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SALT LAKE CITY -- The immigration debate and the infamous "list" have caused division even among groups aimed at stopping illegal immigration.
I've always been a Minuteman, always will be.
–Alex Segura
Monday morning, the director of Utah's Minuteman Project, Eli Cawley, sent out a press release calling for the impeachment of the group's founder, Alex Segura.
Cawley said Segura was being too "chummy" with Latino activist Tony Yapias when the two appeared at a press conference last week, denouncing the list and how it was obtained. He also called Yapias the enemy of the rule of law and the Utah people.
Cawley wrote: "Mr.Segura's rabid ego, his singular focus on personal ambition and his disregard for proper decorum and loyalty in working with others has not only made him a liability, but an adversary to the cause which he was instrumental in beginning."
Related:
Utah investigating 8 more in immigrant list probe
Utah officials are investigating whether eight more state workers may have accessed confidential documents to create a list of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants.Segura responded to the release by saying, "It's childish. It really is. ‘Massive ego?' Please! If that was the case, I would have never stepped down as director. Again, he is just running on emotion, and I can understand that."
But Segura did reaffirm his stance against the list and those who put it together. He also stressed that methods such as the list are not the types of actions the Minuteman Project supports.
"The Minutemen are not on a witch hunt, and the statement that [Cawley] supported the list was not the right thing to do," Segura said.
In his release, Cawley called for a vote among the Minuteman board to impeach Segura and remove his name from the group's membership rolls.
Segura said since the release, he and Cawley have spoken and worked things out on a personal level. Segura has now been invited to attend a Minuteman meeting on Thursday to explain his actions before a vote is taken.
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Story compiled with information from Randall Jeppesen and Shara Park.
