we supported the latest administrative action of president obama to provide to the parents of those who have children and are u.s. citizens or residents. that was going to perhaps help out maybe 5 million of the 11 or so million undocumented in the country today. the president announced it and doing so, he angered the republicans, and of course, they initiated some action in the

house to defund it, to derail it, in one way or another before they had a chance to do that some judge in texas ruled it unconstitutional and if it's on hold until this appeal because the higher court and hopefully that will be overturned. unfortunately, even if it is overturned, it's only a temporary fix because it doesn't provide legalization or path to citizenship it just says for x. amount of months you can get the work permit and drivers license and be in that country without legal status. that's not a permanent solution but we support it and we think that the president did have the

authority to do that and it's a good temporary stopgap measure. but what we do need and we can't do it without congress, we do need a fix to a broken immigration system. the catholic bishops have the same for the past ten plus years that immigration reform should have three legs. one leg is the path to citizenship for the 11 million or so that are here in this country. these people are already part of our society even though they do not enjoy a legal status. they have spouses of american citizens, neighbors. they are already integrated into the fabric of our society.

and even the republicans admit that were not going to be able to deport 11 million people, so we are not going to deport them then we should give them the path to legalization, and that really is not only in their interest, it's on our own self-interest because by leaving 11 million people outside the legal status, we are basically re-creating in our nation a new sanctioned underclass that's explainable because they don't -- exploitable because they don't have legal protection. the last time we did this as a nation, we called it jim crow and we haven't been able to overcome the effects of jim crow even to date. so why would we want to do it again for 11 million people? so that's the first leg, give the 11 million in the country at

-- a path to citizenship. the other would be family reunification. one of the reasons why we have this trouble at the border of the reasons why we have this trouble at the border of people being smuggled in, people or children who are still coming in over the southwest texas border is many people are looking for the reunification with their families who are already here. in the 1990s our governments started to increase security on on the border by militarizing the border.

a lot of people use to go back and forth and it's harder to get back and forth so they stayed in the united states. and that created a whole new business across the border. and we have more than one case of women and children dying in the back of trucks suffocated because they are being brought across the border. right now if you are a legal u.s. resident or citizen and you have a wife or child in mexico you have to wait ten years before that person can get a visa to come to the country and the same is true if you are in the philippines or other countries. when people say why don't you stay in line, in many cases there is no line or the line has no end. so, family unification has to be rationalized and the backlogs

eliminated so that there isn't an incentive for illegal migration to unite their families. so that's the second leg. the third leg is a worker program. we have to assure our american businesses a supply of the legal workforce. i think most people working in the service industry, working in the agricultural industry, they would prefer to have a legal workforce. they tend to vote republican but they are in favor of the immigration reform because they have a very narrow profit margin

and their ability to harvest crops and get chikens to market can get blown out of the water by some crazy enforcement measures taken by immigration authorities so they want immigration reform and right now we have a system if you survive a dangerous gauntlet of going across the border you will find a job someplace and immigrants have gone into any one of the 50 states. they've done it without any federal program directing them. if you look around the communities in the united states, the immigrants are not sleeping under bridges. they are not the ones sleeping under bridges. so you find central americans and mexicans working in new york

state milking cows and new hampshire, working on alaska everywhere. why don't we rationalize this and allow these people to work legally? let's work on those three legs. take care of the illegals that are here by providing them a path to citizenship, work out the kinks in the family unification program and ensure the workforce are the industries -- assure a legal workforce for our industries that require workers on the low end of the economic scale. now back to 1986 when we get immigration reform it was a tough lift back then too reagan got it done. in it was interesting because what we are seeing today in the united states is an

anti-immigrant feeling and expressing different areas, we lived here in florida in the early 1980s. it was mostly focused on the haitians, in fact we have an indefinite detention policy for everybody now. i've got to shut up soon because my time is up. what was a local problem here has now become a national issue. however let's look at south florida. we survived it. our experience of immigration in the 70's and 80's have shown us that we have nothing to fear from immigration. immigrants are not problems, they are opportunities because

you they bring gifts and possibilities and dreams and determination, etc., etc. and we can see how we should be able to say that our experience show to show to the country that there is no reason to fear immigration that is a positive for american society. and let me just end with a bit about the cuban adjustment act act because a few weeks ago i saw that our cuban-american congresspeople were advocating that now is the time to do away with it. and i thought that was a foolish thing to say, because that's what the castro government has been saying for over 20 years, so here we go.

politics makes strange bedfellows, doesn't it, that we have the heart lining cuban-americans basically advocating for the position of the cuban government that has been advocating for two decades to do away with the cuban adjustment act. it should be a template of how we should treat immigrants. because they have been the most successful immigrant group in history. one of the reasons for the success surely they have their own talents and genius, etc. etc. but one of the reasons they succeeded was because there was a cuban adjustment act. five years later or six years later they were citizens. so, i remember in the 80s there was a lot of comparisons made between the treatment that cubans were getting and the treatment that haitians were getting. they were not treated worse than the mexicans or other people were being treated.

but the issue shouldn't be that we should treat the cubans as bad as we've been treating everybody else. we should treat everybody else as good as we've been treating the cubans because that cuban adjustment act works and if it worked for the cubans it can work for everybody else and with that. dahlia walker-huntington: my answer is we advocate for clients in the courtroom, we problem solve and negotiate and we advocate. but most who practice in the national organization are a national organization are called the american immigration lawyers association. it's an advocacy group that has over 13,000 members. the mission established is to promote justice and to advocate for fair and reasonable law and policy.

certainly in the immigration law context, lawyers are the people with the most intimate knowledge of the law themselves. we know the process and we're the ones that see the day-to-day impact of immigration laws on individuals and families both inside and outside of the united states. we see when they are separated from sons and daughters and in the mexican context, 21 years if you are filing for a son or daughter who is over 21 years of age, and siblings who are separated for up to 13 years. we have a national day of advocacy. attorneys and representatives from all across the united states convert on dc to lobby that meaningful immigration law, not just immigration reform,

because while do we do know about the numbers varied between ten to 15 million who are undocumented, there are also laws on the books of separated families and i will give you one example. if you are the parent of an american citizen and your son or daughter is over 21 you have to be married and you now have a new family car if you remarried after the son or daughter was 18, that stepchild cannot file for their stepparent, and also if they file for their siblings, the sibling goes into the category that says they have to wait 13 years, so once again we have the separation of families we also have a bad history of limiting immigration and they turn it seems against the next wave of immigrants.

