A recent article published in the Texas Observer is part of “Seeds of Distrust,” an ongoing investigative collaboration exposing a far-right misinformation network spreading anti-immigrant propaganda using the “invasion” narrative. The organization, Border911, promotes a Trumpian false narrative about the border, drug trafficking, and immigration while equating migrants to terrorists and terrorism.
“It’s about a record amount of drugs flowing across the open border that has killed more Americans than any terrorist organization or war … It’s about a historic number of known or suspected terrorists using our vulnerable southern border as a gateway to enter this great nation and attack from the inside. It’s about our right to be a sovereign nation.” – Border911 Mission Statement
Border911 is closely affiliated with the America Project which claims, “The Southern Border is the greatest National Security threat we have ever faced as a Nation,” while boasting they have “information has been hidden from the American people for too long!” The website also claims to be exposing and “fixing the election administration negligence prevalent across the country” using various debunked conspiracy theories to justify their stance.
“The America Project is an America First non-profit organization defending rights and freedoms, election victory, and border security to save America.” America Project About Page
Like most other extremist misinformation networks, both Border911 and the America Project have direct ties to billionaires and are often referred to as dark money organizations. Similar groups are typically funded through donor-advised funds, shell companies, political action committees (PACs), and Super PACs. Since many are 501(c)(4)s, they are generally under no legal obligation to disclose their donors even if they spend to influence elections.
Border911 was founded by Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump, and was originally part of the American Project. Both groups promoted lies about the 2020 election being stolen away from Trump through various conspiracy theories. Homan also has direct ties to election deniers Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor, and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne.
The organizations investigated in the recent Texas Observer article are just two of many similar organizations often connected by lawmakers and ideologies. Homan is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and a contributor to Project 2025 while Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a member of the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI), and Rep. Mark Green (TN), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, have both publicly supported Border911.
CPI not only has similar interests to those of the America Project and Border911, but the group has a membership made up of some of the biggest names in Congress such as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Mike Lee (R-UT). The list also includes Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Ralph Norman (R-SC). Norman praised CPI and its efforts on the House floor in May.
Former South Carolina Representative (1999-2005) and Senator (2005-2013) Jim DeMint founded CPI in 2017. DeMint served as the President of The Heritage Foundation for four years. He played a major role in the Trump transition team with the “Mandate for Leadership” used as the basis for the President’s first budget and numerous other administration reforms. Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows is a senior partner at CPI.
Other groups like Former Trump advisor Steven Miller’s America First Legal are also intricately connected to CPI, Heritage, and Project 2025. Digging deeper you’ll find that former Trump staffers and advisors are sprinkled within the leadership of these groups. Former Director of the National Economic Council under Trump Larry Kudlow and former Assistant to Trump Kellyanne Conway are both chairs of Linda McMahon’s America First Policy Institute (AFPI). Vice-chair of AFPI Carla Sands is listed as a contributor to Project 2025.
The connections between all the biggest conservative nonprofit groups marketing hate like CPI, Heritage, the America Project, and Border911, show how conservative policy institutes are fueling the misinformation pipeline to control narratives with manipulated, out-of-context data. This misinformation then makes it to hate groups who promote the narratives that lead to violent attacks and hate crimes. In many cases, their money ends up in the hands of hate groups.
To get to the root of growing hate in the U.S., we can not ignore the billions of dollars fueling and funding far-right extremism driven by wealthy white nationalist ideologues.
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