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Andrew Arthur

Series

Parsing Immigration Policy13 episodes

Recent Episodes

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Senate Border Bill Update

The Senate bill that would provide billions of dollars’ worth of funding to Ukraine in exchange for increased border security measures is unlikely to pass into law, but certain provisions from the bill may make their way into future border legislation. Andrew Arthur, the Center for Immigration Studies’ Resident Fellow in Law and Policy and former counsel for the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, joins Parsing Immigration Policy to discuss the border bill with our host and executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, Mark Krikorian. Arthur provides background on the bill and explains what changes would be implemented if it became law, including a 5,000 per-day cap on illegal entries, after which the border would be briefly closed to other migrants. In essence, Democratic efforts to promote this bill are little more than an attempt to limit the damage to President Biden’s political prospects resulting from increasing focus on the chaos at the border in an election year.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

July 2023

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Dissecting the SCOTUS Immigration Decisions

This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy examines two recent immigration-related Supreme Court opinions and delves into the implications of those rulings for immigration law enforcement, public safety, and the role of Congress in shaping immigration policy. Andrew Arthur, the Center’s fellow in law and policy, and Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, start the discussion with an analysis of U.S. v. Texas. In Texas, the Court held that the states of Texas and Louisiana lacked standing to challenge the immigration-enforcement “guidelines”, issued by DHS Secretary Alejandro, that limit ICE officers ability to detain criminal aliens. Notably, the majority did not even review the district and circuit court findings that Mayorkas’ guidelines would mean more criminal aliens would be released onto the streets, imposing significant costs on the states.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

February 2023

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Immigration Parole Explained

Summary In early January the Biden administration, without the approval of Congress, announced a new immigration program, granting parole to 360,000 foreign nationals from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. This week’s Parsing Immigration Policy episode puts this Biden expansion of parole authority in context citing the creation of the parole authority, later congressional limitations, and historical use by the executive. The Biden administration continues to abuse parole authority at an ever increasing rate. Parole was established by Congress to provide authorization for the executive – in very narrow circumstances – to allow foreign nationals into the country who are inadmissible by law. Over the last two years, a Democratic-controlled Congress limited the amount of detention space for illegal aliens at the request of the Biden administration, which then used the lack of space as an excuse to release illegal migrants into the country who are mandated by law to be detained.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

January 2023

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

The Coming End of Title 42

Summary There’s an immigration crisis at the U.S. southern border, but that border could be all but erased if Title 42 were to end without the administration implementing equally effective enforcement policies. Title 42 is the public-health order that directs the Border Patrol to expel border-jumpers without a hearing. Whether the U.S. can continue to rely on this public-health order to deal with the immigration crisis remains a question for the courts. In response to an application filed by a coalition of states, the Supreme Court has ordered that Title 42 stay in place until the Court considers whether those states should be allowed to appeal an order terminating Title 42. On this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Andrew Arthur, the Center’s Fellow in Law and Policy, and Senior Legal Fellow George Fishman provide an overview and a comprehensive timeline of Title 42’s circuitous legal route, with predictions on the future of those public health orders and the corresponding effect they have had on the border.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

December 2022

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

2022 Recap: The Impact of Biden’s Policies Two Years In

Summary In this year-end episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Center for Immigration Studies experts discuss key Biden administration immigration policies and their impacts. The roundtable discussion includes Jessica Vaughan, Andrew Arthur, and Jon Feere, moderated by the Center’s executive director (and podcast host) Mark Krikorian. The group looks at 2022 developments in border security, interior enforcement, and legal immigration, including DACA, detention, the decline in deportations, human trafficking, and the unlawful abuse of parole. The participants also draw attention to the topics the public should be following in 2023. Host Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. Guests Andrew Arthur is Resident Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies. Jon Feere is Director of Investigations at the Center for Immigration Studies. Jessica Vaughan is Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

July 2022

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Panel: Fighting Biden in Court

View Podcast Archive Summary The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021-2022 term is over, and its final ruling was on the "Remain in Mexico" case brought against the administration by the states of Texas and Missouri. But that is only one of a large number of immigration cases filed over the past year and a half since President Biden's inauguration. The Center for Immigration Studies hosted a conversation on immigration-related lawsuits brought against the Biden administration, at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6. The discussion focused on specific cases being litigated as well as on how litigation has affected decision-making in the executive and how it might influence Congress's framing of legislation. Participants brought a combination of immigration policy, legal, and government experience, both at the agency and congressional level, to the conversation. Ken Cuccinelli is a former Virginia Attorney General and former Acting Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Joseph Edlow is a former Acting Director of U.S.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies
Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Biden v. Texas: Remain in Mexico and the Bigger Questions

View Podcast Archive Summary The Supreme Court finished its 2021-2022 term with the release of Biden v. Texas, a case brought against the administration by the states of Texas and Missouri. Most of the media attention has focused on the Court’s finding that the Biden administration may rescind the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) – often referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” – policy. But receiving little attention is that the key issues in the matter were remanded to the lower courts. These are the issues that will have lasting impact on immigration policy and how it is enforced. Today’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy highlights the issues that are left to be resolved, which will likely be making their way to the Supreme Court: Does the immigration law require the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal migrants? Can the executive release on parole hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants? These questions go to the ability of the executive to simply refuse to enforce immigration laws.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

