Feds Arrest Alleged Militia 'Sniper' Planning Attack at Southern Border

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Rolling Stone

February 6, 2024


A Tennessee man allegedly plotting violence at the southern border with militia groups to “stir up the hornet’s nest” with an arsenal of explosives, AR-15s and a sniper rifle was arrested Monday after selling an undercover agent an unregistered AK-47 suppressor for $100, according to a federal criminal complaint. Paul Faye Sr. said he planned to serve as a sniper in a confrontation with federal Border Patrol agents, and to coordinate with militias from Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, an FBI agent wrote in court documents unsealed Monday and first reported by Seamus Hughes of Court Watch.

The FBI says Faye hoped to inspire a “domino effect” encouraging others to join in confrontations with federal officials. He had spoken to a North Carolina Patriot Party militia group member who had visited Eagle Pass, Texas, the site of a standoff between state and federal authorities over border enforcement that has inspired threats of a potential civil war from right-wingers. Under Gov. Gregg Abbott (R), Texas has installed razor wire along the Rio Grande and insisted they will continue to do so, even after the Supreme Court ruled federal authorities could remove it in order to gain access to the area.

All but one of the nation’s Republican governors signed a letter supporting Abbott, and 14 of them appeared alongside him Sunday in an Eagle Pass press conference claiming his border actions are justified and necessary. Several members of Congress have also supported Abbott, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Some militia groups see the confrontation as an opportunity for violence, according to the complaint.

“I’ll be the first one on the scene, and the last one to leave,” Faye allegedly told an undercover federal agent as the two examined his truck. “The reason why I say that is, if something, just say that we were going down like that, before you even put yourself in danger, I would be on top [of] that roof right there, zeroing out, taking out anybody.”

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fbi-arrests-alleged-militia-sniper-southern-border-1234962464/

---

They are trying to go for a "Bundy-style confrontation".

[Chainfire]

1. Ye Haw! Lets go to the border and make war on Federal agents....

It is a damn good thing that these people are fucking idiots, otherwise they would be dangerous.

The old boy will be looking at his own border wall for a while.

[Novara]

2. Those who DIDN'T see this coming raise your hands. Not one? All right then.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. The media is trying to instigate a "Ruby Ridge"

so they can cover it - https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/biden-administration-lawsuit-texas-abbott-border-patrol-rcna137565

(snip)

The federal response

So why hasn’t the Biden administration stepped in to assert its authority to enforce immigration law along an international border?

The three Biden administration officials told NBC News they do not want a confrontation between Border Patrol and Texas National Guard, but they still consider legal action a tool they might deploy. Shortly after Texas started blocking the Border Patrol from accessing Shelby Park, a mother and two children drowned while crossing the Rio Grande. The officials say they might have been saved if Border Patrol had been able to operate its equipment to surveil the river and respond to migrants in distress.

For now, however, optics mean the administration is holding fire, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. The official said that between the fight to pass a border bill, defend Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in an impeachment fight, and other lawsuits challenging Texas, taking on the Republican-led state would ignite another fire at a time when the administration wants to appear tougher on border security.

Tom Warrick, director of the Future of DHS project at the Atlantic Council, put it another way. “I think that the federal government is watching this closely to see what Texas does to expand its authority, but at this point it’s a tactical decision,” Warrick said. “If Texas expands its authority, that would probably provoke a (legal) response. They want to wait until they have a rock-solid case.”

(snip)

[Lucky Luciano]

17. Ruby ridge was ok though right? Only stupid rednecks died right? Could use more of that.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Well Ruby Ridge

was followed the next year by Waco, and with that confrontation, there were federal agents killed.

And given the past idiocy of the various Bundy confrontations, I expect Biden is following a "no-drama" strategy that lets the enemy fuck themselves up (which seems to be happening already after that trucker convoy's rocky start and later infighting ).

[Novara]

21. I can agree with "holding fire" - up to a point

Now that it's clear that a border bill won't be passed, we are at that point.

Totally, yeah. Up until now I can understand taking a wait and see attitude to see if Congress can actually DO something and pass a bill. But it's clear now that they have no interest in doing so. McConnell is the latest weasel, who, mere hours after pushing for the bill, backtracked. Fucking coward.

So we are now at that inflection point. It makes Biden look weak to do nothing, IMO. And I can't imagine that this is a sustainable position long-term. Blood will be shed. It will hurt Biden to continue to do nothing until the election. He will be viewed as weak.

And once again the terrorists will win, just like the fucking Bundys when they pointed their guns at BLM agents and Obama allowed it. Doing nothing only emboldens them further. You'd think we'd have learned this by now.

Federalize the guard and clear out the area of the right wing terrorists. If blood will be shed, I am sure it will be right wing terrorists with the first shots.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. "It makes Biden look weak to do nothing,"

Absolutely disagree.

Ask Bill Clinton and (the late) Janet Reno, about the danger of playing by GOP rules.

If you have noticed some of the reports about the lunatic "convoy" that has settled there, you would have found that to their frustration, little if any migrants are near or going through that area that has "made the news", where they (Abbott and the media) are trying to gin up a "show down at high noon" for wall-to-wall TV coverage.

What you have are a bunch of idiots doing performance art to an audience of NO ONE except the media and 45. And meantime, they are pissing off the communities in those areas who may have previously been disengaged from "politics" (for whatever reason) and who are now angry at the circus going on from their own state actors. Let's not add to that.

The past day's events have clearly shown that the GOP don't want any "solution" except to "blame Democrats" and let that be the message that gets out to the populace because what happened with last evening's GOP actions that they were certain would sink Biden, ended up as failures, and landed a gut punch to the instigating media.

[Novara]

23. So, what is the long-term solution? What's the endgame?

Do you think they'll simply get tired of watching nothing happen there and eventually go home?

