The Dawn of a Cold Civil War in the United States: Deportation, Wealth Transfer, and the Rise of State Violence

This is a prediction I never wished would come true!

The Dawn of a Cold Civil War in the United States: Deportation, Wealth Transfer, and the Rise of State Violence

This is a prediction I never wished would come true!

The United States no longer teeters on the edge of internal conflict—it has stepped into it. This is not a war of flags and secessions, but a cold civil war, waged in courtrooms, on city streets, and through financial policy. The evidence is neither metaphorical nor hypothetical: it is visible in the tear gas, the detention camps, the dismantling of civil liberties, and the historic redistribution of public wealth to private capital.

1. Deportations and Disappearances: The Machinery of Exclusion

Deportations have surpassed 139,000 this year alone, extending not only to undocumented persons but increasingly to permanent residents, asylum-seekers, and, disturbingly, U.S. citizens misidentified or targeted due to political dissent. ICE, now operating as a semi-autonomous enforcement entity, has repeatedly refused to produce warrants or identify officers during removals, especially in sanctuary cities. This has led to widespread legal challenges, though federal judges increasingly defer to national security justifications.

But the most alarming trend: U.S. citizens—journalists, union organisers, student leaders—are being detained, surveilled, or charged under pretexts such as “material support to disorder,” despite non-violent behaviour. Dissent has become a cause for prosecution; ideology is grounds for surveillance.

2. Violence from Above: The State’s Armoured Response

The distinction between policing and military engagement has become increasingly blurred. The National Guard, local police, ICE, and in some cases active-duty military personnel have been deployed in cities like Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, and Chicago—not for natural disaster relief, but to confront protests and “protect” federal assets from what the administration calls “subversive civil elements.”

Protesters—many peaceful, some armed with only shields and protective gear—have been fired upon with rubber bullets, pepper spray, and flash-bang grenades. In multiple verified incidents, medics and legal observers were beaten or arrested without provocation. Military-grade surveillance drones monitor movements over entire city blocks.

Physical violence is no longer incidental—it is strategic. It is meant to paralyse dissent, intimidate, and provoke chaos. In a now-viral video, ICE agents in unmarked tactical gear tackled a mother in front of her child while bystanders screamed for a warrant that was never shown. No names were given. No jurisdiction admitted.

3. The Pushback: Defenders and Protesters Fight Back

The population has not remained passive. Across the nation, protesters and ordinary civilians are now physically intervening when ICE agents or National Guard troops arrive in communities. In Portland, a crowd of demonstrators formed a human wall to block access to an apartment that ICE agents were raiding. In the Bronx, an unarmed man was arrested after shielding an elderly neighbour from an ICE takedown. The footage, now seen over 10 million times, shows him shouting, “Show me a warrant!”—a demand ignored.

In several cities, physical altercations have occurred between protesters and state forces, leading to fractured limbs, mass arrests, and a growing list of civilian casualties. The situation has created a feedback loop of violence: the more resistance rises, the more justification is given for increased state repression.

4. Economic Warfare: Funding the War Against the Public

At the same time, tax and fiscal policy have been weaponised against the lower and middle classes. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is not just a legislative oddity—it is a blueprint for economic domination. By allocating over $170 billion to enforcement agencies and military contractors while simultaneously cutting essential services, benefits, and subsidies, the federal government has created a two-tier society.

The rich are insulated, subsidised, and protected. Everyone else is subjected to economic extraction, surveillance, or both. Analysts across political science, economics, and law agree: this is no longer capitalism—it is feudal enforcement under the guise of constitutional pretence.

5. Urban Ground Zeroes: New York and Los Angeles

Urban centres are under siege. In New York, ICE has targeted Latinx neighbourhoods while the NYPD patrols protest routes with drones and mounted officers. In Los Angeles, protesters describe waking up to the sounds of helicopters and armoured personnel carriers on their blocks. Community centres and libraries have been raided under anti-terrorism statutes. Warrants are vague or nonexistent. Lawyers often arrive too late.

Schools in LA and Queens have hired private security to keep federal agents away from students. Churches and mosques have become sanctuaries again, just as they were during the last immigration crackdown two decades ago. However, this time, even these spaces are no longer safe. Reports of ICE entering places of worship without cause have triggered legal alarms at the ACLU, but appeals languish in politicised federal courts.

6. When Citizens Become Enemies

A new threshold has been crossed: bona fide U.S. citizens are now being targeted not for criminal acts but for political beliefs, protest participation, and attempts to defend others. If citizenship no longer protects you from surveillance, harassment, or detainment, then it no longer functions as a social contract. Citizenship has become conditional: tied not to law or birthright, but to compliance.

This is the heart of the cold civil war. Its violence is not total, but strategic. Its goal is not conquest, but compliance. It produces no battlefields, but many prisons.

7. A Nation Repressing Itself

The emerging consensus among political scientists, sociologists, and historians is unanimous: the United States is undergoing a systemic internal conflict, driven by wealth consolidation, ideological cleansing, and militarised enforcement. Projections of civil strife based on inequality indices have doubled since 2010. Trust in institutions—Congress, the courts, the press—has collapsed to levels not seen since Watergate.

To call this a cold civil war is not an act of sensationalism—it is a reflection of present reality. The pushback is real. The resistance is active. But the repression is state-sponsored, publicly funded, and no longer constrained by law or decency.

8. Conclusion: A Warning and a Reckoning

The future remains unwritten, but the present is brutally clear: violence from the state is no longer restrained. Protesters defending their communities are being attacked. ICE no longer recognises judicial authority. The military appears domestically more often than diplomatically. Wealth is pulled upward while justice is buried.

This is not a nation in turmoil. It is a nation at war with itself.

The only remaining question is whether Americans will reclaim the republic before it becomes fully irretrievable—or whether the silent war will harden into something far worse.

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Photo by Jakob Rosen on Unsplash