Armed Militia Rounding Up Migrants At Southern Border

A New Mexico militia operating along the border with Mexico has been stopping groups of migrants who have illegally entered the country, holding them at gunpoint, and then handing them over to Border Patrol agents, according to the New York Times. Known as The United Constitutional Patriots, the group has long operated along the southern US border, attempting to stem the flood of undocumented migrants entering the country. According to KVIA, the group rounded up more than 350 people this week who had crossed the border in West El Paso, Texas - one town over from Sunland Park, New Mexico. The US Border Patrol has not confirmed the exact number. In YouTube videos uploaded on Tuesday and Wednesday, groups of migrants - many of them coughing - can be seen sitting on the ground until Border Patrol officers arrive on scene.

"This country was built on three things: God, guns and guts. That American flag has to keep flying," UCP Commander John Horton told KVIA, adding "It's in danger, a lot of danger right now." According to the Times, the militia's operations have predictably upset rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) - which denounced the group in a Thursday letter asking New Mexico's governor and attorney general to investigate the group. The militia has no legal authority under New Mexico or federal law to detain or arrest migrants who have entered the United States, according to the letter. "We cannot allow racist and armed vigilantes to kidnap and detain people seeking asylum," said ACLU lawyers María Martínez Sánchez and Kirsten Greer Love in the letter. New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement "These individuals should not attempt to exercise authority reserved for law enforcement." UCP spokesman Jim Benvie disagrees - telling the Times over the phone that his group had been camped near El Paso for the past two months, and compared the militia's actions to "a verbal citizen's arrest."

"We’re just here to support the Border Patrol and show the public the reality of the border," said the 43-year-old Benvie, who recently moved to New Mexico from Minnesota. He added that the organization plans to remain on the border until President Trump's proposed border wall is built, or Congress changes immigration laws so that it's harder for migrants to request asylum.

Militias have recently stepped up their activities in New Mexico and other states as the authorities scramble to respond to a surge in families from Central America, with total apprehensions on the border reaching more than 92,000 in March. Elsewhere on the border, the mayor of Yuma, Ariz., declared an emergency this week as the city sought federal and state assistance to deal with migrant arrivals. Mr. Benvie, the spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots, declined to specify how many of its members were in Sunland Park, a city in New Mexico about nine miles west of El Paso. He said the group included people with military or law enforcement experience. -New York Times

"If these people follow our verbal commands, we hold them until Border Patrol comes," said Benvie, who added "Border Patrol has never asked us to stand down." Benvie said that this week's stop of hundreds of migrants was conducted after the militia gave a "verbal order of arrest" to the border crossers - telling them to wait until Border Patrol agents could arrive. UCP offered migrants $20 to identify the smuggler who helped them cross the border, however nobody took them up on their offer.

Mr. Benvie said that members of his group were told not to point their weapons at any of the migrants. He added that the group has a new rule in which members are not allowed to go on patrol with military-style rifles, but can still carry handguns. “We can't make them stay if they don't want to,” he said. -New York Times

New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement that it was "completely unacceptable" that migrants "might be menaced or threatened in any way, shape or form when they arrive at our border." "It should go without saying that regular citizens have no authority to arrest or detain anyone," she added. CBP spokesman Carlos A. Diaz told The Times that the agency "does not endorse private groups or organizations taking enforcement matters into their own hands."

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-19/armed-militia-rounding-migrants-southern-border

United Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops more still flooding in

https://youtu.be/fwwm98EjD98

FBI arrests leader of U.S. 'patriots' stopping migrants at border

TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - The FBI on Saturday said it had arrested Larry Hopkins, the leader of an armed group who have been stopping migrants who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico. Hopkins, 69, also known as Johnny Horton, was arrested in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on a federal complaint charging him with being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

Hopkins represents himself as commander of the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), a small volunteer group camped out near Sunland Park since late February. The UCP describes itself as a “patriot group” helping over-stretched U.S. Border Patrol agents deal with a surge in undocumented migrants. The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday accused it of being a “fascist militia organization” illegally detaining and kidnapping asylum seekers. Jim Benvie, a spokesman for the UCP, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hector Balderas, New Mexico’s attorney general, described Hopkins as “a dangerous felon who should not have weapons around children and families.” “Today’s arrest by the FBI indicates clearly that the rule of law should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officials, not armed vigilantes,” Balderas said in a statement. Horton was previously arrested in Oregon in 2006 on suspicion of impersonating a police officer and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Mexico’s government on Saturday said it had “deep concern” about armed groups that intimidate migrants. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it did not support citizens taking law enforcement into their own hands but encouraged the public to be its eyes and ears on the border. “Border Patrol welcomes assistance from the community and encourages anyone who witnesses or suspects illegal activity to call 911, or the U.S. Border Patrol,” CBP said in a statement.

