A far-right paramilitary group which was present in Charlottesville, Virginia last year as deadly violence unfolded is planning a demonstration this weekend just 40 miles away, DailyMail.com has learned.
The anti-government ‘Three Percenters’ militia plans to parade Saturday outside the Verona, Virginia offices of a company that provides bonds for federal immigration detainees.
The local sheriff has already asked for assistance from state troopers and other nearby law enforcement, fearing a repeat of the Charlottesville violence last August that left an anti-racism demonstrator dead.
Members of the ‘Three Percenters’ militia carried military-style rifles on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia during the August 2016 deadly clashes there between white supremacists and counter-protesters; authorities in a nearby town expect the group to march in a nearby town on Saturday
Members of the group can be identified by uniform patches that include the Roman numeral ‘III’
Dr. Cornel West locked arms with other members of the clergy while a man identified by Getty Images as a Three Percenter patrolled during the ‘Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville; The group claims it’s not racist
The planned protest is targeting Nexus Services, a company that bails some suspected illegal immigrants out of federal detention facilities like this one (pictured) in Adelanto, California
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-leaning advocacy group that monitors what it calls ‘hate groups,’ says the Three Percenters are part of the ‘radical right.’
‘They are a self-styled militia driven by conspiracy theories on the radical right,’ SPLC spokesman Ryan Lenz told The News Virginian in the nearby town of Waynesboro.
Three Percenters members were recognized in Charlottesville by their distinctive patches, which feature a Roman numeral ‘III.’ Some also include the image of a Confederate battle flag.
They openly carried military-style rifles during the August ‘Unite the Right’ rally. But the group will not need a permit to hold their next event, the local sheriff told the paper.
The state of Virginia allows residents over the age of 18 to openly carry loaded rifles in public without a special license.
‘We are taking this incident seriously and, as a precautionary measure, I have reached out to the Virginia State Police and regional local law enforcement for assistance,’ Sheriff Donald Smith said in a press release.
‘I want to assure our residents and local businesses that we are diligently working to assess and manage this situation.’
The presence of armed militia members during the Charlottesville rally alarmed some, but Virginia allows people over age 18 to carry loaded rifles in public without a special license
The ‘Unite the Right’ rally led to the death of one woman when a white nationalist plowed his car into a crowd
Nexus Services posts bond for immigrants who want to get out of federal custody pending their hearings
County authorities hope to avoid a repeat of the clashes last August in Charlottesville that left one woman dead when a white nationalist plowed his Dodge Challenger into a crowd of counter-protesters.
Police have charged 20-year-old Alex Fields, Jr. with second-degree murder.
A few hundred white supremacists, neo-Confederates and other supporters had chanted ‘white lives matter’ and ‘Jews will not replace us’ as they marched against the removal of a Confederate memorial.
One former Three Percenter member was reportedly arrested during the march.
The SPLC identifies Chris Hill of Georgia, a former U.S. Marine, as the group’s national coordinator.
NBC News spoke to Hill in September 2016 while he led an armed protest of a government meeting about the construction of a Mosque.
‘Right over there, this is going to be a future ISIS training group. This is where you’re going to see terrorism taking hold in Newton County,’ he said then, pointing to the building site.
‘It’s tied to terrorism, everything from 9/11 to Boston bombings to the Fort Hood shooting, to the coup in Turkey. It’s all connected.’
During one 2015 anti-refugee rally in Idaho, the state’s Three Percenter spokesman shouted that ‘refugees coming from Islamic hotbeds of terrorism – don’t you think that poses a threat to Idaho communities?’
In February 2017 the SPLC cited another Three Percenter, David Wright, whose anti-Muslim ‘Bureau of American Islamic Relations’ held an armed demonstration a year earlier near Dallas outside a place of Islamic worship.
Wright wrote on Facebook that his militia ‘monitor[s]’ Muslims.
‘We show up in their neighborhoods armed and let them know they’re being watched and if they f**k up my guys will take em out. That’s exactly what needs to happen,’ he boasted.
Nexus CEO Mike Donovan claimed Monday in a press release that the group stands for ‘the right to accumulate weapons of war, and the nationalistic attitude preventing immigrants from preserving their rights.’
The militia’s decision to target a company offering immigration bonds without collateral to federal detainees – those who are willing to wear GPS monitors and pay a monthly fee – appears intended to provoke.
Three Percenter national coordinator Chris Hill posted this picture of his Georgia militia on his Facebook page
The ‘III% Security Force of Georgia’ carries out paramilitary training in rural parts of the state
Hill and his group posed in Atlanta near Olympic Park
The business model is controversial, and detractors range from immigrant advocates who call the costs excessive to anti-immigrant activists who prefer potential deportees stay behind bars.
A congressional mandate requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to maintain at least 34,000 beds for use in immigration jails.
But immigration judges can offer bond opportunities to people who are in the country without documents. That’s a privilege usually extended to people who have no criminal records and strong family ties in the U.S.
The minimum bond about is $1,500 but the amounts can skyrocket beyond many people’s ability to pay.
One 2015 study by a USC law professor found that in central California typical bond amounts ranged from $10,000 to more than $80,000.
Donovan claimed Monday that the impending protest represents ‘the forces of hate, ignorance, and white supremacy’ that could turn ‘hatred and vitriol against a group of people just because of what they look like, what color they are, or where they come from.’
The Three Percenters present a public image that claims to be anti-racist and focused on defending the U.S. Constitution, especially on the hot-button issue of gun rights.
‘Now not only are the ultra-liberal elite trying to ban the sale of new semi-automatic rifles but, yes, they are trying to take the old ones too,’ one of their bloggers claimed last week following a deadly firearm massacre at a Florida school.
After the clashes in Charlottesville, the group issued a ‘stand down order,’ blaming Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters for ‘show[ing] up to counter-protest against alt-right white supremacists and Nazi groups.’
The Three Percenters take their name from a mythical 3 percent of colonists who fought against the British during the American Revolution.
Attempts to reach leaders of their Virginia contingent on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
One self-professed Three Percenter adherent, Jerry Drake Varnell, was charged last year with attempting to detonate a half-ton of explosives in a van outside an Oklahoma City bank building.
The FBI had been targeting Varnell, ensuring that what he thought was a bomb was actually a harmless device. His arrest came on the same day white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville.
Speaking to undercover agents last June, he acknowledged that his bomb might be deadly, saying that ‘you got to break a couple of eggs to make an omelet,’ according to the federal complaint filed against him.
Vardell had reportedly expressed admiration for the 1995 Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.