Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) said both the legal and illegal immigration system is “broken,” but stopping the flow of illegal aliens should come first and that requires a border wall.

“We have a broken legal immigration system and we have a broken illegal immigration system,” Steil said during a roundtable discussion in Racine County earlier this month focused on fentanyl.

Steil said in October he supports completing a wall along most of the 1,954-mile southern border that was started by President Donald Trump.

“It is absolutely imperative that we address our illegal immigration system,” Steil said. “I’ve been to the U.S.-Mexico border. I’ve seen how porous it is. I’ve seen individuals come across … I think that is absolutely step one.”

President Donald Trump waves after speaking and touring a section of the border wall in Alamo, Texas, on January 12, 2021. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Kenosha News reported on the how drug traffickers are trying to get through legal entry points:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports that it recovers about 2,500 pounds of drugs every day, but still drugs pour into the U.S. by sea, sky and ground, most of it across the southern border. Seizures of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced products are on the rise, said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, director of field operations for CBP’s Chicago office.

However, the majority of the drugs are believed to be coming through legal ports of entry, not across unguarded areas of the border. “According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection statistics, 90 percent of heroin seized along the border, 88 percent of cocaine, 87 percent of methamphetamine, and 80 percent of fentanyl in the first 11 months of the 2018 fiscal year was caught trying to be smuggled in at legal crossing points,” USA Today reported in January 2019.

The news outlet reported that 80 percent to 95 percent of illegal migrants pay traffickers to get them across the border.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  reported before Donald Trump left office that the costs of defending walled parts of the border significantly dropped while illegal entries also fell in those areas.

Follow Penny Starr on Twitter