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The Guardian - US

World

Ben Makuch

‘Maga since forever’: mercenary mogul Erik Prince pushes to privatize Trump deportation plans

Erik Prince Donald Trump MAGA United States Sean McFate Blackwater Nicolás Maduro Steve Bannon CIA Pentagon

a man in suit and tie on stage. — Erik Prince speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on 22 February. Photograph: Gage Skidmore/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock

Silicon Valley has played a sizable part in the early days of Donald Trump’s new administration, but another familiar face in the Maga-verse is beginning to emerge: businessman Erik Prince, often described by his critics as a living “Bond villain”.

Prince is the most famous mercenary of the contemporary era and the founder of the now defunct private military company Blackwater. For a time, it was a prolific privateer in the “war on terror”, racking up millions in US government contracts by providing soldiers of fortune to the CIA, Pentagon and beyond.

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