our circumstance. >> and that town you passed through, it's it's schitz creek and it's where we live. >> over time it end up being an opti optimistic comedy about class. because it acknowledges that class, it doesn't have to be a perm permanent divide. >> that is not okay. what are you guys doing here? >> tonight we are dancing as a family. >> we never wanted this town to be the butt of the joke. the town is the goal. it's the family that had a lot to learn .

♪ ♪ xx a massive influx of migrants. people are scared. they are desperate. >> the reality is there's just too many people. >> my message is this, do not just show up at the border. ♪ let me in, immigration man ♪ ♪ can i cross the line and pray i can stay another day ♪ ♪ let me in, immigration man ♪ ♪ i can see you anyway ♪ >> we are the united states of america. none of us would have our children in that position!

they are human beings! >> who gets to be part of the american political family? who can become an american? ♪ ♪ >> our country is full. ♪ won't you let me in, immigration man ♪ ♪ can i cross the line and pray ♪ >> how can anyone be anti-immigrant? we are all immigrants. ♪ with my immigration form is big enough to keep me warm ♪ >> america is a melting pot. ♪ you better watch out for the man ♪ ♪ let me in, immigration man, can i cross the line and pray ♪

>> the dreams that unfold here are those that what make america soar. >> people willing to risk everything for the dream of freedom. >> we are and always will be a nation of immigrants. >> i'm faried zakaria. welcome to a special hour on immigration. >> a major surge at border crossings. >> that number could double in the coming days. >> reaching emergency levels. >> it's no longer just a partisan talking point. or a hyperbolic claim on fox news. >> the number of people arriving from other parts of the world have been staggering. >> the country has been facing a surge of migration the likes of which has never been seen. >> streams of people every day,

every hour. >> a record 2.4 million migrants were apprehended at the border last fiscal year. that shattered the record set the previous year. and nearly equalled the total population of chicago. >> and the clock is ticking. officials on the border are sounding the alarm. >> hundreds have been arriving every day to some border cities. sometimes tens of thousands of migrants in a single month. >> all of our shelters are already at capacity. >> homeless shelters have been overwhelmed. >> this is not even about politics. it's about humanity. >> families have been sleeping on the streets. >> we have hundreds and hundreds and that's not the way we want to treat people. >> come on in. >> these border towns are no strangers to big migrations, but

they have never gone through anything like this. the numbers at the border went down in recent weeks after more restrictive measures were introduced, but the future is still very uncertain. >> it's a perfect storm of a system that just is ultimately breaking. >> why is this happening now? it's a unique moment in the history of the hemisphere. the pandemic and climate change with its brutal storms, droughts and disease led to economic meltdowns, political unrest and a perfect storm of migration. >> we have a planet of people on

the move. more people moving to more places than ever before in the history of the world. >> cuban migration to the united states rose nearly 500% in a single year. colombian migration rose over 1,100%. >> continues to roil the nation. >> over 7 million people have fled venezuela and other countries. that is close to the exodus from war torn ukraine. >> these are people who all had families, had lives, had jobs and their country fell apart. then they take the journey and the journey in itself is a life-or-death experience. >> 1-year-old brenda has no shoes. >> they've come to el paso, a city with a proud history of

welcoming immigrants, overwhelmed by a global crisis. >> the leadership in el paso, the mayor was forced to declare a state of emergency there. >> they come to small towns like eagle passion, texas, which saw more migrants in one month than it had total residents. >> even several hundred coming into a town can really have an impact on sort of the psyche of the people that were there. >> the border turmoil has had a big impact on border politics. >> a shocking twist came out of the border region. >> zapata county in texas had not voted republican for president since the 1920s. mitt romney lost there by 43 percentage points.

