Project 2025 and the Pulse of American Protest

Chukwuka

Alright everyone, welcome back to The New Sentinel. I’m Chukwuka—with me are Major Ethan, Olga, and of course, Duke. Today’s topic, you know, it’s heavy—but important. Project 2025. Specifically, the immigration overhaul that's driving headlines and, frankly, a lot of everyday anxiety. So, let’s ground this: the core idea is that Project 2025 is—well—moving from the Department of Homeland Security to this new centralized thing, the Border Security and Immigration Agency, the BSIA. Whole cloth restructuring, lots of agencies consolidated, right? Duke, I can see you nodding.

Duke Johnson

Yeah—look, Chuks, what they’re doing is cuttin’ out the middle layers. Instead of DHS, you got BSIA. You got CBP, ICE, USCIS—all jammed together. It’s military-grade chain of command, top-down, supposed to be more efficient. And the wall’s back in play. Real dollars. Mandatory funding, none of those continuing resolutions. And EO after EO—executive orders—Trump’s pounding the table on this. I mean, Schedule F is back, and if you’re not onboard, you’re out.

Major Ethan “Sentinel” Graves

That’s right. They're running at, what, about 60% implementation right now? Last time I checked the trackers, about nine months into the second Trump term, you’ve got executive orders all over, a lot of the operational shakeups are already moving. You see it most on the ground: USRAP, the refugee program—basically on ice. Visas revoked in bulk. And they’re doing stuff like tripling the 287(g) enforcement partnerships. You hear the numbers—you feel the impact.

Olga Ivanova - Female, Progressive

And it is not just numbers, my friends. There are very real human lives at stake when you talk about things like mass visa revocations, halting refugee flights. Hundreds of thousands are affected—some 530,000 with TPS or humanitarian status are now left in limbo. And, of course, we see the promised “merit-based” reforms. E-Verify mandates, H-1B and H-2 visa caps. I have seen reports: up to 600,000 visas could be cut annually over the next ten to twenty years. That is not only bureaucratic change—that is families pulled apart, businesses disrupted.

Major Ethan “Sentinel” Graves

True, Olga. You know, during my time as a captain, I had a man in my unit, naturalized outta Colombia. Smart, worked his way up through legal programs that’re now on the chopping block. He filled a critical role. Tactical comms expert. When you talk about merit-based, the question is, are you keeping the kind of people who really add to the country? Or are we just shrinking the pipeline so much we lose out? It’s easy to say 'protect the border,' but I’ve seen the economic side too—units and, heck, whole industries need specialized skills. I’ll be honest, it’s not so black-and-white.

Chukwuka

Major, you’re touching on something folks forget—immigration reform, it’s not only about who’s coming in, but who’s already woven into the fabric, who supports the system. The executive push is strong—Title 42-like expulsions, Remain in Mexico, the detentions—they go for swift results. I mean, the border encounters are down by half since last year, yes, but the social and economic fallout is a massive undertone. We're definitely gonna feel that as we move forward. Let’s not lose sight of that, yeah?

Olga Ivanova - Female, Progressive

And, you know, the response on the streets really says a lot about where we are. October saw what’s now called the “No Kings” protests. Five, maybe seven million people, countrywide—marching, rallying, just… holding up a mirror to all this executive overreach. I was in D.C.—it felt like a living history lesson. There were families, many with children, terrified about ICE raids or losing parents to detentions. Some held little signs reading “No more kings, no more thrones.” It is truly a sign that the pace and scope of these shifts have left people feeling powerless and afraid.

Chukwuka

You know, Olga, a lot of people keep trying to draw those comparisons to the Civil Rights era, or the 2017 Women’s March. I mean, numerically, these protests are massive. But… ah, the focus is different. Back then, systemic change—moral clarity, right? Now, it's executive power. It’s about authority—who gets to decide over millions of lives. We discussed something similar when we looked at shutdown protests last fall, didn’t we? It’s almost like American protest cycles have shifted. Less hopeful, more reactionary, more fragmented.

Duke Johnson

Hold up, Chuks, I gotta push back a little. Lots of these folks protesting didn’t show up for the southern border chaos back in ’24. Where was that outrage then? Now, yeah, you got every group—labor, students, families—all out together. But the vibe is different. Feels to me like folks are protesting the messenger, not the policy. That said, seven million—yeah, that’s big, no argument. Feels more like a pressure valve on political anger, not some unified cause like King or even the Women’s March, which, sorry, at least had a clear manifesto.

