On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson stated that “If President Trump said, I’ve secured the border, that would be a legitimate statement to make” due to how low the numbers at the border are.
While discussing the arrests of Iranian nationals, co-host Lawrence Jones asked, “I think…this is just another account of the failed Biden border policies that we have to deal with right now, right?”
Johnson responded, “I put it this way, Lawrence: The presence in this country of undocumented migrants or Iranian nationals who have links to Hezbollah, IRGC is, in my judgment, a domestic law enforcement concern of the highest magnitude. I hope and expect that the FBI — my old department — DHS are laser-focused on this right now. There have been 16 arrests in the last couple of days, but that’s not necessarily all of them. My educated speculation is that law enforcement has been tracking these individuals for a while in this country, to follow leads, to see who they are in contact with, but I’m glad to see these 16 off the streets.”
Later, [relevant exchange begins around 6:50] co-host Brian Kilmeade asked, “Mr. Secretary, you’ve been on this couch and you’ve been very upset about what’s happening on the border, you’ve also been complimentary. Have you ever, in your life, heard about numbers as low as what we’ve been hearing since President Trump took over? And do you believe he deserves credit for that, and the Tom Homan team?”
Johnson answered, “The numbers, now, are something like, last time I looked, 12,000 a month. The prior administration sometimes saw that in a day. If President Trump said, I’ve secured the border, that would be a legitimate statement to make, because the numbers now are the lowest in recorded history. Now, let me take that a step further, I think this President has an opportunity…at — and a lot of people won’t want to hear this — comprehensive immigration reform. Just like a Nixon goes to China moment or a Reagan discusses with the Soviet Union arms control, he is in a position to bring along a lot of Republicans and Democrats, at some point before the midterms, at an effort at comprehensive immigration reform to fix the broken system.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
