As America reflects on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11, two former heads of the Department of Homeland Security argue the agency created in the aftermath of the attacks needs a dramatic “reset” after becoming politically “radioactive” in the Trump years.
“When I stepped into the job of secretary in 2013, the department was still, I think, viewed primarily as security,” Obama administration DHS secretary Jeh Johnson told NBC News. “Now I fear in many communities DHS has become a pariah, radioactive, the department of mass deportations, heartless, locking up kids, and that is one of the reasons why I think we need a reset.”
Mass deportations, Johnson argued, had “overwhelmed” the other missions of DHS, which does everything from tracking security threats against America to overseeing outfits such as the disaster-focused Federal Emergency Management Agency.
As a result of this mission drift, the former official argued, the agency risked “becoming complacent” in the face of changing domestic threats against America. Recent years, for instance, have seen a spike in political violence and attacks on politicians from both parties.
Meanwhile, Michael Chertoff, who led DHS during the Bush administration, argued immigration policy should prioritize arresting individuals who pose large security threats, rather than the Trump administration’s more sweeping mass deportation strategy.
open image in gallery“We’re spending most of our time worrying about gardeners and home health aides and getting them thrown out of the country, as opposed to focusing on people that actually are doing a lot of damage,” he told NBC.
The ex-secretaries are calling for DHS to streamline its mission to focus on security issues, while sending other non-related agencies to different parts of the government. The officials also argued for placing immigration prosecutors and arresting officers within separate agencies.
The Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign has faced countless legal challenges and mass protests in cities facing large DHS deployments over the last year-and-a-half, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis.
About half of Americans support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a DHS agency, a July poll from The Economist and YouGov found.
Between 2023 and 2025, Americans ceased viewing DHS as generally favorable, the Pew Research Center found.
open image in galleryIn the wake of DHS agents fatally shooting two American protesters in Minneapolis in January, the Trump administration installed a new DHS secretary, Markwayne Mullin, and promised a more measured approached. The agency has backed off mass, military-style immigration campaigns in cities, though it has continued to notch record arrest levels throughout the summer.
Elsewhere at DHS, the Trump administration considered shuttering FEMA, though it has since pivoted to a sweeping reorganization instead. Throughout the Trump administration, security-related agencies such as the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives have reassigned staff to assist in immigration cases.
In a statement to The Independent, DHS defended its mission and criticized the Biden administration’s more permissive immigration policies. It also accused the Biden-era Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is part of DHS, of “censorship, branding, and electioneering.”
“Counterterrorism and immigration enforcement go hand in hand,” a spokesperson said. “Child exploitation, trafficking, terrorism, scams, and smuggling all have a nexus to illegal immigration.”
DHS, which has received record funding under the Trump administration and Republican Congress, argued the agency remains well-prepared to protect Americans.
open image in gallery“Despite multiple Democrat shutdowns of DHS, the Department is more than equipped to keep Americans safe in an ever-changing threat landscape. DHS has been recruiting, reforming, and modernizing at a record pace—including in areas of counterterrorism,” the spokesperson added.
Under the Trump administration, there were more deaths in ICE custody than there had been in decades.
The Obama and Bush administrations faced controversies of their own over DHS.
Critics labeled Obama the “deporter-in-chief,” and his administration deported more people than the first Trump administration, despite the Republican’s message being more focused on immigration than his predecessor’s.
The Bush administration, meanwhile, faced criticism for pursuing sweeping domestic surveillance, often targeted at Muslims, Sikhs and South Asians, as part of its homeland security agenda.
The first Trump administration faced the brunt of criticism over its signature border wall, but presidents of both parties have been building walls on the border for decades.