Minutemen plan Houston ops despite Chron

The Chronicle reports that the Minuteman Project will be launching its neighborhood watch program right here in Houston:

Leaders of the controversial group dedicated to stopping the flow of illegal immigration said they will patrol the streets of the Bayou City beginning in October, as part of a campaign that will extend north from the Mexican border. Houston volunteers will gather near day labor centers and corners where immigrant workers solicit work, in an effort to draw critical attention to the city's hands-off policy toward illegal immigrants. "We will be videotaping the (day laborers) and we will be videotaping the contractors who pick them up," said Bill Parmley, a Goliad County landowner who heads the Texas chapter of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps. The Minutemen will only observe to draw attention to the problem and will not attempt to make arrests, he said.

Good to hear. However, the Chronicle's choice of facts is less than stellar.

It was not immediately clear what reaction the Minuteman effort would have in greater Houston, which is home to an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 illegal immigrants, according to demographers. Polling finds Houstonians generally support immigration.

Yes, Houstonians generally support immigration. Legal immigration. That's a very important distinction that Chron reporter Edward Hegstrom either can't grasp or refuses to acknowledge. I defy the Chron or anyone else to declare that a majority of Houstonians favor illegal immigration.

Nearly 60 percent of Houstonians do not think illegal immigrants are a major cause of unemployment in the area

Is that supposed to mean we support it? I don't think serial killers are a major cause of unemployment in the area, but it doesn't mean I support serial killing.

and 67 percent think the diversity brought by immigration is a good thing, according to recent data from the Houston Area Survey, annual studies conducted by Rice University sociologist Stephen Klineberg.

Again, notice that the word "illegal" is omitted again. The fact is that Houstonians -- just like Americans in general -- overwhelmingly oppose the uncontrolled flow of people whose very first action in the United States is a federal crime.