democrats, independents and all others, 89, 22. we will look for your tweets and facebook comments as well. feel free to start following any time and we will go right to the time -- to the phones. >> mia is in the ninth grade. on refugeesntary and immigration policy is titled the tempest. >> is not about what political party you are. it's more about values and helping these people. >> as parents, this topic was particularly personal because both my parents were refugees. so 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. i think you saw the energy in that. >> the reason we named the documentary the tempest tossed is because inside the museum of the statue of liberty, there is a plaque with a poem saying, send these the homeless, tempest tossed to me. i lift my lamp beside the golden door. this poem was written specifically for the statue of liberty, and we included it so we could show the values that america was founded on -- principles that everyone needs to understand 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. >> how do the sisters plan to use their money? >> we are going to save some for college. >> we're donating $1000 locally, and also we want to go backpacking in europe when we are older, so some of the money is going to go for that. >> congratulations to our grand prize winners. now take a look at their winning documentary. >> america is a nation of refugees and immigrants. most of the 325 million people living in the united states have a story of immigration somewhere in their heritage. >> each day, around 30,000 people are forced to flee their

countries because of persecution, not knowing if they are ever going to return. people are forced to make a difficult choice, to leave, or risk their lives by staying. >> it's estimated that 6.5 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, however not all of them are considered refugees. a refugee someone who has been forced to flee their country because of persecution, war, or violence, and cannot return safely. >> with so many people desperate, fleeing their countries, 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. >> so we invited about three main refugees to the united

states since 1980, and not a single one of them has killed anyone in an act of terrorism, and 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 which fall on communities, and there always the fears of terrorism and so on that come with refugee flows. >> we're opening up our countries to thousands of refugees from regions filled with terrorists, terrorists with the express intent to kill us. >> there is a lot of information pushed out that we should be scared of refugees, but it is so important to understand the refugees themselves, when they are fleeing, it's because they

themselves are feeling violence, so to turn around and call them terrorists when they are fleeing terrorists, i think it's a bit of a contradiction. >> most refugees come from three countries, somali, afghanistan, and syria. over half of them are children. these people trying to seek asylum in nearby countries, or they in-depth 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 spent her first four years as the only toddler in a refugee camp, where the mortality rate was nearly 4%. she lost hearing in one ear due to lack of medical care. >> when you're putting refugees

in camp's for years and years, you're not letting them live up there human potential. you make them dependent rather than people who are contracting, so this is a huge problem. i think there is a major downside to keeping refugees in refugee camps for a long time. because you have a generation of individuals growing up without access to education, without access to jobs, and that ultimately leads them to seek out radical solutions to those problems, which can lead to political turmoil, more violence, more war. exactly the types of problems we are seeking to solve. >> in the late 1940's, people all over the world realized that something needed to be done about the many displaced people who fled their homes in europe after world war ii. >> why do we and our allies help these people? is a charity question mark is it human kindness, or is america a sucker to bother with these europeans now that we have beaten hit ller? 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 nation's high commissioner for refugees was created in 1950. throughout history, it helped refugees find basic needs like food, clean water, and shelter. >> in order to live in the united states, all refugees are thoroughly screened by a process called vetting. the 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. so i i believe it's important for people to understand how detailed and rigorous and long this process is. >> the fbi, the department of homeland security, and national counterterrorism center are involved in the process. vetting usually takes 18 to 24 months to complete and only half of the refugees make it through. although many things have changed in the past century, many police haven't. in a poll in 1939, only 30% of americans wanted 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 at our 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 with shame. we did it in the 1920's, and it resulted in turning away many jews that tried to flee europe. not a very proud moment in our history. >> 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 lost my parents, 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 states is an opportunity to 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 them in with open arms? we think the question congress should be asking is not whether 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. >> there you have it. the top 21 finishers in the .-span 2017 competition

middle and high school students responding to the question, what is the most urgent issue for the president and congress to address. you watched what the students had to say. our phone lines are open. how would you respond to that question? if you are republican, call us. democrats -- independence and all others. we are looking for your facebook posts as well, and we will go to those as we see them. we have a couple of colors on the line holding for a few minutes. let's go to eileen in california. how would you answer the question the studentcam winners answers today? >> i think that first of all thank you for giving me the opportunity.

believe without honesty and integrity in the white house and that isly with this gop not being honest also, it's the most urgent situation in this country because without honesty and integrity of our leaders we never will go forward. so that to me is the most important for the students and the kid, i believe global warming and clean energy. i'm a strong believer in moving forward. i think we can do it. i truly believe we are being sidetracked. there is a smokescreen that is blinding us from the fact that forward ifact move

we just think about the 1960's and 1970's and what air was like in california. for these kids and every one of them, it's about their future. they deserve clean water and clean air to breathe. if we can't give that to them and shame on us. host: thank you for the call. let's go to abigail. hello. yes. i'm truly with the last speaker. i believe that our environmental protections are incredibly important. it's our duty to make sure that water stays clean that we are drinking from. that those protections are taken away. i feel that the incredible care

act that provides health care for everyone is incredibly important. >> all right. finishers in the studentcam 2017 competition this year, the one cash prizes. cash toaway $100,000 in our 150 prizewinners. the second prizewinners, there were 16 of those. winners, four of those. a moment ago you saw the grand prize winners won $5,000 for their studentcam entry. back to your calls. presidentu think the and congress should address most urgently this year?

i agree with abigail and eileen. growingso think that income gap is extremely troublesome. corporations are just hiring part-time employees and not paying them enough so they can have benefits or for to put money back into the economy. taxpayers wind up paying for their employees to continue working while the owners of the company's are taking advantage in getting while and richer everybody who is working is getting cola and for -- getting poorer and poorer.

the criminal justice reform is needed because it is another form of voter suppression, such as in certain states. make's legislation to miscarriages and abortion, if you don't report it to the police within 24 hours, they could put you in jail. there's actually legislation and states to do this. i think that is another form of voter suppression i'll add voter suppression has a problem also. feedback on for the our studentcam competition question. let's go to oregon. the line for independence. what is your name? go ahead. you are on the air. caller: i wanted to talk to you about the most urgent issue that i see, the basic principle of

valuing education. thatrily with the values our children, and our country as a whole places on an nba basketball star, the amount of money. let's say $44 million per season and ask how much is an elementary school teacher may. not even close for an entire year. they are buying school supplies just have regular scheduled studies in school and have the materials they need. flip-flopped,be and the value placed on our teaching generations to come after us to do the right

thing, to contribute to society and not be part of the penal institution that we have in this country, that value being placed on education canthing, to contre solve that problem. host: i wanted to show you this tweet from miriam. documentaries. thanks for holding the competition. we appreciate that tweet. our education folks, it is a labor of love for them. they also operate the c-span classroom website. that is a free service for teachers. it provides resources to support history -- teachers of and other subjects. it allows class remembers to bookmark resources. you can find more you go to c-span.org and learned that how to become a member of our c-span classroom organizations.

i want to mention a couple of .acebook comments that came in improve and increase our military to ensure the national security is not compromised. thing i don't want this president or the congress to address anything other than removing the president from office. toyou didn't get a chance see our top 21 finishers, we are going to air them tonight. them on the studentcam website, to find out more about that. contest will officially launch this coming september. the theme has already been announced. create a video illustrating why it is important to you. that is the same for next year.

information atre the studentcam website. >> c-span's washington journal, live every day. press.up, bill , editor ineffrey chief will talk about president trump's legislative agenda amid the russia investigation. stephen earl inter talks about the election to find the next prime minister. discusses theef upcoming british elections and u.s. transatlantic relations.