Today's Parsing Immigration Policy episode is a rebroadcast of an International Network for Immigration Research (INIR) panel that asked a difficult question: Can democracies actually deport large numbers of people, and what happens if they try? 

Despite years of political focus, large-scale deportation remains extraordinarily difficult to execute in democratic systems governed by courts, rights protections, and bureaucratic limits. This timely panel will explored what is politically popular, what is legally possible, and what is practically achievable.

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guests

Viktor Marsai is the Director of the Budapest-based Migration Research Institute.

Matt O’Brien is the Deputy Executive Director, Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Jim Robb is the Vice President of Alliances, NumbersUSA.

Links

Press Release

Panel Video

Panel Transcript

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".