[4] Gilchrist chose to locate the project in Arizona because there was a disproportionately large number of undocumented immigrants crossing the border in that state.
[8] During the 2016 presidential election, Gilchrist felt that the building of a wall and mass deportation directly aligned with the Minuteman Project's missions.
In the low-turnout open primary for Cox's seat held on October 4, 2005, Gilchrist finished behind two Republicans but ahead of all other candidates, including Democrats.
In a March 2006 interview with the Orange County Register, Gilchrist stopped just short of calling for his followers to pick up their guns: "I'm not going to promote insurrection, but if it happens, it will be on the conscience of the members of Congress who are doing this," he said.
"[11] In October 2006, Gilchrist appeared on Democracy Now and abruptly ended the interview after Karina Garcia started accusing him of being a murderer and said that he has ties to the white supremacist group National Alliance.
[13] In September 2014, the Daily Show made a segment about the Honduran children's immigration featuring an interview with Jim Gilchrist, who compared the recent events at the border with a Trojan Horse situation, the vanguard of a Latino invasion of the United States.