providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. ♪ >> the house and senate are in recess for the holidays and will return -- and will return next week for the second session of the 118th congress. the senate convenes on january 8 and the house on january 9. they face two budget deadlines to avert a government shutdown, on january 19 and february 2. >> we are ready to do the work and we are waiting for the other chamber to come forward with a number that we can agree upon. >> we will figure out a best way to get this done quickly. neither mcconnell or i want a shutdown. >> followed upon -- the progress wednesday's burn returns on the networks, c-span now or anytime online at c-span.org. c-span, your unfiltered view of government.

c-span's campaign 2024 coverage continues with the presidential, -- primary. watch live on the c-span network as the first votes are cast in the upcoming presidential election along with candidate speeches and results getting with the iowa caucuses on january 15 and the new hampshire primary of november 23. campaign 2024 on c-span, your unfiltered view of politics. ♪ host: house speaker mike johnson led 60 of his gop colonies to the southern border yesterday to pressure the biden administration and democrats to agreed to house republicans announced that they would begin impeachment hearings against alejandra

mayorkas for his handling of the u.s. border. the white house responded calling the move baseless and a political stunt. this morning we will get your take on this debate. here is how we will divide the lines. those that support the border and immigration policies call in at 202-748-8000. if you oppose coming your line this morning is (202) 748-8001. if you agree, the line is (202) 748-8000. residence can reach us at (202) 748-8002. you can always text us on (202) 748-8003. where you can contact us on social media. the speaker held a news conference and here is what he had to say about president biden and his administration.

[video clip] >> it is an unmitigated disaster and catastrophe. it is a disaster of the president's own design. about an hour ago we had lunch and there are sheriff's -- a former bridge -- border patrol agents said in his estimation it took less than six months for the biden administration to dismantle 100 years of progress that the u.s. border patrol had achieved. some of the first actions joe biden took when he rolled into the oval that he will back border security measures that were put in place by the trump administration. it was on his very first day in office that president biden stopped construction of the southern border wall.

it was estimated on our twirling moment ago that if the administration we dated the policy, it could stem the flow by about 70% or more, but he refuses to do it. since the time he took office, the administration has done next to nothing to protect the border, but we have seen with our own eyes that they have open the border wide to the whole world. it is estimated that nearly 170 countries have people flowing across our borders. some of them are from patients that have high numbers of concentration. these are not people who are fleeing and looking for asylum, in fear for their lives from their home countries. we have hardened criminals coming across those borders. rather than incentivizing people to come, the president needs to deter people from coming over. rather than discussing amnesty with mexico, this administration

should reinstate the policy rather than expanding parole authority to an unprecedented scale. the president should stop catch and release. the president can and should act now. this does not require legislation, it requires leadership. despite the white house's claim, he has all the authority he needs right now to stop this madness, but the messages policies have sent is the opposite of that and quite clear. they have laid out in welcome that to smugglers and cartels. he is responsible to the great threat to international security and our nation's sovereign. host: speaker mike johnson at the boarding yesterday. the white house was asked if the president believed there needed to be changes to immigration policy. here is how his spokesperson

responded. [video clip] >> the president said he needed more money to protect the border. does he think it is a lack of funding that has led to the current tuition at the border? >> there is a reason we step back. he put border security in there because he believes in order to get the work done at the border, we need more resources. we need more resources to get this done and we need technology at the border to deal with what is going on. last may, the republicans in the house voted to get mid of 2000 border patrol agents. that is their focus. that is not helpful.

we need the resources to do the work and they keep adding in the way of doing the work, to deal with what we are seeing at the border. they are obstructing. that is what they are doing right now. >> i will remind you on the first day of his administration, he put forth a comprehensive immigration policy legislation. he presented that the congress because he understands that the system has been broken for decades. obviously, we need to change policy and work on policy to deal with a broken system. that is what you have been seeing. they are trying to deal with the border situation. it has been a policy situation. host: discussing the biden

administration's approach to the southern border. we are asking you this morning whether you support or oppose the president's efforts. you heard the white house press secretary there talking about resources and part of the new boushey asians of ukraine funding is including more changes to immigration policy but also the biden administration proposing $14 billion for border security. take a look at the numbers. they report that the budget for the customs and border protection agency was 19 point 8 billion. 16.4 billion was proposed.

