DHS’ Smoke, Chaff and Flare
In 2002, Congress enacted the Homeland Security Act, establishing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (H.R.5005 – 107th Congress (2001-2002): Homeland Security Act of 2002 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress, accessed on 28 SEP 2021). This was in response to 9/11 to enhance Congress’ its duties to ‘provide for the common defense’ as outlined in the preamble and Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution. This act also designated its Secretary as a cabinet level position sworn to defend the Constitution and to faithfully discharge his duties per 5 U.S. Code § 3331. To fulfil these responsibilities, the Secretary published a ‘Strategic Plan’ that codifies the DHS’ direction and resourcing priorities for taxpayer support (We Are DHS | Homeland Security, accessed 27 SEP 2021).
Unfortunately, what the Secretary tells Congress and the American public, by way of his strategic plan, is not what is being executed at our southern border. The Secretary is not keeping full faith and allegiance to what is written and the promises to our citizens for which he serves. One need only to examine the strategic plan’s core value ‘Vigilance’ and its overarching core mission ‘Secure U.S. Borders and Approaches’ to note how the reader (Congress and Citizen) are being misled. DHS states ‘Vigilance’ is guarding America, and contrary to its own plan, DHS is allowing immigrants to cross anywhere they can, and not properly funneling illegal aliens through designated ports of entry for screening to prevent threats, hazards, or dangers to our nation. While values guide actions, it is DHS’ mission of securing our border that is critical to our national sovereignty and security. To this end, DHS’ plan declares Illegal aliens who enter the United States and those who overstay their visas disregard our national sovereignty, threaten our national security, compromise our public safety, exploit our social welfare programs, and ignore lawful immigration processes. Again, the words do not match DHS’ actions. On its face, the department falsely assures our citizens they are implementing a comprehensive border security approach to secure and maintain our borders, prevent, and intercept foreign threats so they do not reach U.S. soil, and enforce immigration laws throughout the United States.
Back in May 2021, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) outlined all the areas that the Secretary is blatantly ignoring (FAIR: Mayorkas Failing to Live Up to His Oath of Office: “I Pledge to Defend and Secure Our Country” | Federation for American Immigration Reform (fairus.org), accessed 28 SEP 2021). In the four months since FAIR released its findings, the United States has faced a tidal wave of illegal aliens freely crossing the southern border as they seek to exploit our social welfare programs. The DHS encourages these illegals aliens to ignore lawful immigration processes by releasing them freely into the interior of the US for eventual assimilation into the American society and access to its welfare programs. Most troubling is the recent Haitian crisis of ~14,000 humans huddling freely crossing the Rio Grande and into a makeshift camp under a bridge in Del Rio, Texas. The US taxpayer funded Voice of America declared the US would fly “Massive” numbers back to Haiti, and the Secretary deferred comment during a MSNBC interview, saying “We will address it accordingly.” (Official: US Will Fly ‘Massive’ Number of Haitian Migrants to Haiti (voanews.com), accessed on 28 SEP 2021). The media reinforces the deportation message with stories showing Haitians arriving back to Haiti and images of workers cleaning up the now empty former campsite, leading the American public to believe they are all being flown back. DHS’ lack of official media releases that speak to this or the broader border realities prevent the public from fully appreciating the scale of this national security breach. It seems DHS carefully obfuscates the crisis by going onto news shows of their choosing and carefully answering questions that are not captured for the official record. Such was the case when the Secretary admitted on Fox News Sunday that some 12,000 have been released [into the US] (Fox News Sunday, 26 SEP 2021 as summarized at DHS Secretary Says 12K Illegal Migrants Released In U.S. In Recent Weeks: ‘Could Be Even Higher’ | The Daily Wire , accessed on 28 SEP 2021). Clearly not the ‘Massive’ numbers we are led to believe.
Without question, the Secretary and his subordinate leaders have opened our borders for all to enter, contrary to the Homeland Security Act and as codified in the Secretary’s own strategic plan. What the Secretary conveys in his plan is deceptive to what is being quietly executed by the DHS, designed to keep the public in the dark while the Secretary and his department willfully disregard their stated values and mission of vigilance in securing our borders. Not only is the Secretary being derelict in his duties per the oath of office he has sworn to uphold, but he has also orchestrated a web of deception that is, in military parlance, a classic employment of smoke, chaff and flare – unlawfully targeting the American citizen.