black people? same as tennessee the question that i did, and they will not tell, not even wall street, how much money they make off the african-american community. but i did my own research and i learned that over 60% of tennessee's u.s. spend comes from the black community. over 60%. let me back up, because i know i am here with a bunch of procedures, churchgoing folks. i'm in the bible belt of the united states of america, i am sure you do not even know where tennessee is. [laughter] i'm trying to give you more data and reference points. i'm an academic and i'm trying to make her that i did use of numbers to back up my premise. i give youe that some numbers to back up my premise. of tennessee's u.s. spend comes from the black market. this data was verified by "the wall street journal."

with them wholly dependent on our market to survive, they do not even have a supplier diversity program. they do not have a mission statement on the website, much less a corporate practice to use black suppliers, distributor's, and vendors. they donate to some black groups , like the urban league, but they do not do business with us. they are partying with us. and those parties do not do anything for our community. money, thered of should be tennessee hot dogs in harlem. they should have funded the new florida memorial. i should be teaching at it. [applause] seriously, though. 68% of the revenues? there should be dozens of hennessy black distributors and significant advertising in black-owned media. and i crazy saying that?

unreasonable, am i a radical racist now, because that is what they call me. i am asking too much. is that a waste of time on saturday morning? i hope not. tennessee's nonminority owners , living lies our children cannot conceive of while the black community, their consumers, are hurting, but no one asks about that you did because we do not ask, because we do not talk, because we do not take the time to look for hair brands -- i will give you one more story. a black-owned wine. linked heritage brands when they learned that $3th africa maintains a billion wine industry, but only 2% of that comes from black companies. now they are the largest company

in the wind company to trade and market africa's black produced wines. seven sisters wine is one of those brands. guess of apartheid, the family was forced to leave -- because of apartheid, the family was forced to leave south africa. they returned and fulfilled their dreams of making wonderful wines. we would never have been able to taste them had it not been for selena and her dream. line,orite seven sisters i given that jules, my grocery storage a cargo chicago, and a drink as much as i can. i am doing this to help, you know, selena and the sisters. [laughter] four apartheid, i do it for selena. stay with me. i lecture at prestigious universities all the time, trust fund kids who have never been to a black neighborhood. they come out to protest me.

after they hear the truth, they hear the data, and they hear our stories, they come to me with tears in her eyes, begging for forgiveness and a list of black as mrs.. they are ready to do more good for the first time, they see a direct correlation between high unemployment and the plight of black businesses. last year, job numbers came out and cnn started pointing out that black on employment was three times that of whites and was ready to close the conversation there. show to had me on their give their reaction to high black unemployment. i was revved and ready to go off -- say, i know i black why black and up limit is so high, because no one supports black as mrs. did and they are the highest employer -- lack businesses. and they are the highest employer's a black people. before she even introduced me, she said this to me. maggie, thank you for teaching

americans a profound lesson about where our money goes and where -- what i can do. and i said, thank you for having me on the show today. fortunately for me -- and here's the point of the story. right after i did not go off, they did have a cnn economist there with one of those graphs -- cnn has the best graphs. and it said that black-owned businesses get the least support of all american businesses, only 6% of black buying power goes back to black businesses. and they close the segment by saying that this is why all americans need to do more to support black-owned businesses. even fox news admitted that black businesses are not treated fairly and said that it is right to fight for equality. mobile publishers weekly" set up my book that it is dynamite and finally someone talked about the subject. c-span did a great story on our experiment. it talked about a great paper company, a black paper company

that you can be supporting a set of officemax and staples. the next day, c-span and officemax reported that their phone numbers were flooded by people looking for that paper company. most of them were not black. they ran the segment over and , at the same time the republican national convention, people were looking at me instead of congressman ryan's acceptance speech. [laughter] just buy the, they day with the west side of chicago to ask me to clarify facts. they spent the day with me on the west side of chicago to ask me to clarify facts. they called this the anderson effect. i am anderson, by the way. i'm not telling you this to brag, i'm telling this to show you that america is ready for this. i think america is ready to see

our community empowered, proactively, supporting our businesses. so that the country can benefit. i really do think that america is ready for this. the person you're asked me when we have today is how do we do this? how do we stay informed and speak out? how do we act on this? are you ready? maggie's list. we're going to do maggie's list. where you can find great corporations, great local businesses, great products on the shelves that you do not know about and have been dying to support. [applause] we can create that million jobs. america is ready for my diesel is, but i will not do a must you are ready. now i am ready to close. because i know my time is short. at the marches, our elders and ancestors had killer dogs at their heels and death threats, thugs raping our men and women in terrorizing our kids. for 385 bay street,

over a year, using their economic might -- days straight, over a year, using their economic might. need to know, are you marching? with me, with bernadette, with brenda? are you marching with us, or are you still writing, comfortable , comfortable, but sitting in the back. i have to pay tribute to my mother here. the me tell you why this is so serious to me. i had a moment when i was considering shutting down the empowerment experiment. i was going to do it because i found that my mother had pancreatic cancer. she got diagnosed one month before we were going to launch our excrement. the only reason i am standing here today is because she told experiment. our the only reason i am sending here today is because she told me not to stop or did i said,

nina, are you crazy? how can this be the most important thing that i will do? they had a war named after me at named after me at the junior high school that they gave out to the best all-around best and every year. they named an award after me. i was the first editor of the award-winning newspaper at the high school. i was the first black prom queen at the high school. nina, are you satisfied? i got me a harvard brother from detroit, i got accolades, i worked for all of these wonderful people, are you satisfied yet? and my mother said to me, are mark all of me russian right, you got me there. she said this to me, an awesome one minor and she said this to me.

i am going to go out fighting. are you? so i'm asking you the same thing. i am going to go out fighting. are you? , she was a cuban fireman, she never graduated from high school. but she was the most important woman i would ever know, because she taught me that are speaking spanish and being cuban did not make us any less black. she taught us that all it meant was that we got dropped off a little earlier. that was my mima. ok, i have to go. thank you all so much. i hope you all buy the book today. i will be around. [applause] we need your support. thank you so much. and i am sorry. [applause] >> >> president obama explains the

administration's response to ebola, at home and abroad. u.s. house candidates in the texas 23rd district, will her delivers the republican address. >> this week we remain focused on ebola. declared -- those around mr. duncan were declared free of ebola. health care workers that were also at risk are declared ebola free. people recovered and were released from the hospital. nurses wasf the two

declared ebola free. i was able to give her a big hug. the other nurse continues to improve as well. -- countries of senecal senegal and nigeria were the cleared ebola free. for al aid went to care doctor who recently served in west africa. cdc experts were already taking care of the situation. we deployed one of our rapid response teams. i have assured they will have all the federal support they need as they go forward. this week we continue to step up our efforts across the country. helpingguidelines are hospitals improve training and protect their workers.

