September 17, 2021 • 10 mins
Todd Bensman, Senior National Security Fellow at The Center For Immigration Studies joins A&G for his first-person take on the overwhelming immigration crisis taking place in Del Rio Texas
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
From the Abraham Lincoln Radio studio at the George Washington
Broadcast that Armstrong, Armstrong and Jetty Show. In a statement
on the situation in Del Rio this afternoon, Texas Governor
Greg Abbott said, in part quote, the Biden administration is
in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as
(00:23):
badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan. So it's not getting
near enough news coverage. But there are well that hasn't
gotten near enough news coverage for years, or the last year,
or the last six months, or the last month, or
the last twenty four hours. We now have ten thousand
immigrants under a bridge in the heat. Over half of
them are from Haiti. It's a number one story if
(00:46):
you're on Fox or The Washington Examiner. It barely gets
covered at all if you're on other channels. Whenever we're
on this topic, we often go to the Center for
Immigration Studies to talk to somebody. In this case, it's
gonna be Todd Benzman, who's a senior National security fellow,
to talk about what's going on with the border and
the bridge and everything else. Todd, welcome, How are you, sir?
I'm doing quite well. Thank you. I'm glad to be here.
(01:08):
So how desperate is the situation at the border? Describe
it for us? We know we've been there. Yeah, I'm
actually on the International Bridge right now in Del Rio
and spent huh much of yesterday among the immigrants who
are now crossing in very very significant numbers and establishing
(01:30):
this unprecedented beachhead on the U. S side. There are
ten thousand. Uh. It's started at two thousand in on
Monday and by yesterday it was ten thousand, just to
give you an idea of scale. And they are mostly Haitians.
There are some Cubans I met in there, and there's
(01:52):
probably some Central Americans, but it looks like it's they're
mostly not from Central America or Mexico. And they are
crowding in because they are being given UH tickets to
process into the United States. So they're basically being waved
(02:13):
through UH and they'll get legal permission to enter the
United States probably forever, all of them, And that's why
they're coming, because they're being allowed to come and and
all being paroled into the United States within a matter
of days. Normally in this case, UH, it won't be
(02:36):
that quick because there are so many that they've overwhelmed
order patrol. There's not enough of them to process these
people in, so there might be a two or three
week wait. You know. One of thee confusing thing to
me is Kamala Harris said don't come. So I don't
understand why people are continuing to come because she said
clearly don't come. But we share a many thousand mile
(02:58):
border with Mexico. Understand how those people get here and
then from Central America, you know, you can look at
them happen. How are the people from Haiti getting to
the border. Well, most of these Haitians, I would say
all of them actually are not from Haiti. They have
been living for years and years in Chili and Brazil,
whose government who have the strongest economies in Latin America,
(03:22):
and whose governments gave them residency and work authorization, and
so they've been living in secure, uh you know, South
Hollow or Santiago for many years already and earning good
livings and no persecution or anything. But they saw that
the border was open under Biden, and so all of
(03:45):
those populations in Chile are now on their way here.
That that's who these people are, That's why they're usually
well dressed and have cell phones and all that and
can afford the smuggling fees. Policy wise, what's different now
than it was a year or two ago. Is it
just word got out in Central America, South America or
(04:06):
are there policies specifically causing this. Yes, there are specific
policies and they all hear about this on the on
their Internet. The main thing was the elimination of wait
in Mexico. That was a Trump policy that was highly
highly effective at deterring illegal entries. That meant that you
(04:30):
would be pushed back into Mexico to make your asylum
claim there, not inside the United States, because the game
being that if you make your asylum claim inside the
United States and lose, you're still inside the United States
and you're not leaving. They're going to have to come
(04:50):
hunt you down. And that never happened. So we're having
to to lose your asylum claim while you were in
Mexico was like not the point, you know, So they
stopped coming just for that. And then the other thing was,
you know, deportations back to the to other countries to
make their asylum claim in these other countries. Biden administration
(05:10):
got rid of all of those and then decided to
allow all families and unaccompanied miners to enter and win
parole inside the United States immediately. And so when the
world heard that families were being allowed in, like these
ones here at the bridge, Uh, they every family that
(05:34):
could muster themselves and smuggling fees, we're coming because they
were getting in. And that's why we've had hundreds and
hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of immigrants just being allowed in. Well,
I'd like to remind listeners that a Harvard study showed
that about two thirds of Americans preferred those Trump policies,
(05:56):
about two thirds, and that was a couple of months ago, all,
but it's higher now or certainly after this weekend. If
you're you're, you're they're looking at the crowd. Is it
mostly adults? Is that families and all men are what?
