Former Obama administration Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson says that the southern border situation "is a crisis" and "an emergency." 

Johnson said as much on Friday, during an appearance on CNN's Situation Room. 

For those unfamiliar with Johnson, he was the Secretary of Homeland Security (HSS) for the Obama administration, for four years from 2013 to 2017.

During his CNN appearance, host Wolf Blitzer asked Johnson about the news that the U.S.-Mexico border crisis has recently gotten "much worse" under President Joe Biden's leadership.

In case you missed it, the U.S.-Mexico border is, once again, witnessing record numbers.

Fox News reports that U.S. Custom and Border Patrol agents (CBP) witnessed over 242,000 migrant encounters in November 2023, which, according to the outlet, was "the highest November on record and the third-highest month on record."

Arizona, in particular, has been witnessing record-breaking illegal immigration. Fox separately reports:

Arizona’s Tucson Sector has been particularly hard hit by a new wave of migrants coming over the border. Earlier this month, the sector set a new record for weekly encounters when officials encountered over 17,500 migrants.

Blitzen specifically asked Johnson, "what does the Biden administration need to do now about the overwhelmed southern border?"

"Well, this is, in fact, a situation that is unsustainable, 10,000, 12,000 a day, taxes, resources, not just to the Border Patrol, not just communities along the southern border, but in the interior, in places like New York and Chicago. And so we're in a crisis, very much so right now," Johnson replied.

Johnson went on to suggest various ways that the Biden administration could address the southern border crisis.

He said:

I guess if I were in the Biden administration right now, Wolf, I would be saying to the American public, we are on this. We recognize this is a huge problem. We recognize this is a crisis, and we will work with Congress to add more authorities to address an emergency situation like this, to more expeditiously remove people back to where they came from, all the while remaining humane, consistent with our values, being fair, be humane, but we have to address this crisis, raising the standard for asylum on the front end, for example, perhaps considering some sort of emergency authority, like Title 42, to deal with numbers of this volume.

Johnson went on to say that, at the very least, Biden should do something that he has been reluctant to do, namely, to recognize that the souther border crisis is a problem.

"The president, in my opinion, needs to really say, directly, to the American public, I recognize the problem. I'm on this. My administration is doing everything we can to address it, including working with Republicans in Congress," Johnson said.

We, of course, will not hold our breath waiting for Biden to do so.