When violence is justified as “security,” families are torn apart and communities are left in ruins. Different borders produce different headlines, but the harm follows a familiar pattern. State-sponsored violence erodes human dignity, destabilizes families and steals futures. Communities here in New Hampshire suffer as well.
In recent months, the United States has escalated its campaign of violence on two fronts. Domestically, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has intensified raids, detentions and militarized tactics that terrorize our immigrant communities, including in New England.
Here in New Hampshire, immigrant workers sustain our science and tech industries, food service, waste management and other essential sectors. Yet, families have continued to be ripped apart, and workers building lives in our state are unjustly targeted. Civilians Keith Porter, Renee Good and Alex Pretti are dead at the hands of ICE — tragedies that sadly reflect the predictable outcomes of an enforcement system built to prioritize force over humanity.
This domestic tolerance of force mirrors U.S. foreign policy. When the U.S. launched a military operation against Venezuela in early January of 2026 (involving aerial bombardment, naval deployment and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro), it was framed as “law enforcement.” Yet, worldwide legal experts and governments condemned the action as a violation of sovereignty and international law.
The Trump administration clearly told us that oil is at the center of this escalation. Tanker seizures and illegal blockades make clear that Venezuela’s vast energy resources remain a strategic target, even as the country’s humanitarian crisis deepens. The U.S. invasion of Venezuela is not about the U.S. drug crisis, bringing democracy or strengthening human rights — it is about power, profit and control over a finite resource.
For more than a decade, U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector have functioned as structural violence, collapsing their economy and restricting access to food, medicine and basic infrastructure. Sanctions are often presented as a “peaceful” alternative to war, but for those living under them, they operate as economic warfare.
War is regularly defended as necessary for public safety, but it is rarely discussed as a financial burden imposed on the public. While the total cost of the Venezuela invasion remains unknown, we understand what similar operations cost American taxpayers. During the Jan. 3 operation alone, roughly 150 aircrafts were reportedly deployed. A single B-1B Lancer bomber costs $91,330 per hour to operate, roughly three times the annual salary of a U.S. food service worker. An MH-47G Chinook helicopter costs $9,663 per hour, nearly an entire year’s worth of food for an American household.
Beyond aircrafts, the ongoing naval deployment off the Venezuelan coast has added hundreds of millions more. Prior to this January, the U.S. conducted at least 35 strikes against boats in South American waters, killing at least 115 people. Some strikes used JAGM missiles, each costing over $267,000, enough to fund SNAP benefits for 117 Americans for an entire year.
For Granite Staters already facing rising housing costs, health care expenses, and climate-related challenges like flooding and extreme weather, these spending priorities matter. Excessive spending on war and militarization diverts resources from affordable housing, health care access, climate resilience and opioid treatment programs that directly affect New Hampshire communities.
War also carries a major environmental cost. Militaries are among the world’s largest institutional polluters, and conflicts driven by oil interests accelerate the climate crisis. Rising sea levels, extreme weather, and infrastructure damage threaten our coastal regions, agriculture, and local economies across New Hampshire.
The good news is that alternatives exist, but only if we stop pretending violence is an effective or legitimate policy. At New Hampshire Peace Action, we are helping to push for de-escalation. It mobilizes to demand a more peaceful future, organizing Granite Staters to take action and call on Congress to end ICE raids, stop wars overseas and redirect public funds back into our communities. Peace is achievable, and it is built through our collective action and push for democratic accountability.
New Hampshire residents must demand better from Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Sen. Maggie Hassan, Rep. Chris Pappas and Rep. Maggie Goodlander by opposing unchecked militarization and prioritizing policies that invest in our security instead of endless war.
The people of Venezuela deserve peace and dignity, as do immigrant families here in the Granite State and people everywhere. These struggles are interwoven by policies that treat human lives as expendable in our country’s pursuit of power.
Hazel Armstrong-McEvoy is an intern at New Hampshire Peace action and lives in Peterborough.