Not sure it’s illegal...though certainly an overreach. The guy is in default....regardless of how the parties involved see it otherwise.
However, did the guy fight the Gov. when they tried initially to claim the lands? Were those lands his to begin with? Or has he simply been grazing the lands as he felt entitled to?
Many unanswered questions.....
This guy? No, because the federal government claimed the lands before Cliven Bundy was born.
The feds claimed the need for a grazing contract and the payment of grazing fees in 1934 under the Taylor Grazing Act. That's when the Bundy family signed a grazing contract for, and starting paying grazing fees for, the old Bunkerville allotment.