Donald Trump’s private fascist militia is rapidly expanding into a special forces-trained paramilitary monster. And we all need to understand that before it’s too late. Two new reports expose how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is becoming more dangerous.

One shows how lucrative private contracts for military training, weaponry and ammunition have been amassed. A second exposes secret ICE programs which tie together Trump’s war on immigration with his plans to crush internal opponents, namely the political left.

Shadow contracts

US outlet The Lever wrote:

ICE is spending big on firearms, munitions, and politically connected weapons training firms to further militarize its forces.

Their report deep-dives into federal records which show:

a variety of shadowy private security and weapons firms have been tapped to provide firearms and combat training to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) snipers and special response teams

They added:

several of which had never before received any federal contracts.

Why does ICE need snipers?

Shady military firms in Texas, Virginia and Florida look set to earn big bucks from Trump’s government. One firm named Target Down Group is run by ex-special forces troops. The Lever claims it will even provide advanced sniper training to ICE:

In the Department of Homeland Security’s September justification for the no-bid contract, officials wrote that ICE had an “immediate requirement to procure precision fires and specialized observation capabilities for the national Special Response Team (SRT) sniper program.

The imperial boomerang anyone?

You might also ask what sort of immigration enforcement needs snipers? Trump’s ICE, it seems.

The Lever said watering down training requirements, restrictions and vetting has seen the ICE workforce explode by 120%. And it has benefitted massively from Trump’s spending spree on internal security.

ICE prepares for the coming war

American reporter Ken Klippenstein also published a report on ICE. He laid out how it is becoming a lethal militarised juggernaut. First, the vital context:

As a military intelligence source told me, the ICE crackdown isn’t just about immigration; it’s about gathering intelligence in support of Trump’s war on cartels — as well as on Antifa, on the radical left, and those who are “anti-American,” and anyone else they consider terrorists.

Referencing Renee Good, the Minnesota woman ICE shot to death in her car on 7 January, Klippenstein’s source said:

And since the administration has been so quick to label everyone, including Renee Good, terrorists, it’s no wonder they think they’re at war.

Tactics leaked

And a source within ICE leaked a trove of documents to Klippenstein. That individual said there was deep concern in parts of the US government about ICE. In fact, they fear it might even alienate pro-cop Americans:

One senior FBI official tells me that there is widespread concern that ICE’s actions are coloring the American public’s view of law enforcement in general.

Klippenstein’s report contains documents on a range of ICE operations across the country. The leaks detail their methods, tactics and thinking.

You can read his full report here.

This isn’t just an immigration enforcement agency. It is being rapidly turned into a military force trained and equipped for war and staffed by far-right thugs. ICE’s recent execution-style killing of Renee Good in Minnesota may foreshadow a deadly acceleration of the paramilitary violence to come.

Good wasn’t the first, not by a long shot — and she won’t be the last. But her death – and the way the government has doubled down on her killing, slandering her as a political radical — may foreshadow an even darker turn.

Featured image via Reuters

By Joe Glenton

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