Star-Tribune Editorial Board

The last time we checked, no hordes of illegal immigrants were sneaking across the state line into Wyoming. Yet the state is now home to two chapters of Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, one in Casper, the other in Newcastle.

Since armed members of the organization began patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in 2005, the movement has been controversial. President Bush has decried the group as "vigilantes." Yet new chapters keep forming in states throughout the nation.

The arrival of this overgrown neighborhood watch in Wyoming is disturbing, for multiple reasons. First, landlocked Wyoming isn't exactly a magnet for illegal immigrants. Second, the group keeps some dangerous company.

Philosophical and fundraising conflicts splintered the original Minuteman Project into several groups. Notably, the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps is generally seen as the least radical of the bunch. That fact delivers only limited solace.

Though Minuteman leaders say their movement is not racist, almost all of their attention is focused on Mexicans who cross the U.S. border. They show little interest in the millions of illegals from non-Hispanic countries. And, while the movement may not recruit white supremacists and neo-Nazis, it reportedly doesn't discourage them from joining.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups nationally, has linked the Minuteman movement to the infamous Aryan Nations and National Alliance. During the initial border patrol three years ago, two members of the National Alliance admitted they were participating in part to scout for future sniping positions. A leader of a Texas splinter group told Young Republicans that ranchers should be allowed to shoot "diseased Mexicans" crossing the border.

The U.S. Border Patrol correctly asserts that professionals, not zealous civilians, should guard the border. Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jose Maheda said Minuteman members have accidentally set off sensors, forcing agents to spend valuable time responding to the false alarms.

The Minuteman Project's Web site predicts: "Future generations will inherit a tangle of rancorous, unassimilated, squabbling cultures with no common bond to hold them together, and a certain guarantee of the death of this nation as a harmonious 'melting pot' …." It predicts "political, economic and social mayhem."

Such assertions resonate with many Americans, who increasingly complain about having to accommodate foreigners. ("Press 1 for English" has become a rallying cry.) Fear of newcomers is understandable, and it has been a near-constant accompaniment to U.S. history. Even so, the United States stands today as a country populated and built by immigrants and their descendants.

Regardless of where you stand on illegal immigration, it's primarily a national, not local, debate. The immediate question for Wyoming is why the Minuteman group is setting up shop so far from any national border.

Minuteman members in Wyoming say they will be on the alert, looking for illegal immigrants in the state. Who will monitor how the Minutemen respond to a nonexistent threat in Wyoming?