A recent call to action issued by the antigovernment group United Patriot Party of North Carolina (UPP NC) invited Americans to become border vigilantes alongside them in Eagle Pass, Texas. Such rhetoric has the potential to facilitate a violent attack on migrants and border patrol agents.
Anti-immigrant messaging from state and federal politicians has emboldened antigovernment groups and hard-right actors in Eagle Pass, Texas, and at other sites on the southern border.
The chair of a North Carolina Moms for Liberty (M4L) chapter promotes antigovernment extremism on her social media.
Ron DeSantis has used his power as Florida governor to intimidate voters, influence elections, threaten immigrants and attack those that advocate for causes he opposes, such as LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance. He even picked a fight with Disney World. He has also positioned himself as the standard bearer for the right wing’s “war on woke,” which is the concept of having an awareness of social injustices and fighting for equity.
An Idaho jury ruled this week that antigovernment leader Ammon Bundy and his associates must pay St. Luke’s Health System a total of $52.5 million in damages for swarming its Boise hospital, forcing it to briefly shut down and harassing medical personnel.
Thirty years ago today, on April 19, 1993, 76 people died at the conclusion of a 51-day siege outside Waco, Texas. The dead, including 25 children, were members of the Branch Davidian sect, some of whom federal agencies were pursuing for firearms offenses. At the time of the siege, sect leader David Koresh was also accused of child abuse.
Hard-right movements are based on exclusion and the construction of hierarchies.
A 12-person Washington, D.C. jury convicted four members of the antigovernment Oath Keepers group of seditious conspiracy on Monday over their role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
