almost engraved on the side. tour andc-span cities sunday, 2 p.m. on american history tv, on c-span3, working with our cable affiliates, as we explore america. c-span, washington journal is live with your phone calls. the house of representatives closes the first session of the 115th congress and that our later, they begin the second session heard at 1:00, we will take you to albany, new york for governor andrew cuomo's state of the state address. meckler looksra at the potential for immigration action in the new year and federation for american immigration reform president daniel stein and benjamin

johnson, the executive director for the american immigration lawyers association, talk about prospects for immigration reform in 2018. washington journal is live, now. ♪ good morning, it is wednesday, january 3, 2018. at noon, the second session of the 115th congress will convene pursuant to the u.s. constitution. in the senate, the session will begin with two new faces when doug jones and tina smith are sworn in. we have a three-hour washington journal ahead for you and we will spend our focus on what is expected to be a major issue, immigration.

toare opening our phones immigrants only, to hear your story of coming to an living in the united states. recent legal immigrants can call in at (202) 748-8000. if you are a legal immigrant who has lived in this country for five years or longer, (202) 748-8001. illegal, undocumented immigrants, (202) 748-8002. you can also catch up with us on social media on twitter, on facebook, facebook.com/c-span. a good wednesday morning. immigrants only in this first hour, you can start calling in now. we want to hear your stories and experiences in the united states. some big news yesterday out of washington, on some key republican leaders including the

longest-serving senate republican, orrin hatch out of utah announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of his term. here is the story. he served 42 years in the senate, more than any other republican in history. he said yesterday it is long enough and will not seek reelection. among those likely to give the race a look is mitt romney, the 2012 republican presidential nominee. coming alongside orrin hatch's announcement yesterday included the announcement of bill shuster, house transportation committee chairman announced he is stepping down at the end of his term. politico noting that since he is term limited out of the chairmanship after three terms, many had speculated this would be his last year in congress. more on those announcements later in our program.

since both men plan to serve out their terms through the end of the session, they will both be involved in this immigration debate, which is sure to be a top issue. it is already complicating the spending negotiations that are going on ahead of the latest spending deadline, january 19 here is the story from the washington examiner -- immigration complicates trump's spending. the white house has drawn a series of red lines along deferred action for childhood arrivals program, demanding that containedlation funding for a border wall. those discussions expected to happen on capitol hill when the white house legislative affairs director mark short and budget director mick mulvaney are expected to meet with the so-called big four congressional

leaders, democratic and republican leaders in the house and senate. president trump is expected to talk about this issue separately at camp david this weekend in his meeting with just the republican leadership. paul ryannnell and both headed to camp david in maryland this weekend. yesterday in the white house briefing room, sarah sanders was asked about what the president wants when it comes to negotiations around the future of daca. >> the president wants to have responsible immigration reform. he said before that he would like to include a daca resolution in that process, and we hope to be able to work with members of congress to get that done. that is a big priority for the administration in 2018. we have laid out what our principles on immigration reform look like, and they need to be part of any package that includes daca. host: that is sarah sanders and

the white house briefing room yesterday. want to hear from immigrants only in this first hour. we want to hear about your stories coming to and living in the united states. recent legal immigrants, (202) 748-8000 is the number for you. if you are a legal immigrant who has been in the u.s. for five years or longer, (202) 748-8001 is the number. a phone line for illegal immigrants, (202) 748-8002. we will keep the phone lines open to just immigrants only in this first hour, to hear your stories. you heard sarah sanders in the white house briefing room, and the president took to twitter to talk about immigration reform and various issues surrounding it. a couple of tweaks from the president -- "emma kratz doing .othing for daca they are just interested in politics.

daca activists and hispanics will go hard against democrats, will start falling in love with republicans and their president. we are about results." one more treat from the president, talking about brandon judd, thinking the national border control council and brandon judd for their kind words. "we will be bringing more and great folks and will build the desperately needed wall." we will keep an eye on his twitter page. we are talking to immigrants only in the first hour of "washington journal," to hear your stories of living in the united states. maria has been in the united states for five years or longer, living in pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i have been here 30 years. call, through what they

through the family, my family had been here. i was the last to come. i have been successful. i am a professional. i think this country gives a very good opportunity to everybody. that is why everybody wants to come here. in terms of the illegal immigrants, i think they really need to wait in line. i think i waited around seven years before i was able to come here, but i did wait and i did come legally. i had to go through requirements like being checked medically, taking sure you do not have diseases that you do not want the united states or people in the united states to have. i think it is very good country, a great country, actually. in the beginning i did not feel that way, but now that i have

been here for 30 years i appreciate the united states. host: why didn't you feel like that in the beginning? caller: i was enjoying myself and my country. i was working, i had friends. i was much younger and it was a challenge to be able to come , do training again, start from the beginning. , earningstart working like five dollars per hour and moving up slowly. it was a struggle and i was already independent. i was 30 years old when i came here and i was living independently at home, but my parents wanted me to come because they felt the united states was a good country. after that, i was able to do my training here and i am now, i think i am pretty successful and happy. host: if the system were changed, the president looking to change the family based

immigration system for legal immigrants, turning it more toward a merit-based system, would you have been able to come if that were changed, from what you understand of what the president wants to do? know mymaybe not, but i profession, and my brothers and sisters, my brother came in through the u.s. navy. he joined the navy. my sister came in as a nurse. this was a while back, more than 50 years ago. times change and i really do not know how the government is run. host: thanks for calling to share your story. that legislation that the president is supporting is .alled the raise act it would create a merit-based point system for immigrants.

it would allow green card preferences for spouses and minor children of u.s. citizens, but not most extended family members. it removes current per country immigration caps and would eliminate the visa lottery system. 50,000 per year. david perdue, one of the key sponsors, and tom cotton, both republicans in the senate. we will be going through a lot of the legislation that is proposed to change the immigration system today. we are spending this first hour hearing stories of immigrants only. ed is a recent immigrant living in boley, maryland. maryland. bad.r: both good and i am a professional. my wife is here. i came two years ago. i went through all the background checks, criminal

background check, health background check, professional background check with my professional board exams. i passed and i am working professionally. that they takes all my money from tax. that is the sad story. and they take, almost half of my money away from tax. it is a beautiful country. it is giving me the room to grow more professionally, but that is what i can say. host: were you not expecting the tax rate that you are in when you came to this country? was that a surprise to you, in terms of what you would be paying in taxes? or you are saying you pay more in taxes somehow? caller: the picture i had of

america was the hollywood picture, everywhere beautiful, eating on the street and drinking wine. but when i came here having to work 12 hours and sometimes i do two jobs before i got my professional job. , my taked of the day home by the end of the day is like $40,000. i don't get it. it is still ridiculous. are watching and listening to the tax reform debate on capitol hill, were you in favor of the tax reform debate? caller: yes, of course i am in favor of these tax cuts, but it is not clear what is going to happen. nobody knows. the republicans don't know. the democrats don't know. until we actually see what is

going to happen to housing and it,s and everything about that is all we can say, is a good thing. everybody wants their taxes to be cut. host: that is a call from maryland this morning. some facts on immigrants, both lawful and illegal from the pew research center. lawful immigrants accounted for three quarters of the foreign-born population in the united states, 33 .8 million people out of 44.7 million in 2017. the total foreign-born is somewhat below the historic high of 14.8% in 1890 19.2 million immigrants lived in the united states. about one million immigrants receive lawful permanent resident status each year. most are sponsored by family members.

51,000 people granted green cards, 64% were relatives of u.s. citizens. those stats from the pew research center. there are 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the united states back in 2015. the u.s. civilian workforce included 8 million unauthorized immigrants, accounting for 5% of those who were unemployed and looking for work. we will go through more of those -- ofs, plenty reports reports from pew and others. the 115th congress is complicated spending -- complicating spending debates. we are talking first to immigrants only, including william in tennessee who has been in the country for five years or longer. caller: good morning.

i have been here since the year 2001. 21 days before nine/11. --9/411. [indiscernible] so the idea that i have come here to take jobs, the jobs that were open were low-paying jobs and i refused to take it and i got my old job. that paid nine dollars. i went to school. i went to job corps. [indiscernible] moved to tennessee and [indiscernible] and then i quit that job. [indiscernible]

because company stole my money and nobody tried to help me out. [indiscernible] still, they are coming -- host: you said you came in just before 9/11. did you feel like there was a change in this country after 9/11 when i came to new immigrants like yourself? caller: yes, yes. [indiscernible] and they stayed there for two weeks and came to the u.s. the life of the migrant here is not that easy. we work hard. jobse been working two since 2012.

[indiscernible] paysome depot job just eight dollars. i said i want my money. in kenya and uganda, and my two little brothers. so i work all the time. from 2015, i started working two jobs. i was putting 70 hours a week. host: casey is in lanham, maryland, then in the country five years or longer. caller: good morning, how are you? host: doing well. when did you come to the country? caller: in 1980, so i have been here for a very long time. almost 40 years. and it is interesting how the immigration issue is being used

as a political football, especially by the republicans unfortunately. it is completely detached from reality. aboutne or suggestion where we should go with immigration is not new. the elections were just held in alabama that led to the victory of the democrats. a big part of that is the immigrant population, the naturalized americans. nobody looked at that. the reality is they overwhelmingly voted for the democrats. it was not even close, so the idea that somehow the democrats having aamed for

problem with immigration policy is not connected to reality. this is a nation of immigrants. a nation built by immigrants. so many companies were started by immigrants, and one of the isy reasons why america dealing with the issue on so many levels, a particular special breed. it takes a lot for a person to leave their country and go to another country, regardless of what their problem is. it is a very determined, purposeful person. that is why when they come here, they are generally more successful and educated than many natural born americans. that seed being planted is the reason why america is as great

as it is. this president is himself a second-generation american and married to an immigrant -- several immigrants, actually. being around people talking as if immigrants are a plague that need to be dealt with, in reality we should be encouraging emigration because that is how the country was built. host: casey from maryland, mentioning the president's tweets. plenty of reaction. here is jim himes, democrat out of connecticut. congressman himes writing -- it was a bizarro tweet from the man who needlessly terminate -- terminated the daca program, throwing the lies of 800,000 young people into chaos and confusion. all daca junior -- not

recipients are latino. that does not matter to you since you are just dog whistling to your base and the alt-right. the american people see right through you, mr. trump. don bier, a democrat out of virginia reminding the president that he ended daca -- then you declare your intention to use dreamers as a bargaining chip to get money for the useless and deeply unpopular wall that you promised mexico would pay for. we are fighting to protect dreamers. gabriel is waiting in clayton, north carolina, in the country for five years. where did you come from originally? caller: from cuba. herether had immigrated and also served in the army, and all of us had come from cuba and settled in america, and essentially walked through all the steps that were required to

gain citizenship through the legal process that was here. i want to say for one, good morning, and a personal thank you to brian lamb who heads this program and overall at c-span, is an excellent gentleman who does not get enough credit. host: i am sure he appreciates that. caller: i will run through and say, we started with nothing when we came here, absolutely nothing. the most important and critical element that has played into our history and trajectory as a family of immigrants, is our willingness to work exceptionally hard. that is missing in a lot of young people today. fact,ot very old, and in there was a lot of struggles going on just to put food on the table to start out with in this country. but the opportunity was here, and that was the key. i can tell you through a long

and arduous pathway that i am barely touching on today, i am a student at duke medical university. i will become a physician soon enough. that is what happens when people are allowed through programs like daca, to push that limit and go beyond where they thought they could not. host: you call it a long and arduous pathway. is there a way for that pathway to be improved? is it too arduous? caller: i think right now for the entire country, not specific to the immigrants, it is very hard for people to get ahead. in particular, millennials like myself which is part of what the daca folks are trying to say, there is not the same chance here that was therefore our parents or their parents in the country. , in large part to be

fair, how donald trump has been able to infiltrate some of the masses, through a sentiment like that. to make the process easier, you have to take care of the people moving up and willing to dedicate themselves to hard work. is whatain, to be fair is missing from the young people today. host: donald is waiting in madison, north carolina, also been here for five years. caller: i would be one of those that would be daca because i come in as a child. than the other guy and i agree with a lot of the things he said. we had to go through the proper channels to get in, because i came from europe, denmark is where my family is from. america is all i know because i was three when we came here.

