we can drive down one of the direct is we're given, it's to do something about the felony pursuit, the home invasions that are being expressed in the rio grande valley. also the stash houses. when i'm talking about stash houses, human and drug stashes. when i talk about human drug houses, or apartment of the business model to cartel is once you pay your money to get here, oh, by the way, you're not going anywhere. >> what is the national guard's role specifically? i think there's been some question about if they have policing power, immigration enforcement powers, it's been well documented their doing a lot of surveillance. if you could tell us exactly, i know there are sensitivities within specific operations, but if you could just let the public know, because i think people ought to know what they're getting -- >> what they're doing is direct support of civilian authority, and when they were called up, and which means what we've done is we've looked at, you know, with our local and federal partners, specifically border

patrol, to identify observation posts where ideally we can itch wait it, okay -- situate it, okay, texas military guard personnel that just by being there they'll be able to observe in what we call interlocking field of view so they can look at and report smuggling activity. they don't have the power to detain or arrest, they have the power to detect and report. the d. of public safety, that's why you see so many numbers in great concentration and border patrol as well. i don't want to leave local law enforcement out of the equation. they will too respond. >> congressman, you penned an op-ed where you were critical of the deployment. again can, west texas, el paso is a different situation now, but, obviously, you want to speak for the entire border. if you could elaborate on why this is a good idea. >> first of all, i question the cause and effect of deploying guard to the boarder and using that to account -- border and

using that to account for the drop of children and families entering the united states. i think a lot of people that see this issue agree in the hot summer months there are few people willing to make that journey through mexico. if you look at this more holistically, 15 years ago you had 1.6 -- last year you had 420,000, and this year even with the peak from central america or the surge from central america, we'll probably not hit half a million. we are, at the same time, spending more than twice what we were spending 15 years ago, $18 with a year in federal money on the -- $18 billion a year in federal money. doubled the size of the border patrol, and el paso, texas, the city that i'm very lucky to represent in congress is the safest city not just in texas, but it's the safest city in the entire country. and i say that it is the safest not in spite of having so many immigrants in our community and

being right on the border, but precisely because of those factors. >> but let me stop you there because, you know, you had the recent shooting of an off-duty border patrol district in the valley. you had three honduran can nationals who were violently murdered. you have an increase in sexual assaults whether those are being committed by legal immigrants or not, so it's not to say that there is not crime on the border s that what you're saying? or are you -- i guess what are you saying when -- >> yeah. i'm not saying there's not crime on the border, i'm saying the border is much safe iser on average than the rest of the country, and it's not just el paso, laredo, san diego, other large border cities are typically much safer. and, again, it's not despite their proximity to mexico, i think it's precisely because of that. folks come to this country not to commit crimes by and large, but to get ahead to provide a better life for themselves and for their children and to live the american dream. is there a crime sometimes on

the border? yes. are there folks trying to smuggle drugs and people? yes. my hat's off to everyone who does everything they can to protect this country and insure that the border stays safe. but i think our reaction to these kids -- and, remember, these are children coming from central america -- has been disproportionate to the threat. and the scary thing about that is when we concentrate all of our attention and resources on the border, it's possible we take our eye off the ball where the real threat resides is, and that's in our airports, that's potentially the northern border, that's home grown extremists and terrorists. so, certainly, let's be vigilant, let's continue to guard against threats at the border, but whether we're talking about immigrants or terrorists which is the talk in washington today, the southern border has never been safer than it is today, and you can look at any metric to judge that and it's borne out. >> colonel, you looked like you wanted to say something. >> if you exclude organized crime, i agree with the

congressman. but the fact, i don't really think you can exclude organized crime. you have to look at the relationship between them and the juarez cartel because, you know, kidnappings matter, extortions matter. and even though they're illegal, you know, they're people. when they come across, the first ones to be victimized in these stash houses is by the cartel and cartel operatives and these gangs. and the sexual exploitation. and i can't tell you how many cases that we've had to work in human trafficking, and we've got, you know, young girls being recruited over by organized crime, they are preyed upon, debriefed, threatened, gang raped is and forced into prostitution. it may not be counted, it doesn't show of up on a stat -- show up on a stat sheet, but it does clearly affect things. and also -- well, i'll cease for now. >> lieutenant governor, you want to say something? >> i've been in and out so many times, and as we were talking earlier with your wife amy, my grandparents have lived for

years and years in el paso. great city. but you've had violence in el paso. to say that our border is safer than the other cities around the country is, is, is delusional. >> what specifically, you said there's been violence in el paso. what specifically are you referring to? >> you've had incidents on shootings, you've had difference people coming across the border. here's the bottom line -- >> i would like to know -- >> let me finish where -- what i was going to say. >> you make these allegations about car bombs and violence and shootings. where are the facts? i live there. no one's more concerned about the safety of the community that i represent. my three kids are there right now. >> well, let me answer your question. >> i wouldn't be comfortable being there. >> let me answer your question. and that is you were focusing on the humanitarian side and the unaccompanied children just a moment ago. that's only part of it. it's less than 20%. some 12-18%.

when you look at the other 80%, a lot of these people that are coming into the united states have criminal records. people that have come into texas since 2008 who are not legal have committed hundreds of thousands of crimes in texas, and including thousands of murders. so this is a law enforcement effort, a law enforcement effort to secure the border. the federal government can has failed miserably, horribly to do their constitutional job to secure the border. and so i believe that when the federal government fails to do their constitutional job, the states have more than just a right, but an obligation to do that job. so we are trying to protect the people of texas. that's our number one responsibility for elected officials, to protect the safety of the people who live here. >> congressman cuellar, you obviously are well versed in homeland current issues. i want to talk really quick

before we get to funding and border trofl levels -- patrol levels about this threat about isis or islamic extremists using the southern border. troubles, obviously, here, because i think you guys will laugh it off from folks who take it seriously. what does the west texas sheriff know, the two members that are on the homeland committees don't know. >> i'll be happy to answer that really quickly, if you don't mind, henry. so day before yesterday we had a hear anything homeland security with the director of the finishing bi, the director of the national counterterrorism center and the secretary of homeland security. and each of them was asked point-blank is there any threat that you know of from isis along our southern border that we should know about, and each of them said there is no credible intelligence or information to lead us to believe that there is any threat whatsoever from isis or hezbollah or iran or al-qaeda or any known terrorist organization. furthermore, there has never been a connection to a plot,

successful or otherwise, purported by terrorists here in the united states connected to the southern border. should we remain vigilant against that? certainly. should we continue to guard against it as a possibility? absolutely. but let's look at the facts. these claims that the border is violent -- [applause] these claims that people are coming here to get us, it's bad for the border, it's bad in terms of wasting resources, and it takes our eye off the ball where the real threats are. and last let me say this, very hard to attract capital, investment and talent to communities like el paso and laredo when the public headline is governor perry says car bombs in el paso, isis on the border. those things are not true. ..

