Hunting Immigrants - Not Just For Americans

I found this on the BBC website today and thought it sounded awfully familiar:

They are private citizens, and some of them are armed. They are well-organised and well-equipped, with walkie-talkies and flashing lights on their trucks.

They dress mostly in khaki and call themselves the "green-light police". They admit that others may call them vigilantes.

The farmers organise patrols that go deep into the bush more than 50km (30 miles) from the border, rounding up anyone who appears to have crossed the border illegally.

This article isn't talking about our very own Minutemen, but a group of South African farmers who've decided to take illegal immigration into their own hands. White South farmers I should add, targeting Zimbabweans (most of whom just happen to have dark skin) who cross the border illegally in search for a way to feed themselves and their families.

Their reasoning for rounding up these immigrants also sounds familiar...

They maintain that the Zimbabweans cut their fences and threaten their livelihood, and say that some commit violent crime.

...but doesn't quite hold water when I read the reaction from the local police:

But the local police chief wants the farmers to stick to farming and stop taking the law into their own hands.

Calvin Sengani, the Limpopo Province Police Commissioner, says they would be doing him a favour if they arrested people for committing crimes, but not just for crossing the border.

Personally, I don't see why people who are not part of the police force should be arresting anybody, but if the police department is going to allow it, I agree that they should focus on crimes other than crossing a border without proper paperwork. If the police do need help, give them the help they ask for.