‘Minuteman’ private border patrols restart amidst heated immigration debate News
‘Minuteman’ private border patrols restart amidst heated immigration debate

[JURIST] Members of the private Minuteman Civil Defense Corps [advocacy website] have begun a new month-long campaign [press release; recruitment audio] in US states bordering Mexico and Canada to raise public awareness of illegal immigration. Minuteman volunteers watch the borders with binoculars and are instructed to contact government Border Control officials [Minuteman training manual, PDF] to report illegal immigrants. The campaign comes in the midst of contentious Senate debate [JURIST news archive] over new immigration legislation and protests [JURIST report] in several major cities against any severe legislative crackdown.

Minuteman volunteers conducted similar activities peacefully last year but some US Border Protection [official website] officials and civil liberties groups have raised concerns about the potential for violence between volunteers, some of whom carry guns, and immigrants. Critics regard members of the group as vigilantes [ACLU press release]. AP has more. The Arizona Daily Star has local coverage.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.