How record migration is testing Biden
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 January 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
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Summary
A record number of migrants have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, as war and poverty push people from their homes worldwide. The Post’s Nick Miroff reported from the border and saw how the Biden administration is grappling with migration as we enter a pivotal election year.
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In recent weeks, a historic number of people have arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border. It’s a rise happening as Democratic lawmakers push for aid to Ukraine and Israel, while Republican negotiators want a border crackdown tied to foreign funding.
The Post’s Nick Miroff recently spent time in southern Arizona, now one of the busiest places for unauthorized crossings. He saw how migrants hike along the border for miles, hoping to find U.S. officials to take them in. Often, they are brought to facilities that are already maxed out.
“The last six months have shown, as the numbers continue to rise higher and higher, that the administration's approach is really kind of nearing a point of exhaustion,” Miroff said.
Today’s show was produced by Sabby Robinson, mixed by Rennie Svirnovskiy and edited by Monica Campbell. Thanks to Debbi Wilgoren.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | In the past few weeks, migration at the southern U.S. border has reached a historic high. |
| 0:08.0 | There are days when officials are encountering as many as 10,000 migrants. |
| 0:13.0 | We're once more in the middle of a migration spike |
| 0:16.0 | and the numbers that we're seeing on a daily basis |
| 0:20.0 | are unprecedented. |
| 0:22.0 | Nick Miroff covers immigration policy at the post. |
| 0:25.3 | He recently went to southern Arizona |
| 0:27.6 | just over the border from Mexico. |
| 0:29.8 | A really remote area in the Sonora desert |
| 0:32.3 | with Suwaro cactuses and. really remote area in the Sonora desert with |
| 0:32.6 | Suwaro cactuses and you can see the border wall, |
| 0:37.2 | you know, spanning for miles and miles. |
| 0:48.0 | And as you're walking along this dusty road along the edge of the wall, periodically there are groups of mostly families walking along this road looking for Border Patrol agents asking sort of where to go next and it's an extraordinary scene because for someone like me who's who's been covering the border for many years you're |
| 1:03.7 | used to seeing people coming across and being taken into custody well this was |
| 1:07.6 | almost like a like a self-service kind of thing where these these groups were |
| 1:11.4 | coming in and they were looking around for agents wanting to turn themselves in and being directed to a transportation spot where they could start to be taken into custody and be processed and to be transported out of that area. be headed for cities across the US. They're looking for shelter, work, or to reunite |
| 1:36.4 | with their families. This situation has also amped up political pressure. Today a group of Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, |
| 1:46.0 | visited the border in Texas and demanded a crackdown on immigration. |
| 1:50.7 | The President can and should act now. This doesn't require legislation. |
| 1:55.2 | It requires leadership. And despite the White House's claim he has all the authority |
| 2:00.3 | he needs right now under existing federal law to stop this madness. |
| 2:04.6 | And this is also testing President Biden, including his willingness to accept newcomers, seeking |
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