Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said fewer immigrants are crossing the border because of increased security efforts, but he emphasized that other threats require a strong law enforcement presence, the Arizona Capitol Times reports.
The good news is that illegal immigration is falling.
“Put simply, it’s now much harder to cross our border and evade capture than it used to be, and people know that,” he said.
But Johnson warned about getting complacent because of the dangers involving homegrown extremists.
“People who leave their own country … link up with some extreme elements and then return to this country,” Johnson said of Westerners who join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, a militant Islamist army currently waging war in those countries.
“In many respects, that’s the terrorist threat that I worry most about because it’s the hardest to detect,” he said.
