Zakaria: ‘Large Numbers’ of People ‘Gaming the System’ at the Border and People See ‘Breakdown of Law and Order’

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN host and Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria stated that people see an immigration system “that has collapsed, a breakdown of law and order,” and that at the border, we have “a whole bunch of people, large numbers of whom are not really asylum-seekers, are just gaming the system and coming there and showing up. And they are not standing in the normal, regular line for immigration, they’re standing in the line for political asylum because that gets you in, and once you’re in, it’s very hard to kick you out.”

Zakaria said, “I don’t think Americans have any problem with immigration in general, I think that — obviously, some small percentage do — but this is a country very welcoming to immigrants, I’ve lived that life myself. I think the problem is that they see a system that has collapsed, a breakdown of law and order, a breakdown of rules. What’s happening at the border is basically, a whole bunch of people, large numbers of whom are not really asylum-seekers, are just gaming the system and coming there and showing up. And they are not standing in the normal, regular line for immigration, they’re standing in the line for political asylum because that gets you in, and once you’re in, it’s very hard to kick you out. And thank God for it, we are not a police state. But the result is, that people look at this and say, this whole system has collapsed. It’s not based on any rules, it’s not based on any — you have just millions of people showing up and I don’t think legal immigrants like that.”

He added, “I’m actually in favor of increasing legal immigration. We need — we are at 3.5% unemployment in this country, we need workers. But let’s do it right. Let’s bring in people in an orderly process, using rules, using laws, not having people game the system, have it break down and just walk in.”

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