The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico recently suspended their Las Cruces chapter because one of the board members of that chapter, Clifford Alford, is trying to start a Minuteman-style project in the state. However, Alford has also had a falling out with the main MMP, and the groups are no longer associated with one another. There appears to be more here than meets the eye, and some have speculated that his efforts could even be a "false flag" operation. Alternatively, he could actually mean what he says and he wants to create a kindler, gentler version of the MMP.

In this June 12 article both groups say non-nice things about the other

Today's AP report ("ACLU Suspends Southern Chapter Over Minuteman Issue") quotes the N.M. ACLU:

Gary Mitchell, a Ruidoso attorney and president of the [N.M.] ACLU board of directors, said the suspension of the southern chapter was a technical move to make sure the leader of the New Mexico Minutemen - a spinoff of the controversial civilian border patrol group the Minuteman Project - no longer had authority to act or speak on behalf of the ACLU.

...ACLU officials have said they will work to stop Alford's group and the Minuteman Project in New Mexico from taking the law into their own hands...

That article includes these quotes from Mitchell:

"We will not tolerate racism and vigilantism in the leadership structure of our organization... They are repugnant to the principles of civil liberties and the mission of the ACLU... Las Cruces has a large number of passionate, committed civil libertarians... The ACLU intends to work with them to protect all people's civil liberties, regardless of their race, national origin or immigration status."

Even illegal aliens have rights, but violating those rights is against the charter and spirit of both the MMP and (presumably) Alford's spin-off. So, if these groups intend to respect the civil rights of the illegal aliens they spot, why would the ACLU be so strongly opposed? That's a toughie.

Previous coverage of this group starts in "ACLU sends in the heavyweights".