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Border militiamen like to tell the public that they offer a simple solution to a complex problem 鈥� putting 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥� along the United States鈥� border with Mexico as a way to deter would-be immigrants from making illegal crossings, or as they are more inclined to put it, 鈥渟topping the illegal invasion of America.鈥�

But already, federal agents have found that their unsought presence in recent weeks on the border in Texas and Arizona is making a difficult job much more complicated and possibly lethal. In some cases, agents are drawing down on the border vigilantes, and in one incident actually fired upon them. Another confrontation involved bat scientists who happened to be gathering field data when they encountered the armed militiamen.

A recent described an incident along the Rio Grande involving an outfit calling itself the Texas Militia, who showed up unbidden at the midnight arrest of a group of border crossers in a canal near the Texas river. At first, the story reported, the Border Patrol officers assumed the men were part of a state-run tactical squad, but then were stunned to find that these well-armed men had 鈥渘o law-enforcement training or authority of any kind.鈥�

鈥淭he situation ended peacefully with the immigrants getting arrested and the Border Patrol advising the militia members 鈥榯o properly and promptly鈥� identify themselves anytime they encounter law-enforcement officers,鈥� the story reported. 鈥淏ut the episode was unsettling enough for the Border Patrol to circulate an 鈥榠ssue paper鈥� warning other agents.鈥�

Indeed, the story appeared only two days after another border-militia outfit calling itself 鈥淐amp Lonestar鈥� posted showing a group of border crossers swimming the Rio Grande, while the self-described member of the 鈥渃itizen militia鈥� shooting the video verbally harassed them and told them to go back to Mexico and cross legally. The crossers appeared to be two men and a woman, and the militiaman described the men as 鈥渃oyotes鈥� 鈥� human smuggling operators.

Last Friday in a wooded area near the border outside of Brownsville, a Border Patrol agent in pursuit of a group of fugitive immigrants who happened to appear in the vicinity. The man dropped his gun and identified himself as a militia member to the border agent.

near Sonoita, in rural Santa Cruz County, last week was even more chilling. A group of scientists conducting counts of the bats occupying Onyx Cave was hit with a spotlight as they walked back to their vehicles in the dark, then shouted at in Spanish by men who identified themselves as militia members out 鈥減rotecting the border.鈥� After identifying themselves, the scientists walked back to their campsite and met the apologetic militiamen in person.

While the presence of border militias 鈥� which initially last month, but have finally , with as many as 13 different units reportedly operating on the border in Texas now 鈥� is ostensibly about making the border more secure, the presence of untrained, utterly anonymous gunmen with no accountability to anyone has been an increasing concern for law-enforcement professionals working the border.

Last month, officials at Customs and Border Protection intended to warn the militias away: "Customs and Border Protection does not endorse or support any private group or organization from taking matters into their own hands as it could have disastrous, personal and public safety consequence," the statement said.

"CBP appreciates the efforts of concerned citizens as they act as our eyes and ears. Securing our nation's borders can be dangerous. Interdicting narcotics and deterring and apprehending individuals illegally entering the U.S. requires highly trained law enforcement personnel," the statement said.

Right-wing radio host Pete Santilli spent time, while on his trip to Texas as part of the failed 鈥淏order Convoy鈥�, with one of these border militias 鈥� namely, the participants at 鈥淐amp Lonestar.鈥� Santilli took footage of the patrols of the border these vigilantes made in their vehicles.

The man claiming to run this militia is an Arizona man named Joe O鈥橲haughnessy, who Santilli had a few weeks previously. O鈥橲haughnessy said he and several others moved their border-watching operations to Texas in recent weeks as the call went up among his fellow antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� movement believers to try to stop the flow of refugee children over the Texas border.

O鈥橲haughnessy and several of his fellow 鈥淐amp Lonestar鈥� participants described their activities to Santilli, and described their motivations for prowling the desert borderlands.

Most of these motives revolved around 鈥減atriotic鈥� duty to defend the homeland, and a belief that the nation is being 鈥渋nvaded鈥� by an 鈥渆nemy.鈥� Some cited the supposed presence of Middle Eastern border crossers, while others described at length the various foul diseases being transported into the United States by the child refugees.

Notably, most of them claimed that the Border Patrol officers they encountered actually welcomed their presence as 鈥渁nother set of eyes on the border.鈥�

Other militiamen have made similar claims in other news accounts. In a piece by , a militiaman named Parris Frazier 鈥� the self-described leader of a border unit called Whiskey Bravo, which patrols a stretch of the border in Arizona 鈥� claimed that his men are friendly with Border Patrol agents.

鈥淓very day when I鈥檓 driving to and from Sierra Vista down here to where I鈥檓 at, I get stopped, I shake their hands, and we talk, but we don鈥檛 really talk about what鈥檚 going on,鈥� Frazier said, speaking from an area east of Nogales, roughly a half mile inside the Arizona border. 鈥淓very now and then I鈥檒l ask a question and they鈥檒l give me a nod yes or no.鈥�

However, CBP officially maintains that heavily armed wannabe border patrolmen are not particularly welcome in sensitive areas where they are encountering dangerous situations on a daily basis.

And local law enforcement are apparently inclined to agree. According to when a border militia recently camped out near an international bridge to Mexico in Pharr, Texas, local sheriffs marked their presence by circulating a bulletin among each other warning of the men鈥檚 presence. Some sheriffs directly declined the militia鈥檚 help, while others simply remained silent.

"How do they identify themselves? Do they have badges? How do we know who they are?" , a spokesman for the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office. "If they're all just dressed in camos, it's kind of hard to distinguish whether they're law enforcement or not. ... There's a lot of potential for stuff to go wrong."

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