Last Four Militants in Oregon Surrender
Friday, February 12th, 2016
Ammon Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, arriving for a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, on January 6, 2016. Credit: © Rick Bowmer, AP Photo
February 12, 2016
Yesterday, February 11, the last four militants occupying a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon surrendered to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents. The surrender ended a 40-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
On Jan. 2, 2016, two brothers from Nevada, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, led a group of armed militants in the takeover of the empty Malheur Refuge headquarters. The Bundys are sons of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who refuses to pay the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rents he owes for grazing his cattle on government-owned land. This refusal is part of a larger movement in the western United States, where some Americans feel the U.S. government should not be allowed to own land. The Malheur takeover was an antigovernment protest in support of two Oregon ranchers jailed for lighting fires on federal lands.
During the entire occupation, the FBI was patient and non-confrontational with the occupiers. The agency wanted to avoid escalating the situation. The occupiers were free to enter and leave the refuge until January 26. On that day, Ammon and Ryan Bundy and several supporters were driving from the refuge to a small town for a community meeting. The FBI stopped the militants. Five were arrested and one was killed when he refused to surrender.
A total of eight occupiers are under arrest awaiting trial in Oregon. The rest of the occupiers at the refuge had dwindled to four, and those holdouts occupied Malheur for two weeks before giving themselves up yesterday. Local people in Oregon had felt that the FBI was perhaps too patient with the occupiers. The end result, however, was peaceful and satisfactory.
Also on February 11, Cliven Bundy was arrested for actions taken by him in 2014 when BLM agents came to his ranch to remove Bundy’s cows from government lands. Armed men on the ranch refused to stand down to let the bureau do their job. To avoid bloodshed, the BLM pulled back from the Bundy ranch and law enforcement waited two years for a safe time to make the arrest.