Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on Immigration in Trump’s Second Term: What Will Happen?

Conversations with Bill Kristol

News, Society & Culture, Government, Politics

4.7 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 January 2025

⏱️ 90 minutes

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Summary

What will immigration policy look like in the second Trump administration? How will it affect the country? To discuss, we are joined by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a leading expert on immigration and Senior Fellow at the American Immigration Council. In a wide-ranging analysis that covers the complex situation at the border—as well as the political and policy choices facing Trump and Congress—Reichlin-Melnick considers possible paths forward on immigration for the Trump administration and for the country. Reichlin-Melnick notes that while the president has wide authority to change immigration policies through executive action (particularly on legal immigration), some of Trump’s promises like mass deportations face significant political and legal constraints. This is a must-watch and nuanced Conversation alive to the complexities and real-world consequences of a pressing subject that has become so central to our politics.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Bill Crystal. Welcome back to conversations. I'm very pleased to be joined today by Aaron Reiklin-Melnick,
0:21.9	an expert on immigration policy, and we're going to talk about immigration policy,
0:26.5	a centerpiece of Donald Trump's campaign and probably of what he will announce next week
0:32.2	in the first days in the first days of his presidency.
0:35.1	Aaron has been at the American Immigration Council for several years,
0:39.2	the one of the preeminent, maybe the preeminent think tank and advocacy organization on immigration
0:43.8	policy. He's a genuine expert on it. I've learned a lot from him in various sessions and a lawyer
0:49.3	as well. So we won't hold that against you for the purposes of this conversation this conversation. So Aaron, so we're going to talk about immigration.
0:56.3	What's going to happen?
0:57.0	It's been such a centerpiece of the campaign.
0:58.8	And it will be of our politics and our public debate for the next several months.
1:02.9	Maybe it has been for a long time too.
1:04.7	So I really would, this is a real chance, I think, to get a good briefing on immigration policy.
1:10.0	So Aaron, thank you for, thank you for
1:11.2	joining me. Thank you for having me. No, no, my pleasure. So it was big in the campaign, and then
1:18.0	Donald Trump had said, as lieutenants have said, big announcements coming right away, and a lot of them
1:23.6	on immigration policy. Let's go through the different areas maybe of the buckets of
1:29.4	policy. They'll be the border. They'll presumably be a lot on the interior, the famous mass deportations,
1:35.5	and that's legal immigration as well, visas and stuff. So let's, what about the border?
1:41.2	What's, heard so much about the border, but it's kind of confusing, actually. So what's, what's actually happening and been happening at the border? What's, what, heard so much about the border, but it's so kind of confusing, actually.
1:45.5	So what's, what's actually happening and been happening at the border?
1:48.2	And what do you expect the Trump administration to announce?
	...

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