Border Vigilante Has Another Hobby: Wild West Re-Enactor

Jeff Allen, Jim Benvie, Viper and Stinger share cigarettes while patrolling the US-Mexico border in Sunland Park, New Mexico on March 20, 2019. - The militia members say they will patrol the US-Mexico border near Mt.... Jeff Allen, Jim Benvie, Viper and Stinger share cigarettes while patrolling the US-Mexico border in Sunland Park, New Mexico on March 20, 2019. - The militia members say they will patrol the US-Mexico border near Mt. Christo Rey, "Until the wall is built." In recent months, thousands of Central Americans have arrived in Mexico in several caravans in the hope of finding a better life in the United States. US President Donald Trump has branded such migrants a threat to national security, demanding billions of dollars from Congress to build a wall on the southern US border. (Photo by Paul Ratje / AFP) (Photo credit should read PAUL RATJE/AFP/Getty Images) MORE LESS

June 11, 2019 5:56 p.m.

I’ve reported on-and-off this year on a group of border vigilantes that has made headlines for their mass “arrests” of migrants and asylum seekers, and for their unofficial ties to “We Build The Wall,” the GoFundMe-powered private border wall group.

Through that reporting, I discovered that one of the vigilantes, who goes by the moniker “Viper,” has a little-known pursuit on the side: Wild West re-enactor.

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