Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says Democrats calling to abolish the Department of Homeland Security do not understand why the agency was created 25 years ago in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
Mullin made the remarks during a Breitbart News discussion on border security, public safety, and American sovereignty. Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle pressed him on Democrats who want the department gone, pointing specifically to Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, and asked what the country would lose if they got their way.
Mullin ran through the list. The Coast Guard, which patrols American shorelines and waterways, falls under DHS. So does Customs and Border Protection, without which international flights can’t be processed and border security collapses. The Secret Service, which protects the president and visiting dignitaries at major events, is part of DHS too. So are Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and the Transportation Security Administration.
“We got land and we have air. Those TSA. Our flights would be wide open,” Mullin said.
“They didn’t understand what happened 25 years ago and why DHS was stood up.”
Mullin suggested some Democrats pushing to eliminate the department simply never learned the history. “They don’t realize how far ago history was. Maybe they weren’t taught history because they weren’t from this country to begin with when they went to high school. I’m just saying it’s facts,” he said.
He argued there’s nothing controversial about the department’s core mission. “We have the job of protecting the homeland. It should never be controversial,” Mullin said. “Why is Department of Homeland controversial? Why is it controversial to protect our backyards? Why is it controversial to be the security of our waterways? Why is it controversial to be security in the air or the planes with our air marshals? Why is it controversial to enforce immigration customs? Why is that controversial? It shouldn’t be.”
Mullin also defended the Federal Protective Service, DHS’s law enforcement arm, noting the department has 80,000 badge-carrying officers working every day. “FBI does a great job of investigations, but we’re the law enforcement side of it. So what it really comes down to is they’re anti-law enforcement,” he said.
Chaos as a Strategy, Mullin Argues
Mullin went further, offering his own theory for why some on the left want the department dismantled. “The only way you can take a republic, a true democracy, a true republic like the United States or anyone, any country, and turn it into a socialist, communist country, is you got to fabricate chaos,” he said. “You got to create the chaos. If there’s not chaos, you got to create the chaos, and once it gets so chaotic, and people are looking for someone, then you can usher in socialism and communism.”
He pointed to the historical pattern of democracies that collapse into authoritarianism before clawing their way back. “You see that every single time when you have a democracy that fails, they push socialism communism. It’s guaranteed to fail, and they try to get back to democracy. There’s usually about a 20 to 25 year gap between there, but that’s the only way it can happen,” Mullin said.
He tied the push to abolish DHS to broader “defund the police” rhetoric. “Who would ever think defund police would become popular? And abolishing Department of Homeland Security when our job is to protect the homeland,” he said.
Mullin also drew a line between DHS and the Department of War, noting the latter’s jurisdiction generally stops at international waters unless the president assigns it elsewhere. “Department of Homeland takes everything from there. It’s our responsibility,” he said. “I say this all the time. You can’t argue with crazy.”
