On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson argued that having 7,000 people come to the border each day is unsustainable because “It overwhelms the communities in Texas and Arizona that have to absorb this population. It overwhelms Catholic Charities. It overwhelms the Border Patrol and ICE” and that if he had his way, he would push to delay lifting Title 42 until later in the summer when the number of people attempting to enter the U.S. declines due to hotter weather.
Johnson said, “I am convinced that most Americans want us to treat migrants in this country fairly, humanely. They want us to take care of the DREAMers, who are a remarkable group of de facto Americans who grew up in this country. Most Americans, I believe, want to give people who have been in this country for ten or more years an opportunity to get on the books. But most Americans also want a secure border. If you go to Laredo, TX, for example, Henry Cuellar’s district, 85% Mexican American, overwhelmingly Democratic, they want a secure border. I know. I’ve been there. I’ve heard this. 7,000 a day is not sustainable, in multiple respects. It overwhelms the communities in Texas and Arizona that have to absorb this population. It overwhelms Catholic Charities. It overwhelms the Border Patrol and ICE and their ability to keep up with these numbers. And obviously, it overwhelms the Biden administration politically. This is affecting his approval ratings. The — we just have to — we have to enforce border security and we have to send the message that we are enforcing border security.”
He added that the Biden administration is “sending people back,” but “in Washington, you have to repeat things 25 times before anybody listens. I used to go to Central America. I would stand at the bottom of the stairway for the plane returning back to Guatemala and Honduras and bring the cameras to show people in Central America that we were actually sending people back. Immigration is a very market-sensitive phenomenon. It reacts sharply to perceived and real changes in our enforcement policy up here. So, the lifting of Title 42, I’m sure that news is circulating right now in Central America. If I had had my druthers, and I don’t, I would have argued, can we lift this perhaps later in the summer when it gets hotter and the numbers do slow down? We’re right now in the peak season. But longer-term, you’ve got to deal with the push factors.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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