'This flow is out of control and we have to get it under control.' Ron Johnson discusses trip to border

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson toured the southwest border around El Paso, Texas, for two days this week to get a first-hand look at the surge of migrants crossing from Mexico to the United States.

"This flow is out of control and we have to get it under control," Johnson said Wednesday during an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Johnson chairs the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

He said the "real beneficiaries" of the border surge are "human trafficking cartels," that are making "hundreds of millions of dollars" and using the border patrol system to their advantage.

"They're using our law enforcement, turning them into processors for their business model," Johnson said.

During his tour Monday and Tuesday, Johnson met with U.S. Custom and Border Patrol agents and sector leaders. He did a ride-along on a night patrol, toured a processing center that houses families caught crossing the border illegally, and met with a church-based group that shelters migrants after they have been processed.

'We are in full catch-and-release right now," Johnson said.

"The border patrol is a speed bump along the path to their long-term residency in America," Johnson said of the migrants.

During his ride-along, Johnson said he saw close to 200 people detained, including "about a dozen Cubans in that group. Cuban males, which I thought was interesting."

"The families, there's no fear, they're almost home free," he said.

Johnson said during his ride-along, "We had a Mexican police vehicle follow us every step of the way at the border. You're only 100 yards away. They were keeping a very close eye on us."

Record numbers of migrant families have crossed the southwest border in recent months, and arrests and denials have skyrocketed, according to the Associated Press.

"I'm not hearing Democrats anymore saying this is a manufactured crisis," Johnson said. "I think they're admitting that we have one."

Last week, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) toured the border near El Paso. Durbin said President Donald Trump's "border policies have failed," and he called for "bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform — which includes smart, effective and humane border security."

Johnson said, "an achievable goal is to reduce the number of people coming across the border illegally."

"We need a more accurate and faster initial determination of their asylum claim," he said. "Right now, best numbers we have, around 15 percent of asylum claims are granted. So 85 percent of people are really not coming here with an asylum claim. They're coming here, God bless them, I have all the sympathy in the world for them, they're coming here for economic migration."

Johnson said more immigration judicial teams will be needed to create "a more accurate, faster, but fair" determination of asylum claim or removal.

He said such a system will lead "to a dramatic and rapid reduction of people trying to come to this country illegally."

Johnson said he plans to introduce a bill to propose tighter asylum standards.