here he is on that day at the white house announcing the start of it. >> it makes no sense no expel talented young people who for all intents and purposes are americans. they've been raised as americans. understand themselves to be part of this country. to expel these young people who want to staff our labs, or start new businesses or defend our country, simply because of the actions of their parents or because the inaction of politicians. in the absence of any immigration action from congress to fix our broken immigration system, what we've tried to do is focus our immigration enforcement resources in the right places. well, today we're improving it again. effective immediately the department of homeland security is taking steps to lift the shadow of deportation from the young people.

over the next few months, eligible individuals who do not present a risk to national security or public safety will be able to request temporary relief from deportation proceedings and apply for for w authorization. now, let's be clear. this is not amnesty. this is not immunity. this is not a path to citizenship. it's not a permanent fix. this is a temporary stopgap measure that lets us focus our resources wisely whale giving a degree of relief and hope to talented, driven, patriotic young people. it is the right thing to do. >> president obama from june of 2012, announcing the start of the daca program. yesterday marked nine years since it began. and we want to know from you this morning, do you support it? if you do, dial in. republicans, 202-748-8001.

democrats, 202-748-8000. if you oppose it, as well. independents, 202-748-8002. take a look at most recent daca numbers from the congressional research service. in december of 2020, there were 636,390 active daca recipients. the average age is a little over 25 years old. 89% of them are employed according to 2019 numbers. the average hourly wage, again, 2019, close to $20 an hour. and then you also have this from the government, that the daca requirements are such that you have to be under the age of 31 as of june 15, 2012, came to the united states before age 16, and continuously reside in the united states since june of

2007. you have to be in school or graduated, objected a ged or a veteran of the coast guard or armed forces in order to qualify. and you have not been convicted of a felony or three or more misdemeanors. so those are the requirements to have daca -- to participate in the program and to keep that status in the united states. as we said, yesterday marked the nine-year anniversary. up on capitol hill, the judiciary committee, led by dick durbin, democrat of illinois, the chair of that committee, and someone who has been pushing for the daca program, they marked the anniversary by holding a hearing on legislation that would go beyond daca and grant citizenship to an estimated 2.7 million who arrived as children or who have temporary permission to stay in the united states. the chair of the judiciary committee, dick durbin, talked

yesterday about the legacy of daca since 2012. listen to what he had to say. >> since 2012, more than 800,000 dreamers have stepped out of the shadows to enroll in daca. the program has been a life changer. it has allowed them to work, pursue higher education, and serve in america's military. daca has unleashed the full potential of dreamers. august 15, 2012, is a date i will never forget. it was the first day that daca applications were accepted. i was at navy pier in chicago for a workshop to help dreamers apply for daca. we weren't sure if anyone would show up. then we weren't sure how many would show up. then what happened astonished us. thousands, thousands of young people showed up on that day, filled the entire boardwalk. some gathered with their parents at midnight before the actual opening that morning. some drove in from neighboring

states. that's how eager these young people were to officially become part of america even if on a temporary renewable basis. and that's what's really the keyword when it comes to daca. it's temporary. when president obama first announced it, he said because this is temporary, congress needs to act. there is still time for congress to pass the dream act this year, he said, because these kids deserve to plan their lives in more than two-year increments. that year has turned into nine years. over the years, the dream act has been a victim of a filibuster on the floor of the senate five different times. as the dream act has languished in the senate, hundreds of thousands of young people have been left with their futures in doubt. but that hasn't stopped them from fighting for their dreams and giving everything they can to this country. >> that was the chair of the judiciary committee, dick durbin, yesterday at that hearing. now, senator tom cotton,

republican of arkansas, he pushed back against democrats' idea of expanding beyond daca. it's the american dream and promise act. here is his argument. >> i have to say that we heard from senator coons in terms that we often here, about children brought here through no fault of their own who have never known another country and that's why we need a solution like the house bill. the house bill would give a green card, though, to, say, an 18-year-old who arrived here in december. so that's very different than what senator coons portrayed or what the democrats portray that this legislation would do. that's why this hearing itself is so ill-advised. we have a crisis at the border. illegal migrant flows that we haven't seen in a generation.

