Patriot Acts (2018)

In 2008 independent journalist James Lilly took a small film crew to the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico. His goal was to document the escalating cartel wars and the increased Minuteman militia activity on the US side of the border. By 2009 he had identified Shawna Forde and her organization Minuteman American Defense as one of the most dangerous and out of control border groups in the US. Memorial Day weekend of 2009 Shawna and her team engaged in a brutal assault on a suspected low level marijuana smuggler in Arivaca, Arizona, and murdered a father Raul Flores and his daughter Brisenia. This is the untold story of Shawna and her crews ramp up to violence, the serial killer that helped trigger it, and the well meaning enabling of civil rights organizations and the federal government.