>> for the first time in a hundred years -- >> south blue went red. >> but donald trump won in 2020. >> president trump cared about the border. >> by five. >> county after county, voters have moved 40 points away from the democrats. >> republicans have made big gains all along the texas border. >> the community grieves. >> flipped from blue to red. >> the fact that we're even talking about south texas as a competitive area of the state of texas is a real shift. >> it's a trend we've seen repeatedly all overs world. anger over immigration leads to hard right populous power. back in 2015 europe witnessed its largest refugee crisis since the end of world war ii. triggered by the brutal civil war in syria. european nations took in

millions. it was a courageous humanitarian action. but it sparked a major political backlash. >> the british people have spoken and the answer is we're out. >> the u.k. officially leaves -- >> had to leave the european union to go it alone. >> we've got our country back! >> there was brexit in great britain. >> had been an admirer of vladimir putin. >> and growing tallies in france. just last year in italy a party descended from benito mussolini. >> her platform is restriction on migration. >> formed the most far right government since world war ii. >> liberal immigration policies blamed for the country's problems. >> in sweden, a party with neo

nazi roots -- >> issues like crime, immigration front and center. >> -- won the second most seats in the country's parliament. >> i just received a call from secretary clinton. >> in the united states we saw donald trump use the issue to get himself to the presidency. >> stop the steal. >> stop the steal! >> and then began busting up all kind of institutions that affected the lives of americans. you never know until it's too late. if liberals won't defend the border, fascists will. >> disturbingly america seems very open these days to an anti-immigrant message. more than half of americans believe there is an invasion at the border, including 40% of democrats. and while three in four once

believed that immigrants were important for america's identity, just over half now think that is true. and with 2024 fast approaching, two of the most politically savvy governors have honed in on this issue. >> we're dealing with smugglers, cartels. >> the biden administration is doing nothing. >> it is unprecedented and it's dangerous. >> in texas, governor greg abbott launched operation lone star. >> he's arrested thousands of migrants for criminal trespassing. >> he's building a wall, just like trump did. >> we are building the border wall in the state of texas. >> governor greg abbott has been sending migrants in bus loads. >> then there was the bussing. >> where will these migrants being spending the night? >> thousands were dropped off

with little warning. even on the coldest christmas eve ever recorded in the nation's capital. >> if you look at what's going on at the southern border, it is a total disaster. >> but the governor who outperformed everyone with his political theater -- >> the cartels are just eating our lunch. >> was ron desantis of florida. >> aren't you glad to live in the free state of florida! >> the nation's migrant crisis l landing at an unfamiliar doorstep tonight. >> he hatched a secret plan to fly migrants to the liberal island of martha's vineyard. a former counterintelligence agent was used to target migrants in san antonio with promises of housing and jobs. but when the migrants got off their plane, absolutely no one was expecting them. they had been duped.

>> there were just people wandering around on the island knocking on doors who didn't understand why they were there. what became very clear very quickly was that these people had been victims of a crime. >> without naming suspects, criminal charges have been suggested. governor desantis denied wrong doing and has orchestrated more flights. >> we will facilitate that transport for you. >> he's also passed one of the h harshest laws the nation has ever seen, which could punish his state's economy to the tune

of billions. >> these immigrant workers are the drivers of florida's economy. >> if he becomes president, desantis promises mass deportations, ending birth right citizenship and using deadly force against migrants at the border. how did we get here? america has long prided itself as the happy, vibrant melting pot, a nation that lives in harmony with its newcomers. but if we look back at our history honestly, more often than no the story is filled with resentments, restrictions and backlash. in the mid 1800s, fleeing a terrible famine at home, the irish flocked to america. they found a new home and jobs, but their arrival also sparked the rise of the xenophobic no-nothing party. it called for restrictions on immigration and even violence,

electing 100 congressmen, eight governors and a presidential candidate. >> the fact of the matter is what is happening now has a long lineage. >> america accepted chinese workers so that it could build out the west. that led to another violent backlash. and the chinese exclusion act, which restricted a nation from america's shore. but the ugliest crusade against immigrants happened in the 1920s. a huge wave of immigrants was landing in america, the largest this country has ever seen. 100,000 people a month arriving at ellis island. italians, hungarians, russians. >> you have the so-called good white europeans, great britain, france, scandinavian countries.

those are the real whites, the good whites. but then you have these jews from eastern europe and you have the italians from italy, southern europe. >> they were actually viewed as different races. >> in the 19th century hungarians a race, czechoslovakias a race, jews a race, irish a race. they were whitish. there's a certain skepticism about them. they're viewed as lesser. >> the new immigrants crowded into the tenaments of new york's lower east side. throngs of children played in the streets. >> many nationalities gathered together in settlements of their own.