there's a trend where of course we have to follow up on that like he said, we did ask specifically when this came out and they are saying that there is no federal fear. how somebody else might know that information at the top intelligence officers don't know, i don't know but i'm always one of those you have to be ready just in case because if you look at it the bad guys have to get it right one time, that's

all they have to do get it right one time. we have to get it right every single time as we do that on the border. let me just talk about the border security. first, the border is a region that has millions of people on both sides. it's activity where every bit as $1.3 billion of trade between the u.s. and mexico and path of dollars last year, the movement of drugs, the largest port around la, new york, loredo gets 12,000 trailers a day. >> it's $150 billion. >> it's huge. first you have to look what the border is. it is a place where there is a lotis creating productivity for both sides. on my site going to the next

profession i have a lot of the equal fortune so you see the energy. on the other side, the board has the same thing we have we have said you will have a lot more activity. that's the way that i see the border. >> there is criminal activity going on. >> first we see the border. differently. second, security. how do we address a threat? first of all, there's organized crime, there could be terrorist crime, there could be other types of threats. then you decide what is the appropriate measure to address that. if you put the wall, border patrol and stops the whole issue that doesn't. then you have to look at how the best address that issue and then in the ports of entry they are

very, very, very important. the other thing is just generally speaking on addressing those threats either we can keep playing defense on the one-yard line where he spent over $18 billion or do we look at playing defense on the 20-yard line and working with mexico and central american countries. >> to follow one the comment it is the tale of two borders. we have a very robust economy that says texas is the number one trading partner over 500,000 jobs created, $200 billion last year just between our state and nation. then we have a very dangerous situation that is not conducive to solving the drug problems and the crying and the unlawful entry that is better than ever because the studies show that in 2011 to 2013 on average engines in texas increased by 100% and

-- >> the customs and border patrol about 119,000 fbi ended to be the -- apprehended and the rose in 2013. >> we even had a great data to the operation drawbridge cameras. it's 95,000 people since they have been put up but they have only apprehended 46,000, so it is less than half that of being a prevented. our policy needs to be this. we need to separate the jobseekers and i think that is the approach that will applaud them for. >> and immigration reform would do that. >> every guestworker program, people that want to do their job will come into the u.s. and the bad guys will be the ones that we focus on. >> i agree with you there is so much this distrust. the border policy to have a guestworker program where people

are coming in illegally. >> there was a harsh letter and i want to compare. the governor said neighbors and friends to the comments that you said to you think that they are failing to on purpose? >> the date that they are sensitive about 9/11 and the mexican government put out a government to cover letter that you need code letter that said our actions of the border to include. there is a political stunt we were politicizing. it was all about politics. it couldn't be further from the truth. i started seven years ago when i realized government was incapable or not willing to

secure the border. appropriating $800 million on the aircraft helicopters were people, sheriff's department and that given the strength we are lucky to have. that has given him the ability to run the surge and at least in the rio grande valley to drop people crossing the border. we are not about rising. mexico militarized border by putting the mexican army as the kernel just got through explaining this is a force multiplier. the national guard just to see the report. >> mexico does have an army presence. what is the difference between what they say and the military?

>> in the military and in mexico they are using it every day. they ask them to do police work instead of military work we get bad results and we know people who were shocked were shot by a marine when we deployed the marines to the border in the clinton administration. the border patrol we would all agree does a great job and the men and women that have the toughest role in the federal government, to conditions, uncertain circumstances. they may need to drug runners and immigrant that are coming here to find a better life. and they do a great job. we don't need the national guard >> if you would help to get the parody with a number of border patrol agents i would be right there with you.

let's get the same strength level. they wrote a book called the border security act which i'm a cosponsor. that would make sure sure to use the existing assets and deployed in based on the risk without having to spend billions of dollars more to protect the border. i think that we would all like to consider ourselves conservative leader spending $18 billion a year, 15 years ago you would think that we would want to deploy those assets and spend that money as widely as possible that we want to deploy current assets where they are needed. i agree with you on that point. >> there was a national guard and nobody really seemed to be quite upset about that because it was an initiative of the national level.

>> my position is different. once they make it to bring the national guard i'm going to support those men and women to do their job. understanding that the men and women in national guard cannot enforce the immigration law. my answer was no but once that decision was made then let's go ahead because the border patrol said that it wasn't a law-enforcement issue because if you saw the kids they were turning themselves in. in texas there was one time where 281 kids and families just went in and said here we are. so i would have used resources. >> it focused on the law-enforcement law enforcement side. 80%. but again, double that it is once a national guard went down there i'm going to separate them. on the national guard i think

that could have waited a while but i was overcome with the go down but you're right they've done this for years and i always tell people they've been here for a lot of years. but understanding they are nothing to be there at the border. >> when it was announced recently i think of as a separate statement that they are not going to be roadblocks and does that raise concerns and they are not going to do any immigration enforcement what exactly is the state police rolled when it comes across someone that is an undocumented immigrant, and how can you try to come to terms >> first and foremost the jobs are to support the state law. if there's a reasonable there is

a reasonable suspicion a federal crime is being engaged in the situation the border patrol addresses it. we don't work on immigration. we don't want to hundred 87. there's a training component. >> deputize the state troopers to do the paperwork. we don't want that and we have a lot to do on the highways and the roadways. the one that called for the regulatory checkpoint is none other than myself. so, i am the one that made that call on that. the point was this was a very cost effective and efficient way to do compliance issues in the driver's licenses. it sounded that we were

operating these all the time even though we are consistent on the supreme court rulings and i made a commitment to the senator he didn't think it was detracting and shut it down. >> we will not be doing those unless we want the public to do these checkpoints under the guidelines. what happens if the numbers keep dropping and it seems this is is a hot news item and journalists saw in the valley for six weeks. it seemed to have subsided and you made the mentioning that it could be because of the letter and other factors. how long are they going to be down there that >> however long the legislature tells us to be down there. your surge is basically based on

the rio grande valley sector. over the 100,000-mile border we are focusing on 10% of the border. until and unless we are able to address the 1200 miles i don't think most texans are going to be satisfied that the state or the federal government has done enough to stop illegal immigration. the whole subject is where the country has to go. but again not a pathway to citizenship but at least the people that want to be here and work and they can have a visa but we are never going to get there politically until we secure the border.

>> we can play the border patrol agent 1 foot apart from the agent or have to wind up through all of the entire border as stephen called -- colbert said. what are you doing to achieve that and how much do you want to spend, how many people do you want to put out? it isn't realistic. >> evil never get 100%. you have a 65% drop expert on june 23. but that's not the victory until you shut the border down. we appropriated almost $800 million to give the

helicopters so that we could have a force multiplier so we could be efficient and give the people of texas texas for confidence. i have a lot of friends and you have have able to friends that live between the border into the checkpoints into their homes are armed. we have a lot of common friend is where they send their wives and their families back to the cities as it is dangerous to live in the ranch. we need to secure the border. >> the boots on the ground appropriation. they are staring at a computer screen and we need more so how many more border patrol agents come to texas. arizona, new mexico has this much.

