immigrants in the area. immigration lawyer on laws related to citizenship and deportation. at 9:15 a.m., a discussion on the mexican drug cartels. ♪ host: good morning, everyone. "washington journal" is live fat the u.s.-mexico border laredo, texas. all of you get to ask questions. we start today with immigration at this location in laredo locally known as bridge one where mexican and american commuters cross back and forth for work and travel. we will also discuss illegal immigration. thoughts on whether

immigration makes the u.s. a stronger or weaker. ,f you live in a border state 202-748-8000. tell us what you think. if you are an immigrant, legal or illegal, 202-748-8001. all others, 202-748-8002. you can also go to twitter or facebook. we will get to your thoughts, coming up. this begin with a bit of information about laredo, texas. population is just over 255,000. income,an household $39,000. 31% of the population below the poverty level. 96% hispanic. we visited the border town back in april and spoke with local officials as well as u.s. customs and border protection.

you can see where laredo is right there on the map between del rio and brownsville -- rio and brownsville. mayor ofalked to the laredo, this is what he had to say about the history of laredo and its economic ties to mexico. laredo was founded in 1755 i spanish settlers -- by spanish settlers. thencolonize this area and , with the advent of wars that impacted area muslim people , some people left, but it is basically the same families.

we are tied at the hip. if they move the other way, they bring us -- we want it that way. it has worked for us beautifully. some people speak about the border, they simply do not know the border. here, weld trump was invite any other candidate to visit. we are very unique. orple just understand .ealize it host: that was the mayor of laredo back in april speaking to us at this location where we are at this morning, live in laredo,

texas. pedestrians from mexico and the united states can cross back and forth right here at bridge one. there are several other bridges where passenger vehicles can come across an commercial trucking happens as well. we will talk about commercial trucking and trade tomorrow on the "washington journal." today's focus is immigration. make thisration country stronger or weaker? richard is up first in massachusetts. what do you think? caller: i think it makes us weaker. it divides people. , five miles north of boston, i've never seen a spanish person in my life when i was going to school. now, my city is full of it and --y're doing all the jobs

they are talented people and good workers, but it divides us. when you are a divided country, you get week. -- you get weak. illegal means illegal. that is my opinion. thank you very much. cruces, new las mexico. what do you think? caller: good morning. i've called him several times before and i want to thank c-span for doing this series. andggested this to john this is a follow-up because i think that this series will be very important in showing exactly how -- the border is not trump wantsall that to build, but a fluid relationship between us and

another country. i want to thank you for doing the homework that you and other hosts do before shows like this. it is really appreciated. providing a real service to the american people. the line on television of people lining up to come across the border. if you were in el paso, you would see the same line. thank you again. host: that line of folks on your screen, that is the line we saw when we were in laredo, texas back in april. a littlesee the folks after 6:00 local time in texas, they are already lining up to come across. this is happening on an hourly,

daily basis where folks are coming to work, travel and shop. one area where it happens in laredo, texas. it happens along the southern border in el paso and other areas. lorraine in redford, michigan. go ahead. caller: i think it makes us weaker. if we continue to let them have -- illegaligration immigration, it will make us another china, mexico. you know what china did to us. i think that is totally wrong and it should not be allowed to happen. host: what about legal immigration? caller: legal is fine. if you are legal, you are legal. host: john in charleston, west virginia. caller: thank you for c-span.

i get a lot of information from you guys. a quick comment to make -- a lot legalple don't know that immigration constitute 600,000 a year come employment-based and family-based, like planning a large city in the u.s. every single he appeared -- every single year. that is just legal immigration. a lot of people to compete for jobs. everyone focuses on the legal aspect. -- illegal aspect. out, there is new data front page of "the times" this money. -- front page of "the washington times" this morning.

illegalal and immigration spiked in the last year. recently, when we were in

laredo, texas, we were able to speak with the different divisions of u.s. customs and border protection. we talked with the folks at the ports of entry. people,d with the border patrol, agents outside of those ports of entry that are responsible for everything in between and going into the interior of the country. we spoke with the aaron murray and officers. -- air and marine officers. when we sat down with the ports of entry folks, this is what they had to tell us about the uptick in undocumented people coming to the border and trying to flee violence in their country. laredo geographic area, we are seeing an increase -- they had been

arriving in san diego, there was a large population from somalia there. it has shifted to the rio grande valley. they arrived at the port of entry. we are also seeing an increase of resilience. brazilians.ce -- we turn them over to the custody -- >> is that the same policy for mexican citizens? >> yes. it is the same policy regardless of what country you are coming from. we expedite removal for credible fear. minor or you are a from cuba.

