You don’t serve four years as a senior official in Biden’s Department of Homeland Security without seeing some things.

This episode is Part 2 of Charanya Krishnaswami’s never-before-told story, walking us through the unprecedented border crossings in 2023 and the misunderstood reasons those numbers dropped in 2024 – far too late for political redemption.

Along the way, we call out some ugly racism on the Democratic side of the aisle, lament the futility of Congress, and conclude with Charanya’s clear-eyed border plan for the next President.

Learn More

Amanda, Claire, and Doug express their own personal opinions on The Melting Pod. This episode was produced by Michael Palmer (⁠palmer.media⁠). Read more about the topics in this episode:

* Circumventing Lawful Pathways final rule - Federal Register (May 16, 2023) - extra credit for the first listener who turns this into a TikTok dance…

* Refugee Roulette: Disparities in Asylum Adjudication - Stanford Law Review (2007)

* Homeland Security Shares Unhinged AI Photo in Post on Immigration - The New Republic (10.02.2026)

Give More

Want to help build a more sane and humane immigration system? Support hardworking organizations like these:

National:

* ⁠⁠#AfghanEvac⁠⁠ – working to ensure the U.S. keeps its promise to our Afghan allies

* ⁠⁠Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project⁠⁠ – the country’s largest membership organization of asylum seekers, working together for change

* ⁠⁠Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)⁠⁠ – organizing and advocating for racial, social and economic justice

* ⁠⁠Haitian Bridge Alliance⁠⁠ – providing humanitarian, legal, and social services

* ⁠⁠International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP)⁠⁠ - strategic litigation and advocacy to uphold the rights of people seeking safety

* ⁠⁠Justice Action Center⁠⁠ - immigrant justice through litigation and storytelling

Local:

* ⁠⁠Al Otro Lado⁠⁠ - legal and humanitarian support to refugees, deportees, and other migrants in the U.S. and Tijuana

* ⁠⁠Catholic Charities Rio Grande Valley⁠⁠ - providing assistance to the poor and most vulnerable populations in the Rio Grande Valley community

* ⁠⁠Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center⁠⁠ - free and low-cost legal services to immigrants and refugees in West Texas, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

* ⁠⁠Support an immigration service provider near you⁠⁠

Chapters

(00:00:00) Intro

(00:01:06) Who are you, Charanya? 

(00:02:21) Matt Yglesias platforms an anonymous racist 

(00:05:42) Everyone loves a Hollywood narrative 

(00:07:42) Who are “The Groups”? 

(00:08:53) 2023: Preparing for a big shift in border policy 

(00:13:04) Is it legal to make people wait in Mexico? 

(00:15:07) Carrots and sticks 

(00:19:19) What is a “Pull Factor”? What *isn’t*?

(00:23:17) Premature declaration of victory

(00:26:54) “The numbers were staggering” 

(00:28:10) Going to Congress – who thought this was a good idea?  

(00:36:07) 2024: Who “fixed” the border?

(00:40:41) The human cost 

(00:42:48) How do we learn the right lessons? 

(00:51:18) “There wasn’t a switch that could be flipped” 

(00:53:37) A lack of decisiveness 

(00:55:32) A five-point plan for the next President 

(01:05:55) “We can’t get scared away from our vision”

(01:06:28) Conclusion