the vice president galivanted around mexico and central america last week looking for the root causes. i could have saved the taxpayers their money, the root cause is joe biden and kamala harris running on an open borders campaign, that message being heard across the world and hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens showing up at the border, not just from mexico and guatemala but literally all across the world to include europe and africa and asia because they know that our borders are open and as mr. edlo testified earlier, the very fact that the united states senate is having a hearing on granting a massive amnesty under these conditions will simply exacerbate this crisis. it will be used tonight, tonight, by traffickers and smugglers to induce more desperate parents to send their children to our border, to encourage more people from around the world to make that

very dangerous trip, that will then put even more stress on our border and our law enforcement agencies, lead to more crime in this country, to lower wages and fewer jobs for the american people. >> senator tom cotton from yesterday's hearing. now, more numbers for you from the migration policy institute here in washington. the unauthorized immigration population is estimated at 11 million. top countries of birth are mexico, el salvador, guatemala. 66% of those 16 or older are employed. 5% are unemployed. 30% are not in the labor force. you have the numbers, you have the history, and you've heard both sides of the argument this morning. now it's your turn to tell washington what you think. timothy in my, democrat caller, you're up first this morning, go ahead. >> i believe in the daca

program. these people were brought here as children and they deserve every chance to have a good life. we are all immigrants in this country. so i think they should get all the help that is necessary. thank you for taking my message. >> timothy, would you stop there when it comes to expanding immigration? and only allow it for those children who were brought here by their parents? >> i'm not sure i can answer that question intelligently. what i do believe is that we need to use our resources to go into these other countries and help the people there. >> okay. jerry in virginia, republican. jerry, what do you think? >> well, i did support the daca program before they opened the gate and started bringing them

in by the hundreds of thousands. >> so before president biden was elected you were on board with the daca program? >> yes. >> okay. what if it just applies to the recipients that currently have daca status? >> well, that's [ inaudible ]. >> all right. nathan in lawton, michigan, democratic caller. hi, nathan. >> hi. >> good morning to you. >> good morning. i personally believe in the daca program. you know, i believe in the american dream. i think we should turn the dream into reality. i think that fundamentally every person deserves equal opportunity. i'm in full support of the daca program. >> nathan, do you know anybody who is a daca recipient? >> not personally, no. but i've heard many stories and they are very inspiring. >> when you hear them, what is your thought? i mean, what sort of a reaction do you have? >> it just helps me heart to

know that america is truly a great and loving country. it was founded by immigrants. it still works on immigrants. our economy is great because of daca, or at least the help from daca. there are so many pros. i really don't see what the possible arguments against daca could be. >> all right, nathan. meanwhile, as we're talking here in the united states about this daca program, over in geneva, president biden is getting set to meet with the russian president. this is from moments ago when the russian president arrived for their summit at lake geneva. on the schedule today is a meeting shortly, and an extended meeting after that, and then the president will hold a news conference. let's watch.

russian president vladimir putin arriving in geneva for his one-on-one meeting with president biden. we'll talk about that more coming up here on "the washington journal" with an expert on russia from 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. eastern time. we'll continue to monitor the meetings happening there this morning in geneva. they are six hours ahead. as we said, the president will sit down with the president of russia. they will have a couple of sessions. that is on his schedule, two sessions. and then the president of the united states will hold a news conference. here is a live picture right

now, the president of the united states en route to the summit site. as you saw, the russian president has already arrived. let's watch a little bit of this as well. president biden en route to his sit-down meeting with russian president vladimir putin. as we learned from the first

lady earlier, he has been preparing and she says he's overprepared for his meetings overseas, his first as president of the united states. as he gets ready to sit down with the russian president, we're discussing what is happening domestically. yesterday, washington marked the nine-year anniversary of the so-called daca program. our question to you is, do you support it or oppose it? let's go to carl, a republican from new york. thanks for hanging on the line. >> why did you say my name was carl? >> i see it says carl. >> it got changed. i spelled out my name and everything else. it got changed to carl. are you tracking me or something? >> all right. we'll move on to maria who is in ohio, democratic caller. hi, maria. >> hello, how are you? >> good morning. >> i support daca. i've met many latinos and just

hearing their stories and how they come over, i just support all immigrants, really. >> what story stands out to you, what do you remember from what you heard? >> just how they were brought as children and had no choice and then once they're here, they can't do anything legally because they don't have those papers. and it's just -- to me it's just really wrong. people came to ellis island with nothing and they were able to, you know, have good lives. i think eventually all the borders are going to fall down and people will move where they want to. i don't understand why, you know, people have these -- the borders. i just don't understand. >> okay. jim in richmond, texas, an independent. jim, good morning. >> hi. good morning, how are you? >> i'm doing well. so jim, what do you think of daca? >> i am a retired high school

teacher of 30 years. and i am a pretty conservative man. i support daca. i think those kids that were brought here by their parents and have lived here and gone to school here, become educated, and are productive citizens of our society, should be allowed to be citizens. but the caveat is, close the damn border. >> and why do you say that, jim? because by closing the border, what do you think that would do? >> close the border so we know who is coming in here and why they're coming in here. we've got a wide open situation now that is destructive to this