the irish, the germans, the italians, the haitians, the mexicans, they were not always welcome to america but now they are established and they are being resisted and it's up to the lawyers to partner with others such as the churches and ngo's to make and help document the contribution that they've made and continue to make for this great country. and while on the subject it is not uncommon to hear people with the last name "rubio" and "cruz" who are also anti-immigrant. as lawyers we have to show the american people how we benefit from the reunification which is supposed to be the hallmark of immigration and in today's america how america can benefit from keeping students who are educated in the united states and institutions because they

the 12 to 15 million of undocumented in this country definitely need a path to the legislation. and it shouldn't take 13 years as it was proposed in the senate bill that passed in 2013. the people need to come out of the shadows and obtain drivers licenses and make it safer for all of us on the street. they need to pay their back taxes and become permanent members of the society to which they contribute on a daily basis. many are already paying their taxes but even if they are not , they are part of the economy that contributes to the way in which we are able to live in this country whether we want to believe it or not. now as lawyers and as an advocate for the client, we have a duty as lawyers to be knowledgeable of existing laws and to find ways to use the laws

that exist to help the client. in immigration law is complex. it is second in complexity only to the internal revenue code. and it is not uncommon to have different applications of the law and to receive different answers from the u.s. agents. you call the 800 number to be educated and you get one answer. call tomorrow, ask the same question, and you get a different answer. so the immigration lawyer has the responsibility to talk about what is happening on immigration law. in the criminal law context, they are entitled to counsel. and even deep rotation, which is the most severe penalties, the separation of families is not considered a criminal matter. it is considered civil proceedings. so there is no right to have the council appointed to you in the immigration law. you have the right to counsel only if you can't afford it. and we saw last year with all of

those children who were coming in, many of whom were 5, 6, or 7-years-old sitting at tables such as these in front of immigration judges, not speaking the language and not having any representation. so, ngo's and churches try to produce a free council agrees but raised the availability and because of that, many immigrants including adults appear without counsel. as lawyers we also have an ethical duty to take on the cases within our competence area and knowing the immigration law and getting the correct advice is between remaining in the united states and being forever separated from your family. we have a response of the tv at the forefront of advocacy as far as i'm concerned because of a

knowledge that we possess where we are sometimes accused of not wanting nonlawyers to benefit from the business of immigration and it's mind-boggling to me because even after practicing law for 17 years my colleagues and i still call each other and bounce cases off of each other because the whole study and maintaining is complex and we are very overwhelmed and heavily immigrant in the community in south florida which is so unique to have so many different countries represented and some pockets of heavy different nations. we are overwhelmed with notarios and others who believe they know more about immigration law damn practitioners that are -- law than practitioners that are submerging themselves into practice every day. so i do join with my panelists in advocating that we need immigration reform in the united states. not only does president bush

expend his political capital by not pushing, but president obama also extends his political capital by not moving within the first 100 days as he promised. and as a practitioner that is out there and also an advocate every day, i don't see it happening in the next two years within this congress before the 2016 election. i hope to be proven wrong but i do not see it happening.

what has happened in texas is that 26 states, including the state of florida, have joined a lawsuit to stop the president's executive action that he signed in november of last year, and it's interesting that the judge who issued the injunction against the enactment of the executive action didn't do it on the merit of the executive action but chose to do so on the procedure, saying that the president did not follow the procedure of putting it out there for a certain number and it was a procedural or a technicality as a non-lawyer would say that has caused this executive action not to be implemented, which was going to have widespread results not just for the 5 million people who are expected to benefit from that of the third action for parents but also the whole revamping of immigration, looking at it and the president as the executive of the country has the authority to decide how the department of homeland security is going to implement the law that are already on the books and there

is one right now and this is done every day that a person comes up for deportation and that is deferred and they are allowed to apply for a work permit. so what the president did in that regard was nothing that wasn't being done on a daily basis but what he was saying is apply it across the board and invite people to come in, come out of the shadows, get this monkey off your back and continue to contribute united states. gepsie m. metellus: it's

wonderful to actually benefit from all you've heard from all these speakers. let me just add a few more elements and remind us of what the imperative is for us today in terms of seeking to achieve immigration reform. first and foremost, the heritage, the legacy, the value of the country demonstrate this is something we increase in spite of the times when we have been not to welcoming but still it remains in our national interest and remains in our economic interest and remains in terms of world perceived and moral authority that we live up to our values. no american disagrees with this even those who appear to be two days and high immigrant from anti-immigration reform for you. second, we all agree that immigration reform requires that we secure the border and suppliers that all of the people coming 11 million plus people seek to be legalize and seek to have their status adjusted and must learn to speak in addition to generally they do. to speak in addition to

this they generally do, they must pay their taxes and they do this today through even not just national security but they clearly want to be upstanding citizens of this country. they want to be participatory and want to contribute to the growth of the economy and the children are in school and want to take every opportunity that this country offers and everyone seeks to live the american dream and i don't think that the re is anyone who disagrees with this idea of reform advocacy. in the rank or -- rancor, the nastiness, that exists today

makes this difficult . the gridlock and all of the things that are dysfunctional without congress today and you know i'm going to tell you the truth. there's a black man in the white house, i think that is an element, right? the anti-immigration forces in this country have taken over. in a society in as many of us and those of us that do not think that or say that because we do not think that our voices matter and we do not think that we can in fact figure out ways to amplify the voices so collectively we make an impact. and so when you have this in the country at this very minute, for the new group of people that are holding the rest of us hostage and are holding others hostage. they are then participating in this gridlock and resulting in us being the laughingstock of

the world. where is our moral authority to preach to others, where is our authority for other people and other areas of the world that to do x, y, and z? to live up to the democratic values and ideals and human rights values and ideals and to live up to all of the standards that we are known to be identified with? here we are trampling on the very same standards where i think a large segment of our immigrants are registered. you heard the archbishops mention the fact that haitian immigrants in this country, in this community in particular were treated very badly. i also think that there was probably some unwritten policy that suggested they should be locked up. haitian immigrants were to be discouraged from coming into this country by any means necessary, whether that meant to send them back and even when the only, we could not withstand

the public and the worldwide criticism, we came up with some sort of policy to sort of attempt to say, yes, we understand that it doesn't look good and that would be strange that we would treat one group of immigrants in a certain way and get treated them under the same circumstances. i will tell you this story very quickly. a boat on the high seas has haitians on it happened to meet cuban rafters whose transport mechanism was disintegrating, they pick them up, they all arrive here together. yes what happens? haitians are sent back and the cubans are welcomed. we saw and lived through a number of similar experiences. and so i leave it to you to make the final judgment. but i want to take this

opportunity to remind you of that you know what you have heard it, you know of every advocate and whether or not we are republican or democrat and at the end of the day we all want some of these same things i've mentioned. we need all of you to not grow the sector of bystanders are the -- bystanders who are the silent majority who say nothing when the voices are so powerful. we need you to urge your elected representatives to act on this. some people think this is possible some say it is not, but our economy cannot a stain this, some will stay, but we will not be able to deport all of these people. we know the business sectors that are important to our economy need this labor force, so what is it that we are waiting for?

