boy, graduated from the university of texas. i can tell you this, in texas he has been a leader if not the leader in sensible immigration reform. and we owe him a great deal of gratitude. i think you're going to enjoy his presentation. if you haven't seen his video on icebergs you need to see that. alex, where are you. cato institute. i think everyone knows alex. if they don't they have gotten his e-mails. god bless you for being here. reverend phil reler. where are you? okay. appreciate you being here. from los angeles. we have darryl williams. baird williams grier. excuse me. about to forget. this is the man, this is the man he said be sure to tell you he is a right wing republican. what darryl in my opinion is most famous for, he's a trial

lawyer, both defense and plaintiff. but he's the man that thread charge to recall russell pierce, russell pierce, the author of 1070, this is the man that led the charge to recall russell and vote him out of office. thank you, darryl. and marshall phipps is our moderator. i'd like for you folks to get with the program. thank you. >> thanks so much, norm, thanks so much, todd. thanks to everyone who has worked to convene this important discussion and of course to congressman passtor for hosting. while political prowess prevented congressional from tackling the immigration system

it's an overhaul overdue and one many of us have been fighting for many years to achieve. the pressures of a large undocumented population continue to be foisted on state and local governments and communities. opponents of immigration reform have opponents such as state senator russell pierce that norm was mentioning have persuaded some local elected officials to pursue what is i think a deeply misguided strategy that they call attrition through enforcement. the idea of that is to make life so unbearable, so difficult and harsh for undocumented immigrants that they will just pack their bags and leave. but that's simple vision ignores the serious challenges confronting state and local governments. attrition through enforcement is a strategy of avoidance that disserves safety, economic and

social priorities of all u.s. residents. every honest observer i think can recognize and agree that we are not going to deport 11 million people. it's just not going to happen. any long term solution to our broken immigration system, therefore, has to have a program that as brittany pointed out requires to register, pay taxes and learn english. in the meantime state and local officials have to govern their jurisdictions in the way that maximizes the interests of their constituents while dealing with the side effects of this broken immigration system. state and local leaders have tough choices to make in dealing pragmatically with a sizable undocumented population. deciding wisely in explaining the choices and decisions effectively can generate significant public support and will increase the unity and stability in the impacted communities. as you know and was referred to,

the supreme court is the expected to decide in the coming weeks whether states have the authority to enact these attrition through enforcement policies. i for one believe that these measures are clearly preempted by federal law but as todd noted we're not debating the constitutionality of these measures today. instead we want to highlight why those measures raise a number of red flags that should stop policy makers in their tracks before enacting such measures. at the center for american progress we explored three basic questions related to these laws. the answers point to a conclusion that these state efforts and initiatives are misguided just as a matter of policy. first and perhaps most importantly these measures plainly do not and cannot solve the problem. at best these measures displace some of the undocumented population to less hostile states or communities, at worst

they drive the undocumented population deeper under ground creating more dysfunction and challenges for local communities. what they don't do is drive undocumented workers and their family out of the country. we have several reports on our website that speak to this. second, we documented the cost to states directly connected to the enactment of these. in arizona, we calculated in the wake of sp 1070 passing that the state lost at least $140 million in direct spending due to the cancellation of conferences scheduled to be hosted there. georgia lost an estimated $300 million in unharvested crops with a potential first year statewide impact of $1 billion. and those costs occurred just because of the climate of fear generated by enactment of these measures, not because of any direct correlation between the

law and the economic effects. third, we've also explored the potential economic and fiscal costs if the policies did succeed in what they were purporting to achieve. unsurprisingly these measures have been shown to be deeply counter productive and self defeating. in arizona, removing 7% of the state's population would shrink the economy by nearly $50 billion. and would evaporate more than 580,000 jobs. it would reduce the state's tax revenue by about 10%. so, there are, again, a host of strong policy reasons why state legislators and policy makers and governors should achoo these initiatives. we're going to talk with some of the panels who have seen what those impacts look like. with that let me first turn it

to eddy aldrete on live stream with us. i'll let you make your opening remarks, then turn it over to the other panelists. eddy, i'm going to try to put up the volume. >> i hope you can hear me okay. >> i think we can hear you great. >> well, just i want to share a couple of things. are you able to hear me? >> you're doing great. >> okay. good. i wanted to share a couple of things. unfortunately when we talk about immigration we tend to get mired in the debate of what part of illegal do you not understand and the amnesty conversation and all the parts of the debate that tend to be very polarizing and emotional. and the part of the picture that i believe we're missing is rooted in demographics. and i want to share a couple of things with you that sort of help make that point.

