Leader of armed Sunland Park border group sentenced to prison on gun charge

SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico — The leader of an armed group that detained immigrants who were crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into southern New Mexico has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for a federal firearms charge.

Larry Mitchell Hopkins, leader of the United Constitutional Patriots, was sentenced in federal court in Albuquerque. He had pleaded guilty in January to a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He acknowledged knowingly possessing nine guns and ammunition.

Hopkins was arrested in April 2019 in Sunland Park, where his group has been stopping migrants and ordering them to wait as they alerted U.S. Border Patrol.

Hopkins had faced up to 10 years in prison. He had previous felony conviction in Michigan for possession of a loaded firearm and convictions in Oregon for impersonating a police officer and possessing a firearm.