the defense department doctors, nurses, and trainers will respond quickly if called upon to help. -- help. at five u.s. airports we are conducting additional screening. starting this week, is willard -- these will be required to report symptoms for 21 days until we are confident they don't have ebola. my new ebola response coordinator is working to ensure a seamless response across the government, and we have been examining protocols for protecting our brave health care workers, and guided by the science, we will continue to work with state and local officials to take the necessary steps to ensure the safety and health of the american people. with basiceave you facts. you cannot get ebola easily. you cannot get it with casual contact with someone. even his family, who lived with him and helped care for him,

even they didn't get ebola. the only way you can get this disease is by coming in contact with the bodily fluids of someone with symptoms. that is the science. those are the facts. mr. duncan did not survive, and we continue to keep his family in our prayers. at the same time it is important to remember that out of the seven americans treated so far for ebola, the five who contracted it in west africa plus the nurses from dallas, all seven have survived. let me say that again. seven americans treated. all seven survived. i have had two of them in the oval office. now we are focused on making sure the patient in new york received the best care as well. here is the bottom line. patients can beat this disease, and we can beat this disease. we have to stay vigilant. we have to work together at every level, and we have to keep leaving the global response

because the best way to stop this disease, the best way to stop itrica safe is to at its source in west africa, and we have to be guided by the science and the facts -- not here. yorkers showed us the way. they did what they do every day, crowding into elevators, getting to work, gathering in parks. that spirit to carry on is part of what makes new york one of the greatest cities of the world. that is something we can draw on as we meet this challenge together. >> good morning. my name is will heard, and my hope is to be elected in texas. i want to get this mess in washington cleaned up once and for all.

one we cannot trust the government to secure our borders or provide basic service to our veterans, we know something has to change. the president wanted to go to the polls and stick with the helped him with obamacare. he wanted to stick with politicians who helped with initiatives that block jobs. he said, these are folks who vote with me. don't we want people who vote with us, the people? don't we want people who focus on getting things done? i have been overseas as an officer in the cia. i have watched people stare down -- stare down those who try to end our lives. isee how the government threatening our economic security. we can clean up the mess in waste by balancing the budget and civil fighting the tax code. we can help small business owners and taxpayers who are

trying to achieve the american dream. we need to make border security, traffickers, and cyber intelligence a national intelligence priority. it's time we came together to do these things. america doesn't need or politicians who will vote lockstep with the president. we need new leadership to help us at home and abroad. this is the opportunity in 10 days time. this is our moment. let stand together and take america back from the bureaucrats and put the power where it belongs, in the hands of the people. thank you for listening. coverage ofpan's campaign 2014 continues with a live debate in the georgia governors race between andan deal, jason carter, independent andrew hunt. here is a look at the campaign ads running in georgia.

>> making deals worth millions. how did he get rich? his company. the deal made $3 million. the company still owes 74 million dollars, and the middle-class class has fallen further behind. nathan deal, putting money in his pockets, not ours. >> jason carter is ambitious, but his promises fall short of the truth. he claims to be for education of the middle class. he would restrict middle-class access to the hope scholarship, and his big plan to increase spending 12.5 billion, requiring higher taxes on small business and the middle class. jason carter, falling short,

dishonest, untrustworthy. >> we dated five years before we got married, and after five more years we had our first son, henry, and two years later we had thomas. it has been the adventure of our lives. he is the best cap. they love him. he takes them to school in the morning. he is a parent-teacher at preschool on friday. he reads to them. i don't have the stomach for politics. jason is very courageous and strong and unafraid. he is never afraid to do what he thinks is right. >> first place, the pinnacle. number one, how do we get there? governor nathan deal lowered taxes on job creators and built givinged workforce, georgia families a real future. nathan deal brought real appeal to our economy, creating 200 94,000 new jobs. now georgia's this mess climate is leading the nation. for the first time in history,

georgia was the number one place to do business. >> hello, georgia. i am andrew hunt, and i want to represent you as governor. 80% refused to vote in the primary. why? there is an ethical third choice . we want to move away from being the bottom in education and the top in prisons. we want government out of our lives. that's reduce regulations and create jobs and bring georgia back to work. vote libertarian andrew hunt for governor. >> i am andrew hunt, and i approve this message. >> we will have a debate in the georgia governor's race live today. >> c-span coverage of campaign 2014 includes more than 100 debates for the control of congress. stay in touch and on top of the debates. follow us on twitter and join the conversation on

facebook.com/c-span. are just a few of the e-mails we have recently received from our viewers. wrote,om north carolina c-span provides a most valuable service for the american people -- >> and christine from cornell university sent this e-mail --

and robert from massachusetts wrote -- continue to let us know what to think about the program does what you think about the programs you are working -- watching. collis, e-mail us, or you can c-span a tweet at #comments. >> next at georgetown law center forum on immigration. i've bet 7:00 a.m., your calls and comments on "washington journal -- live at 7 a.m., your calls and comments on "washington journal." now the immigration policy hosted by georgetown law center.

it includes debates to integrate immigrants, what executive action is expected from president obama, the recently unaccompanied minor cert -- search. it is about two hours. >> let me introduce rodriguez. he was sworn in on july 9 the summer. he previously served as the director of the office for civil the department of health and human services. he held that position from 2011 to 2014. 2011, he served as the chief of staff and the deputy assistant ag at the department of justice. done more in private

practice and worked at montgomery county as well. his other federal service includes work at the u.s. attorney's office for the district of and sylvania from 1997 until 2001 -- pennsylvania from 1990 seven until 2000 one, and he was at the department of justice, and in that capacity he in heavily involved prosecuting human trafficking cases, which is a little known fact. he was the lead prosecutor. the case involved quantum all in farm workers, and it resulted in service for the person behind that. he was also a board member in maryland for many years. he has a remarkable family immigration history. he was born in brooklyn, the son

of cuban immigrants, but his grandparents migrated to cuba tom turkey into poland escape and testament is him and oppression. director rodriguez is going to talk. he is going to walk around and talked for about 20 or 25 minutes, and he is going to take questions. we are going to ask you to sign up, and we will call on you. he has to leave at 9:40 five. i would like you to join me in welcoming director rodriguez here today. [applause] >> i would like to begin this morning -- can everybody hear me ok -- with a little bit of a confession. how many of you are georgetown law students? actually nobody. there's a couple. there we go in the back. you will appreciate the following anecdote. i have -- this is actually my second opportunity to speak in this room in the last few years.

prior to that, the last time i was in this building was roughly 28 years ago when i was waitlisted at georgetown university law center, and i came here to meet the dean of admissions and to try to persuade him to actually let me in, and he looked at my undergraduate transcript and said, it is a miracle you are on the waitlist. forget about being admitted. i really wanted to tell this story. i really wanted to tell this story, so i was thinking to myself, what's the relevance of this story? matter to the discussion that we are going to be having this morning and the

discussion you are going to be having? i realize it is a great metaphor for immigration. because what we do in decide who policy is we want to admit to the united states and who we don't, and it's based on a set of factors i want to talk about a little bit this morning, but the basic idea is that we are predicting this individual, whom we admit to the be good fors, will the united states of america, that in some way they will promote our values and our objectives. i now posed the rhetorical question. looking back, would you have admitted me, had you known this information, would you have different policies would you have known what the outcome was? you really wanted to tell you that story, so let me -- as i launch into the subject of my

forch -- bank the center migration policies and the migration policy institute clinic in georgetown -- and georgetown itself for putting together and hosting this conference. this conference has been going on for more than a decade, as the professor noted, to the , and has really become one of the key forums for discussion and exchange immigration policies, so i thank you all for creating this sort of form for us. i want to recognize doris was the director of immigration and naturalization services back during the clinton administration with the migration policy institute. if you come to my agency, and i know we have a couple of komanes here with phyllis and chris bentley.

