Center for Immigration Studies Mark Krikorian on the Border Crisis: ‘Biden Took Something That Was Fixed and Broke It’

Center for Immigration Studies Mark Krikorian on the Border Crisis: ‘Biden Took Something That Was Fixed and Broke It’

 

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies Mark Krikorian to the newsmakers line to discuss the repealed immigration policies of Trump that has lead to the Biden administration’s inability to control the border surge.

Leahy: We are joined on our newsmaker line right now by our good friend, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, Mark Krikorian. Mark, what a terrific piece you had on Thursday in the National Review about Vice President Kamala Harris’s, your words, layover in El Paso.

I wanna take this sentence from your article and just get you to elaborate on this. ‘As hard as it is to believe the Biden-Harris administration was taken by surprise by the border surge that it caused.’ Can you tell us more about that?

Krikorian: Yes. The administration probably knew that there was going to be some increase at the border when they undid all of the things Trump had done which successfully stabilized the border.

I mean, Trump didn’t solve everything but definitely had stabilized the situation. They basically expected a little bit of a surge, but Mexico would help them suppress it, and people would listen to their pleas not to come.

Remember, the Vice President went down there and said, do not come, do not come. They’re kind of like Jimmy Carter back in 1980. I know it’s a long time ago, but Jimmy Carter basically did the same thing with regard to Cuba.

He said, anybody who gets out of Cuba, we will welcome them with open arms and open hearts. And Castro looked up and said, hey, that’s a great idea. So he emptied his jails. 120,000 people streamed out of Cuba until Jimmy Carter was like, oh jeez, that’s not what I meant.

(Leahy laughs) But he was able to shut it down because he hadn’t run on immigration. He wasn’t boxed in politically. This administration has run as the anti-Trump. And since immigration was one of Trump’s top things, they had to undo everything Trump did, creating this disaster that they really don’t have any good idea about how to fix.

Leahy: Yes. It seems very obvious they don’t have any good idea how to fix it. Crom Carmichael is our all-star panelist in Studio. Chrome has a question for you, Mark.

Carmichael: Well, if, Mark, if they do want to fix it, then the obvious answer is to return to Trump’s policies.

Krikorian: Of course. But my point is they can’t do that just psychologically or politically. Right? It’s not going to happen.

Carmichael: I think the obvious conclusion is they don’t want to fix it because there’s an obvious answer on how to fix it. I guess my question to you is that they’re not going to return to the policies of Trump. And so the surge is going to actually get worse. Would you agree?

Krikorian: Yeah, sure. There’s no question. In the summer, it may actually dip. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. The numbers may actually go down a little bit because it is unbelievably hot down there this time of year.

And frankly, if you are planning on sneaking into the U.S., not just Central Americans, but now we’re getting people from Romania, Uzbekistan, India, and everywhere trying to get in on the action here, some of them may figure, well, let’s cool our heels for a couple of months somewhere where there’s air conditioning, and then we’ll come.

So the numbers could go down a little. But even if they do, they’re just going to go right back up in the fall. Not to get too long into it but this is not some long historical thing we always have to deal with.

This surge is the result of specific loopholes in the law that was passed in 2008 and 2009 and other changes since then. So this is not something we just have to deal with in perpetuity. Congress and the President over several administrations created this problem.

Trump stabilized it again. That’s what I mean by he didn’t fix the loopholes, but he did stabilize it. Biden took something that was fixed and broke it. And it’s not going away until we fix those loopholes and change the things that make it attractive to sneak in. Because the odds are good that you’ll just be let go.

Leahy: What are the major loopholes and what are the chances of fixing them legislatively?

Krikorian: The chances, I can tell you now are zero until there’s a change in Congress and the White House. But not to get too wonky, there’s a provision that says so-called unaccompanied minors, and we kind of take your word for it that you’re under 18 can’t just be returned home.

They have to be given hearings. They have to be delivered into shelters and delivered to their parents who are here illegally often paying to smuggle them. That has to be changed. There’s a court ruling that Congress can overrule that says minors, even if they’re with their parents, can’t be held in immigration detention for more than three weeks.

But they have to be let go, including the parents. There’s more to it than that. But that’s the kind of thing that we have basically created the situation in a time when there weren’t a lot of kids or families coming over.

People in Congress figured out what’s the harm? Make us feel good. Virtue signaling, and it won’t really have any consequences. Well, within a few years, the problem exploded because these things started really in 2008, and 2009 is when these were passed.

