U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano criticized Republican lawmakers for suggesting that immigration is on the verge of getting out of control, the Associated Press reported.
While inspecting border security in El Paso, Napolitano said arrests and the seizure of drugs, weapons and currency are up.
“I believe the border is secure. I believe the border’s a safe border. That’s not to say everything is 100 percent,” Napolitano said Monday in San Diego during the first leg of her trip to the Southwest border.
The Obama administration has “deployed historic levels of personnel, technology and infrastructure to help secure the Southwest border,” she said Tuesday in El Paso.
Attempts to illegally cross the Mexican border are have been halved since 2008, Napolitano said.
It has meant that attempts to illegally cross from Mexico are half of what they were in 2008 and 78-percent down from their peak in 2000. “The numbers are the numbers,” she said.
