A man who has been described as a commander of an armed group accused of detaining migrants in New Mexico has pleaded guilty to a federal weapons charge, prosecutors said.
Hopkins, whom a federal grand jury indicted on April 24, admitted in his plea agreement to having possessed nine pistols, rifles and shotguns on Nov. 28, 2017, in San Juan County, the U.S. attorney's office said.He is barred from having guns because of previous convictions in Michigan, Oregon and South Dakota, the U.S. attorney's office said in the statement. The offenses included illegal weapon possession and impersonating a peace officer, the office said.
At the time of Hopkins' arrest, Jim Benvie, a spokesman for United Constitutional Patriots, said Hopkins was their"national commander." The group had been accused by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico of capturing nearly 300 people near Sunland Park, a city about 10 miles from El Paso, Texas.The state attorney general, Hector Balderas, said at the time Hopkins was arrested that"the rule of law should be in the hands of trained law enforcement officials, not armed vigilantes."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said at the time that it"does not endorse private groups or organizations taking enforcement matters into their own hands."
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