>> they worshiped differently, had different religions, they're speaking yiddish, all things that are completely new to america. >> all of it horrified america's wealthy elite, the blue bloods of park avenue and fifth avenue. >> they begin to freak out. they freak out and say we can't allow all these hooards of new immigrants to come who are so different from us, they're going to change our country. these immigrants threaten everything they hold dear about america. >> so some of the nation's most prominent men got together and hatched a plan. >> these are men who saw themselves as the best and the brightest for sure. these are respected people. >> they put their money and prestige behind scientists who were studying so-called inferior races. a pseudo science called

eugenics. >> whether you would be a good immigrant or not depended on your race and nationalization. >> the science deemed to weed out those unfit. >> they weren't beating around the bush. they said it very straight forwardly. we want to basically freeze the racial/ethnic composition of the united states. >> they believed the new immigrants were physically and mentally defective. >> the more jews you let in, the italians, they have all the negative qualities we don't want in the american population. they're more likely to commit crimes, more likely to be mentally insane or ill. >> and hitler embraced american

eugenics. >> adolph hitler said the united states is really on the money and we can learn from them. >> eugenists decided it was time to go to washington. they presented evidence to write a new immigration bill, the harshest the country had ever seen. >> they have expert testimony, they have studies to show and they basically say to congress it's not just you being prejudice or racist not wanting these immigrants, there is science to back this up. >> we don't want these people from other places coming. come on. >> the law passed, the immigration act of 1924 sharply cut immigration from across the world, putting rigid quotas on so-called undesirables. >> they shut the door and reduced immigration to the united states by 97%. >> the immigration act of 1924

made america a different country. it would get whiter and more monocultural. >> free at last, free at last, thank god almighty we are free at last! >> until a new revolution had changed everything. that story next.

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it was 1965. freedom and racial equality were on the march from selma to montgomery. >> we are standing before the forces of power in the state of alabama saying we ain't going to let nobody turn us around. >> and yet america's immigrants were still effectively chosen based on the color of their skin. haitians, africans and other groups were severely restricted. >> ellis island will be their first taste of the promise land. >> the race-based system that began in the 1920s, which adolph hitler had admired, was still going strong. >> those who do come will come

because of what they are and not because of the land from which they sprung. >> but in the shadow of the statue of liberty, everything would change. >> with my signature, this system is abolished. >> president lyndon johnson signed a sweeping new measure declaring that america would be color blind when choosing its immigrants. >> now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. >> the law was a little known chapter of the civil rights movement, and it would change the face of america, setting it on a path to become a much more diverse country. this demographic revolution happened largely by accident. thanks in part to a congressman who wanted to keep america

white. >> we are a prospering people. wherever we live or earn our livelihood -- >> by the 1960s the authors of the racist immigration laws of the 1920s had gotten exactly what they wanted. america was overwhelmingly white. >> they wrote laws to ensure that that would happen and it worked. >> immigration had plummeted. the percentage of foreign-born americans dropped by nearly two-thirds. as a the "new york times" headline had predicted, america's melting pot had effectively come to an end. but since the war against nazi g germany, there had been a consensus that a race-based consensus was wrong. >> because of the awfulness of

hitlerism, the awfulness of the nazis, they say this is terrible. we need to rethink this. we need to redo this. >> i shall ask to adequate and decent laws for displaced people. >> president harry truman despised the country's immigration laws. >> all of them have been behind barbed wires for years. >> they discriminated against post-war refugees, shutting many of them out. he signed a landmark law letting in more refugees. >> arriving in the usa -- >> but he could not get rid of the race-based immigration system. president eisenhower was also not a fan of the old laws. >> the calculated pressures of aggressive communism. >> because for him they damaged america's image as they fought the cold war. >> you had communist governments

saying to their peoples, look, the united states is a racist people and we were very concerned about losing a propaganda mention. >> and groups once said to be racially inferior were becoming part of the american family. >> we in america are immigrants. >> a new idea was born. >> a people welded from many nations. >> america, the land of immigrants. >> we take it for granted that that's how we always imagined ourselves. that's new at this time. >> my country welcomed so many sons and daughters of so many countries and gave them a fair chance and a fair opportunity. >> one of the early champions of that new idea was john f. kennedy. he was part of the immigration story. i mean, the kennedys, irish

