immigration laws. i know that you were on the hill yesterday in congress and i know that you recognize that the issue of immigration brings out passions on all sides. . >> i have seen what happens when the borders are closed. and people have to cross

illegally through the desert. i saw that as the u.s. attorney, governor of arizona. have i seen what happens when people believe that operational control of the immigration system has been lost. and how that rebounds. and so many, many ways. and i have seen what can occur when people believe that the rule of law has somehow been left out of immigration. so we are, while we look for immigration reform, over the next years. at the department, charged with enforcing the law that we have. so based on my experience and what i have seen, let me just share with you that we are committed to enforcing that law in a fair way, in an effective way. in a smart way that makes real

sense. for example, just going to a workplace to pick up workers. we are actually developing cases against the employers making money off of those workers. [applause] and we will continue to solicit ideas and thoughts about what we do with our immigration system moving forward. we have to come down to one basic principle, everybody. everybody in this room, everybody on the street outside, everybody on the hill where you were yesterday has to agree and believe that we begin with immigration with the concept that it is an

embodiment rule of law and it will applied to the spectrum. and if we begin from that basic principle, we can reform the system and that recognizes the immigration and history of our country, a country after all that was built on immigrants. and the strengths they bring and the commitment they have to build a stronger nation in the united states. that's where we will begin. and i am committed that's where we will get to. with those kind of broad spread messages, one is to help prepare people for disasters that may come. be sure they have supplies if their homes and basic first-aid training and know how to unite

their families and a commitment to restore the rule of law in our immigration. i hope i leave you today with a sense of the department of homeland security, and a sense of what it is we here for. what we here more many things, but we will really here to bring people confidence, that whatever happens, we can respond and react and return back even stronger than before. thank you for having me this morning. [applause] >> people don't want to think of roosevelt's administration as a policy than a passion. he put out almost 240 acres as

wild america, and people are talking about green movements and roosevelt was the only politician of his day that absorbed darwin and biology and the bird's patterns and deer and elk. >> sunday on "q & a" the first of douglas brinkley, the wilderness warrior. >> friday president obama took part on a white house townhall meeting of father hood and responsible responsibility, and several talked about their experiences as fathers and their outreach. >> good afternoon and welcome to the white house. thank you so much for coming

today, for this conversation on fatherhood and personal responsibility, it's good to be here to talk about something so close to the president's heart. i am chief of staff of government affairs, and i have been working with the president as a paralegal back in chicago and as a chief council in the senate and i know how much fatherhood means. he's a dad and he views that as the most important job he has. but he was also a son that grew up without a father in his own life, know of the impact. and it's something that i shared. my father left before i was

born, but i was lucky to be adopted by the man who married my mother. and i a dad myself. i have a teenage son what we are working to guide and i have a son that has autism, and i have a young daughter who has made it clear who is in charge, that would be her. i am pleased to be here with five wonderful men, everyday guys doing things in their families and communities. i will introduce them, the goal of all of this is to highlight what works. what are dads, families and communities doing to address the problem of absent fathers and strengthen our country. we want to hear from you too.

what are you and your organizations doing on this issue and how can we learn from your work. i would like to introduce chief quarter master, john lennon. john, is a military dad who is balancing life and service to our nation, with service to his family. we would love to hear from you. >> thank you, i want to thank the national fatherhood initiative, they put me on the podium for this one. i have four beautiful children at home, and you can imagine how difficult it is for a military parent to take care of the family. and my advice is to keep in

contact with them any way you can. i have worked with it through my wife, jennifer, she's the backbone and i hand it to her, at times when i can't be in contact with my children. and we also keep journals, i recommend this, if your child keeps a journal everyday and you keep a journal, and you read over them when you get home, and it helps them connect. and no one can emphasize how important it is for the child to be involved with the father. just as important as with the mother. and if you combine that with efforts from your spouse, we can raise a wonderful group of children. [applause] >> thank you john and your service. next i would like introduce joe

jones. joe has had some struggles in life. but now running one of our nation's best fatherhood program. >> thank you, first of all, let me thank president barack obama for his leadership in talking about responsible fatherhood and healthy families. our nation's children deserve having both parents. and it's difficult, i am pleased to represent the urban families in baltimore and the leadership group. and most importantly, i want to recognize my wife, deborah. put your hand up please. because -- [applause] my mom and dad split when i was nine years old. and at age 13 not having the ability to think through that

