Read the DOJ memo: REVIVING THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY AND LIFTING THE MORATORIUM ON FEDERAL EXECUTIONS – DOJ Feb. 5, 2025
The killing state is back—bigger, meaner, and fully automated for maximum death.
Donald Trump has revived the federal death penalty, scrapping the Biden-era moratorium and pushing for a massive expansion of capital punishment. His February 5, 2025, memorandum—issued by the Attorney General—doesn’t just restart federal executions; it supercharges them.
This isn’t just a return to capitol punishment—it’s a nationwide state-sanctioned execution machine, freshly oiled and ready to kill.
The federal government is:
- Targeting undocumented immigrants for execution.
- Challenging Supreme Court rulings that limit the use of capital punishment.
- Expanding the Death Penalty for Drug Crimes: Overdose linked? You could face federal execution.
- Retroactive Death Sentences: Past cases reopened.
- Helping states carry out executions by providing lethal injection drugs and “logistical resources”.
This is more than a death penalty policy. This is state violence as a political weapon, mass punishment disguised as justice. If you think this stops at cartel bosses and serial killers, you’re not paying attention. This isn’t policy. It’s a blueprint for terror.
Trump’s February 5, 2025, Memo: SUPERCHARGING FEDERAL EXECUTIONS
Trump’s February 5, 2025 memo doesn’t just restart executions—it converts the federal government into a supplier of death, offering lethal injection drugs, execution facilities, and logistical support to states. It’s state-sponsored killing at industrial scale.
And for the first time in modern U.S. history, the death penalty is being explicitly tied to immigration status.
“Absent significant mitigating circumstances, federal prosecutors are expected to seek the death penalty in cases involving the murder of a law-enforcement officer and capital crimes committed by aliens who are illegally present in the United States.” (DOJ Memo, Feb. 5, 2025)
Translation: Undocumented? Arrested? Welcome to America’s new death row.
Historically, the federal death penalty has been reserved for extreme crimes—terrorism, mass murder, war crimes. Now? Your immigration status could make you eligible for death.
And it doesn’t stop there. Drug crimes are back on the chopping block. Trump is reinstating his 2018 death penalty policy for large-scale drug offenses—meaning cartel members, traffickers, and anyone linked to overdoses could now face federal execution.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
- Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs in 1971, framing addiction as a criminal issue rather than a public health crisis.
- Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act introduced mandatory minimums and the “three-strikes” rule, disproportionately targeting Black and Latino communities.
- Bill Clinton’s 1994 Crime Bill expanded death penalty eligibility for drug-related murders—one of the most draconian expansions in U.S. history.
- Trump’s 2018 memo reintroduced capital punishment for drug crimes, but executions never materialized—until now.
Where this leads isn’t a question—it’s a warning. If nonviolent drug crimes can carry the death penalty, what stops them from expanding it further? Will overdoses be classified as capital murder? Will protesters be labeled as terrorists? Will whistleblowers face execution for ‘betraying the state’?
The memo’s vagueness isn’t an accident—it’s a weapon. That’s how authoritarian laws work: they start in the shadows, then expand in broad daylight.
STATE VIOLENCE ON REPEAT: HOW EXECUTIONS HELP AUTHORITARIANS HOLD POWER.
This isn’t just an American story—this is how authoritarian governments use capital punishment to consolidate power.
HISTORICAL PARALLELS:
- Nazi Germany (1933-1945): Hitler expanded the death penalty for political dissidents, homosexuals, and “racial enemies.” Judges were ordered to seek execution in cases where imprisonment had been the norm. (facinghistory.org)
- Franco’s Spain (1939-1975): General Francisco Franco used the death penalty to execute political opponents and reinforce fascist rule. (executedtoday.com)
- China’s Anti-Drug Crackdowns (1980s-Present): The Chinese Communist Party routinely executes drug traffickers, often in mass public trials meant to instill fear and obedience. (hri.global)
- Putin’s Russia (2023-Present): Opposition leaders, journalists, and LGBTQ+ activists have mysteriously disappeared or been assassinated. (newsweek.com)
- Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines (2016-2022): Duterte’s “War on Drugs” saw police and vigilante death squads execute over 12,000 suspected drug offenders—many without trial. Under his regime, the justice system became a rubber stamp for state killings, silencing critics and eliminating political opposition. (hrw.org), (wikipedia.org)
Same playbook, different country. State killings are never about justice—they’re about consolidating power, controlling populations, and silencing dissent.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s model wasn’t about stopping crime—it was about turning the government into a killing machine. Now, Trump is bringing that model to the U.S.—federal executions, expanded death penalty crimes, and a push for state-sponsored killings.
RETROACTIVE EXECUTIONS: THE DEATH PENALTY EXPANDS BACKWARD.
