By Paul Weiser
It's always a question, when two things begin near-simultaneously, whether one caused the other. To assume cause-and-effect risks the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, but ignoring causation evades knowledge. Such is the case with two synchronous events, agency amalgamation into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the tidal wave of illegal immigrants.
The massive reorganization into DHS placed many on the federal payroll (mainly airline passenger checkers). The higher-level airline-security flow was into the Sky Marshals (formerly a tiny group), line Sky Marshals coming predominantly from the Border Patrol and supervisors from the former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, renamed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and moved from Treasury to Justice.
In other words, the Sky Marshal program's expansion soaked up active Border Patrol agents; they were not replaced. From 2001 the executive branch intentionally permitted immigration to expand out of control by eliminating internal enforcement, as a matter of philosophy and policy. We must conclude that, since the 9/11 attack was not anticipated, DHS amalgamation did to some extent cause the immigration crisis by encouraging Border Patrol officers to become Sky Marshals.
This exact sequence of events was probably not anticipated by the DHS drafters, but a general intent to neglect immigration enforcement can be seen in combining Customs with Immigration in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which now effectively refuses to conduct internal immigration enforcement except for tiny, infrequent, politically- timed showpiece raids... while the executive branch persecutes Border Patrol officers who actually do their jobs with "Justice" Department prosecution commanded by Bush cronies.
Our final conclusion must be that DHS amalgamation was a significant, but not the sole cause of the illegal immigration tidal wave. The true cause was bipartisan, Congressional/Executive malfeasance in pursuit of an illegal goal.
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