Homeland Security Dept; US gov. tool of 'abuse', 'terror': Newsweek

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Newsweek
14 Mar 2023 00:28

The news site accuses the Department of militarizing the US streets and immigration policies.

An agent of the US Department of Homeland Security (AP)

Claiming to defend the US against "terrorist threats" targeting the homefront; since its inception, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been part of the most scandalous cases the United States witnessed in the last decades, a Newsweek report revealed on Monday.

Established in March 2003, the Department has played the role of the government's eyes, ears, and arm, introducing racial profiling and immigration fear-based policies, implementing direct measures that have created systematic oppression against minorities, and militarizing American society, in addition to wasting large amounts of money and resources that could have spent on more urgent threats striking the country, the report highlighted.

The DHS has served as the implementer of governmental policies targeting a certain religion, such as the "special registration" measure introduced by former US President George Bush and the "Muslim ban" issued by ex-President Donald Trump. Terrorizing immigrants from Latin American countries by the Department, including separating children from their parents, even started before Trump put it at full speed.

The abuses are at the core of the DHS, the report noted, and not outliers. Almost a third of its funding is directed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) alone.

Over 5 million people have been deported since establishing the DHS, most of which did not commit any crime or broke any law other than entering the country, the news site said, adding that the deportations have broken up many families and only caused sorrow without any benefit to the country.

From civilian demonstrations faced with law officers in full tactical gear to conducting surveillance targeting US citizens that are carrying out activities within their constitutional rights, spying on activists, and monitoring journalists that exposed the department's practices; the DHS has militarized the country, the report warned.

Militarizing extremism over health and safety

The US government has so far, since it was founded in 2003, spent almost $1.4 trillion on the DHS, exceeding the budgets allocated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including Covid response measures, by nearly 7 times during the same period.

While the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is struggling to respond to the Ohio train derailment that has intoxicated a full town and put everyone living within a 1,300 miles radius in direct threat, the Department's spending is 5 times more than EPA's.

Militarizing the government's immigration policy may have helped to create new threats, the news site argued, including the fast emergence of far-right extremist tendencies both within the Department and outside of it.

The report also said that in 2019, it was revealed that almost 10,000 agents belonging to the DHS and ICE were part of a private Facebook group where they shared extremist content. Still, the budget of both departments is still increasing.

Over the past two decades, the annual budgets of the ICE and CBP have more than doubled, reaching more than $442 billion since their creation.

The DHS has failed

Compared to the annual spending on the two agencies, almost 500,000 kids could have been provided with early childhood education, contributing to a better future for the kids, or hiring 230,000 nurses to respond to the staff shortage in the healthcare system.

Either choice would offer more protection to the health and safety of US citizens as compared to deporting law-abiding immigrants and snatching them from their communities and families.

The DHS has failed in making America safer, the report concluded.

Proposals are currently being put forward to either cut the spending of the Department or shut it down completely. 20 years after its creation, it can be said that either scenario would be better than pouring money onto the Department and its abusive practices.