It blew up under Obama in 2014. It’s just been getting these ups and downs, but it’s just been getting worse ever since.

Leahy: What you take on the job, direct Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas has been doing?

Krikorian: Terrible but terrible because that’s what he was hired to do. In other words, he’s doing the job that this administration hired him to do, which is, first of all, not to enforce immigration law.

ICE, which is under his purview, is basically not permitted to do immigration enforcement except in the most extreme cases of terrorists and spies. And that sort of thing. Other than that, illegal immigrants have a free pass.

Leahy: Let me ask you this about Mayorkas. Is his failure to enforce our immigration laws an impeachable offense?

Krikorian: That’s kind of up to the Senate. They could impeach him. The House in the Senate, and frankly, they probably should, but they shouldn’t have approved him in the first place. And anybody who replaces them is just going to do the same thing because this is what the President promised to do.

This is a political problem in the sense that we’ve got to get rid of or change who’s in the White House and then change who’s in the majority of Congress before any of this can change.

Carmichael: Mark, is Mayorkas not upholding the law, or is he exploiting loopholes? And the reason I’m asking the question is in a new administration, once he is out of office, could he be indicted for not upholding his oath of office?

Krikorian: I don’t know. Probably not. I don’t think he’s upholding his oath of office, but I don’t think the president’s upholding his oath of office. The Constitution requires the executive to faithfully execute the laws, and that’s not what Biden is doing.

It’s not what Mayorkas is doing at Biden’s instruction. So, I mean, potentially, I guess. But I don’t like the criminalization of politics. I think what we need to do, and this is me talking as a citizen, CIS doesn’t get involved in elections, but as a citizen, the solution is to get rid of these guys from office and put in somebody who actually is going to do what’s necessary.

Carmichael: Here is I guess question, and you’re hitting on an excellent I’m asking you something in your responses philosophical in nature, which is appropriate. But if Republicans were to retake the House and have a majority in the Senate, but not 60 and have the presidency, you can’t fix immigration legislation with less than 60 votes.

Krikorian: You can’t fix everything, obviously, because of the filibuster. But the filibuster is protecting us this time. Do you know what I mean? There is a great reason for it. But there’s a lot of smaller things that can be changed that some of them the Democrats may go along with.

You put package deals together. Okay, they get some of this. We get these four immigration loopholes fixed. It’s not impossible. The first thing is, you need to get control of the majorities in Congress and get somebody in the White House.

Leahy: Last question. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the chances of fixing any of this over the next three and a half years?

Krikorian: Oh yeah. I mean, pessimistic isn’t a word. There is zero possibility of any of this getting fixed.

Listen to the full third hour here:

– – –

Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Former Acting Director for ICE Tom Homan Weighs in on the Crisis at America’s Southern Border

Former Acting Director for ICE Tom Homan Weighs in on the Crisis at America’s Southern Border

 

Live from Music Row Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined on the line by author and former Acting Director of ICE Tom Homan who weighed in on the severity and legality of the actions being taken at America’s southern border immigration surge.

Leahy: Joined on our newsmaker line now, by fellow upstate New Yorker, Tom Homan, former acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Tom, you were on FOX yesterday saying the border crisis is not incompetence. It’s by design from the Biden maladministration. Maladministration. My word, not yours. What do you say about that, Tom?

Homan: Well, I think it’s obvious. President Biden during the campaign made all these promises that he knew what cause a surge. that he was used vice President in 2014 and 2015 during the last surge, so he knows what causes the surge. I met the White House guys, and I met with the Deputy Secretary Mayorkas.

Leahy: You met with Mayorkas?

Homan: Numerous times.

Leahy: So so tell me this about Mayorkas. Mayorkas strikes me as a zealot who does not want to enforce our laws instead wants to manipulate them to open borders. That’s my take. Am I right or wrong or a little bit off?

Homan: During 14 and 15 We did enforce laws. We built thousands of detention facilities that would help them use remove up when they were all removed. But under this administration, now that he’s Secretary threw a complete opposite. they’re not detaining people. They try to release them as soon as possible. They’re not letting ICE remove anybody. So they’re doing the complete opposite of what they know works.

Leahy: Is this an impeachable offense on Marcus’s part because he’s not enforcing our laws properly? My view. Well, my view is because Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is not enforcing our immigration laws intentionally. That it is an impeachable offense. That’s my view. What’s your take on that?

