How an ex-US Marine became vital in the fight against Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement

Whatever the worst case scenario, Janessa Goldbeck has probably imagined it. In 2023 the US Marine veteran consulted on a documentary that war-gamed a presidential candidate staging a military coup. Last year she advised local leaders on the hypothetical of troops being deployed to their streets for immigration enforcement. Janessa Goldbeck, chief executive of Vet Voice FoundationPhotograph: Courtesy Vet Voice Foundation Janessa Goldbeck speaks in front of the Capitol.Photograph: Courtesy Vet Voice Foundation Janessa Goldbeck.Photograph: Courtesy Vet Voice Foundation Then Donald Trump won and Goldbeck’s nightmare came true. “It’s a little surreal to see something that we’ve been talking about and thinking about and stressing out about,” the chief executive of Vet Voice Foundation, a nonprofit advocacy organisation, says via Zoom from her home in San Diego, California. “When we first did War Game , the film, some folks would ask during our press tour, ‘Do you think you’re scaring people? This feels a little hyperbolic?’ It doesn’t feel good to say I told you so in this moment.” Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has sought to politicise the military like no other commander-in-chief before him and use it as a cudgel against Democratic-led states and cities. He has deployed thousands of national guard troops to Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans and Washington DC , triggering protests from local officials and residents. Having read the Project 2025 policy document, Goldbeck saw this coming. Last year Vet Voice Foundation , which mobilises veterans and military families to defend US democracy, ran exercises with local elected officials, activists and journalists to prepare for a second Trump administration conducting aggressive immigration enforcement. It has now become a vital resource for governors, state attorneys general and mayors trying to weather the storm. Goldbeck, 40, explains: “This year the vast majority of our work has been supporting litigation to halt or slow down national guard deployments, providing subject expert witnesses, retired generals, to talk through with staff what the footprint of these deployments might look like and how to prepare, and training for activist groups on who the guard is, who they’re not - the difference in the uniforms that the guys at ICE are wearing versus the national guard. “Then serving as advisers for governors and mayors who are living day to day through this, helping them shape their communications and ensure that things don’t become more violent. That’s been a huge line of effort for us.” Janessa Goldbeck speaks in front of the Capitol. Photograph: Courtesy Vet Voice Foundation It would be a mistake to assume that all national guard members are Make America Great Again (Maga) diehards eager to do Trump’s bidding. In every city except the capital, their role has eventually been restricted by courts to guarding federal property. Some have told Goldbeck that it is tedious and unfulfilling work. “There’s a wide range of feelings for the folks I’ve spoken to, ranging from boredom - this is a waste of time - to anger because...

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