difficulty, i succumbed to problems and did drugs and had a child out of wedlock who i am not responsible for. that kid is doing great, but not because of me. and i at the end of a one-year stay of drug treatment. i met my wife and i gave her a rose and she wouldn't talk to me. and then decided to have a relationship with me and have a stepchild and then a child together. and although i had that system, and we can help with issues that impact young men's ability

to manage their own behavior. and i am fortunate i have an organization where we do deep penetration in baltimore, outreach into the most disconnected communities in baltimore, and getting the young men to come in, and saying to them, if you do the right thing and with the support system, you can be successful. i achieved a g.e.d. and then graduated cum laude from baltimore county. it's that attitude and we can provide for our children and then our families can be health and supportive. >> thank you. next we are going to hear from

juan carlos. come on up, juan. he's a great young father who is participant in a wonderful job program called, year up. and the president visited it today. juan, tell your story. >> i want to say thank you to president obama for this opportunity and fatherhood. i came from el salvador and i didn't speak english, and i enrolled in high school and graduated. and i would leave my house and come back in the middle of the night. i would do my homework on the

train and bus. and i enrolled in this excellent program to give me the opportunity to achieve in america. and i have a beautiful daughter, she's driving my crazy, she's only 16 months. i don't know, after she was born, i totally changed. i became more mature. before she was born, everything was me and my fiance. and now when i go to the stores, i see clothes and books. and that's what i see everywhere i go. i believe that being a father is a good thing and i am proud to be a father. i am really proud. [applause] all i can say to give you advice, if you have children,

please dedicate time to them. that's the most beautiful thing for a man to be a father. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. thank you juan carlos. next, let's hear from eton thomas. he plays basketball for the washington wizards, but more importantly, he's active in his community and a wonderful dad. come up here. >> it's definitely a pleasure to be here. i want to thank president obama for leading this initiative. it's definitely something that's greatly needed now. i do a lot of work with young people, and now i doing a lot of work in the d.c. prison with young people not quite 18. they are not -- they are in the

youth section, it's not juve, because they are not tried as adults. and i poll them and say, how many of you grew up with your fathers. and this time there were 30 and i said, how many grew up with your fathers. and two raised their hand. and i try encourage them to write their energy and frustrations and to channel into something positive. and we were touching on the subject of fathers, and what they were writing had so much anger, and most didn't know that it was there. and surprised where that came from. and to sees what is critical what president obama is doing of this initiative. i am blessed to have two

beautiful kids and a beautiful wife. and when i talk to young people, i wear t-shirts with my kids' face on it. my son malcolm loves it and my daughter loves it. and one kid asked why do you wear pictures of your children. and i say because those are my pride is joys. and they said how did you grow up. and i tell me story, i grew up of a single parent and my mother did a beautiful job of me. and they have that connection, you grew up and your father wasn't there. but you made it. and the mentality they have is that if their father isn't there, they can't make it. and the president obama, met his father once, and he's the

president of the united states. so the sky is the limit, and i leave them with a quote, every man can serve as an example, even if it's what not to become. [applause] >> great job, eton, thank you very much. and finally let's hear from mike. come on up here. [applause] i love mike because when we were all speaking earlier and introducing ourselves and everyone told what they did, mike said, i am just a dad. mike is from iowa, he's a small business owner and a great guy. let's hear from you. >> thank you, i also would like to thank the president. i am extremely honored to be here today. this is a wonderful kick-off to a phenomenal weekend. father's day is of great

importance. i am a father and husband, my wife is here and my daughter. and i am also a small businessman. and one thing to point out, we all have had a difficult time over the years balancing work and family. it's a tough issue and it's tougher now with the economy hard. and it's easy to fall away from doing the things you need to do with your children. and i think of fatherhood, it's the best job, the most rewarding job. the best job i have had. and it's a job that most are not prepared for. and i was fortunate and my wife, we had good parents and role models. we had twins, and we didn't know what we were doing, not a clue. so you learn on the job. and it's a constant learning