the biggest thing was it was opportunity. i remember my father trying to get work and we were in north carolina and textiles were big. they were needing waivers and asking come -- weavers, and asking could he we've? they hired him and taught him how. he did not know. them nowadays, the becauseople do not work we are trying to become more of a socialized country instead of an opportunity, like everybody i have listened to and even myself. i have never been without work. host: what should happen to the 700,000 to 800,000 daca recipients right now?

it is a program that president trump has said will end earlier this year unless congress acts. what would you like to see them do? caller: i think the ones that age like i did that did not come in the way that i did. radar theed under the way that normal immigration goes through at the time, because times are always changing. i don't think they should be punished, but there is going to have to be something. and you have got to just like lowered,taxes being everyone wants lower taxes that talks to you, everybody does. want more money. but if you got more money going out the bucket, then that is

what the problem is. got a bottom so no matter how many taxes you put in, it will spend. host: one of the options that many democrats are pushing is the so-called dream act, the development relief and education for alien minors act. it gives legalization and a path to citizenship for more than 2 million so-called dreamers that would permit -- grant legal status as long as they meet certain requirements. it stipulates that eligible immigrants obtain a high school degree or ged, and role in higher education, obtain employment, or serve in the military. background checks, english anguage proficiency, and criminal record clear of felonies or other serious crimes is required.

some history on the dream act, you will probably be hearing a lot more about it. you have been hearing more about it in recent months as this issue has been tied into the spending debate. some in congress looking for a grand deal that may deal with funding the government for the next year and this issue and the daca program. california,ity, been in the country for five plus years. caller: good morning. i came to this country 55 years ago as a nine-year-old. i am now an american citizen. i am a 22 year retired military veteran. conflicted about this immigration issue. we came here legally, my family did. around, i guess it was 2013 when there were a lot of

demonstrations and a lot of people who came here illegally were out in the streets demonstrating. my feeling on it was, who are they? they have no rights? why are they complaining? subsequently, i saw and felt the whole thing become targeted towards hispanics, pretty much. there is a wide variety of people that came here illegally. i felt that no attention was being paid to all the people that came here with a visa and overstayed from europe. they just kind of blended in, but there are a lot of them here. the originally from new york, i see a large -- being originally from new york, i see a large population of people that came countries, andc no focus is paid on them.

it is also of the border. with the president that we have now, it has taken on a somewhat racist tone to it. anded towards hispanics blacks from the caribbean, pretty much. i feel the dreamers should be allowed, like myself. i came here, although legally, i assimilated. i am an american. i wife came here legally. she is chinese. we contribute to this country. my wife works for the state department. racial andt is more this president has done nothing but be more divisive about it. host: we showed a couple of tweets from the president from the past 24 hours. here he is talking a little more in depth about it at his last cabinet meeting on december 20,

and his outlook for immigration reform and homeland security as well. importantly the funding and closing the loop holes that undermine our enforcement, and we will get rid of chain migration and the visa lottery program. we have a lottery program where we take in a lottery of people from other countries, and some places we are bringing in some very bad people. through chain migration and the man that ran over people on the west side highway in manhattan a month ago, two months ago, he came in through the visa lottery. we do not want this group of people anymore. people met him in the neighborhood and they all said he was horrible, nasty, mean, would not talk to people. they could see it coming.

they could actually see it coming. and they went back to the area where he lived, they could see it coming. when we take people in a lottery, they are not putting their best people. they are not saying, let's put our best people in the lottery so we can send them over to the united states. they put their worst people in the lottery and that is what we get in many cases, so that will not be happening anymore. we are entering a lottery and chain migration, where in his may have had up to 24 people come in with him indirectly. they come in because one guy gets in, then you bring the whole family. not a lot of jobs there either. not a lot of working jobs. host: the president talking a bit about chain migration. here is a story on that issue from today's "washington post."

immigration goal of reuniting families now demonized as chain migration, talking about the history of this topic and also, the trump administration's effort to put a definition on the term "chain migration." the white house launched a campaign last month with a slideshow, offering its own definition. "the process by which foreign nationals permanently resettle in the u.s. and subsequently bring over their foreign relatives who have the opportunity to bring over their foreign relatives until the entire extended families are resettled in the country." would called the rays act limit visa sponsorship to spouses and minor children of u.s. citizens while implementing a merit-based system. that story in "the washington post."

we are talking to immigrants only in this first hour of the washington journal in a three-hour program in which we will be talking about immigration the entire show. joe in sykesville, maryland has been in the country for more than five years. where did you come from? caller: from the dominican republic. i was five years old, more than 35 years ago. i finished high school and joined the military for eight and a half years, multiple deployments, continued working full-time, and finish my undergrad in information systems . i am a software engineer. any of those things, you have to work hard. you have to work harder than people born here to get ahead. this president we have here now, he says -- i would not be here now. i cleared a large number of

income last year. wonder, how many people are coming here and being productive citizens? host: that is joe in sykesville, maryland. line forr, we have a illegal, undocumented immigrants, (202) 748-8002. also a line for recent immigrants who have been in the country less than five years, (202) 748-8000. we will try to get to as many of your stories as we can. we also have the line for immigrants who have been here is five plus years and raj on that line from herndon, virginia. caller: good morning. i want to make two points. nobody talks about the nuances of certain things. daca kids are not deportable because they have been, beyond

five years it is beyond the statute of limitations. i personally have been in this country for the last 14 years legally, paying taxes, and we are all being told to wait because you guys have been coming the right way, you wait legally. but nobody is talking about this item where parts of dhs are trying to get us out of the country now. you guys are waiting here and we do not want so many people waiting in the line for green cards, so they are trying to get out 1.5 million people waiting in line legally, and that is why we are supporting a bill, hr 92 for illegal immigrants who are waiting in the country.

these are then no one says that people need to understand, because what gets talked about in the media is not everything. those efforts by the dhs impacted you personally? one, theys is number are resending one of the rules ding one of the rules for the spouses of dependence, they could not work before. the obama administration passed educated people could work in this country. dhs hastly enough, started the process to rescind that rule. somewhere in may, june, my spouse will not be able to work. stop thealso trying to extensions of h-1b visas beyond -- years, and it is not

there are not enough green cards available for permanent residence. the immigrants who come from countries in europe, they become permanent residents in america in six months to a year, but from india and china, we have the issues waiting. when you wait in line you are expected you are treated fairly, and right now due to all the actions going on behind the curtain where they are trying to needus out, you hear, you to do it legally and do it in the right channels, that is not necessarily true because even if you do that, you see these actions where the implied message that, we do not care if you are legal or illegal, we hate immigrants. host: raj talking about h-1b , some information from

cnn's wrapup of the different type of visas. the h-1b is especially a visa for workers, highly skilled professionals in engineering, technology, medicine, and higher education. there are three subcategories. one is a free trade agreement visa for workers from chile and singapore. the second is for specialists who will work on projects for the department of defense cooperative research and development program. the third is for fashion models. the united states issued some 180,000 h-1b visas in 2016. immigrants only in this first hour. line for immigrants who have been in the country for five immigrants,recent and illegal, undocumented immigrants. steve is in chesapeake, virginia, then in the country

for more than five years. (202) 748-8000 i came -- caller: i came here in 1982 from czechoslovakia. i waited in germany for a year. i apply for a visa and got a visa and came here. i found a job within a month or so, and then i started my own business after five years. so this country has been very good to me. and i appreciate it. .hat is my story, basically i got married, raised a family. now i hope to retire. my comment is that i think this country is going in the wrong direction. there is less and less democracy. i came here basically because i lived in a totalitarian, communist system and i am now seeing this country being turned

into a different kind of totalitarian system. .t is basically a plutocracy only two parties are allowed to participate in the political process. everything is controlled by money. so what i would like to see is a multiparty system, similar to what exists in european countries. i would like to get rid of the electoral college, because if the guy who comes in as number two wins in the end, and that happened twice already since 2000, how can you possibly call it a democracy? virginia, in alexandria, virginia on the line for those who have been in the country for five plus years. caller: i came from nigeria. love the show. host: appreciate that.

tell us the story. caller: i came to southwestern virginia in 2001 to go to school. in 2005, my mother who had been playing the lottery program since the 1990's, one a year after i turned 21, so her, my brother, and my father were the only ones who qualified to get a green card. fast forward, she is a citizen and she applies for me because i am still in the country legally and everything. i get approved for the green card, but i have to go back to nigeria for my green card interview after living in the .tates for over 10 years i uprooted myself, moved back to nigeria and waited for two years . then i got my interview and green card and move back. i have been paying social security and medicare and all of that since 2001, and now that i am a permanent alien, i still cannot get access to the

benefits in order for me to get my green card. i had to prove i would not be a drain on to the system. i am a professional, i am a nurse, i have several degrees, and i work hard so it was disingenuous to hear other immigrants say that younger people do not want to work hard. host: how are you supposed to prove that? caller: do what? host: that you will not be a drain on the system. caller: they want to see my bank account. they wanted to see me, hear me speak. go toondered where did i school, do i have proof of my degree? you have to look a certain way. you have to know the answer to certain questions. you have to know that those questions were going to be asked, because there are stories of people turned away at the interview because they did not answer whatever question. host: what do you mean by "look a certain way"?

caller: you cannot go to the interview with jewelry because it may be perceived in a different way. believe it or not, the embassy immigrants -- they look at us differently. it is something i have experienced a four, but you are looked upon differently when you are trying to better yourself. i am not sure why. i don't know. this discussion on the lottery system, all of a sudden this focus on that and the president saying it is a terrible system and a terrible way to let people in the country. caller: it is very thankful and personal, because there are so many americans today you have , who aretheir lives doing big things in america because of this lottery program. i came in, and i am sure there are other callers who have come

in through this program, so it is painful the president wants to do away with it. i think it is wrong. yes, there needs to be immigration reform. i feel for the daca kids. they did not have a choice, but now that they are here they should be on a path to citizenship. host: appreciate your story. we are listening to the stories of immigrants all morning long, especially in this first hour when we are talking to immigrants only. i did want to point viewers back to what we talked about at the beginning of the program, that news out of washington yesterday that orrin hatch announced he will end a four decade congressional career at the close of 2018. "the washington post" noting it unleashed the widespread presumption that mitt romney will seek his place in the senate. hatch is 83 and a close ally of

the president, decided to step down despite strong encouragement from the president to run for an eighth term in the senate. romney, 70 years old, has not made any definitive statements about his public plans. "i joined the people of utah in thinking my friend, orrin hatch four years of service." orrin hatch adjust his retirement announcement in his own video -- addressed his retirement announcement in his own video. >> only in a nation like ours, the scrappy son of a carpenter could grow up to become a united states senator. i have a way sought to fight for those who could not fight for themselves, and the results speak for themselves. i have authored more bills have become law than any other member of congress today. i played a central role in the

modern generic drug industry, the passage of the landmark americans with disabilities act, and the confirmation of every current member of the united states supreme court. just last month, i helped lead the effort to pass historic, comprehensive tax reform. one of my proudest legislative achievements is the religious act whichtack -- guarantees religious liberty for all americans. utahthe president visited last month he said i was a fighter. i have always been a fighter. i was an amateur boxer in my youth and i brought that spirit with me to washington, but every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. for me, that time is soon approach. i have decided to retire at the end of this term. not the onlyatch longtime republican to announce .is retirement yesterday

bill shuster, republican chairman of the house transportation committee announced he would retire at the end of this term. he joins house judiciary committee chairman bob goodlatte and lamar smith of texas, jeb hensarling of texas in heading for the exits. "the washington times" pointing out that all four are entering their sixth year as chairman on republican committees and would have given up their gavels in the next congress. a lot of news on the retirement front. those members are sticking through their term and will be involved in the immigration debate as well. we are hearing from immigrants only in our first hour. ,he line for recent immigrants those who have been in the u.s. for five plus years, and those who are illegal immigrants.

