10:44 AM MST on Friday, April 8, 2005

By Alexis Huicochea / Arizona Daily Star

No charges will be filed against three Minuteman volunteers who were investigated after an illegal entrant said they held him against his will, a Cochise County official said Thursday.

On Wednesday afternoon, Bryan Barton, 24, and two other volunteers, found an illegal entrant on Arizona 92 near Palominas, said Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff's Department.

The men videotaped the encounter, which showed the volunteers approaching the man, giving him food and water and calling Border Patrol to pick up the entrant.

In addition, Barton gave the man $20 and a T-shirt that read "Bryan Barton caught an illegal alien and all I got was this lousy T-shirt."

The volunteers then called the Border Patrol to come and pick up the entrant. While in custody, the entrant complained the men physically detained against his will, Capas said.

After watching the video, officials with the County Attorney's Office and the Border Patrol, along with the Mexican consul, concluded the allegation was unsubstantiated, she said.

Volunteers with the Minuteman Project have gathered in Southern Arizona to protest what they said is the federal government's inability to control the border. Groups of volunteers are stationed along the border watching for illegal entrants.

Even though no charges will be filed against the men, their behavior was upsetting to the department, Capas said. "The behavior that was displayed was not in line with the goal of the project," she said.

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©The Arizona Daily Star, 2004