Point of View March 20, 2025 – Hour 1 : Ramadan, Is There a Disease Crisis at the Border?

[00:00:04] Across America, Live, This is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. Thank you for joining me, this is the Thursday edition of Point of View and we're going to spend some time in just a minute talking about maybe some of the greetings you've heard, Ramadan Kareem or Ramadan Mubarak, what does that mean and how that fits into the issue of Islam.

[00:00:33] And I'll hold up our booklet on Islam that we are making available to you if you'd like to get a copy. Then we're going to get into some things happening at the border. Going to talk about, I love this piece by Ron Johnson, is this any way to run a budget? We're talking about the federal budget. Also, there are real questions that people are raising about what are called the Tesla terrorists and much, much more we will cover in these two hours. So if you have any questions or comments, feel free to give us a call 800-351-1212.

[00:01:02] We go to an individual we've had on the program before, Dr. Hermoz Chariot. He was born into a Muslim family in Iran and then came to the United States after the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Came to Christ while earning his PhD in artificial intelligence, USC.

[00:01:19] He planted a church, but probably is best known for the founding of Iran Alive Ministries, a ministry that really is reaching so many individuals in Iran and the rest of the Middle East through television. And he joins us now by phone. So thank you for joining us once again here on Point of View. Well, thank you so much, Kirby. So much is going on from a political point of view and also from biblical and spiritual point of view.

[00:01:48] I'm here to share. Well, and again, one of the things we want to start with is you wrote a very good piece on here is what you need to know about Ramadan. And we're in what is called the ninth lunar month. And so as a result, it was one of the holiest periods of Islamic faith.

[00:02:07] No doubt, as you probably have traveled around and certainly wife and I walk, we see various signs and also illustrations of people practicing Ramadan. So if you can give us a background on what that means and what we can maybe use and how we can use that to witness to our friends. Wonderful. Yes. First, you have to understand why they do it. That means we do have a message for them.

[00:02:34] And if you know the motivation for Muslims to pass, which I did when I was younger, I was a Muslim. I was serious. I prayed and I did fasting, especially fasting one month a year. And the first you have to know the motivation for Muslims. This is very important because once a year they kind of come back to God, rededicate their lives to God, to their God. They know they have come short.

[00:03:03] They know they don't deserve his grace and his forgiveness. So they're trying that month to get closer to God and also to let me share the three. There are three motivations for Muslims to go on fasting. All starts with F. It's fear. Number one fear. They fast because they're fearful of Allah. Allah is a fearful God.

[00:03:33] He puts terror, not fear. You know, in the Bible we talk about the fear of God. It's not the fear of God. It's the terror of God. That they're terrorized by that Allah because he can hurt them by attacking their bodies, sickness, death to their family, financial. He is a cruel God in their mind. So they're fearful if they don't fast that he will hurt them.

[00:04:00] So many, many Muslims do fasting and praying out of fear. Not all of them, but most of them. And then another motivation for Muslims to fast is to seek forgiveness. See, if you have a low conscience, everybody, religious or non-religious, we know we are not perfect. We have flaws. And sincere Muslims, they know they do not deserve to be with God, to be forgiven.

[00:04:29] So by not eating for one month from sunset to sundown, they try to ask for forgiveness. God, look at me suffering for you. I'm serious about my sins. I'm so sorry about my sins. Would you forgive me? And there's no assurance of forgiveness, you know, that they don't know. They just hope that with suffering myself, not eating, maybe, maybe Allah will have mercy on me.

[00:04:57] So that's fear, forgiveness. And the number three motivation is favor. Many want something from their God. And they think if I suffer, I show my sincerity, my fasting, maybe he will have compassion on me. Maybe he will give me the desires of my heart. That could be like, I want to get married. That could be finances. That could be health. Whatever demands you have from God, by fasting, maybe.