Homan: Well, absolutely. He’s not enforced in while he cut the head off ICE. And he opened the board to illegal immigration. I think he facilitated illegal legalization by what he’s doing.

Leahy: What can we do to stop this terrible derogation of duty by the Biden Maladministration and Secretary Mayorkas?

Homan: I think Congress is at. I think the American people need to call you Congressman Senator, and demand the enforce laws are the books.

Leahy: What can Congress do to Tom? Because it’s controlled 222 by 210 by Democrats? Are there any border state Democrats in the House of Representatives who could switch and Act in a way to require Mayorkas and Biden administration to enforce our immigration laws?

Homan: Very few. You got Henry Quail in Texas, I think is tired of the open borders policy. His communities are raised in House, so I don’t think there’s enough. I think we’re in trouble until the ’22 election. I think America got you the elections as consequences, and we’re in trouble right now for next.

Leahy: Well, I know we’re in trouble. And look, I’m just pushing for this. You would need probably six or 7 Democrats to flip choir as one. I think you’re right. Politically, I don’t think there are enough Democrats who have the courage to flip if Congress won’t do anything. What can be done to stop this disastrous surge over the next year?

Homan: Doing what we’re currently doing. Suing administration. I’m the expert witness on the Texas lawsuit. I filed an APA Dave with a Florida lawsuit. So we got counter Republican Texas Attorney General Susan. And so far, we’re doing really well. So we’ll take them to court the same way they took President Trump the court every two weeks.

Leahy: So the Texas attorney general is suing the Biden administration for this open border policy. Where does that court case stand? And what can we expect to happen from that?

Homan: Well, they just one part, the 100 day moratorium the judge says they can’t do that now. We just follow lawsuit saying we don’t like the Ice priorities. They are to go back to Ice arrest people who are in the country legally. Florida is doing the same thing. They’re suing on the policies of Bite administration that are resulting in open borders situation we’re currently in.

There are several other States I can’t speak about right now because it’s in the process. So I think you’re going to see four or 5 States joining together, and they’re all Southern border States to Sue the Bite administration to make them enforce the laws of Congress and acting and not letting them ignore them.

Leahy: What is this country going to look like in October of 2022?

Homan: I think our borders will remain open. I think I see hundreds of thousands of genes across that border that are not going to be held accountable, but also on the flip side, I think the American people will have enough. I think you will see the Republicans take back Congress. I think people are now beginning to see what a bad policy the Biden administration has because, on the Southern border and other things such as oil refineries, I think the American people will finally get to see what President Trump said was going to happen during the election.

Leahy: Will the country be able to recover from this debacle?

Homan: We are a strong country, but it’s going to take a while. You can say there’s going to be hundreds of thousands of people in a country like that won’t be removed. And we have got to hope and pray they don’t get the Amnesty bill passed because that’s going to give Amnesty to almost a million illegal aliens that cross more than the last three years. In the same way, families that were arrested, released, order removed, and never left. I really have other than the States suing the federal government, I don’t have a lot of hope all fixes in the next two years.

Leahy: Tom Homan, former Acting Director of ICE, you grew up in the Watertown, New York area just a few miles from the Canadian border. I saw a report that Secretary Mayorkas may be considering taking immigrants and crossing the Southern border, flying them up to the Northern border states, and processing them up in the Northern border crossing areas because they just don’t have the capacity down in the Southern border. Have you seen these reports? Do you give any credence to them?

Homan: Yes, it’s happened before. Where I’ve never seen time to Northern border, but I have seen them in ’14 and ’15. They formed other states to be processed because there the border is so overwhelmed. But on one hand, the Secretary of my orca says there’s not a crisis on a second again, people all over the country because they can’t handle the surge on the border. So I’ve seen it happen before. Not to the Northern border. But we’ve done it before. We moved around the middle of the U.S during ’14 to process. So it certainly makes sense to me. I have not verified it’s going to happen, but we did it back in ’15. I think you’re going to see happen again.

Leahy: Tom Homan, will you stick with us over the next couple of months and keep us updated on the progress of this litigation that you’re an expert witness on and let all of our listers know?. And, by the way, thanks for everything you’re doing from a media standpoint and on the ground.

Homan: I want to fight, and I’m going to fight for the right.

Leahy: Anybody from Watertown, New York iss a fighter that I know. Tom, thanks for joining us this morning.

Listen to the first hour here:

– – –

Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.