president biden the next year proposed another billion-dollar t r the agency in 2023. congress disagreed. biden proposed another billion dollar cut and now he wants $14 billion in emergency boarding -- border funding, all that tied up in this debate on capitol hill over ukraine funding, aid for israel and taiwan. you just heard from the speakers saying, we are not going to greece anymore funding for ukraine or otherwise, unless there are stricter immigration policies. it is your turn to tell the lawmakers and white house what you think should happen. john new york, you oppose what

the president is doing. tell us why. caller: good morning, greta. when texas said they wanted -- the white house is going to the -- they are going -- they said that the executive branch, according to the constitution -- they had the authority. that is their responsibility to protect the borders and the sovereignty of our country. what is happening now, the executive branch is -- that is my opinion.

i went to a very good catholic school. he learn that the executive branch has certain responsibilities, that congress has certain responsibilities and then the judicial branch has their responsibility and the congress writes the laws. laws are in place that the executive branch is responsible for enforcing them. we have 700,000 people coming in , and one month. imagine that. i think the american people need to realize how many people.

we have to protect our sovereignty. we needs a protect the borders and the solvency of our country. host: do you think that the republicans are justified in pursuing impeachment of the homeland security secretary? caller: please. you have to be kidding me. are you blind? when are you going to show tapes of the border? you know like? the republicans announced they would go down there and there were very few people coming across the segment, where they come across the border. they were totally prepared for. the biden administration, the executive administration went down -- shut down.

nobody is coming across the border. there is nobody here. host: in the new york times, they wrote about house speaker being there. they said as the gop lawmakers flocked, the backup was mostly empty and serene while a handful of migrants could be seen crossing the rio grande. a trickle, they write, compared to what unfolds there on a typical day. tony gonzales hosted the event and represents the border districts as it may have to do with the fact that the speaker and members showed up here. he suggested that cartels to smuggle migrants intentionally slowed down network to undercut the message.

mexico has allegedly done more to stop the flow of immigrants, including same-day flights back to venezuela and holding people that they detained in mexico rather than allowing the influx that we have seen. that reporting, juxtaposed radio. glenn in illinois. good morning. caller: good morning. i am definitely with biden on this. the speaker around the house down there is nothing but a snake. he wants to turn everybody loose that was in the capital.

he turned the republicans loose from the house three weeks ago thursday. thursday and friday for two hours. arguing in the house about what kind of message we want to send to the schools -- what kind of milk we want to send to the schools. chocolate or whole milk? it was ridiculous. i cannot watch it. i watched for two hours on end off, and that is all they did before they cut off. host: good morning, al. caller: you cannot agree with this policy. you have to be mentally ill. this is crazy.

everyone born in this country is american. they let this by and the president, they did it intentionally. i do not even have a college education and i can tell. 100,000 kids, who knows how many children are missing. all the people dying across the border and people say it is all signed to come over here. all these people dying, drugs, the cartel running everything -- that lady is such a disgrace. she has the audacity to tell you my on the tv. i listen to her and coming out of her mouth. what a disgrace. these people should be thrown off of tv. i'm still upset.

my grandparents came here legally from italy. they did not get any money when they came here. they had no place to live. this is killing our economy. all this debt. i have not seen anything like it. it is amazing. all of this happened and it gets me sick to my stomach. i always change the channel. i cannot watch it. host: this is part of the republican's case, that voters should be voting for their party, including their presidential candidate, whoever it and that being. this is from the washington times. biden focused on trump.

