But we should not have this debate while we are deciding the fate of the budget of the Nations most critical national security agency. the Department of Homeland Security. I am not the only one who thinks so. All three former Department of Homeland Security SecretariesRepublicans Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff and Democrat Janet Napolitanowrote to the Republican leadership last week and this is what they said: We do not question your desire to have a larger debate about the Nations immigration laws. However. we cannot emphasize enough that the DHSs responsibilities are much broader than its responsibility to oversee the federal immigration agencies and to protect our borders. . . . And funding for the entire agency should not be put in jeopardy by the debate about immigration. The Washington Posts editorial board has also weighed in. Last week. here is what they wrote: If congressional Republicans want to attack those Talking about immigrationactions responsibly. with discrete legislation. they are free to try .... However. it is another thing to wield their frustration over immigration as a cudgel. holding hostage an entire department of government that is critical to the nations security. That is as irresponsible as it is politically illadvised. I could not agree more. We need to focus now on doing the job we were sent here to doto provide the funding necessary to keep America safe in an ever more dangerous world. Once we have done that. we should engage in an urgent debate on how to amend Americas immigration policies for the 21st century. If we choose instead to continue down this irresponsible path toward a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. we will actually put America at greater risk. Why would we do that?
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immigration immigrationactions