Officer Tentatively Identified In New Bedford, Massachusetts ICE Detainment Operation
Newly Developed Information about Monday's ICE Detainment Operation In New Bedford, Massachusetts, April 14, 2025
I am venturing into uncharted territory with the following report.
Given the highly alarming nature of what appears to be developing from my initial research I consider this to be a High-Priority situation/information event.
As such I am simply creating a raw essentially unfiltered collection of information for distribution and dissemination.
Please restack this newsletter, share it, discuss it and all around give it the widest exposure levels possible.
If you are, or know anyone, involved in the incident in question or are in a position to contact local news sources or the ACLU or any other similar organizations, please by all means bring this matter to their attentions.
It would be especially important and helpful for anyone with the ability, to directly contact the Mayor’s Office of New Bedford, Massachusetts, or the Governor’s Office of Massachusetts, please do so by all means available or possible.
Robert J. Rei, April 17, 2025.
Post Script: There already appears to be an attempt to disinform the public about the likelihood that the individual under discussion is not who he appears to be. Hence the importance of the corollary information developed in connection with this matter to former Sheriff Hodgson and Federal Government agencies’ demonstrated connections to Border patrol militias.
Do not, I repeat, do not allow yourself to be disinformed or misdirected about this serious situation.
The man who is pictured and video-recorded above has been tentatively identified as, Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer.
The following screen Shot is from the Southern Poverty Law Center:
The following information is located at the Southern Poverty Law Center—
Veterans on Patrol (VOP) is an antigovernment militia located in Pima County, Arizona. The founder, Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer, is a Christian nationalist who rallies hard-right extremists and conspiracy theorists around the issue of immigration and encourages vigilantism.
As an organization, VOP advances initiatives that are founded on common antigovernment and anti-immigrant ideas. The group has also pushed anti-Indigenous, antisemitic, anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon falsehoods. VOP activists have incorporated QAnon conspiracy theories into their activities as well, including operation of two camps in Arizona – one in Three Points and one in Sasabe – under the exaggerated premise that they are rescuing children from satanic pedophiles who are trafficking children for sex, human sacrifice and organ harvesting. Even after having their conspiracy theories debunked by law enforcement and media, Meyer and VOP continue diverting attention away from legitimate organizations and law enforcement agencies combating human trafficking. According to statements shared by VOP, group members believe their activities are sanctioned by God, and they therefore don’t have to comply with state or federal laws.
https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/veterans-patrol/
The YouTube video was published Jul 20, 2022.
Conspiracy theories inspire vigilante justice in Tucson
How one man’s imagined discovery of a sex-trafficking camp in the Sonoran Desert gained life online — and in the real world.
Arthur, 39, is 6 foot 2, with red hair, freckles and hazel eyes. His full name is Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, but “Michael Meyer,” he says, is an entirely different man. The personal story he tells is one of victimhood and redemption. On a walk through the desert this summer, he told me that he’s originally from Ohio, was sexually abused as a kid, and later fell into selling drugs. He now lives in Tucson, where his wife works in the pharmaceutical industry, supporting him and his daughter.
https://www.hcn.org/issues/50-17/politics-conspiracy-theories-inspire-vigilante-justice-in-tucson/
What follows is a summation of information that I have been able to curate together with speed, and is for use by anyone who needs to use this information for pursuing Justice in this case.
OPERATION NULL DEPUTY
A Field Memo on the Unauthorized Deputization of Extremist Elements in U.S. Immigration Operations
Prepared by: Robert J. Rei
Codename: Null Deputy
Date: April 17, 2025
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Recent events in New Bedford, Massachusetts, have exposed what appears to be an unprecedented breach in lawful enforcement protocols: the unauthorized or covert integration of known extremist militia personnel into immigration detainment operations. This report names the individuals, agencies, and ideological frameworks involved in creating an informal shadow deputization network—one that may operate with federal awareness and/or local complicity, bypassing traditional accountability mechanisms.
II. INCIDENT OVERVIEW: NEW BEDFORD, MA (April 14, 2025)
Footage obtained from Substack Notes and social channels reveals the active participation of Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer, known leader of the group Veterans on Patrol (VoP)1, during a public detainment operation involving ICE or ICE-adjacent forces.
VoP is designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a dangerous, anti-government militia group with a long history of border vigilantism, unauthorized detainments, and ideological extremism.
VoP has no legal authority in Massachusetts and is not sanctioned to carry out arrests or detentions under the 287(g) program or any other federal-local cooperation frameworks.
