Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, called into The Michael Patrick Leahy Show while on the ground in southern Mexico as part of his work to document the U.S. border crisis.
Bensman said he is documenting the holding of approximately 300,000-400,000 migrants in the Mexican cities of Tapachula and Villahermosa who collectively have a goal of reaching the U.S. southern border.
The holding of migrants in southern Mexico, Bensman said, is part of a deal the Biden administration made with the Mexican government to decrease the number of border crossings in an effort to avoid negative press coverage leading up to the November 5 general election.
“This is the enclave that was created, it’s almost like a Gaza strip of immigration by the Biden administration. In December, they came down and they wanted to get the numbers of border crossers lower at our border for the election campaign so it didn’t look so bad,” Bensman explained.
“What they did is they had Mexico put 35,000 troops out and scoop up every immigrant they could get their hands on along our border and internally deport them down here…behind militarized roadblocks so that they can’t get at our border and make Kamala Harris look bad and have to answer questions about why thousands and thousands are pouring over the border,” Bensman added.
Bensman said he predicts that the Mexican government’s deal with the Biden administration will end the day after the election, November 6, which will give the “green light” to the migrants to start making their way to the U.S. border.
“I suspect that the Mexicans won’t want to continue to do this deal once the election’s over and they’re not needed,” Bensman said.
At the time the deal was made with the Mexican government, Bensman said border crossings into the U.S. were reaching 14,000 per day, which was drawing negative press coverage and “driving the polls down” for Democrats.
“I think that they did this for election optics…At that time, we were having 14,000 a day crossing our U.S. border. The media was down there covering that, and it was driving the polls down. Democrats were looking terrible for the election,” Bensman said.
“So once Biden, Blinken, and Mayorkas came down here and cut this deal, those numbers dropped from 14,000 a day to 3,000 a day – a 90 percent decline in illegal crossings. Now, they’re out there campaigning saying, ‘What border crisis? There’s nobody crossing, it’s all great.’ That’s because they’re here,” Bensman added.
After the election, Bensman said the migrants in southern Mexico will begin making their way to the border despite which candidate emerges victorious, however, noted that there is a sense of panic among migrants about a possible Trump presidency.
“One thing that I’ve noticed in doing countless interviews with migrants, all day long for the last three days is that they are all very keenly aware that there’s a 50-50 chance that Trump’s going to win and close that border down and they are panicked about being stuck here. They are wanting very strongly to get to the border and get in before Donald Trump potentially could win,” Bensman said.
“They also are not that worried if Harris gets in. They’re saying Harris is going to let us all in,” Bensman added.
Bensman said the situation in Mexico is a “major diplomatic story, major political story for the U.S., and a major border security story” which continues to receive zero press coverage.
“It’s a human interest story of the likes that I don’t think I’ve ever seen…I think that there ought to be media coverage,” Bensman said.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Illegal Immigrants” by John Modlin.
