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May 2022
44m 55s

Checks and Balance: Rights to remain

The Economist
About this episode

President Biden came to office promising, like many before him, to fix America's immigration system. But border crossings are at record highs, his reforms have floundered and states are going their own way on how to treat undocumented residents. Meanwhile a third of voters believe there is a plan afoot to replace them with people brought in from abroad. What will it take to untangle the immigration mess in America?


Alexandra Suich Bass reports from Texas where the fight over Title 42 is compounding frustrations over record numbers of people attempting to cross into America. We speak to Ali Noorani, author of “Crossing Borders” and former head of the National Immigration Forum, about the Great Replacement theory and why immigration is such fertile ground for conspiracy thinking. And Idrees investigates how some states are creating alternative welfare systems for the millions of undocumented migrants living and working long-term in America. 


John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon. 


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