trump claims border on biden. the border and crime are the themes that republicans are hitting hard and in turn, democrats are talking about democracy in their effort for the house to take back the majority there. they would like to keep the majority and president biden is seeking a second term. we are asking you to tell us your thoughts, whether you support or oppose the policies. we will turn to you next. in nebraska. good morning. caller: good morning. there are 70 things to say. biden is following the law. right now, the only way people can come in our asylum or

unification. like that guy who said his family came from italy? they got off the boat at ellis island and all they had to do was -- if they were ok, they were automatic citizen, but these people have to leave to have their asylum hearing. so it is just clogging up the system. if we had a legal avenue for these people -- there aren't 9 million jobs not being filled right now. if they would come here, we would know who they are and they would be supporting the revenue of our country and also, we need

people to do that. that would be the best solution. what's going on there now is a horrible example for the rest of the world. did you see all that barbed wire on the border? do you see that wall? what countries do that? we're supposed to be a positive leader for freedom. if our ancestors saw how we are treating immigrant now, they would roll in their graves. host: a couple headlines have been referenced by our viewer is this morning.

striking down state law on immigrant rest. arguing that a new law allowing the states to arrest reports -- port migrants is an unconstitutional violation. what do you think of the move on that? they are moving forward with impeachment hearings again from usa today, the proceedings will begin january 10, but the security committee is holding the first impeachment hearing according to committee spokesman. look for our coverage on c-span.org and you can also watch on our free mobile app.

on the numbers of crossings, here is from the washington times. the greatest domestic threat. in december 2020, the last full month under trump but from march 2021 to november 2023, the latest month available, they averaged 180,000 arrests. that works out to nearly 6 million over the 33 months. add unauthorized immigrants and many of them were invited to come through the parole policy. that is the washington times reporting. larry, hello. good morning.

caller: how are you doing this morning? i hope you give me the opportunity to speak, just like those who oppose the president. host: we are waiting on you. go ahead. caller: to the people out here listening, the congress is in charge of the purse and they control the money. when president biden had an opposition, he presented to congress and they cut it down. they had like 13 billion or something like that that the president was opposing and congress said, no, we are not going to give you anything unless we get a wall. it was created by donald trump. the peopleere ing along with donald trump were giving

money for this wall. baon was taking his money andsing it for other purposes. when president biden came in, said he had a deal to stop this fothat w and use it for the used people who were guarding the borderline. that is what the problem is now. it is the congress who has the ability to support this wall and stop these illegal immigrants, along with the policies. they have a policy in place and it has not been changed. impeaching the same guy going along with the laws that congress has made. it does not make any sense, but i will hang up because you like to hang up on me a lot. thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. host: ok. well from tulsa, oklahoma.

caller: how are you this morning? a lot of people talking. there are just a few things i would lead to share. there are 8 million people, as you just referenced. i have heard seven to 8 million people. since biden took office three years ago. that is too many people coming across the border. the one lady spoke about the border wall and it looks like we are against immigration welcome of the border wall has been there for over a decade. i'm not for the wall but i am for legal immigration. it is too many people coming across illegally and those are the ones that we have tracked.

the world is on fire and it is not going to take too much work for a person with fell thoughts against u.s., somebody from al qaeda or anyone of the number of terrorist organizations to come to the southern border and get across illegally and take root in this country. i do not live in fear. i live in hope. host: d blame the president for this recent influx? caller: you cannot help but to. i am not a trump fan. i did not vote for him first. i never voted for the man and i never will. one policy that he created that i support is the stay in mexico policy. that works. the years you get before you have to arrive to your court date, then they turn you loose

in the country. you asked me a question and i do not know if i support his policies. i just know that there are too many people coming across the border as it is. we are not able to track the people that get away, the people that come across illegally. we do not know who they are. something has to be done and i am not in favor of a wall. i'm not, but the border wall is effective in certain areas. i'm simply ill-informed. maybe you can tell me. host: the argument you made about the state in mexico policy is one that house american are saying as well. the house speaker said border officials met with and said that