What's the makeup of the ground. It seems to me
that it's mostly families. Uh, there's also a lot of
single adults, but lots of children of all ages, you know, infants, Uh,
(06:18):
lots of lots of children, lots of pregnant women and uh,
you know, families, they're coming in because they you know,
like I said, everybody knows that families get a free
pass right into the United States. Don't pass go within
three or four days. Once they cross and turn themselves in,
they get they get on a bus and they drive
to portline or whatever and settle all over the country.
(06:42):
That's just too powerful, uh and incentive or around the
world Uh to resist. Nobody can resist that. It's like
an open gate. Uh. And if you're a single adult,
you you you're not going to get that. But but
the border patrol is so busy processing in those people
that you can just walk in and just run and
(07:04):
get in anyway and disappear. Because the other big policy
that people forget about that Biden did immediately was he
eliminated all deportation. There is no deportation in America. I
don't think you are listening to me. Earlier the Vice
President said, don't come, so it seems to me. And
(07:26):
and tell me if you agree or disagree. I'm scanning
the big papers even as we're chatting and h The
New York Times has this story fairly prominently. The Washington
Post kind of medium, but the verbage being used in
the journalism is surprisingly critical. Do you feel like there's
a growing awareness of the disaster on the border. I
don't really know. I mean my feeling. I know, the
(07:49):
New York Times was here yesterday in the Washington Post,
I saw those reporters. Uh. Normally, though I spent a
lot of time on the border, I never see any
media anywhere. Ever. There's usually nobody down here. And and
it's striking because the drama is intense. There are thousands
and thousands of people just being waved right over the border,
(08:12):
right up into the interior of the country, these families,
and I mean, there's a lot of drama. I'm just
surprised that it's not a bigger story. This thing is
attracting the New York Times in the Washington Post because
it's really unusual that ten thousand people we in a
makeshift settlement on the U. S. Side at one time.
(08:35):
I don't think that's ever happened. I think that's the
first time that anything of this proportion has developed on
the U. S. Side of the border. And that is
really going to be a problem that the Biden administration
has to deal with. Remember they the administration put these
policies in place, is what caused this to happen. All
(08:58):
of these people are here because as of those Biden policies,
and they'll tell you that, yeah, that's a good that's
a good place. That's a good place for us to end, Todd,
great report, Todd Benzman, Senior National Security Fellow with the
Center for Immigration Studies, and will probably be checking back
it in with you because I don't think this story
is going away. Yeah, well done, Todd, thanks a million,
all right, thank you. Yeah, And that was a good
(09:19):
way to end. You gotta remember it's there are policy
decisions that were made that caused this to be what
it is. And I point out once again the Harvard
study anyway, two thirds of Americans preferred Trump's policies. Right.
You know, there's a misperception about the Haitians that I
made myself. I assumed they were fleeing the recent national
(09:41):
disasters and and the assassination and the rest of it. No,
they fled the earthquake, and as uh Todd mentioned, they've
been living quite well in South America, but saw the
door swing open. We're such a weird culture country right now.
We're doing things. I just don't know if any country
(10:02):
or empire has ever done, has any empire ever gotten
just so kind of lazy and comfortable and taken care
of that millions of people are coming in. You're just like, yeah,
I wish that wouldn't happen, but there's something good on
TV and a right, I don't want to be a racist,
and I'm kind of for the guy in the White
House now, so I gotta pretend it's not happening. And
(10:23):
and I think most I think there's just a lot
of it is just we're just all so comfortable and
everything's okay. I don't know, I'm sorry. What did you say.