[00:05:27] Again, it's a maybe. He will change his mind and do something for you. So you have to understand. And each of these, of course, the Bible has something to do to each of these fears or each of these motivations. So that's it. That's understanding that now you know how to talk to Muslims once you know why they do it. And one of the things I found out, and of course, again, holding up our booklet that we've made available in the past to anyone that has been a donor.

[00:05:56] But if you did not get a copy of it, I do go into the two things you've just talked about. One, the idea of the love of God. We recognize we fear God, but God is not a terror for us if we have accepted Jesus Christ. And number two, the issue of eternal security, that we are saved by grace through faith, not by our works, that we can know that we have eternal life, as it says in 1 John 5 and other passages.

[00:06:20] And so it does seem to me that even during this time of Ramadan, where you might have a faithful Muslim following the dictates of the Muslim faith, they really have no guarantee that God loves them. They have no guarantee that God could save them, that they would actually be saved. And it seems to me that that's one of the best ways to witness to our Muslim friends and neighbors. That's correct.

[00:06:45] You know, like any type of witnessing, especially with Muslims, you cannot go and attack your faith and just right away say, hey, this fasting doesn't do you any good. Just like Paul, you have to acknowledge your heart first. Hey, I see you're seeking God, you're sincere, you're fasting. And may I ask you why you're fasting? What are you trying to accomplish?

[00:07:12] And usually one of these three that, or maybe one or more of these three. And they seek. So first you have to, you know, acknowledge their faith, where they are, and respect where they are. And then you can ask questions. And once you ask questions, always, that's what I've always done.

[00:07:35] Once you ask questions and you listen, by the way, asking questions and listening is the first indication of your love. When you love people, you listen. So they feel loved when you ask and you listen. So that by itself connects your heart to their heart.

[00:07:53] But at the same time, when you ask and listen, always, always there is a way that, I mean, through their own speech and through your questions, there's always a root of gospel planted in their lives and their sins. And you go from there. Let me just mention we're going to take a break. We'll come back and have a lot more to cover. As a matter of fact, given the fact that we'll be talking about Iran, about two-thirds of Iranians really have rejected Islam.

[00:08:19] So this is maybe more appropriate for some of the Muslims you might know in this country. One of the things that in this article that we have posted, it's our first article on the website, pointofview.net. He has really decided to pray daily for Muslims during this month of Ramadan. I would encourage you to do the same. And if you find yourself saying, I'd like to know a little bit more about my Muslim friends and how they celebrate Ramadan, well, that's our first article on pointofview.net. We'll be right back.

[00:08:58] This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. President Trump wants manufacturing reinvigorated by bringing jobs back to the U.S. That is great for America and great for American workers. But who's going to fill those jobs? The latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show 7.6 million job openings along with 6.8 million unemployed workers. You might ask why those millions of unemployed workers aren't snapped up in those millions of job openings.

[00:09:26] Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs, says that the problem of filling those jobs is twofold. He says we have a skills gap. We also have a will gap. The skills gap is the disparity between the skills an employer expects their employees to have and the actual skills employees possess. It is certainly true that jobs in the medical field require a science degree and jobs in big tech require a computer science degree. But most of the blue-collar skills don't require a degree but require some mechanical ability and training.

[00:09:56] Unfortunately, lots of high schools remove shop classes that could have been training the next generation of Americans who like to work with their hands. Instead, students have been convinced they should go to college, take out massive student loans to get a degree that may not even prepare them for a future job. The will gap is best illustrated by what economist Nicholas Eberstadt refers to as the flight from work. His Washington Post op-ed three years ago lamented that at the time there were 7 million men who were not working and not looking for work.

[00:10:25] The number of non-working men has only dropped a percentage point in the last few years. If the president is successful in bringing jobs back to America, pastors, parents, and other leaders must encourage the next generation to go to work. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my Point of View. For a free booklet on a biblical view of genetic engineering, go to viewpoints.info slash genetic engineering.

