WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Deb Haaland (NM-01) is leading an effort with Congresswoman Veronica Escobar (TX-16) and Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján (NM-03) calling for a federal investigation into armed militia groups along the southwest border. The Representatives wrote a letter to Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Christopher Way, urging the bureau to look into the group’s operations and whether there has been coordination with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

“It is important that no individual or organization impede a person’s legal right to seek asylum in the United States,” Haaland, Escobar, and Luján wrote in the letter. “The FBI must immediately launch an investigation into this unlawful conduct.”

Full letter is available here.

One of these groups, the United Constitutional Patriots recently posted a video online with footage of the group engaging in the unlawful detention of approximately 200 migrants seeking asylum in Sunland Park, New Mexico, which is 9 miles west of El Paso, Texas.