Border security is collapsing because the cartels and migrants are exploiting Congress’ refusal to close loopholes through the border, homeland secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday morning.

“The situation at our Southern Border has gone from a crisis, to a national emergency, to a near system-wide meltdown,” Nielsen said at Auburn University’s Center for Cyber & Homeland Security. Her prepared speech said:

There is no more fundamental responsibility for a nation.  And yet, the American people have been let down by our government again…and again. I want to cut through the politics to tell you loud and clear:  there is NO  “manufactured” crisis at our Southern Border.  There is a real-life humanitarian and security catastrophe. Late last year, we were apprehending 50,000 – 60,000 migrants a month. Last month, we apprehended more than 75,000—the highest in over a decade. And today I can tell you that we are on track to interdict nearly 100,000 migrants this month …

I say this with the utmost sincerity and urgency:  the system is breaking.  And our communities, our law enforcement personnel, and the migrants themselves are paying the price.

Congress needs to fix the problem, she said:

Because of outdated laws, misguided court decisions, and a massive backlog of cases, we are usually forced to release these groups into the United States.  And we have virtually no hope of removing them in the future, despite the fact that the vast majority who apply for asylum do not qualify for it.

…

Our laws aren’t keeping up with the migrant flows, and until they are fixed, the situation will only get worse and more heartbreaking. We need Congress to stop playing politics and do what’s right.

We need Congress to change the law to allow us to keep families together throughout the immigration process … to ensure the safe and prompt return of unaccompanied children to their home countries … and to reverse the court ruling that directs dangerous criminals to be released into our communities.

This a complex and emotional issue.  But no matter what side of the aisle you are on, we have common cause:  to uphold our sovereign responsibility to secure our borders; to facilitate legal trade and travel; to prevent drugs from poisoning our communities, and to help vulnerable populations – all at the same time.

However, Democrats have united to block any legal reforms that would slow the migration of poor migrants across the border — and GOP legislators have declined to get changes either by inflicting political pain on Democrats or by making political compromises with Democrats.

Nielsen also touted the border wall, saying:

DHS has built the first border wall to go up in a decade.  We are building more, and have plans for hundreds of new miles to block illicit goods, illegal entry, and help ensure a safe and orderly migrant flow.

But Nielsen minimized mention of economics or business in the migration inflow, even though the migrants are hoping to find jobs in the United States, usually with companies which ignore the laws barring employment of illegal migrants.

The flow of money help to explain why GOP legislators did little to fix the border during the first two years of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Nor did Nielsen mention the many visa programs which have created a domestic population of roughly 2 million white-collar professionals and blue-collar workers in the United States. This army of contingent workers is used by companies to hold down wages and salaries, despite President Donald Trump’s avowed policy of “Hire American.”

Nielsen agreed to take questions from Frank Cilluffo, director of the Center for Cyber & Homeland Security. His questions were generic softballs and yielded no insights.

Each year, roughly four million young Americans join the workforce after high school or university. The federal government then imports roughly 1.1 million legal immigrants, refreshes a resident population of roughly 1.5 million white-collar guest workers and roughly 500,000 blue-collar visa workers, and it also tolerates about eight million illegal workers.

In 2019, because of catch-and-release rules mandated by Congress and the courts, the federal government also will likely release at least 350,000 Central American laborers into the U.S. job market, even as at least 500,000 more migrants sneak past U.S. border defenses or overstay their visas.

Overall, in 2019, the U.S. government will allow at least two million new foreign workers into the United States to compete for the starter jobs sought by the latest wave of four million U.S. graduates. The new migrants also undermine the 24 million other Americans and the roughly three million legal immigrants who have joined the workforce since 2014.

This federal policy of using legal and illegal migration to boost economic growth for investors shifts enormous wealth from young employees towards older investors by flooding the market with cheap white-collar graduates and blue-collar foreign labor.

This cheap labor economic policy forces Americans to compete even for low wage jobs, it widens wealth gaps, reduces high tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, burden college graduates, and sidelines millions of marginalized Americans, including many who are now struggling with fentanyl addictions.