[00:10:54] Viewpoints.info slash genetic engineering. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. A privilege to have with us for a few more minutes, Dr. Homo's chariot. You can go to his website, and you don't even have to know how to spell his name because we have that link on our website there. But you'll find out a lot more about his ministry. And, Doctor, for just a minute, I thought we might talk about the fact that you have been praying during the month of Ramadan.

[00:11:22] And you have seen so many Muslims actually become Christians during Ramadan and find salvation. Can you talk about that for just a minute? Amazing, because they're seeking God, and they know God is distant. So when you talk about the intimate and loving God, that's very attractive to them. They want God. But where is he? What is he doing in their life? You just try to please him so he won't hurt you? No, he is a father.

[00:11:52] He wants to have a personal relationship. So, yes, first of all, there is a revival going in Iran. So Iranians, as you mentioned, less than one-third save your Muslims. Iran is no longer an Islamic nation. And then people would say, hey, you're crazy. Just Google it. It's 98% Muslims. No, not anymore. There was a scientific survey done by two university professors.

[00:12:20] And that was, as they published that, they asked 50,000 people, what do you believe? So it's a solid research. And the publication showed, as you said, less than one-third save your Muslims. So Iranians are very open to every idea except Islam. And now during the month of Ramadan, many of them do not follow, do not fast.

[00:12:42] They are saying, they know this is empty religion, has done nothing, nothing to them, nothing for them for the last 40 years that they followed with the Islamic government of Iran. So this is a great time to share the gospel with Muslims. They are seeking, they are hungry, and they know, they know they're sinful. They know this God is distant, and they cannot. They're just trying to buy his favor. So about Iran, it's a different story.

[00:13:09] Kirby, with Iranians, the simplest message of the gospel comes to Christ. Let me show you this. You know, on Friday, we have a 24-7 channel, of course, satellite channel. We go over the heads of the mullahs. The signal comes from the sky, and the government cannot stop it. So we go over the heads of the mullahs into millions of homes and share the gospel, share the love of Christ with them who are hungry.

[00:13:33] Now, last Friday, just a few days ago, we have a live church service on Fridays because that's the day off. And after I share a sermon, I usually go to a Zoom room. This is like a lobby. Meet the pastor. Pray with the pastor. Ask questions. I went there for two hours after the church service. Can you believe it? For two hours, Kirby, I was leading Muslims to Christ one by one. Wow.

[00:14:02] And that is amazing, which I'm so excited. You ask any missionaries who work among Muslims, they would say, this is supernatural. This is miraculous. What I'm talking about is this. They came, they wanted Jesus, and they had no questions. What? Muslims having no questions? It's like, hey, how about Islam? Why do you say Jesus is God? I mean, those are common questions that Muslims ask.

[00:14:31] But for two hours, I let people, I asked them questions to make sure that they know what they're doing. But they did not. One of them, one of them was saying, as I was listening to your sermon, I felt like somebody is planting flowers in my mind. Wow. Another one saying, as I was watching your sermon, I was eating. I was having dinner because it's night at Iran. I was eating dinner, and I stopped. I couldn't eat anymore. Why?

[00:15:01] Because I felt full of joy and peace of God. But so they come on this Zoom. Any questions? No. I just want Jesus. That's the work of the Holy Spirit in Iran. We are at the historical time in Iran. The Lord promises in Jeremiah 49, 38, that Iran will be a Christian nation. He says in Jeremiah 49, 38, I will set my throne in Elam. So this is happening, Kirby, and it's happening fast.

[00:15:30] And Iranians are coming to Christ, and the King Jesus becomes the king of their hearts and the king of their lives. And once they come to Christ, they are on fire for the Lord. They're not afraid. There is a history being made in Iran, and I ask your audience, pray. Pray about this revival in Iran because it's going to impact the Middle East and the whole world. And if you want to join us, be a history maker, this is the time to make history for the Lord in the Middle East through Iran.

[00:16:00] Well, again, fastest growing church right there in Iran. And let's have a can for just a minute since you are alluding to that. On your website, you talk about some of the political issues. And we, as you know, Dr. Shariat, oftentimes talk about politics. And right now, the Islamic regime is facing a bad economy. Of course, it's a really corrupt government. There's been a lot of opposition from the people in the streets.

