Militia Detains Migrants at Gunpoint along the US-Mexico Border
19 April 2019
A video has emerged of armed right-wing militia members stopping over 300 migrants as they cross the Mexico border into the US state of New Mexico.
The group calls itself the United Constitutional Patriots, and are seen in the Facebook clip standing over migrants sitting on the desert ground.
The group's actions have been condemned by civil liberties groups and New Mexico state officials.
The militia supports President Donald Trump's plan for a border wall.
The incident comes amid a spike in border crossings, despite White House efforts to stem the influx.
The video, posted to militia member Jim Benvie's Facebook page, shows a large group of migrants who were said to have just crossed the border near Sunland Park, New Mexico, being detained by the armed vigilantes on 16 April.
The migrant group, which contains many women and children, are seen sitting and squatting in the darkness and squinting up into the militia's spotlights.
Before Border Patrol agents arrive to take custody of the migrants, a woman narrating the video tells a man who appears to be a militia member "don't aim the gun" in the direction of the families.
Mr Benvie, a spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots, told the New York Times the group has been camping in the region for the past two months and plans to stay until Mr Trump succeeds in building his controversial border wall.
"If these people follow our verbal commands, we hold them until Border Patrol comes," Mr Benvie said, describing the interaction as a "citizen's arrest".
"Border Patrol has never asked us to stand down," said Mr Benvie, who is visiting the region from his home state of Minnesota.
What's the reaction?
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that the vigilantes had no legal right to stop anyone inside the US.
"If migrant families are made to feel threatened, that's completely unacceptable," she said.
"And it should go without saying that regular citizens have no authority to arrest or detain anyone."
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas warned in a statement that "these individuals should not attempt to exercise authority reserved for law enforcement".
The American Civil Liberties Union described the group as an "armed fascist military organisation" in a letter to the governor and attorney general.
"The Trump administration's vile racism has emboldened white nationalists and fascists to flagrantly violate the law," they say.
"This has no place in our state: we cannot allow racist and armed vigilantes to kidnap and detain people seeking asylum. We urge you to immediately investigate this atrocious and unlawful conduct."
US Customs and Border Protection has previously said they are opposed to civilians patrolling the border in search of illegal crossers.
Leader of militia at US border boasted of training to kill Obama - FBI
22 April 2019
Larry Hopkins, arrested Friday on weapons charges, allegedly said his group also trained to assassinate Hillary Clinton and George Soros
The leader of an armed group that is stopping undocumented migrants who cross into the US from Mexico once boasted about training to assassinate Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros, an FBI agent said in court papers on Monday.
Larry Mitchell Hopkins, leader of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), whose camouflage-wearing armed members claim to have helped US officials detain some 5,600 migrants in New Mexico’s desert in the last 60 days, was arrested on Friday on a weapons charge.
The UCP claims to have the support of US border patrol at a time when the agency is overwhelmed by record numbers of asylum seeking Central American families.
Dressed in clothing that resembles military fatigues and carrying weapons, members appear in videos disseminated by the group telling migrants, including women and children and in some cases numbering in the hundreds, to stop and wait for immigration agents.
Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accuse the UCP of being vigilantes who illegally detain and kidnap migrants by impersonating law enforcement.
Hopkins was arrested a day after New Mexico’s Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, ordered an investigation of the group, saying in a tweet that “menacing or threatening migrant families and asylum-seekers is absolutely unacceptable and must cease”.
On Monday, Hopkins appeared in court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to face charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The FBI said it found guns during a 2017 visit to his home. Defense attorney Kelly O’Connell said Hopkins planned to plead not guilty and noted that the charges were unrelated to UCP’s actions at the border.
“This is not even dealing with what’s going on right here,” O’Connell said.
UCP spokesman Jim Benvie previously said the group was helping the border patrol and publicizing the “border crisis”. He was not immediately available for comment.
Crowdfunding sites PayPal and GoFundMe last week barred the group, citing policies not to promote hate or violence, after the ACLU called the UCP a “fascist militia”.
In court papers filed on Monday, FBI special agent David Gabriel said in a criminal complaint that in October 2017 the agency received reports a militia was being run out of Hopkins’ home in Flora Vista, New Mexico.
When agents entered the home they collected nine firearms, ranging from pistols to rifles, Horton was illegally in possession of as he had at least one prior felony conviction, according to the complaint.
The FBI said in court papers that in 2006, Hopkins was convicted of criminal impersonation of a police officer and felony possession of a firearm, and that in 1996 he was also convicted on a firearms charge.
Hopkins, the UCP’s national commander, told agents his common-law wife owned the weapons in question, according to court papers. The FBI had received information that the UCP had about 20 members and had AK-47 rifles and other firearms.
“Hopkins also allegedly made the statement that the United Constitutional Patriots were training to assassinate George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama” because it believed that they supported leftwing, anti-fascist protesters, the complaint said.
Former state and federal prosecutor David S Weinstein said border patrol’s tacit allowance of the UCP may have let it to go beyond what citizens are legally allowed to do.
