From September 15-24, I covered the Del Rio migrant camp crisis on both the Texas and Mexico sides of the Rio Grande. During this period and after, a wide range of media interviewers came calling. Following is a representative collection during the latter half of September 2015 for researchers interested in understanding the events in Del Rio, Texas and in Mexico, although the interviews actually granted were too numerous to list comprehensively here.
The Federalist Radio Hour: The Story Behind Del Rio and the Face of the Biden Border Crisis
On this episode of The Federalist Radio Hour, Todd Bensman, a Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and author of “America’s Covert Border War: The Untold Story of the Nation’s Battle to Prevent Jihadist Infiltration,” joins Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky to discuss President Joe Biden’s Southern border crisis and why Haitians flocked to Del Rio, Texas.
“Thisstory is something different than other border stories because of the scales, and the volumes, and the drama associated with it and the implications for the interior, for the long term, and also for the immediate and distant political horizon in this country,” Bensman said. “I don’t understand why there isn’t more publicity, more analysis, and coverage of the border except that most journalists are liberals. I know it. I was there for 23 years — I worked there among them and they are liberals and the border is polling terrible for the Biden administration. I think that they now are overtly sided with the Democratic Party.”
Tucker Carlson Tonight: FOX News
Tucker Carlson: I don’t understand the American response. I mean, if a group of people you didn’t know who looked threatening showed up at your house, you wouldn’t let them in. I mean, you can’t come in, it’s my house! Why are we letting anyone in? Why not let Mexico deal with it?
Bensman: A better solution, which is to have Panama and Costa Rica deal with this. I have been advocating for quite a while that – because Panama IS the smuggler. The government of Panama is the smuggler. They provide food, shelter, hospitality camps and arrange all the busing and everything to Costa Rica. And the Costa Ricans have been doing the same. It’s called ‘controlled flow.’ And I have been advocating for a long time – cause this is a national security threat when you have people coming Afghanistan, which they do through that border, that’s an issue that can be stopped much earlier than Mexico with repatriation flights and an end to controlled flow. I was just in Costa Rica a couple of months ago on this very trail, and I saw very, very heavy traffic. I met Mauritanians, Senegalese… I met Eritreans. I mean, you name it, they are coming through in very large, heavy numbers. Costa Rica does nothing. They ALLOW it to happen. And the Panamanians are the smuggler.
Tucker: Yup. End of America; that’s not an overstatement.
The Glenn Beck Shows
On Beck’s radio show, Todd Bensman senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, joined Glenn Beck on the radio program to share the new information he’s gathered after spending time with the thousands of Haitians who arrived at our southern border earlier this month. Bensman explained how the Haitian migrants got to Del Rio, Texas, where they actually came from, and why Democrats should stop pretending this group is in “dire straits” for a better life. “Most of the Haitians that are coming are not fleeing earthquakes in Haiti. And they’re not fleeing presidential assassination. Or even grinding poverty. They have been living in Chile and Brazil for many years … in relative prosperity. And with resident cards. And with permission to work in those countries,” Bensman said. “But they saw the Biden administration opening the border, bang, in January [and] February, and rushed forth.”
The Glenn Beck TV Show
The Epoch Times TV (NTD News)
The surge in illegal immigrants under the Del Rio Bridge in Texas is unprecedented. Some 15,000 of them entered the area between Monday and Saturday last week. NTD spoke with border security expert Todd Bensman, who’s on the ground in Mexico talking to the migrants. He gives us an update on the situation, and explains what caused this migrant caravan.
The Bo Snerdley Radio Show
Cats At Night September 17: Todd Bensman joined the show. What’s the latest going on at the Southern Border. Hint: It’s not good.
Listen September 20 as James Golden AKA Bo Snerdley starts of the new week with all the latest news and headlines. Special guest and author Todd Bensman joined the show!
Newsmax Shows
Haitian Exodus from Del Rio camp; Newsmax National Report
The Stinchfield Report from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico
The American Agenda, from Ciudad Acuna, Mexico:
The Greg Kelly Report: Number One Misperception
Sebastian Gorka’s America First
Sebastian talks to immigration expert Todd Bensman September 20 about the many different nations from which illegal aliens are flooding into the United States.
In the War Room with Steve Bannon
Unprecedented Number of Haitians Under Tx Bridge, September 16
TX Lieutenant Gov Invokes Article 4 For Invasion of US
Live from the Border Invasion, September 19
Biden Administration ‘Lying about the Border and Who’s Crossing’ September 20
Biblical Tragedy at Southern Border September 20
Biden Admin ‘Grossly Reckless’ September 21
Border Town Has Become a Deportation Haven
Left Attacks Border Patrol While Ignoring Illegal Crossers in Droves, September 22
Biden Border Lies Fully Exposed, September 22
The Deportation to Haiti is The Drone Strike of Afghanistan, September 22
DHS’s New Plan to Liquidate the migrant camp
VCY America’s Cross Talk
From Border Control to Border Chaos, September 28
As the broadcast moved along, Todd described how the Biden administration has dealt with the Haitian encampment situation, why some buses full of Haitians were hijacked, what really took place with the border agents on horseback, the morale of the border agents, what this means for Biden’s polling numbers and much more.
The Pete Santilli Show
Riverbank video interview with Pete, September 20
Pete’s Radio show EP2624, September 22 with special guest Todd Bensman via phone interview to break down what is happening at the Texas border.
KVI Seattle’s The John Carlson Show
The September 22 show. GUEST: CIS senior fellow, Todd Bensman, is in Mexico’s neighboring city to Del Rio TX today, says the migrant camp in Del Rio TX will likely be empty by next week, 8000 migrants remain.
