Congressman Dusty Johnson’s Weekly Update: A Broken Border

A Broken Border
By Rep. Dusty Johnson

For as long as I can remember, immigration reform headlines have frequented the front pages of our newspapers. It’s a tough system to understand, and an even tougher system to legislate. Many of the world’s greatest leaders have tried and failed over the years, and even some successes have resulted in failure years later.

Nearly every administration in the last 30 years has attempted to solve our complex immigration system. In 1986, President Reagan signed into law sweeping immigration reform, giving amnesty to nearly three million residing illegally in the U.S., while also implementing new restrictions on employers’ abilities to hire undocumented workers. Ten years later, President Clinton signed another reform bill, strengthening deportation enforcement and restricting legal immigration. President George H.W. Bush expanded seasonal worker programs, and President George W. Bush attempted to steer through a bipartisan package which ultimately failed on the Senate floor.

Our nation’s immigration problems are not new, and frankly, they’re getting worse. I had the opportunity to cut through the noise and travel to our southern border last week to see what’s going on for myself.

During my trip, I met with U.S. Border Patrol and drug enforcement agents on the ground. They took us to some of the most vulnerable spots along the border in Yuma, AZ. I witnessed a number of illegal border crossings and the apprehensions that followed. In the past, illegal border crossings were primarily committed by single adult men. Today, it’s shifted to family units and unaccompanied minors, bringing a new set of challenges to an already exasperated system.

My time at the border taught me one thing: our systems are overwhelmed. Last month, nearly 100,000 people were apprehended at our southern border and as I viewed these detention areas, they’re three or four times more crowded than they should be. Current immigration policy treats family units more favorably than single individuals, and according to U.S. Border Patrol, drug cartels are “renting” children at a cost of $1,700 to cross the border. There must be a better way.

Allowing our systems to be overrun is neither the humanitarian or responsible thing to do, and neither is keeping in place policies that allow individuals to exploit children to gain easier access into our country. Whether you’re somebody who cares about national security or whether you’re somebody who cares about humanitarian concerns, this is a crisis we need to solve as soon as possible. It’s clearer than ever after spending several days with the men and women protecting our borders that they need more resources, more technology, and most importantly, a border wall or fencing to best do their jobs.

The insight I gained from my trip to the border is something I will bring back to D.C. to continue to fight for border security. If we want to solve this crisis, we need everyone to come to the table, secure our border first and overhaul our system.

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