Speaker Johnson - who claims to base his political positions on the Bible - just told 7 lies in 4 minutes.

During his photo-op trip to the southern border, Speaker Mike Johnson was interviewed by CNN's Jake Tapper.  

 

In just the first four minutes, Johnson told seven lies.

1. Speaking about President Biden's supplemental $14 billion for border security, Johnson said (emphasis mine) "the White House is proposing more money to process and allow more illegals into the country." As the conversation progressed, it became clear that the Speaker was referring to funding for 1,600 asylum officers that would address the growing backlog of cases. But according to U.S. law, asylum seekers are NOT "illegal."

The right to seek asylum was incorporated into international law following the atrocities of World War II. Congress adopted key provisions of the Geneva Refugee Convention (including the international definition of a refugee) into U.S. immigration law when it passed the Refugee Act of 1980.

2.  In trying to ramp up fear about the number of migrants crossing the border, Johnson said, "We have nearly two million got-aways that we know about, not to mention those who evaded capture." Here's what he's referring to:

Border Patrol refers to detected illegal entrants who it fails to arrest as “gotaways.” Thanks to nearly universal surveillance along the southwest border, successfully entering illegally without detection is very difficult, but Border Patrol often cannot reach the spot where a crossing occurs in time to arrest the person.

As you may know, Trump instituted Title 42 during the pandemic to return border crossers to Mexico. Biden finally ended that policy last May. Here's what happened:

The pattern is unmistakable: Gotaways increased almost continuously in parallel with the use of Title 42 before falling sharply after it ended.

3. "We have...over 300 known terrorists apprehended at the border trying to come in. We don't know how many evaded capture and detection. They're in the country potentially setting up terrorist cells everywhere."

In other words, the Biden administration has apprehended 300 people at the border who are on the terror watch list. The Speaker should be congratulating them for that. Instead, with absolutely zero evidence, he claims that there are others who evaded capture and are "setting up terrorist cells everywhere."

4. "Fentanyl is the number one cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 49 flowing over the border like an open sewer." Here are the facts:

[T]he vast majority of illicit fentanyl — close to 90% — is seized at official border crossings. Immigration authorities say nearly all of that is smuggled by people who are legally authorized to cross the border, and more than half by U.S. citizens...Virtually none is seized from migrants seeking asylum.

5. "[Biden] could issue executive orders and fix this overnight. You could reinstate the remain-in-Mexico policy." Not true. That's because it would require cooperation from Mexico.

Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday it rejects any effort to reimplement the controversial Trump-era policy known as "remain in Mexico" for asylum-seekers...

"Regarding the possible implementation of this policy for the third time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on behalf of the Government of Mexico, expresses its rejection of the U.S. government's intention to return individuals processed under the program to Mexico," the statement said.

Besides, if Johnson is so worried about the cartels that are profiting off of this crisis, here's a bit about how they terrorized migrants who were "remaining in Mexico" under the previous policy.

I was struck by the level of control that organized crime has over the lives of residents, and especially of migrants...Cold War-era East German officials would be impressed. Nobody is allowed near the Rio Grande: riverfront parks sit empty. Those who try to cross without having paid a fee are beaten, or worse. Those who lack a “password” or other proof that they have paid cartels’ exorbitant fees are kidnapped. Migrants, including parents and children, get held in fetid stash houses, while their captors text terrifying videos to relatives in the United States, instructing them to transfer ransom payments in the thousands of dollars. If nobody pays, they are disappeared, enslaved—forced to perform labor for the cartels—or even killed.

6. "You could stop the catch-and-release policy that the Biden administration insists upon." I suppose this isn't technically a lie because he's referring to migrants who pass the "credible threat assessment" and are released pending their asylum hearing. It is theoretically possible that the U.S. could detain all of them. But where? Perhaps the bigger point is, "why detain them" when 95% attend all of their court hearings.

7. "[W]e have hardened criminals who are coming from all these countries around the world...They're opening prisons and sending them here." This is the most outrageous lie of all. First of all, it's not clear what he's referring to. I doubt it is this from last February:

The Nicaraguan government released more than 200 political prisoners, many of whom arrived in the United States on Thursday, according to officials, following years of repression by the country’s President Daniel Ortega.

The authoritarian leader has jailed dozens of opposition figures and activists, particularly in the lead up to the last elections in November of 2021...

The individuals, who all flew to Dulles International airport, will be granted humanitarian parole for two years, allowing them to remain US and giving them the time to apply for asylum if they wish.

Those are precisely the kind of migrants our asylum laws are meant to protect. So it's more likely that Johnson was referring to this: 

🚨BREAKING🚨

DHS confirms that Venezuela empties prisons and sends violent criminals to our southern border.

President Trump warned us about this years ago.

— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) September 18, 2022

According to fact-checkers, that one comes from an article in Breitbart based on "a source within" Customs and Border Protection who is "not authorized to speak to the media." It was subsequently repeated by Fox News and several other right-wing sites. But...

PolitiFact searched the websites of the DHS Office of the Inspector General, DHS and CBP and found no public reports or mentions of Venezuela’s government releasing prisoners and sending them to the U.S.

So there you have it. The guy who claims to base his political positions on the Bible is perfectly content to tell lies. I'm not sure what Bible he's reading, but it's certainly not the one that says this in Proverbs 12:22: "The Lord detests lying lips."