I was watching TikTok videos on my phone, right, Uh,
we gotta take a break, and uh, if you've got
any comment on that, our text line nine five k
f TC
From the Abraham Lincoln Radio studio at the George Washington
Broadcast that Armstrong, Armstrong and Jetty Show. In a statement
on the situation in Del Rio this afternoon, Texas Governor
Greg Abbott said, in part quote, the Biden administration is
in complete disarray and is handling the border crisis as
(00:23):
badly as the evacuation from Afghanistan. So it's not getting
near enough news coverage. But there are well that hasn't
gotten near enough news coverage for years, or the last year,
or the last six months, or the last month, or
the last twenty four hours. We now have ten thousand
immigrants under a bridge in the heat. Over half of
them are from Haiti. It's a number one story if
(00:46):
you're on Fox or The Washington Examiner. It barely gets
covered at all if you're on other channels. Whenever we're
on this topic, we often go to the Center for
Immigration Studies to talk to somebody. In this case, it's
gonna be Todd Benzman, who's a senior National security fellow,
to talk about what's going on with the border and
the bridge and everything else. Todd, welcome, How are you, sir?
I'm doing quite well. Thank you. I'm glad to be here.
(01:08):
So how desperate is the situation at the border? Describe
it for us? We know we've been there. Yeah, I'm
actually on the International Bridge right now in Del Rio
and spent huh much of yesterday among the immigrants who
are now crossing in very very significant numbers and establishing
(01:30):
this unprecedented beachhead on the U. S side. There are
ten thousand. Uh. It's started at two thousand in on
Monday and by yesterday it was ten thousand, just to
give you an idea of scale. And they are mostly Haitians.
There are some Cubans I met in there, and there's
(01:52):
probably some Central Americans, but it looks like it's they're
mostly not from Central America or Mexico. And they are
crowding in because they are being given UH tickets to
process into the United States. So they're basically being waved
(02:13):
through UH and they'll get legal permission to enter the
United States probably forever, all of them, And that's why
they're coming, because they're being allowed to come and and
all being paroled into the United States within a matter
of days. Normally in this case, UH, it won't be
(02:36):
that quick because there are so many that they've overwhelmed
order patrol. There's not enough of them to process these
people in, so there might be a two or three
week wait. You know. One of thee confusing thing to
me is Kamala Harris said don't come. So I don't
understand why people are continuing to come because she said
clearly don't come. But we share a many thousand mile
(02:58):
border with Mexico. Understand how those people get here and
then from Central America, you know, you can look at
them happen. How are the people from Haiti getting to
the border. Well, most of these Haitians, I would say
all of them actually are not from Haiti. They have
been living for years and years in Chili and Brazil,
whose government who have the strongest economies in Latin America,
(03:22):
and whose governments gave them residency and work authorization, and
so they've been living in secure, uh you know, South
Hollow or Santiago for many years already and earning good
livings and no persecution or anything. But they saw that
the border was open under Biden, and so all of
(03:45):
those populations in Chile are now on their way here.
That that's who these people are, That's why they're usually
well dressed and have cell phones and all that and
can afford the smuggling fees. Policy wise, what's different now
than it was a year or two ago. Is it
just word got out in Central America, South America or
(04:06):
are there policies specifically causing this. Yes, there are specific
policies and they all hear about this on the on
their Internet. The main thing was the elimination of wait
in Mexico. That was a Trump policy that was highly
highly effective at deterring illegal entries. That meant that you
(04:30):
would be pushed back into Mexico to make your asylum
claim there, not inside the United States, because the game
being that if you make your asylum claim inside the
United States and lose, you're still inside the United States
and you're not leaving. They're going to have to come
(04:50):
hunt you down. And that never happened. So we're having
to to lose your asylum claim while you were in
Mexico was like not the point, you know, So they
stopped coming just for that. And then the other thing was,
you know, deportations back to the to other countries to
make their asylum claim in these other countries. Biden administration
(05:10):
got rid of all of those and then decided to
allow all families and unaccompanied miners to enter and win
parole inside the United States immediately. And so when the
world heard that families were being allowed in, like these
ones here at the bridge, Uh, they every family that
(05:34):
could muster themselves and smuggling fees, we're coming because they
were getting in. And that's why we've had hundreds and
hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of immigrants just being allowed in. Well,
I'd like to remind listeners that a Harvard study showed
that about two thirds of Americans preferred those Trump policies,
(05:56):
about two thirds, and that was a couple of months ago, all,
but it's higher now or certainly after this weekend. If
you're you're, you're they're looking at the crowd. Is it
mostly adults? Is that families and all men are what?
