That was before it became a cabinet level department that absorbed 21 other agencies.
Precisely.
And what most people may not be aware of, or those 21, most already had some type of mandate. Border Patrol was its own entity. Customs Agency was its own. Coast Guard was in the DOD. So on and so forth.
But, some genius decided that DHS had to have their own armed federal agents, so they created DHS Agents. Since every other criminal activity already had an agency responsible for investigating said criminal activity, what were these newly armed agents supposed to do. No one really knows. So they do a little bit of everything. Help out locals and show up with more gadgets and toys than you can imagine.
On that note though, for now, I’d rather they take over “protecting” the country so we can get rid of the FBI.