Cross Word

Navigating the Complexities of Immigration Today

• Michele McAloon • Season 3 • Episode 90

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Conservative women are reshaping the political narrative, challenging the status quo with boldness and tenacity. Virginia Allen, co-host of the 'Problematic Women' podcast and a contributor to the Daily Signal, sheds light on the pressing issues at the U.S.-Mexico border, providing firsthand insights from her travels across key regions like Eagle Pass, El Paso, and Yuma. Her vivid accounts reveal the realities faced by Border Patrol agents amidst the Biden administration's controversial policies and the influx of millions seeking a new life in the U.S.

From examining the Biden administration's attempts to curb illegal immigration to highlighting the ongoing menace of cartels exploiting vulnerable migrants, our discussion traverses the complex terrain of modern immigration challenges. We dissect policy shifts, such as the introduction of the CBP One app, and ponder their implications compared to the 'Remain in Mexico' era. Virginia's perspectives offer a critical look at the apparent inaction from authorities on both sides of the border, stressing the urgency for decisive leadership to confront these humanitarian and security dilemmas.

Amidst these pressing issues, we explore the broader implications of immigration on society, emphasizing the need for a streamlined legal process that supports both economic growth and immigrant assimilation. Echoing concerns seen across Europe, we discuss the strains on public resources and the importance of creating an effective system to aid immigrants in integrating into American life. Through candid conversations and cultural commentary, our episode seeks to inspire thoughtful dialogue and actionable solutions in the face of a multifaceted crisis.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Crossword, where cultural clues lead to the truth of the word, and we have a real treat. Today we have a celebrity on, virginia Allen of the Problematic Women her podcast, and she's with Daily Signals Her podcast. It's about conservative women who are problematic I love this, this is my moniker and women who are proud to be pro-life, pro-family, pro-traditional American values. And because we don't fit in with the left's version of what a feminist should be, we have been labeled a problem and we have embraced that title. I love that description because I have to tell you I am an army helicopter pilot, I'm a cannon lawyer, I'm the mother of three boys. I don't fit in with the left. Feminism Kind of befuddles me that people like you and I don't fit into that description.

Speaker 2:

Well, michelle, it's great to be here with you. I don't think I've ever been called a celebrity before, so thank you, but that's right. On problematic women, we're really looking at what are those issues that specifically conservative women really care about? And at the end of the day you know we say on the podcast, every single issue is a woman's issue, because every issue deeply affects women. So we cover what's happening in the news on a day-to-day basis, but we're, of course, also really focused on issues like abortion and the attacks on Title IX and the Biden administration trying to change the definition of what a woman is to allow men to enter women's only spaces, and so we are really dedicated to discussing those issues and making sure that our audience is up to speed on them, but also having fun. We love to talk about pop culture and the latest happenings from Taylor Swift, but all again from that perspective, as conservative women. So we have a lot of fun on the show I did.

Speaker 1:

I listened to some of the podcasts today and they are. They're fun, they're they're, you know, they're educational and they are uplifting. So you're doing a great job out there in podcast layout. Well, let's talk about. You have been to the border a couple times now. Can you tell us exactly when you say the border, where exactly are you talking about that you have been visiting?

Speaker 2:

Yes, so I've had the honor to be covering the border beat along with doing podcasting, to be writing on the border and immigration crisis for a couple of years now for the Daily Signal, and over that time I've taken about five trips down to the southern border. It's obviously vast. Our border with Mexico is long and I've been able to visit Eagle Pass and Del Rio in Texas and the El Paso sector, which extends from that far, very far corner of Texas all the way into New Mexico, as well as the San Diego sector in California, oh, and in Yuma, arizona as well. So, seeing the border from all the different perspectives along our southern border with Mexico and I remember about two years ago, the first time that I was down at the border in Del Rio, texas, and just realizing, oh, this is such a well-oiled machine that just that process of illegals entering the country it was fascinating to watch as individuals in a group of maybe five or 10 would cross and then a Border Patrol vehicle would pull up, pick them up and take them to a processing center. And this was happening all day long, every single day, and it's still happening to this day.

Speaker 2:

And just seeing, okay, this isn't, this isn't being exaggerated or blown out of the news, blown out of proportion by the news that this is the situation and our Border Patrol have had to work within the confines of the Biden administration has given them and create a system because they have been so overwhelmed and max. I mean we look at the numbers. We're talking more than 10 million individuals entering and released within the United States under the Biden administration and you know some of the. We can get into more of this, but you know recent numbers as it relates to criminal illegal aliens and you know there's there's so many concerning numbers.

