house Bill H.R. 4713
Should Homeland Security's Office of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties be Reauthorized & Reformed to Protect Against Violations?
Argument in favor
Numerous civil rights and liberties violations, as well as more serious human rights violations, have been documented against the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) as a result of the Trump administration’s efforts to tighten immigration policies and procedures. These deeply troubling allegations haven’t been taken seriously enough, and an Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is needed to make DHS take these investigations more seriously and ensure that complaints are addressed in a timely manner.
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12/09/2019
Yes this is needed. There have been so many dehumanizing, racially oriented and other human rights abuses by DHS reported that they need to institutionalize a conscience, a human rights advocate and voice to protect people from such abuses and protect the agency from fallacious charges. These office functions are an integral part of most all ‘enforcement’ agencies and I am surprised that is not for DHS.
12/09/2019
If you ever wondered how you would react to slavery or German concentration camps, now you know.
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12/09/2019
If we allow security to outweigh civil rights, then what are we protecting? Our Constitution calls for balance. We must protect civil rights.
Argument opposed
The Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and Inspector General already share responsibility for receiving and investigating civil rights and liberties complaints related to DHS policies and procedures. This legislation would be duplicative of these existing efforts and therefore isn’t needed. The fact that the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties would only investigate complaints not taken up by the DHS IG is proof that this officer isn’t needed.
12/09/2019
DHS should be axed and it’s duties returned to the original department’s. Nothing the feds did in response to 911 was correct. Not the war with the wrong target for imaginary WMD’s, not our new gestapo ICE, not the TSA Craziness, not the PATRIOT act, not DHS, nothing. Literally, nothing.
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12/09/2019
Oversight and audit functions should never report to the organization they are monitoring!
Homeland security keeps trying to co-opt more resources with the last being use of state & local law enforcement to do its bidding.
Homeland security is creating a police state that needs regulating externally not from within!
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12/09/2019
Dept of Homeland Security is a redundancy and should be dissolved. It seems to be an organization that specializes in violations of citizens’ civil rights, and was an overreaction to 9/11. I’ve always thought 9/11 simply gave the government an excuse to create a gestapo-like government organization.
Yes this is needed. There have been so many dehumanizing, racially oriented and other human rights abuses by DHS reported that they need to institutionalize a conscience, a human rights advocate and voice to protect people from such abuses and protect the agency from fallacious charges. These office functions are an integral part of most all ‘enforcement’ agencies and I am surprised that is not for DHS.
DHS should be axed and it’s duties returned to the original department’s. Nothing the feds did in response to 911 was correct. Not the war with the wrong target for imaginary WMD’s, not our new gestapo ICE, not the TSA Craziness, not the PATRIOT act, not DHS, nothing. Literally, nothing.
Oversight and audit functions should never report to the organization they are monitoring!
Homeland security keeps trying to co-opt more resources with the last being use of state & local law enforcement to do its bidding.
Homeland security is creating a police state that needs regulating externally not from within!
If you ever wondered how you would react to slavery or German concentration camps, now you know.
If we allow security to outweigh civil rights, then what are we protecting? Our Constitution calls for balance. We must protect civil rights.
Dept of Homeland Security is a redundancy and should be dissolved. It seems to be an organization that specializes in violations of citizens’ civil rights, and was an overreaction to 9/11. I’ve always thought 9/11 simply gave the government an excuse to create a gestapo-like government organization.
No, DHS already has this capability & yet, the atrocities continue to happen! What we need is an outside Civil Liberties Agency with investigative, regulatory & oversight to keep this agency in check. We need laws that are humane regarding immigrants. We need an administration that believes it is unthinkable to cage children, separate families, and mistreat human beings. What we don’t need is more of DHS investigating its own wrongdoings...that’s not working!
The issue is trust. This would be great and might improve the treatment of people in their care. When has Trump or the Republicans let a little thing like the law get in their way? Trump supporters aren’t even fazed by the lawlessness of this Administration. Until there is an Administration in power that respects the rule of law, No. We can’t ever get Trump or the Republicans to respect and abide by the laws or Constitution why do we need more?
This to totally unnecessary. Other agencies are already addressing this issue.
Numerous civil rights and liberties violations, as well as more serious human rights violations, have been documented against the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) as a result of the Trump administration’s efforts to tighten immigration policies and procedures. These deeply troubling allegations haven’t been taken seriously enough, and an Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties is needed to make DHS take these investigations more seriously and ensure that complaints are addressed in a timely manner.
DHS and ICE need to be axed and their responsibilities returned to the original departments. I can’t think of anything positive that these two departments have contributed to the US since their inception.
I don't like redundancies, and I hear how there may already be policies in place to handle human and civil rights violations. However, those obviously are not working because this administration's DHS continually is violating the human and civil rights of immigrants and others in this country and likely will continue to do so as supporters of this administration refuse to hold anybody accountable. If this bill is one way to try to hold these violators accountable, then I support it. Human and Civil rights cannot be violated with no repercussion, no matter who they're committed against.
I am not sure we need an overseer AND we definitely need something to change. Locking people in cages is A VIOLATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES! So whatever it takes it must be enacted. Living in a fascist country is prohibited by our Constitution. There are laws in place that are being ignored because they refuse to follow the laws of the constitution and the evil, racism, and every other phobia weak men and women live by are running rampant in our government. They must be removed. This government is turning into a police state for the weak.
QUIT WASTING OUR TIME AND MONEY ON THINGS THAT ARE ALREADY IN PLAY AND DO SOME REAL WORK FOR A CHANGE!!!