By Chris Perillo
We all know that the news cycle lately has been filled with stories regarding the current state of immigration in our country. This summer especially it seemed that every time you turned on the television or tuned into your favorite news application, there were at least a handful of stories on this topic.
With President Trump’s recent efforts to expand the construction of the Southern border wall, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk have turned up their criticism of the President and his administration.
They cite the apparently horrific conditions in Southern detention facilities, and AOC even claimed while on a visit to one of these facilities that, “I was not safe from the officers.”
It is easy to get lost in all the hubbub out there regarding this issue, but if you are one to keep track, you have probably seen or heard the acronym, ICE. It is by far the most recognizable “term” in the immigration debate, and is pretty much mentioned in every article, news story or television program that has anything to do with the immigration crisis. But what is it?
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a US government agency under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security. According to its website it has a few missions, but the primary of which is to “uphold immigration law, at, within and beyond our borders.” This is all well and good. In order to ensure the safety and security of our country, we need to have a robust set of rules regarding immigration, and furthermore, those laws have value. All borders require safeguarding, our southern border is no exception.
But does it have to be ICE which does the guarding?
Unlike Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other criticizers of the Trump Administration, I do believe that there is a very real need for some type of security measure on our borders and within our country to ensure that safe and legal immigration prevails.
But, I am not convinced that ICE is the answer.
Our government is chock full of redundancies. We have agencies that govern the operation of bureaus, that operate under the umbrella of departments, and blah blah blah…and they all seem to do the same things!
The vast and ever-growing bureaucracy in Washington is essentially throwing money down the drain. It seems that the government creates a new agency or department every time a new law gets passed.
With the US debt exceeding $22 trillion dollars, we simply cannot afford the redundancy.
It might come as a surprise to you (or not) that ICE isn’t the only agency tasked with immigration security. If you do a simple Google search of who enforces US immigration laws, you will find a vast empire of agencies operating under the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and even the Department of Health and Human Services.
Even the US Army has about 6,000 troops deployed to the Southern border at this very moment.
Do we really need all these resources to protect our borders?
The actions taken not only by the Trump administration, but the US government in general, essentially come down to a colossal waste of money and resources.
Whether you agree with the Trump administration’s pleas to secure our borders, or not; one thing is for certain, we need to reduce our frivolous spending on Southern border security.