WHERE DID THEY ALL COME FROM?
A Speculative Dispatch on the Rise of the Unseen Force
Photo by Dean Moses.
Have you noticed?
The so-called White militia has disappeared from the streets. But they haven’t disbanded. They’ve been deputized.
You don’t see them marching because they’re already inside the machine—absorbed, rebranded, and quietly deployed under federal authority. These men, who once paraded with homemade armor and paramilitary bravado, now wear the silent veil of legitimacy. They’re not waving flags anymore; they’re carrying badges—if not officially, then practically.
Their targets have shifted, too. Immigrants. Dissenters. Protesters. In some cases, even state legislators and members of Congress. Sound conspiratorial? Maybe. But let’s follow the data.
According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), as of recent reporting, ICE employs approximately 3,200 criminal investigators classified under Series 1811—these are credentialed agents with arrest authority (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Fedscope, 2024).
And yet, in nearly every city and state, we now witness operations carried out by what appears to be a vastly larger force. Armed. Coordinated. Emboldened. If DHS, ICE, or any other federal agency has suddenly scaled up by a factor of five or ten, where is the transparency? Where is the oversight?
Where did they all come from?
My best guess? Many of them are the same individuals who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. The rest may be drawn from the White Christian militia movement—groups that for decades trained in rural compounds and ex-urban ranges with a singular idea: that their time was coming.
That time, it seems, may be now.
We’re not talking about slow-growth recruitment here. DHS can’t expand from a few thousand agents to what now appears to be tens of thousands in such a short window. Not legally. Not without external help.
Look closer, and the discrepancies multiply.
Standard-issue sidearms for ICE and most federal agents remain chambered in .40 caliber. However, many of these newly visible actors are equipped with non-standard weapons, including M9s, Sig Sauers in multiple calibers, and long arms suited for military—not civilian—engagement. These are not standard federal kits.
We may be watching the quiet militarization of a civil enforcement arm.
We should be filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests immediately to investigate the following:
Total number of ICE and DHS personnel credentialed (Series 1811 or equivalent) from January 2021 to present.
The number of new law enforcement hires, deputizations, or contract designations processed by DHS, ICE, and any partner agency since the Capitol insurrection.
Any joint training or credential-sharing agreements between DHS and non-federal entities since January 2021?
The types and quantity of firearms issued to new agents since 2021, including any weapons not chambered in .40 caliber.
These questions are not partisan. They are civic. If this growth is legitimate, it should be documented. If it is not, we should be alarmed.
We are witnessing the potential merger of far-right ideology and federal enforcement power. This is not about “law and order”—it is about power. About control. About the quiet execution of state force beneath the radar of public accountability.
We don’t need a conspiracy. We need courage.
Ask the questions. Demand the records. Name what you see, even if it sounds unthinkable.
DISCLAIMER
This article is speculative. The author’s conclusions are based on personal observation, open-source data, and informed analysis. The author does not advocate for violence, secession, insurrection, or the undermining of the U.S. Constitution. This article is not affiliated with any group, movement, or organization calling for the dissolution of democratic institutions. It is written as an earnest warning rooted in civic responsibility.
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