Editor’s note: The following excerpt is from Chapter 4 of “Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in American History,” by Todd Bensman.
When the American people elected Donald Trump on November 8, 2016, my job suddenly changed. Overnight, I was required to fear, prepare for, and prevent the assassination of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and a coming bloodbath in downtown Austin.
The threats emanated from a new front about which I knew almost nothing: the ultra-violent “anti-fascist action” movement most commonly known today by its contraction, “antifa.”
The Washington inauguration of Trump spawned widespread antifa riots beyond the security perimeter. Rioters burned cars, smashed store windows, took control of street blocks, and attacked officers trying to stop it. The melee went on for hours. Police pounded the rioters with stun grenades, tear gas, and bean bag projectiles. Six officers were injured. As Trump walked along part of the parade route toward a group of black-clad demonstrators, the Secret Service hustled him back into his armored vehicle. It took riot police hours to regain the streets with brute force, arresting more than 200.
What we had seen in Austin up to that point was a small taste of more to come. As I’ve mentioned, a searing animus about the candidate’s immigration agenda, in chants, waving Mexican flags, and some of the placards, fueled the violence against the earliest Trump rallies. After the election, that catalyzing energy went into the “Occupy ICE” national protest campaign. Militants set up tent camps near ICE properties throughout Texas and set about trying to disrupt the detentions and deportations of illegal immigrants. At the same time a fiery propaganda campaign began to demonize ICE agents. Credible threats to their lives led to an immigration-related phase of our intelligence work, which continued for me until I left government service in August 2018.
It wasn’t always this way. In fact, these positions had never spread as far and fast on the far left as they did during this time. The contemporary Democratic Party has always loathed illegal immigration, its leading voices the greatest standard bearers of border and immigration policies that would qualify as outright Trumpian.
Consider the Democratic Party labor leader hero Cesar Chavez of United Farm Workers (UFW) union fame, whose legacy is so cherished among the party elite that President Biden positioned a bronze bust of Chavez on his Oval Office desk alongside family photos. Surprisingly, the renowned champion of