On this episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, we are joined by Sheriff Mark Dannels of Cochise County, Ariz., and Andrew Arthur, Resident Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies. Cochise County is located along Arizona’s southeastern border with Mexico, and Sheriff Dannels and his colleagues have had to deal with the border crisis firsthand. This week’s topic is a rather grim one – the deaths of illegal immigrants at the border.

Both guests recently testified at a joint House subcommittee hearing in Arizona on the effects of the border crisis on American communities and explain on the podcast how the level of security at the border under the Biden administration has never been lower, which is luring more migrants to put themselves in harm’s way by hiring smugglers to bring them to the United States.

Sheriff Dannels describes the inhumane conditions migrants find themselves in when they make the illegal journey to the United States, comparing the agreements they make with smugglers to “modern-day slavery”. Arthur explains that so long as migrants believe they’ll be allowed to enter illegally, they will hire smugglers to bring them to the country. Due to the Biden administration’s “catch-and-release” policies, migrants are more willing than ever to place their lives in the hands of dangerous and rapacious criminals who are only interested in money—often with the deadliest of consequences.

In his closing commentary, Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies and host of the Parsing Immigration Policy, speculates that the litigation over the thousand-foot long marine barrier on the Rio Grande placed by Texas Gov. Abbott may reach the Supreme Court, allowing the justices to rule on whether the border crisis caused by the current administration constitutes an “invasion” under the Constitution.

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

Mark Dannels is Sheriff of Cochise County, AZ.

Related

Scorching Heat Is Contributing to Migrant Deaths

Search and Rescue Stats Highlight Humanitarian Disaster at the Border

Fifth Circuit Grants Stay in Texas Rio Grande Barrier Case

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Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".