Border Battle in Context: Border Calls to Action Are Dangerous to Migrants, Federal Agents and Communities
A recent call to action issued by the antigovernment聽group United Patriot Party of North Carolina (UPP NC) invited Americans to become border vigilantes alongside them in Eagle Pass, Texas. Such rhetoric has the potential to facilitate a violent attack on migrants and border patrol agents.
This dynamic is not new. The UPP NC event, called 鈥淥peration Hold the Line,鈥� was a product of the anti-immigrant environment produced by the xenophobic posturing of hate groups and politicians, and the controversial impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas, the first Latinx and immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security. UPP NC鈥檚 call to action was issued in January and invited people to 鈥渏oin fellow patriots as we do the work of closing our borders.鈥� People were invited to meet UPP, camp and operate from a private property in Eagle Pass, Texas, from Jan. 20-28.
Eagle Pass has been the epicenter of a fight between the Biden administration鈥檚 federal homeland security and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been attempting to assert state supremacy over the border.
The trip to Eagle Pass by UPP NC and their entourage ended earlier than expected due to some 鈥減ushback from the Feds,鈥� according to UPP NC member Greg Gibson, who acts as the mouthpiece for the group. Although brief, their stint was extremely problematic, as reported by the .
The group was stopped by troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) while on a trip to the border with local right-wing tour guides Celeste April Sparks and Jerry J. Pena-Ahuyon. DPS arrived amid concerns shared by an FBI surveillance plane that the group was allegedly holding migrants at gunpoint. One participant, Jeremy Allred, previously convicted of domestic assault, had multiple weapons in his possession and admitted to brandishing a firearm. Pena-Ahuyon, who was also armed, and Sparks were arrested for drug possession.
Dealing with this incident required use of law enforcement resources, while vigilantes patrolling the border created a potentially unsafe environment for migrants.
But the dangerous situation at the border could have been worse. Paul Faye of Cunningham, Tennessee, planned to answer UPP NC鈥檚 call to action and join them on their sojourn to the border. However, he was derailed by his arrest on Jan. 11 for possessing, selling or transferring an unregistered firearm. According to the criminal complaint against him, Faye intended to bring 鈥渆xplosive devices to the border without law enforcement detection鈥� and 鈥渃onduct acts of violence.鈥�
Faye shared his antigovernment and anti-immigrant beliefs with undercover agents investigating him. Faye believed the federal government had plans to 鈥渢ake on its citizens鈥� and let migrants into the country as part of a sinister conspiracy. 鈥淲e are being invaded,鈥� he said.
The exact details of Faye鈥檚 plan, beyond his intent to travel to Eagle Pass with UPP NC and bring explosives, are unknown, but the arrest of militia members Jonathan S. O鈥橠ell and Bryan C. Perry in 2022 may shed some light on the possibilities. Faye鈥檚 charging document states that he communicated extensively with Perry and hoped to travel to the border with him and others to commit acts of violence.
Faye鈥檚 plan did not come to fruition, because O鈥橠ell and Perry were arrested on Oct. 7, 2022, for planning a border massacre and were later indicted on 44 criminal counts. This included charges stemming from their attempts to shoot the law enforcement officers who took them into custody.
O鈥橠ell and Perry were described in the indictment as men with grievances against the government who attempted to recruit members in 2021 and spent 2022 amassing firearms and body armor.
In September 2022, Perry announced on TikTok that he believed the border patrol was committing treason by 鈥渁llowing鈥� migrants into America. He announced the punishment for treason was death and 聽that he was 鈥渞eady to go to war against this government.鈥� Perry 聽his group was 鈥済onna go protect our country鈥� and 鈥渟hoot to kill.鈥�
Around the same time, Perry told a recruit that the group would be going to the U.S.-Mexico border and shared details with another individual, explaining that they would be shooting people who crossed the border, along with 鈥渇ederal agents鈥� who resisted them.
On Oct. 3, 2022, Perry shared on TikTok that the group would be there on Oct. 8, and that they were 鈥渢aking their full kits鈥� and 鈥渨ere going out huntin鈥�.鈥�
According to the indictment, Perry and O鈥橠ell planned to recruit more people in Texas, head to Eagle Pass, and 鈥済o to war.鈥� By the week of their trip, the men had stockpiled six firearms, over 1,000 rounds of ammunition, gas masks, body armor, ballistic helmets, handheld radios and an explosive mixture.
Both men were arrested by FBI agents on Oct. 7, 2022, but not without resistance. Perry and O鈥橠ell are accused of shooting at FBI agents at least 11 times. As a result, they were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder of FBI special agents. They were also charged with using a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and damaging federal property for spraying a federal car with bullets. The cases are ongoing, with a joint criminal trial set for Oct. 21.