[00:16:25] And then even the military threat from President Trump with the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. This is not a good time to be a leader in Iran. And I do believe that whether a revolution or a revival breaks out, something is about to happen in Iran. What are your thoughts? Yes. Yes. The Iranian government is at its weakest point. It lost all its proxies, the power in the Middle East. They've lost it.

[00:16:54] They've lost their power with the people. They don't have the back of, you know, the support of the people. So that's what Trump is taking advantage of that. Trump is a dealmaker. I don't see a full-fledged war coming because neither side really want that. And what they're talking about is, you know, Iran is saying, hey, we're making nuclear bombs if you don't talk and you don't give us what we want.

[00:17:22] And Trump says, you have two choices. Either you talk or we attack you. And they say, no, we don't want neither of you. We don't want to talk to you and we don't want to. There will be no war. So there's a lot of this going on. But in reality, the Iranian government is very weak. They pretend to be strong. As an example, just two or three months ago, Israeli jets attacked Iran.

[00:17:51] They destroyed the radars and the defense system of Iran. Not one of the jets, one of the fighters were shut down. Iran pretends to be strong, but it's weak. Now, the most dangerous thing, Kirby, is this, and we need to pray. You know, there is a saying in Farsi, a cornered cat acts like a lion.

[00:18:15] So the danger is that the Iranian government feels hopeless and they would have no solution, no response, except the nuclear bomb. That's the only danger. Otherwise, they cannot match Israel. They cannot match U.S. if they get in a fight. And they know it. So, again, just a great opportunity for prayer.

[00:18:38] Certainly, we should pray not only for the believers there in Iran, but pray for our president and some of the other issues that are unfolding. And if people want to contact you, we have a link to the website because, in some respects, we have certainly recognized the ministry that you have through Iran Alive Ministries. But if people want to participate with you, how can they do so? Yes, we're in Dallas. If you are in the area, come and visit, see what you're doing.

[00:19:06] But going on our website, get to know what you're doing. And even better, easier ways to do this, to text the word IRAN, I-R-A-N, to this number. You know, when you want to text somebody, you put a phone number. Don't put the phone number. Put this number, 85789. 85789. And do a text the word IRAN, IRAN. And you will get a set of links. Links to great testimonies. We'll encourage you. A link to our website.

[00:19:35] And I encourage you to sign up. At least, you will encourage knowing what God is doing and hear great testimonies. And, of course, if the Lord leads you, come and join us, the Disciple Nation, and support us financially. Well, again, I appreciate you being on the program. Again, the first article there, which will give you more information about Dr. Hemos Sariot, is one on Here is What You Need to Know About Ramadan. It's the first article on our website. You can follow all the links.

[00:20:04] And, as always, thank you for joining us. And look forward to the next opportunity. God bless you, Kirby. You're doing a great work for the Lord. Going to take a break. And as we go to the break, let me just mention that this time next week we'll be talking, matter of fact, one of those will be with Joel Rosenberg about what is going on in the Middle East. And, of course, Truth Team is on the way. So, again, we would encourage you to be watching your email for some of the material we've been sending out. Of course, you can visit the website, pointofview.net.

[00:20:33] That's where you can find out more about this ministry, which is, again, Iran Alive Ministries and Dr. Hemos Sariot. Come back from the break. We're going to get into some things happening at the border. But, again, I hope that you will join with us even before the week starts next week because we can't do it without you. Lots of great material, all of it available at the website.

[00:20:55] And one more time, I'll just mention, again, this booklet that we've produced in the past on the whole issue of Islam, a biblical point of view on Islam. I'd love to give it to you. If you have not received a copy, we can send it to you either digitally. We'd need your email. Or else we can send you a printed copy. And we'd need your address. And you can just contact us by email and we'll send it off. Let's take a break. We have a lot more to cover. We'll do that right after this.