>> i have a disagreement with both administrations on this issue because if you look at what choice he would have with the apprehension, there are some areas to have very low at pretensions but it would've border patrol and i think some of those should be shifted around. half of them went to arizona and i told the commission why are you sending half of them over there. of the mobile strikeforce tend to be moved around any time. one bill is not very mobile and sure enough when all of this happened i asked them about the mobile strikeforce so i had disagreements with how they should move that for the apprehensive resolve to work

with mexico and the other countries because i would rather pay defense on their line instead of coming over here. one of the things we've been asking to focus on the border they are starting to do that. when i was there in one of the bridges you literally had people with rats and no control at all on the mexico border. it sends a signal with a strong message we do not tolerate it as a reason why is the measure of the metrics into the big

question why is the secure border is to put the resources that are necessary. as a part of that guestworker program to create a southwest border security commission because there is no one time that we have arrived made up of the bipartisan members of the house and the senate bill before you vote on the homeland security appropriations every year and make certain people from the border that here on the ground that we work with every day that are telling these stories and i think we can get to that point. >> what i said the other night is if we can get congress republicans and democrats to work together and start working with our friend and partner of the country of mexico by heart goes out to mexico and everything they've done. we've lost 40,000 people because

of the drugs in northern mexico. so they've been fighting this war but we need to come together and start just like you said playing not maybe on the 20 the 50-yard line in guatemala and stop them from coming here. >> you mentioned that although legislation that was authored by the conservative house in the committee committee that got bipartisan support in the committee and the democrats support. what's next for washington that's going to continue? >> in the full bipartisan support they stalled because border security is tied to immigration. let me say one quick thing on the last question. in el paso the average agent

made for every entrance to the entire unit. we can better deploy current assets which the bill i think would give us some force to do. you have to wear a bulletproof vest do you have a security detail? when we say things out the bullets lighting and being unsafe, i can't tell you how much it hurts the state and the community that i represented the people i care for when the rgb rgb gets ahead of the state gets ahead because as you said texas is the number one trading partner. jobs are connected. it makes it hard to capitalize

the most traffic and work with that i think that it is a safe city. i've been there many times. the whole border is not safe. if the fact hundreds of thousands have come into texas including a lot of the murders. >> i saw that the statistics came out and i asked in indicates whether those were charges or convictions. how many of those charges were convictions that we had a number on spinnaker they are simply what it was. the 70 plus% approximately of the border come anytime that

there are opponents we have people cross the borders we have people moving across the borders that we have to have some sort of a sensible comprehensive immigration reform. there is a story about this person that was in charge of the border and he saw the families that came in. we wrote a letter to the central authorities. it was the mexican officer went down five families across the river into texas taken over the part of what used to be mexico so we had issues about people crossing over but we can't demonize the folks. so the folks murder rate at 12 years ago was per 100,000 in

washington, d.c. where we work it is 15 murders per 100,000, so any time you start attacking the community it's hard to get the doctors at the va clinic in laredo because they were afraid to come down here. one of the reasons it is a true story, we couldn't even get some of the military folks in san antonio because they said it was too dangerous and i call i call and say what are you doing saying the border is too dangerous. how can you say that it's too dangerous? we have to watch out for threats. we always have to watch out for threats that we can't demonize to the point. >> if you want to start lining up for questions i think we are about to segway.

>> you know me very well securing the border from the law enforcement point of view you know that there may be some people that try to demonize people that are crossing the border that the commissioner isn't. >> all i've got to say is what tone and how we use it because even if it is like 9/11, none of the terrorists came in through the southern border. everything there is a threat it's always at the southern border. >> 44% of the people that we have got here legally.

>> commissioner and curl my name is elizabeth and i'm a student from dallas. over the last few years we've seen a conversation shift on terrorism of the border in your opinion why have these shifts over and do you believe it is possible to solve all three of these problems if there is a problem with one comprehensive solution or is it necessary for us to make the separate discussions to the disjointed solution. >> i think there are two reasons. the idea that the level of the physical attacks on one another and we suffered from that and then secondly it easier for an

employer to hire someone here that is undocumented event to hire a legally documented worker and that is a tragedy because the system has failed and is broken and that's why today we need to acknowledge mexico as a dynamic trading partner but we also need to acknowledge that we have a coursework otherwise children couldn't walk across the border was a secure. it was for the drug cartels to do whatever they want. >> baywood crackdown on hiring the undocumented folks at least in the construction industry. both parties let us down when it comes to the department's system there is no doubt about it and that is why we are here today to talk about those solutions that can address them. >> my name is laura.

thank you everyone for being here today. border security is not only solving immigrants. it's the u.s. citizens being recruited either criminals across the border. even in the united states. the officials say that it would be better to maybe have more fbi involved and more intelligence instead of having more boots. >> how well has it been faired out? to make its not it's not just in mexico but on the side of the border. we've had recent tragedies that undermine the rule. secondly pointed out we do have

the control elements in the mexican cartel and. we had a recent case where just to show you how you can get over the driving factor of this border is about the drugs is the chinese gang working with the mexican mafia and the gold cartel. so you can only take it so long. >> the practitioner and the corruption piece and all those models that takes the boots and wing tips and you have to

degrade the capacity. that is corruption and command and control. at the end of the day when the cartels move people if you look at the number of people that have been apprehended this year. there is a low number in the 2000 that is a low number. it's big money and the idea that they are involved in all of this the mexican cartel the extent we can hurt them.

>> let me add one thing. we have to recognize that the drug cartels are transnational. they don't just stay in their area. the mexican drug cartels are over 250 american cities including here in austin. they don't do the same thing they do over there because the civil institutions are stronger, the presence and prosecutors. everything. in those countries when you have the civil institutions that the drug organizations can't come in and take over that so we have to recognize that the transnational organizations that we have to fight for cooperation with other countries. >> good morning. i am little confused. the congressman stated they were told that isis isn't a threat to texas but last night in the debate, the attorney general said that he prosecuted a

terrorist. who is telling the truth? we heard from the highest levels of the federal law enforcement this week categorically there is no know known that or credible intelligence wiki data linking the terrorist organizations on the southern brother. this isn't new. someone sent me a headline from 1981 when he and his squad suspects on the border. whenever we are scared of some of the country we project that the fear. the soviets are coming in through mexico. those that live there have the responsibility to share. >> they were apprehended in brewster county. what is true is the dictionary

was found after people were fleeing. these are facts that people are coming into the united states. >> you are fighting among the brush and the border. what is true is that the head of the -- i'm concerned about the northern border and the southern border. >> be everything in his theory is no fear right now. that doesn't mean we could not. keep in mind that in the use of social media the way that the drug organizations and cartels use, the bad guys are giving back right now.

how do you think that they have been able to recruit the fires to go over there? over 2,000 have gone over to cvs so yes it can come in from outside but it can be somebody that wants to belong to something and they might think that it's the group. >> i had the two-part question. one is what are the protocols for the agent's down in the valley and also what are the mechanisms for the property damages that might occur? >> it is a felony. however, if at any time there is

a great risk to the public the truth's are obligated to shut them down. when we disregard it to the point we can we have an obligation to look at the circumstances in every situation >> is that something you think that you should be in? >> on the federal side i sat down and talked to a lot of ranchers so i got the gal already doing a study right now to find mechanisms and ways so that we can come back and do a reimbursement mechanism because i know that it's an issue.

