Militia founder wrongly identified as ICE agent in viral window-smashing video
Social media posts have been falsely claiming that a man with connections to Arizona and far-right militias was the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who smashed a car’s window with an axe to apprehend a Guatemalan immigrant. But that man has not been hired by ICE and is currently in Oklahoma spreading conspiracy theories there.
Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer is the founder of a group known as Veterans on Patrol which has been involved with a number of militia activities along the southern border often with a QAnon theme.
Users on BlueSky and X, formerly Twitter, have been claiming that Meyer is an ICE agent who was seen breaking the window of a vehicle to arrest a Guatemalan immigrant woman as she was waiting for her attorney.
The Arizona Mirror found that Meyer was posting videos of himself in Oklahoma at the time of the incident in Massachusetts. Meyer has been making videos of himself at the Oklahoma state Capitol telling staff of lawmakers that he intends to “destroy” what he claims is “military weather manipulation” technology.
In an email to the Mirror, Meyer confirmed that he has been living in Oklahoma and said he does not work for ICE.
And ICE “vehemently” denied the claims that Meyer works for the agency in any capacity.
“The officer recorded making an arrest in New Bedford, Mass. is not militia leader Lewis Arthur,” an ICE spokesman said in an emailed statement to the Mirror. “The rumors circulating on social media that ICE Boston employed a militia leader from Arizona to make arrests in New England are not only false, but they are also inflammatory and place the safety of federal officers in jeopardy.”
ICE would not release the name of the officer seen in the video, and would only confirm that “he is a federal law enforcement officer who has worked with ICE to help keep New England communities safe for years.”
Meyer believes in the debunked chemtrail conspiracy theory that has been overtaking many state legislatures. His Telegram, a social media channel favored by the far-right for allowing hate speech and graphic content, if full of conspiratorial creeds and allusions to violence towards the alleged weather manipulation technology in Oklahoma.
Meyer’s group has long engaged in these sorts of antics and “operations.”
In 2018, his group found a homeless encampment and began spreading unfounded claims of sex trafficking and last year claimed that Hurricane Helene was created by the United States military.
Meyer also has a criminal record which includes damaging and stealing water meant for migrants along the border left by humanitarian groups in Arizona, disorderly conduct and trespassing at a cement factory he believed was part of a QAnon-style conspiracy.
Journalist Jessica Pishko also confirmed on X that she had recently seen Meyer in Oklahoma.