“To the extent where the FBI has got involved, I think it’s escalated to a point where they need to send a stronger message out to them that, ‘No, we told you not to do this,’” said Weinstein, a partner at the law firm of Hinshaw and Culbertson.
Leader of self-styled U.S. citizen border patrol attacked in jail
24 APRIL 2019
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (Reuters) - The leader of an armed militia that spent two months rounding up migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border before he was arrested on federal weapons charges was hospitalized after a jailhouse attack, his lawyer and authorities said on Wednesday.
Larry Hopkins, 69, whose group of self-styled citizen border cops drew condemnation from civil liberties advocates, suffered broken ribs in the beating by fellow inmates on Tuesday at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to his attorney, Kelly O’Connell.
Hopkins was arrested on Saturday by the FBI on an outstanding warrant accusing him of being a felon in illegal possession of firearms, a charge dating back to a 2017 search of his home.
The detention facility, about 200 miles south of Albuquerque, confirmed that Hopkins was “the alleged victim” of a Tuesday night attack and said the incident was under investigation.
“Hopkins was given medical attention for non life-threatening injuries,” county spokeswoman Kelly Jameson said in an email. She later told Reuters that Hopkins had been transferred from the jail on Wednesday and turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service.
She said Hopkins was beaten by three other inmates in the jail’s television viewing room, and no weapons were found. Jameson said she had no information on what precipitated the violence.
The attack occurred the same day that Hopkins’ United Constitutional Patriots group abandoned its encampment in Sunland Park, New Mexico, where they had spent two months patrolling a 5-mile stretch of the border and said they detained thousands of migrants they caught trying to cross into the United States.
The American Civil Liberties Union last week denounced the UCP as group of “fascist” vigilantes impersonating law enforcement to essentially kidnap Central American families seeking asylum.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, ordered an investigation of the group. UCP members insisted they were acting at the behest of U.S. Border Patrol agents.
O’Connell, who said on Wednesday he had spoken with Hopkins by phone, questioned the jail’s ability to protect a “very high-profile” inmate, but said he did not know why Hopkins was targeted. A UCP spokesman, Jim Benvie, said he believed it was because of Hopkins’ activity at the border.
“They put him in a pod cell with a group of people, and they had just got done watching the article about the ACLU writing about him being racist, and as a result of that he was attacked,” Benvie said in a video posted online.
Hopkins was being held without bail pending a detention hearing set for Monday in Albuquerque.
Benvie said the UCP was moving to another campsite in a couple of days and would continue to support the U.S. Border Patrol, which has said it does not support private citizens acting as law enforcement.
SOURCE 1 , SOURCE 2 , SOURCE 3
A video has emerged of armed right-wing militia members stopping over 300 migrants as they cross the Mexico border into the US state of New Mexico.
The group calls itself the United Constitutional Patriots, and are seen in the Facebook clip standing over migrants sitting on the desert ground.
The group's actions have been condemned by civil liberties groups and New Mexico state officials.
The militia supports President Donald Trump's plan for a border wall.
The incident comes amid a spike in border crossings, despite White House efforts to stem the influx.
The video, posted to militia member Jim Benvie's Facebook page, shows a large group of migrants who were said to have just crossed the border near Sunland Park, New Mexico, being detained by the armed vigilantes on 16 April.
The migrant group, which contains many women and children, are seen sitting and squatting in the darkness and squinting up into the militia's spotlights.
Before Border Patrol agents arrive to take custody of the migrants, a woman narrating the video tells a man who appears to be a militia member "don't aim the gun" in the direction of the families.
Mr Benvie, a spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots, told the New York Times the group has been camping in the region for the past two months and plans to stay until Mr Trump succeeds in building his controversial border wall.
"If these people follow our verbal commands, we hold them until Border Patrol comes," Mr Benvie said, describing the interaction as a "citizen's arrest".
"Border Patrol has never asked us to stand down," said Mr Benvie, who is visiting the region from his home state of Minnesota.
What's the reaction?
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that the vigilantes had no legal right to stop anyone inside the US.
"If migrant families are made to feel threatened, that's completely unacceptable," she said.
"And it should go without saying that regular citizens have no authority to arrest or detain anyone."
New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas warned in a statement that "these individuals should not attempt to exercise authority reserved for law enforcement".
The American Civil Liberties Union described the group as an "armed fascist military organisation" in a letter to the governor and attorney general.
"The Trump administration's vile racism has emboldened white nationalists and fascists to flagrantly violate the law," they say.
"This has no place in our state: we cannot allow racist and armed vigilantes to kidnap and detain people seeking asylum. We urge you to immediately investigate this atrocious and unlawful conduct."
US Customs and Border Protection has previously said they are opposed to civilians patrolling the border in search of illegal crossers.
Leader of militia at US border boasted of training to kill Obama - FBI
22 April 2019
Larry Hopkins, arrested Friday on weapons charges, allegedly said his group also trained to assassinate Hillary Clinton and George Soros
The leader of an armed group that is stopping undocumented migrants who cross into the US from Mexico once boasted about training to assassinate Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros, an FBI agent said in court papers on Monday.
