This Week in Immigration

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat with Alexander Kustov, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. We discuss Professor Kustov’s research on how we might, or might not, be able to shift public opinion in the United States to increase support for immigration. One promising approach, that will be the subject of Professor Kustov’s forthcoming book “In Our Interest: How to Make Immigration Popular”, is adopting demonstrably beneficial policies that make voters confident their government is managing immigration in their interest.

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat with Camille Mackler, the Founder and Executive Director of Immigrant ARC (I-ARC), a collaborative of over 80 legal service providers in New York State. I-ARC works with community leaders, legal service providers, state and local governments, law enforcement agencies, and Federal agencies and policymakers to ensure immigrants have access to a fair and efficient immigration system. We discuss I-ARC’s beginnings, the challenges it faces, its work helping newly arrived immigrants get work permits, and how federal, state, and local governments can help. Read more about I-ARC: https://www.immigrantarc.org/

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat with Michael D. Lumpkin, the Chief of Staff for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or “ICE”. We discuss the missions of ICE, the various challenges facing ICE including budgetary constraints, and its efforts to address the unprecedented number of arrivals at the US-Mexico border. We also discuss the importance of technology and innovation in ICE’s operations and Mr. Lumpkin’s views looking forward.

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde discuss the role that recent high levels of immigration have played in driving the economy. They then welcome BPC Associate Director Emerson Sprick to discuss the role that increased immigration can play in securing Social Security solvency.

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde do a deep dive into the claim, made by several Republicans, that President Biden can use his executive power to solve the border crisis without Congress.

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat with Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and Francis Torres, a Senior Policy Analyst in Housing Policy at BPC, about homelessness in the U.S. We cover the scale of the issue, its causes, the extent to which immigration has exacerbated the issue, and the vital solutions needed.

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown talks us through the recent failed bipartisan border deal. Then, Theresa and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat to Policy Analyst Arianna Fano about a new BPC report examining the barriers immigrant families face in the take-up of tax credits. The Child Tax Credit (CTC) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) are crucial anti-poverty tools but many individuals in need—including a disproportionate share of eligible immigrants—do not claim these credits for a variety of reasons. We also chat to BPC Associate Director Emerson Sprick who tells us about a recent bipartisan tax bill that includes an expansion of the Child Tax Credit. Bipartisan Policy Center report: Pathways to Prosperity Bipartisan Policy Center blog: Barriers to Tax Credit Education and Take-Up Among Immigrant Communities In this episode:

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown chats with Mark Hetfield, President & CEO at HIAS and Claire Holba, an Immigration Policy Fellow at the Niskanen Center, about the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program. Mark tells us about the experience and challenges of refugee resettlement agencies on the ground, while Claire dives into the data around the Resettlement Program, highlighting something of a recent revival in its fortunes. Niskanen Center: New data confirms that the U.S. rebuilt the refugee resettlement program HIAS – Welcome the stranger. Protect the refugee.

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown runs through the latest negotiations on Capitol Hill for a potential border security deal. If Congress fails to reach a deal, we could see a government shutdown. Then, Theresa and BPC Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde interview Lindsay Milliken, an immigration fellow at the Institute for Progress, who is lead author of a new report detailing a data-driven method to identify workforce shortages and update DOL’s Schedule A Shortage Occupation List. Institute for Progress Research Report: Help Wanted: Modernizing the Schedule A Shortage Occupation List In this episode: (00:00) Opening (01:10) Theresa on the latest negotiations on border security (18:33) Lindsay Milliken on workforce shortages and Schedule A

In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown chats with three exceptional national and local immigration reporters to understand what it’s like to cover immigration at a time of rising migration, increased humanitarian challenges, and a polarized political climate. Camilo Montoya-Galvez of CBS News, Maria Sacchetti of the Washington Post and Uriel Garcia of the Texas Tribune take us through their experiences covering national and local immigration developments over the past year, both on the ground and from a distance. Listen to hear all about the policy, politics, and humanity of covering immigration in the United States.

