New Information About Border Vigilante and More Questions

By Dustin Mendus

More information has dribbled out about J.T. Ready, a ”border vigilante” Neo-Nazi in Arizona who recently killed multiple people and himself. Ready’s sudden massacre in May left many people stunned, but it seems to be a portion of the violence in Arizona, where peace of mind is far away and where the “interception” of illegal immigrants leaves people dead.

An informant apparently tipped the FBI about a plan by Ready to pose as a member of the Department of Homeland Security and “lead attacks” on Latino house parties to kill the people in attendance. Due to a breach of the informant’s cover, he and the FBI had a “falling out.”

It is unclear if the informant helped or compromised any investigation that the FBI was undertaking involving Ready or if he was the only informant. Ready was a known Neo-Nazi and part of the “National Socialist Movement,” one of the largest Neo-Nazi groups in the country, so it is plausible that the FBI had other ears. James Turgal of the FBI’s Phoenix branch even stated that Ready was being looked at as part of a domestic terrorism probe at the time of the killings.

However, one can’t help but wonder how long Ready and possibly others were being observed as part of a domestic terrorism probe. How long has the FBI been monitoring this man? Why was no action taken against a man intending to impersonate a member of the United States government to murder people?

Then again, the FBI probably gets plenty of people who talk wildly and never do anything serious. A thorough investigation is smarter than bringing a gavel own on people with little to no evidence to prosecute. That said, Ready also advocated placing mines (yes, the kind of mines that blow up people and tanks) on the border and was in possession of 40MM grenade launcher rounds. These are the same kind of rounds the military uses around the world, and are launched via a tube that projects the round, either underneath a rifle, or hand-held. The origin of these is not yet known, and multiple countries produce and use these kinds of weapons so it is possible that these are American rounds, Soviet surplus, or something else.

Regardless of where they came from, there should have been action on Ready before, and the fact that the FBI did not act soon enough against this domestic terrorist is appalling. A man advocating using landmines to deter immigrants with known ties to one of the nation’s largest Neo-Nazi groups? Had Ready been a Muslim with ties to Al-Qaeda or Islamic Jihad, the odds that we would be talking about him today are slim to none. The this guy had possession of military-grade munitions makes one wonder why he was not detained before the shooting, and whether or not the FBI takes domestic terrorism seriously. J.T. Ready should’ve been arrested.