The Real Border Czar Defends the Biden-Harris Record
Republicans want to label Kamala Harris as the border czar. And by just looking at a chart, you can see why. Border crossings were low when Donald Trump left office. But when President Biden is in the White House, they start shooting up and up \u2014 to numbers this country had never seen before, peaking in December 2023. Those numbers have fallen significantly since Biden issued tough new border policies. But that has still left Harris with a major vulnerability. Why didn\u2019t the administration do more sooner? And why did border crossings skyrocket in the first place?\n\nHarris was not the border czar; she had little power over policy. But to the extent that there is a border czar, it\u2019s the secretary of homeland security, Alejandro Mayorkas. So I wanted to have him on the show to explain what\u2019s happened at the border the past few years \u2014 the record surge, the administration\u2019s record and what it has revealed about our immigration system.\n\nBook Recommendations:\n\nThe Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead\n\nString Theory by David Foster Wallace\n\nThe Dictionary\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\nThis episode of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show\u2019s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Elias Isquith, Kristin Lin and Aman Sahota. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Dara Lind, David Frum, Jason De L\xe9on, Michael Clemens, Natan Last and Steven Camarota.