At least that’s what Secretary of State Marco Rubio says. He was talking about Venezuela, not ICE and Trump’s potential paramilitary force in America, but I’ll get back to that later.
This humble spirit doesn’t say “I told you so” very often, but back in early fall I warned of “Trump’s Paramilitary Force”, meaning the potential for a greatly expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that could go rogue on Trump’s behalf, whether in 2026, 2028, or even sooner if he doesn’t want to wait for an election to steal. Flash forward—according to an internal document reviewed by The Washington Post, ICE officials are planning to spend $100 million in the coming year on a “wartime recruitment” campaign to hire thousands of new deportation officers. Remember, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act tripled ICE’s enforcement and deportation budget to about $30 billion to help carry out the administration’s promise of the biggest mass deportation in American history.
We should not delude ourselves: the money allotted to ICE in the OBBBA was clearly intended to pay for the creation of a paramilitary force of MAGA loyalists.
Along with reaching out to conservative thought leaders and influencers, the current promotional strategy targets groups such as gun rights supporters, military (tactical gear) enthusiasts, as well as UFC fight enthusiasts, among others. They will be seeking recruits who want to perform their “sacred duty” and “defend the homeland” by repelling “foreign invaders.” The opportunity to join ICE will be portrayed like volunteering for a war, even if it attracts recruits looking for all-out combat.
If we’re not careful, these new ICE recruits will be MAGA foot soldiers motivated by loyalty to Donald Trump, not the US Constitution. They may sincerely believe they’re patriots protecting the country from foreign invasion, but the potential for thousands of weaponized MAGA sympathizers who believe that undying loyalty to Donald Trump is the ultimate display of patriotism is downright scary. ICE employees take an oath to the US Constitution, just like members of our armed forces, but for a lot of these people that will mean swearing an oath of allegiance to Donald Trump and MAGA, not American democracy. If we’re not careful, the next mob that invades the US Capitol won’t be a motley hodgepodge of vigilante groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers of January 6th, but a well-organized, and taxpayer funded, armed force.
I Said it Before and I’ll Say it Again: ICE has the Potential to Morph into Something Akin to the SS, Hitler’s Paramilitary Force in Nazi Germany.
In the meantime, Trump has removed National Guard Troops from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC but vowed on Truth Social, “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time.” When he says “much different and stronger form,” we can only shudder at what he has in mind.
Which brings us back to Venezuela. I usually don’t comment on events that are still unfolding, but how do you ignore Trump’s arrest of Nickolas Maduro and seizing control of the country? I hate to say “I told you so” again, but as I previously pointed out, Trump doesn’t care about stopping drugs (now it’s cocaine rather than fentanyl), he just cares about “access to oil” and helping out his oil company supporters who donated more than $100 million to his campaign. And of all the things the president said at his news conference regarding Maduro’s arrest, he never mentioned restoring democracy to Venezuela. According to President Trump, “we’re going to be running the country.” I suggest he figures out how to run America before he takes on another country.