Hawaii Shoplifters Targeted by Homeland Security Investigations
Far from the out-of-control southwest border and job sites across the country that traffic in illegal aliens, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is aiming to take down shoplifters in Hawaii.
“Tackling this growing threat is important to the safety of store employees [and] customers,” declared Steve Francis, HSI’s acting executive associate director.
While estimated losses of $69 billion a year to America’s stores are nothing to sneeze at, shoplifting is a state offense far removed from the much larger jobs of national security and immigration enforcement.
According to its webpage, HSI is tasked to “investigate, disrupt and dismantle terrorist, transnational and other criminal organizations that threaten or seek to exploit the customs and immigration laws of the United States.” Human smuggling, drug trafficking, violent street gangs and child pornography are the agency’s chief targets – or at least they’re supposed to be.
By blurring and diluting HSI’s mission in order to track retail pilferage, Francis and his boss, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, amplify concerns about this administration’s direction and priorities.
“Mayorkas took an oath to defend and secure our country. However, he has failed to live up to that commitment and has instead presided over the reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement,” FAIR President Dan Stein stated last year, calling for the secretary’s removal.
Since then the border situation has only deteriorated and administration officials have handcuffed HSI, ending workplace raids and turning a blind eye to bottom-feeding businesses that exploit illegal labor. Shortages of staff and resources are routinely cited for the stand down, but apparently those are not a problem when it comes to patrolling boutiques in the Aloha State.
Seeing the bigger picture, 14 state attorneys general have formally asked Mayorkas to step down. Florida AG Ashley Moody blasted his “abject refusal to enforce laws enacted by Congress to keep us safe [while] our southwest border is a disaster and our nation is on the verge of a national security crisis.”
So far, Hawaii’s acting attorney general Holly Shikada hasn’t joined the list of complainants. Evidently, she’s satisfied to have highly trained HSI agents serving as mall cops on her islands.