70% of the illegal inflows -- it sent asylum-seekers back across the border till late in mexico for their immigration cases. the program helped to solve the migrant surge by removing the loophole that allowed asylum-seekers to stay in the u.s. while waiting years for their cases to appear before judges. take a look at this chart of immigration over the years. this is from the washington post. illegal crossings at the border rose 1% in november according to the preliminary enforcement data obtained by the post. this is january 2021 and 2022, 23. from the start of the end of the

trump administration to the start of the biden administration, this is what the chart looks like. your thoughts this morning on president biden's handling of the border and his immigration policies. a border resident, welcome to the conversation. caller: i'm going to try to explain what is happening now and what will happen in the future as easy as i can. the cries of the children who have been abused by the priests, the boy scout leaders, the politicians, the epstein's have reached all the way to god. host: we are talking about border security. rebecca. you are opposed to what you are seeing from the biden administration on rder the morning. caller: good morning. i am from north carolina and i have come face-to-face w

illegal immigrants. can you hear me? ok. while i have come face-to-face with some of these p. they do not speak any english. they probably do not have a soal security numbe when they do get wages, the wages are not enough to support them. and really, it breaks my heart about all these children. how i know all this? because i have had to interview people and sometimes you do not get the person you want, see you get a second person and they do not show up because they have to get another person. host: why are you interviewing? caller: because i needed help for a family member. i have family over in texas and

i am concerned about their welfare. host: joe in washington dc. good morning. caller: good morning. i was debating which call -- which line to call because i feel like i support not taking children away from their families. i believe that is one of the major reasons why illegal immigration numbers were so much lower under the trump administration because the messaging was, if you come to the border, they will take your kids from you. to this day, there are thousands of children unaccounted for. we do not know where they are. i know this because i used to work in a high school that has a large immigrant population. some of those kids, the last time they saw their mother was 2017. i do not support that. no matter how good it was and

keeping people from coming over the border. i do not support a million people coming across the border. it is inhumane. the government -- i hate that we are given this dichotomy to choose between biden, who does not know what to do about the problem and trump, who has no heart and is willing to see families torn apart. cipher getting emotional. but i support the idea. but there are ways to increase paths to citizenship it has not gone well but i support action

over interaction. i support positive action of her inhumane action. host: supporting the administration in some aspects. the new york times this morning, their story on speaker johnson's trip to the border. they lead with this paragraph. house republicans threatened on wednesday to starve the entire federal government of funding if president biden and democrats failed to institute a crackdown at the last mexico border to choke off the flow of migrants streaming into the country. that based on what congressman andy biggs had to say as part of that delegation of republicans on the border. listen to him and matt rosendale.

>> no more money for this bureaucracy until you get these borders under control. we are all committed to that. there is a national security issue that is taking place here on the southern border and that is what it will take to hold this administration accountable. host: all in support of that. they are willing to shut the government down if the biden administration does not shut down the border. tell us what you think about that. who do you support on this? shutting the government down if the administration does not agree to immigration policies? speaker johnson's said republicans would not support the administration's effort to secure more than 50 billion in assistance for ukraine, less the president raised a security bill

passed last spring, calling it what is necessary to fix the problem. it goes on to talk about republicans in the house and the senate who have insisted that sweeping immigration changes must be part of any bill to help ukraine fight off the russian invasion and gop senators blocked $110.5 billion in national security spending. the demands prompted officials, including the homeland security secretary to join bipartisan talks to find an elusive compromise on policies, a reflection of the political pressure democrats face to impose order -- to have order on the border. there is not happening in congress as the lawmakers return after a holiday break. negotiations over an emergency funding was old, 110.5 billion

including money for taiwan, israel and the border. there is also these looming government funding deadlines referenced. there are two deadlines. funding four agencies and another deadline in early february for the rest of the federal government. that is all playing out as lawmakers are set to return next week to washington. jose and tulsa, oklahoma. let's hear from you. caller: good morning to you. what i'm calling about is to support mr. biden asking for money to control the border, control ukraine and to control israel. but i noticed that republicans are making a grandstand about the border because they are down there talking about it.