clearly there are some who favor providing visas to those individuals who are considered investors, who would invest in the economy, who are going to create jobs, who are going to help us in terms of our economic outlook. i don't disagree with that totally, but i do also think that we need to make room for family unification as the archbishop mentioned because all of these individuals who are already in this country who are doing work that none of us would do today, these individuals are here doing this, striving to deserve a place, a spot in this great country, striving to live this american dream, and are having their dreams, their aspirations derailed by some individuals who seem to not understand what time it is. so let me just close with reminding all of us, something

i love to say but i'm also , careful in the way i say it because i don't want anyone to misquote me. i like to think that the american immigration system is probably the only ponzi scheme that works, right? to the extent that, right, you come to this country as an immigrant, you apply for other relatives who come in and they apply to a successive number of relatives who come in, and they keep growing this economy keep contributing can keep the country moving forward, provide our talent and you all that we can to make the country what is today. is that not a scheme that works? it's in our best interest to get right to get it done and has to get done right away. i'm going to stop right here. jorge duany: thank you to all our guest speakers for wonderful presentation. please help me to recognize

them. [applause] jorge duany: so now we have some time for questions and answers and i were just like to remind you to please speak brief and use the microphone over here, and we might try to group several questions together so we will have more time for responses and so on. so whoever wants to start with the first question, please. also identify yourself if you will. alberto: my name is alberto, i'm a journalist. i am not sure. we have the minority silence, i am not sure believe me. , however, how we can move the heart of this nation to understand this problem? because this is a big problem, you know? a very big problem. and, obviously, if we should have the majority of the public

opinion, the final going to be different. but right now i think we don't have. how we can change this? archbishop thomas wenski: i think that there is a majority of people who are in favor of an immigration reform to fix our broken immigration system. what happens the is in the house of representatives, the congressmen do not have to respond to the majority opinion in the united states. they only respond to the majority of opinion within their districts. and so the districts have been gerrymandered in certain ways

that, you know, most congressmen are coming from pretty comfortable districts that either vote either democratic or vote either republican and therefore, you know, some of the restriction this out at the immigration reform, in their districts the pro-immigration reform people are perhaps the minority while around the country the pro-immigration reform people are the majority. and that's one of the problems that is keeping it from happening in congress. however, i would like to be an optimist and the lawyers is no -- lawyer says here that there will be no immigration reform before 2017. that's probably right but i would hope that maybe some enlightenment might reach congress, republicans in congress, if they think about it they would see it would be to their advantage really to get the immigration issue off the table before the primary season hits us after the summer.

because it certainly would help jeb bush if immigration wasn't going to be a hot button issue if it was resolved by some immigration reform coming from congress now rather than later. and, of course, then you could also say on the other side well, the democrats, it might be to their advantage not to solve immigration now because they would use it as a wedge issue in the next election. and so who we have to appeal to is both parties, better angels that they don't look for the partisan advantage but look for the common good. the common good would be served by fixing this problem sooner rather than later. because the longer we wait to fix it, the longer we are seeing -- i see it in parishes around our diocese and beyond, people suffering, families being broken up, of dreams being a dashed.

helen aguirre ferre: if i could, i would like to say that in the work that i did with univision radio, and i'm not with univision america at this point right now, but in the work that i did it was political show and a talk show and people would call in from all over the country. and there were a lot of those who would call and say i play by the rules and i came your in the right way and i applied and i've been waiting five or six or seven years for my child to be able to come to the country, family reunification. and now i have, now i found out if i brought them into the country illegally, they would be

able to have the benefits that the dreamers have today. so it is not an easy issue. it's a very complicated situation. part of the struggle that many republicans in congress who are in favor of immigration reform try to find a platform so that there is no preferential treatment for those who are in the pipeline in order to come here is an issue. i think that there is an understanding as well that even the republican congress can pass what they considered immigration reform, it might not meet the approval of the white house and it could be vetoed. and we live in a time today where politically, both sides are saying it's my way or the highway. and that is the unfortunate nature of the process today. archbishop thomas wenski: to give credit where credit is due

last year around me i remember i met with a number of lawmakers i met with congressman dana, speaker of the house, and one of our local congress been and diaz-balart was leading among the republicans in the house a charge to secure a vote on the senate bill that marco rubio got passed in the senate for immigration reform. it wasn't the greatest bill around because as you for it -- as you looked at it, it required a 13 year wait to get citizenship, but at least it would be, you would have legal status and ability to work, et cetera, et cetera. he was working on that, and what blew it out of the water was the crisis on the board with the unaccompanied minors. because that crisis was going on for a while but it hit the media in the summer, and that was the time that i was going to be, the votes that mario was trying to line up to get it through, it all fell apart. not only that crisis but also canter's loss in virginia. that loss and the crisis took the wind out of the sails of attempts of republicans in the house to push the immigration forward.

but hopefully, you know, we always say let's keep on going. we continue to advocate. jorge duany: thank you, we will take another question. annie: hi, i'm annie gomez, a student here at fiu. i just wanted to know how, why is immigration reform so important specifically for non-immigrants? dahlia walker-huntington: immigration reform is important because you, right now there is an estimate between 12-15 million people living undocumented in the united states. after the 9/11 attacks, persons who took part in the attacks were here primarily on student visas, have driver's license, and this is just one issue, the

ability of an alien to get a driver's license became impossible, increasingly difficult. and so what you have now are people driving on the streets of miami, fort lauderdale, all across this country who have to have jobs as the archbishop said that they have to get to, and they have their children to have to take the school and have no choice but to get into a car and drive. they have no insurance and they're putting you and i at risk. that's number one. number two, these are people who have been here for 10, 20, 30 years in this country. they own property. they are working in all sorts of different fields. they are doctors. they are nurses. they are bankers. they own businesses.

they employ people but they don't have a green card. they don't have residency so they've been cheated into the economy every day. there are also the people who are doing the job as gepsie said, that we don't want to do. my husband who is here is an executive housekeeper at a hotel. it is so difficult every time they place an ad for a housekeeper, i made, to get someone who is an american citizen or a resident or born in america, not within immediate immigrant path to come in and do the work. so there are industries out there who want to have employees to work. as the archbishop said, and it's always amazing to me, and i say to my office, someone will walk in who is an undocumented alien but they're working. they are working. and there are people who are born here and they will come and tell me they can't find a job. so it's important to get these people to come out of the shadow, to pay the taxes, do a background check and the people

to remain here and be a part of the fabric of what makes this country great. the president's administrative action was not about deporting families. certainly we are not arguing for people with heavy criminal backgrounds to be able to remain in the country. and that's a whole separate issue, but the issue that the president put forward is that he wants to keep families here, to keep families together, to a joint -- to perpetuate the american dream. because unless you were a member of the seminole tribe, your ancestors came from somewhere else to be here. so now i am a new immigrant because i'm from the caribbean. i'm a new face to america. i may not be from eastern europe or from northern europe but i am an american as well. and so we have to embrace the new americans who are here, who we live amongst down in south florida more than other parts of the country. archbishop thomas wenski: if you

are a non-immigrant and you fall in love with an undocumented alien, and you get married, you might not, he's going to be deported. and that you can't really fix it because he falls under the 10 year ban so he will be deported and he won't be able to apply to come back to the united states for 10 years. that's one reason but, yeah that you might be concerned about if you're not an immigrant but, you know, so why should i care about the undocumented. it could come to affect you in a very personal way, so it's good to fix it, you know, to do right by everybody because they will end up doing right by you. dahlia walker-huntington: the cost of fruits and vegetables in our community would be unbearable. helen aguirre ferre: i would

also like to say this is about national security. when we talk about 9/11 and where we are today, we are talking about issues of great national concerns, and we we're -- we're acknowledging that we have approximately 11 million people who live in the shadows to say the least. we stayed in the shadows because we don't have proper documentation or organize documentation but we all know who they are. they go to school with our kids. sometimes they are neighbors and we are more familiar with who they are than not, but in other communities that may not be the case because here we are very open to immigration. south florida is an exception to the rule to a great degree, but from a perspective on national security why would you not want to have a better sense of who is here, why you were here, what are you doing in a healthy sense? i do want that big brother type of government. i don't want a government that also is going to be knocking on doors and asking for papers, et cetera. many people here because of -- are here because of governments like that. that's not what this is about at