alex on the line for illegal immigrants from burlington, new jersey. where did you come from? caller: i came from brazil around 13 years ago. i am so poor over there, i tried my visa. host: you tried your visa? go ahead. turn your tv down. iller: i tried my visa, so came here and i am so free. i do not speak english, i speak spanish. i speak portuguese only. so when i come here, i start working, making little money, making nothing. i tried to grow my life, like the american dream.

one guy offered for me a painter's job. the company is american. i am not speaking english. i start to watch all day all night and learning english with a cartoon. my dreams, i'm going to open a company because i am making money for somebody. i learned later -- english and five years later, i opened my own company. i am still illegal. i start to sell my jobs. my life started growing. what i am trying to say is thank you for america, thank you for everything. i still do not have my green card or a social. i have my tax id to pay, pay taxes. thoughtve you ever about getting on the right side of the law? cannot beah, but you a company if you have a w seven.

, and alsoan pay a tax i buy my own house. work, america to is a big book. each chapter you can do something. if you follow the law, america is great. for me, america is like my mother. i have three american kids, one brazilian, and i support my whole family. i have three employers and i keep going. i wait for my green card. one day it is going to come, i know, because i do everything right. it is my dream, two cars. i wife do a house clean business and we do not have papers yet. host: why are you so certain your green card will come? congress, thatat

the legislation will be passed for some sort of amnesty for illegal immigrants? caller: i tried to work with a lawyer and the lawyers say, don't do nothing right now because the congress going to change it. i waited for whatever the lawyer tell me, because i have to follow the law. i cannot go crazy and try to do this and that, because of people married, they have some problems. i want to do everything 100% right to not have any problems in the future. that is my point. so i go slowly and i try to protect myself in the future. some people married to somebody, pay money. i do not want to do nothing this . i want to wait for my time, and i know it will come. america, i would say thank you for everything. host: thanks for your call from

new jersey. in baldwin place, new york, david is a recent immigrant, less than five years in the country. where did you come from? caller: i am here more than five years. , fromrom iran, ironically which i ran in 1979. ever since then, my wife and i have three degrees, including two doctoral degrees -- degrees. have immensely contributed toward the advancement of this great nation, and we are .hankful for all of that u.s. born children, each have their own degrees. this is what the true academy of animate -- a pity me -- epitome of an american life is. i hope we do not regress back to some of the government attitude in european countries with respect to immigrants.

over the paste year or two that we are regressing, and we always knew a major portion of the american populace seemed to resent the idea of immigrants having arrived generations after them. one thing we were really caught off guard is that now, such sentiment on the part of jane doe and joe schmoe will now be really driven to the white house and to the government, and that is why we believe that this country has enough checks and balances that all that has to be mitigated and corrected. really like any other country, i think this country could immensely benefit from a periodical constitutional convention, every 50 or 100 years, to critically examine checks and balances, laws and

statutes, and correct it. otherwise, i am afraid we will wind up having the same destructive revolutions as many other countries go through every 50 to 100 years. i hope that we can avoid that. host: a few tweets as we have been having this conversation this morning. john in north carolina writes -- numeral north carolina, the schools have been obliterated by illegals. who would move into a third world like school system? kevin says -- congress should pass the dream act. illegal immigration is at a 45% -- 45 year low, so forget the expensive and unnecessary wall. i want to remind you today about what is happening on capitol hill, the second session of the 115th congress officially convening pursuant to the u.s. constitution, and in the senate, a few new faces today including that of now former lieutenant

governor tina smith of minnesota . she will be sworn in wednesday to take over the seat of former senator al franken. mark eight and picked his second in command last month -- dayton picked his second in command last month. we will be seeing officially senator doug jones of alabama, democrat. doug jones is set to be sworn in as alabama's nudist -- newest senator. with a narrow majority, the wall street journal notes the republicans can lose no more than one republican vote and still confirm donald trump's policies. inbecame the first democrat alabama to win that senate seat in 25 years.

tom has been in the u.s. more than five years, from california. where did you come from? caller: i came from canada. my father was in the service and we traveled. but i have been here all my life, since 1964. i am 63 years old. i brought my wife here on a fiancee visa but i married her in the philippines. the problem i see in america now is that the children don't appreciate what we have. the third world countries that come here has such a greater appreciation for the education, for the work environment, and to make something big out of themselves. -- the, they don't want government does not want to let them in. the fear that i have now is that jerry brown just signed a document saying that china owns

california, and also president trump. he also sure cams with mexico's president, saying -- shook hands with mexico's president, saying i will give you this border. this is just a big story that will go bad for a lot of people. they are corralling names, getting them ready, and they can very easily eliminate them and know where they live. host: eliminate how? deportation? caller: yes, they can deport them so easily. when you put your name on a list and you are in a waiting line, it is just a matter of time. he either except you or reject you, but even if you get a green card and get accepted does not mean you are in. a can so easily send you back on the slightest degree of failure or weakness, and they will say,

you did not make it. you think there is people who signed up for the daca program under the obama administration, you think they made the wrong choice? caller: no, i think they are doing the right choice, that i also think it can be used against them because there is nothing cemented as far as the hopes for these people. host: eric, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, also in the country for five plus years. where did you come from? caller: i was from trinidad. host: what are your thoughts? caller: i came here in 1951. i was 17. i joined the air force when i .as 18 and a spent four years i had an office job in a steel mill. we had 1300 people working. i am 84 and i still have to work part time, so i had a rough

time. host: how do you feel about the current debate over immigration in this country? where do you fall in terms of what should happen with the program?arrivals that will be a caller: it's a shame we have people who are not willing to work so we have to hire people from outside for certain jobs. and we should cut down on immigration. and put our own people to work. was eric in pennsylvania. the last caller in this segment of "washington journal." up next, an immigration reporter from the wall street journal will discuss immigration, border security and what congress and the white house are likely to take up in 2018. later, we talk about the issue

with the president for immigration reform. that is all coming up this morning on "washington journal." ♪ >> sunday night, john newman looks back at his 38 year judicial career and his book and is interviewed by the ,onnecticut democratic senator senator blumenthal. >> having gone from that life of me decisions and going to court judging,ated a case to was that a difficult transition for you?

did you ever miss your life of advocacy? .sk it wasn't difficult it is so like the decision-making process that i left the event. i was glad to be an advocate. i found it enormously challenging. i love being a judge. toause the opportunity resolve disputes, it all matters to somebody. and this is -- >> sunday night on book tv. 9:00 p.m. eastern. >> "washington journal" continues.

laura meckler, let's start with where republicans are on this subject. a republicans any closer to finding consensus on what they will be pushing for in the coming weeks and months? guest: there is so much on the immigration agenda right now that there is -- that it is hard to say. the dreamers had been protected program that had existed since 2012. and he called on congress to come up with a legislative answer to give these people a path to citizenship or

legalization. question is, will congress be able to do that? essentially what the president and republicans are saying is that they will do that but they also want money for the border wall. enforcement divisions and all sorts of things wrapped up in the immigration debate that is becoming it take immigration debate over a whole bunch of stuff. what they want for the wall and provisions, how much money are we talking about? what are other important revisions included? guest: the wall has been the most politically difficult subject that we have had all year. trump obviously ran on an election promising a border wall on the southwest border of mexico. he has backed off the idea of a full sea to shining sea wall and we don't know what the division

is for the final end product but he is asking for the current budget year to build 74 miles of the area. so that is may more like a fence. we already have miles of fencing so we would just add to that. fencing along the order. host: where do those miles go? >> some closer to the san diego area and some in the rio grande area in texas. ball -- the entire wall with texas is a river, the rio grande river. so this is a range of different projects. the interesting thing is that this wall is not that popular with republicans in congress. particularly those who represent the border. they are not enthusiastic about that.

people who live on the border are not enthusiastic. people who live far away from the border do. so we don't necessarily have a wall as a top priority or even with a lot of support from republicans but the president has made that important. host: is this something that has more support along the majority of republicans? guest: the interior enforcement. that has to do with how hard who areing after all living in the u.s. illegally today. that could be like using employers, requiring them to use the e-verify system. that would be a big change to require all employers to do that. a lot of people think that would to add into a legislation like this. detention beds to hold more people officially in

jail when they catch them before they are to or did or go through court proceedings that could lead to deportation. in a separate basket is changes to the legal immigration system. trump ran for election not just promising to cut back on illegal immigration but also legal immigration so he is talked about doing things like getting rid of the diversity lottery. which allows 60,000 people from underrepresented arts of the world to come in. migration, it has long been known as family-based migration. whereas if you are a family member or a citizen here in the u.s., you can sponsor those to come to the u.s.. host: phone lines are open if you want to join in on the conversation we are having with laura meckler. we are talking about immigration reform efforts in 2018. democrats, (202) 748-8000.

republicans, (202) 748-8001. collars (202) 748-8002. borderin a state with a -- we want to hear from you. (202) 748-8003. take us to the democratic party strategy. how are they planning to tackle this in the coming weeks? they aremocrats say fully committed to trying to get some sort of dream act, the legalization for young people, into law. how could they do this? they are trying to use the leverage that they have overspending bills. republicans need democratic votes in order to pass spending bills. we have a deadline coming up on february 19 and another one coming up later this month and that is one point of leverage that democrats have.

