In this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Todd Bensman, the Center’s senior national security fellow, joins us live from Juarez, Mexico. Bensman takes us into La Linea Cartel territory, where he is investigating the smuggling of dangerous criminals into the United States.

Reporting from the Mexican side of the border, opposite El Paso, Bensman offers a firsthand account of migrant activity from the area where just two weeks ago hundreds of migrants pushed past Texas law enforcement in a daring charge to reach the Border Patrol, which they know will quickly process and release them. Other migrants – especially on the west side of Juarez, opposite Democratic-run New Mexico – are “runners”, illegal aliens who do not turn themselves in because of criminal histories or warrants.

Campaign season is in full swing as the 2024 presidential election looms less than eight months away. According to a recent Gallup poll, immigration is considered the biggest issue facing the country, with a majority of Americans expressing disapproval of the president’s handling of the issue.

In today’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, host Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director, dives into the politics of the immigration issue alongside journalist and author Mickey Kaus. As one of the earliest political bloggers and a democrat, Kaus brings a unique perspective to the conversation. The two men, each representing differing political viewpoints, engage in a thoughtful discussion on President Biden’s immigration policy choices.

Since September 2023, the Center for Immigration Studies has been on the forefront of reporting on the Biden administration direct-flight and parole program that has authorized the arrival of more than 320,000 inadmissible aliens through the CBP One app. The program allows migrants to take commercial passenger flights from foreign countries straight to their American cities of choice, without having to go to the southern land border. The program has largely operated under the radar until the Center filed a FOIA request, followed by litigation. The lawsuits continue – the Center is presently suing to have the administration release the names of the foreign airports and the receiving airports in the U.S.

Todd Bensman, the Center’s national security fellow and author of the reporting on the flights, joins host Mark Krikorian on this episode of Parsing Immigration Policy to discuss misconceptions surrounding the program, clarifying that the government authorizes the inadmissible aliens to enter the country, but does not buy the tickets, and that while it is secretive, in that the administration has tried to minimize public and congressional attention to it, it is not a secret program.

On this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, joins us to discuss what states and other local jurisdictions can do to combat illegal immigration in wake of the Biden administration’s refusal to enforce immigration laws. Vaughan joins us from the Western States Sheriffs’ Association convention in Reno, Nev.

Vaughan provides suggestions to states and localities on policies and laws that can be implemented to remove illegal aliens from their jurisdictions and make their communities less attractive to illegal aliens. It’s important for these jurisdictions to take action now to push back on what is happening on the federal level, but it’s also important if we get a new administration that takes immigration enforcement seriously. As Vaughan explains, the federal government can’t properly enforce the immigration law without cooperation from state and local governments.

President Biden and former President Trump are both scheduled to visit Texas border towns today, just as polling reveals widespread dissatisfaction with the president’s handling of the border and immigration. With the failure of the Senate border bill and growing concern over the record number of border crossers, news reports suggest President Biden may announce executive actions that would stem the border crisis his policies created.

This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy welcomes guest Andrew Arthur, the Center’s resident fellow in law and policy, who discusses one executive action that has been floated – barring aliens who enter illegally between ports of entry from being able to apply for asylum. Such a measure would replicate a previous regulation, the “Circumvention of Lawful Pathways” (CLAP) rule introduced in May 2023, that was designed not to lower border crossing numbers, but rather to “reduce wait times and crowds at U.S. ports of entry and allow for safe, orderly, and humane processing.” The rule faced legal challenges, notably in M.A. v. Mayorkas and East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Biden. A judge in the latter case, however, suggested that the administration may be talking tough to appease a public anxious for border action while not fighting vigorously to defend his own asylum rule.

A Center for Immigration Studies report and companion podcast episode, “Can U.S. Farm Workers be Replaced by Machines? Mechanizing Fruit and Vegetable Production,” provide historical context as well as analysis of current challenges and prospects for farm labor and mechanization. Both the report and the discussion explain the options available to replace U.S. farm workers – machines, H-2A guestworkers, and imports.

The report outlines how rising labor costs have historically driven the adoption of mechanization in agriculture. It traces the evolution of farm mechanization, from the end of the Bracero program in the 1960s to the present day, highlighting pivotal moments such as the enactment of the Immigration and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). IRCA supporters promised that legalized farm workers would demand higher wages, and that farm employers would have to raise wages and improve working conditions to retain legalized workers or hire H-2A guestworkers. But this did not happen, partly due to massive fraud.

Today’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy features experts from the Center for Immigration Studies discussing immigration highlights of 2023. Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director and host of the podcast, is joined by Director of Investigations Jon Feere and Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman.

Krikorian identifies the top story of the year as the record-breaking number of illegal aliens at the border, with 3.2 million encounters of inadmissible aliens, double the pre-Covid numbers from 2019. However, the open border, coupled with the lack of interior enforcement, led to other significant stories, including the trafficking of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) and a Texas-Biden war.

The border crisis has reached historic levels under the Biden administration, but one of the many roots of this crisis extends beyond the correct administration. This episode of Parsing Immigration Policy highlights the Flores settlement, an agreement that established requirements for the federal government’s detention of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) and requires their release “without unnecessary delay”. This week, we are joined by Hart Celler, the pseudonym of a Marine Corps veteran and longtime federal employee involved in immigration policy.

Celler walks listeners through the general history of Flores, from the start of the lawsuit in 1985 to the initial agreement in 1997 to today. A key development occurred under the Obama administration when Judge Dolly Gee re-interpreted the agreement to cover all alien children, not just those who arrive without a parent or legal guardian. Children who arrive with an adult are not generally released alone, so the U.S. government ends up releasing the adult and the child together. Celler refers to this as a “golden ticket” for entry into the U.S. for any illegal alien who brings a child. This practice encourages and rewards adults – some of whom are not even be the child’s parent – to bring children on the dangerous journey to the U.S.

This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy brings a global perspective to the immigration debate with Nicolas Monti and Maxime Aymar, co-founders of L’Observatoire de l’immigration et de la démographie (OID), an immigration think tank based in Paris. The guests share information on immigration trends, policies, and public sentiment in France.

The French organization was founded three years ago in response to the public’s growing distrust in immigration policies in France. France, one of the first countries to experience massive levels of immigration, especially non-European immigration, has seen immigration become an especially polarizing political topic. It is at the forefront of French political debate and an important topic for all political parties; but, as Monti and Aymar explain, the conversation has primarily become an ideological conversation. OID fills a gap in French politics by providing non-partisan facts, research, and analysis of the immigration issue.