On Monday evening, Chris Simcox spoke at NYU, an event sponsored by the NYU College Republicans. This was a follow up to their February 22 event, “Find the Illegal Immigrant,” a mock hunt for a student posing as an illegal immigrant. The event drew more than 300 protesters and 12 participants. Chris Simcox, himself mired in controversy, is the cofounder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an organization of individuals who patrol the Mexico-US border for illegal crossings. The organization states that they do not confront anyone directly but only report incidents to law enforcement. Critics say they are a racist vigilante hate group and claim that they have been charged with various crimes.

The protest, shown in the photo taken in front of NYU’s Kimmel Center, was sponsored by various groups (College Democrats, the ACLU, etc.). As reported in an article in NYU’s newspaper, one person who came to protest was put off by what she called “the extreme right versus the extreme left.” Others found too many protesters who were not students championing their own causes, such as older socialists. And inside, Simcox’s attempt to speak was also was also a scene…