Accountability for bigoted and paramilitary activity on the border

The Honorable Merrick B. Garland
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
Secretary of Homeland Security
2707 Martin Luther King Jr Avenue, SE
Washington, D.C. 20528-0525

May 19th, 2022

Dear Attorney General Garland and Secretary Mayorkas,

As organizations committed to inclusive democracy and civil rights, we write to share our deep concern about unlawful paramilitary activity along the southern border. Unauthorized private paramilitary organizations (often referred to as “militias”) are using the border as a training ground to build power and engage in activities that usurp legitimate government authority, harm migrants and human rights, endanger U.S. citizens in the area, and undermine the rule of law. There is also a growing body of evidence that shows that some U.S. Border Patrol agents have been collaborating with paramilitary and vigilante groups to target immigrants. This is an escalating crisis that must be a priority for both the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Paramilitary organizations and other bigoted anti-democracy groups have grown significantly in recent years, taking advantage both of an opening to enter mainstream politics and the fear and uncertainty caused by pandemic disruptions. These groups are attempting to build power to advance their ideology, too often in conjunction with government institutions. Paramilitary groups that gain legitimacy by claiming to–or actually–working with police or Border Patrol are a troubling example of this. Unfortunately, democratic institutions from the local to the federal level, including law enforcement, have largely failed to collectively and firmly reject these dangerous movements. Both DOJ and DHS must send a clear message denouncing anti-democracy violence and bigotry, rejecting any collaboration between Border Patrol and unlawful paramilitary organizations, and demonstrating that there will be accountability and respect for the rule of law.

Unlawful paramilitary organizations continue to engage in “border missions” designed to harass, intimidate, and detain migrants. Two primary groups of concern, Veterans on Patrol (VOP) and Patriots for America Militia (PFA), are known to have conducted coordinated reconnaissance missions in the U.S. and Mexico. VOP, led by Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer, and PFA, led by Samuel Hall, have a long history of peddling racist, conspiratorial narratives that paint migrants as violent child predators, drug traffickers, and sometimes even “jihadists.” These vigilante groups have a history of accosting migrants and, according to the VOP website, on occasion Meyer has even resorted to using “force” to acquire his “intel.”

Bigoted and anti-democracy groups and figures from around the country often join these vigilante operations, frequently crossing state lines to engage in potentially illegal activity. One such group is the North Idaho-based Panhandle Patriots, whose leader, Mike Birdsong, was photographed in Washington, D.C. on January 6 outside of the Capitol. Birdsong is just one of a slew of D.C. rioters who have made an appearance at the border over the past year. Photographs on the Panhandle Patriots website indicate the group traveled to the southern border at least twice in 2021 where they teamed up with bigoted vigilante groups already patrolling the U.S./Mexico border and confiscated water left for migrants by immigrant rights groups. 

Even more disturbing, videos shared by paramilitary members demonstrate open collaboration with Border Patrol agents. In one instance in late May of 2021, an agent met with members of VOP and praised their activities before collecting drone footage from the group. In the absence of a public signal from Border Patrol that this type of collaboration will not be tolerated, unlawful paramilitary groups receive the opposite energizing message, that it is acceptable and even appreciated. Border Patrol has continued to legitimize and empower these vigilante paramilitary groups into 2022, risking an escalation of dangerous activity targeting migrants, which in the past has led to violence and loss of life. 

The open toleration of unauthorized paramilitary activity on the border combined with evidence of paramilitary collaboration with Border Patrol agents signals that the U.S. government is unable to maintain safety for migrants, protect human rights, and defend the rule of law at the border. According to Georgetown Law’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP), Arizona’s constitution and state laws prohibit unauthorized private paramilitary activity.  See  Ariz. Const. art. II, § 20; Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 26-124; see also  Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 26-170. Documented paramilitary activity may well violate these laws, as well as similar state laws in Texas, California, and New Mexico.  Moreover, U.S. law prohibits the false assumption of the duties of an officer or employee acting under the authority of the United States or any of its departments or agencies, including the Border Patrol. See 18 U.S.C .§ 912. Indeed, in 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice successfully prosecuted a member of a vigilante paramilitary organization that was stopping and detaining immigrants at the New Mexico/Mexico border.  