immigrants. >> as a senator, he wrote a classic essay on the topic. >> no distinction is made between the native born and the naturalized citizen. >> and he called for an overall of the discriminatory immigration laws. pushing for fair immigration was not only right in kennedy's view, it was good politics. >> in 14 weeks of campaigning, he attracts enormous crowds. >> since recent arrivals were gaining political clout. kennedy's support for immigration helped to vault him to the presidency. >> so help me god. >> in july of '63, he submitted an immigration bill to congress. >> all people can make equally good citizens. >> promising equal treatment of

all peoples. ♪ we shall overcome ♪ >> just a few weeks later, thousands marched on washington. >> free at last, free at last, thank god almighty we are free at last! >> the time when there's protests saying we've got to have a country founded on equality of all people. >> what do we want now! >> we said it in our documents before but now it's time to really live it out. >> but kennedy's immigration bill stalled in congress. >> the president's car is now turning on to elm street. >> and then tragedy struck. >> the president of the united states is dead. >> vice president johnson was suddenly thrust into power. >> i need your help.

i cannot bear this burden alone. >> he urged congress to honor the fallen president. >> no memorial or eulogy could more honorably honor the president than the passing of the bill he urged along. >> congress responded. >> all men are created equal -- >> passing the civil rights act. >> the most sweeping civil rights bill to be voted in the law. >> the voting rights act, medicare and freedom. >> a nation that was built by the immigrants. >> and what's next on the agenda. >> we should not be asking in what country were you born? >> but the president faced a big

obstacle, the congressman from ohio. >> our subcommittee held executive hearings. >> reporter: he was a democrat who lead the main committee. >> where's my immigration bill, god damn it. our friends are still sitting on it. he was a staunch defenders of the old quotas, determined to preserve america's whiteness. southern segregationists like strom thurmond joined him and other opponents of the bill warned of impending doom. there would be hoards of congoliese animals. thanks to johnson's legendary political skills -- >> the mandate handed to william baines johnson.

>> and the sllandslide of 1964 >> ours is a time in change. >> the president had the votes in congress. >> now under the monument that has welcomed so many to our shores. >> in october 1965 -- >> those who seek refuge here in america will find it -- >> the president signed the immigration and nationality act. every nation now had an equal shot of sending its best. the president and his allies did not expect the law to actually bring in a lot more immigrants. >> this bill that we will sign today is not a revolutionary bill. >> a congressman actually believed that america would stay white. he had negotiated a big concession in the bill to give family ties more weight. >> people pledge proud dedication to their chosen land. >> he assumed that that would

benefit white europeans, since they already had relatives in america. >> congratulations. it's night to have you. >> but he would be proven very wrong. immigrants arriving after 1965 were over 75% non-european, coming from places like asia or latin america. they relied heavily on the family unification measures to bring in their clan. the very measures that the congressman had pushed for. thanks to the 1965 act, america today is on its way to becoming a majority non-white country by 2045. >> go back! >> that colossal demographic shift -- >> if you don't like it, leave! >> -- met a wave of resentment. >> the president wondered

allowed, why are we having all these people from shit-hole countries come here. >> and migration under trump plummeted by two-thirds. >> we take anybody, come in anybody. not anymore! >> and those policies have led america into a new immigration crisis. >> several million workers vanished. >> desperate for people willing to go to work. >> we've never had this many job openings ever in history. >> one hardly anyone is talking about. >> two job openings for every job seeker. >> it's a big problem all over the country. >> it's actually been fueling inflation. >> which could take money out of your wallet. >> the big question now, when will prices start dropping? >> that's coming up next. or more. that's why farmers new car replacement pays to replace it with a new one of the same make and model. get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. ♪ farmers mnemonic ♪ >> woman: why did i choose safelite?

