In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown sits down with Morris Levy, associate professor of Political Science and International Relations at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, to explore a recent study he co-authored, Integration Policy Specifics and Public Support for Increasing Immigration . The study presents results from three survey experiments across nine liberal democracies to assess how public support for increasing immigration can shift depe...
Jul 01, 2025•57 min•Ep. 197
This week, we’re re-releasing an episode from May 2024 featuring an interview with Alexander Kustov on his forthcoming book, In Our Interest: How to Make Immigration Popular. The book was recently published on April 29, 2025, making now an opportune time to revisit the conversation. In the episode, Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Associate Director Jack Malde speak with Kustov, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, about his research...
May 20, 2025•47 min•Ep. 195
In this week’s episode of This Week in Immigration, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown discusses the implications of a recent executive order that has sought to limit birthright citizenship in the United States. Immigration attorney and MacArthur Fellow Margaret Stock explains what current law says about who qualifies for U.S. citizenship, drawing on her years of experience helping U.S. citizens document the citizenship of children born abroad. She also discusses the challenges U.S. paren...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 194
In this week's episode of This Week in Immigration, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown discusses the Trump administration's actions to rescind foreign students' status in the U.S. with two experts. Steve Springer from NAFSA explains the roles of educational institutions, students, and the government in maintaining student status and the implications of recent changes on international education in the U.S. Then, immigration attorney Charles (Chuck) Kuck talks about his lawsuit against the ...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 193
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown interviews Associate Director Jack Malde about BPC’s new report Bridging the Gap: Meeting Workforce Needs Over the Next Decade. The report uses a data-driven approach to identify the occupations and industries at the highest risk of workforce shortages over the next decade, with healthcare leading the list. Then, Jack interviews Cassandra Zimmer-Wong , Immigration Policy Analyst at the Niskanen Center, about her report investigati...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 192
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown sits down with Angelo Paparelli , a long-time immigration law expert, and Jeremy Neufeld from the Institute for Progress to discuss the H-1B visa lottery system. They explore the history of the lottery, recent policy changes, and ongoing reform debates, including Jeremy’s proposal for a compensation-based model that prioritizes higher-paid positions. Tune in for an in-depth look at the future of high-skilled immigration policy....
Mar 28, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 191
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown sits down with Robert Warren from the Center for Migration Studies, Jeffrey Passel from the Pew Research Center, and Jennifer Van Hook from the Migration Policy Institute to discuss methodologies used to estimate the unauthorized immigrant population, the recent trends in those estimates, and how they are used and understood (or misunderstood) in public policy debates. Center for Migration Studies: US Undocumented Population Incre...
Mar 11, 2025•44 min•Ep. 190
In this week’s episode, Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown sits down with Dr. Adam Ozimek , Chief Economist at the Economic Innovation Group, and Connor O’Brien , Research and Policy Analyst at EIG, to explore their latest report, Exceptional by Design: How to Fix High-Skilled Immigration to Maximize American Interests. They discuss the economic benefits of high-skilled immigration, challenge common misconceptions shaping current policy debates, and outline reforms needed to ensure the United...
Feb 25, 2025•50 min•Ep. 189
In this week’s episode, Associate Director Jack Malde talks to Executive Vice President of Human Capital, Cheryl Oldham , about BPC’s recently launched Commission on the American Workforce – a bold initiative to develop a national, bipartisan strategy to strengthen the workforce, expand economic opportunity, and ensure the United States remains competitive. Jack and Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown then discuss the role that immigration might play in this strategy. BPC’s Commission on the A...
Feb 11, 2025•34 min•Ep. 188
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown talks to Jon Baselice from the US Chamber of Commerce and Debu Gandhi from the Centre for American Progress about the outlook for immigration policy under a new Congress and presidency. They cover what we have learned so far and what we can expect under a GOP-trifecta.