couldould stay -- they say if they wanted to that they would vote for a spending bill it unless they provide a dream or provision but that is risky for democrats because they don't want to be seen as threatening a democratic government shutdown. it would not go well for them, potentially. so it is a tough climate that they are hauling. they do have a range of opportunities and that is one of them. -- " yesterday on twitter democrats are doing nothing for daca. they will start falling in love with republicans and their president. we are about result." guest: i don't know if anyone takes each and every one of the tweets to be an important moment

in u.s. political history. they come and go on a daily basis. i think that most people read the tweet as a message to his base that he is not going to be capitulating to democrats. for whether hispanics get frustrated with democrats, yes, there is frustration with democrats. it hasn't gotten done and they believe democrats should be pushing harder to get that done. that being said, it's quite a stretch to say that they will fall in love with the president when he is the one who ended the program to start with. that -- itd just say would not involve any enforcement provisions, i will sign it then they might like to see that that he hasn't said anything like that. host: let's go to the special

line for the border state residents. josie is in new mexico, a republican in albuquerque. go ahead. we have a lot of people here in new mexico that are not children. we have a lot of people who are not working. even if you are half mexican, they will not give you a job here in new mexico. it is a border state and they need to stop the migration. thank you. guest: you can't even get daca until you are 16 years old. most to have it are adults. it is just that they are people

who came to the u.s. when they were children. so i think there are people as old as 30 who have the daca detections. the years are written into the legislation around the program and i can't recall exactly where the cutoff is. but there are definitely people in the 20's who benefit from the daca program. host: remind us of the cutoff of the daca program if congress does nothing? guest: he said starting march 5 that if your daca expires on march 5, you could not renew it. the president announced it was ending and if you had one that thenxpiring until march 5 there was the opportunity to renew. not everybody did renew and some of those people have already lost that protection. dacamarch 5, if you're expires after that, there is no chance to renew it so starting that every day we will have

people coming off the program. and not only will they be here without authorization but they will lose their work permit. said that she got a lot of them are not working but a lot of them are working and now they will not be able to legally work. host: robber, go ahead. caller: i don't believe that any of this debate is going to touch on what is the driving force behind the so-called immigration. i would recommend that everyone who is listening right now and watching to read a book that was written by a professor, kevin mcdonald. called "the culture of critique." this is not happening by accident. it is more than democrat or republican. what is going on not only here --america but immigration

even countries directed at you don't seean, this kind of immigration being directed towards these countries but you do see this being directed towards countries like australia, countries in europe, aerica -- countries with maturity of people of european background and dissent. white people. it isn't immigration. it is a demographic war. ago,n britain, a few years a person came out as a whistleblower and talked about how labor in britain had purposely put it as part of the platform to flood the country purposely with non-european and non-white immigrants to purposely -- host: we get your point. talk through the magnets for

immigration in the united states? magnet is that it is a great country. people want to come here. people want to come here for economic opportunity. people want to come here for that as they believe in what the country stands for. i think that is the magnet. and our laws allow it through a certain channel. yout of the country come -- can come to the country legally. there is a profound undercurrent there debate which is, are two different visions of the country. one is that we are country founded by immigrants and built by immigrants and it is a part of who we are. it enriches who we are. and there is another view that

says no, what we really are is a white, european country and that is important in our culture and it is being eroded. and a lot of people who support the president feel that and they feel threatened by immigrants who come in and take their jobs, in their view. whether it is true or not could be debated. they feel like they are essentially losing. it isn't that everybody wins, it is a win-lose and they feel like they are on the losing side. host: clyde, go ahead. caller: i don't understand about how none of the congressman bring up the fact that donald trump basically only hires mexicans and immigrants to work for him. how can our congressmen do not have a backbone and won't stand up for anything? what happened to our democratic society? what happened?

host: your reporting on the trump organization and their hires? guess they definitely do hire immigrants. temporaryrom the worker program which allows people to come for seasonal job so there are many people who are immigrants living in this country who they hire as well. yes, they do hire immigrants. and in terms of why democrats haven't gone after him for that point, number one, i think there have been charges of hypocrisy along those lines but i also think democrats don't necessarily think it is a bad thing for employers to be hiring people -- all types of people who live in the country so i don't think they are interested in attacking the use of immigrant labor. host: we are talking through a couple of different pieces of legislation that are moving through congress.

one that we haven't is the visasation aimed at h one . can you explain what that would do? guest: it deals with high skilled immigrants who are jobsg to this country for usually in technology. and there are a couple of major different uses of the program. one of them is outsourcing. where typically indian firms and indian workers will come and a company will hire an outsourcing firm to come in to do tax work for them. and there have been instances essentially, american workers get laid off and foreign workers do essentially take their job and people have been angry about that. to attack attempt that by changing the way this program can be used. on it puts tough new rules

h-1b employers. but only certain types. depended.ho are h-1b where a certain amount of the workforce are using the visas. so it goes after the higher use programs. couple of other companies that do outsourcing not based in india and they do not meet the definition so they would still be allowed to do what they are doing. but the outsourcing department would be hit very hard. they would have to pay much higher wages and promise they off any workers, american workers during this june to the visa. host: go ahead. i met a few of the dreamers at a latin festival in a park over here. when they held it. and they are serving in the

united states army. i am a vietnam veteran. i'm going to tell you something. i am for veterans first. anybody who is a veteran, they should get the job first. and as far as the dreamers who serve? they are united states citizens to me. and puerto ricans are a part of the country. people should look at the latin community different when they have uniforms on and they're willing to bleed for this country. they should have preferential treatment. they shouldn't have to go through this. i beg to differ with republicans in congress. they should have passed the daca bill a long time ago. and i don't see why they don't do it. i think they're lazy. that is what it is. they are lazy.

they are letting the latin community carry their load and that is my comment. host: how many dreamers do serve in the military? the original act did have a path to citizenship or going to college which has been talked about in conjunction with this. that i don't have the exact numbers but there are definitely dreamers in the military. wondering, the immigration thing, there is a lot less of it coming in now, right? what was coming in? they had to lower it down to so much of a percentage. and what i'm wondering is, when we're the melting pot, how come they come here and do the work me, theye people, like

do the work that we won't. because it doesn't pay enough. but they're willing to work for it. i started as a dollar $.65 when i started working at it didn't bother me butbut they're willinr it. now it seems like a job needs to be $20 an hour to go to work. guest: that is the argument that employers use for why they need immigrant workers. these jobs. nobody wants to work in crops or in chicken plant factories. they essentially say that is why we need more immigrant labor. a counterargument would be, well, you would find americans to do this if you would pay more so raise wages. i think that how they would

reply that is they would say, well, economics are economics. pay what the market requires. and believe he was referring to undocumented workers. our viewers will remember these from early december from the department of homeland security in the fiscal year 2017, customs reported 300-3000 16 -- along the southwest border. immigrations and customs conductedt, they arrests. very: border crossings are low. they went off a cliff when trump took office.

they have been falling for a while. they have been inching back up over the last few months but overall, they are at a historically low number. that is the context there. in terms of the second set of numbers, it has to do with interior enforcement. people who are already living in the u.s. arrests are up from what they were at the end of the obama administration, for sure. but deportations have not risen. and that is because some of the deportations stemmed from border crossers. we have fewer deportations. some of it has to do with the fact that the immigration courts are severely backlogged and in order to deport someone who has been living here you have to take them through the court first. caller: hello, c-span. god bless you. are you seriously thinking about

building a wall when we are building drones? the mexican people are hard workers. and they are human beings. we would liberate iran and pakistan, why wouldn't we liberate mexico? why do they want to come over here and work so hard and be such good people but we don't want to liberate their government? we want to liberate iran and pakistan. that we will be done with the stupidity. host: we got your point. how much would a wall cost if it were fully built to what the trump administration wants? guest: we don't really know, that is the short answer. and that is the problem. they've never come out to say, here is the big picture plan. absolutely in the billions of dollars.

maybe over $30 billion. if you were going to build an entire border. very few people think that makes sense. -- i don't know if anybody even wants it at this point. the prototypest of the walls that we have seen being built outside california? what is happened with them? have we picked one that works the best? chosenno, they haven't one. prototypes were built to see which one seems to be the best. and in some cases, they are laying the groundwork for this project but that was the easy thing to do. the harder thing to do is what i just said. laying out a vision for the entire project and actually getting congressional support for it, which they have failed to do so far. so in a way, it it like spending

a lot of time picking out your dress for prom but you don't have a date. or anyone to dance with. host: bob is an independent. good morning. i went to a five-year immigration court with my girlfriend because she filed for citizenship and 12 years before --t she got host: you are going in and out. we will go to leroy in north carolina. the line for democrats. go ahead. i am calling about wages for immigrants. that is the main problem. if all the poor people who work on farms got paid her decent wage then they would work. i grew up on a farm as a black

child. and the wages never grew in a way you could live off of it. and all around you, wages were going up. so now, when the mexican people keep the here, they wages down low on them. host: are you talking about legal immigrants? caller: legal immigrants and undocumented. they still are paid getting paid lower than what the american people want to work for. guest: we really have to think that if we don't want immigrant labor working in the fields, are we willing to pay a lot more? are we willing to have those prices go up? did, in fact, pay

people higher wages, you probably could get americans out there picking crops but it would have to be a lot more. that is the economic argument from the immigration restructured the side. that there is a way that somebody will do that job for us. host: just a couple of minutes left from laura meckler. you can follow her on twitter. charles has been waiting. go ahead. caller: good morning. question, twofold. six callers ago, a guy complained shortsighted late -- or maybe not educated -- he addressed the flow of the immigration and you fail to tie going to various countries and starting various wars and being involved in starting democratic institutions while

looking for new minerals to enhance our country's ability to grow forward. what happens generally is that we have a lot of wars and conflicts and we support rebel group. host: what is your question? caller: from those types of wars, people see this country and they come to the place where the heroes or liberators have come from. host: charles was referring to refugees, as well. which is part of the system that we haven't talked much about. go refugees, that is another area with the immigration system where the president has decreased the number of people dramatically. 45,000. host: margaret from florida. go ahead.

your true liberal colors are showing. a few minutes ago you indicated the undercurrent of people in america for people who objects to illegal immigration for fear of losing the white, european -- i am so fed up with listening to liberals decide -- i am married to an immigrant. he came to this country. we met when we worked in a restaurant. we got married and he never thought -- let alone -- was it his right to live here. and i tell you now i'll work with people with disabilities in this country and they are being pushed out of jobs. i will go to work today were not one single person in the back room speaks english. the difference between 30 years theynd now and the reason flood in greater numbers is that 30 years ago, my husband had to

catch up to speed. he had to learn the language and make an attempt to assimilate. now, if you speak a different language and you work a low page job, not only are you noble and then we are and we are a bigot. what: i was responding to the caller was referring to which is why it went in those terms. that is one way to frame it. the point that you make is a point that i have heard from other people as well. that people it came to the country illegally and followed the rules and are sometimes among people who resent illegal immigration the most. iey say i came here and waited in line and i waited my turn and i learned english and why shouldn't other people have to do that also? so i think it is a powerful argument. the assimilation requirements any less stringent

now than they were 30 years ago? guest: i don't think they are but i don't think that's what she was getting at. less that the rules and more at that we say we need to pass laws for them and help them when they are not doing what they need to do to assimilate into our country. i think that was the argument she was making. laura meckler, thank you for your time. come back again. up next, we talk about the outlook for immigration reform with the president of the federation for american immigration reform. and the executive director of the american immigration lawyers association. phoneser we open up our to hear about your immigration priorities of the new session of congress which begins today. ♪

>> this weekend, c-span's city tour takes you to springfield, missouri. we are working with media, to explore the literary scene and history of the birthplace of route 66 in missouri. onurday at noon, eastern book tv, and author talks about the conflict along the kansas, missouri border in his book. left therown, having

territory, comes and begins a series of raids into missouri, during which his men will liberate people from missouri and help them escape to freedom. they kill a number of slaveholders. so the notoriety of john brown grows as part of the struggle that people locally understand is the beginning of the civil war. >> sunday at 2:00 p.m., we visit the nra national sporting arms museum. >> theodore roosevelt was the shooting us president. an avid hunter. the first thing he did when he left office was to organize and go on a large hunting safari to africa. this rifle was prepared specifically for roosevelt. it has the presidential seal

engraved and of course, roosevelt was famous for the bull moose party and there is a bull moose engraved on the side of this. tour of c-span cities saturday at noon and sunday at 2:00 p.m., working with our cable affiliates as we explore america. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service for cable television companies and is brought to today by your cable or satellite provider. >> "washington journal" continues. host: for two perspectives we

are joined by daniel stein and then johnson -- and then johnson. we will get your predictions and hopes. was the mostk important development in 2017 when it came to the issue of immigration in the country? it has been the emergence of the dreamers and the issue of what do we do with the 1.5 million kids who have grown up in the united states. the fact that they have helped to put a face on this issue and to really bring out some of the truths about immigration and who we are talking about, them stepping out amid their lives and making their stories known has been transformative. we understand that these are doctors and lawyers. auto mechanics and cashiers. priests and marines.