country. we have illegals coming in that are bent on doing criminal activity. we have foreigners coming from all over the world that have -- you know, and i understand why people want to come to the united states. but we have to have an understanding of who is coming and why they're coming. >> okay, jim. the homeland security secretary wrote an opinion piece about the nine-year anniversary of daca yesterday in "usa today." he says, when will congress give dreamers the lives they deserve? he writes, thanks to daca, these young people have built their lives in our shared country, started families and launched careers. they have lived in america on average for more than two decades. in fact no person who now has daca has lived in this country for fewer than 14 years. and on average they were 6 years

old when they arrived. he goes on to write that more than 250,000 u.s. citizen children have a parent who is a daca recipient. nearly a third of daca recipients are essential workers such as doctors, nurses, farm workers, and food service providers, helping our communities survive and recover from the pandemic. the homeland security secretary writing in "usa today." let's hear from bruce in lubbock, texas, a republican. hi, bruce. >> hi. i don't understand for either a republican or a democratic politician has he ever told me why the american taxpayers should support daca or any other immigrants coming to this country. ellis island is a false narrative because they came, immigrants came through one point, did what was necessary. these people are flooding across the border. it's not the same thing. so i'm waiting for an explanation from any politician

why american taxpayers should support daca or any of these immigrants coming to this country. >> all right, bruce. bruce in texas. as bruce was talking, the president has arrived in geneva to the site of the summit with the russian president. here on "washington journal" this morning we're spending the first hour talking about whether you support or oppose the daca program. president obama created it nine years ago yesterday in an announcement from the rose garden. yesterday on capitol hill the senate judiciary committee held a hearing on the anniversary and on legislation to go beyond daca and allow a path to citizenship for daca recipients and others who are here who are allowed to be here temporarily. here is republican senator john cornyn questioning one of the witnesses yesterday, a dreamer and a medical doctor, about the politics of finding a pathway to citizenship for certain unauthorized populations. >> there's no question that

you've made incredible contributions to our country as an emergency room physician and i think the reason you're here is you're an exemplary of the type of young person who's applied for and received daca whose life has been cast into uncertainty because of the fact that this has not been something that actually resulted from congressional action and consensus building. and i personally support trying to provide a permanent solution for people like you. as you think you heard me say, that there's a number of different iterations of the dream act and daca, starting with the original daca which now has 640 active individuals. the bill before us today would provide a pathway to citizenship for 4.4 million people. if it is politically unlikely

for us to be able to pass something like that american dream and promise act, which i agree -- which i believe it is impractical and unlikely to happen, would you support congress passing a bill that would provide relief for a smaller population that could be agreed on by republicans and democrats alike, say, the 640,000 active daca recipients? >> so i can only speak on behalf of my personal experiences. i have known, i personally have watched the dream act throughout the years, from the very beginning, and i remember watching c-span as a high schooler, when the dream act was first being talked about and discussed on the senate floor and in congress. personally, i would support such legislation if it meant a permanent solution for me and all the other daca recipients

currently because it's been many years, and frankly, we're all tired of waiting and having our life up in the air. i think we're ready for a permanent solution. >> from yesterday's judiciary hearing on capitol hill, marking the nine-year anniversary of daca. do you support or oppose it? paul in myrtle beach, south carolina, independent. what do you say, paul? >> yes, i do support daca. i was working for the u.s. census this past year, and met a daca kid that was working and seemed like a really good person. hearing his story. but i did want to say that i do agree that the border should be -- we should stop people coming at the border. i went to ireland a couple of years ago, and anybody that's been out of the united states, to come back into the united states knows the scrutiny you go through. i went through u.s. customs, three checkpoints, was really

hassled about it. i'm an american citizen, and here you think, here's people just walking across the border and we're able to stop people in other countries from coming in. anyway, that's my thoughts. >> paul, tell us the story you heard from that young daca recipient. >> yeah, he was working in a store. i was trying to sign him up. i was a census recruiter and trying to get him to -- and he explained, i'm a daca kid. his parents, yeah, had brought him over here. he was -- and there was some ways he could apply for the census, actually, or sign up for the census and be able to be counted. but anyway, he was just -- he was over here, he was in south carolina, down in a place called hardiville. there was a mexican community there that he was working in a