Do you think they will engage with the border patrol until someone gets shot?

Which do you think is more likely?

Meanwhile, Abbot keeps putting up more razor wire and the Border Patrol keeps taking it down. And Congress refuses to sign a bill that will effectively shut down the border today. The longer this performative bullshit goes on there, the less focus is on the do-nothings in the House. It's not a good look for Biden. The focus needs to be on the House refusing to accept what they demanded.

the only way this ends peacefully (and maybe not even then) is if the SCOTUS FORCES Abbott to take down the wire, forbids him from putting up more, FORCES him to open the park back up, and FORCES him to stand down and allow the Border Patrol to do their jobs, unhindered. But as it stands, the mouth-breathers are already there and they are armed. This will not end quietly.

Those yahoos need to be cleared out of the area before they initiate their own Ruby Ridge. Think the Border Patrol won't shoot back when one of these idiots fires on them?

So I ask, what's the endgame?

[BumRushDaShow]

25. "Do you think they'll simply get tired of watching nothing happen there and eventually go home?"

Yup, that is exactly what is going to happen.

It happens every year. Year after year after year. There is no "end game" except stabilizing the countries in that region along with some other countries that people have fled (like Haiti and even China) who are using the same locations to cross.

You have GOP loons running down "to the southern border", literally yearly (before election times) and hopping on boats to ride up and down the river in front of the cameras.

You notice that you don't hear the hysteria in NM (that has a border with Mexico) or AZ (that has a border with Mexico) or CA (that has a border with Mexico).

What is happening now is a surge of trafficking and Mexico sitting back letting individuals from other countries, come through undeterred and thus BYPASSING the special immigration processing offices that the U.S. set up in places like Guatemala and Colombia, etc., eventually swarming the border. The State Dept. met with officials in Mexico back in December to get them to step up their own side's enforcement and of course there was a quid pro quo response that we got out of that.

It's just one of the GOP sideshow issues along with another that will probably come up again soon - "the debt".

[Grins]

3. Amazing that these weasels think that once they start shooting, the rest of us will join in!

And start killin' with 'em! What cave have they been in all their lives?

[2naSalit]

5. Shit fer brainz stikes again.

[Attilatheblond]

6. ::sigh:: I REALLY wish these delusional ya-hoos would find ways to satisfy their narcissism in their own towns

We DO NOT need their half baked grand standing efforts down here in the borderlands. IOW, like the line from that movie: Go peddle crazy somewhere else! We are already full up here.

[flashman13]

7. Wait! What! You say armed gangs are roaming the country side bent on violence AND

they are calling themselves state militias. These are some seriously delusional people. They are terrorists! Period!

[Hassler]

8. Another Trump Chump FA and FO

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. This is the result of continuous propaganda by the RW media, from Infowars to Fox.

[SharonAnn]

10. So he's going to stand on top of the roof and shoot people? He'll be a good target.

What a bozo.

[Shipwack]

11. Of course they're emulating the Bundys...

Time and time again they’ve defied Federal officials by with firearms… with zero consequences.

Now, if they had more melatonin and were carrying a cellphone, something might have happened.

[JoseBalow]

12. My first thought was that Bundy protest sniper

targeting Federal officials...

[BumRushDaShow]

14. That was exactly the visual I had

since I remember when that and a couple other pics from different angles, were posted here on DU.

[orangecrush]

13. Good work FBI

Getting out in front of this maniac.

[ShazzieB]

15. OOH! OOH!

Paul Faye Sr. said he planned to serve as a sniper in a confrontation with federal Border Patrol agents, and to coordinate with militias from Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, an FBI agent wrote in court documents unsealed Monday and first reported by Seamus Hughes of Court Watch.

It sounds like this may lead to a whole string of arrests of militia members in the above-mentioned states! What a delicious thought!

[Abolishinist]

16. For those like me who get a paywall...

Faye had a stockpile of weapons at his Tennessee home and told a person working undercover for the FBI that he had a substance known as Tannerite, which can be used to make land mines, according to the complaint. Faye told the undercover agent during an initial meeting in March 2023 that he believed the U.S. government “was training to take on its citizens” and purposely allowing migrants to cross the border “to help the government,” the complaint said.

He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted on the charge, according to the complaint filed this week by federal prosecutors in Nashville.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/tennessee-militia-member-planned-to-attack-us-18652089.php

[BumRushDaShow]

20. It's possible that you can clear your browser cache of Rolling Stone

and be able to view (I'm not getting a paywall on that but I know some sites allow "x" number of "free" views before they throw up the paywall so I may have cleared mine awhile ago and don't generally go there often).

[Abolishinist]

24. Thanks, that worked!

I'd forgotten about this fix, it will come in handy on some other sites as well. I use Chrome, so I tried opening the article in Firefox, which I seldom use, and that worked as well.

However, although it opens after doing this, I get "You're running out of free articles" at the bottom and if I try to open another article I'm back to square one.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. Okay good

Yeah - if you do frequent a site a lot, it means you just keep clearing that website's cookies from your cache (or get a sub ). I know there are sites like Fortune and MarketWatch that I sometimes go to that will throw up the paywall until I clear their cookies. Some only allow maybe 3 or 4 articles before it halts you so YMMV.

I ended up with subs to "The Atlantic", "New Yorker", and "Vanity Fair" because I kept going there reading interesting articles and it got frustrating when I wanted to read something else and up came the paywall. So I just gave up and went on and got one of their "introductory offer" subs.

[70sEraVet]

18. Crap! This assh-le was living 20 miles from my house.

I hope they manage to put him in prison for the rest of his life!
And i hope people will quit electing the jerks who egg these guys on!

[Turbineguy]

26. If he had three more functioning brain cells

he'd realize he should shoot trump.