, we canu are from cuba return you back to cuba or detain you at the port of entry. recenthat was during a visit to the border town of laredo, texas, talking to u.s. customs and border protection. we are back there live this morning to talk to folks about what it is like in the border town. we are focusing on immigration this morning and tomorrow, we will be talking about trade. does immigration make the u.s. stronger or weaker? maria, an immigrant in pennsylvania. tell us your story. host: i'm from the philippines, an illegal immigrant. the united states is stronger because of immigrants. immigrants are hard-working

people, they come here to the u.s. to work because there's opportunity here. the united states is a wonderful place for immigrants. the line you see crossing mexico to the u.s., the same line in the philippines at the american embassy because everyone wants to come to the united states. is -- do du think that you think that is? caller: it is a rich country, there's a lot of opportunities here. i think the united states will be stronger with illegal immigrants. if you have a large group of people, you cannot avoid having a small amount of people who are not good people.

maybe people who are criminals, people who will rob or kill other people. issues. has to be very -- has to screen people coming in. u.s. border protection seeing a rise and people from all over the world coming to the border claiming fear that there is violence in their country and they want to get out and come to the u.s. if you are from mexico or central america or one of these african countries, you are detained and sent back. , underyou are from cuba the cuban adjustment act, you get to start the process of becoming a u.s. citizen.

so that you are not sent back to a communist country. caller: i think the u.s. has to -- it depends on what country and the news today. maybe people from the middle east would have more preference than probably people from mexico. avoid trying to help them the war going on in the middle east. syriansey have seen also coming to the border right there in southern texas. here's the headline from the houston chronicle. waves of cubans crossing into texas. uptick in the an amount of cubans at bridge one, where we are this morning.

cuban nationals coming to that port of entry right there, showing they are cuban nationals and starting the process to become a u.s. citizen. new york. it makes it stronger if the country is growing. at this point, the country is not growing. there's too many illegal immigrants putting a drain on the country. therefore, they should control the amount of people they lead in the country so the legal immigrants can have a good life, which they don't have right now. there are too many illegal immigrants putting a strain on the monetary system right now. lp,have to provide he they are not paying taxes. you are losing a lot of money on these people. host: ray in raleigh, north

carolina. what do you think this morning? caller: i'm totally against illegal immigration. as an african-american in this country, i'm so tired that they always talk about time for politics, the plight of the african-american male or female usamerica and yet, you put against all these people that come from different countries -- i am a landscaper in north carolina. the say they get jobs that we don't want to do. i'm in a are digging and they put a flyer in a mailbox right in front of me. it is very insulting. are they here to become americans or just to make money? as african-americans, we are separated from everybody. we are bringing people from syria and all these countries, giving them jobs, but if you are african-american, they don't

hire us. mayorlisten to what the said back in april about the undocumented population right there in laredo, texas. 40% of the people that actually live here in laredo, undocumented.gal, 30,000-40,000 have settled here. they are undocumented. they are very much part of our community. children.ave us-born parents, grandparents, children, that sort of thing. they have families here. we are live this morning from laredo, texas. getting your thoughts.

