QAnon Followers Focus on Migrant Children at Southern Border (original) (raw)

Talk about the unsinkable rubber duck! Believers in QAnon, what SI contributor Stephanie Kemmerer called “the ultimate conspiracy—the mothership; the umbrella; the ‘Choose-Your-Own-Adventure’ saucerful of secrets and codes” (SI, March/April 2021), are at it again. Undeterred by their beloved Donald Trump losing the 2020 election, and thus failing to fulfill the mysterious Q’s prophesy, supporters are marching ahead promoting their ridiculous—and more pertinently often dangerous—ideas.

One of these ideas has to do with their continued obsession with child trafficking (see Stuart Vyse’s “Beware the Child Rescuers,” SI, July/August 2021), perhaps most infamously demonstrated in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory (see “Pizzagate and Beyond: Using Social Research to Understand Conspiracy Legends” by Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl, SI, November/December 2017). Now the QAnoners are turning their fear-mongering paranoia regarding child snatchers to migrant children at the southern border of the United States.

In an article for the New York Times, “QAnon Joins Vigilantes at the Southern Border” (May 9, 2022, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/09/us/border-qanon-arizona.html), reporter Miriam Jordan described one such QAnon devotee, Jason Frank, who has set up a camp by the border wall in Sasabe, Arizona. Frank, along with his cadre of fellow QAnon adherents, believe that children who are crossing the border from Mexico into the United States are in grave danger—and he plans to do something about it. Frank insists that migrant children “are being trafficked, sex trafficked. That’s the No. 1 trade,” as he is quoted in Jordan’s Times article. But, as Jordan also notes in her article, “Minors crossing the southern border as part of sex-trafficking schemes is unusual, according to groups that monitor and combat trafficking.”

So what do Frank and his buddies do when a group of migrant children cross their path? According to Jordan, they give them food, water, and even T-shirts with the right-wing slogan “Let’s Go, Brandon!” emblazoned on them. They also give out Bibles and form prayer circles with the kids. This all sounds innocuous enough, I guess—despite the high creep factor of a bunch of scraggly-bearded dudes swathed in camouflage interacting with groups of children who don’t speak their language—but the group also engages in more sinister activities. Frank admits, according to Jordan’s piece, that “his group was asking children to provide the addresses and phone numbers of the family members or family friends they planned to join, then contacting those individuals.” Frank is quoted: “We have people that call and do welfare checks and keep showing up to make it uncomfortable for them.” This is pretty frightening, considering Frank has stated on social media that he has what Jordan refers to as “a cache of weapons including pistols and a loaded AR-15 rifle” in his RV. Couple this with the chillingly disturbing quote from Frank from a Facebook Live video, with which Jordan concludes her article: “We are building our little army. … So get ready.”

Are Frank’s actions illegal? Federal officials declined to comment for Jordan’s article, but she did interview Margo Cowan, who she identified as “a public defender in Pima County, which includes Sasabe, and a longtime immigration activist.” Said Cowan: “We believe the conduct of this group is illegal and extremely dangerous.” According to Cowan, “the law require[s] those who find children alone to immediately contact a law enforcement officer.” Unfortunately, not all the law enforcement officers in the area are eager to get involved with Frank’s antics. As noted in the Times article, “Chris Nanos, the sheriff of Pima County, called the ‘QAnon types’ at the border ‘nut jobs’ but said they were not his responsibility. … ‘If they are interfering with migrants crossing, Border Patrol should deal with it,’ he said, noting that he had a million people across 9,200 square miles to protect.”

So sadly, many more migrant children will probably fall into Frank’s hands—and the hands of others of his ilk. This is just one more example of how conspiracy theories are more than just silly ideas—they can be dangerous. If we really want to “save the children,” people like Frank and his group of fellow vigilantes need to be taken seriously and dealt with by the law.

Julia Lavarnway

Julia Lavarnway is managing editor of the Skeptical Inquirer. She is also assistant editor of SI's sister publication, Free Inquiry.

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