The latest episode of “Parsing Immigration Policy” highlights skilled immigration policies, their impact, and ways to improve the legal immigration programs. Featuring Dr. Norman Matloff, emeritus professor at UC Davis and a leading expert on the H-1B visa program, this episode breaks down how current policies are reshaping the U.S. labor market, undercutting American workers, and benefiting major tech companies at the expense of bringing the true “best and brightest” to the U.S.

Key topics covered:

Immigration was a defining issue in Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and within his first week in office, he took swift action to fulfill his promises. In this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy podcast, Center for Immigration Studies experts analyze the nine immigration-related Executive Orders issued in his first week in office, shaping the direction of U.S. immigration policy.

Andrew Arthur, Fellow in Law and Policy, and Elizabeth Jacobs, Director of Regulatory Affairs and Policy, provide an in-depth breakdown and analysis of these executive actions and their broader impact on immigration policy.

As President Donald Trump and Border Czar Tom Homan begin their promised deportations, the latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy discusses immigration detention – a key element in immigration enforcement. Andrew Arthur, the Center’s Fellow in Law and Policy and a former immigration judge, details the purpose, history, and availability of immigration detention resources.

Key Points:

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) hosted a panel to discuss the importance of immigration numbers, legal and illegal, and their impact on wages, the labor market, and the future of the American workforce. This timely panel, “Beyond the Border: Why Legal Immigration Numbers Matter,” builds on the social media debate sparked by Elon Musk’s recent comment highlighting the need for more legal immigration and seeks to heighten awareness of the impact of legal immigration – both high-skilled and low-skilled.

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This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy focuses on the Center’s new three-part investigative series, which documents the first known terror attack in the United States committed by an illegal border-crosser. The series, titled “First Blood: Anatomy of Border-Crosser’s Chicago Terror Attack”, uncovers the details of the October 26, 2024, attack in Chicago, highlights the lack of media and law enforcement coverage it received, and proposes solutions to address the national security and community safety risks stemming from the Biden border crisis.

Mauritanian national Sidi Mohammad Abdallahi, who crossed the U.S.–Mexico border illegally in March 2023, targeted Orthodox Jewish residents, police officers, and paramedics in Chicago in an act of jihad supporting Hamas. Abdallahi’s subsequent suicide in custody prevented a trial and further obscured the case.

In this year-end episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, experts from the Center for Immigration Studies discuss some of the defining immigration issues of 2024. From record-breaking numbers at the border to the administration’s controversial policies and their impacts, Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director, and analysts Andrew Arthur and Jessica Vaughan examine the events that shaped immigration policy this past year.

Looking ahead, the panel explores what 2025 may hold:

Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, addresses a recent debate on legal immigration, particularly H-1B visas, sparked on Twitter during the holiday season. The social media discussion highlighted differences between tech industry leaders who advocate for more high-skilled immigration and the President Trump’s voter base, who seek reductions in legal immigration. While illegal immigration has dominated recent debates, Krikorian emphasized the importance of addressing legal immigration reform.

He outlines two potential solutions to the disagreement, both detailed in his Compact Magazine article. First, reforming the H-1B visa program by prioritizing applicants based on salary, ensuring that only the most valuable candidates receive visas. Second, reallocating visas from family-based and diversity lottery categories to skills-based categories, potentially reducing overall immigration while increasing the skill level of entrants.

This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy highlights the pivotal role regulations and litigation will play in shaping U.S. immigration policy under the Trump administration. The episode features Elizabeth Jacobs, the Center’s Director of Regulatory Affairs and Policy, who talks through the top immigration regulatory moves and legal battles likely to occur during the Trump administration.

Jacobs in conversation with podcast host Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director, describes how the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Chevron deference — once a cornerstone of judicial deference to agency interpretations — has reshaped the legal terrain. This landmark shift gives courts greater authority to scrutinize agency actions, making many Trump-era policies more likely to withstand judicial challenges.

Hispanic voters, once considered a Democratic stronghold, are now a pivotal swing demographic in U.S. elections. In the latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Jim Robb, Vice President of Alliances and Activism at NumbersUSA, joins the Center’s Executive Director, Mark Krikorian, to discuss this shift in voting trends and its implications for the future of American politics with the Center’s Executive Director, Mark Krikorian.

In the last two presidential elections, Hispanics, the fastest growing minority group in the country, have shown a notable move toward Republican candidates. Robb highlights the political journey of Hispanic voters, the factors driving the changes, current trends, and future expectations, including:

In the latest episode of the Center for Immigration Studies’ Parsing Immigration Policy podcast, host Mark Krikorian and CIS Fellow Andrew Arthur examine what a large-scale deportation effort might look like under the next administration. Using FY 2024 border statistics as a starting point, the episode highlights the logistical, political, and diplomatic challenges involved in cleaning-up the disaster the Biden administration has created by refusing to enforce the law.

Key discussion points Include:

Today’s podcast takes a deep dive into the left’s dark-money networks and their impact on federal policy, particularly immigration. Our guest, Tyler O’Neil, managing editor of The Daily Signal and author of the upcoming book, The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government, discusses how left-leaning organizations have infiltrated and embedded their ideologies into the administrative state.

