The Real ‘Border Czar’ Defends the Biden-Harris Record

The Real ‘Border Czar’ Defends the Biden-Harris Record

Republicans want to label Kamala Harris as the border czar. And by just looking at a chart, you can see why. Border crossings were low when Donald Trump left office. But when President Biden is in the White House, they start shooting up and up — to numbers this country had never seen before, peaking in December 2023. Those numbers have fallen significantly since Biden issued tough new border policies. But that has still left Harris with a major vulnerability. Why didn’t the administration do more sooner? And why did border crossings skyrocket in the first place?

Harris was not the border czar; she had little power over policy. But to the extent that there is a border czar, it’s the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas. So I wanted to have him on the show to explain what’s happened at the border the past few years — the record surge, the administration’s record and what it has revealed about our immigration system.

Book Recommendations:

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

String Theory by David Foster Wallace

The Dictionary

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin and Aman Sahota. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Dara Lind, David Frum, Jason De Léon, Michael Clemens, Natan Last and Steven Camarota.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(500)

Shame, Safety and Moving Beyond Cancel Culture

Shame, Safety and Moving Beyond Cancel Culture

I’ve been thinking lately about how to move beyond the binary debate over cancel culture. And a good place to start is with the deeper question we’re all trying to ask: What is the kind of politics — ...

27 Huhti 20211h 1min

Noam Chomsky’s Theory of the Good Life

Noam Chomsky’s Theory of the Good Life

How do you introduce Noam Chomsky? Perhaps you start here: In 1979, The New York Times called him “arguably the most important intellectual alive today.” More than 40 years later, Chomsky, at 92, is s...

23 Huhti 20211h 12min

That Anxiety You’re Feeling? It’s a Habit You Can Unlearn.

That Anxiety You’re Feeling? It’s a Habit You Can Unlearn.

This has been a bad year for the anxious among us — myself very much included. The pandemic was objectively terrifying. And many of us were trapped inside, with nothing we could do about it, severed f...

20 Huhti 202159min

Why Adults Lose the ‘Beginner’s Mind’

Why Adults Lose the ‘Beginner’s Mind’

Here’s a sobering thought: The older we get, the harder it is for us to learn, to question, to reimagine. This isn’t just habit hardening into dogma. It’s encoded into the way our brains change as we ...

16 Huhti 20211h 1min

Your Success Probably Didn’t Come From Merit Alone

Your Success Probably Didn’t Come From Merit Alone

Prepping for a conversation with Tressie McMillan Cottom is intimidating. McMillan Cottom is a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a 2020 MacArthur fellow, co-host of the pod...

13 Huhti 20211h 22min

The Best Explanation of Biden's Thinking I’ve Heard

The Best Explanation of Biden's Thinking I’ve Heard

With the $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, the economic theory that is Bidenomics is taking shape. It’s big. It puts climate at the center of everything. It is more worried about political risks — losin...

9 Huhti 202156min

Did the Boomers Ruin America? A Debate.

Did the Boomers Ruin America? A Debate.

Donald Trump was the fourth member of the baby boomer generation to be elected president, after Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, is a boomer. C...

6 Huhti 20211h 10min

Humanity’s Awesome, Terrifying Takeover of Evolution

Humanity’s Awesome, Terrifying Takeover of Evolution

For years now, I’ve had the same recurring worry: Am I focusing on the trivial? When future generations look back on this moment in history, will they remember the daily political fights — or will eve...

2 Huhti 202155min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
viisupodi
tervo-halme
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
rss-podme-livebox
aihe
rss-asiastudio
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
rss-pinnalla
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
otetaan-yhdet
the-ulkopolitist
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
radio-antro
rss-polikulaari-pitka-kiekko-ja-muut-ts-podcastit
rss-vain-talouselamaa