but they need to get here. they took next week on vacation. they do not want to come in to do their job. they need to do their job so we can be right. host: joe on the border state. good morning to you. caller: good morning. what you are seeing is more of the republican lies. a month ago, they were complaining that the canadian border was wide open. joe biden is doing everything he can at the border. each year what they are complaining about. i wish you could get the amount

that republicans have spent on taxpayers money, making political ads, grant dandy. the pillar of truth in the republican party, who for 45 minutes sat on the floor and lied about everything. so more republican lies. they are electing donald trump, the biggest liar in the world. good luck. america will pull through, just like they did in 2020. host: ok. the former president's opponent in the primary also talking about border security. ron desantis writing an op-ed in the des moines register saying immigrant are overwhelming us. i will control the border. not in the des moines register, when we are just days out from

the first in the nation caucus that will happen mid january. of course, you can tune into our coverage of campaign 2024, leading up to you and the night of the iowa caucus. check out our 2024 campaign website and our coverage thus far of the candidates in these early states of isla, new hampshire and otherwise. larry in louisville, texas. good morning. caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i do not oppose or support. what i am tired of are the talking point that those parties talk about. they had quotas. they allowed a certain amount of people each year. that is what is needed up in the

southern and northern borders have a quota, whether it is 100,000, 200,000 -- whatever that number may be, that is what you need to start with. based on the number of judges that you have on the border that can handle that three branches of government, in order to put a government to work properly, all three branches need to beorking properly. congress is not doi jack but utilizing talking points in order to get reelected, just like the democra using abortion as a talking point to get reelected. as a former manager, i would tell my people, do not come to me with a problem unless you have a solution to the problem, or i will consider it just a lot of noise. thank you again for taking my

call, but i really do believe the first thing you need to do is have quotas, just like they did in the early 20th century when people are coming in from germany, italy and france. they only allowed a certain number of people to enter the country. thank you again for having -- thank you again for taking my call. have a beautiful day. host: in other news, the former president asking the supreme court to keep his name on the colorado valley. also appealing in an -- a decision to bar him from that state's valid. the wall street journal this morning, front page, at least 95 killed in iran is the headline. a deadly scene. at least 95 people were killed in explosions near a public ceremony commemorating the death

of a senior officer who killed in 2020 by a u.s. air strike during the trump administration. below that caption is this headline claiming -- israel struck and killed one of the key players in hamas, in lebanon tuesday evening. that is the front page of the wall street journal this morning. back to this conversation in massachusetts. good morning to you. john is in a border state as well. to support or oppose the biden administration's policy? caller: i oppose the policy. the biden administration is not enforcing the law.

i thought there was a plan to find out the root cause. i thought they were going to make everybody apply online so that we would not be overwhelmed at the border. why are sanctuary cities complaining? do you think texas is being notified how many people are going to come a? distinction race dates are the ones that draw them in saying what they are going to do. they draw them and saying we have stuff for you. come over here. they are getting $5,000 a month. you know how much i got as a veteran when i needed food stamps? $500 emergency food stamps. that is five times what a veteran guy. he is not enforcing any of the laws. if he did not sell them by a certain date, they were supposed to be used for the purpose.

to try to say that they are doing anything at all is nothing. they fired a bunch of trump judges and now they are complaining that there are not enough judges. all these people -- they are all coming here looking for jobs and a better life, and who can blame them? this is the best country in the world. it's funny that we are doing better on inflation than everybody. i never hear us bragging about that. just how we are beating inflation. the economy is doing wonderful. thank you, joe biden. host: diane, your turn. caller: thank you for taking this call. i would like to say something to mr. massachusetts.

there is an assumption that biden does not have a policy. policies need to congress because they have to be funded and they have had his bill or whatever you call it, his policy to be funded since day one, when they were trying to figure out who was going to bring policies to the floor. that is the job of the speaker of the house, to bring these to the floor, but the speaker of the house is being controlled by these rules they set up at the beginning. a small group of people taking orders from trump, who do not care if they bring the government down. the american people have not been able to see this. if they were able to see it and debate in an open forum, you could write your congressman, put some pressure on them, organize locally.

