'Targets': Project 2025 partner publishes hit list of 10 government employees

A far-right group is not just content with identifying politicians to vote out of office: It's now aiming its sights on career federal employees.

The American Accountability Foundation — which is one of the 100 partner organizations in the Heritage Foundation's controversial Project 2025 initiative — has recently launched a website called the "DHS Watchlist," in which it posted the names, headshots and biographical information of 10 government employees working in the Department of Homeland Security in President Joe Biden's administration.

Its "Top 10 Targets" list includes senior-level employees in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services along with associate counsels and policy analysts in the department. Two immigration judges are also listed as "targets."

"The DHS Bureaucrat Watch List is dedicated to exposing the career staff who have outsized influence on efforts to secure the southern border," AAF states on its DHS Watchlist website. "While everyone knows who Alejandro Mayorkas and Merrick Garland are, few Americans know who the career bureaucrats are that implement their orders."

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In its write-up of Texas-based immigration judge Noelle Sharp, the AAF said she "made her bones keeping criminal aliens out of jail and away from deportation, and that she "brags on her website that she worked to keep criminal aliens from being deported."

"Our firm specializes in Immigration Law, and we have the flexibility, experience, and technology to work with clients around the world. Whether you wish to visit Disney Land for a week, obtain your permanent residency, or become a United States citizen, we will will help your personal 'American Dream' come true," Sharp's website reads (AAF linked to an archived version of her firm's website on its hit list). "We bring extensive experience and professionalism to every case and customize our support to your individual needs and concerns."

AAF also singled out immigration judge Elizabeth Young as a "target" on its "DHS Watchlist" site. The group accused her of "leading a charge to come up with creative legal maneuvers to keep illegal aliens from being deported" while she led an immigration law clinic at the University of Arkansas.

"The men and women who end up in front of an immigration judge are often some of the worst cases of immigration fraud," the group wrote without a source to back up its claim. "Unfortunately, Judge Young has been dangerously generous handing asylum status at alarming rates."

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There are no explicit instructions for readers, though users on the social media platform Bluesky were concerned that the lengthy descriptions of its "targets" could lead to political violence. Journalist Don Moynihan wrote that Tom Jones, who leads AAF, is a Republican-aligned opposition researcher with a history of making spurious claims about Democrats.

"I looked at the site which posts the civil servants name, title & salary. But the actual accusations are weak tea," he wrote. "One praised Fauci in a tweet! Another won an award for excellent performance in her job, which means she can't be trusted. One spoke on a diversity panel! No real scandals there."

Political violence has become especially prevalent in the 2024 cycle. Reuters recently reported that there have been at least 300 instances of politically motivated attacks from both sides since the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Some of the more high-profile examples include the two attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump, and a Democratic campaign office in Arizona being targeted in three different shootings in as many weeks. That office has since been closed.

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