number one, we all know many of the baby-boomers have begun to retire. we have between 77 million and 82 million baby-boomers that have begun to retire. unfortunately, there's only 67 million people behind them entering the work force, so that leaves 10 to 15 million more people that are leaving the work force than are entering. we're going to experience major shortages and we're beginning to see some of those taking place. the second thing i want to highlight is our national fertility rate. most countries, well, all countries have to have a fertility rate of 2.1 children in order to maintain replacement level. so that means every adult female needs to have on average 2.1 children. right now the united states is at 2.1 and we continue to decline.

but when you look at the 2.1 figure and you break it down by demographic group, anglos, asian americans, and african-americans are all below replacement level between 1.8 and 2.0. hispanics are the only demographic group that are above replacement level, at 2.9. and we're already beginning to see that in many parts of the country where hispanics are clearly producing the future workforce of the country. so you have more people leaving the work force than entering the work force and we're beginning to have fewer and fewer children. no country in the history of the world has ever experienced economic prosperity while also experiencing depopulation. you're beginning to see depopulation in countries like russia and japan, many believe that japan has passed the tipping point. russia's population shrinks by 700,000 people every year. and in russia, they have tried

numerous things. including creating a new federal holiday, a national day of procreation where everyone is asked to go home, turn out the lights, close the curtains and do their patriotic duty. if you take a look at what's happening across the country, one of the things when we talk about immigration is the many members of congress and people who get very heavily involved in debate, they like to move from immigration over to border security and there are two separate issues. but let me -- i want to share one statistic that surprises a lot of people. and that is that 52% of united states border patrol and customs agents are eligible for retirement this year in 2012. 51% of all customs and border protection agents are eligible for retirement this year.

don't take my word for it. that statistic comes from the gao. so, when a member of congress or a presidential candidate or any one says we need more boots on the ground, my question is where do you plan to get them from? now, border patrol isn't the only law enforcement agency that is experiencing difficulties. the dea has lowered their drug standard in order to become a dea agent. the fbi has lowered their gang standard in order for you to become an fbi agent. local law enforcement agencies here in texas across the major cities are now cannibalizing from each other, offering $20,000 signing bonuses in order to cannibalize a neighboring city's police department. why? because many ever these law enforcement agencies are made up of retiring baby-boomers, so when you look across the country if you want to get stuck on how high the border fence should be

rome is burning and no one is paying attention because it's rooted in the demographic changes we're beginning to see. now here is another major factor that unfortunately people aren't paying attention to. and that is that for centuries, people moved to where the jobs were. we've seen this migration from rural areas to urban areas. the problem is now that jobs are moving to where the people are. that's why microsoft built a software engineering plant in vancouver. opening 1500 jobs and microsoft has a multiplier effect of four. for every job they create four others are created to support that one job. so not only did we send 1500 high tech, high skilled jobs during a recession up to canada, but we may have also sent additional 6,000 support jobs in related industries. california agriculture producers

are moving operations to mexico. why, because they can grow their produce there and labor is plentiful. i still want someone to explain to me when it became a good idea to grow our food supply in another country? so all these are economic consequences to our inability to solve this problem and to have meaningful immigration reform. i want to mention a couple other things and i'll stop. the elderly population according to the american association of medical colleges, the elderly population in the united states is expected to double between 2 2020 and 2030. one third of the physician work force is made up of baby boom doctors so. if one third of the physicians are leaving the field when the elderly population is doubling, and we've had a declining number

of people per capita going into med school since 1980, my question is who is going to take care of these people? so, if you look at the aerospace industry, we've been in iraq, we've been in afghanistan, we're concerned about israel and iran, about three or four years ago the secretary of the air force said we had a geriatric fleet and the fleet had to be replaced. keep in mind when it comes to our tankers and our refuelers and our cargo planes, those planes are traditionally twice as old as the pilots who fly them. dwight eisenhower was president when the c-130s were built. so how do we ramp up production and replace our aging fleet when 40% of our work force is about to go out the door and retire. so we have an option.

