1
There's an
imaginary line out there
Between right and wrong.
Good and evil.
I believe
what I'm doing is good.
And I believe what I'm
standing up against is evil.
It's the cartels, they are the
ones terrorizing their own country
And now they're starting
to do it over here.
gunshots
on the us border with mexico.
with a porous border
cartel violence is spreading.
warning visitors to beware
of heavily armed drug smugglers
And human traffickers.
ranchers finding
drug stashes on their property.
Calling the border patrol,
sometimes getting help sometimes not.
this area has been
ceded to the cartels.
This is no longer really the United States.
They own it.
the situation's getting so bad
That border patrol agents
are completely overwhelmed.
concerned citizens
are arming themselves,
Trekking into dangerous
cartel territory.
we're out here alone,
The situation becomes
more violent everyday
And it concerns us
not just for our safety,
But for the future
of this nation.
mexico's
right around the fucking corner
And there's the staging area
a fucking mile away.
They're gonna have...
If they come through,
They're gonna have
to walk right by us.
Stick hard fucking left.
Stay close to the brush.
If anything fucking happens,
they will have no problem fighting it out.
We're so close to the fucking
border right now.
They have more guns,
they have more people.
It's kind of like a david
and goliath story out here.
We're david and they're goliath.
That's where the dirt bags are
sitting up top, right up there.
That's where we're gonna go.
Roger that.
Go.
Fuck.
The cartel scouts
keep getting away.
Damn it!
They have a beautiful
set up here.
They just have to sit right here
And they can see the road
for miles and miles and miles.
Mexican cartels control this.
Technically we're vigilantes
Upholding the law
where there is no law.
But the phrase vigilante,
It's been given a bad name
by the media.
they are heavily armed and
claim to be protecting our state
From foreign threats
and from our own government.
But the state's growing
militia movement
Is causing concern
among law enforcement
fire.
Back in the day
vigilante wasn't a bad thing.
Say the bandits was
riding into your town,
The town's people would all get together
and, you know, defend their town.
Now when people hear that phrase
they think of a vigilante
As somebody who's got white
sheets over their head
And they're gonna hang
fucking people from trees.
It's bullshit.
This is what I consider
to be the wild wild west.
There is nothing down here,
there's no mall.
I'm supposed to be able
to pick up my telephone
And go, "911 come help us."
But it's an hour
and a half out of tucson.
What the fuck am I going to do
sitting around for an hour and a half
If I'm being attacked
by the cartels?
People scream out,
you know, "oh, your racists.
Oh, you're vigilante,"
and la la la.
Bring your asses down here.
I'll take you out
on a nickel tour
In the middle
of the fricking night,
And you tell me that
it's safe and secure.
Those fuckers over there,
the cartels,
They don't care about anybody.
thanks to a new report
By the southern
poverty law center,
We know that anti-government
patriot groups are now
At an all time high
in this country.
We need to pay attention
to this folks.
Bullshit.
So the southern
poverty law center
Has just labeled us
an extremist hate group.
But we're just regular
people who're standing up
And saying, "enough's enough,
we're sick and fricking tired."
Something needs to be done.
I believe that everybody
has a purpose,
All roads lead to one spot
and this is where I am now.
I left home when I was 15,
I was tired
of the physical and mental,
Emotional, whatever you want to
call the abuse by my father.
So I tried to drown out the
feelings and everything out
With alcohol and drugs.
I tried meth for a year or so,
Couldn't even control myself.
And one day I stopped at a bar
And had a few too many.
And I was passing this semi,
and somebody was coming head on.
And I got in front of the semi
and started sliding sideways,
And I remember looking up at him and
he just threw his hands up and said,
"can't do anything, sorry."
The truck rolled six times
and I climbed out
Looked down and there was my wallet
and the pictures of my two kids,
And so I said,
"okay, I got it."
So 18 years ago
I quit everything.
Realized that I needed
to deal with, uh, my issues.
And so, I dealt with them.
