by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
This past week a very small band of armed vigilantes who were on a self-appointed mission of patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, were finally confronted by the FBI - and their self-declared leader, 69-year-old Larry Mitchell Hopkins (also known as "Johnny Horton") was arrested for being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
Hopkins was previously arrested in Oregon in 2006 for possessing a firearm and suspicion of impersonating a police officer. Old habits apparently die hard.
Hopkins and a few of his friends, all members of a group calling itself the United Constitutional Patriots, seemed to believe that owning guns made them law enforcement officers. In videos posted to social media, members of the group were shown detaining immigrants at gunpoint, and one of the "patriots" falsely identified himself as a "Border Patrol" agent.
The vigilante group was operating on a desolate piece of ground where Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico come together. New Mexico's governor, Michelle Lujan, had been strongly advocating for the federal government to step in and bring these border-marauding domestic terrorists under control.
The members of this vigilante militia group see their patrolling and detaining of illegal border crossers as being the equivalent of making a "citizen's arrest," and justify their armed interference with the law as an effort to keep America safe.
Jim Benvie, a spokesman for the group - which some estimate as having only four members - said that the United Constitutional Patriots have "helped" the U.S. Border Patrol detain over 5,600 people during the last two months. That has not been confirmed by the Border Patrol.
One way that independent militia groups raise money to go on extended camping trips like this one to the southern border is through crowd-funding sites on the internet. After all of the adverse publicity surrounding the United Constitutional Patriots this week, two sites that had been used by the group to raise funds, PayPal and GoFundMe, have both announced that they have banned the UCP from using their fundraising platforms.
Not surprisingly, there has been no condemnation whatsoever from the White House regarding this vigilante interference with the activities of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the border - and many argue that Donald Trump's rhetoric, in fact, exacerbates the already dangerous situation.
Armed vigilante groups roaming at will along our southern border with the implicit blessing of the Trump administration create a danger not only to the lives of refugees trying to reach safety and sanctuary in the United States of America, they also put others at risk including American citizens living in the area and the official law enforcement agents charged with patrolling and protecting the border. The vigilantes pose a serious and on-going threat to American lives, values, and even property - and their actions completely undermine the rule of law.
It's time that the United States government got serious about protecting lives and commerce along the border from the illegal activities of armed militias and vigilantes. They are the real criminals - and they are provoking a true crisis at the border!
Citizen Journalist
This past week a very small band of armed vigilantes who were on a self-appointed mission of patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, Texas, were finally confronted by the FBI - and their self-declared leader, 69-year-old Larry Mitchell Hopkins (also known as "Johnny Horton") was arrested for being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
Hopkins was previously arrested in Oregon in 2006 for possessing a firearm and suspicion of impersonating a police officer. Old habits apparently die hard.
Hopkins and a few of his friends, all members of a group calling itself the United Constitutional Patriots, seemed to believe that owning guns made them law enforcement officers. In videos posted to social media, members of the group were shown detaining immigrants at gunpoint, and one of the "patriots" falsely identified himself as a "Border Patrol" agent.
The vigilante group was operating on a desolate piece of ground where Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico come together. New Mexico's governor, Michelle Lujan, had been strongly advocating for the federal government to step in and bring these border-marauding domestic terrorists under control.
The members of this vigilante militia group see their patrolling and detaining of illegal border crossers as being the equivalent of making a "citizen's arrest," and justify their armed interference with the law as an effort to keep America safe.
Jim Benvie, a spokesman for the group - which some estimate as having only four members - said that the United Constitutional Patriots have "helped" the U.S. Border Patrol detain over 5,600 people during the last two months. That has not been confirmed by the Border Patrol.
One way that independent militia groups raise money to go on extended camping trips like this one to the southern border is through crowd-funding sites on the internet. After all of the adverse publicity surrounding the United Constitutional Patriots this week, two sites that had been used by the group to raise funds, PayPal and GoFundMe, have both announced that they have banned the UCP from using their fundraising platforms.
Not surprisingly, there has been no condemnation whatsoever from the White House regarding this vigilante interference with the activities of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the border - and many argue that Donald Trump's rhetoric, in fact, exacerbates the already dangerous situation.
Armed vigilante groups roaming at will along our southern border with the implicit blessing of the Trump administration create a danger not only to the lives of refugees trying to reach safety and sanctuary in the United States of America, they also put others at risk including American citizens living in the area and the official law enforcement agents charged with patrolling and protecting the border. The vigilantes pose a serious and on-going threat to American lives, values, and even property - and their actions completely undermine the rule of law.
It's time that the United States government got serious about protecting lives and commerce along the border from the illegal activities of armed militias and vigilantes. They are the real criminals - and they are provoking a true crisis at the border!
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