[00:21:31] Well, Truth Team Week is just about here. And we need your help. First of all, will you please pray for point of view? Your prayers are the foundation for all that we do and, honestly, the reason for any success we have. Second, consider helping us get a head start on our Truth Team fundraising goal.

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[00:22:48] Point of view will continue after this. You are listening to Point of View. The opinions expressed on pointofview do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson.

[00:23:13] Come back now to an issue that we've discussed many times before, border security and immigration. On the one hand, we certainly recognize the need to control our borders and to have an orderly immigration policy. On the other hand, I also want to point out that there have been times, especially the previous administration, where they have taken a piece of legislation, an act, a law, a bill, and redefined it, redefined a word, maybe pulled it out of context.

[00:23:41] As a matter of fact, that's a conversation we're going to have probably Friday on some other issues about deportation. But one of those which stuck around for a while was what is known as Title 42. Now, you have to go into the federal code to understand that. But I want to get into that because there was a suggestion or even a threat, depending on how you look at it, that maybe that would be reinstated. Title 42 was actually in existence when we had our pandemic.

[00:24:09] But we don't have a pandemic taking place now. To really understand a little bit more about this issue, this is our second article on the website. And it is written by Agostina Sid, who is a contributor to Young Voices. We had a number of people from Young Voices on this program. She was born and raised in Argentina, immigrated to the United States, pursued a master's degree, which she received a master's degree in law from the University of Southern California, and joins us now by phone.

[00:24:39] So thank you for writing the article, and thank you for trying to explain what is going on. Thank you so much for having me. Happy to be here. Let's, if we can, explain the origin of Title 42. It was something a while back we were talking about. It sort of ended, and we haven't really discussed it since. But that was justified at the time because we had a pandemic, and it was sort of a pandemic-era border policy, wasn't it?

[00:25:10] Yes, correct. So Title 42, like you correctly mentioned earlier, refers to a part of the U.S. legal code that deals with public health, among other things. But in the last few years, it's been referred to as, you know, part of the pandemic response, and it's been used as part of the pandemic response when it comes to, it's been made kind of like a border policy. And so, again, what we are talking about is something that was, at the time, maybe justifiable,

[00:25:38] but it's different than Title 8 or a variety of other things because what it did, if I understand it, would say that it would allow you to expel migrants at the border just simply on the concern of them having a dangerous, infectious disease. Is that true? Yes, that's correct. So it permits the quick expulsion of migrants at the border on the grounds, like you said, that they might spread like a dangerous infectious disease. A few years ago, it was COVID, obviously.

[00:26:09] And also, like, part of what this policy does is prevent migrants from applying for asylum at the border as well. So, again, one of the articles here, and I might just say that you co-authored this article, talks about the fact that reinstating this is not backed by any data. In other words, we do have some outbreaks. We've been recently talking about measles. We've talked about tuberculitis.

[00:26:33] But in most of these cases, we're really not talking about something that is necessary at the border because we're not dealing with COVID-19. Can you kind of help us out with that? Yes. So essentially, in order to invoke Title 42, the CDC has to determine that migrants, in this case, in the southern border, pose a public health risk. That is that they bring some sort of dangerous infectious disease, such as, like you said, tuberculosis,

[00:27:03] at a rate that would make it really hard for U.S. public health officials to contain the threat of that infectious disease. Right? But while there are outbreaks currently going on in the United States for measles, for example, there is no evidence of migrants at the U.S. southern border bringing in any sort of infectious disease that would make it really hard for public health officials to identify or contain.

[00:27:31] So part of what my co-author, who is an expert in infectious disease, part of what he says, that there are several requirements to declare a public health emergency. So the CDC, in lines of, like, these are the requirements that would need to go into declaring a public health emergency at the southern border. It would have to be that the disease should be very severe, significantly severe, like, for example, like measles or tuberculosis.

