By Linda Nwoke | Photo credit: bella1105 / shutterstock.com 

The forthcoming 2024 presidential election slated for November is crucial. Its outcome will have a profound impact, not just within the United States but globally. The effect of this election will touch every aspect of our lives, from social issues to the economy and beyond. 

Hence, the urgency of this moment cannot be overemphasized. 

In recent months, the political landscape has been fraught with various campaigns. One narrative stands out for its potential danger—the looming threat of an initiative known as ‘Project 2025 ‘. 

Democrats are sounding the alarm, warning of the possible reality and impact of a second term for former President Donald Trump and the risks of his return to the White House. According to a playbook from the Heritage Foundation-sponsored initiative Project 2025, the Washington D.C.-based organization, described as a conservative think tank, has a detailed plan to break down and rebuild the government outlined by conservative groups known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project.

In the over nine hundred pages document “Mandate for Leadership,” published in April 2023, they described a reimagined executive arm of government with detailed plans to redesign several federal government agencies that will better serve the United States of America’s next conservative President.

According to the Project’s website, the document, which contains training for both domestic and foreign policy agendas and a list of personnel, among other things, provides a governing agenda and a lineup of people on standby for implementing the operation “Rescue the Country from the grip of the radical Left.” 

They believe that conservatives should win elections alone; instead, with the proper conservative policy recommendations and properly vetted and trained personnel to implement them, they will take back the government.

Overview of Project 2025’s Primary Objectives

Project 2025’s mandate will attempt to overturn several policies that former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden instituted, including Obamacare and student loan forgiveness. It also demands an expansion of the commander-in-chief’s executive power.

The roadmap calls for reinstating Donald Trump’s executive order to support a president’s power to hire and fire federal officials by replacing civil servants with political appointees throughout government. It also intends to repeal aspects of the Affordable Care Act, empower Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport undocumented immigrants, and urge the Food and Drug Administration to reverse the approval of abortion pills. 

The plan also addresses LGBTQ+ issues and attacks “radical gender ideology”; it opposes same-sex marriage and gay couples adopting children by seeking to “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.” 

Experts Reaction

In a gathering of experts by the Ethnic Media Services, they highlighted that the dangers of the findings from the Heritage Foundation-backed project will affect many people. The panelist described the initiative as an “ideological agenda designed to push the United States toward autocracy” that will result in a system that will encourage one person as the final law and, if implemented, would undermine the power within the arm of governments, including the rule of law, the separation of powers, in addition to threatening civil liberties. The potential loss of civil rights is a significant concern for those who appreciate freedom and social justice. 

The team of experts agreed that the Heritage Foundation, the organization that sponsored the Project that promotes extreme policies that reduce freedom for women, opportunities for migrants, and other minor communities such as the LGBTQ+ communities, and others have a grand agenda that will be detrimental to the progress of the country.

The Threat to Immigrant Rights

Based on the analysis of the experts within the panelists, they explained how Project 2025 could undermine existing protection for immigrants, specifically by increasing executive control over immigration enforcement agencies, increasing the potential rollback of protections for asylum seekers and refugees, in addition to expansion of deportation policies, racial profiling, and immigration restrictions.

One of the panelists, Manjusha P. Kulkarni, executive director of Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Equity Alliance, a coalition of nearly 50 community-based organizations that serve and represent over one million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in one of California’s counties, stated that the Bill is a vivid threat to their immediate communities. 

Insights from the AAPI Equity Alliance

In her view, the Heritage Foundation-sponsored project provides insight into 2025. She explained that they had positioned the plan in places where it would be known and used and notably identified the Mass Deportation Agenda would have a substantial negative impact on many immigrants. 

The AAPI Equity Alliance Executive Director stated, “In Project 2025, there is a plan for a mass deportation force unlike anything we’ve ever seen. It would give broad authority to immigration agents at Ice to target, arrest, detain, and deport immigrants, including Asian immigrants from across the country.” 

Kulkarni explained that immigration agents could claim the unauthorized right to enter people’s private homes, schools, places of business, and even houses of worship. “It means federal agents would be going door to door to search for undocumented immigrants without a warrant from a judge and arresting people who they suspect to be undocumented.” Moreover she added, “We know that when officers suspect folks, that often means that it is suspicion that is not based on actual immigration status.”

Kulkarni explained that the more than 900-page document leverages every opportunity to hurt immigrant communities by the use of discriminatory terms like “illegal immigrants infiltrate and commit crimes.” 

Kulkarni also highlighted other impacts of the initiative, especially the anti-immigration agenda. Under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, nearly 15,000 AAPI individuals can work in the U.S. “The initiative could affect dreamers who can build their lives here without fear. If rescinded, families, friends, and communities will be affected. Let’s remember that for every person Project 2025 seeks to deport many, many others would be devastated by these policies and these actions,” she stated.

