U.S. Needs to Balance Security and Civil Liberties

The United States could make its borders and cities perfectly secure, Department of Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson said Thursday, but the result would be "a prison."

Speaking on steps Washington has taken to stem the recent flood of illegal immigration, Johnson said homeland security means balancing civil liberties and protection.

"I can build you a perfectly safe city, but it will be a prison," he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Washington declared a humanitarian crisis in recent months after an influx in illegal child migrants arrived from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, where youths are fleeing poverty and gang violence.

"I can build more fences, install more invasive screening devices, ask more intrusive questions, demand more answers, and alarm the public enough to make everybody suspicious of each other and simply stay at home," Johnson said.

"But this will cost us who we are as a nation of people who respect the law, cherish privacy, enjoy the freedom to travel and associate," he said, insisting that current, less invasive, measures are working.

"The monthly numbers are now the lowest they've been in almost two years," Johnson said of illegal immigrants.

In May 10,580 unaccompanied children crossed the southwest border while 2,424 crossed in September, he said.

"Illegal migration into this country has dropped considerably... reflected by the decline in total apprehensions from over 1.6 million in 2000 to around 400,000 a year in recent years," Johnson added.

Immigration reform is a top priority for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has promised to address the fate of America's roughly 11 million undocumented migrants.

However, domestic political concerns -- including strong opposition from Republicans opposed to granting amnesty to the migrants -- has forced the president to delay immigration reform until after November's midterm elections.

"Our border is not open to illegal immigration... if you come here illegally, you will be sent back consistent with our laws and our values," he added.

But "simply building more fences is not the answer," Johnson said.

"Today we have the intelligence capability, surveillance equipment and technology to do more."