excuse me. i get emotional, but i truly believe that the group and their republican allies have allowed this to happen so that they would have a very strong case building the other and fear of mexican immigrants, and fear of criminals and all of this angst, so that -- we could have been dealing with this as citizens, but we have not been able to use the system because they do not want the system to succeed. host: all right. diana's thoughts there. the chairman in the house, congressman greene announced his committee would move forward

with an impeachment hearing of the homeland security secretary. he was also at the border. a republican in tennessee along with republicans, here is what he had to say about his committee's efforts. >> the greatest domestic threat to the safety meant -- of the american people as secretary mayorkas. through his policies, he has defied and subverted the laws passed by the u.s. congress. he has defied multiple court orders. he has lied numerous times to the u.s. congress. he has, under oath stated things that were blatantly obviously incorrect. he has broken his oath to defend this country. even ag garland admitted that

the policies of the orchestra are being you -- that the money is being used, putting americans at risk. tens of thousands of young people, trapped in sex slavery. billions of dollars wasted. expanded criminal networks now connected to the drug cartels in mexico throughout our entire country. with the border wide open and a war in israel, hamas can just walk right in. that is the director of the fbi. he fears for his own agents. it is clear that this is intentional. sec. may work us knows the policy. if the ag knows the policy or the clause, he knows they are

the cause and he is doubling down. he is doing this intentionally. despite the catastrophic effect on our country. our committee has finished its five phase investigation and i want to thank the members of the committee for their hard work. you are going to see a lot more coming here soon. host: january 10 is when the first impeachment hearings will take place before that committee. tune in to c-span.org or our free mobile app for coverage. the washington times reporting and they know that an early vote taken in november and pushed by marjorie taylor greene fell shy of the majority needed.

eight republicans joined democrats in opposing the move and the result was that the article was referred to the homeland security committee where they say they are taking up the bipartisan vote to pursue the issue. republicans say they had -- they think they have wrangled enough votes to successfully impeach mayorkas the next time it comes up for a full the. seeing in an interview yesterday, the secretary was asked about this impeachment effort. here is what he had to say. you are so deeply gauged in the border investigations at the senate. does this undercut any possibility of getting a deal on the house floor? >> i hope not. thank you for having me this morning. yesterday i joined a bipartisan group of senators negotiating a solution to a much played,

broken migration system and i was very privileged to participate in that and before i did so, i was hard at work in the office with my colleagues addressing the situation at the border and addressing the many other challenges. after i participated in those negotiations, and providing technical and operational advice to the bipartisan group of senators, never to -- i returned to the office. we have a broken immigration system, the one fact of which everyone agrees. our administration is focused on solutions, and we are pleased to join a bipartisan group of senators who are similarly focused on solutions. host: this morning on the washington journal, and our first hour we have been getting your thoughts on the biden

administration's border and immigration policies. remember, all of you can text us and tell us what you think at (202) 748-8003. just include your first name, city and state. our next caller supporting the president. good morning. caller: thank you. i am tired of it, greta. i'm tired of the conspiracy theories and the lies coming from republicans. when biden was in office as a regular representative in the house, they never did funds. if you want to get the border under control, then you get more ice down there and you get more border control down there. you get judges who can get these cases in and out and you get

more funding. i'm tired of the conspiracy theories. when they start doing their job, then things will get done and under control. it is simple. i do not care what color you are , i do not care what race you are, trump could care less. he does not have a caring bone in his body. he was going to get rid of sentinel. he was going to get it under control, but he did not do one thing. i am so over it. and green, green has a lot of nerve. republican voters, the biggest thing they are complaining about is the border and they keep

typing on it and talking about it because that is the only thing they have to go on and it is ridiculous. we are all being used and abused. regardless of what party, what color, whatever. host: ok. let's hear from somebody who opposes. mansfield, texas. caller: yes, i am a retired military wife. my big brother died of fentanyl. what i do not like is that you go to the va hospital and you see all the people there. i really feel like i want to help them, but let's fix the problem here first because my husband coming to this day cannot do anything for himself.