Larry Mitchell Hopkins, leader of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), whose camouflage-wearing armed members claim to have helped US officials detain some 5,600 migrants in New Mexico’s desert in the last 60 days, was arrested on Friday on a weapons charge.
The UCP claims to have the support of US border patrol at a time when the agency is overwhelmed by record numbers of asylum seeking Central American families.
Dressed in clothing that resembles military fatigues and carrying weapons, members appear in videos disseminated by the group telling migrants, including women and children and in some cases numbering in the hundreds, to stop and wait for immigration agents.
Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accuse the UCP of being vigilantes who illegally detain and kidnap migrants by impersonating law enforcement.
Hopkins was arrested a day after New Mexico’s Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, ordered an investigation of the group, saying in a tweet that “menacing or threatening migrant families and asylum-seekers is absolutely unacceptable and must cease”.
On Monday, Hopkins appeared in court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to face charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The FBI said it found guns during a 2017 visit to his home. Defense attorney Kelly O’Connell said Hopkins planned to plead not guilty and noted that the charges were unrelated to UCP’s actions at the border.
“This is not even dealing with what’s going on right here,” O’Connell said.
UCP spokesman Jim Benvie previously said the group was helping the border patrol and publicizing the “border crisis”. He was not immediately available for comment.
Crowdfunding sites PayPal and GoFundMe last week barred the group, citing policies not to promote hate or violence, after the ACLU called the UCP a “fascist militia”.
In court papers filed on Monday, FBI special agent David Gabriel said in a criminal complaint that in October 2017 the agency received reports a militia was being run out of Hopkins’ home in Flora Vista, New Mexico.
When agents entered the home they collected nine firearms, ranging from pistols to rifles, Horton was illegally in possession of as he had at least one prior felony conviction, according to the complaint.
The FBI said in court papers that in 2006, Hopkins was convicted of criminal impersonation of a police officer and felony possession of a firearm, and that in 1996 he was also convicted on a firearms charge.
Hopkins, the UCP’s national commander, told agents his common-law wife owned the weapons in question, according to court papers. The FBI had received information that the UCP had about 20 members and had AK-47 rifles and other firearms.
“Hopkins also allegedly made the statement that the United Constitutional Patriots were training to assassinate George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama” because it believed that they supported leftwing, anti-fascist protesters, the complaint said.
Former state and federal prosecutor David S Weinstein said border patrol’s tacit allowance of the UCP may have let it to go beyond what citizens are legally allowed to do.
“To the extent where the FBI has got involved, I think it’s escalated to a point where they need to send a stronger message out to them that, ‘No, we told you not to do this,’” said Weinstein, a partner at the law firm of Hinshaw and Culbertson.
Leader of self-styled U.S. citizen border patrol attacked in jail
24 APRIL 2019
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (Reuters) - The leader of an armed militia that spent two months rounding up migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border before he was arrested on federal weapons charges was hospitalized after a jailhouse attack, his lawyer and authorities said on Wednesday.
Larry Hopkins, 69, whose group of self-styled citizen border cops drew condemnation from civil liberties advocates, suffered broken ribs in the beating by fellow inmates on Tuesday at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to his attorney, Kelly O’Connell.
Hopkins was arrested on Saturday by the FBI on an outstanding warrant accusing him of being a felon in illegal possession of firearms, a charge dating back to a 2017 search of his home.
The detention facility, about 200 miles south of Albuquerque, confirmed that Hopkins was “the alleged victim” of a Tuesday night attack and said the incident was under investigation.
“Hopkins was given medical attention for non life-threatening injuries,” county spokeswoman Kelly Jameson said in an email. She later told Reuters that Hopkins had been transferred from the jail on Wednesday and turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service.
She said Hopkins was beaten by three other inmates in the jail’s television viewing room, and no weapons were found. Jameson said she had no information on what precipitated the violence.
The attack occurred the same day that Hopkins’ United Constitutional Patriots group abandoned its encampment in Sunland Park, New Mexico, where they had spent two months patrolling a 5-mile stretch of the border and said they detained thousands of migrants they caught trying to cross into the United States.
The American Civil Liberties Union last week denounced the UCP as group of “fascist” vigilantes impersonating law enforcement to essentially kidnap Central American families seeking asylum.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, ordered an investigation of the group. UCP members insisted they were acting at the behest of U.S. Border Patrol agents.
O’Connell, who said on Wednesday he had spoken with Hopkins by phone, questioned the jail’s ability to protect a “very high-profile” inmate, but said he did not know why Hopkins was targeted. A UCP spokesman, Jim Benvie, said he believed it was because of Hopkins’ activity at the border.
“They put him in a pod cell with a group of people, and they had just got done watching the article about the ACLU writing about him being racist, and as a result of that he was attacked,” Benvie said in a video posted online.
Hopkins was being held without bail pending a detention hearing set for Monday in Albuquerque.
Benvie said the UCP was moving to another campsite in a couple of days and would continue to support the U.S. Border Patrol, which has said it does not support private citizens acting as law enforcement.
SOURCE 1 , SOURCE 2 , SOURCE 3