there is a whole panoply of things they do and contribute to the united states and it has been transformative. host: what do you think? by trump'sas framed aggressive campaigning on this issue when he laid out 10 major campaign promises and walk around with a 10 gallon hat with rhetorical heat and he said, look. we will deal with the borders and law enforcement and chain migration which is what he has been talking about. and talking about state and local cooperation. banning sanctuary cities. putting in incentives to make sure they cooperate with law enforcement. he has talked about closing loopholes in the immigrant visa programs. t visa, the l visa, the jv said. these things have become a bridge for students to work in the country indefinitely until a

green card comes. in the end, what he is talking about is doing what the commission talked about doing it in 1979 saying, look. our system of family chain migration doesn't make sense. .oved to a merit based system you don't get to bring in adult it is a and sisters, never-ending process that causes immigration numbers to flow up words. this, midst of all democrats decided to categorize these people as dreamers in 2004 and they crafted a bill. they created something called dreamers. a sympathetic group of people who came as minors. passes and administrative amnesty for so-called daca,

suddenlyr so, and now we are told there is a crisis and we have to fix it. and the democrats say ok, we want trump to sign a bill that gives everybody amnesty that we are not willing to give trump a single thing he wants. willhat is probably why we not see major legislation of a bipartisan nature in 2018. host: would you agree with that? will he not see bipartisan legislation? major legislation has been within our reach for a long time. it requires google to stop playing politics with issues and get of the heart of what it is we're trying to accomplish with immigration reform. the goal is to create an immigration system that is good for america. good for american workers and families and is this. that is the objective in immigration reform.

there are a lot of difficult things to deal with. enforcement issues and the fact that we have ignored this issue for a long time and we have a lot of undocumented immigrants that are in the country now who status have to be addressed. there is a lot tied up in a but it is within our reach. ofhink the and's dark view what needs to be included in the bill are belied by what is happening. the truth is that trump has dramatically increased immigration enforcement. who is it that he is not able to enforce this against? argument for more enforcement laws or language? he has no trouble rounding up and removing people in the united states. so let's set aside those kinds of political issues and focus on the fact that 122 of these kids are losing status every day. and they do deserve an to be illegal in the

only country they have ever known. explain what your group as? >> we are 50,000 immigration lawyers from around the country representing businesses and families and individuals, trying to help them navigate this competition system. and the federation for immigration reform? guest: we have almost 2 million members around the country at this point. we work to prevent the overcrowding of americaguest: wy aforcing borders and setting numerical cap on immigration and making sure immigration helps america and doesn't just serve the needs of foreign governments or immigrants themselves. joining us until 9:30 this morning, taking your, and questions. immigration reform

in this country. immigrants can call at (202) 748-8000 -- democrats can call at (202) 748-8000. republicans can call at (202) 748-8001. independent callers, (202) 748-8002. what would a cap be? aest: weirdly talked about settlement that was easy to accomplish in the 1970's but the notion of chain migration is the core of the problem. in 1965 when the current system was put in place, everybody involved in the drafting of that bill will so you there was a lot of naivete about the nature of from poorer countries and less wealthy countries and what did it mean to give priority based on a nepotistic system of chain migration.

it is basically, do you have a family relationship? you get in line and you establish limits and that establishes waiting list. there are two major reasons why we have illegal immigration. one is the enforcement of the law. the second is family preference. meaning people who are waiting for seven years, many of them are incentivized come in on a tourist visa and they never leave. proper reform means going at all of the root causes of immigration chaos. democrats want immigration anarchy. they don't come to the table to talk to donald trump about anything donald trump wants to get done. that do you have a number -- guest: it would be nice to get it down.

if you have immigration skews -- criteria that the demand declines and you can drink the numbers down. host: what would that change mean? today there are about one million illegal immigrants that come into the country each year? >> that is correct. it would require a shift and it would be a significant hit to the economy. families and making these judgments about who you include in your family and you don't? that julie are as a country. we do have preferences. the first preference we have for employment-based is workers of extraordinary ability. the second is professionals holding advanced degrees.

a system thathave prioritizes people who are highly skilled and educated, bringing unique talents to the united states. the family category, the first thing we do is allow citizens to bring spouses and minor children. after that, you have a really long waitingcitizens list. up first from tampa bay, the line for independent callers. on withi'm glad to get the program this morning, thank you for c-span. answer, mr. johnson, a couple of concerns i have with the immigration judges that belong to your organization? i heard a c-span informational

saying judges of along to your immigration -- to your foundation and they sit here having to do do with different states? and i am glad to get on with mr. stein. i am in florida. and it is always considered not a border state but i have to tell you, it is a border state. and i am a little nervous that assimilation is a big issue in our state. and in other states. so when things are going to start moving forward for the daca program and the judge is deciding who will stay and who will not stay? based on their particular political lean, can you address that? host: we will take that up. we have great relations with immigration judges but they are not a member of the foundation. they are attorneys who do not

work for the government. we work in private practice. but we do have a lot of respect and in common with the immigration judges. and we firmly believe they play an important role in the system. the immigration decisions happen outside of the courtroom instead of inside the courtroom when a judge can look at the facts and make determinations about whether this person deserves a removal or what the outcome of the case should be. too often, decisions are made by police officers who made the arrests. and that is not the system of justice that we have in this country. andmmigration and judges lawyers play in the system. guest: there is a profound sense that immigration has gotten way too high. because of chain migration and previous amnesties. 2 millione amnesty to daca under the system could

produce another 5 million visas .own this is unmanageable. it also means we have a mismatch between the labor market. we are at a postindustrial informational system society. we have the economy competing worldwide. with massive immigration since -- american workers have taking it on the chin and it is an hourglass economy when you have the wealthy at the top and a disappearing middle class

because of the in looks of low skill, low-wage immigrant labor. disagree but it is important to tell the truth. the idea that one immigrant brings millions of other immigrants? you're right, immigrants come with children and spouses -- let's be honest with each other and with the public about how and it takes for a brother sister, as remote as you can get in the immigration system, it he for aplus years u.s. citizen -- and it is only a u.s. citizen that can bring a brother or a sister -- it takes 20 plus years. all of the waiting lists right now. 1997 is the backlog.

only people who applied before 1997. prioritizing spouses and siblings makes sense. that is what the system does. and your point about the american worker getting it from all sides, i agree with that. there is no question that the economy has been a real challenge for a lot of americans. but is the only answer you are able to offer an american a scapegoat and an excuse then you don't understand the nature of what they're facing. piece of legislation being discussed right now is the dreamers act. how many individuals will be impacted if the dreamers act was made into law? is 800,000daca group with low vetting.

they are not all valedictorians. many of them are in their 30's now. we get a rosy colored view. the lindsey graham version of the dream act. you are talking about maybe 2 and it could be $26 billion. why is that? low skilled. host: do you agree with those numbers? guest: no. at one milliony kids that we are talking about here. and they have been incredible can to the united states since the moment they got here. and it is being cooked up by dick durbin?

hatch, when the first bipartisan proposals we have seen on immigration and it has been around its 2000 when you had bipartisan efforts. if that was cooked up than they out to cook up more of these ideas. host: larry, a republican, go ahead. guest: -- caller: pitcher true amount of illegals is about 30 million. i have three coworkers. two from ecuador and one from cuba. they became citizens and they learned english. take up thatto number. 30 million illegal immigrants in the united states, is that accurate? guest: there is no census-based estimate. bottom line is, nobody knows. because it is illegal. although the democrats seem to

know where they all are and want to get them into the voting booth. host: i just want to know if we numbers? on the basic isst: i would agree that it between 9,000,000-12,000,000 in the united states. is that theoint respect for law and the cornerstone for citizenship, lanes of people are breaking the law and jumping the line and they want an advantage because they broke the law. richard on the line for republicans. thank you for joining the conversation. caller: i am 70 years old. there was a likable factory and 1000 people lost their jobs. nobody say oh, those poor people, what are we going to do for them?

it is the illegals. drugs to the nation and bombs to the cities. now we cannot have an outside activity without having cameras on the roof. immigrants in the united states are not bringing in drugs or terrorism. they are here to make up better life for themselves. but i understand the pain you are talking about. there have been many places in the united states that have suffered through changes in our economy. and there haven't been enough politicians paying attention to the needs and concerns of the communities. before, the answer isn't to make villains and scapegoats out of other people. focus on, whato does it take to rebuild communities. places,some of those immigration is a big way to

rebuild communities. there are places where bringing immigrants and helps to create jobs. it doesn't mean that every community is the exact same. but you need to demand of your leaders that they respond to your problem not with excuses but with real solutions. the president has talked about ending chain migration. of the raysortive act? guest: no. we can talk about how we can improve the system because it does need improvement and it's ignored- it has been for many years. but the truth is that we want and need high skills emigration coming into the united states because we have needs of the high-end of the skill spectrum. we also have american workers who are getting out of there less skilled jobs trying to move into high skill jobs so you have

gaps of the other end as well. nimbled a system that is enough to respond to the needs of our economy and respond to apps in the workforce and create a system where you have people who are following the rules. when a system is broken, it it becomes difficult for anybody to follow the rules. he represents people who make a living bringing immigration -- bringing immigrants in. is what matters. we represent millions of americans who think the border should be patrolled and immigrants shouldn't come in and take american jobs. the numbers shouldn't get so high that it is unmanageable. donald trump has articulated a sound basis for reform the sound basis just debit overall.

this is a decision about how many people come in and do they are going to be. host: a quick response? member of my a organization so it can't be bad. our goal is to have immigration laws that are predictable and that can match up our needs as families and businesses with the immigration system. we don't have now. yes, i have a question for the man who is for the merit-based system. if there is a man who comes and wants to bring his wife, will you deny her? thank you for this question. , you qualifydoctor

for a primary beneficiary and you can bring your uneducated spouse. you can bring uneducated, unmarried children but you are law or dad orork aunts or uncles are cousins. it stops with the family -- you get married and you have children, that is the family -- that is the family you created. but the family that created you goes back. need to move towards nuclear family immigration and stop with the extended family when we simply can't deliver. host: michelle is a democrat, good morning. good morning. you are doing a fantastic job termng next to a man who i

in my view as a racist. we hire illegal, as well as legal immigrants. would democrats, we never hire sheet wearing, hillbilly -- how do you hire illegal business? for your caller: i hire them because i want to, there is no such thing as illegal. the case, why don't you white folks go back -- ost: got your point, michelle, unless you want to respond to michelle? this is not aint, time for name calling, we need to be solving problems. guest: there was a book written

