Paranoia about federal entrapment is looming large over the “Take Our Border Back” convoy, which departed Virginia Beach Monday morning and plans to arrive in Texas later this week.
By noon Monday, after a few hours on the road, the convoy had amassed just a few dozen participants—so far, predominantly men over the age of 60. The convoy’s promoters promised over 700,000 participants.
The low numbers could be due, in part, to conspiracy theories riddling Telegram channels for the convoy. Would-be participants are expressing fears that the demonstration could be a “psyop” or “honeypot,” spearheaded by the federal government and undercover agents with the goal of ensnaring right-wingers into a violent event. This is the basis of the Jan. 6 “fedsurrection” conspiracy theory, which around a quarter of Americans believe, according to recent polling.
“I have 3 former associates doing lengthy prison sentences because of the J6 setup,” one person wrote in the Telegram channel for the Texas contingent of the convoy. “I know first hand, even if they don’t have charges they can pin on you, they will make some up.”
One of the organizers, former military commander Pete Chambers, who says he was a green beret, put out a video message in which he appears to directly appeal to supposed undercover federal agents.
“If you start going after these people, trying to trap them, you’re going to be found out,” Chambers said. “There’s too much momentum on the other side bro, so just let it go. Stop working for that entity. They’re just going to tear you down, they’re going to use you like a kleenex, just like they did to me.”
The convoy is expected to stop over in Jacksonville, Florida, before making its way along the southern border. Three separate rallies are planned for Feb 3, in locations near Eagle Pass, Texas, Yuma, Arizona, and a third in San Ysidro, California.
All eyes are on Eagle Pass in particular, which is the epicenter of the standoff between the Biden Administration and Texas over border enforcement. Earlier this month, the Texas National Guard seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, which abuts a stretch of the Rio Grande that’s a popular point for unauthorized border crossings, and surrounded it with razor wire. The Biden Administration said that Texas’ actions had severely limited Border Patrol’s ability to survey the area—and prevented them from conducting rescue operations, which likely resulted in a migrant woman and two children drowning. Texas denied the allegation.
The Supreme Court ruled last week that the federal government—not Texas—had ultimate authority over the border. But Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has since doubled down on the state’s actions and blew past the Friday deadline set by the Biden Administration to allow Border Patrol access to Shelby Park. Governors of twenty-five red states have since signed onto statements supporting Texas, and some have sent reinforcements to the border after Donald Trump called on them to do so.
The escalating standoff has inspired civil war fantasies of a feds versus states showdown.
Organizers of the convoy, who include QAnon-world influencers and anti-vaxxers, characterized the demonstration as an “army of god,” and have spent the last couple days putting out PR fires—and trying to distance themself from any possible future unrest or bad optics. “No we are not militia friendly,” wrote Christina Holbrook aka “Thought Criminals,” who is an admin for the convoy’s Texas Telegram channel. Holbrook has also asked participants to leave their long guns at home.
Organizers are also trying to assuage fears that the convoy is a “false flag” or “psy-op,” trying to suggest that the government is sowing paranoia intentionally. “They are trying to scare the ppl with all their “fed” “Jan 6th” crap,” wrote Holbrook.
Last week on a planning call, one of the organizers also waved off concerns about entrapment. “When J6 happened, that’s DC, that has nothing to do with the United States. It’s its own continent,” said Mark Anthony. “This is a whole different ball game. We’re out in our country, not a foreign territory. Each state and county has been strategically thought through.”
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Still, one person on the Telegram channel suggested that convoy participants bring zip ties with them so they can arrest anyone they believe to be “instigating.” “Basically make-shift cuffs and put them in time out,” she wrote. “You can’t fight them, you know they’re a paid fed or paid actor.” Another said that they’ve heard rumors of plain-clothed FBI agents stationed in Eagle Pass “to create unrest” and have decided to reroute to a different rally location.
Others are suggesting that people avoid the convoy altogether. In a YouTube broadcast on Sunday night, the channel LoveTravelAdventure, which is run by a trucking husband and wife influencer duo with nearly 100,000 subscribers, warned viewers about possible traps ahead. “You're being set up, and you’re advertising every move you’re making to the people who want to know the most,” the husband, who goes by “Red Viking,” said. “There is no 1776 happening so put that out of your mind.”
Red Viking also raised suspicions about organizer Pete Chambers. Green berets are “masters of psyops,” said Red Viking. “I’d love to believe he’s not a part of this,” he said, alluding to a government conspiracy to ensnare conservatives.
“All i’m gonna say to the people who are going to the border: don’t get caught in another January 6th event and do dumb shit to get entrapped by your corrupt government,” warned the Telegram Channel Woke Societies.
Similar suspicions have been expressed on the far-right forum Patriots.win. “Listen this is all a trap,” one person wrote. “Trump never asked for people to go to the border. He asked states to assist with guard personnel. Fed fed fed.”
Far-right commentator Charlie Kirk also weighed in. “Please do not fall for obvious traps at the border,” Kirk wrote on X. “Let law enforcement handle this. Don’t create or join some ad-hoc “citizen militia.” Don’t be a one-man hero. Learn the lessons from the last 3 years.”
The last multi-state convoy in the U.S., in Jan. 2022, was an utter disaster—in part because of infighting about federal infiltration. Inspired by a relatively more successful event in Canada, truckers and their counterparts drove across the country to Washington, D.C. to protest vaccine mandates that didn’t exist. Big promises to “barricade” or “occupy” DC were quickly revealed to be bluster, and the convoy ended up parked at the Hagerstown Speedway in Maryland, just outside of the District, for over a week, before heading home.
White nationalist Ryan Sanchez, who goes by “Culture War Criminal” online, said he was heavily involved in the previous convoy but claims it “got taken over by a bunch of feds.” “They kicked out all the radicals, the nationalists,” Sanchez said on a stream broadcast late last week on Cozy.tv, which is run by white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Sanchez said he plans to join the border convoy, and hopes it will be more successful.