by Nomad
After an close call at the Texas border between Border Patrol guards and armed militias, isn't time we should start asking who is in charge? When it comes to leadership, Governor Rick Perry has been an excellent recruiter for armed and dangerous vigilante groups.
The Brownsville Incident
"Land's sakes, that's a good way to get your head blown off!" That's what somebody should have warned one lucky militia member with more bullets than brain matter.
According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a US Border Patrol agent near Brownsville Texas mistook a member of an armed militia for an illegal intruder on Friday.
It was apparently a close
call.
Omar Zamora, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, told the Los Angeles Times on Saturday that the agent was chasing several suspects through an area of thick brush near the Rio Grande on Friday afternoon when he came upon a militia member holding a shotgun or rifle.
After the patrol agent fired
several rounds, the militia member, reportedly, threw down his weapon immediately
(no doubt wetting himself about that time). Fortunately nobody on either
side was injured.
Somebody nearly learned the limits of his
Second Amendment rights the hard way.
The identity of the man was
not released to the public and it isn't clear whether the Cameron County Sheriff will press
criminal charges.
Zamora did not identify the patrol agent and said it was not clear what organization the militia member belonged to. He was standing on private property at the time of the incident.
Clearly it was only a matter of time before something
like this happened. And the next time state and federal border patrol encounter
armed groups, things could easily be tragic.
Border Vigilantes On Call
Indeed, there were unheeded warnings.
Last
July, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) declared that the
agency does not "endorse or support any private group or organization from
taking matters into their own hands as it could have disastrous personal and
public safety consequences."
According
to a Houston Chronicle article, armed militia groups along the Texas border
have grown to more than 10 active "teams" from El Paso to the Rio
Grande Valley,
These
groups which included Oathkeepers, Three Percenters and Patriots, began organizing
and recruiting as the hysteria began over the influx of immigrant children crossing the border.
Other groups may include
- Bolinas Border Patrol,
- Central Valley Militia,
- Independent Citizens Militia,
- Alpha Team,
- Bravo Team,
- FOB Harmony,
- Operation Secure Our Border:
- Laredo Sector,
- O'Shanessy's Team,
- the 77's and
- Camp Geronimo
Barbie Rogers is the founder of the Patriots Information Hotline which has been instrumental in organizing and finding new members for the militias. According to Rogers, many of the groups are stationed on ranch land with permission from the owners.
She has called upon the Governor
to send even more Texas National guard personnel to defend the border. She also
says to Rick Perry that "if cost is
an issue" to "call the militia. They will come if you call them."
As one militia leader said:“We have patriots all across this country who are willing to sacrifice their time, money even quit their jobs to come down and fight for freedom, liberty and national sovereignty.”Whether Perry knows it or not, he has already called up the armed gangs.
