February 25, 2025 01:59 PM UTC

Mass Deportation Plan from Private Military Contractors Includes Colorado Police Chief

• 3 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

President Trump’s mass deportation promise has thus far not lived up to its fantastical billing, and Trump is reportedly growing upset about the “numbers” being reported back to the White House.

As Reuters explains:

President Donald Trump deported 37,660 people during his first month in office, previously unpublished U.S. Department of Homeland Security data show, far less than the monthly average of 57,000 removals and returns in the last full year of Joe Biden’s administration…

…Trump campaigned for the White House promising to deport millions of illegal immigrants in the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Yet initial figures suggest Trump could struggle to match higher deportation rates during the last full year of the Biden administration when large numbers of migrants were caught crossing illegally, making them easier to deport.

These slow-moving deportation efforts may be giving new life to some in Trump’s orbit who are advocating for a much more aggressive and terrifying approach. As POLITICO reports today:

A group of prominent military contractors, including former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince, has pitched the Trump White House on a proposal to carry out mass deportations through a network of “processing camps” on military bases, a private fleet of 100 planes, and a “small army” of private citizens empowered to make arrests.

The blueprint — laid out in a 26-page document President Donald Trump’s advisers received before the inauguration — carries an estimated price tag of $25 billion and recommends a range of aggressive tactics to rapidly deport 12 million people before the 2026 midterms, including some that would likely face legal and operational challenges, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO. [Pols emphasis]

The group, which includes some former immigration officials, is led by Prince, who has close ties to Trump, and Bill Mathews, the former chief operating officer of Blackwater, the military contractor known for its role in providing security, training and logistical support to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan during the war on terror.

The emergence of the proposal, marked “unsolicited,” is indicative of the major hurdles the administration faces as it struggles to find the resources to fulfill Trump’s ambitious deportation agenda. The administration’s desire to make good on that signature campaign promise has created an opening for private contractors who see a rare area in which the Trump administration is likely to increase spending.

Deporting 12 million people in two years “would require the government to eject nearly 500,000 illegal aliens per month,” the document says. “To keep pace with the Trump deportations, it would require a 600% increase in activity. It is unlikely that the government could swell its internal ranks to keep pace with this demand …in order to process this enormous number of deportations, the government should enlist outside assistance.” [Pols emphasis] 

The first thing that jumps out is the stated goal of deporting 12 million people, which obviously means targeting a wide swath of immigrants well beyond those with criminal histories. For context, the largest mass deportation in American history — which took place during the Eisenhower administration — ejected about 1.3 million people from the United States. Attempting to deport 12 million people in a two year period would be a staggering feat requiring more than a few detours around the law in order to achieve. Back to POLITICO:

The latest proposal from Prince repeatedly argues that the federal government does not have the resources necessary to fulfill the president’s goal and offers a step-by-step plan for expanding the administration’s immigration enforcement capacity — from contracting a team to locate deportable migrants to deploying a fleet of 100 aircraft that the team says would be necessary for “two years to clear the illegal population out of the nation.”

But the pitch for rapid-fire deportations includes a slew of suggestions that appear to ignore key facets of the nation’s complex immigration laws, according to three former immigration and government officials who reviewed the proposal for POLITICO. The proposal recommends the formation of a screening team of 2,000 attorneys and paralegals — one of the several elements designed to streamline functions that would normally be in the government’s hands. The team would determine whether individuals are eligible for deportation and refer them to the litigation team, for which the proposals recommend an additional 2,000 attorneys and paralegals to conduct mass hearings…

…The proposal notes that it is “unlikely that the government could apprehend all of the 12m illegal aliens without outside assistance,” and suggest deputizing 10,000 private citizens, including military veterans, former law enforcement officials and retired ICE and CBP officers, giving them expedited training and the same federal law enforcement powers of immigration officials. The document says after the border deputies are trained, they will be under Homan’s command. [Pols emphasis]

Yikes! Deputizing 10,000 private citizens to assist in deportation efforts is a scary proposal. At least one of the people who would likely be tapped to oversee such an effort is a career police officer with deep Colorado ties:

Aside from Prince and Mathews, other key personnel are listed in the document, including former immigration officials and military contractors: retired ICE officials Robert Alfieri and Michael Somers; Dirk Totten, a decorated Army officer and a former executive vice president for Gulfstream; Richard Pere, a longtime military contractor and aviation expert who worked with Blackwater; Ken Chavez, the chief of police in Severance, Colo…[Pols emphasis] 

Chavez is a well-known name in Colorado law enforcement circles. In fact, Chris Bolin of The Greeley Tribune recently penned a long feature story on Chavez, who took over as police chief in Severance, Colorado in January 2024 (Severance is a small town north of Windsor in Weld County). Chavez spent 42 years with the Denver Police Department before retiring in March 2021:

Chavez served in five of the six Denver districts, investigated gangs and homicides, responded to some of Denver’s higher-risk calls as part of the metro SWAT unit, patrolled and investigated crimes at Denver International Airport and supervised the communications center before it transitioned to fully civilian staff. Not to mention investigating sexual crimes and running Denver’s school resource officer program at different periods.

Chavez also had his hand in almost every key moment the city saw during his tenure.

He helped with Pope John Paul II’s visit in August 1993, wrote the department’s operations manual for the 2005 NBA All-Star Game, worked security at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and was acting Commander of District 6 — which encompasses downtown — during the unrest in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.

Chavez was also part of Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s security detail during the Summit of the Eight in June 1997.

Chavez also served in the Army National Guard for four decades, a period that included two deployments to Afghanistan, one to Iraq, and another to Haiti in 1995. Somewhere along the way, Chavez presumably met Blackwater founder Erik Prince, himself a former Navy SEAL. The extent of Chavez’s involvement in Prince’s deportation proposal is unclear.

It’s hard to know how serious Trump may take Prince’s plan for mass deportations, or even if the President has seen the proposal. But during Trump’s first administration, there was legitimate concern from administration officials that Trump was considering a Blackwater-led privatization of the war in Afghanistan.

Deportation efforts thus far may not be racking up the numbers that Trump wants, but they have succeeded in frightening residents and non-residents alike in Colorado (except for “Lizard Man”). If a well-known Colorado law enforcement official is involved in efforts to exponentially ramp up deportations, that’s something that Coloradans need to understand.