The migrants who tried to rush into the United States earlier this week are just the beginning of the problem the United States will face if steps are not taken to protect the border, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., warned Wednesday.
"We have to recognize the fact that what we're seeing at the border right now is just a culmination of bad policy, loopholes, and bad precedent that is rewarding people to come to this country illegally," Johnson told Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
In fiscal year 2018, Johnson added, 1,400 people a day were apprehended who either tried to cross the border illegally or who showed up at points of entry but did not have proper documentation.
"Last month alone, it was 1960 people per day," said Johnson. "My concern is right now, they're massing in Tijuana. My concern is they'll get organized and start coming into the areas of the border where there aren't barriers, and it will become a bigger problem."
President Donald Trump "deserves" to have better barriers funded, Johnson added, and he thinks his call for $5 billion is "probably the right figure at this time."
Meanwhile, there are so many asylum cases, many end up closed simply because they cannot be heard, Johnson said.
"These individuals are in legal limbo in the United States," he said. "They aren't being deported. They don't have any kind of legal status. But that's completely off everybody's radar."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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