Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
FAIR's Preston Huennekens and Matthew Tragesser discuss Vice President Kamala Harris's recent visit to El Paso, Texas while FAIR hosted a rally at the border wall in Arizona where hundreds of citizen activists, sheriffs and lawmakers attended to send a message to the current administration to end the Biden Border Crisis.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform's podcast bringing you the most important updates about U.S. immigration. Featuring special guests including members of Congress, journalists, and experts in the field.
Preston:
hi everyone and welcome to another edition of FAIR’s understanding immigration podcast I’m Preston Huennekens FAIR’s government relations manager and today I’m joined by Matthew Tragesser our press secretary in today's episode we'll be discussing FAIR’s recent rally at the southwest border which attracted law enforcement and immigration reform activists from across the country but before we do that we're going to dive into Vice President Kamala Harris's visit to El Paso with the secretary of homeland security Alejandro Mayorkas so Matthew the Harris trip came almost as a bit of a surprise or at least it surprised me Harris has said for weeks now that the border is not her problem during her visit to Guatemala and Mexico she specifically tried to clarify that she was tasked only with addressing the root causes of migration and said a number of things indicating that she did not want to go to the border or didn't feel like she needed to go to the border and if that is the case then why did she go why did she go to El Paso?
Matthew:
yeah that's a really great question Preston this was a very strange trip to say the least not only did it take Vice President Harris approximately three months or 93 days to visit the border in any capacity she chose the wrong sector she traveled to the El Paso sector rather than the Rio Grande valley sector which we all know is the epicenter of the Biden border crisis instead she was 800 miles away where apprehensions there so far this year are approximately 113,000 which is two and a half times less than what is currently being seen in the Rio Grande valley sector about 270,000 apprehensions so far and we were just there in the Rio Grande valley sector near McAllen near mission Texas just a couple months ago we saw with our own eyes hundreds of unaccompanied minors and family units cross the Rio Grande river constant flows and it really was the epicenter of this crisis so yeah she completely avoided it and then even when she went to El Paso in the sector she didn't really accomplish much she met with NGO groups open borders advocacy groups and didn't really meet with border patrol personnel as much as she could have and when she did me with the border patrol personnel she spoke to agents about streamlining processing for migrants okay so that's basically saying how can we find a way to get as many illegal aliens into the country as possible and then allow for their immediate release so yeah and then also let's not forget she didn't visit the Fort Bliss detention facility a tent like facility in the El Paso sector where more than 2,000 migrant teams remain in deplorable conditions so it doesn't really make sense what was the purpose going on this trip why now honestly maybe it was a dig at President Trump and Texas Governor Abbott I mean they were going just a couple days later to believe it or not the Rio Grande valley where everyone should be going right now and maybe it was to steal some thunder or steal a spotlight from that trip but yeah it was just again just like Guatemala and Mexico really not a good trip to say the least and it made her look bad another trip that was flopped.
Preston:
yeah and I think it really we need to emphasize that again the Rio Grande valley is number one in border apprehensions they've had two and a half times as many apprehensions as El Paso and I think also as well it was interesting that President Biden's press secretary said that they were that Harris was going to El Paso because it was it was the place where the former president put in some of his immigration policies that we felt were so problematic so in another way it almost seems yeah like you said that she was going there just to emphasize that President Trump did things before on immigration that they dislike and again it just it reminds me so much of what the Biden administration's policy on immigration has been which is just to reflexively do the opposite of what President Trump did even when the things President Trump did were successful.
Matthew:
yeah and let's also note that it took her 93 days Vice President Harris approximately three months to make it down to any portion of the border which is completely unacceptable not only for someone who's a vice president of the United States but who's been kind of assigned this border czar type of role which by the way it has the most vague loose definition possible I mean it's constantly evolving as you mentioned first was it to address the root causes of migration to the country or is it now dealing with southern border security and the apprehensions I don't know it seems like it's just a very vague and not really well thought out role.
