{"id":121596,"date":"2018-11-05T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=121596"},"modified":"2018-11-05T10:25:35","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T10:25:35","slug":"u-s-militia-groups-head-to-border-stirred-by-trumps-call-to-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/11\/u-s-militia-groups-head-to-border-stirred-by-trumps-call-to-arms\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Militia Groups Head to Border, Stirred by Trump\u2019s Call to Arms"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michael Vickers, a veterinarian and rancher in Falfurrias, Texas, says he won\u2019t let outside militia onto his property and he doesn\u2019t think such groups will be trusted by most area landowners. (Dominic Bracco II\/Prime\/FTWP)<\/p><\/div>\n

3 Nov 2018 <\/em>\u2014 Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump\u2019s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. They\u2019re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll observe and report, and offer aid in any way we can,\u201d said Shannon McGauley, a bail bondsman in the Dallas suburbs who is president of the Texas Minutemen. McGauley said he was preparing to head for the Rio Grande in coming days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve proved ourselves before, and we\u2019ll prove ourselves again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McGauley and others have been roused by the president\u2019s call to restore order and defend the country against what Trump has called \u201can invasion,\u201d as thousands of Central American migrants advance slowly through southern Mexico toward the U.S. border. Trump has insisted that \u201cunknown Middle Easterners,\u201d \u201cvery tough fighters,\u201d and large numbers of violent criminals<\/a> are traveling among the women, children and families heading north on foot.<\/p>\n

Migrant caravan: What Trump\u2019s threats sound like to the Central Americans trudging north<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Texas Minutemen, according to McGauley, have 100 volunteers en route to the Rio Grande who want to help stop the migrants, with more likely on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t put a number on it,\u201d McGauley said. \u201cMy phone\u2019s been ringing nonstop for the last seven days. You got other militias, and husbands and wives, people coming from Oregon, Indiana. We\u2019ve even got two from Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether his group planned to deploy with weapons, McGauley laughed. \u201cThis is Texas, man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And yet, the prospect of armed vigilantes showing up beside thousands of U.S. troops \u2014 along with Border Patrol agents, police officers and migrants \u2014 is considered serious enough that military planners have issued warnings<\/a> to Army commanders.<\/p>\n

According to military planning documents obtained by Newsweek, the military is concerned about the arrival of \u201cunregulated militia members self-deploying to the border in alleged support\u201d of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.<\/p>\n

Army assessment of migrant caravans undercuts Trump\u2019s rhetoric<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The assessment estimates that 200 militia members could show up. \u201cThey operate under the guise of citizen patrols,\u201d the report said, while warning of \u201cincidents of unregulated militias stealing National Guard equipment during deployments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The military report provided no further details about the alleged thefts.<\/p>\n

Manuel Padilla Jr., the top Border Patrol official in the agency\u2019s Rio Grande Valley sector, the nation\u2019s busiest for illegal crossings, said he has not issued any instructions to agents in the field or to landowners whose properties are adjacent to the river. But he plans to meet with community members in the coming week, he said, to address their concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have any specific information about the militias,\u201d said Padilla, reached by phone along the border. \u201cWe have seen them in the past, and when things start getting really busy, we have to make sure to let the community know they\u2019re out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they\u2019re doing that on their own,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

Trump vows to block asylum seekers in caravan but offers few details<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

McGauley said that in addition to weapons and camping gear, his group will have night-vision goggles and aerial drones with thermal sensing equipment, capable of operating in darkness. He emphasized that the group would report any suspicious activity to authorities and would heed any instructions from Border Patrol agents or military personnel.<\/p>\n

Several landowners in the area said they do not want the militias around.<\/p>\n

Michael Vickers, a veterinarian and rancher who lives an hour north of the border in Falfurrias, said that he will not let militia members from outside the area onto his property and that he doubts most area landowners would trust outsiders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a bunch of guys with a big mouth and no substance to them,\u201d said Vickers, a Republican who heads the 300-strong Texas Border Volunteers. The group doesn\u2019t call itself a militia, although it patrols ranchland to intercept migrants who hike through the brush to attempt to avoid Border Patrol checkpoints. The group uses ATVs, night-vision goggles, spotlights and trained dogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople on the [Rio Grande] have been calling us,\u201d Vickers said. His group is in a \u201cholding pattern,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cWe can have 100 volunteers in a hot area in four to eight hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already talked to a bunch of landowners who wanted to know if we\u2019ll be operating if the Border Patrol can\u2019t be there to keep their property from being vandalized and their crops from being messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re ready to move,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

South Texas county faces wave of migrant deaths<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Others in South Texas are less enthusiastic.<\/p>\n

Lucy Kruse, 96, said immigrants often stop on her property as they walk through the bush<\/a> country, sometimes breaking into a small cabin to sleep. Her family\u2019s ranch lies amid the thorny mesquite brush, cactus and tawny dry grass 80 miles north of the border.<\/p>\n

As the migrant caravans head north, she and other landowners in the area worry that the number of trespassers walking through their ranches will increase dramatically. But many say the militias coming to the area also pose a threat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not let militia on my land,\u201d Kruse said. \u201cThey\u2019re civilians stepping into a situation where the Border Patrol is supposed to be in control and make decisions. They could damage property or harm workers. I would guess they would be trigger-happy. If they shot someone, they might just say the person they shot was reaching for a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Metz, 80, lives in what looks like a pastoral tropical paradise near Mission, a town of 84,000 in the Rio Grande Valley. Tall, green sugar cane grows beside the wide river, and citrus trees dot the sandy small hillocks away from the banks.<\/p>\n

The Rio Grande is less than a mile from Metz\u2019s living room window, and a section of border wall crosses his property. He has watched for years as border-crossers ford the river and walk onto his land, their first step on American soil. The wall has slowed the flow significantly, he said, but between 50 and 100 people a day still cross through the farm next door.<\/p>\n

He worries that the caravan, which includes many women and children, will surge through the area, but he doesn\u2019t want armed vigilantes on his farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe militia just needs to stay where they are,\u201d said Metz, a Republican. \u201cWe don\u2019t need fanatical people. We don\u2019t need anybody here with guns. Why do they have guns? I have dealt with illegals for 30 years, and all of them have been scared, asking for help. The militias need to stay up north where they belong. We have no use for them here. They might shoot someone or hurt someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump on throwing rocks at the border: Military will consider that a threat<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the heir to the state\u2019s largest and most influential ranch disagrees. Stephen J. \u201cTio\u201d Kleberg, who has lived most of his life on the 825,000-acre King Ranch outside of Kingsville, said that he will allow militia groups on his ranch, which is larger than the state of Rhode Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if the [caravan members] get across the river, they need to be caught and sent back,\u201d said Kleberg, who wears a bushy handlebar mustache and chews an unlit cigar.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they get on U.S. soil, they need to be stopped and detained. We don\u2019t have enough Border Patrol, ICE and Highway Patrol to handle them. If we get 2,000 or 3,000 people, we will need the militia,\u201d Kleberg said.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 washingtonpost.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3 Nov 2018 \u2014 Gun-carrying civilian groups and border vigilantes have heard a call to arms in President Trump\u2019s warnings about threats to American security posed by caravans of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. They\u2019re packing coolers and tents, oiling rifles and tuning up aerial drones, with plans to form caravans of their own and trail American troops to the border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":121597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}