ICE is now a Domestic Military Force. You're the Enemy.

The GOP's Plan for a Full-On Police State Comes into Focus.

You’ve likely seen the graphs going around comparing ICE funding with other federal agencies, such as the CIA or the FBI. Now that the President’s “Big Beautiful Bill” has become law, ICE will hire 10,000 new agents for a total of 30,000. To put that in perspective: the FBI employs around 24,000, 10,000 of whom are special agents. ICE will now be able to draw on financial resources greater than every other federal and carceral agency added together. So yes — it’s true that ICE will soon become the largest domestic police force in the United States.

And while that is certainly stunning, and indicative of how life will change in these United States over the course of the second Trump term, a more apt comparison is to other nation’s military budgets. ICE will now be better funded than the vast majority of the world’s militaries. Between now and 2029, ICE gets roughly $150 billion in funding. That averages out to about $37.5 billion per year, placing it 15th on the list, squarely between Canada at $41 billion and Italy at $30.8 billion.

It’s bigger than many militaries because that’s what it is: a domestic military force, that’s now preparing for war. On who? Well, if you live in a big blue city, the answer is: you. The President now believes he is empowered to take over the local government of Washington D.C., and he’s got plans for New York City, as well.

In a post on X, J.D. Vance made it clear he views the new funding as the most important priority in the new legislation.

"Everything else ‒ the (CBO) score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy ‒ is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions,” the Vice President wrote.

At a time when armed religious zealots are targeting and murdering elected Democratic officials, efforts to cope with the rising threat of rightwing terrorism have been defunded and discarded. Instead, everything and the kitchen sink has been thrown at an “invasion” that only exists in the mind of Stephen Miller and a handful of others.

On Monday, July 7, militarized federal agents swept into MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, where children were playing. They came in armored vehicles and on horseback. A DHS helicopter flew above the scene.

And they detained nobody — that wasn’t really the point. The show of force was.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, understandably, wasn’t a big fan of an armed, militarized force scaring the shit out of residents at a local park. Neither was the City Council President. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino told reporters, “I don't work for Karen Bass. … Better get used to us now, cause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, anytime we want in Los Angeles.”

Anyone who still thinks this army is being built to go after only “the bad immigrants” would also have likely believed that the Einsatzgruppen were strictly limiting themselves to going after the “bad Jews.”

Warren Buffet turned some heads in 2015 when he said, “there’s class warfare, alright. But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”

That was 10 years ago. The new law will actually seize money from those it deports and imprisons, funding itself by charging refugees $500 or $1000 for a grant of temporary legal residence (depending on if they’re “just” fleeing a humanitarians crisis or an armed conflict). In fact, any status update ordered by a judge could end up costing an immigrant up to $1500. And if you’re worrying “won’t somebody please think of the children?” then don’t — there’s a brand new $250 charge to apply for visas for children that have been abused, neglected, or abandoned by a parent.

I wonder how Mr. Buffet thinks the class war is going in 2025?