phyllis koman is in the field office. chris bentley is the press secretary. one thing people speak of with pride is the legacy. they were in the legacy back in the ins days. that owes in great part to the type of leadership he provided in those years. we not only have federal officials or former federal officials who were part of this dialogue. .e have misha we have engaged with the ambassador from el salvador. they just opened a consulate in texas. it really gives you a flavor for the broad-spectrum of individuals and organizations that really play a role in this critical issue. i have three personal

experiences that really inform my vision of being the director of uscis. you heard as part of my biothat i'm the son of cuban immigrants , the grandson of immigrants from turkey and poland to cuba who were fleeing anti-semitism. and certainly because of those experiences, i understand the aspect of immigration that is based on seeking refuge. fleeing a situation that has become in some way no longer tolerable and coming to where the situation can be better. and the miami that i grew up in -- although i grew up in brooklyn, i actually grew up in miami -- the miami of my childhood really provided a case study, not just in what it means to be seeking refuge, but also in what immigrants do for america. this point that i was talking about, immigrants are good for

america. in the miami of my childhood, it was really this amazing called ron of energy. it wasn't -- caldron of energy. it wasn't just my parents, but people from all over, jewish immigrants, or children of jewish immigrants from eastern europe, people from all over the caribbean. and what it made even then, and it's only continued until now, miami, with all its chaos, with all its craziness, was also one of the most economically vibrant cities in the united states so. i'm actually a real believer in the notion that immigrants are really what energized our economy, what actually make us the kind of powerful economy that we are, and it's not just the software engineers, although we love them and want as many of them as we can get, but it's also the guys that laid our railroad tracks, it's the welders. it's really a broad spectrum of individuals who really have

immigrated and really energized our economy. there's a second experience that informs my work as well. as a law student at boston college law school, i was the coordinator, something called the holocaust human rights research project. and what we did in this project as to analyze the precedents law, i war crimes litigation, to other situations of human rights abuse. a big part of the discussion we would have about nazi war criminals was the role of the immigration process here in the united states. and the denaturalization and deportation proceedings of those individuals. d they were really early

lessons before we were really talking about september 11 and talking about all these examples of terrorists abusing our immigration system, of the fact that our immigration system could be abused by bad people, by people who, in this case, had engaged in harm in the past, or as we have learned all too tragically, individuals who could abuse our immigration system to come and in some way harm the american people. and it means as we offer refuge, as we look to look to energize our economy, we always have to worry about the fact that there are people who can abuse our immigration system and come do us harm. and there is a third experience, in fact, that the professor underscored, and that is -- it comes from my

prosecution of human trafficking. i spent a lot of time with a number of individuals who originally came here undocumented from guatemala and mexico to work in the tom co-and cucumber fields of south carolina and also the citrus groves in florida. and as people talk about individuals like the victims in this case, there are two dominant narratives, and i want to offer a third one about those individuals. the first narrative is what i would call the law enforcement bureaucratic narrative. these are individuals who broke the law, and they have come to the united states illegally. we have a responsibility to enforce that law. there is a second narrative, which is a social justice narrative, which is also really

important, and that is that these individuals have fled circumstances in the countries from which they come that are intolerable both politically nd economically. they frequently saw themselves as having no choice but to come here to the united states where many would argue they continue in many respects to be victims. where they are abused by abusive employers, where because of their undocumented status, they live in the shadows. again, all things that are true. as i got to know these individuals, i saw a third thing. i actually saw potential americans. because these individuals had two core values in their life that seemed very, very familiar to me. the first was work. typically these individuals would be engaged in back-breaking labor for 14

hours a day day after day. and the second was family, because the beneficiaries of that labor were typically their families back in guatemala and mexico. and so, as i met them, they did not impress me as victims particularly. they impressed me as people just like my parents, whose lives were really built around the same exact values as those of my parents. so as i leave the agency that adjudicating for immigration benefits as they play a role and give my voice to the development of immigration policy, these three experiences are frequently ones that i see in my mind as we engage in this discussion. at uscis, we touch just about every aspect of american life, marriage, work, education, public safety, natural security

, as i underscored before. the environment in which we work is constantly shifting. it's also growing. we're at 18,500 professionals ow in 250 locations worldwide. most of those here in the united states, but many of those abroad. and really, i have to say, having now been in the agency for about 100 days, a really fantastic, passionate, very professional group of workers, people that we really can be proud of as americans. and i view my role as to ensure we apply the laws fairly, that we do our work professionally, that my folks have what they need to do their job well, but at the same time that we do it with a sense of justice and a sense of customer service.

you heard i used to work for montgomery county, and i was actually the county attorney in montgomery county, more or less the general counsel for montgomery county, and before i came to that job, really my entire profession had really been in some version of the criminal justice arena. i had been a prosecutor. i had been a white-collar defense lawyer. and so now the largest part of my job was actually land use, zoning. and i will tell you that i loved zoning. i thought zoning was extremely interesting. people laugh. i heard a couple of chuckles out there. and in fact, when i interviewed with janet napolitano, then -secretary napolitano, i said i can make you love zoning. i think i can make it extremely interesting. she looked at me, of course, like i was crazy. but here is the reason. there's an analog to

immigration here that i want to share. zoning, when you think about it, implicates every single value that we have as a society. zoning requires us to think about economics, how we want to develop our local economies. it requires us to think about economic justice. do we want to have zoning that provides opportunities to low and middle-income people? it's about the environment. we have to think about how the zoning affects the environment in which people are going to live. it requires us to think about how we want to talk about families. one of the big debates we would be having in montgomery county is how many people live there, because most of us in the county had the sort of traditional suburban view there should be a mom, dad, and two kids in the household, except a lot of our households in montgomery county weren't

looking exactly like that anymore, and there can be an uncle and there can be a grandparent who would come from another country in the household. it required us to think about everything we value, everything we think about ourselves as a society. and i would suggest immigration is exactly the same way. the reason there's so much to talk about, about immigration, the reason we have such an intense debate about immigration, although i would suggest there's more consensus than people think about immigration, is exactly because just about everything that people think and feel about our civic society is implicated in immigration. so it begins with humanitarian notions. to whom do we want to provide refuge? that's the first -- that is a core american value that we provide refuge. the challenge comes that we

don't necessarily agree on efuge from what? so typically the sort of vision of what we are providing refuge from is refuge from for sure. good, old-fashioned, government-sponsored, in jail torture. that's something that everybody can visualize, everybody agrees upon. we all agree that we should provide refuge from that. but then it starts getting a little more complicated than that. how about intolerable economic conditions? conditions that none of us would ever tolerate should our own children, should we provide refuge for that. then the debate gets more intense. how about situations where what the government has done has failed? what the government has done is failed to protect its people from the kind of harms where we here in the united states would ordinarily expect that our government would protect us.

