Summary:

• President Trump rescinded restrictions on the transfer of certain military-style equipment to police on his first day in office.
• With recent (ICE) raids, this renewed ability of police to militarize poses danger to U.S. residents, especially in states where local police cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
• The 1122 Program is one of many pipelines that enable police militarization, but lawmakers must curtail it, or at the least, mandate more transparency of the program, to prevent more police violence.

On his first day in office of his second term, President Trump rescinded a slew of Biden era executive orders. Among them was a policing executive order that limited the transfer and sale of federal military equipment to state and local law enforcement. The now rescinded order also contained measures to improve use-of-force data collection, ban the use of chokeholds, restrict no-knock entries, and ensure appropriate use of body-worn cameras.

With the rescission of the Biden-era policing executive order, under federal law, local police are now free to obtain grenade launchers and grenades, explosives, armored vehicles for any purpose, weaponized drones, and combat-configured aircraft. Particularly in the context of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and arrests, this renewed ability of police to further militarize poses a danger to U.S. residents. Local police often cooperate with federal authorities on immigration enforcement via ICE’s 287(g) Program, especially in states where “sanctuary cities” (local governments that have deprioritized or refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement) are outlawed. Now that local police have even more avenues to arm themselves with military-style equipment during an era of heightened arrests and forced removals, the threat of harm to U.S. residents is increasingly grave.

The 1122 Program is one of many pipelines that facilitate police militarization. Established in 1994, the 1122 Program allows law enforcement agencies to purchase discounted military equipment for counter-drug, homeland security, and emergency response activities. These discounts encourage local police departments to purchase equipment from department of defense contractors, propping up the same military-industrial companies that profit off of war abroad and police violence at home.

Along with its more well-known sister 1033 Program, which received significant scrutiny in 2014 during Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, the 1122 Program provides police agencies access to battlefield-style equipment such as armored vehicles, MRAPs, and long-range acoustic devices. However, unlike for the 1033 Program, there is no federal mandate for data collection or tracking of purchases through the 1122 Program. Without public and governmental knowledge of what is being sent to which agencies through the 1122 Program, there can be no accountability for use of this equipment by law enforcement agencies.

Given this frightening development, it is promising news that a number of municipal police departments have refused to assist ICE in tearing apart communities through raids and arrests. However, the Justice Department has since taken legal action against these local and state officials.

Conversely, other states and localities have signaled and demonstrated their willingness to aid and abet federal immigration crackdowns. State level executive orders and local police coordination with ICE raises concerns with how these agencies could potentially use military style equipment already in their possession, or soon to be in their possession, in immigration raids.

Policing in the United States is becoming increasingly dangerous by the day. The recent removal of restrictions on police militarization will further equip law enforcement agencies with more nefarious tools to surveil and suppress our country’s residents. If our nation does not act quickly to curtail this power, we will continue to see with increasing frequency and scale how the 1122 Program and other police militarization pipelines intensify violence against marginalized communities.