Former DHS Secretary: Central American Migration Must be Addressed at the Source

On NPR, Rachel Martin talks to Jeh Johnson, former Homeland Security secretary, about the surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. from the border with Mexico. NPR’s Joel Rose comments on the topic.

One telling passage of the interview:

MARTIN: In 2014, when you were heading up the Department of Homeland Security, total apprehensions at the border topped 68,000. Now we are up around those same levels. What are the mistakes the federal government keeps making?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, lesson learned for me in three years owning this problem is you have to address illegal migration, spikes in illegal migration, at the source. The push factors, the poverty and violence in Central America, simply overwhelms the system. And we can do things on our southern border to deter illegal migration. But as long as the underlying conditions exist, the poverty and violence – and this is the most violent region of the world – as long as those conditions exist, families are making the very basic human calculation to flee a burning building. (emphasis added).

KJ