Barbara Boxer: " I never imagined a president like Trump when I voted to create the @DHS"

[riversedge]

great article. a few weeks old but I missed it earlier.


'I regret voting for it frmr Senator #BarbaraBoxer writes re #DHS 'I never imagined a president using unconfirmed puppets like #ChadWolf to terrorize our own citizens in our own country'..'cruel enough to put children behind bars while crying parents...'

Link to tweet

?s=20



Barbara Boxer: DHS was a mistake. I regret voting for it.

I never imagined a president like Trump when I voted to create the Department of Homeland Security.

A protective vest with identifying markings worn by Border Patrol is seen during a news conference on the actions taken by Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents in Portland, Ore.

July 25, 2020 at 5:00 a.m. CDT

Here are the three words that no elected official, serving or retired, wants to say: “I was wrong.”

Throughout my career, I was known for taking some very lonely votes. But I made a mistake in 2002 when I voted to create the Department of Homeland Security, which had been recommended by a number of members of Congress in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 the year before.

Looking back in the congressional record, I could hear the doubts in my voice.

“I have tremendous misgivings about the size and shape of this department,” I said. I warned that people could be “less accountable, hiding under layers of bureaucracy.” I worried out loud on the Senate floor about including FEMA, the Coast Guard and immigration agencies into one giant department.

The federal police in Portland don’t even understand what ‘arrests’ are

Still, most people thought this was a good idea. The memory of 9/11 haunted me: The hijacked airplanes were headed to California, which I represented, and I’d lost constituents in the attack. The World Trade Center collapsed in the city where I was born........................


......................


...............I also never imagined a president appointing a lobbyist who was not even confirmed by the U.S. Senate to head such a department. I never imagined a president cruel enough to initiate a child separation policy and put helpless children behind wire while their crying parents had no power to fight for their children.........................







https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=691

A protective vest with identifying markings worn by Border Patrol is seen during a news conference on the actions taken by Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents in Portland, Ore. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
By Barbara Boxer



Barbara Boxer was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993 and a member of the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2017.

[Budi]

1. Appreciate her honesty. Her long Senate record speaks more to the hard fights she took on.

This apology is true to who she is.

Thank you Sen Boxer.

“I have tremendous misgivings about the size and shape of this department,” I said. I warned that people could be “less accountable, hiding under layers of bureaucracy.” I worried out loud on the Senate floor about including FEMA, the Coast Guard and immigration agencies into one giant department.

The federal police in Portland don’t even understand what ‘arrests’ are

Still, most people thought this was a good idea. The memory of 9/11 haunted me: The hijacked airplanes were headed to California, which I represented, and I’d lost constituents in the attack. The World Trade Center collapsed in the city where I was born........................

[Thomas Hurt]

2. As I recall even some folks on the right were uncomfortable with it at the time.

to fn late now...

[Skittles]

3. it's what happens when "90%" of the country rallies around a bunch of psychopaths

[Polly Hennessey]

4. It is important to think through thoroughly each and

every vote. There are always consequences and it has always been possible for a sociopath to become President. First tip off should have been the name, Homeland Security.

[yankee87]

5. DHS must go

I appreciate you are contrite about your vote, now vote to dismantle this wannabe Gestapo.

[riversedge]

7. Boxer can encourage congress to do so--like with this Op ed.

[3Hotdogs]

6. Many of us knew and we told you.

Last edited Wed Aug 19, 2020, 07:53 AM - Edit history (1)

How many of the "Yes" votes were just to avoid being labeled, soft on terrorism?

[pecosbob]

8. Repeal the Patriot Act and abolish DHS

It's a good thing for Dems to review their past mistakes like the Patriot Act and the Iraq Wars and the gutting of Glass-Steagall. Regardless of the motivation they were bad choices.