By JOHN LESLIE
Trump has announced a federal takeover of the District of Columbia police and deployed more than 800 National Guard troops to the city, claiming the need to crack down on criminals and homeless people. Trump tried to bolster his claims of widespread crime by saying that Washington, D.C., is “dirty, disgusting” and full of “drugged-out maniacs.” But his order ignored the fact that violent crime has fallen there and in cities across the country. The DC police were placed under the control of the Justice Department.
Trump also stated his intention to “take back” other cities, singling out Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Oakland for possible military occupation. Previously, Trump cited his power as president to quell “insurrections” in order to deploy over 5000 Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles against peaceful protesters.
On Aug. 12, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is evaluating plans to establish a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force.” It would be composed of some 600 National Guard troops stationed on standby to be rapidly deployed to U.S. cities in order to put down protests or unrest. The Civil Disturbance Force could come together by 2027, the report said.
This use of the military, coupled with the massive increase in funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement (ICE), is a demonstration of Trump’s authoritarian ambitions. The rapid expansion of ICE will only worsen the current abuse of power by masked federal agents, terrorizing families. Despite Trump’s campaign rhetoric about targeting so-called “criminal aliens,” ICE is going after immigrants without any criminal records, snatching people as they go to their citizenship hearings, and separating children from families as they arrest parents in front of their kids. Places formerly off-limits to ICE, like churches, are now subjected to raids.
In an effort to side step the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the use of military forces for civilian law enforcement, Trump issued a memo on April 11 that declared a 60-foot wide strip of land spanning three states along the southern border as a “military installation” to “address the emergency.” This allowed troops who are stationed there to act as de facto border police.
Trump’s first months in office have been an unrelenting assault on democratic rights, workers’ rights, immigrant workers, and LGBTQ people. The round-up of immigrant workers has implications far beyond what directly affects immigrant communities. The purpose of this reactionary and racist campaign is not just to catch “criminals” but to terrorize immigrant workers and their allies. The white supremacist nature of Trumpism is revealed in the way immigration policy has targeted Black and Brown people, while the regime brings in white South African farmers with fake claims that genocide is taking place against white people in that country.
ICE: Trump’s political police
Trump has taken the tools given to him by past administrations and directed them into a mass deportation regime using a myriad of federal agencies, including the FBI, ATF, and the Postal Inspection Service to augment ICE and Border Patrol efforts. FBI field offices were directed to shift personnel from other investigations to immigration enforcement. ICE, which is supervised by Trump loyalist Kristi Noem, is an unaccountable, rogue organization acting as Trump’s political police.
MSNBC correspondent Julio Ricardo Varela writes, “ICE was created in 2003, when immigration enforcement was restructured in the wake of 9/11. As part of the newly formed Department of Homeland Security, the agency emerged from a climate of fear and mission creep, with a mandate that fused counterterrorism logic with immigration policy. The result was a militarized, opaque agency that quickly expanded its power.”
Varela continues, “Under Trump’s return, ICE has its strongest political ally yet. Enforcement is being ramped up with little regard for the courts, the justifications or the consequences. But the speed and scale of expanded enforcement is only possible because of how ICE has been structured under a bipartisan consensus.”
Funding repression
The budget bill signed by Trump in July contains a massive increase in funding for ICE, making ICE the largest U.S. law enforcement agency, with the addition of up to 10,000 more agents. ICE could also subcontract enforcement to mercenary companies. Additionally, the administration is planning to deploy 1700 troops to assist with immigration enforcement and detention. Difficulty in recruiting agents has led ICE to offer a signing bonus of $50,000, and up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness. Retired federal workers are being offered the $50,000 bonus to return, along with a “dual compensation waiver.” Additionally, ICE has eliminated age restrictions on recruits.
Formerly, the age limits were from 21 years old to 37 or 40, depending on the job title. Now, the limits are from 18-59. Education requirements for agents, which required a bachelor’s degree, have been relaxed. On Aug. 6, the Department of Homeland Security posted on X, “Serve your country! Defend Your Culture! No undergraduate degree required!” in an open appeal to white racism.
Trump has already emboldened white nationalist groupings with his rhetoric, and after years of complaints regarding white supremacist infiltration of police at all levels, there are legitimate concerns about fascist infiltration of ICE. In February, James Joseph Rodden, assistant chief counsel for ICE in the Dallas area, was exposed as the administrator of a white supremacist X account. In June, an ICE officer was observed during a raid as wearing a valknut tattoo, which is often associated with neo-Nazi and white racist groupings.
The budget bill also allocates $45 billion to building new detention centers. According to the Brennan Center, the new funding will “approximately double immigrant detention capacity, from about 56,000 detention beds to potentially more than 100,000. Private prison firms—many of which were significant financial supporters of GOP candidates for Congress as well as the president’s election campaign—will reap major financial benefits from this spending, as nearly 90 percent of people in ICE custody are currently held in facilities run by for-profit firms.”
According to The Independent, funding for ICE “surpasses the annual military budgets of Iran, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Iran, and at least 23 countries.” This makes ICE, ostensibly an internal police agency, one of the top 20 most well-funded militaries in the world.
Abuses
Mass arrests and mass detention of immigrant workers will undoubtedly lead to more abuses, with reports already citing overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, forced labor, lack of beds and bedding, inadequate food and water, and exposure to extreme temperatures. There are also allegations of racism, sexual assaults, medical neglect, and physical abuse, with 14 reported deaths in ICE custody during 2025.
The Guardian reports: “Migrants at a Miami immigration jail were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates ’like dogs.’” Detainees at the so-called Alligator Alcatraz, an open air prison in the Everglades, are held in cages and exposed to mosquitoes with bright lights on at all times.
What to do next? Abolish ICE! Oppose military occupation!
Working people must build a robust mass defense of immigrant communities and against ICE and military occupation. We must build a unified fightback on multiple fronts to push back Trump’s immigrant round-up and to thwart attacks on free speech and the right to organize. This also means building a campaign not just to hold police agencies accountable, but to abolish these repressive forces entirely. The military occupation of cities must be met with mass resistance at every level.
Community defense and emergency response networks, based on participatory and democratic assemblies, can be a crucial component of the infrastructure of resistance. Community defense, combined with united front mass actions, must involve the ranks of the unions and all other social forces opposed to Trump’s authoritarianism. Another urgent task is preparing a break with the capitalist Democratic Party. We can’t afford illusions in a party that is complicit in waging genocide in Palestine and has been a key factor in the growth of the repressive apparatus.