What's the makeup of the ground. It seems to me
that it's mostly families. Uh, there's also a lot of
single adults, but lots of children of all ages, you know, infants, Uh,
(06:18):
lots of lots of children, lots of pregnant women and uh,
you know, families, they're coming in because they you know,
like I said, everybody knows that families get a free
pass right into the United States. Don't pass go within
three or four days. Once they cross and turn themselves in,
they get they get on a bus and they drive
to portline or whatever and settle all over the country.
(06:42):
That's just too powerful, uh and incentive or around the
world Uh to resist. Nobody can resist that. It's like
an open gate. Uh. And if you're a single adult,
you you you're not going to get that. But but
the border patrol is so busy processing in those people
that you can just walk in and just run and
(07:04):
get in anyway and disappear. Because the other big policy
that people forget about that Biden did immediately was he
eliminated all deportation. There is no deportation in America. I
don't think you are listening to me. Earlier the Vice
President said, don't come, so it seems to me. And
(07:26):
and tell me if you agree or disagree. I'm scanning
the big papers even as we're chatting and h The
New York Times has this story fairly prominently. The Washington
Post kind of medium, but the verbage being used in
the journalism is surprisingly critical. Do you feel like there's
a growing awareness of the disaster on the border. I
don't really know. I mean my feeling. I know, the
(07:49):
New York Times was here yesterday in the Washington Post,
I saw those reporters. Uh. Normally, though I spent a
lot of time on the border, I never see any
media anywhere. Ever. There's usually nobody down here. And and
it's striking because the drama is intense. There are thousands
and thousands of people just being waved right over the border,
(08:12):
right up into the interior of the country, these families,
and I mean, there's a lot of drama. I'm just
surprised that it's not a bigger story. This thing is
attracting the New York Times in the Washington Post because
it's really unusual that ten thousand people we in a
makeshift settlement on the U. S. Side at one time.
(08:35):
I don't think that's ever happened. I think that's the
first time that anything of this proportion has developed on
the U. S. Side of the border. And that is
really going to be a problem that the Biden administration
has to deal with. Remember they the administration put these
policies in place, is what caused this to happen. All
(08:58):
of these people are here because as of those Biden policies,
and they'll tell you that, yeah, that's a good that's
a good place. That's a good place for us to end, Todd,
great report, Todd Benzman, Senior National Security Fellow with the
Center for Immigration Studies, and will probably be checking back
it in with you because I don't think this story
is going away. Yeah, well done, Todd, thanks a million,
all right, thank you. Yeah, And that was a good
(09:19):
way to end. You gotta remember it's there are policy
decisions that were made that caused this to be what
it is. And I point out once again the Harvard
study anyway, two thirds of Americans preferred Trump's policies. Right.
You know, there's a misperception about the Haitians that I
made myself. I assumed they were fleeing the recent national
(09:41):
disasters and and the assassination and the rest of it. No,
they fled the earthquake, and as uh Todd mentioned, they've
been living quite well in South America, but saw the
door swing open. We're such a weird culture country right now.
We're doing things. I just don't know if any country
(10:02):
or empire has ever done, has any empire ever gotten
just so kind of lazy and comfortable and taken care
of that millions of people are coming in. You're just like, yeah,
I wish that wouldn't happen, but there's something good on
TV and a right, I don't want to be a racist,
and I'm kind of for the guy in the White
House now, so I gotta pretend it's not happening. And
(10:23):
and I think most I think there's just a lot
of it is just we're just all so comfortable and
everything's okay. I don't know, I'm sorry. What did you say.
I was watching TikTok videos on my phone, right, Uh,
we gotta take a break, and uh, if you've got
any comment on that, our text line nine five k
f TC
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com