if we have to find a way that is a little bit more efficient -- >> thanks, congressman. >> we've heard about hundreds of thousands of people coming across the border and signing the rugs. how do they get two separate fear mongering from the bigotry and fact and how many people in fact have been found guilty of anything? >> that goes back to the question of the conviction. >> i think that the commission is a real way to do it in a bipartisan way where you have the republicans and democrats on the southern border states who look at this and you will be before they vote on appropriations and see the numbers and to separate the fact from fiction and i think that is a way to bring us together and not from political people but from the appointees from the

speaker and the minority leader in the senate and then from the president would be the way to approach that. don't delay. putting the resources there that event to have it as an oversight is a good method to address the question. >> senator jeff flake has said and both agree if you have a good guest worker program people can do the work or economic reasons border patrol and others can focus on the bad guys that have a different motive. >> i'm a student at the university texas born and raised in my laredo. my question over the summer there was an increase of women and children crossing and they will be detained and sent to the

centers that were quite jail cells for cnn and fox news. so my question is how would the detention centers chain's to accommodate the women and children that are not criminals but are just crossing to be with family? >> and new mexico i've been out there now twice. it is a deportation facility where families come in 833 family members so far i believe all of to have been bonded out to cause this 25-year-old woman with two little children have a national security threat and over 250 have been deported back to the countries of origin. i don't need to tell you that they are fleeing the situations and in many cases they are also trying to reunite with families in the united states read we owe it to ourselves to honor the

best traditions of the united states and make sure that these people are taken care of and that we afford them due process and that we take the most humane option possible and it's not something new. we have done this over many decades and hundreds of years and this is the latest opportunity for the country to put its best foot forward. >> thank you for the question. i will try to be quick. this is an odd conversation because we are consummating with security and crying and now based on the presumption of ethnicity or geography when you separate the two and look at crime i'm from el paso in both places but growing up in el paso the news doesn't occur in houston because the crying out here is it's really violent in fact we found two terrorists that were homegrown and didn't come from the borders so when

you look at the crime in el paso we had a 13-year-old girl taken from school and was assaulted and guess who did it not an illegal immigrant a civilian employee of the army base. there was a crime convicted where -- two seconds. a man stabbed his wife and she was pregnant and she died. about was a soldier so when you look at the actual it is that people coming from mexico by and large these crimes are by military personnel. strange question because that doesn't follow the framework that you've created but you were from el paso so maybe you can. >> i think the reason is the community that supports law and order and law enforcement and they did a great job. they bridge the cases and types

of how they come over compared to the same thing. next question. >> i have an opportunity. you keep talking about that at the end of july and working with refugees and i choose to call them refugees. i think that they have been poorly portrayed by the media. there are a lot of desperate people trying to flee the bad circumstances but my question is because we have such a polarized nation what are the representatives of the state of texas doing to a what homeland security and every other representative and is date of the union understand that we will never be able to build a wall along the higher edge of texas that will keep people in

or out because if you want to know how it felt to me, it is like a police state for america as much as it is for the mexicans to stay out of for the central american. my dad grew up -- the question is do all of you ever make a point in your commentary to people to let them understand that border security cannot just be a wall? there are people that think a wall will take care of it but it won't. it needs to be much more holistic. is that something that you are getting or are you doing anything about talking about it? >> it is the 14th century solution to the 21st century problem. i'm waiting for the president to get to the other side of the wall and say mr. president. on this president. on this wall as ronald reagan did some years ago and again, we have to look at what is to

become identify the threats, find the best way to address that and then make sure we work with our international part is. [applause]

back to the fourth annual texas tribute festival with a discussion on latinos and the republican party. texas state officials focus on immigration, social issues and appealing to all any -- millennial. this is just under an hour.

>> on the integration practice this will be on what is asked for immigration reform and win a a lot of stakeholders ask themselves that question the answer is likely nothing for a while but we ask the expert to debate that and just how keeping these aside. if you will be on twitter we have the hash tag #ttf immigration to let people know you are sitting here listening to us. let's start with some brief introductions and then we will get started. first is ibc bank at the international trade. i like to say you asked him ask them to rate in russia right now it's good to have them in the

demographics. josé rodriguez represents oh pasco which borders and now the district has 350 borders more or less. he's an attorney general for el paso as well and his right from alpine who has 29 counties from east of pasco to the big bend part of the county as well. to his right is from dc at the forearm in 2009 the commission for the value of the immigration fee in the united states and he's got more than a decade of public advocacy. we did invite congressman joe barton but he was ill at the last minute so he will not be able to be here. we will go ahead and get started. [applause]

>> mr. ali noorani i want to start with you because there's been a lot of heat on the president for changing his mind on the executive action but it seems like that might be the only likely form of immigration that's going to happen for the rest of the year. would you agree with that and what is it going to look like once he gets nervous about the election? >> i want to thank you for pulling this together and the hard work to the senator as bob. now, we've always been a great partner and a supporter. we will not see anything legislatively. i think anything coming together substantive the ball is in the president's hands. he can do something at some point to make a simple and he can go bigger or landed somewhere in between based on

our conversations i don't think that they have decided that i do think that once that happens is whether the majority leader is in the senate they will have a big opportunity and fair opportunity will lead to the past legislation to make things permanent because whatever the president does will be temporary but on the other hand addressing the needs of the safety of millions of families and communities. >> can you speak to the boat that was taken just recently where a handful of democrats voted with the republicans or a lot of people say that it was symbolic and voted to end up there. >> msn's. look at the politics right now that in 2014 you got the majority of the senate seats taking place in the states where frankly the senate isn't large enough to play the critical

role. louisiana, north carolina, arkansas, colorado you can make the case that they would play a critical role. we saw those senators say that through the continuing resolution the funding implementation should be eliminated and that authority should be rescinded. the politics are pretty ugly right now and i think that it's really important that not only the hispanic vote or the broad community come together really urge congress to move forward. ..

we could have joked about it in that sense and appoint you had to address the need for labor but do you see it as an issue that we can, i don't want to say was taken lightly but do you see that when we talk about immigration reform that there is no, there is no way for it not to be addressed. >> there are is away and unfortunately congress hasn't quite gotten there yet. congress tends to get stuck in the immigration reform versus border security, the and egg question which one comes first

and they keep debating that. the reality is it this problem would be easier to solve and cooler heads would prevail if we could focus on a different component and the most pressing needs. we are seeing massive labor shortages across the country in a variety of industries. what we don't hear coming out of congress present company excluded is the debate on what is our country me? we have countries like canada that don't put all their emphasis on a law enforcement component. they put big emphasis on recruitment so they send recruiters all over the world because they need nuclear physicist. they need rocket scientists. they need physicians. they need bricklayers. we are in a global race for talent right now but unfortunately our country is stuck on the and egg question immigration reform. >> you are front and center in washington d.c. on the floor and

center brendan a couple of hours late -- earlier said my party is partly responsible for the gridlock. he did have criticism for that senate democrats in the white house obviously by what is it from your perspective, what is it going to take? >> i will tell you one of my biggest disappointments is -- i've only been there and this is my first term but having watched public policy debates for the first time this is the first time i've seen a coalition of you have the employers and employees, the faith community the law enforcement community. you have everybody joined up singing from the same hymn book and when you have everybody in the same side that doesn't say good things about our democracy in that sense because clearly people want to do it. the challenge is i think this is a country, i mean this is a country that has put people on the moon. we can do immigration reform but you have to take the politics out of it. so many people are focused on just the wrong politics and

