The Minuteman Project Civil Defense Corps is a group of independent citizen volunteers in the United States who take upon themselves the task of monitoring the borders of the country for people trying to cross illegally. The group claims they help prevent illegal immigration by reporting the people they find to the U.S. Border Patrol. The Minutemen have been called vigilantes, people who take law enforcement into their own hands. The name “minutemen” was first given to men who fought in the American Revolution, because they would be ready for battle in a minute’s notice.