Leader of armed group at U.S. border boasted of assassination training: FBI

[demmiblue]

Source: Reuters

TAOS, N.M./LAS CRUCES, N.M. (Reuters) - The leader of an armed group stopping undocumented migrants who cross into the United States from Mexico had boasted that his members had trained to assassinate former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an FBI agent said in court papers on Monday.

Larry Hopkins was arrested Saturday on a weapons charge. His camouflage-wearing armed United Constitutional Patriots members claim to have helped U.S. officials detain some 5,600 migrants in New Mexico in the last 60 days.

The UCP says its two-month presence at the border is intended to support U.S. Border Patrol, which has been overwhelmed by record numbers of Central American families seeking asylum.

Critics including the American Civil Liberties Union accuse the UCP of being a “fascist militia” whose members illegally detain and kidnap migrants by impersonating law enforcement. New Mexico’s Democratic Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, on Friday ordered an investigation of the group. She said “menacing or threatening migrant families and asylum-seekers is absolutely unacceptable and must cease.”

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-militia/leader-of-armed-group-at-u-s-border-boasted-of-assassination-training-fbi-idUSKCN1RY10X

[RKP5637]

1. Typical MAGA guy. n/t

[forgotmylogin]

4. They've got such a hard-on to try out their weaponry on human targets.

McDonald had better not pardon them or we'll get every redcap whacko down there at the border cosplaying Mad Max.

[RKP5637]

6. Exactly! Guns, Dicks and MAGA hats. All set to play with their dicks, oops, guns! n/t

[Perseus]

2. This is very dagerous for Democracy

This is how dictators work, they use "militia" to create panic in the population, most of these people have criminal minds, they are dreaming with shooting people, and the first chance they get they will do it, they won't even look who they are shooting at, and never feel remorse.

Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela, built their militia (Colectivos), he armed them, allowed them to go rampant as "protectors of the revolution", the names may change, "United Constitutional Patriots", or "Colectivos", but the intention is the same. These "United Constitutional Patriots" are there to protect the corrupt, racist administration that aligns perfectly with their way of thinking, and they will gladly kill, even loose their lives to protect the regime.

This is very dangerous, these groups must be apprehended and disbanded, and their leaders as well and its members kept on a watch because these are the kind of people who can become "martyrs" of the "Revolution", and perform atrocities.

[RKP5637]

7. Yep, it's all the same shit and they get way too far of a free pass in the US for inane reasons. And

tRump welcomes them as his storm troopers.

[Judi Lynn]

32. Amazingly, it makes a colossal difference whether the militias are protecting the prey or predators.

Most people are honest enough to admit it.

[maxsolomon]

3. "I was just joking", "I was being sarcastic".

Why not use that defense? It works for the Dotard!

[kimbutgar]

5. My biggest fear is one of those yahoos will commit mass genocide of migrants

I had a terrible nightmare weeks ago about the news coming out they found these mass graves of migrants. It has stayed with me and when I read stories like this I get nervous.

[RKP5637]

8. Left unrestrained it's just a matter of time. They love their war games and would probably like to

use human targets. It's gotten way out of control under the 2nd amendment.

[kimbutgar]

10. Those video shoot em up games are really dangerous also.

[RKP5637]

11. Yep, they are incredibly dangerous ... and I think promote the desire to imitate. n/t

[Jedi Guy]

19. Speaking as someone who's been playing video games for over three decades...

Don't tie my hobby to these wackjobs, please and thank you. Millions upon millions of people the world over, young and old, play and enjoy video games every day. The vast, overwhelming majority of them have never harmed anyone and never will.

The moral panic around video games is just as absurd as that around comic books, movies and TV shows, and certain genres of music.

[kimbutgar]

20. I'm talking about the going in a room and shooting is peoples games

Not ones that are like sims, and mythical type games

[Jedi Guy]

30. Millions of people play first-person shooter games, too.

I'm one of them. They're some of the best-selling games every year. Most of them are military-themed, rather than the type of game you described. The only "mass murder simulator" I know of was a game called Hatred that received mostly scorn from the gaming community.