our guests joining us from this location, we will talk to a local reporter for breitbart texas, and immigration the dallas morning news mexico correspondent. what separates this town from laredoter town of nuevo come across that bridge is the rio grande. robert in california. what do you think about immigration? caller: it gets stronger. unfortunately, they use undocumented migrants as scapegoats. it's the corporations that make all the money. corporations that have not given a wage increase in

years. it's the corporations that run to other countries, third world countries for environmental protection so they can get away with it. it's the corporations and wall street that fleeced american people, middle-class, stole all their money. unfortunately, the undocumented are the scapegoats. they are the least capable of doing anything to anyone and they are here to make a buck like anyone else. that is the american spirit, to go out there and make a buck. people say, they are taking my jobs -- that is ridiculous. cheaper person is always going to get the job because that is the american spirit. any there is a crisis in america , they blamed the undocumented

because that is the easy scapegoat, but the corporations are the ones getting all this and there is no restraint of any kind, in the regulation. republicans like donald trump will deregulate. greed, go outt, and take whatever you can from , thatody and fleeced them is donald trump's candidacy. host: "houston chronicle" has this story. texas once welcomed, even recruited immigrants.

in nebraska. what do you think about immigration? -- bob in nebraska. caller: thank you for being in laredo. gorgeous pictures. they just had a story and "the abouttreet journal" mexican nationals shopping in it has brought a ton of growth to texas.

they are trying to build plants in nebraska but they cannot build plants for certain things because local communities do not want immigrants, they are turning down huge amounts of investment because of it. thank you, c-span. you are doing great. host: cnbc has a similar story. the region is a good place to start with an area population of roughly around 831000 and growing. the factories and enjoyed and produce export goods, a legacy of the north american free trade agreement. we talked to local environmental groups about that in april. i first came to laredo

35 years ago, the reports on a daily basis were, well, the water quality is really, really bad. it is not only the results of things happening in mexico, but things happening in the united states. i was sister city across the river was putting in somewhere on the order of 25 million gallons of raw sewage a day into the river. today, still about 6 million gallons of raw sewage coming in from nuevo laredo. some of that is coming in from a different point than it was 20 years ago. development has taken place on the new mexican side of the river toward the world bridge. why don't you fix it?

everybody knows the answer -- it is money. we don't have the funds to fix it. that environmental group talking about the impact of trade and the factories that have gone over to the mexican side, the environmental impact of that. liverow, we continue to be from laredo texas at the world trade bridge in laredo. will talk about the 6000-8 thousand commercial trucks that cross over the border right in this border town. 6000-8000 commercial trucks. gary in sour lake. caller: sour lake is 90 miles filesf houston, about 40 west of the louisiana border.

in the piney woods of southeast texas. we see a lot of immigrants here. the problem we are having is it is going to weaken our country eventually due to the fact if you think back when the slaves were brought in from africa, the chinese were brought in to build railroads, a lot of those people were mass murdered. strictly for wages, so they could weaken the middle class that is already here. those people cannot do anything, they could not defend themselves, they had no rights. arizona, new mexico and , you had republican governors for decades and have never done anything about it.

they whine the most and do the least. host: steve in chesapeake, virginia. an immigrant. tell us your story. 1982 as acame here in legal immigrant. immigration in germany. i met my wife who was here on a student visa. , wenterstayed her visa back to her country and had to for an immigrant visa. i think immigration makes this country stronger. this country needs to be able to limitl its borders and

, go afterimmigration the employers, hit them with theirfines and revoked licenses and permits and they will be able to control immigration. the big corporations want cheap labor, semi-slave labor. host: margaret in texas. morning -- caller: good morning. i'm 60 miles northwest of san antonio. to robert who spoke very eloquently about the virtues of immigrants and the fellow from nebraska -- i'm 88

years old. i taught history. i'm a retired professor now. , the country has prospered from waves of immigration. people need to realize that we live in a different world now. the economy in the last 50 years has trained -- changed dramatically. instead of blaming the immigrants for a lack of jobs, people need to look at the changes in the economy and what they need to do and their children need to do to prosper. something robert did not mention -- they are building a wall between us and mexico, there's lots of small ranches in mexico on the border come on the rio

grande. for generations, they have had relationships and relied upon people from mexico coming over for the roundups, for all kinds of things, working on their ranches. people to move from other places to go there and work, it is seasonal. these families have had wonderful relations for generations. the wall cuts that off. the wall cuts off the migration of animals. wes bothers me a great deal, cut off the pathway through for so many mammals. birds are ok, but the mammals are not. people down