Speaker 2:

As far as that personnel issue, I think that was one of my first takeaways in visiting the border is wow, these agents are just so stretched because of the sheer numbers and because of that they're not able to patrol the border in the way that they would like to. But my most recent trip was to the El Paso sector. I just was there last week and it's interesting to see both how things. Some things have changed in the last several months and others remain the same down there on the border.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so I was in El Paso about a year ago, okay, and it seemed actually, from what I could see in this short visit, I could see that it was pretty calm. What has changed in the last couple months, though and my son, who was living in El Paso, also reported to me that it has changed drastically. What happened Exactly?

Speaker 2:

So the Biden administration signed an executive order that partially is cutting down on those numbers of crossings. This was over the summer and it limits the number of illegal aliens that can cross the border every single day. So because of that, we've seen numbers fall. This was an action that was quite similar to actions that the Trump administration had taken. So Biden was criticized from the far left for taking this action, and while I think many on the right say, ok, good, we're finally, we're finally limiting the number of illegal aliens, I think there's two concerns. One is why are we allowing anyone to cross the border illegally? It's fascinating to actually kind of carve out okay, we'll allow this many people to take illegal action every single day. So interesting decision to actually allow illegal activity to take place, even if it's a decreased number. But then also you have all of these quote unquote legal pathways that the Biden administration has set up. So while there's fewer individuals crossing between the ports of entry, you have two things happening. You have more people going to the actual ports to claim asylum, and then you have individuals that are using programs, using the CBP One app, and they're being flown into the interior of the country. So they're arriving at airports in Atlanta and Colorado, denver, colorado and New York Congress, and they're sort of caveats and really privileges that the Biden administration has taken to say, all right, we're going to parole these people into the US, but they're not falling under either the requirements for refugee status or for asylum status. Us Code is very specific about who can qualify for those as far as, under those statuses, you have to be, you know, coming from a country where you're facing persecution because of your religion, because of your political association, because of your race. And these individuals are, we know, by and large economic migrants and they're coming to the United States for a better way of life, which you can't blame them for. But that doesn't make their claim legal in any way is that those border crossings are declining because people are literally being flown directly into the United States.

Speaker 2:

But what I think hasn't changed is the presence of the cartels. When I was there last Thursday and Friday, we were driving around downtown El Paso and I was with someone who's from the area, has dual citizenship in the US and Mexico, is quite familiar with the struggles of immigration down there and how the cartels work, and he was able to point out to me individuals standing on the street saying, ok, in all likelihood that's a cartel member. In all likelihood that's a cartel member simply because of the color that they were wearing, the color shirts they were wearing and the tattoos that they had on their body, and so it's very evident still that the cartel activity is very strong down there. We went into Juarez, mexico, for a day, saw the same thing likely cartel members walking around the streets and I think in all of my coverage of the southern border for the Daily Signal, that's probably the greatest thing that I have learned is that the cartels, at the end of the day, they control who crosses the border from Mexico into the United States and it's a multi-billion dollar business for them. That human smuggling into the US is a multi-billion dollar annual business for the cartels. They're the true winners in this situation.

Speaker 2:

And an individual, depending upon where they're coming from, they might have to pay anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 to $30,000, just based on the cartels, knowing. All right, you're coming from this part of the country, you can probably afford a little more. And when I was just down in El Paso, I spoke to an official with Customs and Border Protection and he said you know, this is such a crisis for the migrants who are coming and they're put in so much danger from the cartels. Because if the cartels initially tell someone, all right, we're going to charge you $2,000 to smuggle you across, but then they learn that this individual is actually from, maybe, a decently well-off family, well, that individual could be held for ransom, could be held hostage until that family can pay more money.

Speaker 2:

Maybe the cartels demands $10,000 payment because they know the family can pay it. So it's incredibly dangerous for these immigrants to be putting their lives in the hands of the cartel members and this is happening every single day. You really don't cross the border solo. You have the help of the cartels because the they get remittance from and money flows back into Mexico. But where is the?

Speaker 1:

will to stop this on both sides, because there's no one who can say that anybody benefits from human trafficking. So why would a Biden administration want to continue this practice? And maybe it's why would Mexico want to continue this practice Because it looks pernicious on both sides.