is that a situation from which we provide refuge? hat's one value. snore economic development. the one thing most americans agree on is we want a vibrant economy. everybody agrees the more vibrant economy, the more everybody benefits. the problem is we don't necessarily agree on what fuels a vibrant economy. right now, as we picture -- and certainly, if you talk to university presidents, they rightfully so say the one thing we definitely don't want to be doing is educating people in our universities and then having them go back from where they came from and not benefiting our economy. we agree that people with a high level of technical expertise benefit our economy. but how about small business people? how about going out to bladensburg, maryland, where,

if you drive down kennel worth avenue you will see this amazing level of economic vibrancy, restaurants, shops. we don't have, that i'm aware of, a specific visa category for small business people, yet what has energized bladensburg, maryland, is all of these small businesses. another issue, family, obviously another big we look at, educational, national security. all of these are different values that we hold dear, but which we all look at differently that really all go into our immigration policy. so when we talk about we are a nation of immigrants, we realize what that means is actually in the eye of the beholder, but we do know one thing. actually, one of my favorite documents that i got to look at during the confirmation process

was the annual statistical tables from the bureau of immigration and statistics. fascinating document. because one of the things that you learn is, in fact, most migration actually occurs in the southern hemisphere. so while we picture that the sort of primary vector of migration is people really moving east to west, either coming here to the united states or to western europe, in fact, most migration is sort of people moving around in the southern hemisphere of the world, but still, with that, the single place per capita to which most people migrate is the united states. legal and illegally is the united states so. we ask ourselves why is that? sort of ly goes to

this fundamental question. there's nothing like america. there's nothing like the energy. there's nothing like the values of america. my time is going faster than i thought it would, so i want to get to a couple of things. i want to talk about the deferred action for childhood arrivals. i had an experience shortly after i got here. i was introduced to 20 kids, all of them from los angeles. they were all students. they were all recipients. many of them, a classic case, were recipients who spent a great part of their life not knowing that they were in the united states illegally. they actually assumed they were here legally. they came here that young. this was an amazing group of young people. there was a young woman who was getting ready to graduate from harvard. there was another young woman who had started medical school.

and in fact, she was trying to decide what field she should go into. he was considering becoming an obstetrician-gynecologist. i'm married to one who has frequently said she should go into dermatology soirks shared that advice with her, my wife would tell her to go into dermatology. one of the things that occurred to me is that, amazing as these young people were, and query if there is not a financed mental problem in our structure of the immigration system is if there for this society to take advantage behalf these young people have to offer, but they're not the only part of the picture. for as many kids like that as there are there are kids willing to break their back and work hard in a number of fields, kids who want to be really good plumbers, really

entrepreneurial plumbers opening businesses. restaurant owners, shop owners, all of those really represent a potential to energize their economy. but what that experience really reaffirmed for me is that we have to approach immigration in a way that gives individuals like a chance. the president has made clear hat in the absence, in the wake of the failure of congress credible, ve him a comprehensive immigration reform package, that he would act on his own sometime between the election and the end of the year. i assume everybody here is ready for me to tell them the details of that program, right? hat i will tell you is this --

we're going to be ready. our agency will be shouldering the primary responsibility for executing whatever it is that the president and then in turn secretary johnson orders, and we have been busy making sure that however this is done, we do it in a way that actually works. and so that's the one commitment that i can make to you. the other thing that i would point out is that as we think about a broken immigration system, and as we think about the failure to actually pass a comprehensive immigration reform, it's important to always remember that this discussion is about much more than individuals who are in the united states in an undocumented status.

so not only is it a symptom of a broken immigration system that we have 11 million people in the united states in an undocumented status, many of them, by the way, i know we have migration policy institute that has done a lot of work on this, many of them in the united states for a long time. i know we're talk ago lot about what's going on on the southern border right now, but many of these folks, in fact, have been here 10-plus years, 15-plus years, 20-plus years. they are now part of our society whether that is recognized or not. they are now part of our society. so that's one issue. but that's not the only issue. the fact that we have a basic immigration structure that is out of line with the needs of our economy is another issue. your ct that very often access to different kinds of immigration benefits can take years and decades is another

symptom of a broken system. a lot of people talk about this notion of waiting in line. there are a lot of places where there is no line. there is no line depending on who you are and where you're from and what you do and what your economic status is, there is no line. so all of that, all of those kinds of questions are part of the symptom of a broken immigration system. i also want to talk for just a second about the situation that we have on our border. i want to talk about it as a situation on our border as pposed to the situation of the u.s.c., who are part of it, but not all of it, and this is something not well understood by the general public. the general public is really focused on this notion of children who they'd like to not admit are children coming to

the united states and then sort of finding some path to staying here. in fact, the migration is migration of people of all ages. there are kids coming over. there are families coming over. there are adults coming over. our agency plays a significant role in all of these scenarios. ore and more the adults coming over are making different kinds f claims of persecution, and we have done what we needed to do in order to provide these individuals with credible screenings at the border. and more and more kids are also, once they're settled here , either with foster families or otherwise through h.h.s., presenting asylum claims of different kinds. and the complaint is that both

the credible fear allegations and the asylum claims are somehow fabricated or that somehow we are recognizing these claims where we should not. and the one assurance that i want to provide in this area is that we are doing our job. one of the first things that i did when i became director was to sit in on an asylum interview. and i came to my observation in this interview with the eyes of a former prosecutor. i have made people confess. and so i was able to watch the quality of this interview, and i was really struck by two aspects of this interview. one, it was a thorough interview. everywhere where i thought the young man who was conducting the interview should have followed up, he followed up. he asked the second and third questions to really probe the validity of the claim being made. but at the same time, it is

part of our responsibility to make sure that these individuals are afforded due process, and we will uphold that responsibility. because, as much as anything else, given our history, where i started this conversation, as a country that offers refuge, the one thing that would certainly be a tragedy is to not provide due process and then to find that somebody who really should have been been afforded asylum was not provided asylum. so we're going to continue doing our job. we're going to ask questions, do good interviews. we're going to deploy so that this process can go on as efficiently as possible. but we're really going to safeguard due process at the same time. i'm really excited about the conference that you guys are going to be having here this morning. i, unfortunately, will not be able to be here for all of it,

but i'm really excited to hear the readout, because there's so many of you who have been working for so long and so hard in this field that i think a lot of really, really important insights are going to flow from this. i'm really looking forward to hearing the read out and also really getting to know and work with many of you in the months and years to come. with that, i think i'm going to open it up to questions. yeah there, we go. >> yeah, if you could introduce yourselves first and line up the mics here. >> hi, i'm with cns news. i know that you mentioned there are people that are coming across the boreders not just from central and south america, but indeed all over the world, and i wonder if you would

address, please, what health screenings, how are they a part of how people are interviewed and checked. you know, where does health come in in the screening process for people, especially given this now? >> yeah, and understandable, a little bit outside of my portfolio here. there are health screenings, that is my understanding. i know specifically there are screenings for tuberculosis, among other conditions. beyond that, that would be a great question to direct to h.h.s., who actually conduct the screenings. >> yes, director rodriguez, it's julia preston from the "new york times." i'm wondering if you could give us more detailed information about how you're getting ready for the president's executive action. how many people are you anticipating? what are you doing in terms of hiring in a situation where, as you i'm sure are aware you have a fee-based agency, and therefore, to a certain extent, your hiring is based on the

