Podcasts
Migration and the Mexico-US Border
Episode 2 May 14, 2024
Between January 2021 and January 2024, CBP had more than six million encounters with unauthorized migrants on the Mexico-US border. Another two million migrants were detected entering the US but were not apprehended.
Many of the foreigners who entered the US illegally sought out Customs and Border Protection officers and applied for asylum. There is a backlog of three million immigration cases, including a million asylum cases, and space to detain fewer than 50,000 foreigners who are awaiting hearings before immigration judges. As a result, solo adult migrants who pass a credible fear test, meaning they have a 10 percent probability of being persecuted at home, are typically released into the US along with families with children and unaccompanied minors under 18. Immigration judges reject most asylum claims, but the backlog ensures that migrants can work in the US for several years while their children attend K-12 schools.
Read the companion blog Listen with captions
Bracero 2.0
Episode 1 April 16, 2024
Philip Martin discusses his new book, Bracero 2.0: Mexican Workers in North American Agriculture.
Bracero 2.0 explores how Mexican-born workers came to dominate seasonal farm workforces of the North American countries, the shift from unauthorized to legal H-2A guest workers in the US, and the fight in the fields between machines, migrants, and imports to produce fresh fruits and vegetables. Will Americans and Canadians buy fresh fruits and vegetables picked inside their borders by machines or guest workers, or will they purchase more avocados and tomatoes imported from Mexico and other lower-wage countries?