Speaker 2:

It certainly does, and I think that there's good leaders on both sides that want to see it stopped. You know, I in no way want to accuse the Biden administration of being in favor of cartel activity, because I don't think that they are of being in favor of cartel activity because I don't think that they are. I think there's maybe just a bit of ignorance at the end of the day, or choosing to close their eyes to a problem. I don't want to speak on behalf of them. I don't know if it's literally they're unaware. I don't really believe that. I think they have to be aware. They're briefed at a national security level of the situation and yet for some reason, they're choosing to have policies that, at the end of the day, have for years benefited the cartels.

Speaker 2:

On the Mexican side, we know that there's corruption. Again, I'm sure that there are excellent leaders that are doing great work of trying to stop this. I know for a fact that there are. But the power and the strength of the cartels really can't be understated here. I mean because they're making literally billions of dollars off of human and drug smuggling. This is a very sophisticated operation. Think of a multi-billion dollar company in the US, your Googles and your Facebooks. In many ways, that's kind of what the cartels have become in Mexico. They are so powerful because they have so much money and it's such a sophisticated operation and there's so much corruption that it's not simple. And yet I think the Mexico government, the United States, has a responsibility to really strategically weed out these criminal cartels that do have so much power and that do continue to exploit innocent human life.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's an intractable problem and it actually requires government involvement in this at the highest, from the highest to the lowest level. I know Kamala Harris. She went to the border. She promised more DHS agents. She promised more, I think, technology. I think she even talked about building a wall. So I mean there is at least both sides recognize there's a problem. But, as you said, the face of immigration has changed and we've seen this now in Springfield, ohio. So, all the jokes aside about the cats and the dogs being eaten and all that, all that hoo-ha but I live in a small community in Alabama and they're putting a thousand Haitian immigrants into that community. It's the mobile of Baldwin counties in South Alabama. So during the debate, vance made some bones when he talked about what you had just mentioned was this app. Now Can you explain that a little bit to our listeners, how that works and how those Haitians are not necessarily legal in the United States? This is real interesting because this is a government-sponsored thing.

Speaker 2:

That's right, haitian migrants that you refer to in Springfield, which estimates are? There's about 20,000 individuals, haitian individuals that are now living in the city of Springfield that has a population of 58,000. It's a huge influx into a pretty small community. But what these individuals can do is they can literally download an app you can download it on your phone, called the CBP One app, and they can fill out an application, say hey, I'm applying for asylum in the United States. They'll make their appointment to come claim asylum. They show up for their appointment. They say you know, I want to make that claim to come to the United States because of X, Y and Z. They're often getting language from the cartels. The cartels are saying to them hey, use these keywords, explain that you're fearful for your life because of your faith or whatnot. They're giving them the specific language to use. Well, because our system is so incredibly backlogged, what the Biden administration has done is just released those individuals into the United States to wait for their asylum claim hearings. The Trump administration did the opposite. They said all right, well, you can request asylum, but you have to wait in Mexico until your hearing date comes up. Well, these individuals could be waiting a year, two years, five years, in order to actually get to make that claim.

Speaker 2:

Most of these claims are not actually legitimate, as we've discussed, because they're specifically economic related, but the Biden administration created this specific program for Haitians, venezuelans, cubans, in order to make that claim, actually be directly flown into the United States.

Speaker 2:

And this came up, as you mentioned, during the debate, and one of the moderators said these are legal individuals. And Senator JD Vance said wait a second, that's not exactly accurate because these numbers are not approved by Congress. This is a system that the Biden administration just sort of created and these are individuals that don't fall under a specific legal category. They're not green card holders, they're not in the process of applying for green cards, at least the vast majority that we know of. They don't qualify under, you know, preset by Congress and the president, by preset refugee numbers and they the vast majority we know don't have legitimate claims to asylum. So to say that they're illegal is really not accurate, because they're using this program. That, yes, the Biden administration stood up. But just because the Biden administration created this program, it's not a technical under US law, not a technical legal pathway.

Speaker 1:

This sounds like the administrative agency gone crazy. I just interviewed Ned Ryan excuse me, on my last interview about the administrative state and we talked about things that are happening because the legislature is not legislating and something like this where immigration is actually comes under legislative power. So it's interesting what agency is actually taking charge of this? These?