III. PRIMARY SUSPECT: THOMAS HODGSON
Former Sheriff Thomas Hodgson2 of Bristol County is the most likely facilitator of extremist integration into Massachusetts immigration enforcement activity.
Hodgson has a long-documented history of:
Participation in the 287(g) ICE program.
Hosting pro-Trump, anti-immigration summits and rallies.
Associating with SPLC-identified hate groups including FAIR.
Allegedly ordering rights-violating force against detainees, leading to the termination of his ICE contract in 2021 after a Massachusetts Attorney General investigation.
Speculative Link: Hodgson’s removal from formal authority may have led him to pursue informal networks of enforcement, leveraging personal contacts within DHS, ICE, and radical organizations to continue ideological work without a badge.
IV. SYSTEMIC ENABLERS
DHS under Kristi Noem (2025) recently signed a memo deputizing up to 600 State Department security agents to enforce immigration law, a move that expands authority far beyond traditional DHS/ICE borders.3
Executive Order 14159 further opens the door to "alternative partnerships"—language vague enough to potentially justify unofficial enforcers under the banner of “public safety collaboration.”
Growing privatization and outsourcing of immigration detention (via GEO Group and CoreCivic) may provide further cover for non-government operatives participating in arrests or intimidation campaigns.
V. RISKS TO DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Due Process Violations: Non-sworn actors conducting detainments constitute unlawful arrests and civil rights violations.
Radicalization of Enforcement: Merging federal power with militia ideology accelerates the formation of a paramilitary state.
Precedent Dangers: If not exposed and challenged now, these actions could become normalized within states already aligned with anti-democratic governance (Texas, Florida, Missouri, etc.).
VI. NEXT STEPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Public Records Requests:
Submit FOIA and Massachusetts Public Records Law requests targeting:
Communications between DHS/ICE and any entity tied to Thomas Hodgson.
State and local coordination documents involving New Bedford detainment events in 2025.
Any grant, contract, or special deputization involving private citizens or non-governmental groups post-EO14159.
Visual Evidence Archive:
Secure high-resolution footage of the incident.
Use AI-enhanced image recognition to validate identity of VoP leader if necessary.
Coordination with Watchdog Organizations:
Engage ACLU of Massachusetts, Lawyers for Civil Rights, and International Justice Network.
Alert SPLC directly regarding video-confirmed VoP presence in active enforcement capacity.
VII. WORKING TAGS FOR STRATEGIC INDEXING
#NullDeputy#VeteransOnPatrol#ThomasHodgson#287gAbuse#ICEShadowForce#EO14159#SanctuaryBreach#MassachusettsWatch
There is actually a lot of information available that is related to this person and the likelihood of his being correctly identified as being the point man in the car break-in.
As mentioned above this is only an unfiltered collection of information intended to provide the beginnings of an intensive investigation by all concerned parties.
Robert, J. Rei
Border Militias Prepare to Assist With Donald Trump’s Mass Deportation Plans, Tess Owens, November 21, 2024, Wired, https://www.wired.com/story/border-militias-immigrants-trump,
Militias that patrol the US border with Mexico are thrilled that Donald Trump has been elected—and plan to be a “valuable resource” to the incoming administration, whether or not they’re asked.
Anti-Immigrant Group FAIR Taps Controversial Former Sheriff to Serve in Adviser Role, Caleb Kieffer, January 9, 2025, Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/anti-immigrant-group-fair-taps-controversial-former-sheriff-serve-adviser-role/
ICYMI: Secretary Noem Deputized State Department Officials as Immigration Officers, Release Date: February 20, 2025, Homeland Security, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/02/20/secretary-noem-deputized-state-department-officials-immigration-officers
I live in Tucson and the VOP scum have been attempting to stir up chaos here for years. Including “documenting” sex camps they staged in their attempt to demonize immigrants. I’ve lived in AZ for 42 years - within 30 minutes of the border almost my entire life. I’m a nurse and worked at the only level 1 trauma hospital in Tucson where I cared for MANY immigrants who were injured or harmed while crossing. I’ve NEVER in my entire life worried about an immigrant invasion. Not for one day. It’s always been bullshit propaganda and lies. And this is where it’s landed us. We are the god damn Nazis, all because of a bunch of Christian nationalists and xenophobic tiny men.
Well ok the group. Let's get this asshat off the streets. Detain him with NO DUE PROCESS. Then make him disappear.