Think Trump's deportations have been bad? Wait until his civilian army gets started.

[allegorical oracle]

by Brandon Bolte and Isabel Skinner, opinion contributors - 06/02/25 11:00 AM

Over the past few months, Erik Prince, former head of the private military company Blackwater (now known by the name Constellis), has pitched multiple proposals to the White House to help with mass deportations. Prince has argued that achieving President Trump’s aggressive deportation goals will require the government to “supplement” ICE’s capabilities. According to one of his proposals, a new Prince company, 2USV, would train and deploy an army of as many as 100,000 armed and deputized citizens.

The administration has not yet decided to implement the plan, though Trump said he “wouldn’t be opposed to it, necessarily.” As academic experts on non-state armed groups like militias and on immigration, we are alarmed at this possibility.

This is because scholarly research on the type of group Prince would mobilize suggests three key patterns. First, these groups are often tasked with committing human rights violations in pursuit of the government’s political goals. Second, the current domestic political environment in the U.S. is conducive to their formation. Lastly, employing groups like this would allow federal government officials — including the president to evade accountability for illegal or inhumane tactics.

snip

Paramilitaries are often thought of as characteristic of dictatorships, but research shows that informal pro-government militias tend to emerge in “weak” democracies where leaders are navigating fragile institutions of accountability. “Strong” democracies usually prevent these groups from emerging because they have more robust constraints on the executive branch and corruption is harder to hide from the public

https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5325548-erik-prince-paramilitary-proposal-immigration/

[Fiendish Thingy]

1. Right now, it's just Prince pitching Trump on the idea.

I haven’t heard a word about any proposed legislation or funding.

If legislation gets drafted, this will be the ultimate test for Dem legislators in demonstrating their opposition to this fascist regime.

[Ritabert]

3. When has lack of legislation stood in the way of Project 2025?

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. Repeatedly

Trump 2.0 has lost 96% of its cases before the courts.

And before you say “and when has a court ruling stopped them?”, the answer is nearly always (with the exception of the Garcia case).

Reminder:

Congress would have to authorize funds to pay Prince’s stormtroopers- his goons aren’t going to work for free.

[allegorical oracle]

5. Funding was passed in March for deportation through September 30...

FUNDING:
American Immigration Council - March 14, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC, March 14, 2025 – Today, Congress passed a full-year (CR) to fund the federal government until September 30, 2025. The CR is not a simple continuation of last year’s funding. Instead, it allocates substantial increases in funds to support the Trump administration's mass deportation efforts.

Specifically, it provides at least $430 million more to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration detention beds, transportation, and deportation costs, and an additional $136 million to the Department of Justice to support anticipated increases in detention of immigrants.

https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/news/congress-approves-even-more-funding-detention-deportation

PLANS
Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY
Originally published April 25, 2025

The Trump administration is preparing to dramatically escalate the number of private contractors it uses to help track, manage, detain and deport people living illegally in the United States, with an eye-popping potential price tag of more than $45 billion over the next several years.

The White House has set a goal of removing 1 million people annually, making good on President Donald Trump's campaign promise to conduct the largest deportation operation in history.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/25/trump-contractors-ice-detentions-deportations/83250623007/

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. So, do the math.

The Trump administration is preparing to dramatically escalate the number of private contractors it uses to help track, manage, detain and deport people living illegally in the United States, with an eye-popping potential price tag of more than $45 billion over the next several years.

Specifically, it provides at least $430 million more to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration detention beds, transportation, and deportation costs, and an additional $136 million to the Department of Justice to support anticipated increases in detention of immigrants.

So, the funding from the CR won’t begin to cover the anticipated costs of expanding ICE’s capacity for detention, transportation and deportation.

Congress will have to pass additional legislation. I haven’t heard any details on how much is allocated in the OBB for ICE expansion, and specifically for hiring private contractors, and deputizing them to arrest/detain immigrants. I’m not sure if that part can be included in a reconciliation bill.

[orangecrush]

2. I'm skeered

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