 | |
| Abbreviation | AZBR |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2011 |
| Type | private non-governmental Paramilitary militia |
| Location | |
Key people | Tim Foley |
| Volunteers | ~250 Volunteers [1] (2018) |
| Website | www |
Arizona Border Recon (AZBR) is an American paramilitary militia group in Arizona [2] composed of former military, law enforcement and private security contractors. [3]
Tim Foley, a former construction supervisor and United States Army veteran formed the group in 2011. [4] [5] [6] As of March 2018, the group had 250 volunteers operating in the Altar Valley around Sasabe, Arizona, [5] [7] [8] [9] [10] armed with personal weapons including pistols, shotguns and semi-automatic rifles. AZBR originally targeted illegal immigration, but as of 2015 had a stated goal of disrupting drug smuggling and trafficking across the United States–Mexico border [4] and preventing infiltration by foreign terrorists. [11]
Foley denies that it is a militia; however, the Arizona Daily Star has reported that "court records show he was intimately involved in militias that formed Operation Mutual Defense to help the Bundy family several years ago during its dispute with the federal government over the use of public land. They continue to detain and hold civilians along the border without any prosecutors bringing charges against them." [2] The group was featured in the 2015 documentary Cartel Land . According to Chicago Film Critics Association member Bill Stamets, the documentary was inspired by a December, 2012 Rolling Stone report. [12]
The group took part in the Mother of All Rallies held on September 16, 2017, at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in support of President Donald Trump, where Foley was one of the speakers. [13]
In August 2019, the expelled member Joshua Pratchard was sentenced with six years to prison for illegal gun ownership, manufacture of firearms and their sale. [14] [15] The militia expelled him, saying he did not want to follow their rules, including repeatedly asking to get physical with detainees and demanding to put a silencer on his weapon, and their recklessness when it comes to "stalking bandits". [16]
The Armed Forces of Gabon, officially the Gabonese Defense and Security Forces, is the national professional military of Gabon, divided into the Army, Air Force, Navy, and a National Gendarmerie, consisting of about 5,000 personnel. The armed forces includes a well-trained, well-equipped 1,800-member guard that provides security for the President of Gabon.
Heroica Nogales, more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and the county seat of the Municipality of Nogales in the Mexican state of Sonora. It is located in the north of the state across the U.S.-Mexico border, and is abutted on its north by the city of Nogales, Arizona.
The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and is responsible for securing the borders of the United States. According to its website as of 2022, its mission is to "Protect the American people, safeguard our borders, and enhance the nation’s economic prosperity."
The United States border with Mexico is one of the world's "most lethal land borders". Hundreds of migrants die per year as they attempt to cross into the United States from Mexico illegally. The US Border Patrol reported 251 migrant deaths in the fiscal year 2015, which was lower than any year during the period 2000–2014, and reported 247 migrant deaths in fiscal year 2020, lower than any year since 1998. Poverty, gang violence, poor governance, etc. are the main factors as to why migrants cross the US border. US Border Patrol recorded 557 southwest border deaths during fiscal year 2021 and 748 in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2022, the most deaths ever recorded.
The Minuteman Project is an organization which was founded in the United States in August 2004 by a group of private individuals who sought to extrajudicially monitor the United States–Mexico border's flow of illegal immigrants. Founded by Jim Gilchrist and Chris Simcox, the organization's name is derived from the name of the Minutemen, militiamen who fought in the American Revolution. The Minuteman Project describes itself as "a citizens' Neighborhood Watch on our border", and it has attracted the attention of the media due to its focus on the issue of illegal immigration.
The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps was a volunteer group at one time headed by Chris Simcox and dedicated to preventing illegal crossings of the United States border with Mexico. Arguing that the government was insufficiently concerned with securing the border, they organized several state chapters, with the intention of providing law enforcement agencies with evidence of immigration law violations. The group was one of several that emerged for the proliferation of civilian border patrol groups at the US-Mexico border. Arguably, the emergence of these groups can be linked to the increasing criminalization and securitization of immigration. Simcox stated that the group merely reported incidents to law enforcement, and did not directly confront immigrants. There was a standard operating procedure (SOP) that was to be followed by Minutemen volunteers, with rules including not speaking to, approaching, gesturing towards or having physical contact in any way with any suspected border crossers. According to Anthony Ramirez of the New York Times, the organization "has been criticized as being a right-wing militia".
Chris Simcox is the American co-founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC), the project's main spokesperson, and a convicted sex offender. In June 2016, he was convicted of child sexual abuse and is serving a 19.5-year sentence.