he has ptsd so bad, where he does not go outside the house. if he did not have the support system he had for me, he would end up in the hospital somewhere. i want to help people who are coming, but also, you drive down the street and you see all the veteran, no legs, with signs and begging. we should help those who were here first and then help everybody else. host: a couple calls there about the root of the problem. at a news conference, congressman tony gonzalez who represents the border district in that state talked about border security and the issue of cartels. [video clip] >> whether you are a dog, cat, member of congress, whether you are the media -- showing out

matters. i want to take the speaker for making this happen. i want to thank the speaker's team for putting this together. i want to thank our own team. this is our 21st and i want to thank our team for working together to put this together. thank you to the members to have all traveled to get here, two days after the holidays. we could all be doing different things, but we are united in making sure that our top priority is securing the border. it shows by us being here. two weeks ago, there were 12,000 people coming over illegally. right down the street, there were thousands of people in the firefly facility that we visited earlier today that had a max capacity. there were 6000 people. 4000 people were getting

released and we were at the brink of massive catch and release. when that happens, our communities get turned upside down. it may start in eagle pass, but it quickly reaches san antonio and it quickly reaches all over the country. today that stops. it may have to do with the fact that the speaker and other members showed up, but it stopped. 1400 border patrol agents today are not processing migrants that have come into our country illegally. they are out in the field, doing their job and that is what i would argue that we are -- that we are fighting for the hardest. we want them to get back to doing their job. how do we fix this? we deport people who are here illegally by the thousands, not by the dozens. if you stop talking for one

second and you just listen like we did today, if you hear from the ranchers, from the sheriffs, from the judges come the mayors, the people who live here every day, they will tell you the same thing. you want to get the root of the issue? the root of the issue is the cartels. they turn it on and they turn it off. today is a prime example of that. it is long time for us to label cartels as terrorist organization. host: jeffrey n los angeles, good morning to you. caller: good morning to you. how are you? host: who do you hold responsible for the situation at the border? caller: let's be practical. i do not think there is enough information that you can grab onto to say whether you support were oppose. you getnippets.

they value up but we are not getting all the information that whether one president is doingay good or another one did bad because you only getnipps at election time, so you support -- you focus on the border and say s teible and awful. we have had people coming in for years, decades and it has always been something, so how can we say one administration isoi better than the oth when we are having a lot -- a lock in congress and senators are tying up? it is hard to say what is really going on at the border because that is inflammatory situation causing to be in an uproar. they said, they are not doing enough and we are going to show up today and it will not.

one thing that gonzalez said that i do agree with -- fentanyl from china and mexico, i think that is the key. the other stuff is just more of a deflection. the people coming in are allowing the drugs to come in. it is not just illegal immigrants, it is more drugs and money coming in. it is hard to control something like that. but to say it is an illegal immigrant problem -- no, it is an illegal drug problem. we are never going to get this problem fixed until that situation is put into control. host: in lakeland, florida. the morning. caller: i'm going to give a totally different viewpoint. i am middle-class black. i do not know one single --

middle-class blacks are the heart of the party. i do not know one single middle-class black person, not one, who wants to come one, come all when it comes to the border. guess who it hurts more than anybody else in this country. they refused to bring this up. everyone on the left is saying come one, come all. blacks do not run anything in south florida. run anything in south florida. when these people come here, that was 90% democratic, now it's 50-50. biden won with 33% and i was down to 5%.

they are going to come over your and build these businesses and if you don't speak spanish, [inaudible] host: alan in bakersfield, california, what do you say, support or oppose the biden administration's border and immigration policies? caller: yeah, i think of i wanted to destroy america, i would be supporting bidens border policies. these immigrants don't integrate. we have desegregation in the 70's and we barely were able to hold the country together and get the blacks to integrate into the american society and now we got to deal with millions of illegal immigrants that are coming in and taking our jobs and depressing wages. they are a net economic negative

and also, they cause a lot of crime. especially with the cartels and we have the fentanyl. we've got to get quotas back, we got to limit the amount -- host: we will take a break from this conversation and turn our attention to the economy when we come back. the axios chief economic correspondent neil irwin will be back at our table this morning and later, criminologist jeff ascher discusses his research into the u.s. crime rate why so many americans think it's up when the data shows it's actually falling. stay with us. ♪

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