“Patriot” border militias have been a problem ever since they were conceived in the late ‘90s for a variety of reasons, the foremost probably being the way they are a magnet for violent, sociopathic criminals who inevitably manifest that in the communities where they set up shop. But the most inescapable underlying issue (aside from the racial animus that fuels them) is the fact that they are vigilantes, taking the law in their own hands, but accountable to no one—which inevitably invites them to behave well beyond the law.  

On the Texas border, a new kind of “Patriot” militia has stepped onstage, waging a public-relations campaign to persuade government officials and onlookers that their motives are “pure” and that they intend to fully operate within the law. Moreover, they have the blessing of the local sheriff. But no one is clear about where the accountability, legally and otherwise, will lie if anything goes sideways.

Calling themselves “Patriots for America,” as the Los Angeles Times reports, this group has successfully set itself up to conduct armed patrol on the Texas borderlands, not only with the permission of landowners but by directly coordinating with the local sheriff—who happily arrests the migrant border-crossers the militiamen find.

Their leader and leading cheerleader is a 40-year-old man named Samuel Hall, who recently appeared before the Val Verde County Commission and gave them his best pitch for setting up shop there.

“We are expanding our operations,” said Hall. “The militia has been demonized pretty well by the left. My goal and my objective before you today commissioners is to let you know that our message is pure. We’re not a bunch of guys that have a hate rhetoric. We’re not a bunch of guys that beat our chest or have the wrong intentions or wrong message. We are a Christ-centered, faith-based organization. We’re a bunch of believers.”

Hall has worked hard to demonstrate that his militiamen treat border migrants with respect and dignity, and never cross the legal lines by detaining them.

“We don’t come in with any intent to hurt anybody. We don’t come in with any intent to cause any fights,” he said. “We’re here to make a positive difference, but we need your support.”

Hall’s group already has the explicit support of neighboring Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe, who has put Patriots for America to work in helping arrest a flood of migrants crossing the Rio Grande there. A 30-year Border Patrol veteran who keeps Donald Trump stickers on his desk, Coe told the Times that local ranchers appreciate the militiamen and are happy to allow them on their land.

“When they go into the stores, restaurants, people love them. They say, ‘We appreciate what you do,’” Coe said.

It’s not clear that is the case in Val Verde County, however. There, Sheriff Frank Martinez has maintained an arms-length relationship with Hall, telling the county commissioners that the landowners with whom he’s spoken don’t want the militiamen on their lands if for no other reason than simple liability. Hall painted a rosy picture for the commission, but the bottom line of accountability—or the lack thereof in the case of border militiamen—ultimately led them to give Hall the cold shoulder.

“I don’t think they’re going to be needed in or welcomed in our county,” said Judge Lewis Owens Jr., the Val Verde county executive. Owens noted their common ground, though: “We agreed on just about everything we were talking about except them coming into our county.”

Immigrant- and civil-rights observers are concerned with how the cooperation between far-right extremists and local law enforcement will play out on the ground. “Operation Lone Star [the official Texas program to arrest migrants] goes hand in hand with white supremacist extremism including efforts to partner with vigilante groups,” ACLU staff attorney Kate Huddleston told the Times.

“We’re particularly concerned about violence due to the armed vigilante group presence and law enforcement’s willingness to work with them instead of ensuring that everyone in the county is safe,” Huddleston said.

“Patriot” border militias have a long history of fraught operations on the U.S.-Mexico border that includes murder and drug trafficking. This is why the recent trend in which their operations overlap with the Border Patrol and other law-enforcement entities is extremely problematic, and a recipe for tragic consequences.

The willingness of Texas law enforcement to cooperate with “Patriot” vigilantes reflects both the increasing seep of far-right extremism into the ranks of American law enforcement generally, as well as the broader seep of the radical “Patriot” movement into every corner of the nation’s politics and discourse. From cops with memberships in the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys to the “constitutional sheriffs” who rule their jurisdictions like fiefdoms and pollute both state and federal policies, the rising tide of extremism within law enforcement is simply not a phenomenon we can afford to ignore.