This situation is both urgent and threatening to the human rights of migrants and U.S. citizens alike, as well as to the preservation of democratic principles and the rule of law. It is critical to begin taking steps to limit the escalation of paramilitary activity at the border, eliminate Border Patrol collaboration with dangerous paramilitary organizations, and thereby remove an important barrier to creating a humane environment on America’s border where all people, regardless of where they are from or their documentation status, are treated with dignity, respect, and safety. We urge the Department of Justice to investigate the activities of vigilante paramilitary groups at the border and take action. Specifically:

• We call on the Department of Justice to investigate any potentially illegal conduct by paramilitary groups or individual members and take appropriate legal action in response, with particular attention to groups and members that cross state lines to violate the law in collaboration with government agencies.

• We ask Attorney General Garland to clarify, both in public statements and through timely and thorough investigations, that accountability for violence and other unlawful activity perpetrated by unauthorized paramilitary groups to undermine democratic institutions is a priority for the Department.

Other government agencies have recently taken steps to address the well-documented concern that paramilitary and white nationalist groups view agencies like the armed forces, law enforcement and Border Patrol as fertile recruitment ground. Last year, the Pentagon published a report documenting examples of its troops’ white nationalist ties and calling for changes in how the agency screens recruits. Encouragingly, the Pentagon followed up on the report by publicly issuing new guidelines restricting social media activity by its military personnel, a move designed to enhance transparency and accountability.

The U.S. Border Patrol must take similar steps. Previous public incidents have raised serious concerns about the infiltration of white nationalist and anti-democracy ideology within the agency. The failure to fully address these issues, including the failure to properly discipline members of the highly-offensive Facebook group revealed by ProPublica’s reporting, or to firmly reject bigotry within the agency, is an ongoing concern, especially in a climate where anti-democracy organizing is gaining ground. The U.S. Border Patrol must take steps to address its previous lack of transparency, especially with regard to its agents’ ties to paramilitary groups and conduct. Specifically: 

• We urge Secretary Mayorkas and other DHS leadership to address extremist and violent paramilitary activity at the border, including paramilitary group collaboration with Border Patrol agents, as a priority issue for DHS that goes beyond existing investigations. We call on these leaders to denounce this activity clearly and publicly as a first step. 

• We ask the Secretary to ensure that transparent investigations of any relationships between members of paramilitary organizations and Border Patrol agents are timely undertaken and result in appropriate accountability.

• We urge the Secretary to direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ensure that criminal conduct by paramilitary organizations and their members is referred to appropriate federal and state law enforcement agencies for investigation and potential legal action.

• We ask Secretary Mayorkas to direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to issue formal guidelines for agents prohibiting association and active participation and support for unauthorized paramilitary organizations and other extremist groups, consistent with the First Amendment, to enhance transparency and accountability and to ensure appropriate discipline.

In a time where government agencies at the federal, state and local levels are the targets of threats and political violence from unauthorized paramilitary organizations, it is essential that the federal government send a clear message that these activities  will not be tolerated.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter. 

Sincerely,

Western States Center
ACLU-NM
America’s Voice
Anti-Defamation League 
Arizona Justice for Our Neighbors
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Global Project Against Hate and Extremism
Human Rights First
Humane Borders
Indivisible
Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection
Integrity First for America
Muslim Advocates
National Immigration Project (NIPNLG)
National Immigrant Justice Center
Princeton Bridging Divides Initiative
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Southern Border Communities Coalition
Southern Poverty Law Center
Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
UndocuBlack Network
United We Dream
Veterans for American Ideals
Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center