applications that are coming in. just what is the dimension of the program that you are anticipating? >> those are great questions. and what i can tell you right now is we're doing our job. >> i try! [laughter] >> i'll let the editors know. >> hi. director steve from global detroit. i'm wondering if you can talk, as we hopefully move forward, whether it be through these rules or maybe one day someday congressional action, and we reform our immigration system to be one that is more forward-looking, more along the lines of what you talk about, it brings value to our country and to our economy, how do you plan to use local government in the integration process? you know, a lot of us who deal after the federal issues adjudicated or not in the case of 11 million unauthorized immigrants, a lot of these

issues play out in the local level with schools, with municipal government, with local economies have you thought about how to include local perspective in the integration process? >> no, that's a great, great question, and thank you for it. it actually gives me an opportunity to underscore something i should have underscored in my remark. there is no substitute for actual legislative, comprehensive immigration reform. so whatever it is that we may do, whatever it is the president and the president himself has said this, may direct us to do, that will not be anywhere near what we could accomplish with actual legislative reform. the potential of local governments to play a positive role in this space is immense. as it stands, even now, we collaborate extensively with local governments throughout the united states in promoting access to citizenship. one of my favorite aspects of my job is going to naturalization ceremonies and

seeing folks become new americans. then really, the kind of collaborations we've had with different municipal governments, new york city, los angeles, they're really a model, i think, for some things we can do in other areas as well or things that we can expand in the future. so there is definitely a role for that. yes? >> good morning. i'm with the dream network. i guess i wanted to understand a little bit more how you're determining who's being placed in detention. when we talk about unkpped children and mothers and families, and now we have a mega facility with 2,400 new beds, how are they making a determination about who's placed in detention versus who's sent out to a sponsor? >> sure, again, a question that i would ask you really to direct to customs and border patrol and ice. nd remember, the children, these unaccompanied children, just to be very clear, they are not permitted under law to be

in detention for any sort of extended period of time. there are a number of family units in the kids who are here with their parents who could be in some sort of secure setting, nd, of course, adults also are expected to be, unless they're paroled in some way in a secure setting. but those actual details are not details that we really run from c.i.s. those are really ice and customs and bored pear trolley, customs and border patrol in particular, so i would recommend directing that question to them. >> i think we're going to take two more questions here, but i actually wanted to interject one, not to follow up on julie, but to ask you, on implementation, if you can talk about the displacement of other resources. i know that citizenship is a major priority of yours as well, and if we're talking about a major executive action program covering, you know, millions of people, that obviously takes a lot of resources. it also takes huge amounts of coordination within d.h.s.,

with the department of, you know, the department of justice and others, could you talk a little bit about kind of implementation from that broader perspective? >> sure, sure. i think one of the one i you are your you are you here as we prepared for another potential surged, we will be leaning heavily on the dock experience. impact on minimize the existing lines of business within ci. >> good morning. could you address the claim that

children coming from central american families should be in a similarfugees populations moving from one place to another are considered refugees and other parts of the world? i have heard that. >> certainly there are situations are we have made credible findings that essentially means there is a refugeor some kind of and we are finding that some of the unaccompanied children do appear to qualify for asylum. what i am not ready to do and the record has not sustained law,notion, as a matter of there is a normal understanding of what it means to seek refuge. every individual crossing the

border is a refugee. i am not prepared to say anything like that. some of them it makes solid claims for asylum status. i would say very clearly, yes. >> hello. is, i was interested in what you had to say about matching the immigration system with the economic needs of the country. how does government work with the private sector to best achieve that goal? >> i said economics among many factors. i think that is why i was making the comparison to zoning. i think there is a critical role of the private sector. they tell us where the needs are. visa are particular categories that require

sponsorship. transfer of ahe person within a company from one location to another. the role of the private sector in this dialogue is huge. >> would you mind one more question? >> thank you, i appreciate it. >> i am a doctoral student. in regard to the backlog in the asylum process, what strategies are you going to be using to address some of these major issues? >> does a great questions. the overall asylum caseload has grown dramatically related to the circumstances we are discussing. it order to process individuals more efficiently at the border,

the and accompanied children, we've had to redeploy. we are hiring more asylum officers. we do have a lot of work to catch up. i want to minimize the kind of work that is ahead of us to get up-to-date with all of these processes. we are moving it forward to deal with what is a significant impact. >> thank you. >> thank you for your question. >> thank you very much for being with us. [applause] >> we are going to go ahead and get started.

>> he mentioned how the administration can step into the lack of congressional action. since 2007, state legislatures of introduced approximately 1300 laws that deal with immigration. states, 437's and regulations were enacted covering a wide range of issues including higher education enforcement, migrant and refugee programs. civic organizations are focused on integration, the economic and social value that act -- immigrants bring to their communities.

we have three distinguished panelists. they represent three different sectors engaging in immigration issues. and it is the time i am not going to read their bios. you have them in your programs and i encourage you to look at them. i would love you to read about them. introduce theo commissioner of the new york city mayor's office of immigrant affairs. the 33rdor represents district in the california state senate. and steve is the director of global detroit. he leads the economic revitalization of the city. we are going to do this in a question and answer format. time at the end for you to ask questions. i would love to start with you.

can you talk a rough the role that the mayor's office plays in helping fill the gap in benefits in new york city? thehank you so much and to conference organizers for having your kitty represented on this panel. one thing i will say to start is some context. have morek city, we immigrants than the city of chicago. there is not an aspect of life in the city that does not impact immigrant families. this has been front and center for long time. my office is the bridge between city hall and the immigrant communities. we have a simple mission it, which is to promote programs and policies that remote the immigrant communities. we have three broad goals by which we fulfill that mission.

the first is to think about how to embed immigrant inclusion throughout the city's dna. it is not just the mayor's office. it is a part of the code of the city overall. example of this that the mayor announced in january when he first took office was the id card program. this creates a local identification that is available to all regardless of immigration status. it is meant to function as a key thate city, to open doors were close before two people that did not have id and equalize access to the amenities of new york. another broad goal is access to justice. facingbe individuals deportation and needing adequate representation, all the way to naturalization and citizenship. the city has invested resources

into programs that help people down that continuum. we are thinking about executive action for that as well. third is advocacy. how does the city serve as an advocate at the state level? york is shamefully failed to pass the dream act. how do we work as an advocate at the federal level for immigration reform? how do we support the president when he announces executive action? i am happy to talk about any of that in more detail. me whator, can you tell the california legislature has been working on it? how do look at what happens in cities? >> it is great to be here. when sts. we continue to address the fact that congress is a complete

failure to enact any kind of immigration reform. california has to lead. we are the most diverse and populous state in the country. our legislature feels compelled to continue to serve as a role model in terms of how to we change andtive incorporate a lavar immigrant communities into our society. in california, we continue to pass legislation with the hope that one day we can get copperheads of immigration reform. until then, there are families that are torn apart. we see it on a daily basis when we go back to our districts. struggle that people are going through. we can't come up with some kind of competence of immigration reform. the responsibility falls on the different states and city governments and local organizations.

