Armed civilians are detaining migrants at the border. The (((ACLU))) wants them (((investigated)))
In the middle of the night Tuesday, United Constitutional Patriots, an armed civilian group patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border in the Sunland Park area, detained more than 300 migrants who illegally crossed the border.
The group, who claim they are at the border to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America,” is patrolling the desert near Sunland Park searching for migrants.
In a video livestreamed April 16 on Facebook by one of the United Constitutional Patriots' members, the group is seen detaining a group of about 300 migrants, including children. The video starts in the middle of the incident with U.S. Border Patrol vehicle and agents already at the scene.
In the video, the member repeatedly says, “This is an invasion … and it is never, never ending” referring to the large number of Central American migrants crossing into the U.S. to seek asylum.
The group claims on its website that it is not violating any state or federal laws.
The (((American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico))) disagrees with the group calling their actions, “unlawful.”
In a letter sent to New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, (((ACLU))) officials request they “investigate an armed vigilante group currently engaged in the unlawful detention of hundreds of migrants near New Mexico’s southern border.”
The letter states, “an armed fascist militia organization describing itself as the United Constitutional Patriots arrested nearly three hundred people seeking safety in the United States, including young children, near Sunland Park, New Mexico. Other videos appear to show arrests in the past few hours. The vigilante members of the organization, including Jim Benvie, who posted videos and photographs of the unlawful arrests to social media, are not police or law enforcement and they have no authority under New Mexico or federal law to detain or arrest migrants in the United States.”
It continues, “Their actions undermine the legitimate efforts of our state’s law enforcement officials to keep New Mexico families safe and they erode community trust. The Trump administration’s vile racism has emboldened white nationalists and fascists to flagrantly violate the law. 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.”
ACLU concludes their letter stating, “The Trump administration’s vile racism has emboldened white nationalists and fascists to flagrantly violate the law. 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."
United Constitutional Patriots leaders could not immediately be reached by phone or through social media for comment Friday. United Constitutional Patriots members have posted dozens of videos of the group patrolling and detaining migrants they find in the desert.
The videos show men and women wearing camouflage military-like uniforms with assault rifles “scooping the border” looking for migrants. The group records videos on its Facebook page in order to document the situation with migrants at the border and to “show the truth to the American people,” United Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops spokesman Jim Benvie told the El Paso Times in a past interview.
“The truth isn’t being told about this crisis," Benvie said. "A lot of people are accusing President (Donald) Trump of manufacturing a crisis and I think the videos we are down here producing, which isn’t left or right, is providing evidence that this is a crisis.”
view the rest of the comments →
[–] 18227055? ago
Are you the captain? How was your journey anon? Did you sink any somali niggers?