By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The 830 Times spoke with Samuel Hall, founder and president of the Patriots For America Militia, following his presentation to Val Verde County Commissioners Court on Tuesday. The interview with Hall has been transcribed verbatim.
The 830 Times: “Sam, tell me what exactly you’re asking the commissioners court to do here today?”
Hall: “Well, what we want is the political support from the commissioners. That would mean a lot, especially reaching across the aisle, coming together for a common goal, a common cause. Everybody, the sheriff, he’s very frustrated with the federal administration. So are the commissioners. Something needs to be done, and it’s going to take all of us. It’s going to take Democrats. It’s going to take Republicans. It’s going to take all of us working together to fix this problem.”
The 830 Times: “Tell me exactly what the nature of your operations here on the border have been so far. What are you guys doing?”
Hall: “I’m going to record this as well, if you don’t mind.”
The 830 Times: “No, go ahead.”
Hall: “The nature, Karen, is to be a presence, is to disrupt and frustrate these caravans coming through, but also to be very much a humanitarian aid as well. A lot of them are in a bad way when we find them.”
The 830 Times: “And you mentioned that during your presentation to the court, some of the instances you’ve encountered while you’re out there in the field. Now do you hold single immigrants or groups of immigrants until Border Patrol or DPS can arrive or how does that process work?”
Hall: “No, ma’am. We don’t detain or arrest anybody. What we do is we provide food and water. If they need any kind of medical assistance, as long as it’s within our scope, we try to provide that as well, bandaging wounds, that kind of thing. But no, we do not detain, we do not arrest, we do not hold anybody.”
The 830 Times: “So what I’m hearing, specifically Commissioner Beau Nettleton said there are problems in the western and northern parts of the county. But his problem is not with the asylum seekers that are coming across here in Del Rio. He said his problem is with the criminal element of this surge or flood or whatever you want to call it. How would that affect your mission here in Val Verde County?”
Hall: “As far as the bad people coming across, well, it’s a danger that we have to face. We don’t know who’s who. It’s a very real and present danger that we face when we do come across illegal immigrants. We don’t know if they’re cartel. We don’t know if they have bad intentions. We don’t know if they have weapons. And so what we do, we treat everybody as though they’re just looking for a better life. We treat everybody the same unless they present a threat to us, and then we would have to handle that accordingly, and hopefully, nobody would be hurt.”
The 830 Times: “This has represented a real investment of time, money, effort on your part and on the part of your organization. Why is it so important for you, as you said to the commissioners court, ‘walk away from your life’ to do this?”
Hall: “Well, I grew up in an America that my kids aren’t going to be able to see if we don’t do something.”
The 830 Times: “And tell me what that means. What does that mean exactly?”
Hall: “I believe that the Democratic Party and the federal government is really engineering this crisis in the hopes that they can turn Texas blue, letting all these illegals in in hopes that they can vote, that they will vote, in upcoming elections, and if they can turn Texas blue, this is the last stand. If Texas turns blue, we’re going to lose our nation to a socialist, communist; not an administration, I don’t believe this is an administration, I believe this is a regime. And so, we’re going to lose our country to this regime, and then who knows how fast that slippery slope goes and how deep it goes, but you’ve seen the mandates with vaccines, you’ve seen what they’re trying; and they’re shredding the Constitution right in front of our eyes.
“They’re shredding the Constitution right in front of our eyes. Our rights are being taken away little by little by little, and a lot of people are waking up on the left side of the aisle to what’s actually happening. We’ve spoken with Democrats, staunch Democrats, that don’t agree with what’s going on. They don’t agree. They’re fed up. They’re tired. They’re frustrated. They just don’t know what the solution is because the federal government is, well, they’re the federal government, and they wield the power.
“But what they’re doing, I can’t even say, I don’t speak attorney, but just in my uneducated, law kind of opinion, is that they’re breaking Constitutional law. They’re putting Americans in a bad way by these mandates, by saying you can’t work or you can’t do this or you can’t do that if you don’t have the vaccine, but yet they’re letting tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of immigrants, come in without any vaccine, without any mandate on them.
“Why is that? It’s for votes. It’s all on the altar of political gain. What can they politically gain from this? And I believe the answer is very clear. It’s turning this state blue and thus turning our nation blue, and so they can hold onto power.”
The 830 Times: “Is there anything else you’d like to add, that you’d like the people of Val Verde County to know about you or your organization?”
Hall: “Yes. We’re a faith-based organization, Karen. And I really hope you put this in the story. We’re a faith-based organization. We’re a bunch of believers. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that we’re here for a peaceful mission. We’re here for a humanitarian mission.
“Yes, we are a nation of laws, but we understand the human aspect of what’s happening. We understand that most of all that is coming across is just people looking for a better life and there’s a compassion and an empathy that we have, and that’s why when we come across people, we give them food and water and medical care, if they need it, we believe we’re being the hands and feet of Christ as well as warriors standing on the wall to protect our nation, to protect our way of life and defend our Constitution. But we want to do it in a way that people can see Christ through us and the love of Christ through us, and so, that’s something in our message that is cornerstone to our core values as an organization.”
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