Obama’s Homeland Security Boss Says ‘Border is Secure’ — Again

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano called Republican lawmakers’ insistence that the border be secured before there is immigration reform a flawed argument.

At a stop to inspect border security in El Paso on Tuesday, Napolitano said the argument ignores gains made in illegal immigrant captures as well as seizures of drugs, weapons and currency.

She also said the argument’s fundamental flaw is contending that border security is unrelated to interior enforcement such as verification of legal residence of job applicants.

Napolitano said the immigration “system as a whole is badly in need of reform.” It is, she said, inextricably linked with interior enforcement, visa reform and the process for legal migration, a pathway to citizenship and earned pathway for those already here.

A bipartisan group of senators wants assurances on border security as Congress considers proposals that would bring the biggest changes to immigration law in nearly three decades. Last week, the group of senators released a blueprint that would bring a path to citizenship for people living in the U.S. illegally, but they demanded assurances on border security first.

President Barack Obama does not endorse such a linkage in his own immigration proposal. But Republicans in the Senate group, including John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida, say they cannot support an immigration bill that doesn’t make a pathway to citizenship conditional on a secure border.

“I believe the border is secure. I believe the border’s a safe border…

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