Speaker 2:

apps. Sure, yeah, so it is DHS, the Department of Homeland Security. So most of this is these apps. Sure, yeah, so it is DHS and Department of Homeland Security. So most of this is kind of funneled through. And if you visit the Department of Homeland Security, customs and Border Protection, they have great sort of fact sheets that lay out a lot of how this works.

Speaker 2:

You have to dig a little bit deeper into numbers and I will say Customs and Border Protection is just a really great wealth of it, kind of if you want to actually see the raw data of what's happening on the ground. Those numbers they, you know, they lay it all out Sometimes a little bit a little slow to get numbers out sometimes, but they have to report those numbers to the public American citizen. You can see for yourself, okay, you know these are how many Haitian illegal aliens came into the US over the past four years or last month. These are the number of Chinese illegal aliens that have entered the US. So it's helpful to be able to see for yourself. And, of course, customs and Border Protection falls under DHS.

Speaker 1:

Okay, One of the things. I talked to an American businessman recently and he uses Mexican workers from certain Mexican villages in Mexico and what he does is he pays to bring them to the States. He pays $1,500 a worker to come and to do the work that he needs to have done. He has 68. And when they're here they get medical. He has set up scholarships for their children to attend school both in Mexico and here, and he's furious about this because he is doing it legally, through $1,500 a person, through massive amounts of paperwork, that he has hired someone full time to manage this program. There are ways to get into the States legally and you know what's so funny? I talked to Europeans over here. They can't get a visa into the United States. I mean, an engineer from Holland can't get a visa into the United States. It's easier for him to go and swim the Rio Grande, I guess, than to get a visa here. The system is broken. When you talk to people on the ground, what do they think the fix is?

Speaker 2:

You know, I think two things. I think the immediately they want to see that we eliminate the draw for illegal immigration. So initially it's okay, let's actually get the situation at the border under control. Let's make sure we have a secure wall and when I say wall, I don't just mean physical wall, but also great use of technology, cameras, and so that's kind of step one. Let's remove that draw to do it illegally, and I think in doing that, that also places more pressure on Congress to take a really good look at our immigration system and say, OK, how can we remove unnecessary red tape? How can we improve the speed? How do we make sure we're getting the best people into the US that will assimilate well, that have a passion to be here, who we know are safe? We can actually look at their background. Maybe they're coming from a partner country.

Speaker 2:

That's one of the major problems right now that we have with vetting individuals that cross the border illegally is many of them are coming from countries that are not friends with the United States, and so we have no ability to access their criminal records in their home country. Their home country doesn't share that information with us. So I think step one is you have to secure the border in order to eliminate that draw. But then I, when I talked to individuals down at the border whether it's farmers that are experiencing this exact same problem that you mentioned where they're saying you know, I really appreciate being able to bring over individuals who are hard workers from South and Central America and, during harvest season, be able to employ them on my ranch or my farm. That's a great gift, but there's a lot of frustration over the hurdles and the red tape, and so they really want to see some of that red tape eliminated in order to benefit US businesses so that they can produce, especially for our farmers and ranchers. That's really, really critical, but obviously that has to be done in a way that's still ensuring safety and protection.

Speaker 2:

But I think it really begins with addressing the legal draw, Because right now, like you said, I mean individuals don't have a great motivator to do it legally. I mean, if you don't have a conviction about walking through the legal process and taking the time to do that, why would you, when you can literally just walk across the border and there's so many means to do that? So it begins with security and then I think after that you can start looking at, and really it's up to Congress to look at. Ok, how do we eliminate some of this red tape?

Speaker 1:

I tell you, we're not anti-immigrants and most Americans are not anti-immigrants. They're not. I'm the daughter-in-law of an American immigrant. So there it's. Just we have to know who's crossing the border. You've got to at least know the name of the person that's crossing the border. I mean, this is these are kind of minimal things, and I think you're right. If you make it very complicated, then it's too complicated for people to use.

Speaker 1:

In this day of technology, it seems like we could streamline so much of this so we can figure out who's coming across, so you know what. We can get them onto the path of citizenship. So they're paying taxes, so they're getting health care, so they're being educated. One of the things that I read in the Pew report that came out in, I think, earlier this summer and it was about immigration, so this is not political talk, this was just cold, hard facts that many of most of the immigration now is coming from Latin America.