all but we don't have a better sense and a better control of who is coming in and out of the country. and with the issue of family reunification, i would say the issue of family reunification would be diminished if there was an opportunity for people to have work permits to go to come in and out of the country. many do not want to bring their children here if they could avoid it because they think the united states is way too liberal, certainly by standards of other countries. it isn't enough parental control, right? so the idea of bringing the kids it is kind of frightening. if you look at the new sometimes it is a frightening. jorge duany: we have a few more questions. why don't we take all three and then asked the panel to address them. go ahead please. student: good afternoon. i am they represented by the haitian student organization you

on campus. my question has to do with cuban adjustment act. has been an attempted government and acts similar to the cuban adjustment act by the haitian community? jorge duany: thank you. we will take them to the next question. julio: my name is julio. i am an undocumented student. i come here by way of peru. the reason i'm undocumented because when i i came here when , i was 16. my question is, a lot of immigrants are getting auto removals when they go to court so what would it take for the government to realize there is a crisis happening right now? and what if we applied the cuban adjustment act? in the last 10 years we've had the same amount of cubans, 40,000 cubans, arrive to miami every year. we call it like an invasion. and that is no different than cubans coming to the united

states. jorge duany: thank you. we will take a third question. laurie: good afternoon. my name is alulaurie. i have too many questions in my mind to really pin down one but there is one thing that i've always, always wondered. the vast majority, what exactly is it all these immigrants are running away from? i mean, all these countries, and in every country has their spark, their glory, but i can't help but notice that unfortunate ly those in the higher power , like a perfect example would be cuba, castro, he has really done so so much to just demolish a culture that was once way more presentable. but i just wonder sometimes why won't, maybe perhaps we can encourage the immigrants that are here with us, teach them a

way that might able to go back to their countries and try to emigrate, establish a new idea for the people, for the government. because i know that in these countries, they are not really given a chance to learn about the beauty of democracy and such. and they are basically blindfolded throughout in their lifetime. they don't know that there is a better world they could listen to it could be the own world. they just take a stand up and say whoever is up there guiding us for the better, investing for a better outcome, please prove yourself or else, i'm sorry, you are not being well enough. i mean, i live in one nation under god. god wants us all. he loves us all. he wants us to help each other. unfortunately, some of these people in higher power, they

will put on a bright sunny faces but, unfortunately, in the background, it's a pretty different story. they want to hypnotize the crowd into thinking listen, you have enough, this is more than enough. and it isn't. and we have been given the chance to know that. we've learned so, so much. and perhaps maybe all i'm trying to say is, how may we help immigrants help spread the knowledge, the wealth of what we know here to those who have not been given the chance or the opportunity to learn that it could be a better place for them if they were to take control? i mean, as a majority? jorge duany: thank you. thank you for the questions. we will let the panel respond. archbishop thomas wenski: we

advocate for immigrant rights. we think there is a right to migrate in a sense if you're a human being, as a human being you have the right to live in conditions worthy of human life. no one should be condemned to live in horrible human conditions. so that if you can't find those conditions in your homeland, and -- then that presumes a right to look for them elsewhere. but that right to migrate is also balanced by the right not to migrate. you know people should not be , forced to leave their homelands. and many times, they are being forced to leave their homelands by political policies, by gang warfare, by extreme poverty. so that is, that is, there are push and pull factors about immigration. but part of it also is a new reality that we are living in the world today which is called globalization.

our world has shrunk because of technological innovation because of communications innovation. just think, you know, products made in china are sold in miami. so merchandise, products, cross borders every day. money crosses borders in an instant through electronic banking. the only, you know, and so do people cross borders. what we are discussing is the dramatic ways in which many people cross borders. people are crossing borders all the time, and for a fortunate number of them they have the proper documents, et cetera, et cetera. but there is a number that is left out.

refugees are another issue, you know, people forced to leave because of politics or because of economic reasons. so, you know, migration is a reality that is part of our globalized world and we're trying to respond to it in a human way. and one way to respond to it is by constructing laws that are just and human that serve the common good. and i think immigration reform serves the common good. as far as the cuban adjustment act, as i said, i think it should serve as a model or a template of how we should treat of the groups of immigrants because its work so very well with the cubans. we don't see anything like that happen again. although in the late '80s or early 90s there was something in the nicaraguan community which was a kind of cuban adjustment act for nicaraguans. it helped that population.

i remember as soon as possible -- as soon as obama took office, we pushed for tbs for haitian immigrant. we were rebuffed. not only refused us a couple of times. but then the earthquake came and because of the earthquake in tps - and tps was granted to the haitians here. tbs, temporary protected status , there were hondurans in this country since hurricane mitch on temporary protected status. that's almost 30 years now, isn't it? 20 plus years, 20 plus years. salvadorans around washington, d.c., a good number of them have tps because of earthquakes or issues in central america. right now the haitians haitians -- haitians that have family

members that are approved can come to the united states and our own lives if they are proved -- approved within the next two years, they can come here and wait in the united states for their green card rather than stay in haiti because the situation in haiti is deteriorating. so that the humanitarian gesture. they don't have a green card ahead of anybody else but they can come to the united states, get a work permit and wait for their green card, some type of something is better than nothing but could've been a lot more generous. so yeah, so the cubans really have the gold standard as far as the adjustment act. again, i think it's one way to

look at it and say, you know let's treat everybody else as well as we treated the cubans. and i think it would have a positive effect. by don't think that's going to be much of a chance. i say let's work on immigration reform and get it done for everybody. dahlia walker-huntington: you have to remember the context of the creation of the cuban adjustment act as well. this is immediately after the bay of pigs, after jfk's disappointment, people feeling let down, the american administration not being fair there, not providing support for a number of things sort of collided or converged this sort of compel the congress to create come to pass this law. but in addition to the law there's so much support that is built into the cuban adjustment act in the form of help to such a people reconstruct and rebuild their lives.

and i think, cubans probably by far, correct me if i'm wrong, are the only immigrant group in the history of the united states who have benefited from this kind of rich support, not just in terms of the law and the ability to arrive and be and be eligible for the green card a year into your arrival, and five years later citizenship, but all the support, support to help you pick up yourself and figure out the way this country works. i don't think that's extended to other groups unless of course they are designated as refugees. correct me if i am wrong. right? and then in terms of people leaving their countries to emigrate, no matter where they're going, though matter where they're headed. i want to remind us that no one takes this kind of decision lightly. you're not going on a cruise when you jump into a raft and decide you're going to come to the united states. it's not a cruise. the ship is barely seaworthy

i call it a ship, maybe my vocabulary is escaping me for a minute, but the thing is, they travel in it, and it is not safe, generally we don't know the numbers of people who have drowned at sea. we don't know the number of people who have become dinner for the sharks, and so i just want to remind us that no one makes this decision lightly. and next time you're on a cruise i invite you to just go up on deck top at night and look at, look at what you see out there. you see nothing but pitch blackness. and so that is, that's the climate or that's the backdrop of the travel that someone knows when they come to the united states through a makeshift raft or whatever it is a great to try -- whatever it is they create to try to cross over. that's not a decision people make lightly.

