Border Wall of Words: Obama Official Admits Trump Impact on Illegal Crossings

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson admitted Thursday morning that President Donald Trump’s rhetoric in support of immigration enforcement has contributed to a sharp drop drop in illegal crossings at the Mexican border.

The Obama administration alumnus made his comments during an interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN. While the remarks were delivered as a seeming criticism of the Trump administration, they are sure to be welcomed by advocates of greater enforcement of the law.

“Illegal migration on our southern border has gone down since this president has been in office, basically because, through his rhetoric, he scared off a lot of women and children in Central America who’d rather stay in their desperate circumstances, or just migrate to Mexico and stop there,” Johnson said.

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Advocates of immigration enforcement blasted Johnson for suggesting the decline in illegal crossings was a negative.

“Johnson talks out of both sides of his mouth, talking about the need to enforce our immigration laws yet wanting to admit illegal immigrants because they are fleeing poverty,” said Dave Ray, Communications Director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “If poverty is the standard by which we allow people to enter the U.S., we’ve just thrown out the welcome mat to more than half of the world’s population.”

In his conversation with Cuomo, Johnson effectively admitted the Obama administration did not fully enforce immigration law.

“I believe that we have to enforce our immigration laws consistent with our values and consistent with humanity,” he said — as opposed to enforcing our immigration laws in a manner consistent with our immigration laws.

“At the end of the day, when you enforce immigration laws, you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror, look your own family in the eye, recall the women and children who are desperate, to say, ‘I did my best to enforce the law consistent with our priorities and consistent with our values,'” said Johnson. “I hope that the current administration does not lose sight of that.”

Ray ripped Johnson for failing to consider the impact of unbridled immigration on Americans.

“Secretary Johnson also talked about the need to take a humanitarian approach to admitting illegal immigrants,” he noted, “yet he seems to lack any sense of empathy for the working-class Americans who will lose their jobs to illegal immigrants or the overcrowded schools that will have to accommodate the expensive educational needs of limited-English students.”

“Johnson also gives lip service to going after immigrant felons and other ‘bad guys,’ yet tens of thousands of dangerous criminal aliens were released back onto the streets by the Obama administration,” Ray told LifeZette. “Again, where is the empathy for the American families who faced the carnage and loss brought on by these criminal aliens being released back into their communities?”

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The current administration shows no sign of slowing down efforts to fully enforce immigration laws and secure the nation’s southern border. The comments from Johnson came one day after the Department of Homeland Security announced a boost to the ranks of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a crackdown on sanctuary cities.

In an interview published by the Washington Examiner Wednesday, acting ICE Director Thomas Homan hailed the decision to hire thousands more agents and said Trump has “taken the handcuffs off of law enforcement.”

Homan noted that illegal border crossings have plummeted by almost 70 percent and sit currently at a “historic low,” while arrests of illegal aliens within the country’s interior have risen by 40 percent.

“Just as the Trump administration has proven that talking tough on illegal immigration and urging your immigration officers to carry out their duties can quickly curb illegal immigration, the Obama administration proved that championing amnesty, encouraging cities to tout their sanctuary policies, and telling the nation’s immigration enforcement officers to ‘stand down’ can trigger an enormous rush at the border,” said Ray.

“The Obama administration, in essence, decided to virtually ignore the laws passed by Congress and tailor their own immigration enforcement policies to meet their own political objectives,” he added. The victims of this approach were the American people and the rule of law.”

(photo credit, homepage image: Gage Skidmore)