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As the Trump administration widens its crackdown on immigrant communities and progressive activists, federal task forces are playing an important behind-the-scenes role. Organizers warn that institutions like the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) are targeting vulnerable communities and sharing the kind of information that facilitates Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. But some say the current political climate also presents opportunities as appetites grow for local and state agencies to cut ties with the federal task forces endangering their communities.

“We have an opportunity for more allies because more people are upset, more people feel that they are impacted, more people see their neighbor being dragged away, and they don’t like it, and so the body of people that feel like something should be done is larger,” Tracy Rosenberg, advocacy director at Oakland Privacy, told Truthout. “We should take advantage of that to protect people who have been vulnerable this whole time.”

JTTFs deputize state or local police officers as federal agents, meaning a local cop who is contracted to work with a JTTF has the same policing powers as an FBI agent, and the Department of Justice can shield them from litigation and local oversight. Often, those police officers no longer have to follow their own departmental regulations on the use of force or body-worn cameras. The arrangements also come with federal dollars and gear.

“The laws that apply to [local and state law enforcement agents in JTTFs] are the federal standards,” Sumayyah Waheed, senior policy counsel at Muslim Advocates, explained to Truthout. That means that “if there are more protective standards around privacy or around sanctuary that operate in a city or locality, then typically the agreements that underpin these task forces make the federal law the standard — sanctuary becomes kind of obsolete, and additional privacy protections don’t apply.”

There are about 200 such task forces nationwide with hundreds of participating state, local, and federal agencies. Other federal or state agencies have similar programs, such as ICE’s Border Enforcement Security Task Force and the network of state-owned and federally funded fusion centers. The task forces have well-documented records of profiling low-income and immigrant communities, as well as communities of color. They also have histories of targeting Muslims and civil and human rights groups.

Trump Counterterrorism Strategy Expands Administration’s War on Progressives

A local cop who is contracted to work with a JTTF has the same policing powers as an FBI agent, and the Department of Justice can shield them from litigation and local oversight.

A local cop who is contracted to work with a JTTF has the same policing powers as an FBI agent, and the Department of Justice can shield them from litigation and local........

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