gepsie m. metellus: it's also important to take note that we sometimes only think of people -- dahlia walker-huntington: it's also important to take note that we, sometimes only think of people who are here undocumented as those who came on those boats. in actuality, the majority of undocumented people here have actually come on visas and overstate. but even having said that, that decision to get on a plane and delete everything you know there has to be a push, as the archbishop said, a factor causing you to want to leave and they pull. this pull factor to come to america is everybody wants to live the american dream. or we want to get the education. we want to have the opportunity to be who ever we can be. it's the only country in the world where you can be born in a shelter and know that if you put your mind to it and to work hard every day, you can become the president of this university, or

you can become the head of the hospital. while there are other countries in the world with opportunity, the opportunities that are here, let me qualify that, is more than it is anywhere else. so you find people from all over the world to want to come to america for that opportunity. we happen to live in south florida which is the gateway to latin america and the caribbean , but if you go to other states throughout the united states, you are going to find other pockets of immigrants. you are going to find pockets of africans, pockets of indians pockets of russians, yugoslavians, and they are all going through the same type of immigration battles that we go through here in south florida , but we know the battle of the plight of the haitians and the cubans and the jamaicans because that is the majority of who we have here. and why don't people go back to the country? that's kind of a political answer. you have posted your political show. is what can be done from the government perspective to help other countries to build their economies so that less people

want to come here from an economic perspective? the state department under hillary clinton's leadership saw the importance of what's called the diaspora. sign a member of the jamaican -- so i am a member of the jamaican diaspora because i am no longer living in my country. gepsie is a member of the haitian diaspora living here. the state department under mrs. clinton's leadership has seen the importance of the diaspora and so there has been programs that have been put in place for different members of the diaspora to come together to see how they can benefit their home countries. and as jamaicans can do that, i know the haitian community also has a very vibrant diaspora. so that's one way that you can help stop the pull factor. the push factor, rather, but the pull factor is always going to be there where people are always

going to want to come to america because it's a shining beacon in the world of everything that you can achieve. and to the young man who missed the daca by 30 days, you certainly would've been, you are an example of somebody who would've benefited from the president's executive action because the executive action eframe but you came 30 days to old? to old, yes. [inaudible] >> so you are really an example of somebody who needs over all immigration reform in order to change your status. [inaudible] >> to be an unaccompanied minor must be a frightening experience.

and i don't know, even though you are a young man, you come, enter journey, may not have been an easy one. i can only imagine that not having that if you don't have family here how difficult it is to be able to face the trials and tribulations of coming to a different country, which is fort on multiple levels is frightening. part of the a problem of trying to assist with the company to -- unaccompanied minors, who propelled him to come. were they really unaccompanied? do they have parents that are here? many of them are not going to court. it's a very complex system, but there's something that i find very interesting, and we danced a little bit over the 2016 presidential election and some things i find absolute gratifying is that two possible republican candidates who come

from florida, our caribbean and jeb bush, have both talked about understanding of the opportunities here. and if they were in similar situations they would do the same thing. and for the benefit of the families would come over here and break the law. the struggle that somebody has is that there's this misunderstanding of breaking the law, because all laws are -- they are not the being here illegally is that right is a civil, it's a civil offense and it's not a felony. but, unfortunately, there is a huge misunderstanding given that issue. and marco rubio gets heckled a lot. he gets criticized a lot because he was on the forefront of immigration reform on the senate side and then he pushed back because he didn't like the bill at the end of it. so he gets, he doesn't get

counted as a get the credit for bringing it forward and having it approved and he doesn't get credit and after for trying to walk it back. but i will tell you something about marco rubio. and that was before the president, six-month before the president did defer action, i called his office and asked if i could take a number of undocumented students to him so that he could get a sense of who they were and speak to him and see if there's something we could do with immigration reform. he accepted and there were maybe eight or nine students who went. some gave their full name to some only get the first and because they were distrustful. senator rubio at that point in time is only in office six months or so. and make a list. he had a very frank conversation with the students of what could be done and what could not be done.

he allowed them to speak about what that experience was can what it was about. they asked if we are legalized if we are not, i think they spoke about legalization but it was really not to fear deportation, what does not imply? do we get an opportunity to have a driver's license? what happened to our parents was a bit concerned because we live with her parents, will they be kept whole? it was a fascinating process and get started what they think is an important conversation, and gabby pacheko was a part of that group. was one of the leaders who really started the dream act from miami-dade college and in the conversation it was obvious that gabby, because of her age was not going to be included in

posting proposed at the time and, indeed, is aged out for daca as well. so you're not alone and missing it because of age but that's not to say you can't contribute and that you are not an important part of this conversation in the community. i just wanted you to know that. i find it ironic that we struggle with this conversation allowing people to pay for visas to come here. its called eb5 but if you $500,000 you can get a visa to come to miami and you can promise 10 jobs that you create with this investment. we are selling visas in this country. we have people of value here who deserve the right to not fear --

it's not a right to not fear deportation but he deserves the benefit to be here and to not fear deportation. >> we need immigration reform, we shouldn't just about one this congress. went to keep asking people in this congress. i think daca will come on this table, that could be overruled and might take some time for it to be overruled. when it gets overruled then it will be, you know, it will be in effect and this time right now for those could be potential beneficiaries of it, it's time for them to gather up the documentation. there's going to be a lot of paperwork, read receipts for all these type of things lawyers will be asking. you better save up your money because the u.s. government will

charge about 500 bucks to partake in that. and then a lawyer might ask you for a few dollars more, too. for those that are potential beneficiaries of this band-aid which this is only a band-aid, they should start preparing their documentation and their money to participate in the eventuality of this day being overturned. and in the meantime since that's a temporary solution, we all have to work for comprehensive immigration reform, not only for the beneficiaries of daca but for everybody like our friend here. >> i think with time for a couple more questions. anyone else? please. >> i have a question.

everything you were saying is very pertinent, very interesting and very important in terms of trying to resolve issues. the media is important, the church is important law is important, activism is important. but i haven't heard one element which i think might be also significant of major importance, and that is education. you're talking about putting a face to the problem. you have talked about whether, who talks about people? to talk about the law, to talk about the different procedures you talk about a lot of technical things which are very important. i do not deny the significance of it but how about education? is there a role for education to play in advancing the cause that you have so eloquently advocated? thank you. >> education has always been on the forefront of this debate all along.

educational institutions have been the primary proponents of the dream act in particular. but to show you how complicated it is, we did not get state tuition waiver for undocumented students on state tuition. we didn't get our form of dream act until just last year. it was absolutely astounding, a state where immigration, where the hispanic population is so significant. it's been there but for some reason or other it gets, educational institutions push for summary different things. at the end of the day i think that end up pulling back on some things because they have come in legislature that the budget interests that they need to push more strongly than other issues. but i would say that education has been at the forefront of this debate, as have been hospitals as well as. >> and the human faces. i see them in my cues every sunday, and you see them in the

desk in front of you every day. so that's the human face. so education, like the churches, and put a human face on this issue. because really were not talking about statistics but we are talking about human beings, men, women and children, whose lives, whose futures are affected by a broken system. somebody said, as i like to say, immigration law is not criminal law, it's civil law. so been out of status is not a criminal offense but it's a civil offense. so to call undocumented aliens lawbreakers is a bit of a misnomer. in reality they are not breaking the law as much as the law is breaking them. and that's why the law is unjust and that's why the law has to be changed.