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populist conservatives are right. america is facing an immigration crisis. >> we are going to build a wall! >> build that wall! build that wall! build that wall! >> our country is full. >> but they're hung up on the wrong crisis. the real disaster isn't that too many imgrmigrants have made it

the u.s. -- >> congratulations. >> -- it's that we aren't letting in nearly enough. >> the fertility rate in the united states fell to yet an all-time low. >> more and more american women are deciding not to have kids at all. >> america is in the middle of a baby bust. >> the birth rate has fallen dramatically. it's below replacement level. >> not enough americans are being born to replace those who have died. >> historically the safety valve for the u.s. has been immigrants. >> but starting under president trump, immigration to the u.s. plummeted, cutting us off from the workers we desperately need. >> growing fears of a recession -- >> and fanning the flames of economic decline. >> a massive labor shortage.

>> the highest inflation in 40 years, the clock is ticking on social security. >> america has three options. >> you can either have more babies -- >> which many experts say just won't happen. >> or you can welcome more immig immigrants or you can dwindle and fade into stagnation and irrelevance. i would favor the second option, welcoming more immigrants. >> instead we've chosen the third, stagnation, wrefusing to let in more foreign workers, according to one estimate, could cost the u.s. economy $9 trillion by 2030. on the other hand -- >> if everybody in the world who wanted to move could move, by one estimate the total income of

humanity would double. >> you heard that right. global wealth would roughly double, as workers from less affluent countries move to join bustling economies. other nations are looking to cash in on that gold mine. >> immigrants flock in, one million a year. >> taking a page from america's old play book. >> a number of countries noticed what it was that made america the richest, most powerful, most dynamic country in the world. >> they have come with little but the clothes on their backs. >> -- by welcoming people from all sorts of places and allowing them to become citizens. >> take canada, for example. while america's population is 14% foreign born, canada's population is 23% immigrant. and that number is about to rise even higher. late last year canada announced

a bold initiative. >> folks, it's simple to me. canada needs more people. >> to bring in nearly 1.5 million foreigners into three years. >> and i will be faithful. >> immigration isn't a threat to our northern neighbor, it's an opportunity. >> we need people to arrive with their talent, with their hopes, with their dreams to build our communities, to build our future. >> study after study has shown that immigrants are world class entrepreneurs. over 40% of fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. >> immigrants are the people who are most enterprising, the most courageous, the most creative, and these are precisely the people that can build an economy. >> imgrmigrants in america are three times more likely to start a business than the native born

by one count. >> the american dream is alive and well in every single immigrant that i've ever worked with. >> canada expects a similar return on investment. it carefully chooses who gets to be part of the canadian dream. >> they came from many lands. >> since the 1960s canada has forged a unique world renowned approach to immigration. >> each has given something of his strength and skill. >> favoring immigrants with the skills that their country needs. >> everyone has played his part. ♪ ♪ >> they've decided to cherry pick and they're making sure that they're getting the people who are going to really help them. >> canada's merit-based system has become the gold standard, copied by australia, singapore, the united kingdom and now germany, mired in its own labor

shortage. >> around 2 million workers are needed across multiple industries. >> even a butcher shortage, which threatens the nation's bratwurt supply. >> germany really is in urgent need of more foreign workers. >> while other nations open their doors, america is falling behind. >> other countries are going to be better than us someday because we aren't allowing the best to come here anymore. >> canada admitted over a quarter million skilled migrants and their families in 2021. the u.s. lets in only 85,000 highly skilled workers per year, despite having eight times the population of canada. the lucky few coming to america are just that, lucky and few.

skilled worker visas are so rare these days, they're awarded by a lottery. >> how can we drive home the point this system is completely bonkers? what if we add a lottery on top of it. that just makes everyone understand this is capricious, arbitrary. the lottery is a symbol but not of opportunity, it's a symbol of whimsicality. >> what's more, even winning the immigration lottery -- >> historic layoffs at twitter, meta, lyft and amazon. >> -- is no guarantee people will stay in america. with losses of silicon valley in recent months, they likely included thousands of immigrants on temporary work visas. they were forced to find a new job in just 60 days or leave the

country. >> what is it, america has too many software engineers? it really doesn't. these are absolutely essential people. >> some of the world's most promising talent kicked out the door. other countries will be happy to have them. up next, i'll give you my thoughts on our broken immigration system. satisfaction, ility, safetr and road-test evaluations... and the results are in. subaru is the twenty twenty-three best mainstream automotive brand, according to consumer reports. and subaru has seven consumer reports recommended models. solterra, forester, outback, crosstrek, ascent, impreza, and legacy. it's easy to love a brand you can trust. it's easy to love a subaru.

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and now some concluding thoughts on immigration. ten years ago, the last serious effort to fix america's broken immigration system collapsed. in april 2013, a bipartisan group of senators, the so-called beginning of eight, tried to push forward a package that included the usual sensible reforms that have been talked about for years. it included more border protections and sanctions against employing undocumented workers in the future combined with a path to citizenship for

currently undocumented workers. >> this debate goes to the heart of who we are as americans. >> six years earlier, even more ambitious and sensible reform effort spearheaded by senators orrin hatch and edward kennedy and endorsed by president george w. bush also collapsed. the logjam on immigration is one of the most tangible results of our current polarized political climate. even those who supported these efforts in the past, like senator marco rubio today distance themselves from any such policy proposals. none of this will change until one central reality changes. america's current immigration system is broken. the border is in turmoil. millions of people are gaming the system. unless this stops and a system of laws and rules is established and followed, americans will not support immigration reform.

the uncontrolled waves of migration hitting the southern border are making a mockery of the idea behind political asylum. in the wake of the holocaust, after 1945, several countries around the world announced that if people had legitimate fears that they would be killed because of their ethnicity, religion, or other such factors, they could apply for asylum status. it was clearly meant for extreme circumstances of persecution of individuals. now, however, millions of people come to the border of the united states, and by the way, the same is hatching in europe, and they all claim asylum. although some of them might genuinely be victims of targeted persecution, many appear to be economic migrants fleeing poverty and disease who are understandably searching for a better life. some are victims of violence and

gang warfare. but that is not what asylum status was meant to cover. after all, the same was surely true of earlier waves of migrants from, say, southern italy or ireland. today there seems to be no real difference between most asylum seekers and simple economic migrants. i don't blame the would-be immigrants for people seeking to come to the united states or france or italy. they are making a rational decision. that claiming asylum gives them the strongest possible chance to stay. and while their cases are being adjudicated, they can often slip into the country and begin working any way. this is not the only part of the immigration system that is failing. the bureaucracy devoted to it is understaff and overworked. president donald trump deliberately jammed it up even more, to the point that routine business visa applications from countries such as india can take months and months. some students cannot enter the united states, even after

getting admission and full scholarships. president biden deserves credit. he is trying to fix things, and he has expanded an existing parole program to include cuba, haiti, nicaragua in addition to venezuela. he is being criticized from both the left and the right. and in this particular case, at least, it's a sign that he is doing something right. but he needs to do more. in december, prime minister rishi sunak, the son of immigrants, announced a new policy for britain that more directly acknowledges that the asylum system is broken. and he has followed up by putting forth legislation to bar asylum seekers who arrive illegally in small boats. president emmanuel macron has also proposed measures to try to manage migration into france along similar lines. as an immigrant myself, i am convinced that americans are not hostile to the idea of immigration, but they are hostile to lawlessness, to people getting in not through

following rules and laws but rather because they slip in due to chaos and crises. the tragedy of the current situation is that america needs more immigrants. and at its best, it has a proud tradition of welcoming and assimilating them, us. but as long as lawlessness rules, it keeps immigration alive as a political issue. it makes sensible reform impossible. it creates resentment in the population, including among legal immigrants. now with climate change, political instability and economic crisis, the fact is pushing more people towards the united states and europe will only increase. now is the time to devise an entirely new process, one that is not tethered to categories like asylum seekers and normal migrants, that recognizes the realities of today and addresses them. otherwise, the politics of immigration will only get worse, which will be a tragic loss for

america. that is our report. thanks for watching this special hour on immigration. - you know what? that looks like fire! - comedy without black people would be like the nba without black players. (kevin screaming) - your biggest, biggest superstars in comedy have been black. (eddie yelling) - just genius and hilarious. - yeah, i said it. (audience cheering) - the chappelle show redefined sketch comedy.