In this week’s episode, new host Jack Malde chats with four Distinguished Immigration Scholars at Cornell Law School on their new white paper “Immigration Reform: A Path Forward”. Stephen Yale-Loehr, Randel Keith Johnson, Charles Kamasaki, and BPC’s very own Theresa Cardinal Brown take us through important reforms to border management and asylum policy, worker programs, and DREAMer protections. While large, comprehensive immigration reform is unlikely to move forward in Congress soon, certain targeted reforms are both urgently needed and potentially achievable. Cornell Law School Migration & Human Rights Program: Migration & Human Rights Program - Cornell Law School Cornell Law School Immigration Reform: A Path Forward white paper: Cornell-immigration-white-paper-10-5-23.pdf

In this week’s episode, guest host Theresa Cardinal Brown and BPC Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde discuss BPC’s new report which quantifies the tremendous economic benefits on offer if Congress were to act to clear green card backlogs. Then, Theresa and Jack discuss new projections from the Census Bureau which show that the U.S. population is set to begin declining in the second half of this century, underlining the importance of immigration for continued growth and prosperity.

In this week’s episode, host Hanadi Jordan and Theresa Cardinal Brown unpack President Biden’s recent Executive Order on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the efforts of the administration to attract and retain AI talent. Then, we rebroadcast clips from a past interview with economist, veteran and scholar Tim Kane, who speaks about why America is “The Immigrant Superpower” (the title of his book) and how immigrants are vital for our national security.

Economic Policy Program Director and former OMB official Rachel Snyderman joins podcast host Hanadi Jordan and Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown to discuss President Biden's border wall plans and whether he was legally obligated to expand the wall under appropriations allocated in 2019. Then, Theresa covers the ACLU-Biden Administration’s settlement with the ACLU in a class action lawsuit over parent-child separations under then-President Trump’s “zero tolerance policy.”

Given recent efforts in Congress to avoid a government shutdown, this episode we are revisiting Episode 141 of This Week in Immigration, where Theresa Cardinal Brown and Laura Hall of BPC Action walk through the federal government's budget and appropriations process, how the immigration system is funded, and what happens in a government shutdown.

In this week’s episode, host Hanadi Jordan and Theresa Cardinal Brown discuss the federal government’s lawsuit against Texas Governor Greg Abbot over anti-migrant buoys and the growing tensions between New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the Biden administration concerning migrant arrivals. Then, the pair discuss what a government shutdown means for DHS.

Declining birth rates and an aging population present a serious demographic problem for the U.S. with long-term economic consequences. BPC Research Analyst Justis Antonioli and Associate Director of Economic Policy Ben Gitis join the podcast to discuss BPC’s latest report, The Demographic Transition: An Overview of America’s Aging Population and Immigration’s Mediating Role, which examines research on the role of immigration in strengthening the labor force and supporting the economy. Then, podcast regular Theresa Cardinal Brown breaks down the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Space X over discriminatory hiring practices.

On today’s episode, we feature audio from our most recent event on challenges with the current legal immigration system and potential pathways for reform. Moderated by Bloomberg Law’s Andrew Kreighbaum, Jon Baselice with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Martin Kim with Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, David Bier with Cato Institute, and Dip Patel with Improve The Dream assess issues raised by the system’s current status quo and share their best ideas for reform.

In this episode we welcome Representative Salud Carbajal to tell us all about his bipartisan bill, the Protect Patriot Parents Act, which would make parents of U.S. military service members eligible for green cards, preventing potential deportations or separations of military families. After this, podcast regular Theresa Cardinal Brown breaks down the latest border numbers and recent Biden administration restrictions on who is eligible to apply for asylum.

To mark a very special podcast milestone—our 150 episode—podcast regular Theresa Cardinal Brown sits down with Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) to discuss the Dignity Act. Then, Theresa and host Hanadi Jordan reflect on six years of the podcast. Featuring clips from some of our favorite episodes, we cover the highlights, the challenges, and hopes for the future!