Parsing Immigration Policy Todd Bensman: The Exit Interview
May 22, 2025
44:45
In this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Todd Bensman, the Center’s Texas-based Senior National Security Fellow, discusses his experiences at the Center as he prepares to depart for a new role working with Border Czar Tom Homan. Bensman and host Mark Krikorian reflect on his nearly seven-year tenure at the Center, focusing on his firsthand experiences with border issues, extensively documented in two books authored while at the Center.
Growing out of field research for the Center in Latin America and his graduate studies at the Naval Postgraduate School, Bensman’s first book, America’s Covert Border War, addressed the national security challenges of the border, specifically focusing on “special interest aliens” – i.e. illegal border-crossers from countries where jihadist terror groups operate.
Bensman’s second book, Overrun, is a history of the Biden border crisis, based also on numerous visits to Mexico and Central and South America, where he interviewed hundreds of migrants, officials, aid workers, and others. Bensman uncovered the CBP One program during its pilot phase, prior to its public disclosure, shed light on UN funding for illegal immigration, and provided on-the-ground reporting during significant events such as the Del Rio migrant crisis and the lead-up to the end of Title 42.
In his closing commentary, Krikorian weighed in on the recent admission of several dozen Afrikaners from South Africa into the United States as refugees, highlighting facets of the issue not addressed in most media coverage.
Host
Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies
Guest
Todd Bensman is the (soon to be former) Senior National Security Fellow.
Related
Benman’s Author Page
Bensman's Video Playlist
America's Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation's Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration
Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History
Afrikaners: Persecuted Refugees or White-Privileged Aliens?
Intro Montage
Voices in the opening montage:
Growing out of field research for the Center in Latin America and his graduate studies at the Naval Postgraduate School, Bensman’s first book, America’s Covert Border War, addressed the national security challenges of the border, specifically focusing on “special interest aliens” – i.e. illegal border-crossers from countries where jihadist terror groups operate.
Bensman’s second book, Overrun, is a history of the Biden border crisis, based also on numerous visits to Mexico and Central and South America, where he interviewed hundreds of migrants, officials, aid workers, and others. Bensman uncovered the CBP One program during its pilot phase, prior to its public disclosure, shed light on UN funding for illegal immigration, and provided on-the-ground reporting during significant events such as the Del Rio migrant crisis and the lead-up to the end of Title 42.
In his closing commentary, Krikorian weighed in on the recent admission of several dozen Afrikaners from South Africa into the United States as refugees, highlighting facets of the issue not addressed in most media coverage.
Host
Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies
Guest
Todd Bensman is the (soon to be former) Senior National Security Fellow.
Related
Benman’s Author Page
Bensman's Video Playlist
America's Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation's Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration
Overrun: How Joe Biden Unleashed the Greatest Border Crisis in U.S. History
Afrikaners: Persecuted Refugees or White-Privileged Aliens?
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.
- Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".