frankly you know people who drive the conversation are not from the border area. they are from iowa or they are from new york. they are from different places and they don't have -- what they know about immigration and the borders is what they read about or see on the internet or whatever. it's not like they lifted him breathe it the way that folks who live along the border do so they don't understand it as well. >> there are member the first conversation we had you said you got more done at the state level and that was shocking when you made that comparison. i want to ask you, whenever for instance the rio grande valley and there's a lot of criticism saying they just want amnesty and some sort of immigration reform and those people would immediately get to vote for the democrats. do you see a lot of immigrants that are here to want full on citizenship or do some of them just want to be able to work and walk around enough -- to live

freely but not reach the status because that's a key point on whether or not they are to attain a boat. >> first i think we need to get our facts straight. nobody's talking about amnesty. the other side keeps insisting that's what being offered his amnesty that we know the senate bill that passed has lots of conditions in it including paying penalties and so forth so it's not amnesty. secondly we all need to be concerned about the falsehoods and misrepresentations that are constantly made by her state leadership and some of the national folks in washington about the reality of the border and the conditions on the border. i think immigrants have been in fact demonized over the years to the point where people have a hard time cutting through all of that rhetoric and getting down to just the basic questions that you just asked, what do they want? well we know from history, we

know from the studies up to the present, we know from interviewing the people that are coming over, all they want is an opportunity to have a good life for themselves and their families. they are looking for economic security just like all the rest of us and it seems to me that the studies indicate including the latest report from the center for public policy priorities that immigrants contribute to the growth in this country. immigrants and entrepreneurs are key to the texas economy in the future. so there's no question they are coming here because they want to have the american dream that all of us have and what this country has always proposed to people as a nation of immigrants. >> can i add a couple of points to that real quick? number one is not just immigrants but border communities have been demonized as being unsafe and "usa today"

released a study six or eight months ago that said if you were within the communities within 50 miles of the border we are far safer than the communities that are further inland. point number one. point number two, to the aspect speaking about the facts, you know it's unfortunate that we get stuck in this emotional level and people get stuck on this one, and debate. the senator is exactly right. you have got to get down to what the real issues are and you saw the real issues and move forward. >> there's also the argument that the border communities are safer or communities with larger populations undocumented immigrants are safer because people don't want to cause problems. you are a former prosecutor. there is violence on the border but i want to ask if he could speak to that.

our communities safer because these folks don't want to get in trouble? obviously it proves them not to get in trouble -- uses fingerprints to see there in the country illegally but why is it so debatable and you think its it's true border communities are far safer? >> based on the data that eddie decided it's an incredible study where he dug into the department just as they then found 100 miles within the border of the communities are the safest. i think the fact that law enforcement in these communities actually have a relationship with the immigrant community so there is so much, when you go across the country the law enforcement who like joe arpaio in phoenix when they are eager to enforce immigration law the immigrant community is pushed away from that. they don't trust their local law enforcement. they assume that local law enforcement wants to deport them but in places like el paso

brownsville and the rate of those who local law enforcement agents have a relationship with immigrant community so when there's a crime they immigrants documented and not feel they can report that crime and therefore they're not going to be a victim of an unreported crime. as soon as the law enforcement knows about it they can pursue the perpetrator. that's how you keep communities safe. if there is trust between the community and law enforcement. >> if i could ask just to break it down some immigration reform includes so many aspects but if he could speak to the economic benefits of passing the d.r.e.a.m. act. just that group of undocumented immigrants and the people that have worked and studied here. how much of a boon to the economy would that be? >> two points. the first one to the question you asked the senator about citizenship, i think it was the

mexican-americans thinking together released a study they did not long ago that showed 65% of the people in one state and i think it was the status -- had no desire to seek u.s. citizenship. their families were there and they wanted to come and earn a living and send money back home. i think sometimes people forget or make the assumption that if they are coming here that they want every benefit known to man. they want everything else here. >> couldn't have very bistate though? is not the safest place on earth right now. if you took the same poll from people on the border. >> if you want to talk about this issue in a vacuum yes he could discuss that one of the parser doesn't get debated a lot is what's happening in mexico on the economic front. there are states number one trading partner and our nation's number two trading partner but if you look at what happened with the mexican energy reform area my biggest fear is that the strong good high-paying jobs are

going to be created by this energy reform and all the people that are here and are looking for a reason to get home are going to start leaving. that is going to cause a massive issue here. >> you already have negative migration. >> is a negative? has that trend reversed? >> i think a lot of it is being precipitated by the reforms that are occurring and the negative climate we have here in the u.s.. >> to your point about dreamers the reality is i represent the private sector and here's how we look at it. who takes better care of a home, a renter or an owner? the owner does. who takes care -- better care of a company? is that an employee or an employee that's also a shareholder of that company? so who would take better care of this country? someone who is just here temporarily or someone who is a

citizen that have something invested in the country? so to all those people, to all the members of congress who see this as a negative i would take a look back at our history in this country and see how this country was built on the backs of immigrants and all the contributions they have made. >> i don't think there's any question that the more people who pledge allegiance to our flag the stronger country is. i don't think there's any question that people who are coming here because they want to work, that's the kind of people are country needs. it is easy to get caught up in all of the name-calling and finger-pointing and all of those kinds of things but at the end of the day one of the basic tenets of economics is supply and demand. there is a supply of jobs here. there is a demand for more people. there is a supply of workers

over there who want to come and take these jobs. frankly i represent a huge piece of the shale area. my family had a restaurant from 1917 to 1997, for 80 years. this is a great time to open up a restaurant. he would make a lot of money. the challenge is to own a restaurant you need a cashier and you need waiters and you need dishwashers and you need cooks. you know everybody that would normally have those jobs, do you know where they are right now? they are in our country making a lot more money so we need employees. where the grill onions there are not a lot of american standing in line waiting to pick onions when it's 125 degrees on the senator knows that well. he and i represent the county. so it's an issue of we have got jobs here that somebody has to fill.

that has to make it to our table somehow. >> on the flipside of that argument a lot of these people are citizens and they won't do these jobs not because it's out in the hot sun but -- is there any truth to that end do immigrants without authorization bring down wages? if that's true it's a fair counterpoint. >> look the flipside. we believe if you bring everybody here illegally then everyone could make the family tent in the current environment the only person that is lending his employer pushing down the wages of and documented immigrant and the wages all working in the same place. you pass immigration reform is a level playing field for the same job at the same weight. oftentimes people look at it in the negative. will wages be pushed on? yes wages are being pushed down because employers are exploiting a broken system so let's fix the system and level the playing field.