what we of been in california is to continue to lead. we finally got the driver's license bill passed. we get that with safeguards. we protect civil rights. we want to make sure they are not victims of any discrimination. we have seen case after case, how professional students that are now graduating and our dream act students are finishing law school, finishing their professional studies and like the opportunity to actually pursue a career. this year, instead of doing it by piecemeal like we were doing it, we decided to do a blanket bill that would cover all of the professions that require a professional license. it no longer requires social

security, but a number. we allow the professional to pursue a career as a contractor. the more people have an opportunity, the better our state is. andfornia is a nationstate the eighth largest economy in the world, we promote that. we just surprised russia and italy's economy. we will surpass france and the u.k.. everybody has the opportunity for that economic disparity. that steve ision a former state michigan state legislature. he brings a second layer to the conversation.

can you tell us a little bit about global detroit and what your role is in interacting with the city? >> i want to thank the sponsors for inviting us and having a voice from the midwest. a very different demographic makeup than either of our coast. i think a critical and important lace where i think we are trailblazing new concepts and new ideas about immigration. global detroit is an economic initiative. we are not an immigrant rights or advocacy organization. we came together at the height of michigan and detroit's economic crisis in 2009. there were some woeful statistics. no state has ever had a decade as bad relative to the other

states as michigan had in the 2000's. at the height of this economic detroit chamber of commerce foundation and other community leaders began to ask a number of questions about what the future looks like. whatf those questions was role do emigrants play in the economy? what are the opportunities and one of the challenges? we found another of powerful that are shared across the rust belt and the industrial heartland. really make jobs and power the economy in largely untold ways. in the national media or the federal congressional debates, i factoidsto throw to that we commonly use a global detroit. 2005, 32 point

, you are about six times as likely in michigan to start a high-tech firm than those born in the u.s.. i could get into all kinds of statistics. we have an emigrant population that is more educated than are nativeborn population. they are educated in the right fields. international students play a powerful role in our universities and colleges. high-techt just immigrants. the things that you see the tech entrepreneurs trying to get. we are the only state that lost population. , we had thedetroit

-- municipalrable bankruptcy. there are lots of reasons for that. one that i don't think has been published often enough is that we are still the 18th largest city in the country. largestthe 135th immigrant population. well across the midwest. the city struggles. of the top toy five largest cities in the country .hat fall outside the top 100 in a state that is rapidly aging like much of the midwest, immigrants across the board from working-class immigrants who work in our agriculture industry

to powering our research universities and metal co. , thisxes and tech firms is the most powerful economic strategy we have going for us. i lead an initiative that leaked -- seeks to capitalize on that. we have the country's first international student retention program. we are part of a growing movement in the midwest that has come to this reality. years, the last four st. louis mosaic initiative was launched. welcome dayton was launched. the chicago office of new americans. global cleveland. similar initiatives are being formed in the midwest. there are almost a dozen.

it is exciting work. it is important work. it is focused on national and regional economic policy. director rodriguez said that absent federal action, we cannot do it all. with employment-based visas, you can't create them. what strategy do you use to overcome those types of challenges? >> the biggest economic boost would be a more sensible and higher performing immigration policy. maybe even it is localized. what we face in detroit is different in long beach or new york city. our needs are different. one-size-fits-all policy might not work as well. absent that, we are going to do everything we can to take

advantage of the opportunities that we have. a lot of that work would paris well if some kind of reform policy was passed. international students, we have a global talent retention initiative. where the first and only international student retention in the country. we have three full-time staff. we have agreements with 31 colleges and universities in the state of michigan that represent most if not all of the 28,000 international students studying in our state. what we do is inform the students of the opportunities under the law to use their curriculum training or their optional training to work both while they are in school and after graduation. we highlight to employers the opportunities of using the optional practical training as a

gateway to investing more applications or other means. we can't answer long-term employment needs for this talent pool. we can certainly create some gateways and opportunities. we do a lot of education. we have 60 employers who are looking at this talent. a large number of the phd's are given to international students. it is insane that we don't have a policy to connect this talent pool. firms,f our high-tech they start their company 13 years after they come to the country. the number one reason they come to the country is to get an education.

we see art retention program as the pipeline to becoming the silicon valley of the midwest. how to we connect skilled immigrants who are underemployed and unemployed? players, weional have the fourth office of upwardly global. we are very happy to have that. we are working with skilled immigrants and refugees. about.500 middle eastern refugees a year. some of the first people that were able to get out of syria are the most affluent and educated. they come to detroit thinking we have a middle eastern population.

it is higher than new york and less than l.a.. they are working restaurant jobs. they are working menial labor jobs and these are engine ears and accountants and people with i.t. backgrounds. we are looking at our state laws and licensing guides to help them. that is how we are trying to connect talent under the broken immigration system. >> can you tell us about new york's program? now, we are going through a re-think. this comprises city leaders as well as addressee groups and other stakeholders. one out of two of the unemployed are foreign born in new york

city. it is clear, and i hear this whenever i hear with groups. our system that we have been doing is convening groups to understand how they work force system can respond better to immigration communities. they are elderly for some of the title i work force. we have not been trained on that to make sure that people are connected to the services that they are entitled to now. thinking about learning from places like michigan and detroit in thinking about how we can do --ter by our high schools skilled workforce. the big reality check for the

workforce was that there was a informal economy. when people get work authorizations, that an invisible workforce is no longer so invisible. we are trying to think of the system level what we can do about that. we will learn from others who have done a great job in this area. have championed initiatives like the driver's license bill that passed. what role do you think the state should play in connecting emigrants to social and other services? statesink it is the complete role to help all of its residents. i am confident we will get that

signed. we look at the fact that our own experiences working with people as we were signing them up to people, a large group of lived in mixed households. when people would come and try to sign up for the aca, they would realize that their spouse and their two children can apply because they are undocumented. none of the families would register because they did not want to leave anybody out. we needed to do something about that. whether it is creating a state ical,nge or expanding med this is a necessity for us. if a person is sick or their child is sick, then they don't go to school or work. it impacts our economy directly.

we spend a lot of money on emergency room care. this is where our undocumented population goes. this threatens everybody's health care. especially, in a life or death situation. our emergency rooms can be nonemergency situations. we think this is the next step in human rights. we will continue to work for this. is, how do we create a funding mechanism? you're going to see some creative ways.

