Good day and welcome to the Daily Article podcast for Thursday, December the 28th,

2020. I'm Chris Elkins, narrating today's article written by Denison Forum co-founder and CEO,

Dr. Jim Denison. U.S. officials met yesterday with Mexico's president seeking measures to limit a surge of migrants

reaching the U.S. southwestern border. Meanwhile, a caravan with an estimated 7,500 members is making

its way towards the border this morning. While they're drawing international attention, this is

actually a smaller number than the daily migrant

encounters this month, which have been averaging more than 9,600 a day. More than 2 million

people were apprehended at the border in this fiscal year. The surge is creating chaos in parts

of southern Texas and Arizona and straining resources as far away as New York, Denver, and Chicago.

In the Del Rio sector of the Texas border, which includes Eagle Pass, as many as 4,000 migrants have been processed a day.

Illegal border crossings have always happened, said Eagle Pass Fire Chief Manuel Mello.

Groups of 10, 12, that was a large group, but now you see 3,000 and 4,000 in one day.

I never thought something like this would happen.

What is causing this crisis?

How should we think biblically and act redemptively in response?

This is a massively complex and emotionally fraught issue.

However, the crisis can be framed in terms of push and pull factors.

Push factors include war, famine, and economic challenges that cause people to leave their home countries and seek a new home. For example,

leaders of the caravan coming to the U.S. are calling the movement an exodus from poverty.

Venezuela has descended into disarray in recent years, while Nicaragua's government has become

more repressive. The Congressional Research Service also cites natural disasters fueled by climate change

and a general lack of security. However, the New York Times notes that there have been no recent

...