Washington, we have a problem

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 6th of February, 2024.

This is WORLD Radio and we’re so glad to have you along with us today. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. First up on The World and Everything in It: America’s problem with illegal immigration.

In a January poll conducted by Harvard and CAPS-Harris, immigration came out as the top issue of concern for voters. That follows a record-high number of encounters border agents reported. And now, after three years of saying his administration has the border under control, President Biden acknowledges something’s a little bit off.

BIDEN: I'm ready to solve the problem. I really am, massive changes. And I mean it sincerely.

MARY REICHARD: The debate now heating up centers on root causes and how to deal with them.

Over the weekend, the Senate released details of a bill that would allot about $20 billion for quicker processing at the U.S. southern border among other things, while funding about $74 billion for aid to Ukraine and Israel, the lion’s share for Ukraine. The border funding would increase the number of immigration judges and raise the standards for claiming asylum while also making it easier to deport those who don’t meet the requirements.

EICHER: But House Republicans are rejecting the Senate’s pitch, calling for more transformative policy changes and calling on the president to take action. House Speaker Mike Johnson.

JOHNSON: We have an unmitigated crisis and the president can take executive authority immediately. And he's pretending as though he does not know that.

REICHARD: With so much media and political attention on the border crisis, a grassroots group of Americans recently decided they needed to see the border for themselves.

SOUND: [The event in Dripping Springs]

EICHER: On Thursday, hundreds gathered outside a distillery near Austin, Texas, for a rally hosted by the Take Back Our Border Convoy. The caravan of cars, trucks, and RVs rolled out from Virginia Beach several days earlier. Organizers describe their mission as one of prayer and revival. Here’s convoy organizer Robert Agee.

ROBERT AGEE: We're not going down to the border wall. We're not going to engage with law enforcement or individuals that are gonna be coming across that that border potentially. We're going to have a prayer gathering.

REICHARD: Many of those attending the rally said they support Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to secure the border and the message it sends to the federal government.

VICTOR AVILA: It’s not about the razor wire. It’s not about the seizing of that property of Shelby Park. It’s about a symbol, sending it to the Biden Administration and say, “You better speak on our side. Why aren’t you on our side?” That’s what it’s about.

EICHER: Victor Avila previously worked as a special agent for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

AVILA: You have Border Patrol that patrols the border. But a lot of people forget that it doesn't matter how much Border Patrol secures the border if you don't have the Department of Justice prosecuting people for those crimes.

REICHARD: As the son of legal Mexican immigrants, Avila is concerned about how illegal immigration affects the country.

AVILA: It's very upsetting to me. And to the immigrants that made it legally. They waited years to do it. They went through the vetting through the health screening, through the background, through they paid fines. Sometimes it took them 10-12 years. And then they see millions of people walking across the river and like, it makes no sense, right?

EICHER: On stage, Convoy organizer Robert Agee spoke for a majority of Americans when he said someone in Washington needs to do something, and soon.

AGEE: This border needs to be fixed, this border issue needs to be fixed and these officials, these elected officials that we have elected to do this job that we paid and hired to do the job on our behalf have not been doing that job now.

REICHARD: WORLD Reporter Addie Offereins contributed to this report.

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