On April 16th, four Western state Attorney Generals (AGs) met in Denver, Colorado, to hear a range of fears concerning Trump’s disastrous Make America Great Again (MAGA) strategy.
Colorado Attorney General Philip J. Weiser introduced his fellow AGs, including Nick Brown of Washington, Anne Lopez of Hawaii, and Aaron Ford of Nevada. He told a packed house of concerned citizens that “nobody is above the law” and that “we live under the rule of law, not the rule of whim.” [i]
AG Brown followed Weiser, telling those assembled that not one of Trump’s actions, including his orders, is the law. Things we worry about, he said, like education, transportation, and health, are under threat and require actions by federal, state, and local governments and the people to resist Trump’s drive towards oligarchy.
A speaker taking to the microphone expressed concerns about losing Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds in Denver. She told the crowd that, in addition, hiring freezes were reducing farm support, impacting families with children, people with disabilities, and transgender individuals.
The four AGs heard about Trump’s reduction of housing eligibility. A speaker told the AGs that the historical focus on the needs of homeless adults meant providing “Housing First” across all elements of the homelessness response system.
However, Trump moved to criminalize homelessness by appointing Robert Marbut to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Marbut proposed the “Housing Fourth” approach to criminalize panhandling, banish homeless services to city outskirts, and treat food and shelter as privileges, thus following Trump’s agenda of criminalizing homelessness.
The AGs and those attending heard that Trump’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) approach denies life-saving programs to transgender individuals while forcing Businesses to drop DEI programs out of fear of Trump’s retaliatory nature.
Ola Kukoyi, the Executive Director of the Good Shepherd Organization, expressed her concerns about the acts of Immigration Enforcement to hinder free speech and their illegal deportation actions, which are creating a Constitutional Crisis leading to the end of fundamental human rights not seen since the Holocaust crisis.
When asked what they [AGs] are doing, AG Brown expressed his fear and that of his family, but said that none of that can match those fearing ICE snatching them off the streets. He pointed to Trump, Vance, Steven Miller, Kristi Noem, and Marco Rubio as lying. Brown said, “We cannot get used to it, even though we know it is going to happen,” adding, “We will continue to tell the truth, bring actions, and support people and organizations without a voice.” [ii]
The AGs heard concerns about Small business owners who depend on international cooperation feeling defeated, people going without homes, and a mental health crisis in the short and long term. They heard about Trump’s strategy to undermine transgender health needs.
The crowd and the AGs heard that the current federal administration emboldens a white national agenda while pushing bills to undermine fundamental human rights for millions, all of which require people to hold our federal government accountable to the law and increase awareness of these power abuses.
A speaker told of his friend who lived in a car with his wife and small child. Then, the Speaker said his friend got a job working in construction, but when two men attacked him, those assaulting him blamed him for the altercation, and ICE intervened, took his phone, and put him into custody while being denied legal help. Now, the Speaker said, the man’s wife and child are on the streets.
Continuing, the Speaker reminded the crowd that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) continues to take people without due process under the guise of Christianity. The law is a social contract, the Speaker added, that when broken, fascism takes root. The Speaker said that’s where we are right now, then he asked, “Will anyone hold this administration accountable? The Speaker concluded by saying that we have no protection if we don’t do this right now.”
A Federal Firefighter Management Team member told those assembled that they had 44 teams last summer, reduced to 41 now, raising concerns about further drops. Trump has terminated 37% of the Forest Service firefighters, she said.
Of course, speakers raised concerns about the Supreme Court’s decision to return the authority to regulate or ban abortion to individual states, resulting in criminal penalties in many of the states.
[i] President George W. Bush created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002. He formed the largest, most extensive spy and enforcement ring in our Nation’s history. Before its creation, intelligence gathering fell into two separate domains under the National Security Act of 1947, including 1: Defense Agencies and the CIA, and 2: Domestic (FBI). Under that umbrella, powerful national intelligence assets (for example, the National Security Agency) were, with rare and judicially approved exceptions, not available for use within the borders of the United States, primarily to ensure that Constitutional rights remained inviolable and enforceable.
With the formation of DHS came the consolidation and merging of data records (Including recently IRS records), helicopters, planes, drones, Predators, and, most importantly, fusion centers across the country, allowing local and federal law enforcement to collaborate on intelligence gathering and surveillance. The internet also provides a significant source of information for U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Federal agencies monitor social media platforms for investigations and threat identification. However, the internet can also be used for propaganda, misinformation, secret operations, and counterintelligence.
DHS has a workforce of 260,000 employees and 22 components, including the Transportation Security Agency (TSA, Customs and Border Protection, Cyber Security and Information Security Agency (CISA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Coast Guard, Secret Service, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, and the Science and Technology Directorate.
With a Budget of $52.2 billion, Congress confirmed Trump’s pick of Kristi Noem, former Governor of South Dakota, with experience staging phony political stunts, to head HHS in January 2025
See Foley, Hoag, “State AG Insights” for a list at: State AGs Take the Lead in First Month of Trump Opposition | State AG Insights | Foley Hoag LLP
