When xenophobes collide

From the land of the bigots, here's a gem of a story.

The man who owns a bounty hunting firm tracking Minuteman founder Chris Simcox is himself a former Minuteman, one who has personal beef with Simcox.

Simcox, who co-founded the Minuteman Project in 2005 to protect the U.S.-Mexico border from illegal immigrants, has been court-ordered to stay away from his ex-wife and to surrender his firearms to the Scottsdale Police Department. His ex-wife requested the order after, she says, Simcox pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her and her children.

According to news reports, Simcox has not been officially served with the order. A spokesman for the Scottsdale PD told TPM that they have no record of Simcox turning in his weapons.

A state-licensed bounty hunting firm is now searching for Simcox. The firm, Fugitive Refugee Services, is owned by a former Minuteman himself who was booted from the group after fighting with Simcox.

Stacey O'Connell was once the director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps' Arizona chapter. He left in 2007 after accusing the Minutemen of misusing and hiding finances, and he has called for a criminal investigation O'Connell said Simcox's ex-wife hired him.

"I'm the perfect person that could track him down," O'Connell told TPM in a phone interview. "I know what his heart's about, I know what his soul's about ... I know where he hides out on the border."

[...]

Simcox -- who is also an erstwhile Senate candidate and a former adviser to J.D. Hayworth's Senate campaign -- could not be reached for comment.