Perry and O鈥橠ell鈥檚 arrests made them unable to travel to the border with Faye, who attempted to further his violent antigovernment, anti-immigrant agenda using UPP NC鈥檚 call to action as his new opportunity. Faye was in contact with at least one member of the group and planned to head down to the border with them and fulfill his plan.
The UPP NC鈥檚 call to action around the border isn鈥檛 the only time such a call by extremist groups has created conditions for violence. It has been happening for a quarter century or more.
In 2000, the border vigilante group Ranch Rescue put out a press release calling on extremists to 鈥渉elp ranchers on the Arizona / Mexico border cope with the damage to their property caused by thousands of criminal trespassers.鈥� Casey James Nethercott answered this call to action, participating in operations with the group.
While patrolling a Texas ranch, Nethercott and another member, Henry Conner Jr., detained two migrants and assaulted one with a pistol. The men were charged with unlawful restraint and aggravated assault. The migrants would later file suit against Nethercott with the . Nethercott鈥檚 property was deeded to his victims, and Nethercott and John 鈥淛ack鈥� Foote, Ranch Rescue鈥檚 leader, owed $1 million in judgments.
Nethercott was back at it four years later. While leading the Arizona Guard vigilante group armed volunteers to 鈥渉elp local ranchers and citizens defend property from illegal alien activity and drug running operations.鈥� Nethercott threatened a shootout with border patrol that earned him an arrest warrant. During his arrest, Nethercott鈥檚 fellow member, neo-Nazi Kalen Robert Riddle, was , receiving a non-fatal injury.
In 2005, a border vigilante group called the Minuteman Project was started, and it began patrolling the border on April 1, 2005. Calls to attend the Project鈥檚 activities were highly promoted. Neo-Nazis helped dispense flyers, and one website 聽the Minuteman Project 鈥渁 call for action on part of ALL ARYAN SOLDIERS.鈥�
Shawna Forde was one of many who heeded the call to join the Project. In 2006, Forde began border watch operations with the group, organized rallies and made city council presentations. Minutemen Project leader Jim Gilchrist 聽鈥渁 stoic struggler who has chosen to put country, community and a yearning for a civilized society ahead of avarice and self-glorifying ego.鈥�
By 2009, Forde had , the Minutemen American Defense Group. She sought to fund her group by invading the home of Raul 鈥淛unior鈥� Flores in Arivaca, Arizona, on May 30. Forde believed Flores was a drug trafficker. She planned to steal drugs and money she thought would be in his possession. During the invasion, Flores and his nine-year-old daughter Brisenia Flores were shot and killed. In 2011, Forde was 聽for her crimes.
In 2018, United Constitutional Patriots聽(UCP) and other nativist and militia groups put out a call to action for Americans to join then on the southern border. In 2019, a UCP recruit they referred to as Wyatt was vetted by the group and cleared to be part of their border operations. But prior to joining them, during an Apr. 8, 2019, podcast, Wyatt made comments that got him uninvited by the group.
UCP鈥檚 leader, Johnny Horton Jr., aka Larry Hopkins, responded to Wyatt鈥檚 words on air, saying: 鈥淵ou are a loose cannon. We are not down there to create a war. We are not going to start an international incident that is worse.鈥� Then Hopkins told the audience, 鈥淭hat guy is scary, so we'll leave it at that.鈥�
Just two weeks later, on April 24, 2019, Armando Delgado Gonzales joined UCP on the border. While in their company, he is alleged to have observed migrants crossing the border, handed his handgun to a UCP member, run to his car to retrieve an assault rifle, and returned to the group. According to a 聽from the Sunland Park Police Department, he then asked, 鈥淲hy are we just apprehending them and not lining them up and shooting them?鈥� He also stated, 鈥淲e have to go back to Hitler days and put them all in a gas chamber,鈥� according to a UCP member who says he asked Gonzales to leave and reported him to authorities. Gonzales 聽making the claims.
Faye鈥檚 plans for UPP鈥檚 鈥淗old the Line鈥� operation could have endangered border patrol, migrants and community members. Members of the Take Our Border Back convoy made threats to a Texas migrant processing center that included burning it down and killing the migrants inside.
What is often framed by border vigilantes as nonviolent, 鈥減atriotic鈥� or benign border activities have a clear history of creating violent, sometimes deadly, consequences.
Victims of these extremist incidents pay the price along with communities that are left in fear and left to pick up the pieces.
As one juror 聽after Shawna Forde鈥檚 sentencing, alluding to the Forde鈥檚 victims Junior and Brisenia Flores, 鈥淲hile Shawna Forde gets to delight in the picture of her brand new grandson, there鈥檚 another person in this equation who never will. There鈥檚 another person in this equation who鈥檒l never get to wear her first pair of high heels or have her first kiss or go to prom or graduation. There鈥檚 a little girl in this equation whose father won't be able to walk her down the aisle.鈥�
Photo illustration by 人兽性交
