Obama’s DHS Secretary: Democrat Immigration Plans ‘Tantamount To Declaring Publicly That We Have Open Borders’ | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: This informational nugget was sent to me by Ben Shapiro, who represents the Daily Wire, and since this is one of the most topical news events, it should be published on BCN.

    This article was written by Ashe Schow.

    As Democrat presidential candidates declare they would decriminalize illegal immigration, former members of President Barack Obama's administration - who have firsthand knowledge of the issue - are urging caution.

    At the first Democrat 2020 debate, former Obama Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro said we should treat illegal border crossings as a "civil" offense rather than a criminal one. During the second round of the debate, the candidates were asked if they agreed with Castro's plan, and nearly all raised their hands. Among those who supported the plan were Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) told The Washington Post that he would "virtually eliminate immigration detention" using an executive order. Robert "Beto" O'Rourke said he wanted to remove the existing border wall.

    At the same time, nearly all of the Democrat primary candidates have said they supported providing health insurance to illegal immigrants - paid for by American taxpayers.

    Also on Tuesday, former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson - who served during Obama's second term - scolded members of his own party for supporting such policies.

    "That is tantamount to declaring publicly that we have open borders," Johnson said, according to the Post. "That is unworkable, unwise and does not have the support of a majority of American people or the Congress, and if we had such a policy, instead of 100,000 apprehensions a month, it will be multiples of that."

    Johnson also pushed back on Democrat outrage over detention centers and the notion that President Donald Trump is putting kids in "cages."

    "Chain link barriers, partitions, fences, cages -- whatever you want to call them -- were not invented on January 2017," Johnson said, according to Fox News. He also said that the "cages" were created because of a mass influx of immigration for which the government was unprepared. He said the illegal immigrants would be held for up to 72 hours before being transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services, Fox reported.

    "During that 72 hour period, when you have something that is a multiple -- like four times of what you're accustomed to in the existing infrastructure, you've got to find places quickly to put kids," he said. He added that the alternative was releasing them to "the streets."

    Johnson is not alone in this criticism of Democrats. At the end of June, Obama's former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Thomas Homan, also defended Trump from claims that he was behind the cages.

    "I've been to that facility, where they talk about cages. That facility was built under President Obama under (Homeland Security) Secretary Jeh Johnson. I was there because I was there when it was built," Homan said.

    A day before Johnson's comments regarding "open borders," his former assistant secretary, Juliette Kayyem, wrote an op-ed for the Post that American laws need to be followed and the next president will need to "protect the borders, deport individuals and keep some people out."

    Polls routinely show voters, including Democrats, oppose open borders, yet today's Democrat presidential hopefuls are falling over themselves to support just that.