[00:27:59] The disease should not have a simple countermeasure. For example, there shouldn't be a vaccine or a treatment that is very efficient and that is easily available. And the event of importation risks, meaning that the fact that people are coming from abroad with this disease, should be epidemiologically significant. That means that it really does pose a risk of infecting people that otherwise wouldn't have been infected

[00:28:25] if this person hadn't come from abroad with this disease. The issue here is that there is no data backing any of these claims that would go into declaring the southern border, migrants from the southern border, a public health risk. So the problem here is that if this invocation of Title 42 actually goes into,

[00:28:51] Title 42 is actually invoked, there wouldn't be any scientific reasons or evidence behind it, and that is worrisome. Yes. And, again, I did not know until I read your article. And, again, I want to thank your co-author for digging some of that up, because we have talked about the measles outbreak, but when you look at where some of those actually centered, one, of course, is a migrant center there in Chicago. Another one, of course, we have talked about here, we broadcast from the state of Texas, but that came from Venezuela.

[00:29:18] And in some respects, most of those have to do with unvaccinated individuals. So it does seem to me that in an orderly immigration process, if people are coming here legally, we certainly can vet them in a number of ways. Make sure that they're not linked to a terrorist organization. Make sure that they may have been vaccinated for that particular disease or show no symptoms of that. I mean, you think about the people that got off of the ships at Ellis Island.

[00:29:46] Back then, we didn't have the kind of medicine that we have today. We didn't have the kind of medical diagnosis that we have today. But we recognized how valuable it would be to make sure that we weren't bringing a disease in. But we are not talking about a COVID-19 kind of pandemic anymore. And so to reinstate Title 42 is sort of almost seems like you're grasping at straws, doesn't it look like? Yes, to me, it really is. I agree.

[00:30:16] There's really no evidence. And, you know, I don't have a training in epidemiology, but my colleague who wrote the article with me does. And he's one of the most important experts on this topic. And he really does say there is no evidence that migrants are bringing in this disease. The issue with the outbreaks currently going on are due to Americans, Native-born Americans and people inside the territory already not getting vaccinated against measles, for instance.

[00:30:45] So, yes, I think that this is basically, honestly, I see it as a way to kind of like try to make the public afraid of immigrants. Like a little bit, I see it as a little bit of like fear mongering, you know, saying that, attempting to declare that migrants pose an infectious disease risk and public health risk. I think this is not merited.

[00:31:09] And I think, honestly, that it's a way to, you know, very nice immigrants and, you know, make, it's an attempt to try to make the general public afraid of immigrants. And this is all in the context of the crackdown on immigration that we're currently experiencing. I do want to talk about some other issues related to that. But one I thought I'd pick out is this article, which goes on for three pages so people can read it in its entirety, has a couple of links.

[00:31:37] And one that I wanted to talk about is that even when we had the COVID-19 pandemic, the Title 42 policy didn't work. And I think we, of course, talked about that. This sort of gets us into the pandemic and the vaccine and the virus and all the rest. But the link takes you to the Cato Institute, which is sort of a conservative, very libertarian website.

[00:32:01] But it talks about the fact that Title 42 failed when it was even supposed to help us fight COVID-19. And more importantly, the argument from the writer there of Cato was saying that it should not be extended again. So even when it was used and it could have been justified, I think that was a questionable justification even back then. It really didn't work.

[00:32:28] And that's something which I appreciate you and your author pointing out because that's just one more thing we've learned now in the post-COVID-19 scenario, haven't we? Yes, yes, absolutely. So it didn't really – so when Title 42 was implemented during the pandemic, it didn't really do anything to curb the spread of COVID-19.

[00:32:53] But also as a border measure as such, you know, sometimes these measures are to allegedly, you know, secure the border. But in fact, the data after a few years of Title 22 being the policy at the border shows that it failed to control the flow of migrants at the border and, in fact, increased the number of people that were able to evade detection at all at the border. Yeah, I want to come back to that. Yeah, the gotaways, exactly.

