12 May 22nd-May 28th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | communications strategy contained in the Border Security Workgroup documents. The intent: to bolster political support and gain stakeholder buy-in for the central effort to overhaul and militarize domestic law enforcement. A “strategic communications” timeline in the documents suggests propaganda for selling the country on the law enforcement restructuring and militarization plan. A section detailing “Pre-Election” communi- cations strategy reads: “Our law enforcement agencies can help save so many victims — Americans and the illegal aliens held captive, inden- tured, and trafficked here. We must find and capture any potential terrorists or malign actors as a priority.” Documents explicitly state that the target “audience” for this messaging is the “American public.” Recommended communications for the pre-inauguration period encouraged “interagency cooperation and assistance” among all levels of law enforcement and included the following messaging intended for the “American public” and “opposition politicians”: “Our fine border patrol agents and immigration officials can do this job and we will be asking Congress to provide them with the necessary tools and resources. Together, we can stop the trafficking, the misery, and the murder.” Last, the messaging strategy timeline carries us through the first 100 days of the Trump presidency by driving home the “terrorist threat”: “Coordination, coordination, coordina- tion. We ask all state and local authorities to help the U.S. find the dangerous terror- ists and remove criminals from preying on the public. (Audience: American public, state, and local politicians).” (Parentheses in original.) COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE AND THE ‘INSIDER THREAT’ Over time, the post-9/11 fusion center system turned on the American people in ways the general public did not anticipate. By contrast, the new militarized law enforcement structure contemplated in the Project 2025 Border Security Workgroup documents has civil rights ramifications built into its DNA. A significant portion of the documents discuss domestic counter-intelligence. The draft proposals contain recommendations to investigate, prosecute and even seize the assets of non-governmental organizations, along with state, municipal and federal agencies that provide services to immi- grants and refugees. Documents describe some NGOs and specific government agencies as potential targets because they are perceived to oppose the priorities of the president, and because they are “accomplices to immigra- tion crime.” “An insider threat to this strategy can be expected that works with nation-state, transnational and non-governmental enti- ties to subvert the President’s plan,” the documents state further. “An active counter-intelligence effort must be orga- nized, integrated across all levels, and actively conducted to identify and prose- cute any individuals working for and providing classified or operationally sensi- tive information on border security plans and activities.” “Operationally sensitive information” might very well describe the contents of this reporting. Indeed, those directives could be used to target reporters, press outlets, lawyers, activists and concerned citizens who publish or post information relating to, say, immigration raids — or who are otherwise seen to be working to “subvert the President’s plan.” Already, surrogates of the president have suggested prosecuting people — including lawmakers — who distribute “Know Your Rights” material or post about the whereabouts of ICE officers. LAYING THE GROUNDWORK Through the first 100 days of his term, Trump issued a number of executive orders that seem intent on bringing the Border Security Workgroup’s recommendations to fruition. That has caught the eye of Jessica Pishko, an attorney and journalist who has written a book on the far-right radicalization of American law enforcement. Though she is not privy to the documents obtained by CRN and New Times, she has noticed an emergent pattern in Trump’s executive orders. That pattern is one in which a supreme leader works to curry favor and loyalty among law enforcement, while simultane- ously positioning them as potential tools of authoritarianism. “I think that what Trump and his administration imagine is something like the unitary executive all the way down — directing what the priorities are for all law enforcement personnel,” she told CRN and New Times. “It’s not really about enforcing the ‘law,’ but ensuring that the specific directives of the president are carried out.” Among other things, Trump’s executive orders have placed control of the southern border in the hands of the U.S. Department of Defense and called for “provision of military and national security assets” to assist local law enforcement agencies. Trump has also used his executive orders to decry a “lawless insurrection against the supremacy of federal law,” which he says is underway among state and local officials whom the administration views as being insufficiently compliant with its mass deportation plans. Furthermore, through executive order, Trump has called on the heads of DHS and DOD to craft recommen- dations on whether he should invoke the Insurrection Act. Other provisions of these executive orders have called for the unification of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies through the creation of “Homeland Security Task Forces” (HSTFs) in all states, unified under one “operational command center.” Strongly echoing recommendations contained in the docu- ments we’ve obtained, Trump has ordered these fusion-center-like HSTFs to pursue his immigrant mass deportation agenda, and to also engage in enforcement actions against state and local officials whom the administration views as working contrary to their objectives. These executive orders have also granted greater immunities, legal protec- tions and resources (including military assets) to state and local law enforcement agencies and officers. The executive orders also called for enhanced sentences for those convicted of “crimes against law enforcement officers.” Broadly, the Trump administration’s immigration power grab has inspired protests and become the subject of ongoing lawsuits. Taking a step back and looking at Trump’s executive orders, Pishko sees a troubling scenario emerging — namely, the creation of an apparatus that could be redi- rected to punish targets of Trump’s choosing. “The biggest concern I have is that if (Trump) decides to bring all of local law enforcement under his purview and use it to conduct mass deportations and/or mass surveillance of certain groups of people, that it would be very easy to do that — he would have a lot of manpower,” Pishko said. “Right now, it’s immigrants. It could change (...) things could switch pretty quickly to other groups. It could switch to protesters. It could switch to academics. It could switch to journalists.” The Project 2025 Border Security Workgroup documents obtained by CRN and New Times detail the creation of this new militarized law enforcement structure — nationwide — through the course of this year. They lay out many of the steps that so concern Pishko. Crafted in secret, their recommendations are seemingly becoming reality with every passing week. And if the documents are to be believed, many more alarming developments are to come. This article is the first in a planned Big Takeover investigative series exploring the contents, implications and authors of here- tofore unreported Project 2025 documents obtained by CRN and New Times. This story is also a part of the Arizona Watchdog Project, a yearlong reporting effort led by New Times and supported by the Trace Foundation, in partnership with Deep South Today. The Border Security Workgroup documents specifically discuss strategies for “counter- intelligence” to combat “an insider threat” to Donald Trump’s agenda — defining the supposed threat in a way that could be applied to journalists, lawyers and protesters, among others. (Grace Monos) The internal Project 2025 plans call for a Commander of Domestic Security Operations that would oversee law enforcement and the military. (Internal Project 2025 documents) The Big Takeover from p 11 12
