HOST: Let’s bring in Center for Immigration Studies Senior National Security Fellow Todd Bensman. Todd, welcome.
BENSMAN: Great to be here. Thank you.
HOST: So let’s talk about the news of the weekend. Kristi Noem sworn in to lead the Department of Homeland Security. What are your expectations?
BENSMAN: Well, she should be coordinating closely with the border czar, Tom Homan, whose responsibility is the big crackdown that you just talked about. We’re in the opening seconds of round one of a long bout that’s going to go on for four years, so patience there. And she has a lot to do. National security, she’s got airport security, she’s got lots to do ahead of her. And she’s going to have lots of help all around her from agencies that are headed by people that are in with the Trump agenda.
FOX QUOTE Border czar Tom Homan talked today. about the impact of active duty military helping at the border. Let’s play that. The DODs helped administrations before, but not at this level. So it’s a force multiplier and it’s sending a strong signal to the world our border is closed.
HOST: What about the signal the president’s actions are sending about our southern border and our northern border too?
BENSMAN: Hugely powerful on the diaspora of aspiring migrant border crossers because I’ve never met one who did not have a cell phone fully connected to social media. They are on it all day long looking for messaging just like that. Every pronouncement from a public official in the administration. they were paying attention to, not to mention those tarmacs back in Guatemala that are taking military planes filled with immigrant deportations. Those guys are also messaging, hey, I just got deported. I’m on the tarmac.
Massively important, that messaging.
HOST: Are you confident congress will take meaningful action to make some of these actions at the border permanent?
BENSMAN: I am. They have the magical trifecta, it’s obvious that the american people voted for this uh 80 percent of americans by a number of polls are telling us they want these mass deportations they want the border security uh loopholes closed and fixed they want that border sutured shut and they’re gonna vote for it.
HOST: Then there’s the issue of birthright citizenship the congressional hispanic caucus is upset so this executive order is not only going
FOX QUOTE: This is going to be burdensome it is ludicrous and it’s unconstitutional the founders were crystal clear after debates about who can vote and who can be a citizen they simply said all persons, all, All persons, didn’t even use a gender, born, born, that means you were born in the United States, or naturalized in the United States, are citizens of the United States.
HOST: What about that issue, Todd?
BENSMAN: Well, I count that as a significant Trump triumph right out of the gate. Remember that the whole point of the executive order for that was to construct a legal case. that could go to the Supreme Court for a ruling on the 14th Amendment. They have never thought that they were going to EO their way out of birthright citizenship. This has always been a court case that they wanted to test. They, right out of the gate, got that court case, 18, 20 different lawsuits by states.
So it’s going exactly the way the Trump administration planned. No surprise, it is getting tied up in court. A Justice Department spokesperson tells me…
QUOTE: the Department of Justice will vigorously defend President Trump’s executive order, which correctly interprets the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. We look forward to presenting a full merits argument to the court and to the American people who are desperate to see our nation’s laws enforced.
HOST: How does this play out?
BENSMAN: Yeah, that was exactly the way they intended. We already have an injunction and an early injunction in a liberal jurisdiction. So then it’s just going to go from there to there and very quickly probably be before the Supreme Court. And how that goes is anybody’s guess. But the whole point of this action by the Trump administration was to get it there. And maybe there’s a chance that it will be overturned. I want to just remind people that the reason for this is that there is massive fraud involved in birthright, tourism, citizenship. People, gaming the system all over the world. 250,000 U.S. citizens born from birthright tourism and people coming in for that.
And he wants to put a stop to that. It’s a fair argument.
HOST: Todd Bensman, grateful for your time and your analysis today. Thanks so much.
BENSMAN: Thank you.