[00:33:20] I'm coming to a break, so I'm going to come back to that because that's another part of that. It actually increased the number of gotaways, which we'll talk about. And also this really was an attempt to achieve a different policy, and I think that's a good reason why we should reject it. We'll come back and spend just a few more minutes talking about this. You can read the article and the links. I would highly recommend that you look to, and we'll be back right after this.

[00:33:55] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes, we have Agustina Vergara-Sid with us as we talk about this particular article. But I do want to get to one of those, Agustina, that you wrote in The Hill about the immigration gold card because that's something that surfaced quite a bit. The Secretary of Commerce, Howard Letnick, was talking about that the other day, and you've talked about how that could be a huge winner with some changes.

[00:34:24] But we'll get to that in just a minute because you did mention that, again, Title 42, since you knew that you were going to be turned away, actually had the reverse impact. And I've talked about before that oftentimes certain policies have the unintended consequences. And one of those is that when we had Title 42, it increased the number of gotaways. Now, some of those gotaways are individuals that came here for a better life.

[00:34:51] Some of those gotaways turn out to be individuals that intend as harm. But having a situation where migrants are intentionally trying to evade border protection and couldn't be vetted for either disease or criminality is a real problem. And that was one of those, if you will, unintended consequences of Title 42, wasn't it? Yes, that's correct.

[00:35:13] So when Title 42 ended in, I think it was May 2023, it was. That's what I would say. Yeah. The number of gotaways, this is people that are able to cross the border completely undetected by Border Patrol.

[00:35:35] They may visually see them, but they cannot, they don't encounter that person and are not able to process them and know who they are, right? So that number of people who were able to cross in that way fell from about 2,600 per day to just about 800 per day after Title 42 ended.

[00:36:03] And there are a few reasons for this, but including that when people are expelled under Title 42, this is a very quick, swift removal. So there are not many consequences to being expelled at the border, and people tend to be able to, you know, just, you know, turn around and try to do it again and try to do it again and try to do it again. Eventually they are successful. Right.

[00:36:28] But when, with the regular system, so that would be Title A, the current, the normal state of affairs, there are other consequences, including, for instance, that there's a reentry ban if you try to cross again to the United States and there are potential criminal charges for repeat entries. There's obviously the process of deportation.

[00:36:51] It makes it much more onerous to try to cross the border versus Title 22 making it essentially they kick you out and then kick you out and then with virtually no consequences, and then you can come back in. Let me again mention that this is about a three-page article. It has a lot of links that may just educate you on some of the issues that we've really hardly ever talked about, and, again, I wanted to cover that.

[00:37:15] But I thought for just a minute we might talk about an article that you wrote in The Hill because a lot of people are hearing about this idea of a gold card. Now, what it is is a kind of a new visa that would replace what's called EB-5 visa. But your argument is that it might help streamline the immigration system. It would also maybe attract the best and the brightest to come to this country.

[00:37:42] I mean, look at the benefit we enjoy right now as somebody of your caliber leaving Argentina, which I feel sorry because somebody of your gifts probably could help that country, but we are benefiting from you coming here. And this idea of a gold card through legal immigration could really provide some opportunities for us in the country, don't you think? Yes, I think so. I think the gold card as a concept is a really good idea.

[00:38:10] Our current immigration system, it's really – I call it Kafkaesque because it truly is really hard to immigrate legally to the United States. That's one of the reasons why there are issues at the southern border because the vast majority of people don't have a way to immigrate legally to the United States. And even those who do have a way to immigrate legally to the United States, the process is incredibly convoluted, very hard to do, and only about 3% of the people that want to be able to come here, peaceful people I'm talking about, right,

[00:38:40] people who want to come here to work and produce and be part of American society, only about 3% of those people are able to secure permanent – legal permanent residency in the United States. And what the gold card would do – I mean, we don't have a lot of details about how it would work, but essentially it's you pay a price for the gold card, and at this moment it's a $5 million price tag, and we can discuss that because it's a little bit steep for most people. I'd say so, yes.

