Trump Is Building His Own Paramilitary Force

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Aug 27, 2025

Radley Balko, a seasoned journalist focusing on policing and criminal justice, discusses the alarming rise of ICE's power under the Trump administration. He argues that Trump is attempting to create a personal paramilitary force prioritizing loyalty to him. Balko highlights the erosion of civil rights and the militarization of police, raising concerns over the authoritarian implications of these radical shifts. He also examines the chilling effects of immigration policies on communities and the potential for escalating conflicts in urban America.

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INSIGHT

Shifting Federal Law Enforcement Funding

The Trump administration is reallocating enforcement funding toward ICE and CBP while cutting traditional crime agencies' budgets.
Radley Balko warns this builds institutions more loyal to the president than to legal norms.

INSIGHT

Manufactured Crisis Enables Militarized Tactics

The current escalation is driven by a manufactured crisis rather than organic public-safety need.
Balko says this enables aggressive, spectacle-focused tactics rather than targeted enforcement.

ANECDOTE

Recruitment Appeals To Extremist Sentiments

Balko describes ICE recruiting people who relish displays of cruelty, citing racist recruitment imagery.
He warns new hires will overwhelm any existing community-service culture in agencies.

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ICE now has the biggest budget of any law enforcement agency in America.

“ICE and Customs and Border Protection have long been the most rogue, kind of renegade and certainly pro-Trump police agencies in the federal government,” explained Radley Balko, a journalist who’s covered policing for decades. “What I think we are seeing right now is Trump is attempting to build his own paramilitary force. They want people whose first, ultimate loyalty in this job is going to be to the president.”

Balko is the author of “Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces.” And he’s been tracking the changes at ICE and the Trump administration’s escalating law-and-order tactics on his excellent newsletter, The Watch.

Mentioned:

“ICE’s Mind-Bogglingly Massive Blank Check” by Caitlin Dickerson

“The police militarization debate is over” by Radley Balko

Book Recommendations:

The Highest Law in the Land by Jessica Pishko

Unruly by David Mitchell

Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Jack McCordick. Fact-checking by Will Peischel. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Mixing by Isaac Jones. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Michelle Harris, Rollin Hu, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin, Aman Sahota, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

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