it is about incorporating them into our society. wherewithal. you provided representation for unaccompanied children. >> we're the only state that provided $3 million from our budget to help these children. we have met with some of the biggest law firms in southern california with our attorney general. nonprofits that are working on these cases don't have the toources to be able to tend all of the caseloads that are going on with these children. the united states is responsible in central happening

america over the years. hen we were debating is represented by an attorney, the chance of them getting a stay is much more likely to be successful. we have heard of children that have been returned and have already been murdered. it broke our heart. this is just a drop of the bucket in what we could do for the kids in california. we proportioned $3 million that are going to go to help these organizations to ensure that when they partner with a legal team, the cases are prepared for. it does not take the attorney that much longer to take the

case before a judge. instead of shutting these children, these are children that are in need. nobody flees the country because they just want to on a whim. these are children that are in dire need. if this was happening in your or anywhere else, we would do the same thing. we're going to monitor and continue to see if we can give more money. >> i am sure you are proud of what new york city is doing. both the city council and private philanthropy came together in new york. we responded to the child migrant issue. the city administration formed an internal task force to figure out how we can best coordinate resources for the kids. our city agencies are at the

immigration court. in new york, we have great immigration judges. we are connecting kids to school enrollment. we are running a series of community >> the children i sort of most concentrated in new york city. and in the new york council, along with two foundations, close to $2 million to, essentially, provide universal representation. exciting and ally i hope, more than just the becomes a stepping stone for us to think about how for se our school system how to connect kids to legal services and other services like that. of the mayor's platform and something that teachers are hearing from them. kids with public at immigration issues, how to reconnect them

with a reconnect them referral system that works with the schools and also the kids. >> you mentioned the municipal id. about that?talk more >> sure. the first program was launched in 2006 or 2007. a few other jurisdictions have this program. in new york city, the notion was really simple. we have half 1 million undocumented people in new york who cannot get identification because we do not have a drivers license that is available for all. the notion was, starting with provide a eed to government issued local id. so if you are riding your bike in the sidewalk, instead of getting arrested because you do not have an id. to be able to access city buildings.

my own building, we have to show an id before we get in. vehicle for it as a equalizing access for a number of different services across the city. ago, we partnered with several other cities. all of whom will provideone year free membership to id cardholders. this is really sort of the idea to opening the door to the mat -- met and others. the kly, i think it makes card very appealing to those who already have a drivers license. so we will hopefully make this new yorkers are carrying, and not just the undocumented. the card launches january 1. a bit of a hair-raising schedule to get this off the ground. and folks can sign up mainly through the library.

basically have to show some other sort of id. expect to hear lots more about that in the coming months. >> i would love to hear how each of you sees the role of preparing for federal changes, both immigration laws and policies. global detroit's out there -- can you speak about or others project more broadly? >> the interesting thing, listening to commissioner and senator, is that -- i am just struck by how pragmatic and sort of common sense these policies are. they're asking questions about their own community and what is best interests of their quality of life. in terms of government services, in terms of for alleviating poverty. and some of these issues have

by n foisted upon them system's and ation we're stuck in these discussions about undocumented people, instead of focusing on their future quality of life. have a common st sense that -- a conversation impacts at are the immigrants are having in terms of the average quality of life, economies in ur our safety, we would have very and federal ate policies -- certainly in new the state of california, they are leaving because of the high presence of illegal immigrants -- but too often what we're saying is the undocumented being prevented. terms of re doing in

preparing is to create functioning community across southern michigan and the state of michigan. the sometimes pains me as former floor leader, but we the most y have pro-immigration republican governor in the country. that is because governor rick understands the economic opportunity and is often quoted as saying immigrants make jobs, they do not take jobs. so when you bring a new lens what ust ask a question -- for our economy -- you get all kinds of new solutions. is that global detroit was founded upon bringing a lot of parties from city to the university's to healthcare systems to how to create jobs, how to foster growth. up working on issues

like trying to get better language access. we just completed a report of our detroit city council task force and completed a rough planning document. the city announce itself as 41st welcoming cities and counties program. reagan democrats working class, the littlest than 1 million people, they have created the one call initiative -- coleman initiative and how it handles a rapidly growing community. so we do not have a grand plan happening on many levels.

all of this began out of the private sector, nonprofit of asking and study the question of what was at the and metro chigan detroit's concerns in 2009. a lot of working issues that, frankly, immigrant rights groups have worked decades on. sometimes with that new energy, are new partners, we bringing new solutions or we are championing old solutions. energy to be new successful. so i will just say that there are a lot of things i do not want to talk about. that we have avoided on the because of governor snyder's enterprising, far right legislature. they would probably try to in ture and how to introduce the state legislature.

so there's a lot of opportunity and it is happening in other places as well. st. louis to chicago to have really embraced immigration is a quality of life to. >> to see your self to bring to president n the announces administrative reform? >> absolutely. an online ilt searchable database. integration services from esl services. we have one of the most robust welcoming americastate affiliates in welcoming michigan. we are talking to everything to m community colleges local school systems to healthcare workers. of aspects myriad to integration.

sort of get off the -- of ion -- i think undocumented people and you get to what most communities -- how do immigrants impact them. solutions that not only have profound impact on refugee programs, but the host communities. the tents to be new players sides of the aisle, get the aunt -- the aunt of this hot button issue. >> we have been ready for a while, so i just want to put that for the record. one of the issues that we have with as we to deal prepare is this issue of fraud prevention. at the a is creating,

things that -- again, and california was kind of a patchwork of things that are going on. cities have offices of immigration relations, but is not really one hub where their strategizing and do we do outreach, how to prevention, application and civics courses. the passage since in 2001, a bill to allow students to pay tuition, we saw pop up things that say give us $1000 and we you to pay tuition, when it is completely free. so that continues to be a problem for us.

i will tell you that we are scheduled to send out -- her licenses ng for everyone on january 1, 2015. there is still a lot of hesitation from the immigration community, saying is my going to be shared. what happens -- we have a couple of road sheriffs were not going to adhere to the law. what happens if i get stopped by one of those cops. those things, rightfully so, right? to adapt or arned modify, but now this kind of government ope that is embracing -- if you look at the immigrants that are coming states, they do not tend to go to government for help. actually flee the government or they are fleeing from the government. a mind shift that

-- the education we have to do with our immigrant population. what if we don't have this document to get a license. constant education, them ant reaffirming to that in california we are not going to share your information with the federal government. sort of central work 24 does this hours basis because our immigrants need to feel that there is someone there, there's some sort of agency looking out for their interests. wait, we continue to are thinking that an office of under the e governor's office will help not only continue to integrator populations, but sure that we are not collaborating with the federal government. >> in new york, we have started thinking that we are not quite as ready as california, but we're getting there.