Major Ethan “Sentinel” Graves

And the scale’s intense. You look at the numbers—cities, small towns, even some rural pockets. But on the ground, it’s missing that sense of, I dunno, a shared destiny. Maybe that’s ‘cause it’s about, like, preserving certain rights, not seizing new ones. I saw it up close in Texas—there’s a sense of, “Hey, the rules are changing too fast.” People want a say, not just a signature on an executive order. I’ll admit, the outrage is bipartisan, even if the reasons split red-blue as ever.

Olga Ivanova - Female, Progressive

Ethan, I think that’s spot on. Watching parents in D.C.—these weren’t activists, they were just desperate for someone to hear them. One mother told me she kept her son home from school, afraid she’d never see him again if ICE came to the door. That is the undercurrent, beneath all the noise and sign-waving. In times of uncertainty, protests become less about distant policy and more about immediate, intimate fear. I’ve covered protests before, here, in Russia, elsewhere. But the anxiety here felt different, more palpable, because homes and futures are literally on the line day by day.

Chukwuka

We’re right to pull back and see—this is not only about policies, it’s about trust in the system and who it serves. Maybe it’s not the Civil Rights era, but it feels historic in its own right. Maybe not for “what” was demanded, but for the raw anxiety—not just anger. Americans, maybe more than ever, feel the system is not only failing, but changing underneath their feet. Let’s dig in to how that’s actually playing out in families and in the economy, because the protest is just the surface. The ripple effects run much deeper.

Duke Johnson

Yeah, lemme call it like I see it: You get what you pay for, and if you cut out a chunk of your labor force—mainly from ag and construction—NFAP’s projecting we lose, what, one to two million jobs, easy. And we’re hurting for skilled labor. There’s a drag on GDP, 0.5, maybe even one percent. That’s a hit you feel in your wallet, not just some number in a think tank report. And nobody’s talking about the $23 billion in annual taxes ITIN filers pump in. All that’s at risk if folks head for the exits or can’t renew their status. It’s not just about border security, man. It’s supply, demand, and cold, hard cash.

Major Ethan “Sentinel” Graves

Amen to that, Duke, and I’ll tack onto it: the family and social impacts. You start losing HUD housing aid for mixed-status families, that’s two-thirds of college students getting shuffled out in 23 states. Schools see it first—but it doesn’t stop there. I mean, with over five million kids living in homes with at least one undocumented parent, safety nets get overwhelmed. Healthcare, education, crime reporting—drops 20% in hard-hit areas. That breeds fear, and when folks are afraid, nobody’s calling the cops, not even when it’s really bad.

Olga Ivanova - Female, Progressive

And as always, it hits the most vulnerable first. I’m seeing immigrant families coming apart—not hypotheticals. 1.2 million with DACA or TPS lost status or are anxious about losing it. There’s already over 30 lawsuits, court backlogs just climbing. Privacy? Forget it—noncitizen data is being published. It is a chilling effect—on reporting crimes, on sending kids to school, even on going to hospital. Fear is not a policy, but it is certainly an outcome.

Chukwuka

Let me bring it personal for a second. My family... we’re a typical Nigerian-American story in a lotta ways. Dad came in the ‘80s, naturalized, paid his taxes, worked those 16-hour shifts. Still—when word goes around that status checks are up and privacy is off the table, even U.S. citizens in mixed households start glancing over their shoulders. That's not a way to build trust or unity. And honestly, isn’t that where American identity gets tested? Is it about sovereignty, about who belongs, or about upholding the idea that anyone can find a home here if they work hard enough? Because right now, millions are living that debate—not reading about it, living it.

Olga Ivanova - Female, Progressive

It is easy to cite numbers—backlogs, lawsuits, a projected 10% loss in the agricultural workforce—but each is a thread in the fabric of communities. And every thread frays a little more each time an executive order drops or a policy shifts overnight. We must remember, these are human stakes, not just legal precedents.

Major Ethan “Sentinel” Graves

Couldn’t say it better. Change is coming hard and fast, but the cracks in the foundation—the legal confusion, the economic fallout, the anxiety—those’ll be the legacy if things don’t get balanced soon. Doesn’t matter if you’re on the left or right.

Duke Johnson

Guess we’ll see if Congress wakes up. Numbers don’t lie—people can twist ‘em, but you can’t ignore ‘em forever.

Chukwuka

Alright, that’s our hour, folks. These issues aren’t going anywhere, and neither are we. Next week, we’ll look ahead to the Supreme Court showdown brewing over citizenship. Until then, thanks for sticking with us—and Major, Olga, Duke, appreciate your insight as always.

Olga Ivanova - Female, Progressive

Thank you, team. Stay safe and stay kind out there.

Major Ethan “Sentinel” Graves

Always a pleasure. Let’s keep the conversation sharp, folks.

Duke Johnson

You know it. Watch your six, people. Later.

Chukwuka

From all of us at The New Sentinel, good night—and never stop asking questions.