we can either import labor in order to keep up with demand or we can go the way that europe has gone because all of europe is far below replacement level when it comes to fertility rate and i want to repeat this important point. no country in the history of the world has experienced economic prosperity while experiencing depopulation. and finally i'll end on this point. if you look at mexico, mexico's fertility rate in 1960 was 7 which means the average adult female in mexico was having seven children. today they are 2.2 right behind the united states and they are expected to fall below replacement level a few years about five years after we are and we're already there. so the only future pockets and we've already seen from the few hispanic data that people are migrating back to mexico, the only future pockets of human

capital are going to be coming from countries like india and china for a short while. and many of the countries in africa. so, we have a choice. we can either import the labor we need to keep our economy going or we can declare a new federal holiday and start a national procreation day and try things that way. with that i'll stop there. [ applause ] >> thanks so much, eddy. that was great. i'm all for the national holiday, but maybe we can do both. it's a both end situation here so. now i'm going to turn it over to the reverend phil reller. why don't we hear from you, then we'll move down the aisle and finish up with alex. >> thank you. to get to immigration solutions we have to push through a lot of obfuscation of the truth about current policies and

legislation. in the new testament there is this powerful story about an encounter between jesus and the roman prefect pontius pilate hours before jesus' execution. pontius pilate says to him what is truth? and jesus is silent. as if he's looking at the prefect to say truth, prefect, is what is staring you in the face. i want to talk to you from the angle of vision of representative of diverse faith communities serving diverse communities comprised of undocumented people, recent immigrants, and other citizens that sb 1070 and its cousins like georgia and alabama hb 56, have negatively significantly

negatively impacted our communities. others here are going to speak as you heard about the damages already done to arizona's economy, which the arizona legislature itself admits. millions lost from lost revenues and tourism, unemployment rates exceeding national averages, businesses opting to locate to other places. regulatory business practices that thwart growth and the impact of the departure of young strong creative entrepreneurs and dream act youth. i'm going to tell you some people stories. what stares us in the face, for instance, our 11 latino congregations, comprised of undocumented and citizens who left the very city where the author of sb 1070, russell pierce, lives. that pulls out mom and pop restaurants, mom and pop stores and these ambitious creative men

and women who have come to a new place and been able to initiate commerce and economy. it pulls their children, it pulls purchasing power and even more importantly perhaps, it pulls that kind of support within a community like having a babysitter or a friend you can greet at the bus stop, or a friend you can say hello to at the post office. it pulls them out of your economy and out of your community itself. i called by the way, a pastor in alabama. i said what's going on in birmingham. he said everybody ran. crops are sitting unharvested. he said they brought in other workers who worked for one or two kays and then left. we have a food pantry at our church where we assist with needs. the needs are still there but people are too frightened to come and meet them. and we support national reform.

and a way to document those who want to stay so that we can support them. laws have been made which contradict god's laws of welcome and care. what we what we see are women whose husbands go to work or vice versa and their cell phone battery may die on the job and they call them and they can't leave a voice mail and they wonder, has my husband or my spouse been picked up on a sweep? will me and my family see them again? we see people on the edge, self-confining to self-imposed boundaries and borders between two freeways in arizona and two major cross streets within a three-mile radius. they work only in that area, shop in that area, and return home, because they are afraid to go out of that area. we also -- we also see increased

voter registration among latinos. we see participation in bario defense group, and we heard a young girl, probably about age 9 cry out at a community forum, my daddy is not illegal. he is sergio! and he's my daddy. you claim liberation from your oppressor by first reclaiming your name, and then by reclaiming your being. obfuscation of the truth goes wack to the pop lure beginnings of how this came to be. you know the story. independent state legislators frustrateed by federal inaction over our national immigration crisis boldly took it upon themselves to create legislation to combat, among other things, illegal immigration and the secure our borders. they were hardly independent acting legislators.