Jan 28, 2025•48 min•Ep. 187
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Associate Director Jack Malde round up some recent news in US immigration policy from the end of 2024 and the first weeks of 2025. They discuss recent disagreements within the Republican party on H-1B visas, President-elect Trump’s immigration position nominations, and where things stand on the concept of “mass deportations.” They also cover Congressional updates including potential action on immigration through the budget rec...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 186
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown talks to three reporters about the role that immigration played in the recent presidential and congressional elections. Theresa is joined by Myah Ward from Politico, Priscilla Alvarez from CNN, and Marianne LeVine from the Washington Post. They discuss how immigration featured in various campaigns, how pivotal immigration was in determining the election results, and how this compares to previous elections....
Dec 17, 2024•49 min•Ep. 185
In this week’s episode, we’re re-releasing a conversation from May 2022. The leak of the Supreme Court draft decision that would overturn the seminal Roe v. Wade abortion case has sent shockwaves through the country and raises questions and implications for other long-standing precedent Supreme Court decisions, including Plyler v. Doe, a 1982 decision that ruled that undocumented immigrant children could not be excluded from K through 12 public schools. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has expressed i...
Dec 03, 2024•46 min•Ep. 184
In this week’s episode, we’re re-releasing a conversation from November 2021. Every year millions of families across the country gather to celebrate that quintessential American holiday: Thanksgiving. It is a story of immigration. But how do the millions of recently-arrived immigrants to this country view this holiday? Theresa Cardinal Brown and Sadikshya Nepal are joined by Rachel Peric , Executive Director of Welcoming America, and several BPC staff members to discuss how families combine trad...
Nov 19, 2024•23 min•Ep. 183
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown delves into history and reality of how immigrants vote in the United States. Theresa is joined by Rachel Orey , Director of the Bipartisan Policy Center Elections Project, to discuss current legislation that defines the eligibility for voting and protects against non-citizen voting. Then, Theresa welcomes Irene Bloemraad , Professor at the University of British Columbia and Co-director of the Centre for Migration Studies, to dive ...
Nov 05, 2024•53 min•Ep. 182
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown discusses how immigrant rights organizations and other emergency response organizations are assisting immigrants and their families affected by recent hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as similar past natural disasters in the United States. Theresa is joined by Zach Wolgemuth , Director of Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery at Church World Service (CWS), along with his colleague Mabel Hernandez , Deputy Director of...
Oct 22, 2024•50 min•Ep. 181
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown covers how DHS and USCIS are incorporating AI into their immigration work. Theresa is joined by Paromita Shah , Co-Founder and Executive Director of Just Futures Law, who organized a letter signed by over 140 immigrant and civil rights groups to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas urging him to end the use of AI. Theresa and Jack Malde then discuss the inauguration of Mexico’s first female president and the challenge of distinguishin...
Oct 08, 2024•53 min•Ep. 180
In this week’s episode, we focus on the increasingly salient issue of climate migration, delving into Climate Migration Council “A Compendium on Climate Mobility”. BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown talks to Shana Tabak , the Director of Immigration at Emerson Collective and a Senior Advisor to the Climate Migration Council, and Elizabeth Ferris , Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. We cover the issu...
Sep 24, 2024•44 min•Ep. 179
In this week’s episode, we’re re-releasing a conversation from September 2021. BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown reflects on how the 9/11 terrorist attacks reshaped our immigration system, and what it looked like before that pivotal day.
Sep 10, 2024•19 min•Ep. 178
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown talks to Michelle Hackman , a US immigration reporter at the Wall Street Journal, about a recent decline in border crossings and to what extent we can credit the Biden Administration and its cooperation with Mexico. Then, Theresa and BPC Associate Director Jack Malde discuss the Biden Administration’s “Keeping Families Together” program which grants parole in place to certain noncitizen spouses and noncitizen stepchildren of U.S. ...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 177
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown delves into new U.S. Immigration data findings, covered in recent reports by the Pew Research Center and Congressional Budget Office. First, Mark Hugo Lopez , the director of race and ethnicity research at the Pew Research Center, joins us to discuss new estimates and demographics of the foreign-born in the United States. Then, BPC Associate Director Jack Malde discusses with Theresa the Congressional Budget Office’s new research ...
