Summary
Enacted in 2003, the Homeland Security Act created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by consolidating 22 diverse security and disaster-related agencies and bureaus. The creation of DHS reflected mounting anxieties about immigration in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. DHS houses agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). Immigration services and border control agencies include Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), and the United States Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE). Resources dedicated to DHS and immigration enforcement have increased steadily since the early 2000s.
Source
TITLE I—
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
SEC. 101. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT; MISSION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Department of Homeland Security, as an executive department of the United States within the meaning of title 5, United States Code.
(b) MISSION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The primary mission of the Department is to—
(A) prevent terrorist attacks within the United States;
(B) reduce the vulnerability of the United States to terrorism;
(C) minimize the damage, and assist in the recovery, from terrorist attacks that do occur within the United States;
(D) carry out all functions of entities transferred to the Department, including by acting as a focal point regarding natural and manmade crises and emergency planning;
(E) ensure that the functions of the agencies and subdivisions within the Department that are not related directly to securing the homeland are not diminished or neglected except by a specific explicit Act of Congress;
(F) ensure that the overall economic security of the United States is not diminished by efforts, activities, and programs aimed at securing the homeland; and
(G) monitor connections between illegal drug trafficking and terrorism, coordinate efforts to sever such connections, and otherwise contribute to efforts to interdict illegal drug trafficking.
