Border Deportation is a For-Profit Scam
Tom Homan, Trump's "border czar" was quietly collecting consulting fees from the GEO Group—one of America's largest private prison companies—right before rejoining the administration. Now Homan leads the charge to massively expand detention capacity through contracts funneling hundreds of millions to his former employer. This textbook corruption creates a system where prison companies essentially run enforcement policy, arresting whoever they want without due process because each prisoner generates profit. Meanwhile, detention centers with horrific conditions have already seen nine deaths since inauguration. We're witnessing the transformation of immigration policy into a private profit racket where human suffering becomes a business model.
Fired For Defying Doge
The authoritarian purge continues across federal agencies as Musk's operatives systematically remove civil servants who resist illegal directives. Michael Nedd, a 30-year Bureau of Land Management veteran, was escorted out by security after telling his staff to ignore an unauthorized DOGE-backed memo freezing internal job moves. The message is clear: follow orders from unvetted operatives with questionable backgrounds, or face immediate termination. This isn't government efficiency—it's authoritarian control through terror, installing fear and intimidation throughout the federal workforce.
ICE Accessing Surveillance Network
ICE is quietly building a mass surveillance network using private companies and unofficial arrangements, accessing Flock Safety's nationwide license plate camera system through local police "favors" despite having no official contract. Internal logs show thousands of post-inauguration searches tied to "ICE WARRANT" and "illegal immigration" targets. This represents the quiet construction of authoritarian infrastructure that begins with immigration enforcement but will expand to track anyone the regime targets. Today's immigrant surveillance becomes tomorrow's political opponent tracking. The surveillance state is being built in shadows, without oversight, documentation, or accountability.
Judges Under Attack
Trump's attacks on judges are generating real-world violence as U.S. Marshals data reveals a staggering spike in threats against federal judges since his return to power. From March 1 to April 14 alone, 162 judges were targeted—more than double the previous five months combined. This surge directly correlates with Trump's escalating public attacks on judges who block his executive actions. Nearly a third of all federal judges have faced threats this year. Trump's rhetoric isn't just inflammatory—it's generating real-world violence against the last independent check on his power.
Private Security
The situation has become so dire that federal judges are exploring creating their own armed security force because they no longer trust Trump's Department of Justice to protect them. Facing bomb scares, SWAT hoaxes, and escalating threats, the judiciary recognizes what many refuse to acknowledge: when judges can't rely on executive branch protection from executive-incited violence, democracy has fundamentally broken down. The fact that Chief Justice Roberts is reportedly considering judicial law enforcement arms tells you everything about where we stand as a constitutional republic.
These developments reveal authoritarianism's multi-front advance: corruption that turns policy into profit, surveillance networks built in shadows, civil service purges that eliminate resistance, judicial intimidation that paralyzes the courts, and institutional breakdown so complete that judges consider private armies. The machinery of democratic destruction operates simultaneously across every lever of power, from immigration detention to federal land management to judicial security.
Day 128 shows us that authoritarianism isn't creeping—it's here, grinding forward with methodical precision across every institution that once protected American democracy.
The Trump Tyranny Tracker is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The Trump Tyranny Tracker is a production of narativ.org.
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