00:00Another big pillar of his policy positions has been, of course, immigration. And we're learning
00:04just over the last few hours that President Trump plans to ratchet up some of those restrictions,
00:09calling for an additional crackdown on immigration in a pair of truth social posts where he writes
00:15that he would, quote, permanently pause migration from all third world countries.
00:20This comes following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington
00:24on Wednesday. Joining us right now is Terry Haynes, who heads Pangea policy. And Terry,
00:30I do want to start with some of the president's comments and rhetoric over the last couple of days
00:34on the heels of what we should point out is a very tragic shooting that we saw on Wednesday of those
00:38two National Guard members, two National Guard members sent there effectively by the president
00:43from West Virginia, or at least on his orders. And now the fallout from this shooting, which seems to
00:49involve a suspect with ties to Afghanistan and, quite frankly, ties to the U.S. government as well.
00:55What does an immigration crackdown, if at all, accomplish?
00:58Well, I think what's happening here, Romain, is the president, as he normally does,
01:05is taking an immediate position that's very action-oriented and kind of very clean and
01:12and pure and doesn't get down into the second and third order issues that involve implementation
01:20or anything else. What I found in the middle of the rhetoric and what will happen, I think,
01:26immediately here is there will be some kind of a freeze. But the most important thing to take
01:32from the president's statement yesterday, I think, is that the status of a lot of these things are
01:39under review. And in Washington, review means is usually code for we're going to take a step back
01:47and take a more nuanced look at this. So I think what's going to end up happening is you're going
01:52to have some immediate action by the president on a temporary basis, but that they will take a much
01:59closer look and a much more case-by-case look going forward at a variety of different cases.
02:05And I think also it's worth mentioning that I'm sure the Afghan community in the United States,
02:13particularly those who came here since 2021, feel very much a threat this morning.
02:18And I'm sorry about that. And at the same time, I think what will end up happening is that
02:28what will be found is that the vast majority of people who have come here,
02:32whether from Afghanistan or other countries, have done so legally under proper process.
02:39And let's not also forget that Congress is heavily involved in this, and Congress has the
02:48ultimate authority over immigration policy. So I expect some coordination with Congress as well.
02:53Is there a sense here, with regards to the immigration policy, it's one thing to say we're
02:57pausing any sort of new entry of folks. But you mentioned, obviously, the Afghan community here.
03:02And we've seen with at least past immigration policy positions by this president this year,
03:07that sometimes those things fanned out, not just so much to the people coming into this country,
03:11but people who are already here. Do you think we are going to see, I guess, an additional
03:17sort of level of deportations because of the issues that transpired over the last couple of days?
03:22I think as a practical matter, that's unlikely, Romain. You've got to say a couple of things.
03:27First, let's remember that the administration already makes much out of the fact that immigration
03:35into this, illegal immigration in this country is basically stopped. So there's not much more to do
03:41there on that front. So what needs to happen now is they need to kind of call, parse,
03:47understand better who's in the country and who might be a threat. What's been found very generally
03:55from a lot of these immigration sweeps is that the vast majority of these people have not had
04:02criminal records, have not had, you know, not be seen as a threat of any kind. That'll probably,
04:11you know, if that's any indication of what they're going to find from these reviews. I think the vast
04:18majority of people who have come here are going to be okay. It'll take a while. Briefly, we know that
04:28he sharply reduced the refugee admissions cap. We understand that there's been a focus on migrants
04:32from several significant countries, but the H-1B visas as well, just briefly, how much is this impacting
04:37the economy more broadly, do you think? I think it has some impact, sure. Largely because, Caroline,
04:44what ends up happening is, just like in any other sector or industry, companies that have been
04:52comfortable with the existing system now find themselves jolted. And in a situation like H-1B,
04:58where they're relying on these highly skilled folks to come in, these specialists, if you will,
05:03that provides a particularly larger jolt. So you've got a situation where all of a sudden,
05:09not only can't you rely on a talent pool that you might have been able to rely upon a year ago,
05:14for example, but you've got a situation where you've really got to scramble to figure out
05:19exactly how you're going to manage your business going forward.
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