Private Citizens Are Eager To Help With The Trump Administration's Mass Deportations, And The Border Czar Might Enlist Them

As the Trump administration ramps up its mass deportation plans, some private citizens and staunch MAGA supporters are seeking to take matters into their own hands by helping federal agencies in deporting their neighbors.

The New Yorker detailed in an article how an increasing number of Trump supporters who are far-right activists have recently felt emboldened to showcase their anti-immigration stances, with some going as far as becoming border vigilantes or local hosts to right-wing media seeking to advance their cause.

That is the case of Cade Lamb, a Trump supporter-turned-border vigilante. He is the son of Mark Lamb, another right-wing politician and former sheriff in Pinal County, Arizona. Lamb, the outlet noted, provides border tours for right-wing media figures. He co-hosts a podcast on "practical, kinetic solutions to many of todays [sic] societal and political problems" with Kyle Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of shooting Black Lives Matter protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Lamb makes it his mission to capture on video what he views as the dangers of the southwest border, The New Yorker notes. He does much of this in his capacity as a private security guard. He has his own company, Sonoran Asset Group, and was also at one point employed by Mayhem Solutions Group, a private security company that received twenty million dollars from the State of Texas to bus immigrants from the border to liberal cities such as New York and Washington, D.C.

The Arizona native and his colleagues are not the first to engage in private security linked to the border. Longtime border journalist Todd Miller told The New Yorker that federal border-security agencies such as CBP and ICE have long relied on private contractors, including security guards, who do menial work at ports of entry so that Border Patrol can conduct more rigorous missions.

Militia-style groups flourished during the Biden years as border crossings increased and anti-immigrant rhetoric soared within right-wing media. But these groups have also existed since the 19th century. In fact, CBP, the now-federal agency responsible for the U.S. borderlands, descended from "mounted watchmen" who toured the desert on the lookout for Chinese immigrants.

The outlet credits this growing trend as a direct result of the Trump administration's deportation tactics, which have helped blur the lines between the military, law enforcement and civilian enthusiasts. And the administration seems eager to adopt this narrative.

Shortly after being appointed border czar, Tom Homan, who is linked to border militias and many far-right influencers promoting the "border invasion" rhetoric, told Fox News, "thousands of retired agents, retired Border Patrol agents, retired military... want to come in and volunteer to help this President secure the border and do this deportation operation."

In other instances, it is clear that Trump administration officials believe it to be more productive to continue blurring these lines. This came to full focus at a recent Border Security Expo, an annual convention showcasing expensive gear, ranging from robot dogs to powerful A.I. facial and license-plate recognition software, where acting ICE director, Todd Lyons, said, "we need to get better at treating this like a business." he described his agency's goal to be like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings."