WASHINGTON — In an interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto Thursday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) spoke about his concerns with loopholes that incentivize illegal immigration and the crisis at the southern border.

Excerpts of his interview are below and video can be found here.

“There absolutely is a humanitarian and national security crisis at the border. Back in 2014, President Obama declared a humanitarian crisis when 120,000 unaccompanied children and people came in illegally as family units. In just the first six months of this [fiscal] year, 240,000 have come. It's overwhelming our system.”

“The fact of the matter is, what is fueling this crisis are loopholes and legal precedents that reward and incentivize unaccompanied children and people coming into this country as family units. … It has reduced CBP to a mere speed bump on the path of long-term residency for unaccompanied children and people coming in as family units. We have to change these laws.”

“I have a great deal of confidence in the CBP Commissioner and now acting Homeland Security Secretary McAleenan. He’s choosing his team, and I think that’s probably appropriate. You still have seasoned managers in DHS. So I'm not panicked, I’m concerned because leadership matters, particularly when you’re in the midst of a crisis. But again, let me emphasize: the ball is in Congress’ court. The president can't fix this without Congress changing some of these laws.”

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