"fable of the fees," and manville made an important point about labor exploitation he key about labor exploitation, if you can get to people early enough, you can to work under or endentured -- don't expect ants to get raises, don't expect a career path, they don't expect tyranny for people to justify on economic grounds, gnoring immorality of hiring people illegally knowing desperation factor makes the position between employer and employee unfair. ost: go to a border state, jerry is in chandler, arizona, a republican, go ahead. caller: yes, good morning. first of all, living here, i know a lot of people who are and he will nonsense about the fact daca

kids don't speak english and where they come from, is nonsense, they all speak go back nd they also and forth to visit their family all of the time. secondary to that, like to know, my question is what percentage of daca kids, knowing they are citizens, what percentage applied for citizenship? anchor babies eliminated, if you know the history about that, do with someone coming to this country for three years and dropping their nonsense.ere, host: got your point mrchlt johnson? guest: thanks, jerry, i'm from arizona, i understand the border communities. daca -- these daca kids can't apply for citizenship, you become a legal permanent resident and stay a resident and out of trouble for five years and then you're able to apply for citizenship. here isn't a pathway available to them to become citizens and

the goal of immigration reform get them on a pathway to become citizens of the only other country they have known, right? they have been here contributing in ignificant ways and i think it's the right thing to do to give them a path forward. terms of anchor babies, let's be truthful here. to the t just come united states and have a baby and get a legal status, that is it works.y again, only a u.s. citizen can apply for their parents and wait are at least 21. so eventually a child becomes 21 for parents, but if parents are here illegally, no for their m to apply parents, the notion of anchor political t simply rhetoric that is not grounded in anything in the law. host: would you change the birth right citizenship? guest: that is probably one thing missing from the debate, statutory that would clarify

interpretation of the amendment mother here illegally does not bestow citizenship, the citizenship idered of the mother's home. on the question of daca -- that is what you want? guest: absolutely. got is major incentive, i three u.s. citizen kids, you can't deport me? you're separating families. whole problem of reform. guest: we do it everyday, deport people. guest: you wouldn't -- i will not go there, the daca people. group.about the daca one is they are all citizens, not of the united states, but itizens of other countries, where they can go back, prosper, what have you. secondly, they didn't vote for president, legally in the last election. why should this group of people e at the top of the congressional agenda as major priority. savvy guy, i'm sitting down talking to democrats, give me what i want, funding, interior

enforcement, end of chain merit system.e to people, the last election, why are we leading with question for amnesty for pretty offensive. guest: we have been dealing with immigration reform for 20 years, it is time to be at the top of the list. kicking the can down the road, the harder it gets. line kids are not first in in any inappropriate way. they have been waiting like we -- been waiting host: 25 minutes left in our road in this segment. eddie in the bronx, line for democrats. eddie, go ahead. caller: yes, want to ask a question. do you think the cuba act now is coming to an end under the trump administration? in , if immigration today the 21st century hurting black americans? about that. think host: cuba act. long overdue to repeal that, cuba nationals

should be treated on same basis as every other national all over world and we've been calling for that for a long time. has epublican party allegiance to the cubans in florida. democrats used to support repeal, lately they don't seem to care what happens. was e old days there consensus, cold war relic and needed to be repealed. will donald trump do that? he seems to be from the tweet this morning or yesterday about aca, trying to match the democrats at their own game, you know, democrats aren't deliver you are tuff, if hispanic-american voter, trump voters. among hispanic second thing -- host: immigration hurting black americans? guest: low skill immigration, middle skill immigration, being rought into the country, illegal immigration, has hurt african americans and hurt all americans who have the least basically defend themselves, depending on education, skills, composition. end, it's been a massive betrayal to the promise of the

same rights movement many architects of the civil rights movement put in laws that are hurt the le and american worker across the board. host: mr. johnson. guest: goal of immigration reform should be to end undocumented immigration, as we know it. everybody should be on board that, that is the goal. having undocumented immigrants in the united states is not good for anybody, not good for us or them f. there are employers out immigration system to further exploitation to choose immigrants over qualified workers, those employers should be punished. set up to system is make sure immigration is used to ill legitimate gaps in the labor force. i believe in enforcement, make sure employers are playing by rules and they are preferring u.s. workers over mmigrant workers, but where we have legitimate needs for immigrant workers, then we should allow our immigration fill those gaps. it is what we've been doing for

served us ars, it's well. it is time to update the immigration system to make it fit for our economy of today. did you answer the caller's question about whether the immigration system is hurting african americans in country? guest: the immigration system is not hurting african americans in the country today. evidence shows immigrants bring opportunities and jobs to the live.ities where they that doesn't mean there aren't unique challenges to african mericans in our economy, but the challenges aren't addressed through immigration system. again, if there is exploitation happening, preference of one worker or immigrant worker over u.s. worker that exploitation violation of immigration law ought to stop. johnson, american immigration lawyers association, if .org, on the internet, you want to find them. stein, american immigration lawyers association, it is fair u.s.org. 20ing your call for the next minutes.

roanoke, virginia. go ahead. yes, a lots of verbiage, get back to calling this, we can pictures, mr. stein eluded to earlier, daca and all tis illegal, illegal immigration and i just -- mr. johnson, a being a lawyer. how do you feel when our to take ns, who swore an oath, and uphold the want toion and its laws ake their city and the state a sanctuary state and how do you think that affects law-abiding got ens when you politicians picking and choosing what laws they are choosing to follow? guest: well, sanctuary cities, these bit of a misnomer days. there is no city out there in sort of circling the wagons immigrants and protecting from deportation.

what is happening in lots of around the country, law enforcement officers are making determination best use of money and resources is to focus on the laws they have enforce. the local criminal laws, the calls, protecting and serves communities. they have made the way to ation, the best do that is for them to do their job and for the federal theiration officers to do job. they have nothing against those federal immigration officers, but they're not prepared to take their time and their money to do the job of the federal than they any more would do the job of the i.r.s., stopping workers or stopping drivers and finding out, did you file your taxes or not, or laws or ommunications osha laws, i mean, where does that end? federal t the government needs to do its job and state and local law nforcement need to do their job. host: the last point?

guest: hard to understand lack of compassion for american workers in the face of massive lawlessness that's happened across the board. believe in this country because they believe it works and respect for law is important component of it. people who in in illegally, without skills and education we impacting directly american worker necessary ways, if you look back at history -- sanctuary cities. guest: we have democratic party, defiance of enforcement in the interior. blind or ostrich to not see what is going on when law. brown signs this as well., one reason they won't come to the table and negotiate with the rump administration or front-bencher necessary congress, actually cut a deal with the trump administration. have basically said immigrants vote heavily emocrat, we don't care if they come legally or illegally.

they are not going home if we with it.hing to do guest: fine nuance about federal hostile to re federal immigration enforce nment their communities. signs that utting up say federal enforcement authorities, get out of our city, we want you to pay for the immigrant labor, but not help law.ce the host: we need to get to more calls. democrats.for go ahead. caller: good morning. i'm illegal immigrant, i work in nursing home. come to nursing home to see how we come here how is note elderly and that a lot of money. tell me, nobody, i don't think let a family to member of yours come and do the the amount oing for we get. o we don't come here just to take american jobs, we come here

contribute, i come from haiti, to work, and help what we do is hard, hard, hard, hard job. nursing home, gaining patients, helping them their daily lives everyday. ost: thanks for sharing your story. guest: i want to commend you for working hard and willing to do unsavory job. the problem is if immigration were lower, undesirable, as they them, domestic jobs that don't compete in the export pay more.ey would the history of american labor, century, was 0th controlling immigration in 1921-24 and enabling bargaining for american workers to increase, so they didn't have to work under the kinds of describing.ou are percent of americans who are declined, has americans have been marginalized

out of the labor source in record numbers. numbers are higher, americans have quit looking for to compete 't want with you in the same kind of jobs you are allowing employers pay. immigration is about winners and losers, people at the top make low wages immigrant workers work for. people in the middle are getting clobbered, net result, we have no middle class. host: tom in brockton, assachusetts, line for republicans. caller: hey, guys. live in a city that probably is least one-third immigrants. ostly first generation, a lot of hatians and cape verdians. people, i have no issue with them. what i do have an issue with is system is broken and you know why it is broken, gentlemen? host: tell us, tom. caller: we have too many illegals in the country, what is not to understand?

we had a policy last 30 years, eally started with jimmy carter, where you, you know what, come in the country to gally, we're not going enforce immigration laws, okay. so no, i'm sorry, i support this president, i belong to a labor union for 35 years. for democratic president, but this guy was ears. to my host: mr. johnson? problem agree we have a with undocumented immigration, we have too much undocumented immigration. unitedtion coming to the states should be legal. the problem is that we have an immigration system that has the sand in d in terms of the economic and labor force realities of today. truth is that we do have a lot of jobs growing in the high spectrum and lls have a lot of gaps at the low end of the skills spectrum in labor market. that is not an insult to u.s. workers. of workers are moving out those jobs, unskilled labor like

housekeeping and taking care of elderly, because they're getting better educated and themselves.er the problem is that our immigration system has no way immigrants to come into the united states to do that work, there is no temporary visa for somebody to take care of the elderly, this is only 5000 green cards permanent visas available for of theorkers, across all country, across all of the job pectrums, so when you have an economy that says "help wanted," border, p out," at the you will have an economy at war with the immigration system and everyunately economy wins time. ost: mr. -- you have jason in montgome montgomery, alabama. gentlemen,d morning, house bill was supposed to

crack down on illegal immigration. that, they had mass utflux of the migrant workers from the agricultural jobs in farmers went he nuts because they didn't have anybody to fill those jobs. so the issue is that regardless of whether or not you agree with are rs being here, we dependent on them. you cannot all of a sudden all these people and expect no difference. one farmer in alabama said, if to get rid of illegal immigrants, stop eating, all the fruits and vegetables you see in store are a product of their work. the reason why we can't get jobs, they do the get paid by how much work they do. eople were not applying to do the jobs. t wasn't like, oh, we're mass people saying, we will fill in do gaps, no, they did not that.

first point. second point is that the reason is because here there's jobs. instead of focusing on them, we talk to the employers to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to, these trying to make a living, better life for their family family, they didn't go through right process, right channels, we're depending on them now and they're here. with it.o deal host: mr. stein. the american economy is choking on mass influx of jobs created in the last eight years to foreign workers, immigrants, not native-born citizens. have been wages stagnant, marginalized american workers not in the labor force. justifying this system of labor exploitation is what it you are n to, but saying no free american worker will do this work, millions of people fight and die in the american civil

to in defense of slavery basically pick cotton. they didn't believe free labor would pick cotton under the same working conditions. the sudden of economic privilege, when you make the argument, well, our food will cost more, we'll have to pay people cleaning bedpans, fundamentally immoral on exploitation, it is wrong, it needs to stop, the solution, big difference me and ben johnson, he doesn't believe numbers matter, as far as he's concerned, raise sky, the limit, bring in 25 million a year, grow to a million people by end of the century. we need limits. reempower american workers, give chance to catch up, maybe the infrastructure could catch up. i get up at 4:00 to get to work the highways are choked with traffic, because immigration levels are not needs, ted to match the domestic needs of the american society. host: 10 minutes left in the ound-table discussion this morning, we're talking about the

future of immigration reform. back to that subject, mr. johnson, as we look ahead to 2018. realistic 2018 look like in your eyes when it comes to immigration? will we see 12 months from now? guest: be honest and say, i don't know. we're in a very unique political situation, here i think the game has changed completely given who is in the white house and the way is being played right now. i'm not particularly hopeful about the language and rhetoric, and the scapegoating that is happening right now. i don't think it is good for the this notion ssue, immigrants are somehow responsible for traffic problems healthcare ible for problems and i mean, laying the blame at the feet of immigrants face as he problems we a country is not only wrong, it's just misguided. us the going to get answers we need to those important problems. exploitation, i want us to have an immigration

thatm that ensures workers have chose jobs get wages and salaries and worker protection if we ed, but even dramatically increased wages, we are still going to need labor in certain economy and our current system doesn't allow the kind of legal immigration we want and need to fuel our economy. that political debate will shift to a conversation about how to build that kind of hope we'll move away from the angry divisive hetoric that paints decent hard-working people as something other than members of our build a es trying to better life. guest: people make money off immigration, okay. others, they and profit from it. political party is trying to political base through immigration. how do you get political compromise when you have influences that don't take enlarged view of the national need. ou take a look at the democratic party right now and say, all right, are they going

to sit down at the table with administration and leaders in the republican party and say, we're willing to meet you halfway? a shred of evidence right now that -- host: where will we be january 2019? basically probably see partisanie, republican package that somehow gets through and others and talks about many of the trump proposals, ending chain and -- n host: the wall? guest: certainly wall funding in to e, yeah, they will try deliver some things he wants. will not be easy in the senate, ut in the end emerging consensus. what trump has done is elevated the profile. americans are beginning to immigration is out of control, beginning to understand democrats are talking anarchy, and see why nothing gets done, in the end, you have immigration, t on you can't legalize everybody and let them stay and turn around and say, we need more. little time and a lot of callers waiting to talk to you gentlemen. fort: let's talk about that a moment.