The games are not the problem, in my opinion. The problem is people who, for whatever reason, cannot separate the game from reality. The rest of us aren't the issue and our hobby shouldn't suffer because of the behavior of the tiny minority.

[LanternWaste]

26. Yours are the same rationalizations religionists make...

"Speaking as someone who's been going to church for over three decades... Don't tie my religion to these wackjobs, please and thank you. Millions upon millions of people the world over, young and old, go to and enjoy church every day. The vast, overwhelming majority of them have never harmed anyone and never will."

[Jedi Guy]

29. You forgot the shrug emoji, what gives?

I stand by my statement. The overwhelming majority of gamers have never and likely will never hurt anyone. The jury is still very much out over the link between video games and violent behavior, with different studies getting wildly different results.

The people clutching their pearls over games are the spiritual successors of those who did the same about the examples I gave. The old are always frightened of the hobbies of the young, so that fear manifests in plenty of different ways.

[ck4829]

23. Indeed

[ArizonaLib]

9. Why is our government using this gang/crime organization to help with law enforcement?

This gang openly admits to illegal search/seizure, kidnapping, etc. Sounds like a 2nd amendment militant bunch of idiots. If they were training to assassinate elected/appointed officials that the constitution sets up, how are they not abusively treating or killing immigrants? Asylum seekers may be documented but they are legal. Those not part of the legal process of asylum seeking groups or individuals can't even weigh in on whether they are legal. The legality is firmly in place and has been judicially confirmed many times over. Those disliking the illegality can work to change the law. Until it changes, they are legal.

[barbtries]

12. that is terrifying.

these people are walking among us, carrying guns. loose cannons. it's a nationwide sickness.

[ck4829]

24. It really is

[dameatball]

13. Am I offbase or should boasting about assasination training while facing charges for illegally

possessing firearms be, on its own, basis for a ridiculously high bail, if any? Not to mention kidnapping, impersonating a federal officer, etc.

[Dave Starsky]

14. When I was a kid, I trained to be an astronaut.

I learned "the astronaut lingo", and my friends and I researched anything else we could find out about the Mercury and Gemini flights. What did the astronauts eat? How did they exercise? Then my friends and I got together, we made our own spacesuits out of whatever we could throw together (fishbowls, pie tins, vacuum cleaner extension hoses, cardboard boxes etc.), and we went out and practiced for our missions. We got to be pretty good at them.

The UCP operates on the very same level of expertise as me and my friends did, except with deadly weapons.

[htuttle]

15. Same here

Sitting under the dining room table, with a glass of Tang and a handful of SpaceFood Sticks.

Worked out the orbital mechanics and everything. Well, kinda. Actually just sort of said I was doing that while I was scribbling on something.

We didn't have real guns, though.

[Dave Starsky]

18. Astronauts didn't need or even think of using guns.

Facing the uncertainty of deep space and the dangers of the great beyond were all of the dangers that we cared about.

[ck4829]

25. That's right

[marble falls]

16. Sounds like a bunch of fun guys. Jail will do them a world of good, a loooong term especially.

[SunSeeker]

17. K & R for exposure.

[stillcool]

21. the wild-wild-west...

on steroids.

[mpcamb]

22. Was he the only one detained? If so, why? The rest of the yahoos, I'm guessing, have arrest

records, outstanding warrants and unpaid support payments. They should be under lock and key, too.

[bluestarone]

27. I'm hoping they are checking out the WHOLE FUCKING GROUP!!!

This isn't good!!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. I wonder what activities constitute "assassination training".

My guess: it's a bunch of beer-swilling white guys trying to talk like Rush Limbaugh. Any Secret Service interrogators probably have to have special training in "keeping a straight face", and "not cracking up at the stupid".