Good morning and welcome to five things. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Sunday, August 13, 2023.

Illegal immigration has been a hot topic for presidential hopefuls as we lean into the 2024

election. GOP governors have been very public about their efforts to transfer undocumented migrants

from the border states like Texas and Arizona to cities like New York and Los Angeles.

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott has gone so far as to send buses full of immigrants

up to the Naval Observatory in Washington, where Vice President Kamala Harris lives.

Meanwhile, some of the most fraught policies related to migration are now in court.

To learn more about the most pressing political aspects of this issue,

we set down with border and immigration reporter Lauren Viagran, who joined us from the

Gnett Network property, the El Paso Times. Lauren, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me, Dana. So let's start with the equal pass, the border crossing that's

been the subject of so much recent controversy. Just last week, two bodies were founded that

barrier. First, why is there so much controversy about this crossing and why is it so dangerous?

Yeah, well, you know, the controversy really began when Texas Governor Greg Abbott

instructed his authorities to place a buoy barrier in the Rio Grande. Now, the border between

the U.S. and Mexico is actually the middle of that river, and where the buoy's lay is a matter

of controversy, international controversy, because Mexico objects to it. The buoy barrier,

which is about the length of three football fields, is dangerous. It spins if people try to climb

over it. I understand that there is also sort of a barrier beneath the water that you can't see,

so you cannot pass beneath it. And migrants already face a number of dangers at that crossing

point if they choose to cross between ports of entry. The river is wide in that area, and

Governor Abbott's authorities have also laid concertino wire, so reams and reams of this razor wire

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