American militia movement is a term used by law enforcement and security analysts to refer to a number of private organizations that include paramilitary or similar elements. These groups may refer to themselves as militia, unorganized militia, and constitutional militia. While groups such as the Posse Comitatus existed as early as the 1980s, the movement gained momentum after standoffs with government agents in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, such groups were active in all 50 US states, with membership estimated at between 20,000 and 60,000. The movement is most closely associated with the American right-wing. Most modern organizations calling themselves militias are illegal private paramilitary organizations laws that require official sanctioning of a state government in order to be constitutional. While a common belief among members of modern paramilitary groups is that the constitution protects the ability of citizens to have the capability to overthrow the government by force when seen tyrannical, the Supreme Court has ruled differently.
The China Coast Guard (CCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the People's Armed Police of China. The Coast Guard is an armed gendarmerie force, and its cutters are armed.
The Ilagâ is a Christian extremist paramilitary group based in southern Philippines. The group is predominantly composed of Ilonggos, embracing a form of Folk Catholicism that utilizes amulets and violence.
On May 30, 2009, 29-year-old Raul Flores Jr. and his daughter, nine-year-old Brisenia Ylianna Flores, were murdered during a home invasion in Arivaca, Arizona. The perpetrators were Shawna Forde, Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Gaxiola, all members of Forde's vigilante nativist group, Minutemen American Defense (MAD). Gina Gonzalez, the victims' wife and mother, was wounded but survived the attack after exchanging gunfire with the intruders, wounding Bush.
Jason Todd Ready was an American marine, founder and leader of a border militia group and a member of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement who sought the elected office of sheriff of Pinal County, Arizona. On May 2, 2012, at Ready's home in Gilbert, Arizona, he shot and killed his girlfriend, her daughter and granddaughter, the daughter's fiancé and himself.
Los Ántrax is a large enforcer unit and hit squad for the Sinaloa Cartel, a major crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The group was led by the drug lords Jesús Peña, José Rodrigo Aréchiga Gamboa, René Velázquez Valenzuela, among others, and they are responsible for a number of homicides and for providing armed security services to Ismael El Mayo Zambada. The gang operates in the capital city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, where its members conduct homicides and violent attacks. Los Antrax is the Sinaloa Cartel's largest and deadliest enforcer unit.
The Allied Democratic Forces insurgency is an ongoing conflict waged by the Allied Democratic Forces in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, against the governments of those two countries and the MONUSCO. The insurgency began in 1996, intensifying in 2013, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The ADF is known to currently control a number of hidden camps which are home to about 2,000 people; in these camps, the ADF operates as a proto-state with "an internal security service, a prison, health clinics, and an orphanage" as well as schools for boys and girls.
Cartel Land is a 2015 American documentary film directed by Matthew Heineman about the Mexican Drug War, especially vigilante groups fighting Mexican drug cartels. The film focuses on Tim "Nailer" Foley, the leader of Arizona Border Recon, and Dr. José Mireles, a Michoacán-based physician who leads the Autodefensas. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2016.
The Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) is an Iranian-backed paramilitary umbrella group that operates within Iraq. Although formally and legally part of the Iraqi Armed Forces and reporting directly to the Prime Minister, PMF leaders act independently from state control and, in reality, answer to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei. It is composed of about 67 primarily Shia armed factions, almost all of which are Iranian-backed and openly pledge allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Chief of Staff of the PMF, Abu Fadak al-Mohammadawi, openly declared that the PMF takes orders from Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. PMF Chairman Falih al-Fayyadh cooperates with the Iranian IRGC to implement Iranian instructions in Iraq and reinforce Iranian influence over the militias. The PMF were formed in 2014 and fought in nearly every major battle during the War in Iraq (2013–17) against the Islamic State. In December 2016, the Iraqi Council of Representatives passed a law that defined the PMF’s legal status and created the Popular Mobilization Commission, which is a formal governmental agency that includes all PMF groups.
Border support operations, formerly known as Operation Faithful Patriot, are currently being conducted as a United States Department of Defense domestic deployment and civil contingency at the Mexico–United States border. According to the United States Northern Command, the operation is being conducted in order to prevent a potential border crossing of migrants from Central America. The existing National Guard Operation Guardian Support is also being reinforced.
United Constitutional Patriots is a right-wing unofficial militia group based in Flora Vista in northern New Mexico, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), operating primarily in the southern part of the state detaining alleged illegal immigrants. It came to national attention in the United States by April 2019. The governor of New Mexico, Michelle Lujan Grisham, released a statement indicating the vigilantes have no legal right to detain people entering the US. The head of UCP is Larry Mitchell Hopkins who uses the pseudonym Johnny Horton, Jr.