The September 20 show GUEST: CIS senior fellow, Todd Bensman, talks to KVI from Texas where he’s witnessed the crowd of 10,000 or more asylum seekers from Haiti and Africa trying to gain entry into the US from Mexico, how this flood of asylum seekers and illegal aliens accelerated so quickly, why Biden Administration won’t just return these undocumented individuals back to Mexico, how a Supreme Court ruling could affect the 10,000+ waiting at the border.
The Dom Giordano Show
Todd Bensman, fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and author of the new America’s Covert Border War, joins the Dom Giordano Program for a first-hand account of the situation playing out at the border. Bensman, who is currently in Mexico after crossing the border today, explains why he’s in Mexico and tells what he’s seeing first hand as multiple waves over the past few weeks have approached the border. Bensman has spent an ample amount of time speaking directly with the migrants and explains the reasons many are flooding the United States border, and suggests how the Biden administration could dig out of this crisis.
The New York Post
The truth behind the Texas bridge migrants
These are not people escaping an earthquake or political unrest or extreme poverty in Haiti, according to one of the most informed border observers, Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and author of “America’s Covert Border War.” All the Haitians he has interviewed have been living in Chile or Brazil for the past three to five years.
“I’ve never met one yet who is actually coming directly from Haiti,” he said. “But they will probably apply for asylum on the basis of [problems] in Haiti.”
Bensman has covered the border crisis for more than a year, traveling through Guatemala and Mexico to interview migrants. The Haitians now in Del Rio were “living a pretty good life [in South America] but they are seeing an opportunity to improve their situation,” he says.
“They say they heard Joe Biden was opening the border up so they came.”
Quite logically, these Haitians — who all have cellphones with social media access — took up Biden’s offer.According to Bensman and other reporters in Del Rio, Haitians who are eligible for asylum (how long is a piece of string?) are being quietly placed in unmarked buses and onto planes and dispersed to other parts of the United States under a cloak of extreme secrecy.
Thousands of Haiti migrants flee Del Rio, try to reach border again: report
“They just fled back over that river [Rio Grande] and ran. Hundreds and hundreds of them that I saw. I personally saw,” Todd Bensman, the senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies told the outlet. “They told me they were fleeing because of the deportation flights.”
“If you can just find a way to stay in Mexico, deportation mania will pass and they’ll just quietly cross over somewhere else where there’s no media and no camp,” Bensman claimed to the Daily Mail. “They’re just going to wait for another day and then they’ll cross through. So if the administration is never able to account for another 5,000, there’s only one explanation.”
Mayorkas did not explain a discrepancy of approximately 2,600 between the overall number of migrants encountered and the number dispersed over the past 15 days.
“They know how many came in for sure because they gave a ticket, a numbered ticket to every Haitian that entered and they logged it in a book. So they definitely know how many came in,” Bensman explained. “If they can’t account for four or five thousand, there is only one explanation for that and that’s how many [also] fled back into Mexico.”
Exclusive: Missing 5,000 Haitian migrants from Del Rio encampment are seen at a Mexico bus station where they hop to ‘disappear’ to avoid Biden’s deportation flights – and then plan to cross BACK into the US via a different route with cartel smugglers
“Migrant expert Todd Bensman told DailyMail.com, ‘They would far prefer Mexico over Haiti. They don’t want to go back to Chile.”
Exclusive: Thousands of Haitian migrants who flocked to Del Rio were already working and living comfortably as refugees in CHILE and only set off for the US after Biden scrapped Trump-era deportation policy
“Todd Bensman, of the Center for Immigration Studies, said the lack of smuggling fees has made Del Rio crossing the cheapest on the border “
Exclusive: Cameroonian man forced out of Del Rio is seen writhing in pain from broken ankle after leaping off hotel balcony to evade Mexican officers rounding up migrants to fly them back to Tapachula
“The hotels are raided nighty with officers rounding up migrants to fly them to Tapachula, Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies said .”
According to Todd Bensman of the Center for Immigration Studies, the man was eventually picked up by an ambulance and treated for his wounds. But others, a mix of Haitians and Africans, were rounded up and are seen being taken away by the Guardia Nacional – en route to the airport and a flight back to Tapachula. Bensman said: ‘The Mexican government is raiding the hotels in Acuña. Every night, all night, they’re raiding hotels and they’re rounding [the migrants] up and they’re flying them back down to the southern provinces.
‘Every morning, they’re flying them from Acuña. The raids are with Mexican National Guards in full battledress and Mexican immigration. ‘They told me what their strategy is and what their orders are – it’s to clear out all the Haitians who fled from the camp.
‘The Biden administration clearly went to [the Mexicans] and said “WTF? Get on this and get on it now. Shut this down. We don’t want any more coming in. Get them out of here”.’
Armstrong and Getty Podcast
Todd Bensman (Center for Immigration Studies) joins Armstrong & Getty from the border in Del Rio Texas to talk about the massive, unprecedented immigration crisis unfolding on our southern border.
Thanks to the Biden Administration’s immigration policy, the word is out that the United States is welcoming anyone who shows up at the border. Listen to The Armstrong & Getty Extra Large Podcast, featuring Bensman for the details…
Todd Bensman goes on again with Armstrong and Getty September 20!
Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies and author of the book, AMERICA’S COVERT BORDER WAR, joins A&G for his report on the scene at Del Rio Texas, where an immigration crisis is surging to epic proportions.
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The Steve Gruber Shows, radio and TV
On the radio/podcast September 21:
Todd Bensman is Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies. He is also the Author, “America’s Covert Border War.” Why the Huge Illegal Alien Camp Formed in Del Rio. A surprising explanation from the migrants.