>> we often fall into the conversation at least in texas and we begin with mexican migration and maybe central america because that is where we are but can you speak to where people are coming from other than mexico and central america? again going back to the web site and for five languages vietnamese and chinese so can you speak to the demographics? >> this is the amazing part of the immigration debate. the majority of immigrant population is hispanic or latino by larger mexico. when you look across the community you see great diversity from ancient great diversity from south asia and the fastest growing population in the country is actually the asian population because that is where you are seeing the influx of immigrant community. from our perspective it's not

just a latino issue, it's an issue that's important is that the country. you are talking about the changes in economy. we have started looking for example of the health care economy. pray three of the four fastest growing occupations are health care. nurses and health care aid. they're an incredible number of opportunities in health care sector that are not only good for immigrants but the rest of the population. however does the immigrant committee have the skill set to take care of those? they are more likely to have a high school diploma or less so in order to drive the health care economy the foreign-born skill set needs to be picked up in the new look at the data as you move from one document to legal citizenship it's anywhere between a five and a 15,000-dollar improvement in that person's income per year over their lifetime. status we believe it's important to know in the country success but for individual immigrants to

return potential. that applies whether persons from mexico, from china or from australia. >> congressman you are well-versed in veterans issues. is there current legislation orders at least an appetite to have that pathway to legal status because it seems like the military service, it seems to be a lease that issue is one that both parties can agree on. it may not be the most traditional way to address immigration reform but what is going on there? >> i was disappointed we didn't get the immigration reform because for me for example you need a sponsor is an example to become an american citizen. if you are an american soldier and your spouse is -- and your country asks you to go in to afghanistan anywhere in the middle east and in the worst possible scenario happens and that is your spouse is killed in

the line of duty. a grateful nation than we do for your spouse because your spouse has now lost their sponsor. frankly that's an asinine conclusion. and so the idea, that's one of the things that i work on hard and we were able to convince the run executive order actually, the president made an exception for military families. that's the core part. i know people who have gotten their american citizenship who have gone on to go to law school and be successful in those kinds of things. they start off by finding -- serving in the military and they have done a phenomenal job. that's an important pathway that needs to be recognized as such. spano clears a coalition really looking at the military readiness on the contribution to the military.

across the country we found veterans who served and their families spouses and parents are undocumented so this is an individual putting their life on the line for the united states of america over the united states of america was unwilling to legalize the status of their families. so they would tell their story of pride in their service but frustration and anger that their family had to live frankly without status. >> senator and i said in the earlier panel on border security is seems like a few years back you could take the positions individually now it's getting harder and harder to do. if that's the only way to address one issue and the other what in your opinion should be done at the state level. not getting too much into the misinformation about car bombs and isis and things like that but to be able to have a dialogue on what is needed if anything at the border for one

to fall in line with the other? >> the difficulty is that you can't separate the rhetoric. in order to be able to address it in a good and sound way you have to address the false rhetoric. it's frankly overwhelming, the discussion regarding what makes a safe border. nobody talks about what the message should be. everybody just talks about what should have border security before we have immigration reform. >> i think everybody agrees you're not going to have 100% security but what metrics do you have in mind? >> let me just finish by saying this i think comprehensive immigration reform is a key part of border security. once we pass comprehensive immigration reform we will have a more secure border. you'll have people that come out of the shadows that you will have people that will be openly cooperating with the police.

you will have people that are more likely to report suspicious activity. it's as simple as that and so you know we need to get away from the border security and focus on what has already been discussed here is the pressing need for comprehensive immigration reform. it makes sense from an economic standpoint, from a humanitarian standpoint and for purposes of the growth of the state of this country we can't do without the immigrants. it's as simple as that. we cannot do without the growing latino population along our border community. both state and national. we have got to provide education and we have got to provide health care and we are not doing that. we are not doing that unfortunately because i keep going back to these falsehoods, these misimpressions that are being put put out there by state

leadership and national leaders that are using the immigrants just as a political pond in their partisan approach to public policy. >> i want to take his comment one step further because we can never achieve border security without immigration reform. the analogy that i use is you have a type in your kitchen. do you send in more mops or get the pipe fixed quickly keep sending in more mops for border patrol. the way to solve the problem is disincentivized the reason to enter the country legally -- illegally. we have the need for half a million low-skilled workers in this country. why do we only give 5000 visas? if you ask any border patrol agent on the southern border especially in texas what is the answer and i remember one agent telling me you see the guy on the other side of the river? can you tell me if he is a brain surgeon or a landscaper?

i said no i can't and i can either but my job is to chase him. to the other comment that the senator made we have had state leave -- leaders that make comments recently. we have had people say shut the border down we have heard people say they want to restore law and order to south texas because it does not exist and we have had other comments as well and we have to get away from that. >> another policy question. >> what i said about the visas from what i understand they're the same amount of visas that are applied as mexico which is right here in safer countries and senator cruz offered an amendment to the senate bill that would have done away with that being need-based. i mention that because that seems to be something that would

get support. >> there is -- between family-based immigration work based immigration. a lot of people say if you go to canada you will be able to get to canada based on your skill set. the more skills you have the more likely you will get to canada or any other country. the fact is that americans are valued by history based on this balance between family immigration work immigration so yes, we can shift that balance and i think the senate bill passed last year took a very important step in that directi direction. they established a system that work based immigration different sectors of agriculture high skill, low skill would fluctuate according to the economy. if unemployment fell the number of work visas would increase. >> supply and the mind -- supply and demand. >> go figure, supply and demand.

that's the challenge. we have to figure out that balance. we do not think that arma gration system should be work based only. there are said to be a balance between family and work. >> congressman i will ask you what i asked the senator. there is a debate earlier. if you are able to -- in an secure border to have cupboards that immigration reform the largest swath of the border is that just in texas or is that of the country? >> the district is about 42%. that was the biggest chunk of the border more than anybody else. >> the argument that you made is texas doesn't have as many border patrol agents ohio. it can be validated and measured and seen in numbers so what can congress do to put more boots on the ground?

>> i wouldn't be running for congress if i wasn't optimistic about something getting done. at the end of the day something can get done. it's frustrating for me to watch because of the fact all these outside interests as i indicated earlier don't understand the border. i will tell you having grown up on the border and representing two-thirds of the texas mexico border we all want to sleep safely in our beds. i don't know about one of us but three of us are parents and we want our kids to be safe. i think you start from a position where you take these common interests and you move forward from there. i think you can have a law enforcement presence. law enforcement presence is very important but at the end of the day you also have to worry about the impact on business because frankly if you look at the delay time is money than the delays

are pretty significant. as a kid -- eddie is from villa thao. you would have lunch and come right back. >> not when i was 12. >> you know now you can't anymore because it takes you so long to get back. you have to decide if it's practical and realistic and if it's designed to be the border that we have become accustomed to. we are business partners and we are family and there are so many of us that have cousins on one side of the other or do business on one side of the other other. it's important that we recognize that as opposed to the concept of a need to build this wall and separate ourselves. >> the other thing as is you know what we don't need more boots on the ground.

the wilson center which as you know is based in washington d.c. and is nonpartisan does excellent policy work on mexico and other latin american issues. they issued a report called the border and in that report that gives you the data, the numbers of apprehension along the u.s.-mexico border. in the el paso sector to give you an example, for 2013 we had borne to have apprehensions per agent, four and a half for the whole year, right? so we have gone from literally 2500 agents to 22,000 now. >> is that just on the southern border? >> that's the southern border and so to say we need more boots on the ground in order to secure the border is utter nonsense.