>> and the fiu, the panel that is being done here today, i'm sure speak for everybody when i say thank you for hosting us and for providing an opportunity for many others to see this discussion, and this could be just one of many that is held. but certainly there's a certain amount of fear in the community. you talked about some of the students not giving their last name. there is this fear of deportation that is very real. and from time to time, washington will send an e-mail. there's a reporter doing a story and they want to see a particular person who fits the demographic, and you can't find anybody because nobody wants to come forward to put a face on it. answer that becomes a little difficult -- [inaudible] >> they would just go, the feds just go, the fed is coming and they which is clear everybody

out. and then so that's where the fear. we didn't have this kind of fear 10 years ago. we have this fear now. >> it was always there. that it was always there. >> is more than a few. it is a reality. in the past six years more people have been deported than in the past 10, 15 years. >> but to address another element of your comment, i think in the advocacy community we need to step up. the education i think i'm hearing you speak of through may be creating more opportunities to share their success stories of immigrants to this country, on the one hand. and on the other, to remind our american brothers and sisters, remind our country of our history and heritage as a land of immigrants, a land, you know, benefits of today.

created and built upon continuous by immigrants. so yes, we have a lot more work to do in terms of community education. >> the whole of humanity. >> absolutely. you're absolutely right about that. just a thought to throw out there. it's going to be interesting also to see if jeb bush were to run for president, he married a mexican. he's not talking, and he did peace corps and that's where he met her in mexico city. so he's not, it's not one of those things, it will be interesting to see how that plays. i was fascinated to see how he presented at cpac as a conservative -- republican party, and 25 or 30 people walked out but the rest stayed. he got a very big applause and he has been a pro-immigration reform. and that to me says something i think we've reached a tipping point and things are beginning to change.

in a positive way for the country. but now it needs political will. >> you have every right to think oh, really? but i would say something to a couple of weeks ago what did john boehner do? he passed the department of homeland security bill, said forget the rule. vote up or down and passed the you know what? the world as we know it continues. and i think that's a lesson that maybe others are going to notice that the bread still continues to be sliced. >> it's interesting to talk about jeb bush gets his name cannot be mentioned on any of the national media circuits in conjunction with his possible run for presidency without talking about it we don't know how his stance on immigration is going to fall out. i would hope that he would step up to the plate and that i think

is a problem that people have with politicians in general. and with marco rubio in particular come is because of his wishy-washy i'm on the fence, i'm off the fence, nobody knows where he stands. i introduced the bill but i'm not good to back it but your not coming up with an alternative and now your hands off on immigration, as if all your family came over on the mayflower. so it's a problem and if politicians will stand up for what they believe, i think people will have a lot more respect for them. i certainly would respect jeb bush if he steps up to the plate, i think, i'm not going to vote for him but i will certainly respect him for stepping up and taking on immigration and putting where he stands on it. >> me say that making laws are like making sausage. it's a very -- >> it's not pretty. >> i think, you know, there's got to be way to get beyond the

logjam. i don't think the republican party is completely restrictionist's past our survey some restrictionist in the party, you know, very strong anti-immigration. there's some on the democratic side as well. but i think we have to appeal to the good angels on everybody's side, and again, remind people that politics is a noble vocation and it's about the common good. one of the areas that touches on the common good of everyone in this country today is our broken immigration system. and it needs to be fixed spent the so thank you for the bullpen and thank you for all being here. [applause] >> and good afternoon. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015]

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> tonight q&a with david brooks. at 8:00, bill clinton moderates a discussion with entrepreneurs in the health care industry, including a health care venture capitalist. >> what do you need to happen beyond control for your business model to have success? >> great question. i think it is mostly about aligned incentives. i think there are a lot of things we are doing that are

very differential. how does technology impact businesses? or the industry? if you are not technology company in the next decade, you will not be a company. i think this is an unprecedented change in the world where everybody needs to adapt or just move on. there is so much we can do. amazon and google know when a woman is pregnant immediately based on what she is searching for. health insurance company doesn't know until the claim is paid after birth. [laughter] [applause] our ability to understand what is happening in real time

enables us to actually take something -- we cannot give away free medicine. but we can understand what is happening and point them in the right direction. >> when the institute of medicine first reported 100,000 people were dying from preventable causes in u.s. hospitals every year. i was shocked. a lot of great, smart people jumped in, and i thought that they were going to take care of it. a few years ago, the new data came out as shown over 200,000 people were getting killed and hospitals from preventable causes. that's my realized that it is time i step up and try to do something. i got to know a lot of companies

in the medical technology sector, a lot of clinicians, a lot of amazing people like you president clinton, and i felt that maybe if we brought everybody to get there, bring in the medical technology companies, bring in hospitals, bring a government, bring in patient advocates powerful voice because, but he think about 200,000 people dying every year, it's a number that runs through your head, unfortunately. one death is a tragedy, a million is -- when you think about that one life, how it impacts the family that was left behind, it really grabs you. >> you can watch the entire discussion tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span. here are some of our featured programs this weekend. on c-span, saturday at 8 p.m., wendy davis on the challenges

facing women in politics. easter sunday at 6:30 p.m., jack nicklas receives the congressional gold medal for contributions to the game and community service. saturday night activist and author cornell west on radical political thinking of martin luther king junior. sunday, a live conversation with former investigative reporter ronald kessler. he has written 20 books. on american history tv on c-span3, saturday at 8 p.m. eastern, east carolina university professor charles calhoun on the obstacles faced and a couple shirts made by ulysses s. grant during his presidency. sunday afternoon historian

patrick schroeder takes us on a tour of -- appomattox courthouse in virginia. >> you need to be firm in your principles of flexible in the details, because it really reflects like solutions like the harsh polarization we have seen across the country, and a methodology that it is all senators if all the congressmen and congresswoman, and all state legislators cap.com the we can come together as a country and solve issues. quite my favorite quote came from julie adams. she said her member to be humble and have a strong work ethic, be kind to the people you meet on the way up, you will meet him again on the way back down. >> we have a lack of true

statesman, as much as i made disagree with him, john mccain is something impressive. he committed to the veterans affairs reform bill and reading the senate torch report, maintaining how staying away from torture is essential to the character of our democracy. at the point where we have people who are willing to cross the aisle, are willing to make these decisions, that is essentially what we need to maintain security, the integrity of our nation as we go on. >> high school students in the top 1% of their state were in washington as part of the united states senate program. sunday night it -- at 8:00. >> the economy added 26,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate remained at 5.5%. the numbers were announced this

morning by the bureau of labour statistics. president obama talked about the economy during his first are to you talk today. at hill airport face, he announced a program to employ veterans in the solar industry. this is about 10 minutes. president obama: good morning, everybody. it is wonderful to be in the beautiful state of utah. and i want to thank the general and the kernel and everyone here at the air force base. one of the most outstanding facilities that we have. every single day, your work kids are air force ready to meet the many threats that are out there.

