Bill O'Reilly Talks to Barack Obama's Former Home Security Secretary Jeh Johnson

Under President Obama, particularly during Jeh Johnson's tenure as Homeland Security Secretary, the U.S. saw high deportation numbers—surpassing Trump's first term—and some of the lowest illegal border crossings since 1972. This was achieved through a combination of interior enforcement, border security, and cooperation with Mexico on its southern border.

Johnson states, 'President Obama was labeled the deporter-in-chief in 2013-2014... my second full year in office... illegal border crossings were... the second lowest number since 1972.' He also notes, 'President Pinetto agreed to do more enforcement on his southern border' in 2014.

Bill O'Reilly highlights a significant shift in the Democratic party's approach to immigration enforcement. While the party largely supported the Obama administration's efforts to regulate who entered the country, there's a perceived move towards less enforcement under the Biden administration, which O'Reilly attributes to using the issue against the Trump administration.

O'Reilly asks, 'What's changed now that you have a flood because of President Biden? Why isn't Chuck Schumer saying, 'No, we got to get this under control.'' Johnson confirms that during Obama's term, 'the party, Schumer, all these guys, they supported you and Barack Obama in trying to regulate who was coming into the country.'

Jeh Johnson asserts that the political landscape surrounding immigration has become so polarized that it prevents the implementation of smart, effective policy. He suggests that politicians on both sides often prefer to maintain the problem as a talking point rather than genuinely fix it, citing the failure of a bipartisan border security bill.

Johnson states, 'The politics of immigration have overwhelmed any desire for smart policy.' He references a 'pretty good bipartisan bill' negotiated by Senators Langford and Murphy that failed because 'the politicians didn't want to fix the problem. They'd rather have the problem as something to complain about.'

Illegal immigration is highly sensitive to perceptions of U.S. enforcement policy. When an administration is perceived as 'soft' on the border, crossings increase, as seen under Biden. Conversely, a perception of strict enforcement, like under Trump initially, leads to a drop in numbers, though 'push factors' eventually cause numbers to revert.

Johnson explains, 'Illegal immigration... is a very information sensitive phenomenon. It reacts sharply upward or downward to perceived changes in our enforcement policy on the southern border. When Biden came into office, he was perceived as being soft and you saw the result. When Trump came into office, the numbers plummet.'