Watch: An expert panel discusses President Biden’s border policy

Migrants were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection a total of 178,622 times in April — a 21-year high, according to new federal statistics. Most were immediately expelled under a pandemic health order. But increasingly convoluted border policy from the Biden administration and unevenly enforced Mexican law means some migrants are granted entrance into the U.S. depending on various factors. Who is allowed in and who isn’t under the Biden administration’s confusing border policy at times have even seasoned experts at a loss.

On Thursday, May 27, ProPublica-Texas Tribune investigative unit reporter Lomi Kriel moderated a conversation with Theresa Cardinal Brown, managing director of immigration and cross-border policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center; Alex Nowrasteh, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute; Ursela Ojeda, policy adviser at the Women’s Refugee Commission; and Andrew Selee, president of the Migration Policy Institute.

They discussed the policy decisions that have led to so much confusion and what to expect in the upcoming months, in addition to answering questions about the border and immigration reform.

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