the willing people aren't willing to negotiate on is wrong.n hold on, dan. in 2006, democrats and republicans came together to get a comprehensive immigration eform package and both sides gave up a lot. there was a lot of enforcement, improvements to illegal immigration, that happened in gang of eight 3, bill, what was coming out of massive increase in border increases in legal immigration, the idea politicians can't and won't issue is flat is wrong. host: and waiting in new rleans, line for republicans, brian, go ahead. forer: mr. stein, thank you inviting, mr. johnson, we will resist you and you are wrong, johnson, they are undercutting the community here from the top and the bottom. are bringing the brightest and bringing desperate workers in. point, in, you are on thank you, we are fighting and

resisting you johnson, you are a job to y, you have do, mr. johnson. our kids, they don't compete, they don't have to compete with the immigrants, so you're good. fight.'re going to host: got your point. go to dave in kingston, pennsylvania, line for go ahead.ts, dave, caller: yeah, i feel that any that has high unemploy sxment homelessness should have zero immigration. i think the united states right now needs 10-year moratorium on immigration, also, we need to repeal the hard seller act of suspend we need to with rare exception for true warner von one like tesla.r nokoli of guest: on point, i got to tell you, would you agree on moratorium? do we have

immigration? supposed to serve the american people and national interest, optional program. don't have to have immigration for sustained period of time to absorb and build infrastructure, transportation system we need, improve public education, sure ly catch up and make imdpragz is compatible with the levels we wantwth environmental goals, factors immigration implicates. we can't decide because of chain migration. one on point, time out for in 1991, we said, look, the problem with oversubscribed categories, we'll never catch up, go back years. or ss you take a time out breather, never reset and set anew. on, guys on right point. smart guy. host: time out, what would 10-year moratorium on immigration do? guest: would be devastating to families.my and be clear about what moratorium is. you fall in love with somebody country, you don't

get to marry them or unite with them in the united states. you have somebody like elon high-skilled other immigrant trying to come to the united states to innovate and the united in states, we will say no to you for no other reason than the moratorium. the truth is that immigration flows have ebbed and flowed with the economy consistently since for the last 100 years. do have ebbs and flows that drive the immigration needs demands and that is the way the system should work. end.: a lot of no in the guest: the idea that we should only have immigration when there is zero unemployment ignores the fact there are certain areas of the economy and certain areas of the country you have end. incredibly idea low, effectively zero unemployment and folks that are intorate for folks to move the communities or for people to be drivers of the economy can nd should be able to use the u.s. immigration system to

achieve results. host: beaverton, oregon, john is a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, mr. johnson and mr. stein. points, i'm also roman catholic. host: did you say five points? do one or two, john, we do not have time for five. person have right to find opportunity in their home land, persons have right to themselves and their families and sovereign nations have the right to borders.heir would you both agree on that? stein, would you agree? guest: second and third point inconsistent, beyond what the pope is saying, no right to cross borders if you have the right to be in any country, that is the law of nations. host: mr. johnson. to be i think we ought able to secure borders, have a system that allows us to legitimately can be here and who we want out. we can't put our head in the sand and pretend the problem

will go away by itself? john, do you have a follow-up? caller: i am going to add two points, mr. stein was talking about exploitation. times aware of the l.a. rticle where certain employer necessa the /*s in california are threatening employees with i'm get ice after you and recipients are school. or going to guest: i'm not familiar with that daca data you have there, that is not my understanding. secondly, you're confirming my point, if employers call up workers with deportation, that is exactly my point. system of , it is a labor exploitation, why do you want to justify it economic or ground, it is wrong and should not be defended by anyone. somerset, new jersey.

independent, go ahead. caller: hi, how is everybody today? well. doing caller: i just wanted to speak a illegal t about how immigration and immigration as a whole has affected me. upstate new york four years ago to come back to help with a sick sister. have worked in healthcare, came back here, initially trying to find a job before i came real difficulty because i was not bilingual, so american citizen, american born and bred, i'm coming here, i have no problem who come here legally, but it affected me. i had a hard time finding a job i was not bilingual. now, i did manage to get a job was pushed out because we coming in people predominantly spanish-speaking tople, that it was difficult maintain my job because i could

not speak spanish. ow i think there is something inherently wrong with that. host: mr. johnson? unfortunate is an situation, i think we need to ake sure those kinds of exploitive environments don't happen. an acts as if exploitation never existed until immigration. it's a sad reality that there there are bad actors out there willing to exploit workers and we need to end that. way to you will not end that by pretending immigrants don't play necessary our economy and our communities. 25% of doctors in the united are foreign born, they are providing really, really aluable medical services in rural communities all across the country, those are the kinds of to continue.eed guest: ben is saying americans aren't good enough to do any doctors or picking cantaloupes. the nature of the discrimination which is is facing,

bilingualism, if you will, is a lesser roblem among skilled american workers, maybe four years of college. we lost these jobs, manufacturing went overseas, internal mobility was hurt, lived in dayton, you couldn't relocate to miami you firefighter because weren't bilingual. this hurts the job prospect for ative-born jobs, american workers may be descendants of a job ifenry can't get they don't speak spanish. host: chester, line for epublicans, hold on a second, want to get him in. caller: yes, mr. stein and mr. johnson, good morning. on nt to comment observation, i had over the summer. my neighbor just retired, he had done to his house. when i was growing up, mixed hite and black guys, this summer i watched guys in the eighborhood and every crew was hispanic and run by either black guy or white guy, but all the were immigrants. spoke with the guys and asked

were they legal or illegal, not my business, just curious, they know, they idn't didn't care. these guys did work from dawn to usk, when you say there are jobs americans won't do, those are jobs we always did. not saying there are jobs americans won't do, i'm out there e are jobs where americans in certain areas of the country, certain sectors americans omy, less competing because they are thatting to be the head of crew, competing to start their own company to have their own crew of workers. americans, insult to american workers, they are not willing to fields and picke cotton, when they lost their good auto working job. hey are looking for opportunities higher on the skill spectrum and they are work force.r as a this notion that mobility, that language skill has to do

labor force , u.s. can't move around in search of at , they now own homes higher rates than before. they have a mortgage in ohio, moving vents them from to rural -- to pursue another job. mobility are labor real challenges and what we need is real answers to bring jobs to -- e host: the last 30 seconds. guest: this is what donald trump and why trump on is correct, these elites, you look upscale elites who down on blue-collar workers and ee decimation of american workers out of industry after industry after industry and take this condescending attitude, they are taking professional detached, studied heir of reality. theld trump is president of united states and fair is going to support donald trump's 2018.lative agenda in host: we have to end it there.

immigration with reform, fairu.s.org. johnson american immigration lawyers association. thanks, come back again, let's do it again. up next, end our program with a question to the viewers and phones to you. is, we want to know your immigration priorities for 2018. democrats, republicans and independents on your screen. you can start calling in now, we'll be right back. >> sunday on c-span's q&a. >> i propose action instead of words. i propose action now before it is too late. i propose it for the sake of a but i say again and again and again that i for our own american self-interest. henrik hank mier with the

vandenburg." > vandenburg finds himself in opposition in the early 1930s, taking majority in the senate, opposition for the next dozen that to getat means anything done, which often meant esisting some of franklin roosevelt's initiatives, there coalition.e a he had to reach across the aisle. >> q&a sunday night 8 eastern on c-span. >> sunday night on "after ords," john newman looks back at his 38-year judicial career n his book "benched," he is interviewed by richard bluementhal. having dge of 45 years, gone from the active life of making decisions and going to advocating a case, to

a difficult that transition for you and did you ver miss the life of advocacy, so to speak? >> it wasn't difficult. it has been for some, who i have known. i've known people who became disliked the decision-making process, that they left the bench. >> uh-huh. >> i was an advocate, glad to be. found the decision-making process, while different, enormously challenging and satisfying. i like being an attorney, i love being a judge because the to resolve disputes, large and small, they all matter but something, large political -- public that is very nd satisfying role. >> watch "after words" sunday on book t.v. on c-span2.

>> "washington journal" continues. cold a live shot of a very morning on capitol hill at 11 a.m. today, the house will to adjourn the first session of the 115th congress, today, per the institution, second session of the 115th congress will convene. we'll, of course, be covering for you on c-span and c-span2 today. we're with you on "washington journal" for about another 20 thises this morning and in last 20 minutes of the program today, we focused on immigration, we're asking for immigration priorities for the second session of the 115th congress. hat would you like to see happen? phone lines, democrats, 202-748-8000. 202-748-8001. 202-748-8002. story in today's "washington may be lking about what happening in the coming weeks when it comes to the issue of

immigration. headline, prospect of dreamers deal unnerves trump allies. the story noting leaders from both parties will meet with hite house officials today at the capitol to discuss the future of the roughly 700,000 are enrolled in the deferred action for childhood arrival program in president trump announced its termination, along empass over the budget. ark short and office of management mulvaney are atented that me-- attend that meeting. priorities for 2018, steve up first, winter haven, florida, republicans. steve, go ahead. caller: yes, hi. about immigration, my family was united states, but my grandparents were born in born in russia and also hungary, came over on the boat to the united nt

states and my family was born in the '30s. i was born in the united states new york. the reason we need to understand the immigration issue and to healthcare, too. education, schooling, they did learning ountry, education more advanced in the united states. he problem we're having in the country and healthcare and unsolved today, our health care education and basic math is and basic math, new math metrics in our country is confusing in our country, including health care. medicine, diets, everything else. we find out immigrations that countries are more advanced in basic math and have problem-solving and more what is going on in their than the united states. host: is the answer more immigration right now? yes, more. more knowledgeable in the in ation and especially

math. host: got your point, steve. centro, in el california, line for democrats. nancy, go ahead. caller: hello. hello. happy new year. host: same to you. caller: i love c-span. host: appreciate it. i want to tell you about living on the border. immigration officer come into my class, i taught seniors. that the basic problem with our immigration system is it is designed wrong. he said, you know, the perfect where would be a system everybody who wanted to come rom mexico would come to the border and apply or stand in line and whatever and have their ingerprints made, have a -- their blood type done, take photographs of them and give immigrant card and it would solve the whole problem. all the things

about it, but i will tell you, he amount of money spent defending this other system is not working and system which equal for re everybody would probably be omething they should think about. thank you and have a nice day. host: chris in new york, line republicans. chris, good morning. caller: yes, i was calling, i best solutions would be to have e-verify be country. across the two of your previous callers dmitted they were hiring illegal aliens and that would nip that right in the bud and is e-verify right now voluntary, but as mandatory reduce, i think it would the illegal immigration draw significantly. ost: chris, are you a business owner? caller: no, i'm not. i'm just a regular worker and i am affected by something else that one of your speakers

mentioned. company outsources to india, i've been affected by that well.ion, as host: does your company use the chris?fy system, caller: yes, they do, but they are in the health care industry, on indian to lean employees. both kind of stuck on ends of this. help cleanrify would up the home care industry, that magnet for a improper hiring, and the hotel workers in this industry and it would workers, boost a lot of opportunities for entry-level jobs for citizens and that is what we're missing, we're know, a level playing field and e-verify i that.ould do host: joseph in corona, california, line for democrats.