Preston:
yeah and that's actually a great segue into another question that I wanted to ask you and we'll kind of wrap this up on Harris's visit but while she was down there she was accompanied obviously by secretary Mayorkas and he said something very interesting in regards to their being there he said and I’m quoting now I’m grateful to the vice president for leading the effort to tackle the root causes of irregular migration we know what happens at the border is directly connected to the work of addressing the root causes of migration poverty corruption violence and a climate crisis so it's interesting that the Biden administration through Alejandro Mayorkas continues denying that their actions have anything to do with the current crisis we obviously recognize that push factors in these countries exist I don't think anyone's denying that we certainly aren't but they act like dismantling successful safe third country agreements gutting the migrant protection protocols had nothing to do with the record-setting surge that we're seeing at the border and that's to say nothing of Joe Biden who campaigned for two years on the promise that he was gonna amnesty every illegal alien in the country I mean they're almost putting on the blinders entirely when it comes to the pull factors that the U.S. is giving out right now and they're relying so much on the push factors which again exists but it's not it cannot explain what's going on right now entirely.
Matthew:
right and this was just a totally outrageous claim by Mayorkas I mean it's not surprising he's been saying this kind of stuff for months now basically gaslighting the American public misleading them but it's definitely this surge that we're seeing again 180,000 apprehensions last month the largest total for a month for 21 years we're on pace practically to hit 2 million apprehensions this fiscal year I mean historic numbers but again this is directly attributed to the Biden administration's messaging and policies that basically eviscerate our southern border security eviscerate interior immigration enforcement again you look at the ICE arrests and deportation numbers just recently lowest monthly deportations on record last month it said that each ICE agent is currently averaging one arrest every two months I mean that's unacceptable given that we have more than 14 million illegal aliens in our country probably a lot more now and so yeah when there is no southern border security again with no wall construction the halt of the MPP program not fully utilizing Title 42 and then you take away interior enforcement you're not arresting people you're not deporting people I mean that basically says yeah if you come here illegally that's not a problem so this is not a usual seasonal increase or what we see every year this is completely mayhem and nothing that the country's ever seen before.
Preston:
right and unlike I think prior administrations that tried to at least put in policies in place to stop it the Biden administration has done nothing of that kind but with that in mind I do now want to pivot to an event that took place on Friday June 25th FAIR held a border rally attended by hundreds of citizen activists sheriffs from around the country victims of illegal alien crime and other supporters who were there to call for the Biden administration to take some necessary measures to end the crisis that were that we're seeing right now this occurred right at the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and Matthew you were down there at this event for most of the at the border for most of the week and attended the rally just tell us about what you saw down there and what those listening at home missed out if they haven't seen our content on this already.
Matthew:
yeah so this was a really just awesome event to say the least you had several hundred concerned Americans activists state legislators from Arizona former DHS officials really just a wide range of backgrounds who have been concerned about the Biden border crisis and kind of where it's headed so the rally was kind of the first type of rally that occurred directly on the southern border wall I mean it was on the background there we have to thank John Ladd and his ranch for allowing us to sit up there and it also marked kind of this start of this grassroots movement that people aren't just going to sit back and see what they're seeing what's going on with again the record number of illegal alien apprehensions the criminal gang proliferation drugs coming to the country no one wants to sit back and just do nothing and so this is a great opportunity for people to voice their concerns learn more about what's going on with the Biden border crisis how we can stop it and I think was a tremendous success for it being kind of the first event like this that FAIR sponsored and hosted.
Preston:
yeah and I think it's very important to highlight the grassroots aspect of this is to we've been seeing this in polling where every month more and more people are saying that even though they may give President Biden high marks on other aspects of his presidency the border and immigration is a weak spot for him and his numbers are tanking in that regard and I think now you're seeing a number of just average citizens everyday people who are looking at this and saying we cannot let this continue that this is this is obviously wrong and they're calling I think on the Biden administration to do something about it and not to just continue gaslighting them like Mayorkas and Harris have been doing and telling them no it's not a crisis it's not a big deal it's under control people aren't stupid they have eyes they have ears they hear and see what is happening and so yeah I think it's huge to emphasize the grassroots aspect of the rally and people from across the country coming in to share that view.
Matthew:
no absolutely and it was also really impressive to see them not only come to this kind of remote portion of southeast Arizona it was a multiple hour rally in the blazing heat over 100 degrees and it wasn't just people from the Tucson area or Phoenix area I mean they're coming from all around the country and so now that this is kind of like the framework for future events I’m sure that our organization can do but also other organizations and really get people involved because at the end of the day we need the American public to vote people in and out to voice your concern to be part of this movement we can really pressure other organizations and members of congress to make changes with immigration policy but also it's very important to get the American public voters and concerned citizens involved as well.