store there. so we have a lot of those here, and good people, and they work hard. so we support them. >> what do you make of him having the confidence, i assume, to tell you i'm a daca recipient? >> yeah, that was surprising, because through my career, you know, we always tried to -- i worked for vocation rehabilitation and we tried to reach out to the hispanic community, and they were always hard to get in touch with. >> all right. paul there in south carolina. some reaction on social media. here is a tweet from a viewer. the daca kids should stay, be given the chance for citizenship and allowed to add to the diversity of our country. then a text from russ in texas, daca kids are americans, they know nothing else, worked and lived with many since i was 14 years old. the dream act must pass now, he says. larry in milford, michigan, u.s. rule of law is no one should

gain advantage by breaking the law. send all immigration violators home, no daca, is what larry said. john in lawrence, massachusetts, i support daca, not only because president obama explained the act clearly but because it's humane to do so. the alternative is un-american and unacceptable. wesley, a republican in new york, what do you say, wesley? >> i say that the country's overpopulated. when i was in high school there was 184. now we're 331. ann coulter is right, we're going to be a third world hell hole. we're getting people across the board who will never work, they're older, some of them, i've seen it myself. this country is in trouble. the democrats -- good intentions are paved -- the road to hell is paved with good intentions. >> wesley, how do you respond to the homeland security secretary who writes in "usa today" that nearly a third of daca recipients are essential workers such as doctors, nurses, farm

workers, and food service providers, helping our communities survive and recover from the pandemic? >> i disagree. >> do you know otherwise? >> we're overwhelmed with -- well, i like doctors, especially some of the doctors i have around here that are from india and like that. i like them all right, but they came here legally. when you got people just flooding the border, you're going to be overpopulated. we already are. we're going to be 400 million probably before i pass away and i'm 75. >> okay. wesley, a republican in new york. rob is an independent in michigan. rob, your turn. >> thank you. i do support daca. we do not need to be making war on children. but daca is a band-aid. we need to have a new immigration policy that welcomes workers. you apply for a permit, file federal and state income taxes to get that permit renewed for the next year.

and the worker comes across, it's not an entire family. the way we would discourage that is to eliminate any sort of welfare that would support a family. after five years, if you've filed federal and state income taxes, you can apply for a citizenship. that test will be given in english. anyone who hires an illegal worker would be fined $10,000 per person. i think that we need to be welcoming people who have the american dream like our ancestors had, we come from the old country, when you've saved enough and establish yourself, send for the rest of the family. and you're welcomed into this nation. we are a diverse nation. another alternative is if you serve in our military and you see combat upon discharge, you get your american citizenship papers. >> all right. rob's thoughts there in michigan. mary in fort washington, maryland, a democratic caller. mary, what's your view of daca?

>> i think we should absolutely support daca. we made a promise to them. why aren't we going to keep our promises? and also, i'm sick and tired of the republican people calling up and talking racism, that's all it is. what is the hate for hispanic people coming over the border? we don't have a crisis. the crisis is the politicians who want to use it as a talking points for votes. we need to support daca. people came out into the public and put themselves at risk for being deported. so we need to honor that. i don't see anything wrong. we do need to fix the border. but we need to fix it in a humane, progressive way, not acting like people are coming across the board to bring crime and to bring things like that. that's not true. there's many professionals coming over that border. i want to ask people that are just hateful, if you had the same situation, what would you be doing? what would be your answer? how would you like to be treated coming over the border into

another country? the united states could be split in half by a meteorite any day. where would these haters about it go? where would you go? to mexico? how would you like to be treated if you were an immigrant? thank you. >> all right, mary. "usa today" reports daca's future remains in peril as a federal judge in texas is weighing a court challenge to strike down the program entirely, sealing the fate of hundreds of thousands of young immigrants who have spent their lives in the united states but may be forced to return to countries they haven't seen in years. that court case before a texas judge right now. for president biden's part, in january, on january 20, 2021, one of the first actions by this president is signing a memorandum that said the following. daca reflects a judgment that these immigrants should not be a

priority for removal based on a humanitarian concern and other considerations and that work authorization will enable them to support themselves and their families. and, he wrote, contribute to our economy while secretary of home security in consultation with the attorney general shall take all actions he deems appropriate to fortify daca. don, good morning. >> good morning. i think that -- why are we the united society of aid to the world? why do we need all these people coming in? we're all born into the united states. we're here. and, uh, like the lady said, we're here, but our country is supporting other people instead of us.

that medical doctor you had on, you know, no doubt he had help from the united states government to pay for his medical education while a lot of american, uh, people have to pay through the nose or are in debt for years and years to come. >> if you're interested in his story, don, you should watch yesterday's hearing, you can go to c-span.org and find the part where he testified and was asked questions about senators. more reaction from our viewers. here's nathaniel with a text to us. >> "washington journal" live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. we'll take you next to geneva, switzerland, to president biden following his summit with vladimir putin. >> i know it was easy getting