Bounty Hunter Arrested Near Border on Weapon Charge: Report

Bounty Hunter Arrested Near Border on Weapon Charge: Report
Border Patrol agents apprehend illegal aliens who have just crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico into Penitas, Texas, on March 21, 2019. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

LAS CRUCES, N.M.—A New Mexico man who is a member of an armed civilian group that has detained migrants near the U.S.-Mexico border and was arrested on suspicion of being a felon in possession of firearms reportedly faced similar charges 13 years ago in Oregon.

Larry Mitchell Hopkins, 69, also was accused of impersonating a police officer in Oregon’s Klamath County in 2006 and claimed to be a fugitive bounty hunter, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Sunday, April 21.

“We’re not worried about it, he’s going to be cleared,” said Jim Benvie, a spokesman for the United Constitutional Patriots (UCP), an armed civilian group that has detained more than 5,600 illegal aliens in past two months.

The FBI and Sunland Park police arrested Hopkins on a federal complaint Saturday.

Border patrol securit
Border Patrol agents search the Rio Grande River for illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico into the United States near McAllen, Texas, on Mar. 26, 2018. (Loren Elliott/AFP/Getty Images)

Hopkins was booked into the Dona Ana County detention center in Las Cruces and it wasn’t immediately known if he had an attorney who could comment on the allegations.

The FBI said Hopkins is from Flora Vista, a rural community in northern New Mexico and approximately 353 miles north of Sunland Park, a suburb of El Paso, Texas.

Hopkins is the “national commander” of the UCP, which has had about a half-dozen members camped out on a rotating basis near Sunland Park since late February.

The UCP describes itself as a “patriot group,” helping the U.S. Border Patrol cope with record numbers of Central American families crossing the border seeking asylum.

“We are here to uphold the Constitution of The United States of America. We uphold this cause against all enemies both foreign and domestic, which shall infringe upon the rights of the citizens given by the Constitution,” states the group’s description on Facebook.

UCP members dress in camouflage and carry rifles for self-defense.

Videos posted online by the group show members telling migrants to stop, sit down, and wait for agents to arrive.

Crowdfunding sites PayPal and GoFundMe on April 19 barred the group from collecting donations, citing policies not to promote hate or violence. The ACLU, without evidence, called the UCP a “fascist militia.”

“Today’s arrest by the FBI indicates clearly that the rule of law should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officials, not armed vigilantes,” New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement about Hopkins’s arrest. On April 18, Balderas advised the group to not take the authority reserved for law enforcement into their own hands.

Frank Fisher, a spokesman for the FBI in Albuquerque, said additional information about Hopkins would not be released until after his initial appearance Monday in a Las Cruces federal court.

In 2006, a Klamath County Sheriff’s Office report said Hopkins was found at a gas station in Keno, Oregon, showing firearms to youth and telling them he was a police officer.

Hopkins displayed a badge that said “special agent” and numerous medals pinned to his shirt, according to the report obtained by the Santa Fe New Mexican.

The newspaper said the court records were uncovered by the Southern Poverty Law Center which monitors hate groups and extremists in the United States.

In his guilty plea in the case, records show Hopkins acknowledged to the court that he had given “the impression to others that I was a peace officer” while unlawfully carrying a firearm as a convicted felon.

Federal authorities on Friday warned private groups to avoid policing the border after a string of videos on social media showed armed civilians detaining large groups of Central American families in New Mexico.

Armed civilian groups have been a fixture on the border for years, especially when large numbers of migrants come. But, unlike previous times, many of the migrants crossing now are children.

Epoch Times reporter Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.

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