Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen announced yesterday that more than 750 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers will be temporarily reassigned to America’s southwest border. “The situation at our southern border has gone from a crisis to near system-wide meltdown,” the Secretary wrote yesterday.
While President Donald J. Trump has taken action to address our national emergency at the border, Congressional Democrats still refuse to acknowledge a problem even exists—much less present any serious plan to address it.
They should listen to Mark Morgan, head of the U.S. Border Patrol under former President Obama.
🎬 Watch: Obama Border Patrol Chief on America’s asylum crisis
The problem starts with glaring loopholes in America’s immigration laws, particularly those governing the asylum process. The intelligence shows that most asylum-seekers “are coming here for two reasons,” Morgan says. “Economic equality and family reunification. They are not fleeing persecution or violence, and the stats show that.”
But it gets worse. “The incentives to come here are overwhelming,” he says. “They’re willing to take this dangerous trek because they know: Grab a kid, set one foot on American soil, and you’re allowed . . . to remain here unchecked.”
No modern immigration system should function that way. “The crisis at our border is worsening, and DHS will do everything in its power to end it,” Secretary Nielsen says. “We will not stand idly by while Congress fails to act yet again, so all options are on the table.”