we see the city at four different levels. one, we are a big funder. and so we are starting to think about -- some a very level -- to connecting to create a system, instead of just doling out millions of dollars of funds. thinking about a system whether taking legal providers the hardest cases, community to do the being able outreach and share the information about what is and with executive g action. i think we are neutral among the different nonprofit be in the hat might field, but we can also convene our agencies. education and of

agencies are going to have to provide documents, and we can to do e help prepare them that job so it is easier for those who are applying for difficult action comes out. assets at our disposal. one actually launched a large-scale campaign around the renewal, using our transit system to have ads, using community at the contacts. we saw 100% increase in result of that outage, so thinking about that experience in using it will be one strategy. and of course, we can be an advocate. negative l be a lot of voices that emerge when the president announces. stand up and can say this is not only a good idea for the country, but this is how it concretely helps new

york city. say is, you ng i'll with i agree completely what steve said that most of these policies are common sense. even of these mission not have to do, but i do think that of the other things made possible, at least in new york happening very rapidly now is an amazing community organization back at an incredible city council elected and we can move things that were quickly. something like executive action where you have community organization with memberships is an opportunity to capitalize on that membership growth. we are, again, building little political power to then move for to a larger scale immigration reform. not 's, unfortunately, is my job anymore, bbut i think it

is a critical part of this integration. >> and i just want to build on that. i hope that as we move, whether reform or trative congressional action, that the country has gotten more sophisticated about immigration. as things ly as bad are today, they were probably better than when my grandmother came from eastern europe in the we don't just look at legal changes that need to be affected, but we talk about the integration of how that happens. that happens on a myriad of the insights me of like the ioned -- we st of government have a initiative for african on businesses and entrepreneurs, we have partnered with churches and and charter ps schools -- so we have to be

more sophisticated rather than a one-size-fits-all. we have to look at what has impact and what is integration really look like. that is in the interest of -- from a social justice view -- but frankly from the quality of life in communities. integration is sped up and when it is delivered more effectively, we all benefit. say that i also whatever reform happens, it has to be toward citizenship. that is what we're pushing for in california. whatever immigration reform happened, it has as a clear, non-expensive path toward citizenship. >> go head. >> house is going to say, when at a commonsense going toward

their wages go up and their quality of life becomes better. are o, senator, when you pushing this notion that there has to be a path to citizenship and all of you are filling gaps of federal immigration, are you getting within k from people the federal government? from the president's office, congress? >> the conversation we had last with our congressional folks was that there was a push of permanent sort resident status that would not include, necessarily, a pathway to citizenship. that is not an option for us. we need to ensure that folks -- invest time ing to see a ergy -- that they clear path and that every immigrant has access to become a citizen.

yes, we have a model immigrants that everybody talks about, but in california, we have people from all walks of life and we them to ensure that all of have equal access to become citizens. was saying, as a -- as steve was saying, it has been given again and again, immigration has not been a hot topic. what you are seeing now is a republican party that is much more moderate when it comes to this issue. and, quite frankly, when they in a bipartisan fashion, we just want to make sure that whatever gets agreed clear path to e a citizenship and that we take into consideration the cost and the time that it takes.

we do not want to dissuade people from becoming citizens. one of those big factors is obviously an economic factor because not everybody who is an immigrant is an engineer. you have folks who worked three, four, five jobs to become a citizen. >> so in some respects, we actually have really good partnerships with federal agencies. closely with us ts, as one example. we have cases where frustration -- is that that were hearing from the federal government, but were not getting enough is on data. we were really interested in knowing new york city's specific numbers. we eventually did get county which were enormously helpful, but until then it felt like we were in the dark. so being able to get some

information along those lines more quickly was something that we are eager to do. otherwise, i think we often reach out to the federal government to engage them and, open conversations about that, but the main area that i have been frustrated about is the data. >> i think it is a really mixed bag. individuals lot of who are open to have a how ersation about immigration, how services can be delivered in a more proactive manner. time -- i live most busiest immigration crossing, between detroit and canada -- and we have had a lot of interest with border patrol. local agencies

violated national policy. medium say it is a grade at best and it really depends on the agency. there are certainly no coordinated, long-term thinking oor focus on what and how the can work overnment with our refugee communities tackle what is most important to michigan. >> we kind of forget that we have that northern border. i think you represent the as the northern border. you are all phenomenal, the work you are doing, and leaders in your sectors. and i am wondering, do you interact with other entities the country? senator lara, other legislature must be so envious. would love to hear a little bit about that.

work with our sister moyes around the country. most recently we launched with to both lift up doing in we have been our cities, in collaboration our local community partners, and also to encourage other cities to do the same thing. i hope that very soon you'll be number of other cities who have signed on their mayors were wanting to invest in citizenship. could probably do better, even more frequent conversation among the different cities because many us are dealing with the same issues and could really learn a lot from having even more frequent conversations. i think the sort of upsurge in local activity around immigration in the last few years has meant that there is

that much more infrastructure work with one another and hopefully push up a narrative to the national level. >> absolutely, i think coordination is key. especially with other states. in california, we are also coordinating with other countries and we look at what models they have. we are looking at australia, we're looking at different countries. population fast our is, we -- you know, there is not apples to apples comparison. a t california is coming to neighborhood near you, so it behooves a view to look at what california has accomplished. we would like to partner with other countries to see what other models are happening, but you can never collaborate enough. >> i think that is a great question and the answer -- i think we are at a critical point where the structures just being built. proactive of

legislation, the immigration as airs is looking at this an economic opportunity -- really a focus on integration. we, understandably those who work with immigrants, have been focused on immigrant rights without really the opportunity to look down that at these other questions of integration. so i think that the infrastructure is rapidly developing. i mention that we at detroit spearheaded this will that either r launched economic initiatives to help immigrants. some of them -- we have two or organizations that are welcoming e the

center in philadelphia and the mayor in columbus that has an initiative that is 10 years old. so the global great lakes network has recently formed. will do another one into next yearwhere reading a state and policy around development issues. city to city visits were cities are tied to learn from each other. we are using social media and research to learn from each other. how much i ll you passed out the new york city blueprint. for cities like detroit and dayton, there's not a lot that translates really well, but good tools out there and we need to see more of those types of tools. i served in the state 2008, ature from 2003 two had ad tuition issues, we drivers license issues, by passing legislation on immigration fraud. have a not at that point

single, statewide advocacy to ce to talk btheimmigration community. great there were some work that happenednationally, we had state issues to deal with. issues all kinds of new with -- and centers we are hoping will fill the void. we are seeing more funders look these kind of issues, but, frankly, there is an lot more that needs to be done. it is not just a question of energizing the d advocate community to for immigration reform, but a lot has to be invested in these quality-of-life issues. consider this to be an important part of our national interests. what will make this country for the coming century 's

universities, great education system, and being able to attract the world's talent. to mean at term broadly -- it is amazing to that we have allowed our understandable a session with immigration reform to get in the way of other elements that need to make this country at a community's great. >> before we go to questions from the audience, is anything you'd like to add? >> i would just like to talk about the educational obstacles that exist for immigrants and how, as steve is talking about, the great equalizer in education. a great reason why am sitting before you guys today. i signed up to undocumented immigrants from mexico.

so also as we talk about immigration reform, we have to talk about what immigration in tacles remain -- not only our state legislature, but in a federal policies -- to also incorporate our immigrants. one of the big things we're working on in california, remember prop 227 which limited education to english only. what it did was decimated language programs in california, but we see this now from all californians, regardless of social income, and wanting the children to learn multiple languages. so we know the pedagogy has changed. if you teach a child multiple languages and early age, you'll can choose a child. we know that to be completely the opposite. that is why the past is kind of

anti-bilingual education, language immersion initiatives. this legislature was to repeal sections of that proposition and actually included a lot of the language dealing with the fact that if be a nt to continue to global economy, we have to ensure that our global workforce understands it communicates with each other. and that means californians speak more than just english. hours if not already, thousands of children woke up speaking another language other than english. so we have this natural reserve that artie makes us competitive globally. why not allow them to learn two or three languages like they doing in asia, scandinavia. the dynamic, nging the rhetoric and this proposition will now go before the voters