Judge throws out trespass case against San Antonio far-right 'citizen journalist'

A Bexar County judge on Tuesday dismissed charges against a far-right blogger who was arrested for trespassing on private property last year while attempting to film migrants at San Antonio International Airport.

Police arrested self-proclaimed "citizen journalist" Hernando Arce — a San Antonio resident who describes himself as a "Alpha MAGA Male" in his X profile bio —  at the airport in November.

At the time, Arce told authorities he was exercising his "First Amendment protection of the freedom of press" by filming the asylum seekers as they prepared to depart to be with family members or hosts. However, Acre received a criminal trespass warning earlier that month, meaning that if he returned to the property, he would be arrested.

On Tuesday, County Court 2 Judge Melissa Saenz tossed out the case against Arce, citing a lack of evidence.

I’m approached by 2 SAPD officers asking me questions interfering with my A1 freedom of press !!! Then they go hands on & arrest me for criminal trespassing on “private property” and send me to the gulag!!
6/6#illegalaliens #bordercrisis #invasion #migrants #securetheborder… pic.twitter.com/8gEsHXkFXp

— hernando arce (@hernandoarce) November 17, 2023

"Now, the fight continues," Arce told supporters in a video posted to X following his court hearing. "We won this battle, but we haven't won the war, and this is a war for our sovereignty. That's why we're going to continue to fight even harder now, because this has given me my mission in life as well as your mission in life to save our republic."

Post court case hearing analysis-criminal trespassing at a public airport https://t.co/rkVrMRBmty

— hernando arce (@hernandoarce) February 14, 2024

Arce said he plans to file a wrongful arrest lawsuit against the city and the San Antonio Police Department. He also thanked his attorney, Marc LaHood, whom he described as a "great American patriot."

LaHood, a Republican, is running against incumbent State Rep. Steve Allison to represent Texas' 121st District. LaHood also is the brother of former Bexar County district attorney Nico LaHood.

Arce is among a new breed of right-wing "citizen journalists" who create partisan news reports using social media platforms and raise money by asking for viewer donations.

Among Arce's recent reports are a piece alleging that 1,000 "illegals" are dropped off at San Antonio's Migrant Resource Center daily and another that claims officers from the San Antonio Police Department are facilitating human trafficking.

Arce also has referred to the city's Migrant Resource Center as the "American Replacement Center," a likely reference to the white supremacist "Great Replacement" conspiracy theory that accuses leftists of opening the doors to mass migration in an effort to replace the nation's white majority.

Many of the clips Arce posts to his 25,000 subscribers on X consist of him trying to interrogate asylum seekers at the Migrant Resource Center, followed by him asking supporters for donations.

YouTube this week deactivated the accounts of right-wing "citizen journalists" Josh Fulfer and Joe Felix, who go by the social media handles OreoExpress and Taco Joe, according to Wired. The duo posted livestreams of themselves verbally harassing migrants they encountered in Arizona and California, the magazine reported.

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