A new Texas law allows migrants to be arrested for trespassing and has attracted such groups, and local officials are either offering tacit support or openly welcoming them. The groups say they aim to stop the migrants they find and pass them off to law enforcement to arrest…

State authorities have resisted these private operations, saying they are concerned about armed civilians trying to act as law enforcement. On Wednesday, the ACLU and nine other organizations filed a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice, requesting that it investigate Texas state agencies and local governments involved in the effort to arrest immigrants. Among their concerns, they said, is the support, tacit or open, Kinney County has given such private groups…

Samuel Hall, leader of a North Texas based group called Patriots for America Militia, said his group of volunteers conducts patrols on public property, looking for migrants who may have crossed the border illegally, administering humanitarian aid when necessary and calling authorities when needed.

This year, the county began seeing high-speed chases and reports of migrants breaking into homes looking for food and water, Mr. Coe said. Ranchers have been rattled by strangers walking across their property and frustrated by damage to fences that caused livestock to escape. At least 16 migrants have died in the brush there since April, Mr. Coe said. No violent crimes have been reported…

Kinney County has embraced the state’s trespassing arrest efforts. It is a deeply conservative area where the sheriff has plastered Donald Trump stickers on his work desk and keeps a life-size cutout of Vice President Kamala Harris in his office to mock during televised news interviews…

In September, Mr. Coe welcomed Christie Hutcherson, head of Women Fighting for America, a group that has patrolled in various border areas and sought to partner with law enforcement. The sheriff partnered with Ms. Hutcherson and members of her organization who were armed to patrol the county at night, where a drone helped locate a large group of migrants, he said. The group has submitted a proposal to formally partner with the county.

Ms. Hutcherson said that her organization isn’t a militia. It believes in working through law enforcement channels, she said. She had not seen how the SPLC characterized her, and said “I’m not an extremist. I’m a patriot.”

A North Texas man, who a spokesman said was in Kinney County patrolling for migrants on a private ranch, was arrested there this week on charges of participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Federal authorities said he was a member of the Patriot Boys Militia.

Kate Huddleston, a staff attorney with the ACLU, said the organization is concerned about both the actions of private organizations and the movement of the county toward potentially partnering with one of them. A group interfering with anyone’s free travel based on a suspicion that they might be migrants is an interference in others’ rights, Ms. Huddleston said.

“Kinney County has not just sought to partner with militias, but also war contractors,” she said. “That indicates a level of militarization that is particularly concerning and alarming in the potential for violence.”

Mr. Hall said objections won’t dissuade him.

“We’re here because God called us and we’re going to keep operating,” he said.

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(Excerpt from Wall Street Journal. Photo Credit: Getty Images)