what are your immigration priorities for second session of the 115th congress? um, well, under obama, deportationsmillion over that 2.4 million. -- under obama and i the -- ow what host: finish your thought. sorry.: that is my thought, honestly. host: all right. new york, in statsburg, new york, an independent. chris, good morning. how are you?ohn, host: doing well. call : i just want to and -- first, as far as the immigration, i think there is a think they s that i could work on in congress. number one, is i don't think is aware of, if you go to homeland security and if you

chain immigration policy, there is over 30 immigrants ays that can come into the united states. and reform that. i have nothing against mmigrants and i think as long as we have a job here in america, they should be allowed in. match to match it.tem that would use from that, what they need to do poll and determine where jobs are needed and then if we there and then ask don't have the workers here, train thehould try to americans here and then if we here, then e labor we go and look for the to fill job demand, that is the problem. enough -- we don't have jobs for all the immigrants that are coming in. was 130 to there

in a year.igrants bush had the same thing. the same thing. and years we've been 170,000 immigrants come in. host: the numbers in recent ears have been close to a million on a yearly basis when it comes to legal immigration, we'll take your call, take your point. the east coast, this time yesterday, president trump had tweeted nine or ten times.nt today one tweet from the this tweet. far, the president saying: such respect for the people of iran back their to take corrupt government. you will see great support by the united states at the what the e time, is president said. front page, lead story of "washington post," focuses on what the trump administration is doing as they

protests lding continue in iran. the story noting the trump iranian ation accusing government yesterday of blocking or suppressing communication anti-government protesters and laying groundwork for new sanctions targeting human rights abuses. the protest continued for sixth administration continued to grasp if it would or be smothered in government suppression. turnedver grievances and political as people around the nation chanted broadly slogans, more "washington the post." most major newspapers have story about iran on the front pages. story getting attention today, this out of the guardian meeting , trump tower "treasoness," steve bannon said in an explosive book, the story from donald trumpnoting

former chief strategist steve bannon described trump tower president's een the son and group of russians during campaign lection treas treasonous. bannon speaking to author michael wolf, warn the into investigation of kremlin focus on money laundering and predicted they crack don jr. like an egg on national t.v. fire and fury inside the trump reportedly based on 200 interviews with the president, his inner circ and he player necessary and around the administration is eagerly the ed political books of year. that story in today's guardian newspaper. kathy is in mustang, oklahoma. line for republicans. what is your immigration priority as second session of underway gress gets today? caller: well, i really believe that daca should not be

approved. all of the statistics being reported, like 80% approve simply untrue. i think most of the facts are untrue, such as they were claiming the immigrant that ters were claiming their communities where the llegal immigrants were safer than those where they were not, turned out to be from a report untrue.st week people do not approve of the illegal immigration, it doesn't the lives of people in washington, d.c. like it does the common man. democrats have lost a lot of ground. this is the first time in my a democrat n't been and i'll never vote for them again, i do not understand why the taxpayer to supplement the poor of another country. kathy, what should happen to those individuals who are country as young children and have grownup here daca program?

what should happen to them? caller: were they young children? how old are they now? what country dids they come from? assistance of on tax dollars, free food and health care and housing and all that? don't get it,they that is not true. if you are born here, that baby the a whole family on welfare benefits. that is a fact of life, just untruth. host: go to bob in the bronx, line for democrats. bob, go ahead. caller: how you doing? i'm a life-long democrat, i got you, i'm annoyed with our party, we go to knife fight with a sharp pencil. the reason being, every time trump says there is no daca he gets funding for the wall, why don't democrats and say, you c leadership told us, mr. president, mexicans were going to pay for the wall, we let thanksgiving guy off the hook? hold to what he said. he said the mexicans are going

pay for the wall, let them pay. and the comment the other guy weren't -- ocrats didn't want to negotiate. if tax bill was pushed through sequestration, no democrat or ted to appeal participate, so i don't know what he was watching. daca bob, do you think the issue is something democrats should threaten to shut down no deal onf there is daca then they won't provide the otes to help pass a government funding deal to keep the lights on past january 19th? be honest with you, don't think shutting down the country helps democratic cause. i think one of the biggest democrats and i'll say us democrats have, we are and etting our message out there are too many people buying nonsense, spewing everyday

on twitter, instead of thinking for themselves. see what this guy, hold their feet to the fire. would pay mexicans for a wall. okay, mr. president, put up or shut up. point.ot your brad, kentucky, line for independents. go ahead. you.r: thank i just wanted to say, i'm 25 years old and from kentucky. have a lot of experience, almost none with the mmigration system or daca, but i feel incredible sympathy for the daca kids who are being hung out to dry right now by the lack in our congre congress. just as soon as they leave them will surely hey leave another group out, the ext one they come to that is not powerful enough to defend itself. host: all right. colorado, n denver, line for democrats. david, go ahead. morning, john.

and thumbs up to your last kentucky.m hat i want to say is my wife and i travel christmas morning, denver the morning at international airport, all the were open estaurants people rly all the orking christmas morning were new americans. most of them did not, i could the people i dealt with, idn't speak english was not th first language, but yet 5:30 in day, theyg, christmas were working. they are keeping the country going. we need congress to approve daca nd we need a comprehensive immigration reform. jamin tally with ben

johnson, your last guest. got on, could have john, i just would like to ask it that makest is you hate immigration, because got from e feeling i him. and we need immigration, we -- we need it, that is all there is to it. ost: bobby, stockbridge, georgia, line for republicans. bobby, go ahead. caller: yes, i was born and in texas, however, i live in georgia now. back then, we didn't know who immigrant or who was noncitizen and the thing about now, they don't want to assimilate and everywhere you speaking their language, which is spanish, and ou don't know whether they are talking about you or if you ask them a question, they can't nswer it because they don't understand what you're saying. and when you have them working

walmart or some place and you an't understand them -- host: what is assimilation mean to you, just speaking english? no.er: it means that they can ongregate where you congregate and be able to get along and grandchildren my can't even eat lunch in tennessee at their school and they just built a new school because of all the syrians that have been put in there and too, and they can't each eat their lunch, they have to eat home after school their lunch, that is pretty pathetic. host: why do they have to come bobby? why do they have to come home? caller: that is all i have to say, thank you. in georgia.s bobby few minutes left in the program today. after the at when -- senate convenes for the second session of the 115th congress,

will be r there officially two new faces in the will states senate, one be tina smith of minnesota, the ormer lieutenant governor of minnesota. she'll be sworn in to take over franken, who resigned on tuesday, a month announced his plans to leave congress after swirl of sexual misconduct allegations will be ther new face doug jones of alabama, a democrat. that special won election for the former seat of general jeff sessions, it was held by luther trange, until that special election occurred. doug jones became the first democrat to win a senate seat in 25 years, after e's seated, republicans will control 51 seats compared with 49 seats for democrats, in the senate. back to your calls in our last couple minutes this morning.

reston, virginia, line for independents. alvin, good morning. morning.good one question that has not been answered for me. would like to know how much money did it cost american taxpayer for all those babies to born? they have to have babies somewhere. note kids grow up, they are going to do the same work their arents do, those babies are going to do the same thing their parents did, they are not going to have to. hard, they are hard workers, couple hundred years ago, most stuff being done right now in construction, i mean, machines and people keep talking about ridiculous wall. problem is not wall, the problem is inside this country. who give aid and hire eople and give them rent them places to stay, nonsense about going to out what we

do about daca, what about their parents? nots their parents problem, the american people's prospect. north korea donna in oklahoma in oklahoma, line for democrats. go ahead. caller: yes, i don't understand people want to come and immigrate to the united states of america. my priority is if donald trump to ot impeached, i'm moving another country. thank you very much. god bless america. impeach donald trump. gaithersburg, , maryland. line for independents. aller: thanks, we need to see congress looking at merit-based immigration system. hat we have now is low skilled and a lottery system and that puts enormous strain on our job market, on our welfare state. can't exist today. we can't have relatively generous immigration system

with welfare state, it won't work. you can have either a system people based on competency based on how they contribute to the economy, instead of this kind of bleeding heart system that we have right now. it doesn't make sense. host: one piece of legislation aimed at creating more system is the raise act that would create merit-based point system for allow green card preferences for spouses and citizens,ldren of u.s. but not for most extended family embers, it removes current capos high-skilled applicants and eliminates visa lottery capping number of refugees offered permanent 50,000 per year, piece of legislation sponsored georgia.perdue of tom cotton, republican of arkansas. bethlehem, georgia, republicans susan, go

ahead. caller: i've been listening this morning, thank you for taking my call. live in a small building that has been bought by foreign people and they rent to people illegal. what i was shocked to see is hispanic ve three families in our building. the apartments are only women, the o the fathers come, but they are not registered or on the lease. these women get food stamps, they get housing, they get their births l when they want to take their children to the hospital, they their -- ators for they don't speak english, they get translators for their and if they need any kind of legal help, the last make is would like to that people say or it has been taxes, at illegals pay when you are getting paid cash, sir, under the table, you are taxes.ing any of the work done around these buildings is done by

do not speak english. thank you for taking my comments. the last caller in today's program. again, the second session of 115th congress officially convenes at noon today. you can watch it, of course, on and c-span2. we'll be back here tomorrow "washington e journal" 7 a.m. eastern, 4 a.m. pacific. have a great wednesday. >> coming up today on our companion network c-span2, the former senior adviser to hillary clinton is speaking of the washington center for internship

to discuss the 20 16th campaign, the trump presidency on the 20 20th election. you can watch it live on our 2.mpanion network c-span here on c-span at 1:00 p.m. eastern, the state of the state address from new york governor andrew cuomo. later this afternoon, white house press secretary sarah sanders briefs reporters. 3:00 p.m. eastern live on c-span. >> sunday on "q&a" -- >> i propose action instead of words! before itaction now is too late. i propose it for the sake of a better world, but i say again and again and again that i propose it for our own american self-addressed. that self-interest. -- self-interest. >> the author of "arthur vandenberg: the man in the middle of the american century." >> vandenberg finds himself in

opposition when fdr is selected and the democrats in the 1930's take a majority in the senate. he is in opposition for the next dozen years. that means that to get anything done, which often meant resisting some of franklin roosevelt's initiatives, there needed to be a coalition. he needed to reach across the aisle. sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span. a good wednesday morning. immigrants only in this first hour, you can start calling in now. we want to hear your stories and experiences in the united states. some big news yesterday out of washington, on some key republican leaders including the longest-serving senate republican, orrin hatch out of utah announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of his term. here is the story.