process and the thing i learned the most, it's not any one thing you do for your kids. it's all the thousands of things you do, all the thousands of hours you spend reading and going to the library. all of these things. one thing in our family that is very important is just eating dinner together. and it started out, dinner is long because the girl's mother is a dietician and she wanted them to eat their vegetables. and they didn't want to and dinner was long. but as this continued, this was where we caught up with each other's lives. and we still do it. and being a father is just the greatest. i will not celeb, just a dad, but that's the best thing i

could be. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. so since this is a townhall, we want to have some interaction. we want to hear from you, and ask questions. i have a couple of questions. joe, you are running a program in baltimore, maryland. i want to hear from you, if you have advice for citizens in the neighborhood that want to get involved in programs like yours. what can folks do in baltimore and their own communities, that will help with programs and help with fatherhood and challenge young people? >> you raise an interesting question, you can reach out to the national fatherhood

program, and we are made up of men and women around the country, and we can be a resource. those neighborhood sources and church ministries. and men's ministries. and ladies, let me be clear, we are not talking about something that will make you subservant to the men. and let me offer to the women a happy father's day. because we now want to step up to the plate and take some burden off of your plate. and the responsible fatherhood field doesn't have the infrastructure associated with maternal health. and we build these partnerships including the ladies, and we will figure out how to put these in every community of the -- community.

and this will happen to those associations and reach out to the national fatherhood's group. >> thank you. juan, the program where the president visited, this sounds outstanding and tell us a little more about it. >> i was saying like when i came to this country, they gave me the opportunity to be successful in the united states. so basically the program is between the ages of 18-24, they train you computer skills, they give you social skills, how to write an e-mail and how to communicate and how to deal with difficult people. so this program basically work with the students, not just give a training but also encourage them to become something in life. like if they have a hard time to focus or have a hard time at

home, we help them to manage there in order to be successful. that program helped me a lot, it gave me the opportunity to show my skills and potential. probably nobody see it before. >> thank you, these are wonderful stories of dads who are doing what they can for their families and communities. and now i would like to introduce another dad. the first dad of the united states, who is going to carry this conversation further. ladies and gentlemen, the president and vice-president of the united states. [applause] >> hello everybody. please be seated.

thank you very much. and let me first thank john, and joe and juan and eton, and mike, for sharing their remarkable stories. and thank mike for helping guide us through this process. where did he go? there he is. and a couple other people to acknowledge first of all, our terrific secretary of transportation, ray lahood is here. [applause] a dear friend of mine, senator bynum is here. chicago's own congressman, danny davis, where is danny. he was here, give him a round of applause. and i want to thank kids from life pieces to masterpieces.

and foundry united methodist church, thank you for your participation. and i want to thank members of the faith based advisory council subcommittee on fatherhood. good afternoon, it's wonderful to see you. it's great to have all of you here today as we gear up to celebrate father's day. and to recognize the vital role that fathers play in our communities and obviously our families. this townhall marks the beginning of the conversation of fatherhood and responsibilities. how fathers across america are meeting the challenges and what government can do to support those having a difficult time. today you had a chance to hear

from five of those fathers. men who are doing an outstanding job of meeting the obligations in their own lives. we know the difference that a responsible committed father like those five gentlemen can make in the life of a child. fathers are our first teachers, coaches, mentors and role models. they set an example of success and push us to succeed. and encourage us when we struggle, and love us and stand by when no one else will. when fathers are absent, we know the damage that does to our families. some know the statistics, children who grow up without fathers are more likely to drop out of school and wind up in prisons and have abuse problems

and i say this as someone who grew up without a father in my life. i had a wonderful mom and heroic grandparents who raise me and my sister. and because of them, i am here today. but because of their love and attention, that doesn't mean that i didn't feel my father's absence. and that leaves a hole in a child's heart that a government can't fill. we need them to come home and have a book instead of tv remote. and government can put more cops on the streets, but only fathers can make sure those kids aren't on the streets. government can create good jobs, but we need fathers to hold down these jobs.

we need fathers to step up and to understand that their work doesn't end with conception. what makes a man a father is the ability to raise a child. and invest in that child. and we need fathers to be involved in their kids' lives just when it's easy, or the afternoon in the park or the zoo when it's all fun and games. but when it's hard and young people are struggling and there are not easy fixes. and that's when young people need patient and a little tough love. and this is a challenge in good times and especially in times like these, when parents are worried about paying the bills and to give the children the same opportunity they had. and it's