A small group of vehicles is headed to the southern border in Texas, promising to hunt down immigrants. It’s not going well.
They call it Take Our Borders Back. The group formed in response to continued claims by Governor Greg Abbott and others that President Joe Biden has left the southern border open and undefended. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that Abbott could not construct his own razor wire barriers, the latest in his long serious of constitutionally questionable stunts aimed around illegal immigration. Contrary to popular conservative talking points, Abbott’s $11 billion Operation Lone Star has done little to stymie the flow of migrants while Biden’s actions have prevented nearly 400,000 illegal crossings.
Following the court’s decision, Abbott vowed to keep fighting. He has called on other conservative states to send people to help him, an action that some activists have labeled treachery. It’s little wonder that some radical anti-immigrant groups would rally to Abbott’s call.
However, the dreams of an army are not exactly being fulfilled. The convoy promised 40,000 trucks, but it looks like less than a hundred have actually joined. The group traveling from Virginia through Florida managed only 20 trucks total.
While the convoy’s organizers have stated publicly that their presence will be peaceful and dedicated to constitutional ideals (while blatantly ignoring that the constitutional question was settled by the court most constitutionally), a look at their private communications reveals more sinister motives.
Several supporters have gone on record as treating the trip as a military intervention, promising to bring guns and attack people they consider to be enemy combatants. Others have called the justices traitors and implied they should be dealt with using military tribunal. Conversations via the Telegram app are rife with conspiracy theories, such as claiming illegal border crossers are bringing fentanyl into the United States as chemical weapon despite the fact 86.3 percent of fentanyl seized by law enforcement is trafficked by U.S. citizens.
Unsurprisingly, the anti-migrant convoy made up of people who view asylum seekers and refugees as an invading army is also full of literal Nazis. Ryan Sanchez, a prominent American white nationalist, is an active part of the group. Sanchez was previously a Marine reservist who was dismissed from service for participation in repeated neo-Nazi events.
The convoy has found a champion in Alex Jones, the disgraced conspiracy theory radio host who currently owes more than a billion dollars to the parents of Sandy Hook Massacre victims after he repeatedly lied about the shooting being a hoax. Jones has long since been kicked off most of social media for spreading dangerous misinformation, but maintains a small group of core supporters.
Thus far, the convoy’s actions have mostly been dominated by infighting, incompetence, slashed tires, and lost members. It’s highly unlikely that they will be of any consequence when and if they finally make it to their declared destination, Eagle Pass. That said, armed, angry, and in many cases extremely racist, people are always a danger and should be avoided if encountered.
