Fogbow

On Monday morning, the organizers of the Take Our Border Back convoy kicked off their road trip to the Texas–Mexico border in Virginia Beach. Though they claimed that up to 40,000 trucks would be joining, only 20 vehicles made up the convoy as it rolled into Jacksonville, Florida, 14 hours later. The promised support had not materialized—not a single truck showed up, tires were reportedly slashed, participants got lost, and paranoia struck the group. In short, the convoy was a complete mess.

The convoy was organized last week as a show of support for Texas governor Greg Abbott and his decision to defy the federal government and President Joe Biden about the installation of razor wire along the Texas–Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas. While at least one organizer initially said they planned to hunt down migrants along the border in collaboration with sympathetic members of law enforcement, the group appeared to walk back that assertion on Monday, issuing a statement that the convoy would not be heading to the border at all but instead going to Quemado, a tiny town in Catron County, Texas. The group’s website, however, still lists the route of the convoy as “Virginia Beach, VA, to Eagle Pass,” and members of the planning group on Telegram still say they are going to the Texas border.

The organizers also repeatedly stated that the event was peaceful, though online chats in a related Telegram group show members discussing “exterminating” migrants. A known white nationalist who was kicked out of the People’s Convoy in 2022, Ryan Sanchez, is among those most active in the group. Sanchez was previously a Marine Corp reservist who says he was kicked out after he was reported to have been demonstrating alongside the Rise Above Movement, an alt-right street-fighting group that took part in the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, which led to the death of one counterprotester.

“I think the Eagle Pass rally is going to be the ’main event,’” Sanchez wrote in the convoy Telegram channel. “We need to think strategically and concentrate our limited resources where they will have the greatest effect.”

But on the first day of the convoy, some attendees woke up to find their tires slashed, according to one of the main livestreamers who posted pictures on X of the cars outside a motel. The meeting point also had to be hastily rearranged on Monday morning when the owners of the original location told the organizers they couldn’t gather there.

When the convoy did finally come together in a hotel parking lot in Norfolk, Virginia, there were a few dozen people and around 20 vehicles, based on video footage reviewed by WIRED and comments made by the livestreamers responding to questions from supporters.

The day began with a speech from Craig Hudgins, one of the organizers, who stressed that the event was a "peaceful, peaceable demonstration.” Hudgins also claimed—without evidence—that he had heard that up to “40,000 truckers from all over the country and Canada” would be joining the convoy—although not a single one of those trucks managed to join the group during the first day. The convoy members also heard from Ivan Raiklin, who was involved in the efforts to block Joe Biden’s election win and is an ally of disgraced national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Finally, after a prayer from a pastor linked to the Church Militant, a far-right religious website, the convoy rolled out an hour later than scheduled and headed down I-95. It was spearheaded by a bus covered in MAGA slogans.

Almost immediately, one of the vehicles in the convoy got lost, according to messages posted in the Zello walkie-talkie app that the group is using to communicate while on the road. Later, when the convoy linked up to discuss evening plans, the meeting quickly descended into an argument about where they were going to be staying. Even trying to meet up at a gas station was difficult: Due to the size of a Buc-ee’s in South Carolina, convoy members couldn’t locate each other.

A few hours into the trip, the lead bus pulled over onto the highway shoulder and kicked out one of the people onboard, who had traveled on his own from Washington, DC. It was unclear exactly why he was ejected, but the man, who is part of a group that protests daily in support of people jailed for rioting at the Capitol on January 6, was left stranded in Florence, South Carolina, without his wallet, according to details discussed on a livestream of someone in contact with the man.

Throughout the day, the half-dozen people livestreaming the convoy spent much of their time responding to questions from some of the thousands of people watching.

Most of the questions were about the conspiracy that the convoy is a “setup” by the federal government to “entrap patriots.” That sense of paranoia has been present in the group from the very beginning, according to leaks of the group’s chats on Discord: “This will end up loaded with trolls and feds in no time,” one member wrote a week ago.

Paranoia was also prevalent on the Telegram channels used to coordinate the convoy in different parts of the country. “I hope it’s not another J6 trap. People need to pray for discernment about this. But after 3 years of this people are sick of it,” one member wrote, referring to the widely debunked conspiracy that the Capitol insurrection was a left-wing plan to trap Trump supporters.

On Monday, after the cars had started on the road, organizers issued a press release, claiming “groups are forming to infiltrate the convoy.” The statement also claims that “nowhere on the website does it say anything about the convoy going to the border,” which is inaccurate, as the route for the main convoy clearly states the final destination is Eagle Pass.

Additionally, one of the organizers of the convoy, Pete Chambers, told Alex Jones last week that his plan included traveling to the border to hunt migrants and work with local law enforcement to capture them. Among those traveling with the convoy, multiple people on Monday mentioned going to Eagle Pass. “We’re all going to the border,” one member declared on the livestream on Monday night.

Though the convoy’s start was full of mishaps, others planning to join the convoy still appear to be taking their plans seriously. Online, a number of people are openly talking about going to the border: “Those going to Eagle Pass on Saturday, message me,” one member of the Texas-focused Take Our Border Back Telegram channel wrote. “I'm organizing level 2 security detail composed of veterans and prior law enforcement guys. We're not going to engage any threats or go in guns blazing. We'll just keep a watchful eye and report any suspicious behavior.”

As the convoy has gained some media attention, the Telegram channels have been scrubbed of a lot of the more virulent, racist, and violent language used by members. However, leaks of the Telegram chat detail clearly how members spoke openly about “exterminating” migrants.

Since Abbott issued his letter in defiance of the Biden administration, he has seen support flow in from dozens of GOP governors and former president Donald Trump, who has urged other states to send troops to Texas. The convoy has been portrayed in right-wing media in recent days as part of a wider right-wing effort to support Abbott and resist Biden’s immigration policies, and as a result, its organizers have been able to raise over $140,000 on a Christian-focused crowdfunding website.

On Tuesday morning, the convoy departed Jacksonville for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a few more vehicles joining the group—but still no trucks.