Experts warn of more attacks and terrorism as Trump hacks law enforcement budgets to fund his deportation plans
Federal cuts to local and state terrorism combating efforts have raised concerns among advocates and researchers about the possibility of more attacks at a time when threats of violence are on the rise.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has directed his administration to reallocate some law enforcement resources to assist in carrying out his mass deportation agenda. That includes shutting down a national database that kept track of attempted and successful terrorism and targeted violence events and cutting FBI staff tasked with focusing on domestic terrorism.
The decision to shift focus has left some violence prevention advocates fearful that it could create gaps in security measures, leading to tragic events.
'It's simple: we will see more school and workplace violence, more hate-fueled violence and terrorism and our political leadership will see more assassination attempts,' William Braniff, the former director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security, told the Guardian.
The purpose of the center is to provide federal resources to local law enforcement, schools, and nonprofits in helping prevent targeted threats and attacks. In March, approximately 20 percent of its staff were terminated during federal workforce cuts.
'This is the government putting itself at risk,' Braniff added.
Officials across the country have hinted at similar concerns.
During a town hall earlier this month, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told an audience that federal resources for state and local domestic terrorism combating efforts were depleting, ProPublica reported.
'The federal government used to prioritize domestic terrorism, and now it's like domestic terrorism just went away overnight,' Nessel said. 'I don't think that we're going to get much in the way of cooperation anymore.'
In March, the administration shut down the Terrorism and Targeted Violence program, which maintained a public dataset of targeted violence instances to assist professionals in understanding the scope of violence throughout the country.
The dataset provided specific information, including findings that perpetrators of this type of violence are increasingly older than previously thought, and it's more targeted at schools – data that some have accused the Justice Department of missing for several years.
Just days before DHS terminated the project, the team said it identified a 25 percent increase in terrorism or targeted violent events in the first two months of 2025 compared to the same time period last year.
Those findings were consistent with DHS's 2024 Homeland Threat Assessment, which predicted the terrorism threat would 'remain high' over the next year. The assessment cited violent extremist responses to domestic sociopolitical developments and international events as a potential reason for increasing attacks.
Yet, federal domestic terrorism combating resources for local and state officials appear to have been scaled back.
Jacob Ware, an expert on domestic terrorism at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Reuters that 'there is a broader desire, I think, within the administration to, at best, ignore data and put their head in the sand and, at worst, to realign resources away from this battle.'
Concerns about potential increasing threats and attacks have led some lawmakers to sound the alarm.
Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois has asked FBI Director Kash Patel and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to reverse course on it's approach to domestic terrorism combating efforts, calling it a 'institutional pullback from confronting the full scope of domestic terrorism.'
A spokesperson for the Justice Department told ProPublica that it is 'focused on prosecuting criminals, getting illegal drugs off the streets, and protecting all Americans from violent crime.''Discretionary funds that are not aligned with the administration's priorities are subject to review and reallocation,' the spokesperson added.
The Independent has asked the White House for comment.
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