TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) – The FBI on Saturday said it had arrested Larry Hopkins, the chief of an armed organization. This prevents undocumented migrants once they pass the U.S.-Mexico border into New Mexico. The arrest arrived two days after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused the organization of illegally detaining migrants and New Mexico’s Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered research. Hopkins, sixty-nine, additionally called Johnny Horton, was arrested in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on a federal grievance charging him with being a felon in ownership of firearms and ammunition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a declaration. “We’re not concerned about it; he’s going to be cleared,” said Jim Benvie, a spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), blaming his arrest on political strain from Lujan Grisham. Hopkins is the “countrywide commander” of the UCP, which has had around half a dozen members camped out on a rotating basis close to Sunland Park since late February.
PATRIOTS OR FASCISTS?
The UCP describes itself as a “patriot institution” supporting the U.S. Border Patrol to cope with many Central American households crossing the border to seek asylum. Dressed in camouflage and carrying rifles, UCP individuals have helped U.S. Border Patrol detain over five hundred migrants within the closing months, Benvie stated. Videos published online using the organization show members telling migrants to prevent, sit down, and await retailers to arrive. Critics accuse the UCP of impersonating regulation enforcement. On Friday, crowdfunding sites PayPal and GoFundMe barred the organization, mentioning guidelines not to promote hate or violence after the ACLU called the UCP a “fascist militia.” “Today’s arrest through the FBI suggests truly that the rule of law should be inside the palms of educated law enforcement officials, not armed vigilantes,” New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said in an announcement of Hopkins’s arrest. Hopkins was arrested in Oregon in 2006 on suspicion of impersonating a police officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm, in step with the Southern Poverty Law Center.
NO STANDOFFS
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declared it did not help citizens take regulation enforcement into their arms and recommended the public be its eyes and ears at the border. Benvie said the UCP was doing simply that and had the help of nearby Border Patrol and police. Mostly military veterans, UCP contributors carry guns for self-protection and at no time pointed guns at migrants, as they have been accused of, Benvie said. Despite having investment resources cut off, Benvie stated the institution’s online aid had swelled because it came underneath attack this week. Its Facebook fans have more than doubled on account that Thursday. Asked what the organization could do if told to depart with national police aid, Benvie stated they might, io and, if they felt the order violated their constitutional rights, sue the country of New Mexico. “There’s no longer going to be any standoffs; this isn’t the Bundy Ranch,” Benvie said about a 2014 armed disagreement in Nevada.