u.s. earlier what would it take to secure the border? well, those of us who live on the border that the congressman said, we feel safe. we are the safest communities in the country in terms of murder rates common terms the robberies and assaults you name it. we are the safest communities so we feel safe. i don't feel threatened. there has never been terrorists coming to the southern border. we don't run into immigrants that have been classified by the homeland security administration coming from mexico that are a security threat. so you know to keep talking about securing the border is such a distraction from addressing the real issue at hand which is comprehensive immigration reform. [applause] >> i think he made the point.

the reality is and again i just want to go back to the notion that if you want to look good and feel warm and fuzzy hire more border patrol. if you want to solve the problem, then let's set the visa limits at what we need those for workforce and family issues to allow the people to come in he here. again, border patrol agents will tell you, and find out do we have a job for that person and is that person willing and ready and able to work? ..

that allows the traffic to close. we need to set the visa limit to allow the people. i want to get into the how much that might affect future policy. how much have the administration policies -- they were lured over year because they had some information. and the family as well. i interview some of these women that product children they did

say there be nonlinear with children. it's my son, my daughter. but they did say when they got here -- >> this is a thing about this. deferred action for children was brought in 2012, summer of 2012. so that is fully two years ago. i would have imagined that is the assumption that it was going to be the ticket into the country, we would've seen a surge 2013. i don't buy this debt it led to this influx. as i've talk to researchers and others and even everman officials in central america and mexico, the differences once the drug cartel realize they can make money off of trafficking people, that's when you saw the

influx. so when the coyote was all of a sudden getting paid by the drug cartel and you could say you know what coming to a $5000 not get your kid into states, that is when we saw the influx is once the cartel was a moneymaking venture. i've seen reports where the cartel were pretty darn happy because not only were they making money, but they were taking dep, dea, other law enforcement officials and instead of going up to the drug cartel, they were chasing. >> yeah, to that point and i think you're right, in interviews he was leaving honduras, and he would bribe mexican border patrol mom forstmann and there's another payment to whoever gets on the bench or whatnot. the amazing day is like the mass kidnappings seem like everybody

was making money. >> this was a criminal enterprise. >> how much do you affect this right now in the attention when you gavel back in? we saw what happened to sessions back, if being passed twice. even though a lot of people know what happened behind the scenes with the construction industry in a lot of other lobbyists and the movement to stop this. what's going to happen now? you have more than 100 bills filed in 2011. some of those were filed even before you came back in. how much will that affect politics and how much of that is going to pass? you'll have a major shift in who comes back this year. so what you see in the future? >> i expect to see more anti-immigrant legislation being introduced. we signed 2009 over 100 bills as well in 2011.

at least it will be put out by the candidates for lieutenant governor and governor and on down the line. everybody is in lock step about having to seal the border in twiki immigration invasion and having to deal with the issue from their point of view. and so, i have no doubt that it's coming back as well as some other on an anti-immigrant legislation. the last time the construction industry, you know, the folks in other places, and the business community had a big impact. it was the faith-based, including evangelical latino churches, the community at large, law enforcement, the sheriff from houston, all the major cities said they don't

support it. it's going to impact what he was saying earlier about undermining community policing. people are not living to cooperate with police. and so, we're going to have to fight very hard. i tell people, you need to be prepared to comment strong because otherwise there is no question. look, the majority has got the vote and just like they did the last time, there is no rule at the time we were dealing with it in special session. but because of the pressure, the unrealistic pressure from the business community and the faith-based organizations, the immigrant rights advocates, the social justice networks, all of that cumulatively i think has the impact of not passing the law at that time, including the other bills. so i am fully expecting that you will see the capital flooded

when those issues are coming up in the next issue. >> congressman, at the d.c. level, in 2008 provisions, that issue will not go away. is there going to be some sort of deal made? you have a humane nine. you are opposed to a lot of this. how does that play out in the future? what is the most likely path to get both sides to agree on a watered-down version or one or the other quick >> i think like many things, that depends largely on several fact years. it depends what happens on november 4th and particularly on the senate side and what does that senate look like. it depends on whether there is a good-faith effort made to negotiate that with the administration because truthfully right now, the house has never really negotiated between republicans and democrats. the house hasn't really dealt with the senate.

neither house really deals well with the white house. so a lot of that depends on what is the tenor, is very good faith effort or is this more political chester county where nobody really wants to reach an agreement because that is what i have seen so far is this idea that this is a great issue for november. let's keep it alive and keep it going. so there hasn't been a good faith effort to fix it. i will tell you, the prosecutor in me, when i prosecuted, to use domestic violence because we just celebrated the anniversary of the domestic violence act. but i think the worst thing you could do when somebody came to you who is the victim of domestic violence was to put them back in the same place where they had come from. that law that was signed by

president bush, that was the premise that the entire law, to make sure in a certain situation these people were not automatically repatriated when they were going to go into the same condition as before. i don't know that that's changed. i think you have to interview people to figure out if you are here because you want to be an american citizen and live the american dream because if that's the case, there is a line over here. what are you here because you're running for your life and if you go back somebody will kill you? maybe you have refugee status in a different category. [applause] >> just real quick, i am going to start taking questions. if anyone has anything to ask him you can line up. >> not just the repatriation issue. you are right about that. you also know, for example, in the county attorney's office, we focus on doing a lot of community educational domestic violence and encouraging women to step forward to report the

domestic island. and so, if you have law enforcement under sanctuary cities, asking people for their status, you're not going to have women willing to come forward because it's for the most part women, and reporting the crime in the first place. never mind them down the line. every refrigeration that occurs in the situation of home. it's also getting the victims and the testimony of the big tones to deal with domestic violence. >> yes, i agree there is a lot of what i would call phony distraction and talking about securing the border. one of the things that is surprising to me, i heard a number of years ago that a large large percentage come in late behalf, you might be more than half of the people here

illegally now come here legally. >> they've overstayed their visas. >> they overstayed their visas, exactly. how come we don't hear more about that as a way of just admitting what's going on and also as a way of getting away from some of the phony ideas about securing the border because we could have a law 3000 feet high around all of our borders and let nobody in, but still people are coming in illegally. if you have a system that does not work, -- >> why is the attention shift on people across illegally? >> i would value again having just asked the congress and not having much in the way of seniority, i am appalled that happens. you would think at this age of computer technology that you could keep track of people who are here. but apparently they didn't and they can't.

so one of the things we need to let god is the technology requirements for an immigration system because frankly i will tell you that the technology systems that have come especially when the border art got acquainted and it's not giving the folks on the front line. they don't have the best tools available and that's definitely something we should look at. >> you can fix this. i really believe you can. >> everybody admits is one way or another peer so much of the border debate is dominated by people who've never been to the border. it's pretty stunning. i've got to give a lot of credit to add the because he's brought people to the border so they see it come experience it. one thing they haven't talked about it if you want to invest resources in border security, icing the department of justice stated that to the fact that the majority of guns, drugs and

money are smuggled actually two ports of entry. you've got all these resources between ports of entry, but if you're ports of entry that are secure and can facilitate trade, you would see the cost of trade decrease. the ability to confiscate drugs and as a result he was the much safer country. but instead, you've got politicians who have never been to the border ranting and raving about it really, really safe community that's overwhelmed by nothing more than 22,000. >> to give credit to local communities, there's credit and a public-private partnership and i think they same system with infrastructure in barbados. >> i'm going to challenge you on it. the reason there's public-private partnership is they are tied to $6 billion. the community and others decided to come together to make some and have been.

