老澳门开奖结果

This piece originally appeared in .

As an organization dedicated to civil liberties, civil rights, and the rule of law, we at the 老澳门开奖结果 believe that the government has both the authority and responsibility to enforce its laws 鈥� laws that promote justice, equality, and the general welfare. In recent weeks, the actions of federal agents have shown us all that the Department of Homeland Security isn鈥檛 capable of acting consistently with the Constitution, and should no longer exist in its current state.

The scenes unfolding in Portland, Oregon, and elsewhere are a reminder of the red flags many have raised about DHS throughout its history: that its powers are too great, and that it lacks the oversight and management to be effective. We can preserve our freedoms and our security better by dismantling DHS and beginning anew.

People across the political spectrum watched in disbelief as federal agents were deployed to American cities 鈥� despite objections by mayors and governors 鈥� to escalate violence against protesters. Paramilitary forces abducted people exercising their constitutional rights in Portland, placed them in unmarked vehicles, and took them to undisclosed locations.

The tactics deployed by DHS agents are unlawful and shocking, but they are no surprise: Back in 2002, we at the 老澳门开奖结果 called the initial blueprints for the behemoth bureaucracy 鈥�constitutionally bankrupt.鈥�

And for nearly 20聽years, we have seen many of our warnings about DHS become tragic realities. We objected to a knee-jerk plan that failed to respond to the聽intelligence law enforcement failures聽that contributed to the tragedy of 9/11. We believed that DHS would use the veil of 鈥渟ecurity鈥� to target communities of color and immigrants, and urged greater civil liberties oversight.

Now, of course, we know that DHS has聽聽activist circles; descended into mosques and community centers to聽infiltrate Muslim communities; shot and聽killed foreign nationals聽across the border; and monitored protests using聽fusion center intelligence sharing听丑耻产蝉.

DHS is also responsible for聽separating children from their parents聽at our borders 鈥� a tragedy we continue to litigate.

The short history of DHS has been filled with violence, the stoking of fear,聽and a lack of oversight. The department鈥檚 horrific tactics are being used in cities across the country.

The fearsome tactics of DHS are well known to the communities against whom they are used. Its dysfunction is one of the Beltway鈥檚 worst kept secrets. DHS鈥檚 overbroad mandate and unchecked powers have turned it into a tinderbox, now ignited by a president willing to trample on the constitutional limits of presidential powers. While calls for reform have been loud and clear for years, new signals are now coming from the highest levels of the DHS diaspora.

Tom Ridge, the first secretary of Homeland Security, said recently that DHS 鈥渨asn鈥檛 designed to become the聽.鈥�

Former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asserted that President Donald Trump鈥檚 deployment of agents to U.S. cities is 鈥�.鈥�

And Richard Clarke, who served on the National Security Council for Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, has called for聽.听

Nearly 20 years of abuse, waste,聽and corruption demonstrate the failure of the DHS experiment.听聽with conflicting missions 鈥� including border security, disaster relief,聽and immigration enforcement, among others. Many insiders knew DHS to be an ineffective superagency, but President Trump has converted DHS into our government鈥檚 most notable badge of shame.

Dismantling DHS, breaking it apart into various federal agencies, and shrinking its allocation of federal dollars will allow for more effective oversight, accountability, and public transparency. The spun-off agencies will have clearer missions and more limited functions. A behemoth of a federal agency too easily hides its problems and failings. Congressional oversight can be more readily divided among various congressional committees. Smaller agencies with clearer mandates will make Cabinet-level jobs more attractive to top-notch professionals.

There is also the added benefit that breaking up DHS will provide a larger number of Cabinet posts to reflect our country鈥檚 diversity. 

Most important, the very premise of a 鈥渉omeland security鈥� bureaucracy is chilling and ought to be questioned. Defense of the 鈥渉omeland鈥� became a rallying cry for hawks and some doves in the aftermath of 9/11, but this frame betrays the broader values that ought to infuse our democracy. Why, for example, is an agency responsible for citizenship and immigration under a threat-oriented department? Immigrants are not a threat to the 鈥渉omeland.鈥� 

Years of chaos and impunity make a clear case for the dismantling of DHS. President Trump鈥檚 use of DHS as his personal militia should be enough to start a meaningful bipartisan debate about DHS鈥� future. If there is one thing we have learned from the authoritarianism on display in Portland, it鈥檚 that we have to remove the loaded weapon that sits on the proverbial coffee table in the Oval Office.

Donald Trump should not be allowed to provide a precedent for future presidents with authoritarian tendencies to repeat the injustices we are enduring. Dismantling DHS into its component parts would restore greater balance to our system of checks and balances. And rather than tolerating misinterpretation of 鈥渉omeland security,鈥� we need our government to advance a 鈥渕ore perfect union.鈥