates help from citizens, but is concerned about the extent of the involvement the Patriots have in alien arrests.

"They could place themselves in a predicament if they get involved in arrests," Hays said. "If they become physically involved and prevent an individual from leaving, it could be considered a false detention."

Sharrar said the Patriots, who currently go on patrol twice a week, are generally just "eyes and ears" for the Border Patrol, meaning they will call in groups as they see them. They have been involved in stopping a few suspects, he said.

Sharrar said when Patriots encounter a group of immigrants, they will shine a flashlight on them and tell them to sit down. He said nine out of 10 immigrants will obey, and the Patriots will keep an eye on them until Border Patrol agents arrive. The Patriots inform the patrol of those who run.

"We're not doing anything that would cause a reasonable person to feel that they're not free to leave," said the Patriots' attorney and co-founder John Minore.

Minore, a Yuma attorney, said the Patriots stopped contacting law enforcement agencies on their patrols in the wake of allegations that the Border Patrol had been informing Mexican authorities of the whereabouts of civilian patrol groups like the Patriots.

"We might as well have stayed home because there was no activity that night," Minore said, "now we don't inform anybody and we walk into all the hot spots."

Hays has repeatedly said the Border Patrol does not forewarn the Mexican government of the whereabouts of the Patriots or any other border watch groups.

Sharrar said he thinks the Patriots have come a long way since their inception a year ago.

"People didn't take us seriously. But we went out there and continue to go out there ... in a positive matter, never harmed anyone or touched anyone," Sharrar said.

Now, national media are paying attention to the Patriots and their opinions on immigration reform, he said. This week, media outlets from Los Angeles and San Francisco came to town to visit the Patriots in light of Bush's visit.

Sharrar has called Bush's plans for immigration reform and buildup of border security "lip service," and says much more needs to be done beyond sending the National Guard to help secure the border.

"The only way to secure the border is going to take National Guard, Border Patrol and state militia," he said. "State militia is guys like you and me. We stand in line and have a commander."

Sharrar said if the governor would call up the state militia, the border could be secured.

He also said that Yuma County Sheriff Ralph Ogden should be more like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has overseen the founding of a 250-member sheriff's posse made up of sheriff's deputies and trained volunteers who began night patrols in the desert this month.

"Ogden should be a lot stronger on this issue," Sharrar said.

Ogden said Sharrar shares that feeling with many, but Ogden stands by his belief that immigration is a federal problem that can be controlled better by federal authorities.

Ogden estimated that the YCSO will have turned over some 8,000 illegal immigrants to Border Patrol this year.

But, he said, if the county had to start processing illegal immigrants it could take officers off their patrols for hours at a time, and there aren't enough beds currently to hold illegals.

"This is a lot bigger problem than just locking people up," Ogden said.

Sharrar said he is concerned that the influx of immigrants will mean the dissolution of America's middle class, and is afraid that immigration reform will "get boiled down to nothing more than amnesty."

He said he's worried about criminals coming into the country and immigrants bringing diseases into his community.

He wants to see immigration reform that starts with securing the border.

America is being "overrun" and it is his duty to "plug a hole in it," he said.

"I'd rather be at home sitting and eating popcorn with my children than be out on that border," he said.

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Blake Schmidt can be reached at

bschmidt@yumasun.com or 539-6852.