The White House’s recent memorandum, “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” represents a dangerous expansion of state power that threatens Trans people and organizations. 

The memo frames “extremism” as views or actions that conflict with “traditional American” values, including those about family, religion, and morality — explicitly naming “extremism on … gender” and hostility toward those who deviate from “traditional” views. The memo also expands the definition of “domestic terrorism” beyond acts of physical violence to include broad categories, such as “organized ideological campaigns,” “networked movements,” and “efforts to intimidate or influence political outcomes through fear or disruption.” 

Framed as a matter of national security, this memo directs federal agencies to surveil, investigate, and criminalize these “ideological networks” and “organized movements” — language that has historically been weaponized against marginalized communities, not used to protect us — and makes clear that the attorney general may designate these groups as “domestic terrorist organizations.” 

This framing allows the federal government to interpret collective Trans resistance — from protests and mutual aid to digital organizing — as potential threats. Under this memo, the speech and peaceful actions of Trans people may be included in their broad definitions of “organized political violence” or “radicalization.” This opens a pathway for escalating violence directed at Trans people through increased federal attention, scrutiny, surveillance, threats, harassment, and violence. In practice, any Trans person engaged in advocacy or community defense could be surveilled or criminalized under the guise of preventing “political violence.”

Rather than increasing safety, this memo further entrenches state surveillance and punishment for those who disagree with the current administration. Other specific targets outlined in the memo include “anti-fascists,” counting these groups as violent revolutionaries who must be dealt with by the government. It deflects attention from the real sources of violence that target marginalized people, while consolidating government power to suppress those who dare to advocate for fair and safe housing, healthcare, and self-determination. 

Gender Justice League understands the current landscape as one in which the federal government is actively targeting Trans people and communities through executive orders, policy, and other channels. We see this as part of a broader regime of state violence and institutional erasure: denial of identity, removal of protections, stigmatizing narratives, removal of resources, legal attacks, and creating a climate of fear. 
Trans communities have long known that expanded policing and national security frameworks have never brought protection for us; instead, they have brought profiling, criminalization, raids, fear, violence, and death.