The Rot Goes Deeper Than ICE

[Zorro]

The renewed calls to abolish ICE are an understandable reaction to an intolerable reality. ICE has become dangerous and unaccountable by design under the second Trump administration, with its deportation quotas, dehumanizing rhetoric about immigrants and extrajudicial pronouncements that agents have “absolute immunity.” The assault on Minneapolis has demonstrated what can happen when that toxic mix of incentives is unleashed on a community. ICE has operated more like an invading army than a force for public safety.

But the rot goes deeper at the Department of Homeland Security, the behemoth that controls ICE, Customs and Border Protection (C.B.P.) and myriad other federal agencies, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the Secret Service. Since its founding in 2002, a combination of organizational flaws and mission creep has allowed D.H.S. to evolve into the out-of-control domestic security apparatus we have today, one that views the very people it is supposed to protect as threats, not humans.

The last time we had a true debate about how the U.S. government should be organized to protect Americans and to protect what it means to be American was almost a quarter century ago. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, politicians sparred over how to balance security and liberty, as if they sat on opposite sides of a scale. Our obsession with security — aided by politicians determined not to appear “weak” and Supreme Court decisions that empowered the presidency — has obliterated that balance. As it has in other countries, the pursuit of security paved the way for the consolidation of power. Now, Minnesota has neither security nor liberty.

Unwinding this will take time and is unlikely during the Trump administration. But the time to start this debate is now, and there is one answer available if you look to the not-too-distant past: End immigration enforcement at the D.H.S. and return it to the Department of Justice so that it is embedded in the rule of law. This goes beyond abolishing ICE in its current form; we must fundamentally overhaul D.H.S. and end the securitization of American life if we are to have just and lasting peace in this country.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/opinion/minneapolis-dhs-ice-security.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JFA.CJ1M.HwIFjXhJ5ONZ&smid=url-share

[Goonch]

1. ;-{)

[CrispyQ]

2. Thank you for the gift link!

Great commentary. I didn't realize the disconnect of DHS from the DOJ & the importance of that.

Twenty-five years into it, the war on terror has become a war against ourselves. That forever war must come to an end. Enough with the military gear. Enough with the mass surveillance. Enough with the constant fear of an ever-shifting Other.

Democrats should not be afraid to make the case for this, or other, structural changes to D.H.S. and an immigration system in desperate need of comprehensive reform. Yes, Americans want a secure border. But most of us are also tired of war, wary of an intrusive militarized government, welcoming of immigrants, and protective of our core freedoms. Mr. Trump’s administration should be the period that concludes the post-9/11 era.

Extra credit for calling him Mr. Trump.

[flashman13]

9. The full article is well worth your time.

[RainCaster]

3. I would like to see DHS abolished

Return all their agencies to their former homes. The Coast Guard returns to Defense, ICE is shutdown entirely and CBP returns to DOJ control. The whole DHS plan was a feel good moment for W after 9-11. It was purely reactionary and served as a power grab for the GOP.

[Ray Bruns]

4. The Coast Guard was always part of the Department of Transportation before DHS came along

[RainCaster]

12. That makes more sense to me

[BidenRocks]

8. A very small percent of DUers MAY have thought

a DHS was a good idea.
0.00001% is still statistically a thought!

The bigger they are...
This is too much authority with hand picked partisan direction
Break it up!
Much more accountability is needed.

[gfarber]

5. DHS Re-imagined

There once was an agency, ICE,
That decided the law was “be nice…
to ourselves,” they all said,
As they stomped on the dead,
And called it “enforcement” (how trice).

With quotas to hit and to brag,
They hunted like points on a tag.
“Not people,” they sneered,
As the cruelty cleared,
Just numbers to toss in a bag.

They crowed, “We’ve got absolute shields!”
While swinging their boots like they’re seals.
No judge, no review,
Just “fuck you, fuck you”—
Accountability’s for the weak-kneed.

Minneapolis learned the hard way
What happens when goons get carte blanche to play:
When the stick meets the head,
And the badge’s well-fed,
Public safety just fucks off and stays away.

But ICE is just one nasty limb
Of a Homeland Security grim.
Born post-9/11,
It metastasized, leavened
With fear till the monster grew slimy and prim.

D.H.S. calls the public “a threat,”
Every neighbor a target to vet.
Protect and serve? Please.
It prefers to police
The idea that freedom’s a bet.

Back in ’01 we had choices to make—
Liberty or the panic-brain take?
We picked “don’t look weak,”
Let the balance go bleak,
And crowned “security” king of the snake.

The courts chimed in, nodding along:
“Yeah, sure, more power—what’s wrong?”
Now presidents reign,
Checks gone down the drain,
And the rest of us get fucked lifelong.

Undoing this shit won’t be fast,
And Trump sure as hell won’t look past
His strongman wet dream
Of a jackboot regime—
But the time to start fixing was past.

So here’s the fix, boring but true:
Take the goddamn badges back to DOJ too.
Law first, not the gun,
No more cosplay for fun—
De-militarize or enjoy the coup.

[leftstreet]

6. DURec

Still waiting for our esteemed politicians to read through the Patriot Act

[swong19104]

7. If you want securIty from foreign actors

Don’t be a total dick to foreign nations and their peoples.

If you want security from domestic terrorists, local, state, and federal law enforcement should suffice. But make sure the punishment is more than a slap on the wrist for White Nationalists.

[90-percent]

11. What punishment?

With trump handing out pardons to traitors, swindlers, insurrectionists, drug lords, dictators and murderers, there is only punishment for gentle liberal democrats.

-90% jimmy

[CaptainTruth]

10. It's the Republican Party. We need to keep making that point every chance we get.