A convoy of “patriots” truckers is heading to the US-Mexico border next week as tensions between Texas and the federal government intensifies – Vice News.
Organizers of the “Take Back Our Border” convoy call themselves “God’s Army” and say their mission is to confront “globalists” who they claim are conspiring to leave the US borders open and destroy the country.
The convoy was initially aimed at sending the Biden administration’s message: “Secure our borders.” However, recent events have significantly raised the stakes for the convoy. A fortnight ago, the Texas National Guard seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas and laid barbed wire around it, effectively restricting border patrol access to the area. It was seen as an act of aggression in a brewing dispute between Texas and the federal government over who had jurisdiction over the border.
A few days later, a migrant woman and two children drowned while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Eagle Pass. The Biden administration stated that the Texas National Guard prevented the Border Patrol from rescuing them. Texas authorities, in turn, denied the allegations.
Subsequently, the popularity of the convoy and “force-on-force” sentiment was so heightened that the convoy was advertised on 40 digital billboards in Florida, Texas, Louisiana and California thanks to an unknown sponsor.
In the meantime, in an interview with VICE News, convoy organizer Scotty Saks, host of Sovereign Radio, said the convoy had nothing to do with the ongoing fight between Texas and the feds:
We’re staying the course about making this peaceful assembly as large as we can make it, to make a statement to federal, state, local officials that we don’t want open borders.
Saks emphasised that the convoy and rallies should be peaceful demonstrations, but noted that not everyone can be equally well-positioned:
We realise we may have infiltrators. There may be some people who try to subvert us, who jump in the convoy-provocateurs. We may have some, and they’re going to have to deal with our security team, they’ll be asked to leave.
The Texas rally is being held in Quemado, about 25 minutes from Eagle Pass, at Children’s Cornerstone Ranch, a children’s service ranch.
The narratives inherent in Christian nationalism offer a moral justification for engaging in violence, says Ruth Braunstein, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut, and in the context of the escalating drama at the border, this raises some alarm in the rhetoric of the organisers. Speculation is emerging online that the convoy is a “psychopath” who wants to lure well-meaning “patriots” to a violent event.
“This is a biblical, monumental moment that’s been put together by God,” one convoy organizer said on a recent planning call. “We are besieged on all sides by dark forces of evil,” said another. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. It is time for the remnant to rise.”
