As if we don’t have enough going on these days, somehow we could spare six vehicles…SIX…full of Department of Homeland Security agents to seize a North Carolina couple’s car because they say it doesn’t comply with safety and environmental regulations. As Paul Joseph Watson of Infowars.com  reports:

As part of its mission to “protect the Homeland,” the DHS has been busy seizing imported vehicles that don’t comply with safety and CO2 regulations.

Jennifer and Bill Brinkley were satisfied that their $60,000 dollar purchase of a Land Rover Defender on eBay complied with regulations because it fell into the exemption category of a vehicle 25 years or older.

However, when DHS agents turned up at the property, they compared the car’s Vehicle Identification Number to a list and immediately seized the Land Rover. The couple [was] not given “a chance to debate the issue.” …“it’s just unnerving the way they did it,” said Bill Brinkley.

The feds have given the Brinkley’s 35 days to appeal the seizure but refuse to tell them where the vehicle is located. The DHS has also failed to respond to media requests about the incident.

So let me understand. DHS officials somehow have the authority—not to mention the time—to be monitoring Americans’ online purchases?

I also wasn’t aware that repossessing cars from law-abiding citizens was a core—much less a constitutional— function of any federal government agency. And DHS certainly isn’t touting its repo record in its latest budget:

The 240,000 employees of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) work tirelessly to meet the persistent and continuously evolving threats from terrorism, secure and manage our borders, enforce and administer our immigration laws, safeguard cyberspace and critical infrastructure, and prepare for and respond to disasters. …In its eleventh year, the Department has …transformed the way we protect the Nation (p. 9).

Indeed.

This news story is just the latest example of what appears to be the DHS running amok and helps explain why it is being likened to a domestic standing army. Watson explains that:

The Department of Homeland Security, created in the aftermath of 9/11, was tasked with the role of protecting America from terrorists, man-made accidents and natural disasters. However, the DHS has been turned into a national police force with a remit that extends from seizing websites for copyright infringement to confiscating fake NFL merchandise.

This is probably not what most Americans had in mind when we were told that this now $61 billion (p. 5) government department would improve national security.