sb1070 and nearly all other similar legislation proposed in similar and other states was drafted, quote/unquote, by members of the legislative group a federation for american immigration reform. you know that. f.a.i.r. publicly announces its mission to fight our massive immigration crisis. it raises a question, which i invite you to consider because of the way you answer this question will help you determine what solutions you buy into. when and why did our national common good become threatened by immigration? but back to f.a.r.e. dan stein, work to ensure america is the same livable place we inherited from our

parents and our forefathers. whose parents? which forefathers? probably not those who lived in the southwest vibrant cultures and vibrant economies well before plymouth rock and well before most of the legislators that are drafting this legislation and their families ever stepped foot in this hemisphere. here's what we see in f.a.r.e.'s agenda. an effort to preserve a certain culture as superior to others. influenced by a christian reconstructionist theology with deep anti-federalist ideology, which declares the u.s. constitution guarantees too many rights to too many people. we know which people deserve the rights and which don't. cultural imperialism is wrong. racism is deplorable.

both are evil and evil can only be obfuscated to so long, and eventually it becomes clear. its sure sign -- when it turns and devours its own servants. sb1070 has nowhere attritioned through enforcement harks nowhere created healthy communities. only broken ones. sals family has lived in arizona for eight generations. he was working in his yard and remembered that he had to mail a letter. so as a gentle deacon, never been in trouble with the law. gets around with his community fine. went to the post office but still had his jeans on and his straw hat. he was followed by police that stopped him in the post office. will you please get out of your car? will you show us your papers?

what have i done, sir? you know that dress becomes a way for law enforcement officers who have become enforcers to determine the likelihood of a person being illegal. i don't know a single latino family who has not had a family member stopped in a similar way. i would not have been able to say that a year or two ago. proponents of sb1070 claim enforcement policies will assist us in preventing terrorism. trust me, there are more people who look like timothy mcveigh driving through the streets of arizona than like sal, and we're not getting stopped. we see paper selection process

of people being about driving brown, especially if wearing a straw hat. say nothing about the rule of law. one final story. rosea is 14 years old. i met her when we were speaking together. she came up to me before i spoke and she said, pastor, will you, please, pray for me? the sheriff's deputies came and took my father and mother from our home today. afterwards i talked to rosea. sleaze 14 years old. she told me the father of her story, armando, he grew up in the southwest part of mexico and recruited to come in the late '80s to the border to work in the plants there. international companies from china, australia, korea, the united states, recruited, 300,000 people to live without electricity, without water. they worked for 32 pesos a day

when they first got up there. but, remember, nafta devalued the peso in half twice. so after a couple of years they were earning eight pesos a day, which at that time was ten pesos to a dollar. they worked hard and then took the city bus into the city of juarez to get pallets to build their houses, to build their community centers, to build their churches while the plants decided they could make more money by moving into the center of mexico, and you know, and then into central america and then into southeast asia. and armando worked at a plant which was generous with him, told him he could have another job if he wanted to relocate to la las cruzes mexico for phoenix. he had has children, the maricopa county sheriff's office came because the papers in the work for 14 plus years had not

come through and he was illegal. they took rosa's mother and father from her home and left rosea to care for her 11, 9 and 6-year-old siblings alone. talk about an erosion of social conscience to say nothing about the need to refine our punitive paths towards citizenship. truth is, sb1070 and others are not creating safe communities. they're breaking them. what kind of a value system is that? and, finally, and in addition in this country, it has been proposed that it is illegal for me and members of the faith community to offer care, to haver transportation, to offer assistance to people who have crossed over the border.

often the great political engine that drives our lawmaking, skims and slides over a track oiled by ego and political expediency, but sometimes it sinks into the stable track of progress. the emancipation. civil rights. the south african truth commission. and suddenly people start hearing words like this being used in forming public policy, fairness, equality, forgiveness, we add love. the beginning of immigration solutions ought to flow from foundations like these. thank you. >> terrific. thank you so much. da i