New Mexico Governor does not want the help of “militia” group in patrolling the border

An armed group calling themselves “United Constitutional Patriots” (UCP) has taken to patrolling the New Mexico border. They claim they are only there to help the overwhelmed that Border Patrol by being their eyes and ears. They carry weapons to protect themselves because “it’s a very dangerous place and we are disrupting the coyotes and cartels”.

“We do apprehend people, and then turn them over to the Border Patrol. “The coyotes tell them that if they set one foot on US Soil they will have rights and no one can touch them,” said UCP spokesman Jim Benvie.

Although some in the media and local government have labeled the group as “vigilantes” or “militia” they do not like to use either of those terms.

Benvie said the group is “determined to monitor the border until President Trump fulfills his campaign promise of a border wall or until Congress enacts stronger legislation to make it more difficult for migrants to request asylum.”

“It should go without saying that regular citizens have no authority to arrest or detain anyone,” the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said in a statement to The New York Times, adding that it is “completely unacceptable” that migrants be “menaced or threatened” upon entering the U.S.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement that “the Trump administration’s vile racism” emboldened these groups.

Carlos A. Diaz, a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement that Border Patrol “does not endorse private groups or organizations taking enforcement matters into their own hands.”