What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

On the thin line that divides Mexico from America, a group of men have set themselves up as an unofficial, but heavily armed, border militia.

Donald Trump dreams of building a 40ft wall along the entire 2,000-mile border, but until then the Arizona Border Recon will carry on mounting patrols in one small section near the town of Sasabe.

Some call them vigilantes, others call them a hate group. They don’t care.

They are on a mission, vowing to: stop illegal immigration, stop drug smuggling; stop human trafficking.

Trump has made immigration control a key plank in his campaign, famously saying Mexicans were: “Bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

(Image: James Breeden)

Ex-paratrooper Tim Foley, founder of the Arizona Border Recon, is a big fan.

He said: “If a company is not working properly people get fired, Trump will do that. Clinton will just keep the status quo.

“For too long America has been run by liberals and it is sending us to the dogs.

“Trump says what he thinks. Either get up, grow up or f*** off, and he doesn’t care what people say about him. He speaks his mind and that is why he is so popular. At the minute Washington are happy to see $1billion wasted each month on a border control that sees hundreds crossing each week. It simply is not good enough. They are patrolling our borders all wrong.”

It is that lack of faith in the official border controls that drove Foley and his men to act.

Dressed in army fatigues and carrying an arsenal of weapons, they look like regular soldiers, but all of them are civilians, among them doctors and plumbers.

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

They have no legal power to stop people attempting to cross into the US, but that does not stop them. Operating from their camp in the desert, they hand anyone they catch to the authorities.

Foley, a former construction worker who blames cheap migrant Mexican labour for the loss of his job, believes in Trump’s promise to close the border.

He said: “One trail alone is seeing $500,000 worth of drugs and people smuggling and yet the authorities do nothing.

"Trump will. Since Trump starting talking about a wall, we have seen the smugglers bringing groups of up to 24 people across at a time. Before, it was no more than eight.”

And since the Brexit vote, Foley has had more than a dozen enquiries from men in the UK – from Manchester, Wigan, Brentwood and London – asking to join his group.

He said: “They have all written to me saying how your country has gone to the dogs with immigration and so they say they want to help us before it is too late.

“It’s criminal to see a country give up on its borders, and people like us are not prepared to sit back and let it happen.”

Trump has tapped into growing resentment towards foreign labour, and Foley is one of those who are convinced undocumented migrants who were prepared to work for low wages cost him his job. Where he once earned £65,000 a year, he now gets £10,000 in handouts.

He said: “They say, ‘Oh, they’re coming across to do jobs you won’t do.’ Well, that’s bullshit. Every white guy I knew growing up went into construction because we didn’t have the best education, so we did manual labour.”

Convinced migrants from Mexico were to blame for his woes, Foley drove to Arizona to take matters into his own hands. Now he claims his team is also on the frontline in the fight to stop Islamic State , claiming jihadis are getting into the US from Mexico.

Earlier this year five men from Pakistan and one from Afghanistan were captured near the border in Arizona.

The Tucson Border Patrol has said almost 80% of those picked up around the border last year were from countries other than Mexico.

As part of his drive to “Make America Great Again”, Trump wants to ban all Muslims from entering the US and aims to deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

Hillary Clinton has vowed to help resettle refugees from places such as war-torn Syria while pledging to introduce major immigration reform.

Foley, who believes the true number of illegal immigrants living in the US is nearer 30 million than the official estimate of 11 million, said: “What we need is to go back 100 years and go back to old fashioned outposts. It’s the only thing that truly stops this problem.

“The wall would be better than what we have, but it is not going to shore up our borders as we need.

Donald Trump's migrant plan

(Image: Reuters)

On day one, begin working on an impenetrable physical wall on the southern border with Mexico footing the bill.

End catch-and-release. Anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are deported.

Move criminals who are illegal aliens out of the country in joint operations with local, state, and federal law enforcement.

Immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties. All immigration laws will be enforced.

Suspend the issuance of visas to any place where adequate screening cannot occur, until effective vetting mechanisms

are in place.

are in place. Ensure that all other countries take their people back when they are deported.

Hillary Clinton's migrant plan

(Image: Reuters)