Preston:
absolutely and at the rally I know that many of the speakers listed a number of things that the Biden administration could do to actually end this crisis and their recommendations I think mirror a lot of what FAIR has been saying in the past few months this includes I think number one the removal of Mayorkas as the DHS secretary in addition to the completion of the border wall where funding already exists for it from previous bills that have been passed the reinstatement of the migrant protection protocols and I think just the end of catch and release this was reinstated by the Biden administration as soon as they took over it's something that President Trump put an end to and so I wanted to kind of ask you this thought experiment let's assume that the Biden administration chooses to do one of these things they decide they're going to do something about it but they're not going to do everything which of these do you think would have the biggest impact in reducing the number of illegal aliens who come to the border many of them seeking asylum many of them with claims that don't really have merit what of these suggestions do you think would have the biggest impact on what we're seeing right now at the border?
Matthew:
so I would say definitely the migrant protection protocols otherwise known as the Remain in Mexico policy I’ve we've talked about this program in previous episodes written a couple op-eds on it but it's just give a refresher here this program was implemented by the Trump administration in 2019 to essentially require asylum seekers applying for asylum in the U.S. to wait in northern Mexico until their court hearing date and what was happening was people who would apply for asylum in the U.S. they'd get their court hearing date but it might have been six months nine months a year down the road they'd be told hey come back to your court hearing date many of these migrants don't show up because they know that they have a weak case and then they disappear and there's no way to really track them so this was to avoid that and it worked I mean tens of thousands of people were sent to northern Mexico into the court hearing date under the Trump administration and not only reduced asylum fraud because people who had meritless asylum claims saw this program and thought hey we're not going to come up to the U.S.-Mexico border and apply for asylum anymore I don't want to win northern Mexico I’m not really being persecuted by my government based on my race religion nationality political opinion or membership to a particular social group so it helped reduce asylum fraud it deterred migrants who were coming here unlawfully as well and again it just kind of restored integrity in our asylum system again we have such a big backlog that it shouldn't be taking months if not years to get these addressed and they are right now because a lot of people who are using the U.S. political asylum for other purposes like trying to find a better job or better wages or fleeing an abusive partner and yeah those are not fortunate situations but they don't qualify for you as political asylum at all so I thought that program was one of the strongest immigration policies programs put in place by the administration I mean it was quickly wiped out as soon as President Biden entered the oval office but I will say not only is this program it's shown to be very effective and useful but you don't need congress to be involved with this to get implemented I mean this was done through an executive order so you can this can be done rather quickly to get it reinstated so that's a big plus about the MPP is that these other items may not have.
Preston:
yeah I agree with you on that on that point because so much of the issue right now is people seeking asylum with claims that don't really end up holding up in court in immigration court and so this is why building the wall is important certainly it's certainly important to stop drug smuggling to stop human trafficking to force people to the ports of entry where they can actually be screened but in terms of stopping the numbers of people coming through I think changing the asylum laws is so much more that would have such a bigger effect than simply building a wall because we could build the wall 10 miles high 10 miles deep and 50 feet thick but if people can still come in claim asylum and wait with a work permit in the United States for two to three years that doesn't change that doesn't really change the issue at all so I think changing the way that we handle asylum right now is so important and I will say yes the migrant protection protocols were great because the Trump administration was able to quickly implement them but again unfortunately anything at the administrative level can be quickly overturned by their successor and I think that's one of the issues not only that President Trump has run into now that he's out of office but also President Obama many of his initiatives were overturned by President Trump and I think as long as congress continues to just kind of ignore the problem and to refuse to deal with what's going on at our border we're going to keep having these kind of see-saw effect of administrative actions taken at that level.
Matthew:
right I will say that is it likely that they'll implement any of these suggestions no we both know that but something has to change I mean these apprehension numbers are not going down anytime soon and now it's not even just a Central America Mexico large migration issue I mean people are coming from all around the world more than 160 countries reported in the last few months so the word is out and so some policy change is going to be needed will they listen to FAIR or other advocates calling for immigration reform border security reform we'll see but it's unlikely they're headed down a completely different path.
Preston:
yeah I agree with you on that point and I think that is probably as good a point as any to end today's episode on we want to thank everybody for tuning in as a reminder these podcasts are available on most platforms including spotify and apple podcasts you can learn more about fair and our mission by visiting our website fairus.org or by visiting our social media channels on twitter and facebook we will continue releasing new episodes every other Monday and if you enjoyed the podcast then we ask that you please subscribe to Understanding Immigration if you haven't already we hope you enjoyed today's episode of Understanding Immigration presented by FAIR