How 9/11 enabled a police state under our noses.

It never fails. Every day, multiple times a day, I receive an angry response to a post on Bluesky or Substack claiming that none of the ICE or federal police are “real ICE or federal police.” They believe there are not enough federal police to be committing these kidnappings and that they are all paid bounty hunters or vigilantes. Some say they are militia or January 6ers who were pardoned. And while I have no doubt these types are jonesing to get in the fight, I still have seen little evidence they have.

It dawned on me this morning that many of you were not alive during 9/11. Many others were too young to remember the conversations we had after the towers were destroyed and we were left with memories of watching our fellow citizens jump to their deaths. I will never forget the man falling to his death head first with one knee bent.

Never.

But I will also never forget that the discussion of the day was not just about revenge, but about what would happen if we allowed our government more authorities including some that would violate our civil rights. France also had this discussion at the time as well. How much powers should we allow our governments to have during these national terrorist attacks to protect ourselves. The warning and lessons from World War II were on our minds.

This began the Patriot Act and other roll backs of our privacy rights in the never ending desire to prevent the next attack. Never mind that our government never held anyone accountable for 9/11 and that Bush and Cheney would not testify openly about the details. Much like the J.F.K. assassination, we will never know many of the truths from that day.

But what we do know is that after 9/11, Americans gave police and firefighters immense powers, respect and privileges.

Watching first responders run into those buildings knowing they would likely die, knowing they were inhaling toxic fumes and seeing traumatic injuries and deaths began the “thank you for your service” mantra. We put them on a pedestal that was higher than any pedestal before.

They were all heroes and warriors that day.

The law enforcement that survived 9/11 because they were not there that day, told us they would set about to keep us safe, to ensure this never happened again. And so we did not baulk when they demanded new IDs, changes in security as we flew, made lists of Muslims present in the US. We did not question when G.W. Bush made crossing the border without inspection a criminal charge for asylum seekers as opposed to the administrative violation it had been prior to 9/11. We did not question when CBP and ICE were created and when immigration agencies began spreading their wings and expanding their jurisdictions.

The current head of CBP, former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, helped design the CBP and Border Patrol intelligence units back then. He and others are the law enforcement officials who took advantage of our fear to create the police state we see today.

They began by lowering their standards for hiring by farming out background investigations to private companies. This is what brought them agents who had prior rape convictions, known ties to cartels and even agents who were not citizens themselves. Then they made sure to help create crises along the southern border that enabled them to constantly demand more money, power and agents. Contrary to popular belief, the last six years of the Obama presidency saw some of the lowest numbers of illegal crossings. Yet, all you heard from right-wing press was that the border was being overrun. You might even think you saw video after video proving this, but if you go back and look, you will see this is when the coverage of the border became dominated by the Border Patrol Union and right-wing outlets. In general, it was only a handful of reporters putting out the same videos over and over. With no response from democrats or the left, this was the narrative.

And so, we allowed them to build up the federal agencies beyond what was actually necessary. While the immigration agencies were always whining and crying because they claimed they were overwhelmed, they were also simply not putting agents on the border. They were sending them to Central America to teach our border policing. They were running around the border with CNN news filming fake crossings. They were buying toys with money given for migrants care.

But more than anything, they were supporting and demanding policies like the Migration Protection Protocols and Title 42 which both shut down the asylum system knowing full well it would cause people to cross illegally. Every Border Patrol and CBP agent knows that if you meter or shut down the asylum system, those seeking asylum will turn right around and cross illegally.

The federal immigration enforcement agencies supported these policies that caused people to cross illegally during the first Trump Administration and during the Biden Administration. This intentionally created a four year backlog of asylum applications at the border, which in turn forced more people to cross illegally. Why did they want people to cross illegally? Because they wanted the optics of an “invasion” by Black and Brown people. This is the exact same play as was done by right-wing politicians in Hungary years ago; using the optics of large groups of migrants of color to elicit fear and hate from white people.

Now we see the plans that law enforcement leaders like Rodney Scott put into play decades ago coming to fruition. Those cops who survived 9/11 took advantage of our grace, of our appreciation, of our unresolved racist heritage to bring in this police state, to bring in cop cities and turn nearly every police department into an immigration task force. They are building soft-sided tent cities all over the US, disappearing people without due process to war torn countries, arresting citizens and creating warrants after arrest, arresting mayors and arresting congressional members for questioning them.

For what it’s worth, none of these cops were there that day. None of these ICE agents saved anyone on 9/11, yet they all receive the benefit of our respect for those who did. I firmly believe none of these cops would have rushed into those towers. They are all cowards and losers. They would have stayed outside and pushed away others trying to rescue people as they did in Uvalde, as they do today as they rip families apart.

They are cops, deputies and federal agents. While I have no doubt that militias, vigilantes and hired bounty hunters are to come, there’s been little to no evidence as of yet that they are being used. I believe we will see this happen once they pass the big budget bill. Until then, rest assured there are enough federal agents. 130 federal agencies have armed federal officers who are currently quickly being trained to spot Black or Brown immigrants. Just like with “invasion,” you feel like they are everywhere because of the media and videos, but this is again simple optics. They are mostly concentrated in democratic led cities.

From fake crossings to fake crises to federal agencies coordinating with Fox and News Nation to create optics of “invasions” and violent protests that are instigated and fueled by cops, this is the safety 9/11 has brought us.

After 9/11, we gave law enforcement our trust. They created an authoritarian police state corrupted by conmen and hired many criminals as agents. It is past time to clean house.

Borderland Talk with Jenn Budd is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.