1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

Abolish the Department of Homeland Security. Not reform it, not defund it temporarily — dismantle it entirely. DHS was a political kludge from the start, born in the panic after 9/11 when Sen. Joe Lieberman crammed 22 agencies from eight departments into a single bureaucratic monster. Even George W. Bush initially opposed it as an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. He was right. The consequences have been predictable. Agencies that once had Cabinet-level advocates fighting for their missions now report to a secretary who can't possibly manage them all. Talent drains out. Political appointees fill the void. ICE — originally a small internal enforcement unit — has metastasized into exactly the kind of unaccountable political police force that critics warned about in 2002. This isn't a Trump problem that ends when he leaves office. It's a structural problem baked into DHS itself. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for abolishing DHS back in 2019. She was right then and the case is stronger now. The agencies inside DHS existed before it and can exist after it — reorganized, properly overseen, and run by professionals with real independence. Support legislation to dismantle DHS and rebuild those functions with genuine accountability.