Attacked for Facts

Individuals associated with Patriot Movement AZ are under attack by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The goal is clear: Silence all those who disagree; use hateful language, ad hominem personal attacks, and threats of financial ruin to bully everyday American citizens into sitting down and shutting up. In America, free speech is sacred. The right to speak your mind and to be heard, no matter how uncomfortable it makes others, was codified in the First Amendment of the Constitution, and must be protected at all costs.

So what led to this frivolous lawsuit? In the fall of 2018, an already troublesome border situation began its escalation into crisis mode. The number of illegal crossings began to spike and the situation was made worse by American immigration advocates who were encouraging the illegal crossings by making false promises of asylum claims. To make matters more dangerous at the border, aliens were told by their American friends that if they have a minor with them, the process will be easier and faster, as detention beyond 20 days will not be an option. By December, the monthly apprehensions doubled over the prior year as aliens crossed and began to seek out CBP for surrender rather than evade. These aliens quickly learned that a call for “asylum” meant free entry into our country.

Figure 1Source CBP.gov

Investigating the Immigration Crisis

In December 2018, individuals affiliated with the Patriot Movement AZ Facebook page became aware that a series of organizations associated with local churches were taking in busloads of aliens and then dispersing them within the community. We became aware of this situation when we found an interview given by Magdalena Schwartz, an organizer for these activities, in which she explained what was happening and which churches were involved. The individuals began investigating the claims, that the Department of Human Services (DHS) was delivering these aliens to the named local churches, who were then giving them shelter and helping them disperse to the interior of the country. We investigated this with two concerns in mind:

First was the national security crisis, where potential unvetted criminal foreign nationals would be allowed to enter the United States without proper background checks, giving MS-13, Sinaloa cartel, and even international terrorists a free pass into the country.

The second crisis, the one we ended up focusing our attention to, was the humanitarian crisis. Anyone familiar with the landscape of Southern Arizona is very familiar with the human trafficking crisis across the southern border. Historically, cartel-run “coyote” operations have smuggled aliens across the border for a huge fee, then handed them off to peers who eventually released them out to the community. They typically held the aliens hostage for additional payments, not without often raping or even trafficking the women and children for additional profit. What made the current crisis so dangerous was that the coyote quickly learned that they didn’t need to smuggle the aliens into the interior, which was the most dangerous for the criminals. They could just hand them to US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), then to Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE), then to the churches, and right into the hands of unvetted sponsors who could complete the exploitation.

Our investigational research of online resources in conservative media, governmental agencies, and interviews off the record with CBP agents, validated our worst fears. CBP was overwhelmed “to the breaking point”. Agents were being diverted in huge numbers to care for the aliens and processes were not being followed. Specifically, we learned that ankle bracelets used to ensure detainees’ return for court hearings were often not used, and when they were, nobody was monitoring the location or even if they remained actively charged. DNA testing of family units didn’t consistently occur. Sponsors were not being vetted to ensure they were a safe place for children to return (often coyote instead of supposed family), thus risking the children’s safety.

Sadly the process from arrival to release was often as short as 24 hours, preventing any reasonable vetting or even observation of the supposed family units. We also learned that many of the women and children encouraged to make the dangerous journey were being assaulted or even raped along the way. Lastly and most horrifying, we learned that huge numbers of alien minors were not with family members. While some were just being trafficked across the border, others were repeatedly released to the community to be picked up by a coyote and then brought back to Mexico to repeat it again, so they could continue to help alien adults cross and be released more quickly.

“Our Presence was not Welcomed”

With all this in mind, we began monitoring the church/ICE relationship. We monitored DHS bus arrivals to churches and recorded the activity from public spaces on the street. We attempted to talk to the churches about how they were keeping these women and children safe. Were they vetting sponsors or at least ensuring sponsors were vetted? Did they feel any responsibility to ensure these were actual family units? Were they at least vetting their own volunteers who were manning overnight stays and often taking vulnerable minors into their home?

Needless to say, our presence was not welcomed. The churches were angry and often violent in an effort to prevent us from capturing the story. For our own safety, we would contact local police and let them know where we would be to ensure we were safe during these visits. We always complied with requests to leave the property from church leaders and always followed all police guidance. At no point in time was any law broken or were any of us sighted for a civil or criminal infraction.

Yes, we got frustrated and even angry. Yes, we often voiced loudly to the churches and the aliens our anger and frustration, that our immigration system was being abused so thoroughly and blatantly by all those involved. Our presence and our protest, however, were always completely within the bounds of our First Amendment rights.

We made it clear from the beginning that our goals were simple. We needed to expose the truth about the crisis at the border. It was also important to educate our community as to what was really going on. Lastly, we wanted to force the media and our politicians to wake up and take action to end the crisis. The security of our nation and the safety of those innocents convinced by false promise to make this dangerous trek was what was at stake.

SPLC Lawsuit vs. Facts

By February the media started covering the story. First conservative outlets ran the story. Then even the mainstream media picked it up. They twisted the story, but it was out. People were aware and could make informed decisions. So we stopped recording and covering the church/DHS relationship and moved on to different activities. We didn’t have the reach to take it further. It was in the hands of those who could.

Fast forward to June 4, 2019. Out of nowhere, 4 months after our last visit to a church, the SPLC on behalf of a few carefully chosen churches, filed a federal lawsuit in that district of Arizona. Twelve defendants were named. The basis of the lawsuit was that their civil rights were violated when their activities were exposed for the public to see. They did not like that we exposed them. They call it harassment, but political speech, no matter how uncomfortable, is protected speech. They say we interfered with their mission because donations went down. We don’t know that to be true, and even if true, we don’t know why they dropped. Maybe the supply of people willing to aid illegal border crossing aliens had dried up. They claim they were defamed, but the truth has come out. Women and children were trafficked through this process, proper vetting did not always occur, many of the supposed family units were in fact, not so, etc., etc.

Lastly and most hurtful, they claim our mission to expose was somehow based on racial animus. This claim is unbelievably defamatory. We said from the beginning, our mission was to expose the crisis at the border. Once exposed, we had stopped our activity for months before the suit. Further, they provided no evidence that race played any role. They just blurt it out to see where it would stick. Sadly with many, it did stick. We have received countless threats, some very specific threats of harm against the individuals involved, while others were more generally hateful. All, however, were dangerous and hurtful. This is an age-old tactic of the Left. Call your enemy a racist and you can move the debate away from the issue at hand and over to whether your enemy is a racist.

We will not engage in this debate. We will stick to the facts. We will defend the sovereignty of the greatest nation on earth. We will welcome all who come legally and embrace the morals and values of this great nation. For those who choose to follow false paths, to break our laws, to seek shortcuts to the front of the line, we will expose those activities and all who are complicit.

The fight to defend our First Amendment rights of peaceful assembly and free speech continue. The SPLC and their deep pockets press on. We will fight this suit. We will stand up for the Constitution. We will win this battle. For if we lose, you may be next. Once the precedent is set that free speech can be stifled through civil action, who knows the next target. Please consider supporting the fight through our legal defense fund.