THE TALK OF THE TOWN

When Congress created the Department of Homeland Security, in 2002, one lawmaker bragged that the United States was finally "meeting the enemy's agility with our agility."

- -Jonathan Blitzer

At the time, the issue of who the enemy was didn't cause much political disagreement in Washington; it was generally understood to be AI Qaeda, or groups like it.

Early skeptics questioned the wisdom of giving a single federal department a monumental budget as well as broad policing and surveillance powers, but caution was largely cast aside. Agencies within the department, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (C.B.P.), which includes Border Patrol, received lavish bipartisan support. Twenty-four years later, their mission and their conduct have exceeded the worst imaginings of even their sharpest critics. With Donald Trump in the White House, and a servile Republican majority in Congress, ICE and Border Patrol are turning into the President's personal army, targeting immigrants, Democrats, and, as the recent events in Minnesota have shown, just about anyone who crosses their path.

The situation is no less shocking for having been at least partly predictable.