Aug 13, 2024•57 min•Ep. 176
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown delves into a recent Biden administration executive order that helps Dreamers get a work visa, with Dan Berger , a noted immigration lawyer, writer and speaker, and fellow at Cornell Law School. The pair discusses what new guidance on D-3 waivers means for DACA recipients and international students. Then, given President Biden’s decision to not seek reelection, Jack Malde , BPC Associate Director, discusses with Theresa potential ...
Jul 30, 2024•53 min•Ep. 175
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown delves into the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn the 40-year old judicial doctrine of deference to executive agencies that has been defining American administrative law, and the impacts for U.S. immigration policy and practice. with two distinguished guests: J.D. Rackey , Senior Policy Analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Structural Democracy Project, to discuss the impact of the decision on the roles of the legislat...
Jul 16, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 174
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown delves into the recent Mexican presidential election and its implications for U.S. immigration policy with three distinguished guests. Joining us are Andrew Selee , President of the Migration Policy Institute, José Díaz Briseño , a U.S.-based reporter for the Mexican newspaper REFORMA, and Pulitzer-prize winning freelance journalist, Emily Green . We discuss Claudia Sheinbaum, the first female president-elect of Mexico, what her e...
Jul 02, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 173
In this week’s episode, BPC Associate Director Jack Malde interviews the Director of BPC’s Congress Project John Richter and BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown about a recent bipartisan visit to the southern border. The visit, arranged as part of BPC’s American Congressional Exchange (ACE) program, brought six members of Congress to the border to better understand the urgent challenges and opportunities for bipartisan cooperation on U.S. immigration and border policy. Theresa then chats t...
Jun 18, 2024•51 min•Ep. 172
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown talks with Michael Clemens , professor of economics at George Mason University, who has studied the economic causes and effects of migration all over the world. His latest research, based on detailed examination of border crossing data, shows that offering more lawful pathways to immigrants reduces unlawful border crossings. We also talk about the importance of good data for examining immigration policy and how traditional underst...
Jun 04, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 171
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Associate Director Jack Malde chat with Jason Wendle , an expert in migration and labor mobility. We speak about various initiatives that Jason is involved in that facilitate migration from lower-income to higher-income countries by increasing the use of existing migratory pathways. Such initiatives can benefit those on the move, the countries that welcome them, and the countries they (often temporarily) leave behind, without ...
May 21, 2024•59 min•Ep. 170
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat with Alexander Kustov , an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. We discuss Professor Kustov’s research on how we might, or might not, be able to shift public opinion in the United States to increase support for immigration. One promising approach, that will be the subject of Professor Kustov’s forthcoming book “In Our Interest: How to M...
May 07, 2024•47 min•Ep. 169
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat with Camille Mackler , the Founder and Executive Director of Immigrant ARC (I-ARC), a collaborative of over 80 legal service providers in New York State. I-ARC works with community leaders, legal service providers, state and local governments, law enforcement agencies, and Federal agencies and policymakers to ensure immigrants have access to a fair and efficient immigration system. We disc...
Apr 23, 2024•40 min•Ep. 168
In this week’s episode, BPC Senior Advisor Theresa Cardinal Brown and Senior Policy Analyst Jack Malde chat with Michael D. Lumpkin , the Chief of Staff for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or “ICE”. We discuss the missions of ICE, the various challenges facing ICE including budgetary constraints, and its efforts to address the unprecedented number of arrivals at the US-Mexico border. We also discuss the importance of technology and innovation in ICE’s operations and Mr. Lumpkin’s views...
Apr 09, 2024•50 min•Ep. 167