the reality is we never should have reached that point, but to everyone's points on the pml, you get stuck on the enforcement side. so while the money goes to border patrol. >> last week or week and a half ago, we did here in obituary committee and not was one of the issues that we talked about. clearly we've been tacking about this for years. if you want to address the border coming into postmark customs in fact errors in our first century and mortar but border patrol boots on the ground. there is no question that there is this misunderstanding about how silly can make the border save. you know, being prosecutors, you and i know both of the drugs takes place on the international bridges. >> said just real quickly schuett to the senators combat, if we stay on the path that we are fine, we are approaching a

point where he won't be out across the border in a day. if you go back to the 9/11 commission report, one of the things singled out by the commission was to not focus and become a disaster security so much that you cut off your own economic engine. >> the frustration for me is that people demanding border security the most, they are not the guys -- i mean, there is machines now, the technology is there for scanners that are much better than anything we've ever seen. and yet, we struggle every day to put one in brownsville. we don't have -- i mean, how can you tell me one a secure border on the one hand and then voted against the funding and not want to do the money to give us the equipment and the technology we need to do the job. people talk out of both sides of their mouth. >> i come you guys touched base

on the cartel and the violence. i understand that the violence has been exaggerated a lot, but being from brownsville i've personally seen an family has been kidnapped and i've lived through this. but through comprehensive immigration reform, what are your plans on working with the mexican government to try to work with the two may be -- how do i say this, to work with them to fix the cartel backlash that's going to come again losing their money on their drugs and people paying them to get them implemented in here? like how would you fix this cartel backlash like working with the mexican government? >> the u.s. government is helping them fight their own. do you think more should be done her work can be done? >> i will tell you it is an unfortunate fact of life that if

we are talking about economics, if one product doesn't sell companies are selling another one. so i think would've happened with the cartels is essentially they have become businesses. and so, they have expanded the range of product that they offer. so if there's a demand for something else, they will move into something else. so i'm really passionate frankly about the law enforcement community because i spent that time as a prosecutor. but i would sell you that our relationship with mexico could use improvement, but it's better. years ago there were some people and they shot at some raptors from the mexican side and in those days, if you need witnesses, even the defendants.

they wouldn't hand over anybody to be prosecuted. you know why, that's not the case today. now there's a relationship between the mexican law enforcement and the u.s. government, were there people -- there are instances where their folks have been extradited to face trial in the u.s. there's a more cooperative relationship. does it need to be better and are there other issues on the mexican side? absolutely. one of the things i suggested one of the reasons make you see a slowdown i think, people from south america are coming in, but not as many mexicans as we used to have that is because mexico's middle-class is clicking along at a faster rate than the american economy is. while america's middle class is shrinking, mexico's middle-class is growing. so you see less and less mexicans who feel the need to leave their family. if we could do that, if we could be of assistance, we spend so much money at the country

dealing with other parts of the world. but if we could spend the money and their own backyard puppy all businesses grow through small business development centers like the one in san antonio and they do a phenomenal job, if we could help people rebuild the economy is coming you would see a slowdown because people want to stay home. >> would mexico allow that? >> i think there's always sovereignty issues. >> i'm not advocating. but mexico has been willing over the course years through the initiative than others to calm to an agreement and now frankly we need to expand the range of negotiations with some of these countries in latin america because you know, to lessen the unaccompanied minors. and so, we need to have a these essentially understanding is

that other countries where we can help them -- i want to buy. >> and her the relationship between u.s. and mexico last year, the organization called the coalition of agee's across the country. they've established u.s.-mexico task orders for united states attorneys general but their colleagues in mexico helping them define and refine their criminal justice system and someone was gotten to know his indiana attorney general republican attorney general spent an incredible amount of time not only sharing information and best practices at this counterparts in mexico and mets manager minister for is in mexico, but it's also made a tremendous difference or general seller because he's a more informed advocate for immigration. >> i recognize this might be

outside the scope of this discussion, but i think it is important to ask all the same. a lot of people come to this country because they are safe in their own country or they don't feel safe. what should we be doing in addition to changing immigration policy internationally to help with this problem? >> i think i'm the mexican side, blakey said come to your own backyard, but can you expand? we spend so much money -- >> i think we need to help people grow their economy because i think the world is a really great place if you don't have any health. frankly, people will tell me, some of the members of congress had a conversation about how they had never seen anything like this with the unaccompanied minors and what kind of spirit within their child -- would allow their child to leave and i said part of the conversation because i said yeah, you have

heard that story. and i said i know that you offer to participate. there's a congressional bible study and i know you've all read the story of moses. moses mother, when she does moses in the basket, she has no idea whether the basket will think and i get the basket would get eaten by a lion ritchey is no no idea what will happen to her son. the only thing she knows there's what is ahead of him is better than what he's leaving behind. and so i think we've got to do something about what they are leaving behind. we've got to help sovereignty issues, but i think you can help develop trading relationships. i think you can create commerce of different countries. we've done it. frankly the situation in colombia is now much better than it used to be years ago and that was with american assistance. i think you can do a little bit of that at a time to essentially create more stability and more prosperity in latin america. we are very good of making money and the u.s.

i'm glad they rented three wise men, not three-minute men. >> he's talking about the economy than the trading relationships. but recently they started to incorporate some money for social services, for education, for building schools, and the same thing applied in colombia for that matter and he can apply in latin america in central america said that young people do not get involved with the drug cartels so they don't have a steady improvement as they do now because of the fact there was nowhere, no education, all of the things lacking in their respective countries. i think along with the trade and commerce, you have to incorporate some assisted for social change in the communities in order to lessen the threat of the cartels. >> and it doesn't have to be

government money. we can get private investment to go to latin america with a lot of countries. a lot of businesses want to open up new markets for their business in latin america and we can help create those markets. >> time for one last question. >> but i vertebroplasty minutes it seems this is the diversity of the foreign-born population in the united states to the inaccuracy of these overblown by the reports of communities and to the importance and complexity of the economic relationship between the united states and mexico. so i wonder for all the panelists if you could speculate about your sense of how much, to the extent to which how much is the immigration debate in the united states is derailed by historic misunderstandings of the mexican -- of mexico and mexican populations in the united states. >> you know what, there is some of that, but from my point of

view, you know, we talked earlier about people who are not on the border and they don't understand. i've taken some senators to the border. nevertheless, they still have a case for some of the zirconia measures. from my point of view, what you have at play here is this fear of latinos in general and the growing political presence of latinos in this country. and so that there's no doubt in my mind that the question of immigration reform, border security, all these other measures that you see voter i.d., voters suppression measures, they are all connected to their fear of the growing latino, political ascendancy, which is inevitable and which is something that instead of being accepted and being appreciated and beaten in fact embraced is

causing this resistance to wallace sees kinds of laws that would make it better for the latino community to take its rightful place here in this country. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. [applause] >> thank you, sir. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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very happy to welcome you to the fourth annual texas tribune festival. we're delighted you decided to spend your saturday with us and i'm very happy you're here. we have great panelisted. before we get started i have a couple of housekeeping things. please silence your cell phones so we don't have ringing during the panel but we e