Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach on Wednesday defended current immigration law saying that, if it were enforced, it could “reinforce our rule of law in this country” when it comes to border security.
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“One of the things I think we need to consider now is something that Congress wisely put in federal law back in 1996,” Kobach told “Tucker Carlson Tonight” guest host Mark Steyn. “It’s not too often you use the word ‘wisely’ when talking about Congress, but they actually planned ahead, and they said in federal statute if ever there is a mass influx of aliens at our border the president has the authority — the secretary of homeland security has the authority — to call up state and local police to help repel this invasion or this influx. And right now that’s necessary because ICE agents and border patrol agents who I’ve spoken to say they are overwhelmed.”
Steyn, familiar with the issue, pointed out that there would be no need to deputize local law enforcement in precincts that disagree with Trump administration policy. (RELATED: Tucker Asked Jorge Ramos How Many Caravan Migrants He Planned To Take In – Things Got Awkward Fast)
“I guarantee that if President Trump made a national appeal to sheriff’s departments across the country,” Kobach said. “I guarantee that there would be hundreds of deputies, hundreds of sheriff’s departments saying yes, we will help.”
TOPSHOT – Honduran migrants take part in a new caravan heading to the US with Honduran and Guatemalan national flags in Quezaltepeque, Chiquimula, Guatemala on October 22, 2018. (Photo by ORLANDO ESTRADA / AFP) (Getty Images)
Steyn pointed out the “obvious contradiction” in highly-enforced laws governing Americans and border laws, which are often sparsely enforced at best.
Stating that the approaching caravans are a “general mix of illegal aliens,” not a “mass of people who are fleeing oppression,” Kobach said that most will “do what they were planning on anyway” and sneak across when they realize they are unlikely to get asylum.
“There are actually more immigration laws than any functioning society would need,” Steyn pointed out. “It’s the fact that there’s not the political will to enforce the immigration laws that’s the issue.”
Kobach agreed. “We often hear this cop-out, ‘Oh, our immigration laws are broken.’ No, they’re not broken. If you actually read them, Congress over the many decades that we’ve had these laws has inserted a lot of really good provisions in there that if we have the will to actually use them, we could reinforce our rule of law in this country.”