Sen. Ron Johnson rationalizes family separations while flanked by pictures of him with his children

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (R) on Sunday rationalized the separations of immigrant families by blaming former President Barack Obama's administration.

During an interview on CNN's State of the Union, host Jake Tapper pointed out to Johnson that experts have said that Obama's deferred action program for undocumented immigrants is not responsible for a rise in immigration. Instead, Tapper pointed to a rise in violence in Central America.

Johnson replied from what appeared to be a home office, where he was flanked by a photograph of what appeared to be a white family -- presumably his.

The Wisconsin senator defiantly presented a chart showing that border crossing apprehensions had increased after Obama's DACA policy was implemented.

"Correlation is not causation, Senator," Tapper pointed out.

"There is [sic] many causes to this, part of it is our insatiable demand for drugs," Johnson agreed. "But one of the reasons we have to secure our border is because drugs -- heroin -- is also flowing over that unsecured border. So we have to secure our border. President Trump is trying to grapple with that reality, unlike President Obama, which basically instituted a catch and release program, fueling the crisis with families."

"Are you confident that the Trump administration has the data and will be able to reunite the remaining 80 percent of these 2,300 hundred kids with their parents?" Tapper asked. "Do you know -- you're the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the Senate -- you would know, theoretically, does the U.S. government have the skills, do they have the information to reunite these kids?"

"They are saying they do," Johnson replied.

Watch the video below from CNN.