Arriving at JFK from Dubai recently, I was stopped at customs by an officer from the Department of Homeland Security and directed to a drab backroom filled with Arabs, South Asians and Africans. I wasn't surprised, really, having just spent six months working and traveling in the Islamic world — Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Pakistan. If ever there were a DHS red-flag candidate, I was it, and I assumed this was just protocol.
...If only. No, these frontline warriors in the global war on terrorism at Homeland Security had far more pressing issues to question me about. "Why did you infringe on the Boston Celtics' copyright in Boston in 2003?" asked my case officer, Malik — ironically a Pakistani — from behind his high desk. Uh, because I used to sell T-shirts outside sporting events, I said, wondering what this had to do with national security.
Did this give this writer a poor opinion of Homeland Security? Slightly:
Homeland Security, the $40-billion-a-year agency set up to combat terrorism after 9/11, has been given universal jurisdiction and can hold anyone on Earth for crimes unrelated to national security — even me for a court date I missed while I was in Iraq helping America deter terror — without asking what I had been doing in Pakistan among Islamic extremists the agency is designated to stop. Instead, some of its actions are erasing the lines of jurisdiction between local police and the federal state, scarily bringing the words "police" and "state" closer together. As long as we allow Homeland Security to act like a Keystone Stasi, terrorism will continue to win in destroying our freedom.
So, exactly why does Homeland Security know about this gentleman's missed court date, and exactly what authority do they have to detain him for that reason? I'd like to know.
While detaining harmless American citizens, Homeland Security seems unable to secure itself:
A man using a fake identification card was able to enter the Homeland Security Department headquarters in Washington, he said, even though the United States government considers the type of Mexican-issued card he used invalid.
Retired New York City policeman Bruce DeCell, who had arranged to meet with DHS officials last week to lobby for document security, told CNN he purposely used a forged version of identification that Mexican consulates in the United States issue to their nationals living here illegally.
DeCell said a friend in California bought him the fake Mexican card for $20. "I sent him a passport-size photo and the spelling of my name, and he had the card made for me on the street," he said.
I'm willing to bet that it would be harder for me to get into the Mavs-Heat game with a fake ticket than it was for this man to enter DHS headquarters with a fake ID that's already a half-ass ID as it is.
All this leads one to wonder, naturally I would think, how exactly Homeland Security is securing our borders, when they seem highly focused on detaining people who miss court dates and somewhat focused on people who enter their headquarters with fake IDs. Are their priorities in order? I don't think so.
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