Right-wing media outlets are endorsing border militias as a tool to curb immigration

[Nevilledog]

https://www.mediamatters.org/immigration/right-wing-media-outlets-are-endorsing-border-militias-tool-curb-immigration

Conservative media outlets are promoting, defending, and coordinating with right-wing border militias – who are in some instances working with local law enforcement – to serve as tools to curb immigration. The symbiotic relationship between right-wing media, law enforcement, and vigilante groups serves to highlight the shared interests and ideological overlap among these reactionary forces, creating a feedback loop and furthering the narrative that the U.S. is facing an “invasion” at the southern border.

The two border militias that appear to have received the most attention from right-wing media are Patriots for America, led by Samuel Hall, and Arizona Border Recon, led by Tim Foley. The SPLC has designated both Arizona Border Recon and Patriots for America as anti-government militias, and reported that Foley attended the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021. Democratic lawmakers have also drawn attention to another border militia, Veterans on Patrol, also an SPLC-designated anti-government group, but they do not appear to have as significant a presence in conservative media.

Hall has appeared on Fox News and Real America’s Voice, a right-wing streaming platform and television channel that’s a home to Steve Bannon’s War Room and The Charlie Kirk Show. His group has received favorable coverage from conservative blogs like Townhall and Western Journal, and from NTD News, a right-wing site owned by Epoch Media Group, which also owns far-right website The Epoch Times. Ben Bergquam, a correspondent for Real America’s Voice, has repeatedly used footage provided by Arizona Border Recon, and has given the group’s founder, Tim Foley, friendly interviews. Conservative blog The Daily Caller has also used the militia’s footage.

Militias have operated along what is now the southern border since the 19th century, serving to displace indigenous tribes and Mexicans in what is now Texas and throughout the southwest. In the 2000s, the Minutemen militia gained prominence for patrolling the border. By the 2010s, many of the factors that led to the rise of Donald Trump – including increasing nativism and backlash to former President Barack Obama – also fueled a resurgence of right-wing border militias.

*snip*

[Faux pas]

1. The

unevolved are a blood thirsty lot. They should be disbanded immediately.

[Oneironaut]

2. Ok, then, force the same rules as militiamen were to abide by in the past.

Militia members of the past were expected to report to duty at a moments notice, and maintain fitness for combat duties. They also provided other services, such as fighting fires, etc. I also propose adding charitable work to their duties, such as picking up trash, distributing food to the needy, etc.

But, who am I kidding? 99% of these people now are MAGA fat-fucks with beer guts dragging on the ground who just want to murder brown people - exactly the sort that a real militia wouldn’t want.

[crickets]

3. What could possibly go wrong? 🙄

[Wounded Bear]

4. Indeed! nt