Similarly, the proposed Bill would end family-based immigration, a crucial mechanism for allowing several families to reunite in the United States. “Project 2025 would eliminate family-based immigration, which has been a vital tool for thousands of families to be able to reunite in the United States, including my very own. It would cut down the H-1B visa program, most of which go to Asian immigrants, especially those from India,” she explained. 

“Furthermore, there is also discussion of denaturalizing U.S. citizens and even removing birthright citizenship by those who are running for office,” says Kulkarni.

Effect on the Rule of Law and Civil Rights 

The sponsored initiative’s potential impact on democratic institutions will weaken accountability among the various branches of government. It threatens the judiciary’s independence and the potential for partisan manipulation of the courts. Sulma Arias, Executive Director of People’s Action Institute and People’s Action, explained that she intends to speak to almost half a million undecided voters or voters in conflict to raise awareness of the threats at their door.

Arias revealed that more education about the 2025 project in other languages, such as Spanish, is needed, as this creates misinformation and leaves communities without the opportunity to prepare for its possible execution. “We are especially analyzing the 2025 project from the perspective of what will happen with housing, what will happen with health care, and the need for public services, which is extremely important,” Arias explained.

Higher Drug Prices as an Agenda for the Project 2025

Arias, who also brings over 20 years of organizing experience to her role as Executive Director for People’s Action Institute and People’s Action, stated that, “One positive thing that we were able to see in the Biden-Harris administration is that they were able to negotiate with companies to lower the cost of prescription medicines, like insulin. That is huge for people. The price of insulin means the difference between life and death.”

Arias emphasized that Project 2025 benefits corporations by further privatizing essential public services like utilities. She urged people to recognize the corporate interests behind the initiative, particularly utility companies already overcharging communities. In her discussions with voters, many shared that their utility bills are often unaffordable, sometimes reaching $300. Project 2025, she explained, would give these corporations even more control, worsening the problem of price gouging in vulnerable communities.

Furthermore, the goal is to privatize the medical costs to corporations like United Health. “We at People’s Action are working on a campaign to expose what United Health is doing. For instance, in one year, it denied over 250 million cases while it had record profits for its investors. And those profits were from denying people the chance to have surgery they might need,” Arias stressed.

Thus, Project 2025 intends to ensure that Medicare and private corporations like UnitedHealth decide who gets the medical care they need.

For her part, Yvonne Gutierrez, Strategy Director of Reproductive Freedom for All, commented that the Project would prohibit abortion in all 50 states with or without the support of Congress and the courts, meaning they do not need a national abortion ban. 

LGBTQIA+ Rights Under Attack

To address the threat of the Project on the LGBTQIA+ communities, evaluated to include the potential for the rollback of marriage equality., weakened anti-discrimination protections in housing, employment, and healthcare, as well as the heightened influence of religious freedom as justification for discrimination against LGBTQIA+ individuals.

In terms of the facts for the LGBTQ+ community, Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, reacted that the Project will wreck many foundations of civil rights and LGBTQ+ rights would be lost, “The Transgender 2025 project abandons the act of being transgender or transgender ideology in favor of pornography and declares that it should be illegal anyway.” 

Hoang stated that if implemented, it would reduce time and allow discrimination based on race, color, religion, or condition and loss of past battles won through years of sacrifice. 

Tony Hoang highlighted the far-right influence behind Project 2025. He noted that over one hundred former Trump administration staffers contributed to designing the initiative, which aims to roll back LGBTQ+ rights. The Heritage Foundation, long known for opposing LGBTQ+ equality, and other far-right organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Association, and Family Research Council are involved. 

Hoang emphasized that these groups have historically attacked LGBTQ+ issues such as marriage equality, trans healthcare, military service, and inclusion in education, aiming to target vulnerable communities.

In his view, “The important thing now is to stay informed about what is to come, to make the right decisions now that there is enough time to protect the communities in danger,” stated Hoang.

Effect on Federal Funding 

Hoang stated, “Project 2025 would cut federal funding for gender-affirming care for children and adults.” He further explained, “that the initiative suggests revisiting Biden’s administration’s assertion that trans minors have the right to gender-affirming care and allows healthcare workers to opt out of providing care for religious reasons. The plan describes gender-affirming care for youth as a social contagion mainly affecting young girls.”

Tony added that they intend to revoke Medicare and Medicaid funding if they provide gender-affirming care to trans people. Likewise, they’ll replace reproductive freedom and the Department of Health and Human Services with the Department of Life. “Not just removing access to abortion care, but having this new agency take up the official stance that families consist of a married father and mother and children, and to redirect federal funds to support a biblically based definition of family. And why this matters, specifically for LGBTQ people, is that many of these clinics are a key source of reproductive health care for LGBTQ plus people like Planned Parenthood.”

What Next?

Several potential dangers posed by Project 2025 to various bodies and overarching implications are undoubtedly present. It is essential to remain vigilant, encourage advocacy, and mobilize collective action to protect rights.

Citizens must support policy leaders and advocacy groups working to counter Project 2025’s dangerous implications, thereby preserving democratic values and protecting vulnerable communities.

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