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[[[[Read it last edition of Crossing the Border, a limited newsletter on the life of the United States and Mexico. Register here to receive the next issue in your inbox.]
ALBUQUERQUE – A right-wing militia operating in southern New Mexico began arresting groups of migrant families and arresting them at gunpoint, before handing them over to border patrol officers, which accentuated the tension on the tactics of armed militia acting along the Mexico border.
The group members, who call themselves the United Constitutional Patriots, have filmed several of their actions in recent days, including the arrest this week of a group of about 200 recently migrated migrants. the border near Sunland Park, New Brunswick, with the intention of applying for asylum. They posted social media videos of exhausted migrant families, blinking in the dark in the light of what appeared to be the spotlight of the militia.
The professed militia have long been operating along the border with attempts to limit the flow of undocumented migrants into the United States. But targeting the recent influx of families, who are legally allowed to seek asylum and often travel quickly to border patrol agents, is raising tensions with human rights activists in the country. this part of the West.
The American Civil Liberties Union has denounced the actions of the militia in a letter sent Thursday to the government and the Attorney General of New Mexico to investigate this group. A.C.L.U. stated that the militia had no legal authority under federal law or New Mexico to detain or arrest migrants in the United States.
"We can not allow racist and armed self-defense groups to kidnap and detain people who are seeking asylum," said two lawyers in the letter, María Martínez Sánchez. and Kirsten Greer Love.
In a statement, the Attorney General of New Mexico, Hector Balderas, said: "These people should not attempt to exercise an authority reserved for law enforcement."
Jim Benvie, a spokesman for United Constitutional Patriots, said in a phone interview that his group had camped near El Paso for two months. Mr. Benvie asserted that the actions of his group were legal, comparing the detention of migrants to "the verbal arrest of a citizen".
"We are just here to support the border patrol and show the public the reality of the border," said Benvie, 43, who recently arrived in Minnesota, New Mexico. He added that the organization was planning to stay at the border until the extended wall proposed by President Trump was built or that Congress amends the immigration laws to make it more difficult the asylum demand of migrants.
The militias have recently intensified their activities in New Mexico and other states as the authorities struggled to respond to a increasing number of families in Central America, with over 92,000 apprehensions at the border in March. Elsewhere at the border, the mayor of Yuma, Arizona, declared an emergency this week as the city had sought help from the federal and state governments to deal with migrant arrivals.
Mr. Benvie, spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots, declined to specify the number of its members in Sunland Park, a New Mexico town located about nine miles west of El Paso. He added that the group included people with military or police experience.
"If these people follow our verbal orders, we keep them until the arrival of the Border Patrol," Benvie said. "The border patrol never asked us to withdraw."
New Mexico's Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said in a statement that it was "totally unacceptable" for migrant families "to be threatened or threatened in any way upon arrival at our border" .
"It should be self-evident that ordinary citizens do not have the power to arrest or detain anyone," she added.
The video of this week's episode in the New Mexico Desert shows border patrol officers arriving at the scene after militia members have already come into contact with the migrants. Before the arrival of federal agents, a woman telling the video tells a man who appears to be a member of the militia "Do not point the weapon" in the direction of families. We see the migrants kneel on the ground and kiss each other.
Mr. Benvie stated that militia members had given a "verbal arrest order" to the migrants, telling them to wait where they were until the arrival of the agents. border patrol. The members of his group offered $ 20 to any of the migrants who could identify the smuggler who had helped them cross the border, he said, but none of them were able to do so. accepted the offer.
Mr. Benvie stated that his group members were ordered not to point their weapons at any of the migrants. He added that the group had a new rule that members are not allowed to patrol with military-style rifles but can still carry handguns. "We can not make them stay where they do not want to," he said.
Carlos A. Diaz, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that includes the Border Patrol, refused to discuss the episode or United Constitutional Patriots, but said that the agency "does not support private groups own hands."
"We have to stop being friendly because of the kids," said commentator Linda Ellen Sweeney. "I have to consider them collateral damage now. We are done. "
Ursela Ojeda, a political adviser in Washington of the Women's Refugee Commission, an organization that seeks to protect the rights of women and children displaced by the conflict and the crisis, described the militia's actions as "very problematic".
"Families and many young children are fleeing dangerous situations," said Ojeda. "I have a hard time seeing how anyone has the right to point a loaded gun at these families."
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