Once I got cleaned up
I was working construction,
But back in late
'08 when the economy started falling apart
I lost my job overnight,
I lost my house,
I had to sell everything.
I hit the road for a year,
year and a half,
But everywhere I went there was illegals
working on every construction job.
A lot of them are doing
work under the table,
They're not paying taxes,
they're sucking into the system.
So I said, "well I got to
Try to help and do
something about this."
So that's how arizona border
recon came in existence.
I took the last of my savings,
came down to the border.
Lived in my truck for the first
two months in the mountains.
I would drive the roads,
find the trails,
And apprehend illegals
coming out of that area.
but once I learned how the
cartels pretty much controlled,
Both the human smuggling
and the drug smuggling.
We had shifted our primary goal
To keep cartel activity
out of the country.
Our main priority is going after
the bad guys, these motherfuckers.
for years mexican drug
cartels have been waging a ruthless war
Over the lucrative drug and human
smuggling routes into the United States.
And the affect on our country
maybe just beginning.
The federal government is failing
the people of this country
And especially people
in border states.
do you think that
the federal government
Isn't complacent in this shit?
It's all lies.
It's government propaganda.
It's bullshit.
I mean it's not rocket science.
There's more people joining survivalist
groups, militias, now than ever before
Because they're scared
that the country's collapsing,
And a stand is going
to have to be made.
...Waiting for distribution
to other parts in the us.
people that come down
here have their own opinions
On why the border
needs to be secured.
Good night you guys.
I don't always agree
with everybody's views,
But I'm happy to have the help.
Oh, it's burning.
The reason I come down here
Is to do something about
having a porous border.
The truth is tall fences
make for better neighbors.
Especially if you have
conflicting ideas.
You wouldn't put two
pitbulls in the same pen,
And expect them
to get along and not fight.
Why would you put two
races in the same nation,
And expect them to get along.
when you join the
military you take an oath.
And that oath
is to defend the country
Against all enemies,
foreign and domestic.
And right now
I see this as an invasion.
the situations in mexico,
specifically, it's insane down there.
The villain is the cartels,
these smugglers.
they have
no regard for human life.
And I get asked a lot
by people, why do I do this?
And my question to them is,
If not me then who?
President
obama heads to mexico tomorrow,
But while mexico's
president hopes
To show off his country's
economic successes,
The ongoing war between
violent drug traffickers
And the growing movement
of armed civilians
Threatens to overshadow
the gathering.
estanislao beltrn torres
A member of the michoacn
self-defense group says,
"dr. Mireles' whereabouts are not going
to be made public for his security."
...Who's that, tim?
Taking
matters into their own hands,
The rise of cartel
violence and homicides
Have sparked an emergence
Of well armed vigilante groups.
those guys are
deeper down in mexico.
They are in the southern
mountains of michoacan.
They're taking back
What is theirs from the cartel,
And is nice to see
that they're standing up
And going back at them.
Oh you don't know who's who,
who's actually helping them?
Is it just the town's people,
or is the government involved,
Or the cartel's involved?
Even if that's true,
once they get strong enough
They'll go after
the cartels that armed them,
So I hope they kick
some ass down there.
It's the way it should
be done up here, too.
We just spent $400
on a new digital scanner.
The scouts are starting
to use encrypted radios,
So we got to beef up ours.
Holy crap!
I wonder if they're
now over here.
The scouts up on the mountains
Are pretty much like
air traffic control,
But I like to call them
drug traffic control
They are the eyes
for the guys on the ground.
If we can take the eyes
away from the cartels,
We can put a little dent
in what's happening.
do you copy there, spartan?
I sent a couple of
guys to loop down and around,
In case we flush
the scouts off the top.
roger here, it's over to you.
this is my third time
up this the fucking thing,
And they get away every time.
So I've got a bone
to pick with these guys.
These motherfuckers.
Nailer, spartan.
go ahead.
Be advised.
Duke has 07 bodies
Camouflaged carpet shoes
in person.
fuck!
Hola.
