A large group of Central American migrants reached the U.S. border on Sunday but were told by border inspectors that there was no room to accommodate them. With the migrants refusing to leave, what options are border agents looking at? We discuss. We also dive into our weekly political round table; look into the T-Mobile/Sprint merger; and more.
Week in politics: Mixed responses to White House Correspondents’ Dinner, what to watch for as Korean peace talks progress and more
AirTalk’s political experts look ahead to the week in politics and review some of the headlines you might’ve missed this weekend.
Topics include:
- White House Correspondents’ Dinner & response from WHCA and the White House itself
- Caravan of asylum-seekers at U.S.-Mexico border
- Mike Pence is in SoCal today touring border barrier construction site
- Mike Pompeo, confirmed as Secretary of State last week, is ending a four-nation tour through Middle East
- Ronny Jackson is out as VA Secretary nominee, and likely won’t return to White House job – who do they nominate next, will they do a better job of vetting?
- Latest on Korean peace talks
- Trade war looming as tariff exemptions set to expire – what does this mean for U.S.-China relations?
- On Friday, House Intelligence Committee cleared Trump campaign in Russian meddling
- A recap of Macron and Merkel visits (here’s a piece contrasting Trump’s relationship with the two leaders)
GUESTS:
Lanhee Chen, research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; he was an adviser for Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign and served as policy director for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign; he tweets
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist and founder and chief executive officer of Rodriguez Strategies. He is also a former senior Obama advisor in 2008; he tweets
It’s your turn to weigh in: A gondola to Dodger Stadium to relieve traffic
A transit company has proposed to construct a gondola system that would help make travel easier for fans wanting to get to Dodger Stadium.
Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies has submitted a proposal to LA's Office of Extraordinary Innovation to build a $125 million gondola to carry 5,000 fans an hour to and from the stadium. It would take passengers five minutes by air from Los Angeles Union Station to Dodger Stadium. On Thursday, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the proposal at a Metropolitan Transportation Authority meeting. Metro officials are considering the aerial tram proposal; if approved, the lift system could be running by 2022.
So do you think a gondola carrying passengers to Dodger Stadium would help fix traffic? Call us at 866-893-5722
GUEST:
Laura Nelson, transportation reporter for the Los Angeles Times; she has been covering the story; she tweets
In light of Central American migrants reaching border, we get a primer on asylum law
After nearly a month of travel, a group of 200 migrants from Central America who were traveling with the so-called caravan reached the U.S. border on Sunday and are seeking asylum.
They were told by border inspectors that there was no room to accommodate them in the processing facilities, so many of them camped the night at the border, saying they would not leave until they were able to enter the country.
Migrants can ask for asylum at any entry port along the border of the U.S. and usually have to pass an interview in which border officials assess whether they have credible fears of returning to their home countries. Afterwards, they are often taken into custody, and screened by multiple officials in a process that takes months.
We get the latest from the border, plus how does the asylum process work? What criteria does a migrant have to meet in order to qualify for asylum? How is the situation with the “caravan” likely to play out?
GUESTS:
Daniel González, immigration reporter covering the story at the border today for The Arizona Republic; the paper is part of the USA Today Network; he tweets
Carrie Kahn, international correspondent for NPR based in Tijuana today; she tweets
Bill Hing, professor of law and director of The Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic at University of San Francisco School of Law
Third time’s the charm: Would Sprint/T-Mobile merger pass regulatory muster this time around?
America’s major wireless services providers could be reduced to a big three if a merger deal announced this weekend between Sprint and T-Mobile is allowed to proceed.
The two wireless giants announced on Sunday they’d made a deal for T-Mobile to buy Sprint in a stock swap worth about $26 billion, with T-Mobile at the helm of the combined company.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal would put the new company on par in terms of customers with the nation’s top two wireless providers, Verizon and AT&T respectively, with their combined wireless customers totaling around 100 million to Verizon’s reported 116 million at the end of last year and AT&T’s 93 million.
It’s not the first time the two companies have tried to join forces. A proposed merger was shot down in 2014 by Obama administration regulators who argued that the wireless industry required four national provider to ensure competition. There are similar concerns this time about how the merger could hurt competition in the wireless service provider sector. This time around, executives for Sprint and T-Mobile with wireless providers are expected to argue that with wireless providers looking to make the shift from 4G to 5G technology, it will be hard to draw lines between what is a wireless provider and what is a cable company, and that there will be more than three or four players involved.
How does this deal potentially shake up the wireless industry? What kind of regulatory and/or antitrust hurdles might the deal face moving forward?
Guests:
Tara Lachapelle, columnist for Bloomberg Gadfly, where her beat includes mergers, media and the telecommunications industry; she tweets
David Turetsky, former deputy assistant attorney general for civil and regulatory in the antitrust division of U.S. Department of Justice (1993-1997) and former bureau chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission (2012-2013); he is currently a visiting assistant professor at the University of Albany
A deep-dive into Texas’ politics, economy and the reasons Californians should care
Red state. Immigration. Oil. These words can all describe the wide pool of issues in Texas.
In the Trump era, the Lone Star state has been making headlines with it’s U.S.-Mexico border. But despite having an overwhelmingly conservative reputation, many blue communities of color call Texas home. In fact, non-whites, including the largest number of Muslim adherents in the country, have become the majority in Texas. The state has also surpassed California in technology exports. This could be a result of its low tax, low regulation system, which has boosted the economy, but left gaping income disparities. So how can the effects of Texas’ politics, economy and border control have an effect here in California? In author Lawrence Wright’s new book, “God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State,” Wright explores everything from local political traditions to the dichotomy of social classes within Texas.
He speaks with Larry Mantle today on what the state’s current ideological agenda could mean for the future of the entire country.
GUEST:
Lawrence Wright, author of numerous books, including his latest, “God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State” (Knopf, 2018); staff writer for The New Yorker; he tweets