Speaker 1:

But many of those people that are coming in are not educated, they're not even high school graduates. So what they're doing is they're coming over and burgeoning our public education system that is already is overburdened. So we have to have some kind of gateway for this, with being welcoming, being understanding of bringing people in, making it easy as possible but at the same time also discriminating too, and Canada's done that for years, and I'm not real sure why we can't emulate something with the technology that we have now. But we have to have the will to do it, and for some reason we have not had the will, although I think there is a tipping point now.

Speaker 2:

There is. Well that really gets to the point of assimilation that, like you say, we welcome immigrants in the United States. We're a nation of immigrants, we're proud of that, and you have to be conscientious of the numbers, because when you have literally, as we've had in the past three and a half years, 10 million people enter the country, well, how do you very quickly assimilate 10 million people into American life, making sure that their kids are learning English and receiving a good education in the schools, making sure that they're getting jobs? We're not set up in the United States. We can't handle that many people that quickly to assimilate them well into communities. And this is where you start to see whole sections that are sort of taken over by individuals from, by illegal strain on a certain community.

Speaker 2:

We've seen this in New York City, where they've just said our resources are so completely maxed out financially. We can't handle this pressure and the answer isn't well, let's just throw more money at it. It's we got to push the brakes. We have to slow it down to get it to a point, both for the sake of the individuals who are coming to America and for communities across the United States. We have to slow it down so that we can have that assimilation happen in a way that benefits everyone who's involved in the process. And I've spoken with individuals in communities across the US and they raise that school issue of we just don't have enough ESL, english as a Second Language teachers who are able to actually educate these kids. And what a burden for teachers who you know want to be. You know they've dedicated their lives to educating young people and yet they just don't have the resources to do that in a sustainable way. And that, of course, has devastating impacts on those young people coming over, but then also on American kids in the classroom.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. And one thing I have to say here as Americans, we have to have confidence in our ability to bring immigrants in. We are an immigrant nation. I live here in Europe and I can tell you their record is abysmal on bringing in immigrants. And I'm talking and they're very different immigrants. They're immigrants from Syria. I'm sitting here in Germany where a million came in and they have not been able to integrate them at all. We in America are so blessed is that our society does bring people in and we know how to do the assimilation, but it has to be done in a reasoned and ordered fashion and not a 10 million flood. It just, it's just crazy. So what do you think? What do you think Trump can do about this?

Speaker 2:

President Trump term in office another four years. I think we're going to see him right away implement those policies that he implemented before remain in Mexico, ending catch and release. He's going to be very firm on that. I think we'll see a lot more wall built again, both physical wall and then greater implementation of technology. He's also been very clear that he is going to launch mass deportations and start removing individuals who are here in the country, who again don't have legal status, and I think that's been interesting to see some polling on, because we're seeing now that actually many Americans are in favor of that. They've kind of seen like OK, this actually isn't sustainable and so we would support some level of mass deportations under it.

Speaker 2:

Let's say that Kamala Harris wins the election. I'll be very curious to see if some of these recent policies she's put in place, if she just drops them like a hot potato or if she continues to say, ok, even though for three and a half years I did very little on the border, now I see that this is important and you know, we would hope that she would continue to take action and steps further towards securing the border because again, it's not only in the need and importance of US citizens, but this is really a humanitarian crisis and a crisis of safety for those migrants crossing. We can no longer allow the cartels to control this immigration system like they have for years, and so it's really incumbent on whoever our next president is to take very strategic action and not kick the can down the road, but, on day one, to implement policies that will secure the southern border, put America first and also the interests of migrants first.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, absolutely. Virginia, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us about this and about your experience with it, and I think you're probably a woman in the know and you hear about what's happening in Washington and on the border. So we actually look forward to maybe speaking with you again after the election to see where immigration has gone, what policies have been put in place, because this is an important election issue that Americans are having to deal with and having to think about as they go to the polls. So again, I want to thank you for being on the show.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much, Michelle. It has been such a pleasure being with you.

Speaker 1:

You've been listening to Crossword, where cultural clues lead to the truth of the word, and my name is Michelle McElhoun, and we've been talking to Virginia Allen of the Daily Signal and she has a wonderful podcast called Problematic Women. It's fun, educational, cheery and deep, profound. It's a great podcast. I really suggest listening to it and if you want to find out more about me, go to bookcluescom. Thanks for listening.