Second member of border group faces federal charges

LAS CRUCES — A member of an armed group that patrolled the border in Southern New Mexico is facing two counts of impersonating an officer or employee of the United States.

James Christopher Benvie, 44, of Albany, Minn., could face up to three years in prison if convicted on both counts.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which announced the indictment in a news release, did not give details of the alleged offenses, other than noting they happened in Doña Ana County on April 15 and April 17.

Benvie, who has been a spokesman for at least two so-called patriot groups, was arrested last week by FBI agents and Logan County Sheriff ’s Office deputies in Guthrie, Okla.

The Justice Department reported that he made his initial appearance Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. He is scheduled for a detention hearing Tuesday and will be transported to New Mexico for prosecution.

Benvie is also facing legal issues in Oklahoma. State officials there charged him with fraud following a Daily Beast report shedding light on his alleged role in running a child cancer charity scam.

Benvie is a member of the United Constitutional Patriots, which made national headlines in April after Benvie livestreamed a video on Facebook showing members detaining more than 300 migrants at gunpoint, and the group’s leader, Larry Mitchell Hopkins, was arrested by the FBI on a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Benvie routinely posted videos to social media sites showing men and women wearing camouflage, military-like uniforms with assault rifles “scooping the border” looking for migrants. He often was the only member of the group to show his face, saying, “Someone has to be the public face of the group.” Most of the other members wore ski masks while on patrol.

“The truth isn’t being told about this crisis,” Benvie told the El Paso Times in a past interview. “A lot of people are accusing President Trump of manufacturing a crisis, and I think the videos we are down here producing, which isn’t left or right, is providing evidence that this is a crisis.”

In mid-April, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico said the actions of the United Constitutional Patriots were “unlawful” and called for state officials to “investigate an armed vigilante group.”

The United Constitutional Patriots was evicted from its original camp April 22 after Union Pacific officials said the group was trespassing on railroad land.

In mid-May, Benvie told the Albuquerque Journal the United Constitutional Patriots had moved to another site on the border to continue carrying out its mission. He said the group was not a militia, but “volunteer patriots.”

He also was not a fan of organizations trying to label the group as lawbreakers.

“You can try to manufacture we’re breaking laws, but the fact of the matter is we’re here, and we’re going to stay here and the hell with them,” Benvie told the Albuquerque Journal.

He also said the group was now known as Guardian Patriots.

In late May, the United Constitutional Patriots noted on its Facebook page the group was still patrolling the border. But in another message posted the same day, the group stated, “Jim Benvie is no longer associated with the United Constitutional Patriots. He does not speak for us in any way. He is associated with the Guardian Patriots.”

The Guardian Patriots have a Facebook group, but it is not public.

Hopkins, meanwhile, has been incarcerated since his arrest. On April 22, he was attacked inside the Doña Ana County Detention Center. He was then transferred to another facility. Proceedings in his case are taking place in Albuquerque.