Parsing Immigration Policy

Former Czech President Vclav Klaus joins the Center for Immigration Studies podcast to discuss migration, national identity, and the importance of the nation-state. An economist and longtime advocate for national sovereignty, President Klaus challenges prevailing European views on immigration, multiculturalism, and the European Union.

Key highlights:

• Reconciling free market economics with the necessity of limited immigration and secure borders.
• Differentiating between individual migration and mass migration.
• Arguing that low birthrates do not justify increased migration.
• Explaining mass migration as being demand-driven, caused by politics and social policies.
• Critiquing labor importation as a policy failure that undermines citizens motivation to work.
• Emphasizing the importance of national borders and criticizing the Schengen Agreement.
• Distinguishing between migrants and legitimate refugees as opposed to distinguishing between legal and illegal migrants.

Host

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

Guest

Former Czech President Vclav Klaus

Related

"Europe All Inclusive: Understanding the Current Migration Crisis"

Vclav Klaus personal website

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".

In this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, National Review’s Andy McCarthy and guest host Andrew Arthur, the Center’s fellow in law and policy, examine the erosion of legal norms – from immigration enforcement to judicial power – and what this means for how our system of government is supposed to work under the Constitution.

Prosecutorial Discretion:

McCarthy traces how the Obama and Biden administrations transformed prosecutorial discretion from a tool used on a case-by-case basis into a broad and categorical policy of declining to enforce immigration laws. What was once a resource-based allocation judgment has become, in his view, an unconstitutional end-run around Congress.

The Courts as a Political Battleground:

With Congress “not doing its job,” McCarthy highlights how activist groups race to friendly judges for nationwide injunctions. He warns the resulting judicial overreach allows unelected judges, often handpicked by advocacy groups, to override elected officials and block policies nationally, replacing democratic accountability with judicial activism. SCOTUS’s large emergency docket caseload is a symptom of the resulting dysfunction.

The Rise of Progressive Lawyering:

McCarthy contrasts originalism, which examines and respects the Constitution’s original meaning, with progressive lawyering, which he sees as driven by social outcomes rather than legal process. This shift, he contends, threatens democratic governance.

Deportation and Due Process:

The two legal experts address Trump-era deportation efforts using both the foreign policy grounds for removal and the Alien Enemies Act. McCarthy, who supports broad executive authority, explains that even aliens have constitutional protections.

Host

Andrew Arthur is a Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

Andrew McCarthy is a Senior Fellow at the National Review Institute and Contributing Editor at National Review.

Related

Andrew McCarthy articles at National Review

Supremes Uphold Due Process While Handling Trump Win in Venezuelan Deportations Case

What is 'Shocking' to J.D. Vance Should Shock - and Anger - You, Too

Trump Admin Wins First Alien Enemies Act Skirmish before SCOTUS - or Did It

SCOTUS Chief Stays District Order for Alien Deported Due to 'Administrative Error'

Tren de Aragua, Alien Enemies Act, and 'State Secrets Privilege'

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".

This week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy discusses the Trump Administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act (AEA), a rarely-used provision in U.S. law passed in 1798 that gives the president the authority to swiftly remove citizens of countries of wartime foes or countries who have made a “predatory incursion” into our territory. Last month, President Trump issued a proclamation invoking the AEA to apprehend, restrain, secure, and remove certain documented members of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).

Guest host and CIS Director of Policy Studies Jessica Vaughan interviews George Fishman, CIS Senior Legal Fellow, who has been writing about the possible use of the AEA since 2023. Three main questions are highlighted during the podcast:

• How are individuals identified for deportations via the AEA?
• What legal protections do those targeted for deportation via the AEA have?
• Who determines whether the administration has met the statutory requirements for the AEA’s use?

In her closing commentary, Vaughan discusses the recent statewide implementation of the 287(g) partnership program for immigration enforcement in Florida.HostJessica Vaughan is the Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guest

George Fishman is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Related

Trump Deploys the Alien Enemies Act Against Venezuela and Tren De Aragua

Tren de Aragua, the Alien Enemies Act, and the ‘State Secrets Privilege’

Alien Enemy Validation Guide

The 287(g) Program: Protecting Home Town and Homeland

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".

In this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy podcast, Center for Immigration Studies analysts discuss the legal and policy implications of the Mahmoud Khalil case.

Khalil, a Palestinian/Syrian/Algerian green card holder, was involved in pro-Hamas protests when a graduate student on a nonimmigrant visa at Columbia University. DHS charged Khalil under Section 237(a)(4)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which renders deportable any noncitizen “whose presence or activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

CIS’s Andrew Arthur and George Fishman review the facts of the case, analyze the constitutional and legal questions of what they predict will be a potential test for future efforts to remove noncitizens who support terrorism, and offer predictions. Four main questions are highlighted:

• Is this a free speech case? Can a noncitizen be removed for speech or action supporting a terrorist organization?
• Is this a foreign policy case? How does the government define “serious adverse foreign policy consequences”?
• What are the judicial precedents? How will courts balance foreign policy concerns against constitutional rights?
• Will this case set clearer lines on what a non-citizen can and cannot do? There is a need for the law to settle the spectrum of rights that apply to a spectrum of status. Will this be the case that will provide legal clarity?

As the case moves through immigration court and on to federal district court and beyond, the Center for Immigration Studies will continue providing expert analysis on its broader implications for immigration enforcement and national security.

Host

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

Guests

Andrew Arthur is a Resident Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.

George Fishman is a Senior Legal Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Related

For more analysis, see our topic page: The Case of Mahmoud Khalil

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".

Fieldwork undertaken by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals a border now under control, offering clear evidence that the border crisis was never an unstoppable force but rather the result of policy decisions.

Last week the Center sent analysts to the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector and across the border to Tijuana, and to the El Paso Sector and across the border to Juarez. These two border sectors had some of the heaviest migrant traffic over the last few years, but now the numbers have plummeted.

Center researchers Andrew Arthur and Todd Bensman join Parsing Immigration Policy to discuss what they saw and what policies are making the difference, and three tools in particular:

1. Infrastructure – Expanded fencing and additional concertina wire have been added.
2. Manpower – Border Patrol agents are forward-deployed, no longer being pulled off the line for processing migrants.
3. Criminal Prosecutions – Not only are apprehended migrants no longer being released, but illegal entry is increasingly being handled as a criminal offense, with first-time illegal-crossers facing up to six months in a federal penitentiary.

In his closing commentary, host Mark Krikorian, the Center’s executive director, explains the Alien Enemies Act, enacted in 1798, which is now in the headlines due to the Trump administration using it as the basis for the swift deportation of a group of Venezuelan gang members. The law can only be triggered by a declared war, an invasion, or a predatory incursion by a foreign nation or government. Its application faces legal challenges and will likely reach the Supreme Court.

Host

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

Guests

Andrew Arthur is a Resident Fellow in Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Todd Bensman is a Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Related

A Border 'Peace Dividend'

Eye-Popping February CBP Numbers Show How the Border Has Changed under Trump

The 225-year-old 'Alien Enemies Act' Needs to Come Out of Retirement

Trump Prepares to Use of the Alien Enemies Act

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".