Drawing from a chapter in his book on immigration, O’Neil explains the rise of the “immigration industrial complex,” where federal funds fuel non-governmental organizations (NGOs) advocating for open-border policies and facilitating the housing and transportation of illegal immigrants across the country. These NGOs have become financially dependent on government grants and contracts, which now far exceed private donations, creating a loop of influence and profit.

This week’s episode of the Center for Immigration Studies podcast Parsing Immigration Policy features an in-depth discussion on the vital role the Department of State can play in combating illegal immigration and alleviating the enforcement burden. The episode revisits a previous panel hosted by the Center, which discussed Foggy Bottom and the Border: Harnessing the State Department to lead a U.S. foreign policy that fights illegal immigration and promotes border security, a Center report which includes key policy recommendations for the next administration.

The topic gains fresh relevance as President-elect Donald Trump recently named Sen. Marco Rubio as his nominee for Secretary of State. Rubio’s selection comes at a pivotal time when the Department of State’s leadership could help shape U.S. immigration policy.

The Optional Practical Training program (OPT), which began as a post-graduation internship program, has evolved into the largest foreign worker program in the United States, authorizing work for years beyond graduation for foreign nationals on student visas. Notably, OPT was developed by DHS under pressure from Silicon Valley tech leaders looking for ways around worker protections built into the H-1B visa program.

In the latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Jon Feere, the Center’s Director of Investigations and former ICE Chief of Staff, examines the controversial OPT program. This timely discussion reveals the implications of the underregulated program that has allowed over half a million foreign students to work in the United States without work visas, impacting American employment and wages, national security, and Social Security and Medicare revenues.

Immigration shifts political power in the United States – without a single immigrant having to vote.

Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and thus votes in the Electoral College are apportioned among the states based on each one’s total population — not by the number of citizens or legal residents. The Center for Immigration Studies today released two reports explaining how this works, which are the subject of this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy.

Recent Center for Immigration Studies field work reveals a growing crisis in the Mexican southern state of Chiapas. Why are thousands of migrants bottled up in this area near the Guatemala-Mexico border, and why are caravans forming but only moving within Chiapas? On-the-ground reporting by Todd Bensman, the Center’s national security fellow, highlights the impact of the Biden-Harris administration’s December 2023 deal with Mexico and the potential consequences leading up to and following the U.S. election.

Key findings:

In the latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, the Center examines how a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program – originally designed for homeless veterans – has evolved into a controversial funding source for illegal immigrants.

This program has received wide public notice in the wake of the two recent hurricanes and claims that FEMA is putting the needs of illegal aliens ahead of Americans suffering from natural disasters.

The latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy examines a groundbreaking legal case that has set a new precedent for how immigration policies intersect with environmental law. Julie Axelrod, Director of Litigation at the Center for Immigration Studies, joins the conversation to discuss the federal court’s landmark decision that holds the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accountable for violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The Center bought a case against DHS on behalf of a rancher in the first case to successfully apply NEPA — often regarded as the “Magna Carta” of environmental laws — to immigration actions. NEPA, enacted in 1970, mandates that federal agencies evaluate the environmental effects of significant actions, including their impact on human environments. Yet, immigration policies have never undergone such analysis, despite their direct influence on population growth and environmental conditions.Key Highlights

In the latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, the growing threat of transnational criminal organizations, how we got here, and potential solutions to address the issue. Guest host Jon Feere, the Center’s Director of Investigation and former Chief of Staff of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is joined by retired U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Denver Field Office Director John Fabbricatore who shares insights from his new book De-Iced: America in the Era of Open Borders and Unchecked Immigration.

Fabbricatore focuses on the Venezuelan transnational criminal organization “Tren de Aragua,” which has quickly established itself in the U.S., particularly in cities like Chicago and New York, and even in smaller cities like Aurora, Colorado. He explains how the gang, involved in human trafficking and drug smuggling, has been expanding rapidly since first arriving in the country in 2023.

The latest episode of Parsing Immigration Policy examines two key issues for the upcoming election: how former President Donald Trump might approach interior enforcement of immigration laws if elected, and the ideology behind the Biden-Harris policies that have led to the current border crisis.

In a pre-recorded segment from a recent seminar, Andrew Arthur, the Center’s fellow in law and policy, outlines what a return to normal immigration enforcement under a Republican presidency might look like.

The latest podcast episode from the Center for Immigration Studies highlights recent fieldwork conducted in Colombia and Panama. This episode explores the migration flow through the Darien Gap and examines new developments under Panama’s leadership designed to manage the number of migrants traveling through this dangerous area en route to the U.S. border. Despite these initiatives carrying positive implications for U.S., the U.S. has been slow to provide the diplomatic and financial support promised to the Panamanian government.

National Security Fellow Todd Bensman joins the podcast after returning from a lengthy trip to the Darien region. He shares how Panama’s newly elected president, who took office on July 1, is working to close the Darien Gap to the massive surge of migrants. This region, a roadless jungle connecting Colombia and Panama, has become a strategic choke point for migrants traveling north to the United States. Many of the migrants come from Venezuela, Haiti and countries with high potential security risks. Last year, over 550,000 migrants made their way through the gap, a significant increase from previous years. So great had the volume become that Panama went from screening 90 percent of those passing through the country for terrorism or espionage before 2021 to less than 3 percent in 2024.