Khanna: Border Is ‘Secure’ Due to More Agents, ‘But We Can Make It Securer’ with Reform and It’s ‘Not Secure’ Due to Lack of Reform

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America Reports,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said that the border is “secure, but we can make it securer” and that the border is “not secure” due to a lack of comprehensive immigration reform.

Khanna said, [relevant remarks begin around 9:05] “I think we can do more to secure the border. But what that looks like is comprehensive immigration reform.”

Co-host John Roberts then cut in to ask, “But is it secure?”

Khanna responded, “It’s secure, but we can make it securer.”

Roberts then cut in to ask, “How is it secure when 2.35 million people, by the 31st of this month, will have come across the border illegally?”

Khanna answered, “Well, there are more border agents down there, in my view, by the numbers, than were even there under President Obama or President Bush. So, — but why is it not secure? Let’s have an honest conversation. One of the reasons is, you have employers here saying, come, come work for us, people are trying to come across the border, they’re coming without the paperwork and many of them want to go back, but there’s no process. And this is why we had a Gang of Eight, we had comprehensive immigration reform, we said people who want to come here to work and go back, there should be a process, that was President George W. Bush’s proposal, and we can have increased technology and security at the border. There was a bipartisan deal. If we really want to solve the problem, why not do that? And there are many of us who are willing to work to do that instead of just yelling at each other, which doesn’t solve the problem, and it gets worse and worse every year.”

He added that there is a “challenge at the border.” And “I understand the ranchers on the border. I understand people are coming over. They’re destroying the property, in many cases, they’re unsafe. I’m sympathetic to that. I understand that. That has to be fixed. At the same time, many of these ranchers want people to hire.”

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