Why the White House and its critics are so far apart on border security

By Brian Hughes | Washington Examiner

The split between Republicans and Democrats over how to define a “secure border” has never been more apparent, as a massive surge of illegal immigrants crosses the U.S.-Mexico line.

The White House and Republican lawmakers can’t even agree that the dramatic increase in undocumented immigrants from Central America, particularly children, is a border security problem.

According to the White House, the biggest problem is a backlog in cases at overwhelmed immigration courts, not the number of Border Patrol officials being deployed to apprehend illegal immigrants.

“The fact is that last year 360,000 individuals who are attempting to cross the border were detained and removed from this country by existing resources,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest. “So what that indicates is that there is already a robust effort on the border to secure this country and enforce our immigration laws.

at Washington Examiner.