Life on the U.S. – Mexico Border: The Abandoned Americans

Summary

Americans have watched the videos of the migrant caravans comprised of thousands of migrants from all over the world coming to the southern border. Americans have read the numbers - agents apprehended 1,659,206 illegal migrants in FY2021, an all-time record for apprehensions at the southwest border, and tens of thousands of ‘gotaways’ entered the country monthly. But most Americans have never heard the details of how the lack of operational control of the border impacts their fellow taxpaying countrymen, who live and work near the border.

Russell Johnson, a fourth generation cattle rancher who lives and works along eight miles of the border, joins Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of Parsing Immigration Policy, to discuss how illegal immigration effects his business and family and the impact of various policies adopted over the last 15 years. He describes the cost and time required to protect himself, his family and his property from a constant flow of trespassers.

“Private citizens should not have to maintain a national border,” states Johnson.

In the closing commentary, Krikorian comments on the news that the Department of Justice was planning to compensate illegal aliens who were “separated” from their families after they were caught trying to enter the country unlawfully during the Trump administration. Can these aliens, with the help of the ACLU, sue the U.S. government when the administration was merely enforcing laws passed by the U.S. Congress?

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guests

Russell Johnson, New Mexico Cattle Rancher

Links

Biden Administration Planning to Make ‘Separated’ Illegal Alien Family Units Millionaires

FY 2021’s Historically Bad Border Numbers Are Worse than You Think

All-Time Record for Southwest Border Apprehensions in FY 2021

Follow

Follow Parsing Immigration Policy on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".