Should the Department of Homeland Security be broken up?
On Friday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that she would favor breaking up the entire Department of Homeland Security, a Cabinet department that includes, ICE, Border Protection, FEMA, the TSA and the Coast Guard. Created in 2002 in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, the DHS brought together 22 government agencies with varying counterterrorism functions into a new Cabinet department. Though Ocasio-Cortez didn't provide specifics, most plans for breaking up DHS involve returning the various agencies to their original departments, rather than eliminating them entirely. Advocates for breaking up the DHS say its creation was a mistake spurred by overreaction to 9/11. Others advocate for splitting the department because it’s grown too big and the duties of its agencies are too broad for one department to handle. Defenders of the DHS say it has been effective in its primary purpose of preventing another major terror attack on U.S. soil. They also argue that critics are using the debate over one part of the department's duties — immigration enforcement — to attack the DHS as a whole.