One UCP member, who declined to be named, said the group are U.S. military veterans who carried weapons for self defense but that they never pointed guns at migrants, as has been reported. “People misconceive what we are doing,” the UCP member said. “All we’re down there to do is back up Border Patrol. They’re so thinned out with all these people coming in.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-militia/fbi-arrests-leader-of-u-s-patriots-stopping-migrants-at-border-idUSKCN1RW0O5

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Sudanese authorities arrest members of Bashir's party: source

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese authorities have arrested several top members of the former ruling party of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, in a move that could bolster military rulers who are under mounting pressure by protesters to hand power to civilians. In another part of a widening crackdown designed to remove remnants of Bashir’s rule, the transitional military council (TMC) said it will retire all eight of the officers ranked lieutenant general in the National Intelligence and Security Service. Opposition groups had demanded that the security agencies be restructured. Sudan’s public prosecutor has begun investigating Bashir on charges of money laundering and possession of large sums of foreign currency without legal grounds, a judicial source said earlier on Saturday.

SUITCASES LOADED WITH CASH The source said military intelligence officers who searched Bashir’s home found suitcases loaded with more than $351,000 and six million euros, as well as five million Sudanese pounds. “The chief public prosecutor … ordered the (former) president detained and quickly questioned in preparation to put him on trial,” the judicial source told Reuters. “The public prosecution will question the former president in Kobar prison,” the source said. Bashir has not been questioned yet, the source added. Two of his brothers were also detained on allegations of corruption, the source said. Relatives could not immediately be reached on Saturday for comment about the investigation.

Separately, a source in Bashir’s National Congress Party said authorities arrested the acting party head Ahmed Haroun, former first vice president Ali Osman Taha, former Bashir aide Awad al-Jaz, the secretary general of the Islamic movement Al-Zubair Ahmed Hassan and former parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim al-Taher. The source also said parliament speaker Ibrahim Ahmed Omar and presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie were under house arrest.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-politics/sudanese-authorities-arrest-members-of-bashirs-party-source-idUSKCN1RW09C?il=0

Air strikes and explosions hit Libyan capital

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Several air strikes and explosions shook the Libyan capital Tripoli overnight, residents said, in an escalation of a two-week offensive by eastern forces on the city held by the internationally recognized government. A Reuters reporter and several residents said they saw an aircraft circling for more than 10 minutes over the capital late on Saturday, and that it made a humming sound before opening fire on several areas. An aircraft was heard again after midnight, circling for more than ten minutes before a heavy explosion shook the ground. It was not clear whether an aircraft or unmanned drone was behind the strike, which triggered heavy anti aircraft fire. Residents had reported drone strikes in recent days, but there has been no confirmation and explosions heard in the city center this time were louder than in previous days. Residents counted several missile strikes, one of which apparently hit a military camp of forces loyal to Tripoli in the Sabaa district in the south of the capital, scene of the heaviest fighting between the rival forces.

Authorities closed Tripoli’s only functioning airport, cutting air links to a city of an estimated 2.5 million residents. The airport in Misrata, a city 200 km to the east, remained open. The Libyan National Army (LNA) force loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar started an offensive two weeks ago but has been unable to breach the government’s southern defenses. If a drone strike was confirmed this would point to more sophisticated warfare. The LNA has so far mainly used ageing Soviet-made jets from the air force of Muammar Gaddafi, toppled in 2011, lacking precision firepower and helicopters, according to residents and military sources.

In the past the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have supported Haftar with air strikes during campaigns to take eastern Libya. Both countries flew air strikes on Tripoli in 2014 during a different conflict to help a Haftar-allied force, U.S. officials said at the time. Since 2014 the UAE and Egypt have provided the LNA with military equipment such as aircraft and helicopters, helping Haftar gain the upper hand in Libya’s eight-year conflict, U.N. reports have established. The UAE even built an air base in Al Khadim in eastern Libya, one such report said in 2017. The air strikes, which were also filmed by residents in video posted online, came after a day of heavy clashes in southern districts, with shelling audible in the city center.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-libya-security/air-strikes-and-explosions-hit-libyan-capital-idUSKCN1RW0E2?il=0