Homeland Security Secretary: Pathway to Citizenship for Those Here Illegally Is Matter of 'Homeland Security

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Friday that he thinks it is a matter of national security to establish a process that would allow those who have entered the country illegally a pathway to citizenship.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson speaks at the U.S. Conference of Mayors 82nd Winter Meeting in Washington, Friday, Jan. 24, 2014. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

“An earned path to citizenship for those currently present in this country is a matter of, in my view, homeland security to encourage people to come out from the shadows,” he said, speaking at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., according to CNS News.

[sharequote align="center"]“An earned path to citizenship...is a matter of, in my view, homeland security..."[/sharequote]

“It is also, frankly, in my judgment, a matter of who we are as Americans,” Johnson continued. “To offer the opportunity to those who want to be citizens, who’ve earned the right to be citizens, who are present in this country — many of whom came here as children — to have the opportunity that we all have to try to become American citizens.”

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