War on Drugs

Trump Says His Task Force Is Fighting a Foreign 'Invasion.' It's Busting Americans for Drugs Instead.

How Trump rebranded the war on drugs as a fight against illegal immigration

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 6.23.2026 10:00 AM

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From the first day of Donald Trump's second presidential term, the administration has been offering a plan to protect the country from an invasion. Executive Order 14159, issued on the day of Trump's second inauguration, frames America as a country under siege by illegal immigrants, many of whom, it said, "present significant threats to national security and public safety, committing vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans." The invaders, the order insisted, intended to engage in "espionage, economic espionage, and preparations for terror-related activities."

To this end, the order instructed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the attorney general to establish a new Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) in every state.

Many federal task forces already existed—organizations where federal law enforcement agents work with state and local agencies toward a particular goal. The purpose of these new task forces would be "to end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations throughout the United States," the order said. The task forces would also work to "dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks…with a particular focus on such offenses involving children, and ensure the use of all available law enforcement tools to faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States."

Since the task forces were launched late in August 2025, the messaging around them has hit the same themes as Trump's order. The top of the HSTF website says in big letters: "We don't negotiate. We dismantle." Below that, there is a picture of law enforcement officials looking like storm troopers, all decked out in army fatigues and riot gear and carrying big guns. Under the picture it says: "The threat doesn't respect borders. The response has to match it."

The new task forces "work congruently in one overwhelming force to eradicate threats and conduct criminal enforcement against transnational criminal organizations, including cartels, trafficking networks, and terrorist organizations," a DHS spokesperson told Reason in May.

They "integrate federal, state, and local law enforcement to focus targeted investigations on Foreign Terrorist Organization-designated drug cartels and transnational gangs," announced Jonathan Tapp, special agent in charge of the FBI New Orleans Field Office, in March. "Our mandate is clear: dismantle the [foreign terrorist organization]–designated cartels and transnational gangs root and branch," testified former acting director of ICE Todd M. Lyons in February. "Through unified partnership, we will continue to defend the homeland from evolving threats, safeguard critical infrastructure, and strengthen national resilience," declared FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia in a December press release.

By spring 2026, evidence of their work started popping up everywhere. "This prosecution is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion," the Department of Justice would announce in press releases about criminals caught, convicted, and/or sentenced. "The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad," as well as prosecuting and removing "the most violent criminal aliens."

In April 2026 alone, at least 30 of these announcements were posted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) website.

Laurance Newby was one such case.

In June 2025, Newby left his room in Lexington, Kentucky's Avid Hotel, put a bag in his Range Rover, grabbed a water bottle, and headed out for a walk on the Brighton East Rail Trail. When he finished his walk, police were waiting for him. A rookie drug dog named Bella had been "alerted to the odor of illegal drugs emanating from the vehicle," according to an affidavit from Christine McHugh, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Asked in court later what justified setting the drug dog upon the car, McHugh said it was because they saw Newby "placing bags into his vehicle."

On three occasions, Newby had sold fentanyl to confidential informants in and around Lexington. After this, authorities had begun surveillance. Sometimes a DEA agent would run on a treadmill next to him at the gym.

Using Bella's sniff to justify a search of Newby's Range Rover, the cops—who had not obtained a warrant for the search—found nearly 1 kilogram of cocaine and around 440 grams of a fentanyl mixture inside. Newby was arrested and eventually accepted a plea deal. In April, he was sentenced to 15 years........

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