Leader of U.S. Border Armed Militia Group Attacked in Jail: Attorney

Leader of U.S. Border Armed Militia Group Attacked in Jail: Attorney

By Reuters

• April 24, 2019

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. — The leader of an armed militia group that spent the past two months detaining migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has been hospitalized after he was attacked in the prison where he was awaiting trial on federal firearms charges, his attorney said.

Larry Hopkins, 69, was in hospital with broken ribs after being attacked on Tuesday at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, in southern New Mexico, attorney Kelly O'Connell said.

A spokeswoman for the Dona Ana County center could not be reached for immediate comment early on Wednesday.

The FBI on Saturday arrested Hopkins, leader of the United Constitutional Patriots group, on charges of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition dating back to a 2017 investigation.


His UCP group on Tuesday abandoned the camp in the New Mexico desert where they had spent two months detaining thousands of illegal migrants. The departure came after state officials and civil liberties groups accused them of violating migrants' rights and the owner of the property where they were camped ordered them out.

O'Connell said he had spoken with Hopkins by phone.

"This guy is very high profile. So, if he gets put into jail and is immediately attacked after his first hearing just a few days after being put in there, can Dona Ana County correctional protect high profile defendants?" O'Connell asked.

O'Connell said he would ask officials about their plans to ensure his client's safety at his next scheduled court hearing on April 29 in Albuquerque.

He said he did not know what had provoked the attack.


https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2019...n-militia.html

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He said he did not know what had provoked the attack.

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All of our jails are filled with illegal aliens and MS-13 gang members... we all know why he was attacked and this statement is misleading to say the attack was "provoked"

Over 122 gangs in New Mexico...filled to the BRIM with criminal illegal aliens!

Let him out of jail and drop the charges like you do the murdering, raping, illegal aliens!!!

Where is ACLU? Too busy defending illegal aliens instead of American's!

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Originally Posted by Beezer

Over 122 gangs in New Mexico...filled to the BRIM with criminal illegal aliens!

Let him out of jail and drop the charges like you do the murdering, raping, illegal aliens!!!

Where is ACLU? Too busy defending illegal aliens instead of American's!

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The ACLU and the SPLC along with all their cohorts are the reason he is there, on trumped up charges. No bond, yet illegals who drive drunk and murder are released on bond and gone in 3 days.

Just 2 stories about him being attacked---compared to hundreds of before

Leader of U.S. border armed group attacked in jail: attorney


https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/_N...f-442891c98066

By Julio-Cesar Chavez

,Reuters•April 24, 2019





By Julio-Cesar Chavez
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (Reuters) - The leader of an armed group that spent the past two months detaining migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, drawing condemnation from civil liberties advocates, has been hospitalized after he was attacked in jail, his attorney said.
Larry Hopkins, 69, was in a hospital with broken ribs after being attacked on Tuesday at the Dona Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces in southern New Mexico, attorney Kelly O'Connell said.



A spokeswoman for the Dona Ana County center did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
The attack occurred the same day Hopkins' United Constitutional Patriots (UCP) group abandoned its border camp near Sunland Park, New Mexico, where they had spent two months detaining thousands of illegal migrants.



The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last week accused Hopkins' group of being a fascist, white nationalist militia illegally detaining and kidnapping Central American families seeking asylum.



O'Connell said he had spoken with Hopkins by phone.



"This guy is very high-profile. So, if he gets put into jail and is immediately attacked after his first hearing just a few days after being put in there, can Dona Ana County correctional protect high-profile defendants?" O'Connell asked.



O'Connell said he did not know why Hopkins had been targeted. But a spokesman for his UCP paramilitary group said he believed it was because of his activity at the border.



"They put him in a pod cell with a group of people and they had just got done watching the article about the ACLU writing about him being racist, and as a result of that he was attacked," UCP spokesman Jim Benvie said in a video posted online.



New Mexico's Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday said the UCP's activities had to stop, and the FBI arrested Hopkins the next day on gun charges based on a 2017 search of his home.



Benvie said the UCP was moving to another campsite in a couple of days and would continue to support the U.S. Border Patrol as it faced an "invasion" of migrants, most of whom it said are fraudulently seeking asylum.



"We do have a private property location on the border that we have secured," said Benvie. "We will not be going anywhere, we will be on an area where we can continue to do what we’ve done."



The Border Patrol has said it does not support private citizens acting as law enforcement.

https://news.yahoo.com/leader-u-bord...122828210.html