Watch: Obama DHS Sec. Jars Unsuspecting Media, Confirms Trump's Right About Border
The Democrats often don’t particularly want to acknowledge that there’s a border crisis — or, if there is, that it can dealt with by reassigning money from border enforcement to processing asylum claims in the hope that this will stop illicit crossings.
All I have to say is this: When Jeh Johnson, former chief of the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration, says there’s a crisis, there’s a crisis.
In an appearance on MSNBC on Friday, Johnson said the pace of apprehensions of illegals at the southern border had metastasized into something far worse than he had ever experienced during his time in the position.
“My staff would tell you, if were under 1,000 apprehensions the day before, that was a relatively good number,” Johnson said. “And if it was over 1,000, it was a relatively bad number and I was going to be in a bad mood the whole day.
“On Tuesday, there were 4,000 apprehensions. I know that a thousand overwhelms a system, I can’t imagine what 4,000 a day looks like. So, we are truly in a crisis.”
Video below:
BREAKING: President Obama’s DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson says America’s southern border is “truly in a crisis.”
Will Democrats in Congress continue to ignore the invasion? pic.twitter.com/OvdDvGrGme
— Official Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) March 29, 2019
Johnson made similar comments on Fox News over the weekend.
“By anyone’s definition, by any measure, right now we have a crisis at our southern border,” he said.
“According to the commissioner of (Customs and Border Protection), there were 4,000 apprehensions in one day alone this past week, and we’re on pace for 100,000 apprehensions on our southern border this month.”
So why aren’t Democrats saying we’re in a crisis? And when they do, why do they insist that money ought to be diverted to processing asylum claims?
After all, most asylum claims are denied, particularly when the individuals who are applying mostly say they’re not fleeing any sort of war or government persecution but gang violence.
This is an invasion, particularly when it comes to family units. And yes, some of these individuals genuinely need help. However, that doesn’t mean we ought to let everyone in. The border exists for a reason: A government’s first priority is to protect its own people, whether it be from an overwhelming influx of illegal immigrants or safety from cartel violence.
Neither of these is solved by diverting money and resources away from enforcement — at a time when even Barack Obama’s DHS secretary admits we’re in crisis mode and dealing with four times the apprehensions he would consider problematic.
And keep in mind, it already looked bleak when Customs and Border Protection said we were on track for 600,000 apprehensions this year in February, according to the Washington Examiner.
It may well end up at 600,000, given the ebbs and flows of illegal immigration, but when Jeh Johnson is talking about 100,000 apprehensions in one month, there’s going to have to be a lot of ebbing for us to finish up at that number.
But then, Democrats are probably OK with that. Inasmuch as there’s a crisis, they can just say it reflects poorly on the administration. Serious border security is anathema to them, and anyway Trump isn’t going to get any more money unless it conforms to their priorities. This doesn’t generally include either enforcement or physical barriers.
Thus, we can count on seeing this kind of crisis again. And, as Johnson’s Obama administration colleague Rahm Emanuel once noted, they’ll never let a good crisis go to waste.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
