THE BIG TAKEOVER Inside the secret plans to give Trump command of America’s police. BY BEAU HODAI S ince President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, his administration has ruthlessly prosecuted his promises of mass deporta- tions. He has sent deportees to Guantanamo Bay and a “terrorist” prison in El Salvador. He has placed control of the southern border in the hands of the military. And, despite promising to focus on hardened crimi- nals, the administration has widened its immigrant dragnet by targeting docu- mented and undocumented immigrants alike. Trump has done much of this in defi- ance of the judiciary, while claiming an amount of executive power previously unseen in American history. To the average American, this admin- istration’s approach may be reminiscent of an angry monkey hurling shit at a wall. But these anti-immigrant measures echo a plan that was meticu- lously crafted, out of public view, over at least the year preceding this Trump presidency. The purpose of that plan is to drasti- cally restructure domestic law enforce- ment under the command of the president. The president would then have the machinery to target immi- grants en masse and to crack down on those who oppose him. These plans and the identities of those who authored them have remained secret — until now. Cochise Regional News and Phoenix New Times have obtained a trove of documents laying out these plans. While these documents have specific implica- tions for border states such as Arizona and Texas, this plan is the fruit of a right-wing national security approach that sees the border as a 50-state problem. As such, the documents portend much wider consequences for the country at large. In coming months, CRN and New Times will deliver reporting revealing the contents of these documents, their implications for the country and their authors. This article is the first in that series of investigative reporting. This reporting is based on internal Project 2025 blueprints that lay out draft proposals for the Trump adminis- tration’s immigration and law enforce- ment agenda. The documents contain several timelines for these actions, which are set to unfold throughout this year. Through the first four months of the Trump administration, the docu- ments have repeatedly proven prophetic, leading us to believe they are likely to continue to forecast Trump’s moves. MEET THE ‘BORDER SECURITY WORKGROUP’ Project 2025 was an effort by several far-right think tanks to craft a policy playbook for a second Trump presi- dency. Per materials we’ve obtained, the documents were created by a subgroup of the larger Project 2025 effort called the “Border Security Workgroup.” This subgroup, which until now was unknown to the American public, was tasked with crafting immigrant mass deportation plans, along with other law enforcement and national security policy. Though Trump repeatedly denied any involvement with Project 2025 during the election cycle, documents obtained by CRN and New Times strongly suggest that the group worked closely with Trump and his team, right through the election and up the White House steps. It is unclear whether the Project 2025 documents we have obtained constitute the group’s final policy proposals, or whether Trump accepted these policies. It is clear, however, that many of the agenda items laid out in these documents have come to pass during the early months of this Trump presidency. We have also seen items that seem to have been crafted largely for propagan- distic purposes come to pass. This has included the administration’s demoni- zation of some immigrant groups — particularly Venezuelans accused of being members of the gang Tren de Aragua — as “terrorist” threats. The administration has often deported these so-called terrorists on the basis of flimsy evidence and without due process. Internal Project 2025 documents obtained by CRN and New Times clearly state that targeting these alleged immi- grant “terrorists” has been a vital part of a proposed communications strategy. The aim of that strategy: to galvanize political support for a broader plan to dramati- cally restructure and militarize law enforcement, nationwide, under the command of President Trump. Who put these plans together? Documents show that many of the authors have ties to Christian national- ists and other far-right extremists. PROJECT 2025 AND TRUMP Project 2025 is an effort led by the Heritage Foundation, arguably America’s most influential conservative think tank. The effort included input from a coalition of various right-wing public policy foundations and individual contributors. In April 2023, the group published a 922-page policy handbook titled “2025 Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.” In essence, the handbook sought to reshape the federal government under a second Trump administration around two pillars. The first is the once-obscure “unitary execu- tive” legal theory, which essentially consolidates unchecked executive power in the hands of the president. Critics argue the theory is unconstitu- tional and reframes the presidency as akin to a dictatorship or monarchy. The second pillar is hard-line Christian fundamentalism. The Heritage Foundation was Donald Trump’s administration has claimed many immigrants are gang members and terrorists — often on the basis of flimsy evidence and without due process — sending hundreds to an infamous prison in El Salvador, a country led by Trump ally Nayib Bukele (left). (Win McNamee/Getty Images) Donald Trump already has issued a number of executive orders that seem intent on bringing the Border Security Workgroup’s recommendations to fruition. (Win McNamee/ Getty Images) 10