threats like isil, the work we are doing in iraq. you support our troops, our humanitarian missions around the world, and you keep the american people safe. to all of our folks in uniform and the civilian to support them, i want to say thank you. i think the american people want you to know how much they appreciated. i just had an opportunity to take a look at these solar installations you have here on the base. the mayor, doing outstanding work, and leaders in the solar industry, as well as our community college system. we are talking about salt lake city's commitment to renewable energy, its impact on jobs business, and its impact on the environment and climate change. since i took office, solar

electricity has gone up 20 fold. and our investment in renewable energy and energy efficient to have not just helps to cut carbon pollution, they have made us more energy independent and they have helped us create a steady stream of high wage middle-class jobs. this morning, we learned that our business created another 129,000 new jobs in march. that adds up to 3 million jobs over the past year. more than 12 million new jobs over the past five years. that is the longest stretch of private sector job creation on record. but we have to be relentless in our work to grow the economy and create good jobs. parts of the globe have seen their economies weaken. europe has had a weaker economy. asia has been slowing down. we have had this trunk is the economy, but -- the strongest economy, but we are impacted by what happens around the world.

and that is why we have to redouble our efforts to make sure that we are taking the steps that are needed for us to be successful. i think everybody here understands that one of the most important aspects of national security is strong economic security. we can maintain the best military that the world has ever known unless we also have an economy. a lot of our men and women in uniform at some point are going to transition into civilian life, and we want to make sure that after they fought for our freedoms, they have jobs to come home to. that means working together, not only the private sector has to work, but government has to work to to take the steps -- to take the steps that we know will grow our economy. i am hoping we can get some things done this share. rebuilding our infrastructure all across our country. those are jobs that can't be exported.

and it makes us competitive over the long-term because businesses are going to locate where the have top-notch infrastructure. investing in education and job training to boost growth right here in the united states because again, businesses will locate where they have got a trained workforce. making sure that we are passing trade promotion authority. orrin hatch is working very hard on that. utah is one of the leading exporting states in the country. part of the reason the state has been so successful. we are very grateful that senator hatch is working with senator wyden to make sure that we can get that deal done. and what i am doing here today is to highlight the fact that the solar industry is actually adding jobs 10 times faster than the rest of the economy. they are paying good jobs, they

are helping folks enter into the middle class. and today, you are going to try and build on the progress that has already been made. i am announcing a new goal to train 75,000 workers to enter the solar industry by 2020. we are creating what we call a solar ready program that is modeled after some successful pilot initiatives that have already been established over the last several years. it is going to train transitioning military personnel for careers in this growing industry. at 10 basis, including right here at hill. as part of this effort, we are also going to work with states and war veterans to use the g.i. bill for solar training. as one of the many steps we are taking to help military members and buses get a job. about 30% of the federal workforce is now made up of veterans. i have said it before, i think employers are starting to catch on.

if you want to get the job done, hire a veteran. hill is leading by example. they are getting maybe 20% of their energy through renewable energy sources. dod, the department of defense our military across the board is becoming more and more efficient because that saves money. and it means that we've got more money for personal, raining, equipment, to make sure -- training, equipment, to make sure our forces have what they need to get the job done. and it is going to provide are numerous prospects for jobs and careers for a whole lot of folks out there if we continue to make this investment. so we have to lead by example, invest in the future. train our workers for good, new jobs. that is how we are going to keep our economy going and that is how we are going to create new jobs and new opportunities for the american people.

as a byproduct of that, we will make this country safer. and we will make the planet more secure. with a going to make sure that the environment we are passing on and incredible beauty of these remarkable states are passed onto future generations as well. thank you to all of you for the great work you are doing. and thank you to the state of utah for your wonderful hospitality. i was telling the governor yesterday, as we were writing from the airport, that i'm going to make sure i come back next time where i don't have to do so much work and i can visit some of these amazing national parks here and have a chance to visit with some of the wonderful people here in the great state of utah. thank you very much, everybody. [applause]

[indistinct chatter] [indistinct chatter]

[applause] wendy davis talked about women and politics at an event hosted by uc berkeley. wendy: given the sexualized context in which women are framed are more apt way to describe the tactics. it occurs in blatant ways. for example, in my race, my opponent supporters derided me using photoshop sexual images of

my face or head on them in order to elicit a response, to view me as highly sexualized rather than intelligent and confident as a potential state leader. there are also questions raised about my status as a mother, suggesting that i abandoned my children when i went to law school. this is how attention was diverted for my achievement. i was no longer to be a prodded her graduating loss -- applauded for graduating law school, i was to be reviled for self-improvement at the expense of giving my full-time to child rearing. as we watch and celebrate lgbt advances, with more states moving to marriage equality, as we witness discriminatory policies like doughnuts don't tell being repealed -- don't ask don't tell being repealed,

gender politics is to be taking a step backward. women face an onslaught of legislation that threatens reproductive freedoms and access to abortion. we occupy 56 prevent -- even though we only make up 49% of the workforce. governors are vetoing fair pay laws if they ever make it to the governor's desk at all. all of this is happening without significant voter backlash that says they disagree with the direction things are headed. have to ask ourselves why. i think that the answer to that is largely connected to and dictated by our personal experiences. the lens through which we view these issues. wendy davis, tomorrow night.

>> sunday, tony perkins on religious freedom laws. newsmakers, sunday at 10 a.m.. >> the most memorable moment of this week was hearing senator cory gardner telling us to be firm and principles of flexible in details. it reflects the harsh polarization we see across the country and the methodology that if all senators and congressmen and women can adopt, we can come together as a country to solve issues. >> my favorite quote came from julie adams. she said her member to be humble and have a strong work ethic, be kind to people you meet on the way up, you will be them on the way back down.

>> in congress, there is a lack of true statesman. senator john mccain did something impressive last year. he committed to the veterans affairs reform bill, reading the senate torture report and maintaining how staying away from torture is essential to the character of our democracy. at the point we have living to cross the aisle or make decisions in who they may not often agree with, that is essentially what we need to maintain the security, the integrity of our nation as we go along. >> high school students that rank in the top 1% of their states were in washington, d.c. as part of the united states senate youth program. sunday night at eight eastern. -- 8:00 eastern. >> the president of iran, hassan rouhani spoke in farsi with

english translation. president rouhani: in the name of god salutations to the prophet of islam and his household. salutations, and peace be upon them. we are going through the occasion marking the anniversary

, next week will mark the anniversary -- today is the day that will remain in the historical memory of the iranian nation. today is the day that, from my point of view, is a day of appreciation and gratitude to the great nation of iran. the iranian nation through its resistance and steadfastness took another step towards attaining national goals. i have to think the iranian nation since the people, in

order to safeguard the national interest today they will remain persistent and steadfast. the government and this administration has offered some promises to the people and we have always made efforts in order to fulfill those promises within the framework of our national interest. one promise was that the centrifuges have to spin, and at the same time, people and life

should go on smoothly, and it will be valuable for us to see the centrifuges spinning, provided that the economy would also move forward. today, we have gotten closer to that object, compared to the past weeks and days. during the first hundred days of this administration, the government took the first step forward and reached an entry deal regarding the nuclear issue in negotiations. since that time, we have been

making efforts in order to take the second step -- efforts were made for several months, and i particularly refer to the efforts made in the past few days and last night we managed to reached an objective. we have managed to take that second step forward, and we have managed to protect our nuclear rights and, at the same time, we have taken steps for the lifting of sanctions, and at the same time constructive interaction with the world. this is of great significance for us. based on the framework that we reached last night, it means that with respect to the

