WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, appeared on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” Friday to discuss the crisis at the southern border and the need to eliminate incentives for illegal immigration.

Excerpts from the senator’s interview are below, and video can be found here.

“It is important that Mexico as well as the Central American nations cooperate with us to try and stop the flow, but we have to change our laws.”

“This is a growing problem, but it is growing because we have laws on our books that if you are an unaccompanied child from Central America or you come as a family unit, once you come into our country, say you have a credible fear of persecution, you're basically home for good. You have long-term residency. CBP unfortunately, through no fault of their own, has been reduced to a mere speed bump on the path to long-term residency for unaccompanied children and people coming as families, so we have to change those laws.”

“It's a totally different problem than it was back in the early 2000s. Back then it was Mexican economic migrants, we could return them immediately, sometimes apprehend them multiple times a day, and so the numbers were distorted. It is apples and oranges. Right now it's unaccompanied children and people coming in as family units, and now they are staying.”

###