[00:39:09] But if you are able to pay for your legal residency to the United States, which is not the same as citizenship, then that would potentially streamline the process, make it much easier, and it would allow a lot of people that are not coming to the United States, like really high-skilled people that are not coming because it's really hard, to be able to do so and to be vetted and, you know, go through the whole process of legal immigration.

[00:39:35] And it would also potentially, if the program is extended to reach people who are currently, you know, peaceful people who want to come here to work that are currently crossing the southern border, then if those people were able to come here legally, then they would mess at the border, they would be able to get vetted for things like criminality, you know, national security threats, infectious disease like we were just discussing, and be able to, you know, come here,

[00:40:02] and American employers would be able to hire them, and it would be really a much better situation than what we currently have. And again, a lot of those individuals would want to come here that could afford that because they're entrepreneurs, but they are just stifled by the burdensome regulations, whether it's in Europe or in India, or maybe they're coming from China, Hong Kong, whatever it might be, and that would be an opportunity. Again, you point out, of course, the price tag is unrealistic, but maybe we can learn more about that.

[00:40:32] But I just wanted people to know that you're writing on a variety of issues, not just illegal immigration, but legal immigration. And I hope we can call on you again to maybe get into some more of these issues because these are relevant topics that we certainly try to address. And if people find themselves wanting to know a little bit more about you, they can click on the picture we have there, and then you at Young Voices have all sorts of articles that you have written, two of which we've just mentioned in passing.

[00:41:00] And so, Agustina, I appreciate you being with us today here on Point of View. Thank you so much for having me. I hope we can talk again soon. We're going to take a break, and when we come back, we'll get into some of the issues in the news. First article that I'm going to focus on by Ron Johnson, is this any way to run a budget? And the answer, of course, is no. Can we finally get to the point where we have a balanced budget? I don't know if we're going to get there yet. Can we at least have a budget for the federal government?

[00:41:29] I think that might be asking too much, but at least one senator thinks maybe we could actually do that. As we go to a break, since we're talking about these jobs, I just mentioned my commentary today is talking about the worker gap. You've heard me talk about this before, that Mike Rowe, host of Dirty Jobs, basically has said that we have two problems, a skills gap and a will gap.

[00:41:54] Now, the skills gap is we do need individuals that have the right degrees or training to put them, especially in some of these high-tech jobs. That's where this gold card might come in very significantly. But even at the lower levels, we have blue-collar skills that would require not a college degree, but some mechanical ability and training. And yet in the high schools, we've been taking out and removing shop classes.

[00:42:21] So he's talking a great deal about the skills gap, but there's the other part of that, and that's the will gap. As you've heard me mention before, we have millions of young men who are not working and not looking for work. And if, indeed, President Trump is successful in bringing manufacturing jobs back to America, that's another article I have, which we'll talk about in the next hour, who's going to fill those jobs?

[00:42:47] I think we need to change some of our attitudes about work. And so that's my commentary today, which you can find, and I hope that you'll find it to be helpful and useful, and it's on our website at pointofview.net. Let's take a break, though. We'll get into some other issues in the news right after this. The Bible tells us not to worry,

[00:43:14] and yet there is a lot of worrying stuff in our world today. Thankfully, the Bible doesn't stop at telling us not to worry. God gives us a next step. He says we need to pray. But sometimes even knowing what to pray can be difficult, and that is why Point of View has relaunched our Pray for America movement, a series of weekly emails to guide you in prayer for our nation.

[00:43:43] Each week, you'll receive a brief update about a current issue affecting Americans, along with a written prayer that you can easily share with others. We'll also include a short free resource for you in each email, so you can learn more about the issue at hand. Will you commit to Pray for America? Go to pointofview.net. Click on the Pray for America banner at the top of the page to subscribe.

[00:44:14] Again, that's pointofview.net. Click on the Pray for America banner. Let's pray together for God to make a difference in America. Point of View will continue after this.