i find the two presidents are very different personalities. mr. nixon was well schooled. he had been a vice president, a member of the senate, a member of the house. argued before the supreme court. he came into the job understanding it and on the run. his campaign transition was very quick. i find the trump administration about 180 degrees away from their. they seemed surprised to win, they had a week transition period -- weak transition. . the takeover has been awkward at best. president in had a my knowledge, i am a student in the office -- of the office as

well, come in with the kind of hasage that mr. trump carried. he arrived on the scene with unfolding scandals. >> all month, we are featuring c-span's studentcam winners. this year, students told us the most urgent issue for the new president and congress. our grand prize winners are sisters from blacksburg, virginia. ava lazar is homeschooled in the seventh-grade, mia lazar is in the ninth-grade. their documentary is called the tempest tossed. >> is not about what political party you are, it's about values and helping these people.

>> as parents, this topic was particularly personal because both my parents were refugees. i think that also drove them a little bit. when they do some video on a topic that's personal for them, that helps a lot. >> the reason we named the documentary the tempest tossed is because inside the museum of the statue, there is a plaque that has a following saying send it these hopeless -- homeless, tempest tossed to me. i lift my lamp beside the golden door. it was written specifically for the statue of liberty. we include it so we could show the values that america was founded on -- principles that everyone needs to understand it today. >> on a more personal scale i would suggest that the people that think that refugees are all terrorists, or who were afraid of them should spend a while

meeting one. they are really amazing people. they have just the right to be people in the united states as everyone else does very. >> the solution is not just changing the policy, which is would be amazing. but also by acting locally. >> have the sisters plan to use their money? >> we are going to save some for college. >> we're donating $1000 locally, and then we want to go backpacking in europe when we are older. some of the money is going to go for that. >> congratulations to our grand prize winners. take a look at their winning documentary. >> america is a nation of refugees and immigrants. most of the people living in the united states have stories of immigration somewhere in their heritage.

each day, about 34,000 people are forced to flee their countries, not knowing if they are ever going to return. people are forced to make a difficult choice, to leave, or risk their life to stay. it's estimated that 6.5 million -- 65.3 million people are displaced worldwide, but they are not all defined as refugees. a refugee is someone who has been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence, and cannot return safely. with so many people desperate, politicians are arguing over whether the united states should let more refugees in the country. president trump: we don't know who they are, there's no paperwork, no documentation. >> many people fear that bringing in refugees will increase the risk of terrorism, they believe that bringing in refugees can reduce terrorism. >> we invited 3 million refugees, and not a single one

of them has killed anyone in an act of terrorism. i think we are inflating the risk of terrorism. >> obviously, the united states is always going to have an openness and a willingness to accommodate people who are fleeing for their lives because of their political beliefs. however, there are limits to how many can be accommodated here in the united states because of the economic and fiscal cost to all our communities. there always the fears of terrorism and so on that come with refugee flows. >> we're opening up our countries from regions filled with terrorists. terrorists with the express intent to kill us. >> it is so important to understand the refugees themselves, when they are fleeing, it's because they are fleeing violence. to turn them -- i think it's a bit of a contradiction.

>> most refugees come from somalia, afghanistan, and syria. over half of them are children. these people trying to seek asylum in nearby countries, will -- or they end up in refugee camps. over 2.6 million refugees currently live in camps throughout the world. overcrowding and disease plague many of the camps. >> my grandmother was in a refugee camp, where the mortality rate was nearly 4%. -- infant mortality rate was nearly 100%. >> when you're putting refugees in camp's for years and years, you're not letting them live up to their human potential area -- human potential. you make them dependent rather than contributing. it's a huge problem. i think there is a major downside keeping refugees in refugee camps for a long time. you have a generation of individuals growing up without access to education, without access to jobs.

that ultimately leads them to seek out radical solutions to those problems. that can lead to political turmoil, more violence, more war, exactly the types of problems we are seeing. >> in the late 1940's, people all over the world realized something needed to be done and the many displaced people who fled their homes in europe after world war ii. >> why should we help these people? is a charity, is it human kindness, or is america a sucker to bother with these europeans now that we have been hitler's? a little human kindness, but not suckers. we realize that our half of the world, the american half, cannot remain well if the other half is sick. >> the office of the united nations office refugees was created in 1950. it helped refugees find food, clean water, and shelter.

in order to live in the united states, all refugees are thoroughly screened by a process called vetting. united states checks for medical issues, takes fingerprints, and interviews the refugees. >> the united states government handpicks each refugee that comes into the united states and individually interviews all of them. i believe it's important for people to understand how rigorous and long this process is. >> the fbi, the department of homeland security, and others are involved in the process. only half of the refugees make it through. many things have changed in the past century, many beliefs haven't. in a poll in 1939, only 30% of americans want to accept 10,000 jewish refugee children to live in the united states. in 2016, only a similar percentage supported letting syrian refugees into the u.s. >> we have to remember we are always on our weakest when we have shut our door on refugees,

when we have been afraid of them. and that are greatest when we let them in. never has this country really suffered any kind of security consequences due to letting in refugees, yet we use that as an excuse many times to keep them out. we did it in the john adams administration and we've been doing it time and time again. every time we do it, we look back on that in shame. we did it in the early 1920's and it resulted in excluding many jews that tried to flee europe. not a proud moment. >> i have a natural empathy for people who have been persecuted. it's the reason i came to the u.s. and the reason i left my family, had to do with persecution. >> one really positive thing the refugees bring to the united states is an opportunity to interact with the countries overseas from which they come, where there are a lot of

misconceptions about the united states, what our intentions are in the region, what we are trying to do, what freedom of religion we have here, are we are to persecute muslims and other religious minorities, and the reality of religious freedom in the united states really does change minds, both in the united states and overseas. >> safety is important, but right now, we need to make a choice. should we bar people out for a fear of terrorism, or should we welcome the men -- them in? we think the question conscience -- congress shouldn't be asking -- congress should be asking is not should we help refugees, but how can we help them. we should make history. not repeat it. ♪ >> to watch all the prize-winning documentaries, visit studentcam.org. ♪

>> sunday, april 30, washington journal at 9:00 a.m. for the annual cram for the exam to help students prepare for the advanced placement u.s. government and politics exam. high school government teachers will take your calls and review sample questions you might find on this year's >> relax, calm down. there are going to be questions you don't know. don't blame your teacher. there's going to be questions you miss. we all do. your best. if you don't know the answer, leave it blank. keep writing. something like i blanked on primaries, go back to what you do know. use those context clues.

take a deep breath and problem solve. cram for: the annual the exam is fun and informative. join us on c-span. an estimated 5 million americans are living with alzheimer's disease. a senate hearing look at the state of alzheimer's research. journalists and women's alzheimer's movement founder maria shriver testified on the senate aging committee. this is two hours and 20 minutes. [applause]