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 to one of the members, Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), about her thoughts on the trip and what she learned from it.  

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s American Congressional Exchange Program: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/project/american-congressional-exchange/ 

ACE Crosses the Border and Party Lines in Arizona and Nogales, Mexico: https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/ace-immigration-and-border-visit/ 

00:00 Intro

00:58 John Richter and Theresa on ACE Trip

34:22 Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) and Theresa on ACE Trip