upcoming agreement, we hope that until june, we will be able to take that third step in the third step will be the final agreement and the fourth step that will be later taken will be achieved several weeks later. that will be the implementation of the provisions of the final agreement or it based on the framework that we have attained we have accepted enrichment of iran's soil. what they said in the past is that enrichment is a threat for the region. today, they have accepted that enrichment on uranian -- uranian

soil is not a threat -- iranian soil is not a threat. they are all aimed at the development of iran. this enrichment process and technology are not against any country of the region or the world. today, the world has admitted that iran is seeking peaceful objectives within this framework. iraq will be activated and based on more modern technology. fordo will remain open forever. in fordo, there will be more

than 1000 centrifuges installed. and there will be other activities in the field of physics within the framework of the financial sanctions will be lifted on that day of the implantation of the agreement the sanctions related to the banking systems. all the resolutions against iran the six resolutions against iran will be revoked and eliminated and they will be new cooperation in the nuclear field and hopefully in other sectors. this will, in fact, open a new chapter in cooperation with the world. within this framework that we have ahead, you see that the

approach adopted by this administration has been effective. in today's world threats by others are worthless and pressures by others are worthless and all of us should be after an agreement to benefit all parties based on a win-win approach, mutual respect, common interest, and attaining common goals. some think that we should either fight with the world or give it into the powers. we believe there is a third option. there is a solution for this. we can cooperate with the world. they say that negotiations have

been due to the pressure exerted by the sanctions. they know very well that such an approach is baseless and their sanctions were not aimed at negotiating. they imposed sanctions or to make us to surrender. when they realize that we will never surrender and there is a united and steadfast courageous nation, then they said that sanctions were into negotiations, but we were negotiating with the world prior to the sanctions. we were negotiating in the course of the sanctions. the approach by this administration is that if others respect us and do not impose sanctions, they will actually receive the same respect from our side. they have realized that there

should be respect in order to receive respect, in that sanctions of pressures are worthless. this indicates the fact that the administration's approach has been a correct one. the second point is that the objective that we have achieved today that has been due to our unity and solidarity. actually, we have consulted with all the officials and we have always benefited from the guidelines of the leader of the islamic revolution. he, the leader, has also

provided generously with his guidelines. id and it necessary -- i deem it necessary to appreciate the leader and the branches who have helped us in order to be able to take this step forward and in the next step, we need their support. this is not just about the nuclear question, this is true about all the other issues regarding the country's affairs. we are in need of the guidelines are the leader and also the unity and solidarity and support of our nation, of course. we should be thankful to god. and the infallible immams, and

our thoughts should be with them. they have always supported us, they have been a source of support for us. we have chosen the right path, today, our nation has shown to the world that, in spite of pressures, the nation has put on display a massive turnout in the course of the presidential election. in addition, a have always put on display the unity and solidarity, enabling us to overcome the difficulty. i wish to seize this opportunity

and mentioned some points. the first point is that in the course of the nuclear negotiations, whatever promise we have offered to the global community, we both the fill our promises -- we will fulfill our promises. we are not after deception or hypocrisy. if we have given any promise such a promise will be within the framework of our national interest. we will fulfill all promises, provided that the other party would also fulfill its promises. after this point, in the future, with respect to the final agreement, the agreement will be a balanced one if the other party for phyllis promise -- if

the other party fulfills its promise. if iraq to size to choose a different path, we will also be able to choose other options. the second point is that our nuclear negotiation has been the first step for constructive interaction with the world. we are not just addressing the nuclear issue. it is not just the nuclear issue that we are after negotiating with the global community and that this issue will come to its end sometime. in fact, this is the first step in order to reach the highest point of constructive interaction with the global community, and in today's world stability and security will not be achieved without cooperation.

we seek cooperation and interaction with all countries that are willing to do so, and the countries that respect us and respect the radiant nation -- the iranian nation, we press their hands for friendship, and with countries we enjoy cordial relations, we are after closer relations, in case of strained relations, we are after improving relations. if we are actually have any sort of tension or even hostility with any nation, we are after putting an end to such hostility and tension. interaction will be to the benefit of all. the last point is that in order

to eliminate hurdles in foreign relations, we have taken a step forward to eliminating the hurdles and we should take new steps forward in all fields. the government is of the view that business -- the impediments to business must be eliminated. we welcome efforts by all the investors and the people. because we should take this step for creation of job opportunities for young people and improve business and also promote exports, so that the people will actually witness improvements from the economic and spiritual point of view. i wish to appreciate the iranian nation and i wish to request the

iranian people to actually promote unity in order to improve business and economic condition and also have sound political competitions. we hope we will be able to be better compared to the last year, and we will be able to take steps for the prosperity of our nation. and the progress of our nation, i also feel it is necessary to appreciate all of those who have been effective in taking this step forward particularly the nuclear negotiation team.

the head of the country's atomic energy organization and his legal team, and all of those who have made efforts particularly in the past few days and in the past months. i wish to appreciate them all. i wish to personally appreciate them on behalf of the iranian nation and hopefully, support by the leader and the nation will be of great help to them in order to attain final success. >> the atlantic council hosted a discussion today about the nuclear deal with the that was announced yesterday. the discussion included a former secretary of state for a ron and other foreign-policy

scholars. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] barbara slavin: what can i say? i know it is raining outside. but in here the sun is shining. i joked on twitter that the atlantic council one that think tank lottery, because when we planned this event, i had a feeling they would not meet the self-imposed deadline of march 31 for some sort of political understanding or framework. indeed, i was right. we are the first think tank in washington to be able to discuss the historic events that happened in lausanne switzerland. i am absolutely delighted. i am barbara slavin, and i coordinate the iran task force and the atlantic council. i ask you to check out our website. we have a new statement that is

out on our task force that includes esteemed individuals in this town -- a lot of foreign-policy experts and nuclear experts. of course, all of you, by now, have read some of the details of this agreement. we will look at it in more detail and specificity. there's plenty of skepticism out there from israel, from some of the arab states across the persian gulf, and certainly from congress, about the nature of what was agreed to in lausanne switzerland. we have a stellar cast of analysts to discuss it. let me extend greetings from ambassador stuart eizenstat, the chairman of our task force, who cannot be in here and let me thank the ploughshares fund for their genous support for our iran program. we have three stars who've come to talk about these issues. first is cliff kupchan.

he is one of the actual washington experts, as opposed to people who pretend to be. he has expertise particularly on iran and russia. he is the chairman of the eurasia group. he provides top-level analysis and thought leadership on global macro issues as well as russian domestic and foreign energy policy and iranian nuclear foreign and domestic policy. prior to joining the eurasia group he served in the state department and on the house international relations committee. he was vice president of the senate for national interest and vice president of the eurasia foundation, a program that works in russia. this is the first time that we have had kelsey davenport. i am delighted. she's the new star in washington. she is a go to source for technical understanding of this nuclear agreement in the making.

she is the director for the non-proliferation policy for the arms control association and provides research and analysis on nuclear programs on iran, north korea, and pakistan onkelsey joined the arms control association in 2011 as a herbet scoville jr. peace fellow. prior to that she worked in a think tank in jerusalem. she may have interesting things to say about the israeli attitude toward these talks. and john limbert. a member of our task force and so much more. he is the class of 1955 professor of middle eastern studies at the u.s. naval academy. he had a 34-year career in the foreign service, mostly in the middle east and islamic africa. in 2009 and 2010 he came out of retirement to be the deputy