Governor of New Mexico calls on militia not to stop migrants at the border

April 19, 2019, 19:21 GMT

By Suzanne Gamboa

New Mexico's governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, is attacked on Friday to members of a militia group who arrest migrants at the border, saying that "ordinary citizens do not have the power to arrest or detain anyone ".

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico has asked Lujan Grisham and New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas to investigate the United Constitutional Patriots militia organization. Some members of the group are armed.

"The fact that migrant families may be threatened in any way upon arrival at our border – often after an incredibly difficult journey – is totally unacceptable," said Lujan Grisham in an email to NBC News.

"It goes without saying that ordinary citizens do not have the power to arrest or detain anyone," she said. "My office and the police in our state are coordinating with the Attorney General's Office and the local police to determine what happened and what can be done."

Balderas warned in a statement that "these individuals should not attempt to exercise an authority reserved for the forces of order," he said.

The ACLU of New Mexico sounded the alarm about the arrests in a letter sent Thursday to Lujan Grisham and Balderas.

The letter indicated that on Tuesday, members of the group arrested nearly 300 people near Sunland Park, New Mexico. The ACLU has published excerpts from the letter on its website with a video that appears to have been made by one of the militia members.

"The treacherous racism of the Trump administration has encouraged white nationals and fascists to flagrantly violate the law," the ACLU said. "This has no place in our state: we can not allow armed racist and armed militias to kidnap and detain people who seek asylum. We urge you to immediately investigate this atrocious and illegal conduct. "

According to Reuters, the group, consisting mainly of veterans, patrols in the area near Sunland Park since late February. They publish almost daily videos of members dressed in camouflage and armed with semi-automatic rifles holding asylum seekers who have crossed the border until the border patrol arrives to arrest them.

Kevin McAleenan, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security, said during a visit to El Paso, Texas that the Border Patrol had not helped "civil society groups" to monitor the border Reuters reported.

FOLLOW NBC LATINO ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM.