Vigilantes in New Mexico

BREAKING: FBI arrests Larry Mitchell Hopkins, leader of The United Constitutional Patriots, an armed border militia group that spreads far-right conspiracies and rounds up asylum seekers on the border https://t.co/a45GiTaY67
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 20, 2019

An armed militia, the United Constitutional Patriots, is detaining families of migrants in the New Mexico desert. “We cannot allow racist and armed vigilantes to kidnap and detain people seeking asylum,” says the ACLU. My story: https://t.co/7cuHrExe5X via ⁦@nytimes⁩
— Simon Romero (@viaSimonRomero) April 18, 2019

A militia group near the US-Mexico border detained hundreds of people this week, New Mexico's attorney general told CNN.

Video footage shows people in full military fatigues, with handguns strapped to their sides, wearing gloves and face masks. https://t.co/r2RnrQw5zr pic.twitter.com/kiap7XyOXu
— CNN (@CNN) April 20, 2019

An armed pro-Trump militia in New Mexico appears to be detaining migrants at the border and working with Border Patrol agents to coordinate their arrests. ACLU says these are kidnappings by vigilantes: https://t.co/gjGyvsGaV2
— Sam Levin (@SamTLevin) April 18, 2019

New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham tells militia group to stop arresting migrants at the border: "Regular citizens have no authority to arrest or detain anyone." https://t.co/wwcZxZ3o5q
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 19, 2019

"We came down here not as a militia, but as a group of Americans to help protect the border from the crisis going on down here," United Constitutional Patriots New Mexico Border Ops spokesman Jim Benvie said. https://t.co/0kljB78NFb
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 20, 2019

My statement with @SenatorTomUdall:

Reports of a militia group illegally operating in New Mexico and intimidating asylum seekers must be immediately investigated by the proper authorities. (1/3) https://t.co/w7tic4ZCcC
— Martin Heinrich (@MartinHeinrich) April 19, 2019

Trump is restricting asylum seekers

BREAKING: The American Civil Liberties Union files a legal challenge to President Trump's order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. https://t.co/yLo7ePGI9w

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 9, 2018

Trump tells us he’s issuing proclamation suspending the entry of immigrants who cross the border unlawfully, barring them from eligibility for asylum. Any inadmissible immigrants to ports of entry, where they will be processed “in a lawful manner,” staff said yesterday. pic.twitter.com/XYqvLNWy8c

— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) November 9, 2018

The Trump administration is sending thousands of troops to keep out Central American asylum-seekers, but it may well lift a travel ban on a far-right bigot—who previously snuck in to the US—so he can speak to @SteveKingIA and other fellow racists. https://t.co/6GUVR3k5cG

— Ned Price (@nedprice) November 9, 2018

U.N. tells Washington to protect refugees after Trump limits asylum https://t.co/wE0VCDfY04

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) November 9, 2018

Trump just upended asylum law by citing a fake caravan crisis https://t.co/8eO5z4jpwi pic.twitter.com/WU1PYjCuvR

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) November 9, 2018

In a proclamation, President Trump called illegal immigration “a crisis” and suspended asylum rights to all immigrants who attempt to cross into the U.S. illegally https://t.co/neJfni0vPF

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 9, 2018

BREAKING: The Trump administration is moving to prohibit people who illegally cross the U.S. border with Mexico from claiming asylum.

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) November 8, 2018

BREAKING — The ACLU has filed a lawsuit challenging the decision by @realDonaldTrump to deny asylum to migrants who cross the southern border. The legal challenge comes just hours after the @POTUS announcement. Could be another protracted legal battle.

— Michael D. Shear (@shearm) November 9, 2018

Trump has stopped talking/tweeting about the caravan

It was just a ploy to get his cult to vote. He duped his cult and the media.

Donald Trump has sent a total of 0 tweets on the caravan since the electionhttps://t.co/4osMBR4wtW pic.twitter.com/wmeDwMTB0O

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) November 14, 2018

Other than retweeting one WH message about new asylum rules, Trump’s Twitter feed has been silent since Election Day about the caravans approaching the southern border, which he constantly called a crisis in the days running up to the midterms

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 11, 2018

Notice that the caravan totally disappeared as an issue as soon as the votes were cast — not just Fox News, but mainstream media too. Guys, you really need to take a hard look in the mirror and ask why you're so easily played 2/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) November 9, 2018

Trump tweets about the "caravan:"
Before Election Day: 9
After Election Day: 0

Meanwhile, there are more than 5,000 troops deployed along on the border, away from their families, for this political stunt. Shameful.

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) November 9, 2018

The president has not tweeted about the caravan “invasion” since before the election.

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) November 8, 2018

To those who believed Trump’s lies about the phony caravan crisis before the election, why isn’t State Run Media talking about the caravan today?

Because Trump and his media hacks played you for racist fools. And what did you do but swallow the bait whole. 🤔

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) November 8, 2018

Post-election reality: The caravan is no longer front page news, but mass shootings still are.

— Andrew Weinstein (@Weinsteinlaw) November 8, 2018

Well, coverage of the migrant caravan stopped on November 7.

Just like coverage of Weiner's laptop stopped November 9, 2016.

Just like coverage of Ebola stopped November 5, 2014.

The media's top story is whatever Republicans say it is. Every. Single. Time.

— Matthew Chapman (@fawfulfan) November 8, 2018

Every Republican voter I spoke to in Texas, without exception, mentioned the caravan & border security as motivating factors in their midterm vote. https://t.co/4QPMZYWnMA

— Garrett Haake (@GarrettHaake) November 8, 2018

To those media outlets who covered extensively the " the invading caravan" before the election– sometimes on page one — but now have completely dropped reporting on this alleged national security threat, realize how badly Trump played you & don't repeat.

— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) November 8, 2018

While Trump had you focused
on a caravan of immigrants

an American
killed 12 people in a a bar

an American
killed 11 people in a synagogue

an American
sent pipe bombs to other Americans

an American
tried to shoot up a black church

an American
killed black people at a Kroger

— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) November 8, 2018

My latest: Now that the election's over, Fox News and Trump seem to have lost interest in the caravan.

Go figure!

We did. Here are the results…https://t.co/jzJ6lfuAjB pic.twitter.com/WdZUZ9rCtf

— Marcus Baram (@mbaram) November 8, 2018

Trump dropped that Caravan like a second wife who hit her 40's.

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) November 8, 2018

A Week After the Midterms, Trump Seems to Forget the Caravan https://t.co/NqI507ZUpY

— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) November 14, 2018

The media acknowledges that Trump duped the media with the migrant caravan. https://t.co/60yeqrAEXu pic.twitter.com/N2bIv1xoVM

— The New Republic (@newrepublic) November 14, 2018

U.S. militia groups head to border, stirred by Trump’s call to arms

This is scary with big potential for violence.

I hope Trump-inspired people like these don’t try to intimidate voters on Tuesday.

https://t.co/7sVumlN4bl
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 4, 2018

Militia members showing up on NM border

According to the Army, the great danger posed by the caravan is that it will provoke domestic terrorists / unregulated militia members into violent action https://t.co/ZRL4w3gxVh
— Tim Wu (@superwuster) November 3, 2018

Federal authorities say this militia guy who was capturing and detaining migrants was prohibited from possessing firearms due to three prior felony offenses, including weapons violations and impersonating a law enforcement officer. Shocker!https://t.co/qe30KgDEpn
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) April 22, 2019

Caravan coverage overkill

The media is falling for Trump’s bait. Sad!

STUDY: Trump’s phony caravan “crisis” consumed Wash. Post, NY Times

The papers have produced 115 news stories referencing the caravan, putting 25 on A1
https://t.co/AXybhKQUGh pic.twitter.com/GsXTZSncjY

— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) November 2, 2018

It is … sobering that, years after saturation “what about those emails???” coverage, both NYT and WaPo could be gulled into front-page focus on “caravan” “crisis” manufactured by Trump. (A few thousand people on foot, 1000 miles from US) @Sulliview was, and is, right on this https://t.co/AGWgPxmtYL

— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) November 3, 2018

I wrote a column on caravan-coverage overkill almost two weeks ago. It’s only gotten worse. https://t.co/HjQGa4v9je

— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) November 3, 2018

How many front page stories on climate change? What matters more to the future of our country – climate change or some caravan 1000 miles away? https://t.co/QjTJwkVUvu

— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) November 3, 2018

The Republican Party should pay for sending the troops to the border

It’s just a political stunt to create fear in the Trump cult.

They won’t even tell us what’s going on.

Shouldn’t this be categorized as a campaign expense? https://t.co/uKyhaap0Wt

— Ron Charles (@RonCharles) November 3, 2018

Pentagon refuses to answer questions about the President’s election eve border deployment.

From one of our great national security reporters>>> https://t.co/Da7bKXilds

— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) November 3, 2018

1) An important point is getting lost in all the discussion of Trump’s decision to send troops to the border to “protect us” from the migrant caravan.

And we need to recapture it.

A thread follows.

— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) November 3, 2018

Opinion: The military deployment to the border is a shameless, and dangerous, stunt https://t.co/cLkbeuLHqy

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 4, 2018

Recent moves to send more troops to the US-Mexico border, possibly overhaul asylum policy and rethink birthright citizenship are political ploys with dangerous implications, immigrant and civil rights advocates warn https://t.co/SbHMcxAzrV

— CNN (@CNN) October 30, 2018

Great tweet about the caravan

This is outrageous. We've seen absolutely no proof that Roy Moore, Paul Manafort or Rob Porter are in the caravan. https://t.co/ctGQ3YKnZz

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) November 2, 2018

Trump lies about asylum seekers

In case you're listening to Trump, most asylum seekers released before an asylum hearing do actually show up as required. https://t.co/aoF1V0FFDJ

— Philip Bump (@pbump) November 1, 2018

It was repeated on Fox this morning. Ainsley Earhardt said she'd "heard it was only 2%." https://t.co/WzUINyUbin

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) November 2, 2018

So @jaketapper points out that the President, who said only 3% of asylum seekers show up court dates, was wrong.

Nope. It’s 76%, and was up to 99% under a new pilot program President Trump ended.

So just a completely entirely false misleading stat off by 10x.

— Todd Schulte (@TheToddSchulte) November 1, 2018

Republicans keep attacking George Soros

Bigots and liars! Sad!

I mean if George Soros and his institution are nimble enough to orchestrate and fund that massive a response in a day or two, maybe they should be in charge of testing and contact tracing. https://t.co/HhP9SLKcAb
— Lawrence Lanahan (@llanahan) May 28, 2020

What a bunch of sad whiners

When you lose just say the other guy cheated ~ I remember losers doing that in grade school https://t.co/OUBlcfFLe5
— Rick Newman (@rickjnewman) November 13, 2018

George Soros's attackers on 2 continents use mischaracterization and coded anti-Semitism to abuse him. It hasn’t slowed him down. https://t.co/Y4w1V1x8Q4
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 1, 2018

“I wouldn’t be surprised, I wouldn’t be surprised. I don’t know who, but I wouldn’t be surprised. A lot of people say yes.” — Donald Trump on whether George Soros is funding the caravan
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) October 31, 2018

Had some other interesting interactions with Trump supporters last night. This person asked me if George Soros is paying me to ask Trump questions. I told her no. pic.twitter.com/O3ZPj20wla
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 1, 2018

It was just three weeks ago on Lou Dobbs' show that GOP Congressman Louie Gohmert said the Democrats may as well "raise their hands and yell Heil Soros" pic.twitter.com/ZRB8Cq0asI
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 28, 2018

Kevin McCarthy deleted his anti-Semitic tweet—only for the NRA to reprise it. https://t.co/D31RAQCWfU
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) October 31, 2018

Apparently it does need to be mentioned that this voter is misinformed. George Soros did not fund any voting machines- anywhere. https://t.co/w0FaojTUPn
— Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) October 31, 2018

Good USA Today piece on the spread of the Soros-caravan lie. One of the first tweets was from someone who also tweets that Trump is "bought off by Jews" and that American whites are suffering a "genocide," typical white nationalist tropes. https://t.co/VAD1veIQSm
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 31, 2018

GOP presses ahead in casting Soros as threat amid criticism that attacks are anti-Semitic https://t.co/WY4gSwZ8Kv
— Post Politics (@postpolitics) October 30, 2018

So @LauraLoomer, who has around 250,000 followers on Twitter, just tweeted out the libel that George Soros was a Nazi collaborator. Her despicable libel has now been retweeted 2,000 times. Will Twitter remove her tweet for violating its guidelines, or nah? https://t.co/WNnhCIPe6l
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) October 29, 2018

Unwillingness to reject a lie about a political adversary, because they are a political adversary, is a damning statement of character https://t.co/qtLZlJNZFK
— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) October 29, 2018

Today, we looked at the life of a social media lie. We mined social posts and other datasets to look at how rapidly the baseless claim that George Soros orchestrated the migrant caravan had spread from internet obscurity to the political mainstream.https://t.co/POoWdSPlwz
— Brad Heath (@bradheath) October 31, 2018