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Defense of Strongest Position on Threat Issue Assignment
William D. Beatty
CJUS 380: Introduction to Homeland Security
Oct 10, 2025
Defense of Strongest Position on Threat Issue Assignment
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Defense Position Paper 1 Summary
In my pervious paper I talked about how the government of this country is not
protecting its citizens as well as they should. The members of the government draft up and vote
into policies what are known as “soft on crime polices” these policies have been having harmful
effects on this country and have been getting worse over the years. These harmful effects are
criminals are more likely to repeat things as they know the pentiles, if any at all will be worth
the risk of getting caught. This has led the public to not trust law enforcement or the justice
system as a whole. As well as major companies shutting down and closing locations due to the
loss of product and damage to stores because of criminals not getting the punishment for their
crimes.
Position Statement
There is a noticeable shift going on in the country as more people are realizing the harmful
effects this “soft on crime” polices are having in society. This shift caused the government to
change their approach and make sweeping changes within the justice system. The best thing
about this shift happening is that it is going back to holding those accountable for their actions
which allows the country’s crime rate to be reduced and allow people in the country to live
more safely and freely as they once did. This is exactly what the country needs to do pinch and
weak point turn things around and make it a strength once again.
Review of Literature
One of the biggest things that the government is being forced to change is due to society
turning their viewpoint on the subject of criminal justice reform. The main viewpoint from these
reforms was to get society onboard by reducing the funding for law enforcement. This is a very
dangerous way of thinking. Without properly funded law enforcement there are not enough
officers patrolling the streets, posting guards throughout the prisons, and enough personnel to
protect the country’s border. Some of the hard effects of these are the open border crisis, more
people getting parole, or not even getting charged due to prisons being too full, and
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understaffed. The government is now doing what people have been calling for, which is to
protect citizens of the country. “For prosecutors who prioritize the rule of law and the safety of
U.S. citizens. take the appropriate steps to secure our nation’s borders, safeguard our
communities, and restore faith in the justice system.” (Heritage Foundation, 2023). Recently the
government has started to really strengthen this once weak spot. “Issued a new rule allowing
statutory bars to asylum to be applied much earlier in the process, specifically those who have
been convicted of a particularly serious crime, participated in the persecution of others, are
inadmissible on national security or terrorism-related grounds, or for whom there are
reasonable grounds to deem them a danger to the security of the United States.” (DHS,2025).
Another area where the government has been focused on strengthening in ensuring that law
enforcement has the resources and funds needed to keep the citizens safe “Provided $8.6 billion
in Congressionally appropriated grant funds to state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to
better equip these partners with the tools and resources they need to keep their communities
safe.” (DHS, 2025).
Some of the biggest shifts to strengthen this country are coming from places where the
weakness was the highest. These places are known to society liberal cites some examples of
these cities are New York, San Franciso, and Washington DC to name a few. These places are
now abandoning the “soft on crime” mindset. In San Franciso they gave more power back to law
enforcement “measure was giving police more surveillance power and limiting oversight by the
police commission. And that garnered about 54% of voter approval.” (NPR,2024). Moving on to
Washington DC, this area took the route of enforcing and not allowing criminals to get away
with what they were doing. “Recent piece of legislation, which is massive and includes
provisions from allowing police to enforce drug-free zones to increasing certain punishments for
gun crimes, does mark steps back toward where we were maybe before 2020” (NPR,2024).
Lastly New York has had a crime spike to the point where they mobilized the National Guard to
protect mass transit subway system.
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Another example of how this country has become stronger has been closed the border instead
of having the polices that promote an open border the government has shifted to polices that
not only make it harder for those that try to get into this country illegally, but also ensuring that
those people are being returned to the country they came from. “Per our strong coalition letter,
this includes resuming construction of the border wall system that U.S. Customs and Border
Protection requested, mandating full implementation of the Remain in Mexico program, ending
abuse of the parole authority, ending the disparate treatment of unaccompanied alien children,
terminating the 20-day detention limit, and raising asylum standards to prevent fraud.”
(Heritage Foundation, 2025). By doing these things shows that American’s will no longer
tolerate people coming to the country illegal especially if those people have the intent to
comate crimes.
Conclusion
Overall it is clear that Amercia is no longer weak where it once was. Between the overhaul of
polices that have secured the border, strengthened the justice system, and are allowing law
enforcement to conduct their duties to ensure that citizens are safe and secure. Moving
forward, the government needs to remain in this direction to ensure the country remains
strong. Also to learn from the mistakes that were made that caused the weaknesses in the first
place and do not allow that same mindset to affect us again.
References:
Increased Illegal Immigration Brings Increased Crime: Almost 2/3 of Federal Arrests Involve
Noncitizens https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/increased-illegal-
immigration-bringsincreased-crime-almost-23-federal
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Strengthened and Innovated, Leveraged New
Partnerships, and Invested in the Workforce to Tackle Today’s Threats, Leaving Nation More
Prepared and More Resilient to Face Tomorrow’s Challenges.
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https://www.dhs.gov/archive/news/2025/01/17/dhs-strengthened-and-innovated-leveraged-
newpartnerships-and-invested-workforce
Some liberal cities are embracing tough-on-crime policies
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/17/1239078697/some-liberal-cities-are-embracing-tough-on-
crimepolicies
Secure America’s Borders and Reduce Crime https://www.heritage.org/secure-americas-
borders-and-reduce-crime
