Texas Border Convoy Raises $125K in Donations for 'Domestic Internal Defense'

A protest convoy heading to the southern U.S. border with Mexico has raised over $125,000 in donations.

The Texas Border Convoy says it is attempting to drive to the area of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas.

It comes amid fears of a standoff between federal agents, aggrieved citizens and Texas officials on the border.

The funding page says the convoy has been organized "to send a message to all local, state, federal politicians, border, immigration & law enforcement officials who are enabling the illegal entrants from over 160 countries including TERRORISTS to cross into the United States of America by the tens of thousands everyday!"

A Telegram channel called Take Back Our Border has over 1,000 members and is used to plan the convoy, as Wired first reported. One member urged others to bring "kits" in case "stuff goes down you will be able to protect yourselves and help out."

Another quoted a post by alt-right activist Jack Posobiec that said, "We are right on the verge of Civil War with the government."

The group said "final rally" locations were in Eagles Pass, Yuma, Arizona, and San Ysidro, California.

The rally is advertised as a "peaceful assembly."

Pete Chambers, one of the organizers, has said he was a Green Beret. "That's what Green Berets do. Unconventional warfare is our bread and butter. Now we're doing domestic internal defense," Chambers told the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones on his show Infowars last week.

On the Take Our Border Back website, Chambers wrote: "I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character to come to our aid with all dispatch."

He added: "If this call is neglected, we are determined to sustain ourselves as long as possible and act like soldiers who never forget what is due to our own honor and that of our country."

Donated funds will be received by 'MISSION WTP HAGGAI 28.' It is not immediately clear who owns this group.

Newsweek has approached the Take Our Border Back Convoy group via email for comment.

The planned convoy comes after a U.S. Supreme Court decision on January 23 in which it ruled federal border agents could cut razor wire along the Rio Grande river put there by Texas Governor Greg Abbott's Operation Lone Star.

This has not happened in the Eagle Pass area, one of the locations the convoy plans to visit, because the Texas National Guard has not allowed agents to pass.

Texas Republican Representative Keith Self has backed the convoy, saying "see you there" to his followers in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"The cavalry is coming," Self said in another tweet. "Once again, the truckers are standing for We the People... The time is NOW to take action and secure our borders!"

Some have called on the the Biden administration to federalize the National Guard and place it under the command of the president instead of the state governor.

There are currently no plans to do this.

"We are prepared in the event that that unlikely event does occur to make sure that we will be able to continue exactly what we've been doing over the past month, and that is building these barriers," Abbott told conservative commentator Tucker Carlson on his Uncensored show.