Sit down.
Mexican?
- who does?
- this guy, right here.
It's their coyote,
he's the guy in the front.
He's the one who
speaks the english.
He's the guide.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...
I speak english because
I working in cancun.
You know where is cancun...?
I know where cancun is.
- I working there and I speak english...
- Uh-huh.
Finish up, we can go.
I'll be up front
Anybody touches me, drop 'em.
Roger that.
Okay, let's go.
Tucson, this is clint
with arizona border recon,
I just want to let you guys know
we need an agent for transport,
We have seven
off of guemero mountain.
Nailer to spartan...
Do you think
there are other scouts?
resupply for the scouts.
the more and more
I spend time down here
I see innocent people
becoming casualties of a war
That they didn't
want any part of,
But they are stuck
right in the middle of it.
I'm not going to close my eyes,
I'm not going
to look the other way.
he's a brave man
And the time's are difficult
here in our country,
And this guy has a...
As we say in mexico
I've always had
concerns the violence in mexico
Would make it across the border,
And it's already happening.
there's been a major
new development this morning
In the border battle.
two agents have
been shot in southern arizona,
Eight miles from the border.
we've identified
25 murders, 124 kidnappings
And extortion's
that are cartel related.
It's bad down here,
I think its going
to get a lot worse.
there's a lot more people
Waking up to what's
actually going on
And the interest in what we do
has gone up tremendously.
this right here
is where it starts man.
It's a group of people
coming together
Having the necessary
conversations
I've been doing this
for over four fucking years
And I've been asking,
begging and dying
For fucking people to come down.
And look you guys show up,
It took four years,
but you're here.
We had run-ins
two days in a row with scouts.
We've held them off,
so they're dying to get something through.
We're going to deploy
in four different spots
On four different hilltops.
We're going to show them
That we can watch
this whole area.
That's it, let's do it.
Down the road, on your right,
straight up that fence line.
That's where you want to be.
Try to stay off
the roads as much
As possible, use
the trees as cover.
See you in a couple of hours.
Be advised, it looks like
There's two scouts.
tell him to notify
as soon as he can confirm.
We got a confirmed visual.
Two scouts.
We got a scout right
there in those bushes,
Right there.
Copy.
just post up and sit.
Nothing will come through.
Copy that.
You know,
we're playing a game of hide and seek,
And we're just trying to
play with the best we can.
It's a victory even though you
don't grab the mules and the dope.
Just by stopping them
from bringing it over,
Is a small win in the battle.
The odds are stacked against us,
And we're sick
and fricking tired.
alcon, alcon, this is sierra 01.
There is cartel radio traffic
indicating possible movement
Due to the storm.
Stay alert at this time.
we won't back down,
we won't give up.
We're going to keep
pushing against the cartels.
I believe what I'm
doing is good,
And I believe what I'm
standing up against is evil.
I think that
this circle of violence has to stop.
This is a big dream,
And everybody can have
beautiful dreams.
I think I was a good
vigilante for my people,
For my town,
for my michoacn state.
But I lost my motive,
Lost the family.
And the family was the motive
To fight against criminals.
I... I think
it's my fault,
I think I'm responsible
for this situation.
This is life.
There's people
all around the world
Trying to make a difference.
They're all just like me.
They're tired.
They're tired of sitting,
they're tired of waiting.
They're tired of nobody
doing anything,
So they take the law
into their own hands.
The cycles do stop,
You just got to want
to change them.
let's go, rocko.
I left home because of the
physical and mental abuse by my father
But at one point he finally
got to meet my daughters.
And he complimented
me, and says,
"hey, they're great kids
they're well behaved,
They're articulate, they're intelligent,
and everything else.
And I told him
I had him to thank,
Because everything
that he did to me,
I did the exact opposite.
So the cycles can change,
It just takes somebody
to change them.
But we're stuck in a cycle
where nobody wants to change.
When they're spouting,
they're changing
But they're not doing anything.
They're doing the same thing,
but just with a different look.