Between The Lines: The News World Disorder Online Art/chive

By Victor Payan
Pocho Neighbor Hood Division
Yuma, AZ - Two rival paramilitary vigilante groups are battling for manhunting rights in the Arizona borderlands in their efforts to roundup undocumented immigrants pushed further into the unforgiving Arizona desert by California's controversial "Operation Grave Keeper." "This is our border, 'cause we got here first," says Ray Sest, president of the Jolly Ranchers, a group that has been hunting Mexicans since 1996. "Those other guys, they're just trying to get apiece of our media coverage." The rival group, known as the Twilight 'Zoners for their frightening pre-dawn raids on taco trucks and watering holes, has been criticized by human rights groups around the world for their severe tactics used in capturing and detaining immigrants. "Sure we use nets, snares and tranquilizer guns," says Vic Gelanti, leader of the Twilight 'Zoners. "But a lot of our guys are real paramilitary types, you know: Army reserve, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, truckers. And we all got SUV's too. Everything we do is standard procedure. And we gotta work fast or those pesky Mexicans will die before we can get our hands on them." Ray Sest disagrees. "It's getting to be downright dangerous," he says. "You don't feel safe walking out in the desert hunting Mexicans anymore. A lot of our guys are getting pretty tan now, too, from the neck up. And some of them have black hair. Hell, I got detained by the Twilight 'Zoners myself, and I'm as white as Charlie Sheen."

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