Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed that the complete U.S. Department of Homeland Security should be scrapped for the situation at the southern border.
The DHS was created following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Less than two weeks after the attack, then-President George W. Bush started an Office of Homeland Security within the White House. That office became an official department of the U.S. government following the Homeland Security Act in November 2002, with its official start in March 2003.
Today, the DHS is responsible for many areas of security within our country, including counter-terrorism, protecting cyber-security, securing the borders and training states to prepare against various attacks.
As the agency settled into its role within our government, it also became the home for many other agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
These two agencies have been the center of the public’s attention, as immigrants continue to pour over our southern border from Central America and Mexico. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez has been one of the loudest critics of ICE and CBP, especially following her recent visit to an overcrowded detention facility at the border with Mexico.
As previously reported, the freshman representative was said to have shouted at agents during her visit and accused the agency of maintaining unacceptable conditions for the immigrants.
The feud between the agencies and Rep. Ocasio-Cortez became even more hostile after a Facebook page of border patrol agents was found to have many sexists and threatening comments about Ocasio-Cortez.
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez appeared on an interview with The New Yorker Radio, and told host David Remnick that she believes Congress should “get rid” of the whole Department of Homeland Security, including ICE and CBP. (audio at bottom)
Ocasio-Cortez: ICE is not under [the Department of Justice], it’s under the Department of Homeland Security and so…
Remnick: Would you get rid of Homeland Security, too?
Ocasio-Cortez: I think so.
Ocasio-Cortez said that she want’s congress to “undo” the “egregious mistakes of the Bush administration.” She concluded by saying that Congress should have “never created” DHS.