This isn’t just about who will be sentenced to die moving forward. The most chilling part of the DOJ memo is this:
“The Attorney General’s Capital Review Committee will reassess past cases where the death penalty was not pursued.”(DOJ Memo, Feb. 5, 2025)
In other words: They might try to add capital charges to people who were already charged with lesser crimes.
WHY THIS MATTERS:
- This could mean undocumented immigrants convicted of past crimes could now be re-tried for execution.
- The death penalty could be applied retroactively in ways that violate constitutional protections.
This is extreme—even by Trump-era standards. No modern administration has actively reviewed past cases to expand capital punishment after the fact.
This isn’t just unprecedented—it’s unconstitutional. Retroactive punishment violates due process, a bedrock principle of American law. But in Trump’s killing machine, constitutional norms don’t stand a chance.
TRUMP’S STATE-SPONSORED EXECUTIONS: NOW A FEDERAL BUSINESS
If you think this is just a federal issue, think again. Trump’s executive order directs the Federal Bureau of Prisons to assist states in carrying out executions.
With lethal injection drugs in short supply, states have slowed their executions—until now. Trump’s new policy solves that ‘problem.’ The federal government is now an execution supplier, removing logistical barriers and ramping up execution nationwide.
“The Federal Bureau of Prisons is directed to work with each state that allows capital punishment to ensure they have sufficient supplies and resources.” (DOJ Memo, Feb. 5, 2025)
Translation: The federal government will now supply lethal injection drugs, execution facilities, and transfer prisoners to states for execution.
In the Philippines, Duterte had state-backed death squads—police and paramilitary groups executing thousands. Trump’s “federal execution supplier” mirrors this: the government isn’t just allowing executions, it’s enabling and expanding them.
Where Duterte used police and vigilantes. Trump is using the federal government. The difference? The U.S. has the legal infrastructure to make it official. This isn’t rogue cops—it’s a national execution supply chain.
THE BIGGER PICTURE:
- Many states struggle to obtain execution drugs due to manufacturer bans: Trump is using the federal government to fix that problem.
- This could effectively expand the number of executions nationwide by removing logistical barriers.
- Death penalty states will no longer face supply shortages—executions will move forward with federal backing.
This isn’t justice. This is a killing pipeline, that just went federal. It is a national execution machine, explicitly built for efficiency.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF AUTHORITARIANISM
This isn’t just a return to the death penalty—it’s a transformation.
If undocumented immigrants and drug offenders can be executed today, who’s next? Protesters? Journalists? Whistleblowers? And what happens in extrajudicial facilities like Guantanamo Bay?
What to Watch For:
- Supreme Court Challenges: The DOJ is actively seeking to overturn SCOTUS rulings that limit capital punishment. (deathpenaltyinfo.org)
- Increased Federal Prosecutions for Undocumented Immigrants: Expect a surge in federal cases where capital punishment is pursued. (aclu.org)
- Expanded Definitions of Capital Crimes: Could protesters, activists, or whistleblowers be labeled as “terrorists” or “cartel-affiliated”? (carnegieendowment.org)
- Potential Expansion to Non-Murder Cases: If the government can execute for drug crimes, where does it stop? (science direct.com)
This is how authoritarianism takes hold—not in one sweeping motion, but through policies that build upon each other, eroding rights one by one. It’s a carefully scripted incremental process where each policy builds on the last until dissent is silenced, rights are erased, and fear takes hold.
If you’re paying attention, you are the resistance.
Next Steps…
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
This isn’t getting the media attention it deserves. Don’t let it disappear while Trump “floods the zone”. Read the DOJ memo and share it, talk about it. Continue to educate yourself. Demand answers from your lawmakers.
Support organizations fighting for justice:
Contact lawmakers. Demand answers.
https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
These aren’t abstract questions. They’re real, direct, and demand real answers. If they dodge, press harder. If they refuse to respond, make noise. This is how we fight back.
- Where do you stand on the federal government expanding the death penalty?
- Do you believe this policy will disproportionately target Black and Latino communities, as past ‘tough-on-crime’ policies have?
- Do you support executing undocumented immigrants? Yes or no?
- Do you support the Justice Department reviewing past cases to apply the death penalty retroactively?
- Are you comfortable with the federal government increasing execution powers while bypassing Supreme Court limitations?
- Should the government be able to seek the death penalty for nonviolent drug crimes?
- Do you believe the government should be able to execute someone based solely on their immigration status?
- Do you believe the U.S. should provide lethal injection drugs to states?
- How do you respond to concerns that this policy mirrors authoritarian regimes like Duterte’s Philippines or Putin’s Russia?
- What steps will you take to prevent the death penalty from being expanded beyond drug crimes and immigration cases?
- Would you support banning the use of federal resources to expand executions?