To protect us from these guys.
Several anti-government groups – many of which participated in the standoff at Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch – are recruiting armed volunteers to travel to the Texas-Mexico border as a citizen militia to participate in “Operation Secure Our Border,” which aims to stop the surge of immigrants into the country.
The groups, who identify themselves as “Patriots,” “Oathkeepers” and “Three Percenters,” are using social media, blogs and a 24-hour hot line to recruit and mobilize volunteers to travel to Laredo, carry firearms and attempt to assist law enforcement agencies on the border.
However, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it 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.”
What could possibly go wrong with an effort like that? I kid, but there’s really nothing funny about this. The potential for violence and tragedy is far too great. Stace has more.
On a related note, we know this is happening as President Obama comes to Texas to do what he usually does here (fundraising) while Rick Perry is doing what he usually does (make a fool out of himself), while in the meantime everyone acknowledges that immigration reform is dead for this year, and likely till at least 2017, because the Republican-controlled House will not take up the (highly imperfect but still better than nothing) bill that passed the Senate even though it almost surely would pass the House if it came to a vote. There’s no bigger obstacle to comprehensive immigration reform than Texas Republicans. If you need evidence of that, have a look through this massive collection of quotes from our GOP Congressional delegation on the matter. We all know about the crazies – Louie Gohmert, Steve Stockman, Ted Cruz, etc – but certainly on this issue it’s really all of them. Go read and see for yourself. If you want to do something constructive and helpful, Stace has you covered there, too.