June 2022

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Understanding Immigration Detention

View Podcast Archive Summary Within the next three weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States will issue an opinion in Biden v. Texas, which involves the administration’s termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), better known as “Remain in Mexico”. The Court will decide if there are limits on the administration’s authority to ignore explicit congressional mandates in allowing foreign nationals to enter and remain in the United States. Understanding the issues surrounding detention and the history behind the detention mandates in the INA will be key to understanding the Court’s holding in what some consider the most important immigration legal case ever heard. In this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Andrew Arthur, the Center’s fellow in law and policy and former immigration judge, provides a 101 class on immigration detention.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

May 2022

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

DHS Secretary on the Spot: Has Mayorkas Failed to Secure the Border and Enforce U.S. Laws?

View Podcast Archive Summary Amid record-breaking illegal migrant apprehensions at the Southwest border, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas faced two days of questioning last week at the House of Representatives. (He testified before the Senate this week.) His first day on Capitol Hill was focused on the FY2023 DHS budget, while his second appearance, the most contentious, was in front of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which is charged with the oversight of DHS. Despite a crisis at the border, this was the first opportunity members of the House Judiciary Committee had to question Mayorkas. His testimony revealed much about the Biden administration’s anti-enforcement policy agenda. This administration is unwilling to deport an illegal immigrant even after the individual has been ordered removed by an immigration judge and been given numerous opportunities to appeal.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

March 2022

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

The Hijacking of Asylum - Responses in the U.S. and Europe

Summary The Center for Immigration Studies hosted a joint panel discussion with the Hungarian Migration Research Institute, examining international asylum law, its application in both Europe and the United States, and its impact on national sovereignty. With the Russia-Ukraine conflict raging and with millions of refugees potentially fleeing Ukraine, it is the perfect time for serious analysis and conversation about current policies that indiscriminately provide benefits to all border-crossing strangers versus more-targeted policies that would be more consistent with the spirit of the original international refugee agreements. Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of Parsing Immigration Policy, moderates a rebroadcast of the Center's recent panel. Scholars from the Center and MRI examine immigration laws and policies that are being swallowed by the asylum exception and provide solutions to “The Hijacking of Asylum.” Host Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

December 2021

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Immigration Roundup for 2021

View Podcast Archive Summary Center for Immigration Studies’ analysts come together for this year’s final episode of Parsing Immigration Policy to discuss the top immigration stories of 2021 and to predict the biggest immigration stories of 2022. Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of the podcast, leads the conversation focusing on three key immigration issues: the border, interior enforcement, and regulatory rule-making. Andrew R. Arthur, the Center’s fellow in law and policy, discusses the surge in illegal immigration at the southern border. Apprehensions at the southwest border have been the highest in history this fiscal year, and the current surge shows no sign of slowing. Those apprehended are also no longer predominantly single adult males from Mexico; this fiscal year’s apprehension number of unaccompanied minor children reached the highest number in history, and the majority of migrants entering were not citizens of Mexico. Arthur argues that the Biden administration is attempting to effectively legalize illegal immigration.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

September 2021

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

Tracking the Polls on Immigration

Summary The Center for Immigration has been following the polling of the immigration issue closely since the election of President Biden. The 2020 presidential campaign was largely devoid of any debate on immigration policy, meaning that very few Americans voted for Joe Biden because of his immigration positions. But polling shows that there has been consistent, and growing, opposition to the Biden administration’s immigration policies and actions. Will public opinion eventually force a change in current immigration policies, and how might Biden’s immigration policies influence the next election? On this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Andrew Arthur, the Center’s resident fellow in law and policy, discusses immigration polls and their influence on the Biden administration’s policies. Arthur said, “Polling shows that Biden’s immigration policies are plainly unpopular with a large swath of the electorate.
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies

May 2021

Parsing Immigration Policy
Parsing Immigration Policy

The Loopholes That Drive the Border Crisis

Summary Over the last decade, the flow of migrants coming to the U.S.- Mexican border has done more than just grow, it has shifted from predominantly single males to include a large percentage of families and unaccompanied minors. Andrew Arthur, the Center’s resident fellow in law and policy and a former immigration judge, explains how these phenomena result from specific loopholes in U.S. immigration law and how Congress can address these “pull factors.” Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of the podcast, concludes episode four of Parsing Immigration Policy by highlighting that migrants encountered at the border no longer come from just Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Central America – recent migrants represent 160 countries, reflecting a major change from past migrant flows. He discusses how this change shows that push factors are not the main driver of the border crisis. Related Reports Why are Central American Migrants Entering Illegally? - Part 1 Why are Central American Migrants Entering Illegally?
Host:
Mark Krikorian
Organization
Center for Immigration Studies