interview on climate change. and this student learning a lot and having fun while editing. our competition is open to all middle school and high school students grades six through 12. $100,000 will be awarded in cash prizes and the grand prize of $5,000 will go to the student or team with the best overall entry. for more information, go to our website, studentcam.org. >> and while we wait for the house to gavel in at noon eastern, a look at this morning's "washington journal." . host: our first guest, andrew seeley of the migration policy institute serves as the president to talk about refugees in the u.s. covered under the temporary protected status program. can you describe what this is. in 1990his was set up

and the idea was the president letd have discretion to certain people stay here for a temporary period of time because of something in their country that makes it difficult to go back. this is been used for a number of different countries. it has been used with civil wars in africa, natural disasters in central america to give people a chance tuesday. host: the program came under scrutiny this week, including with the issue with the el salvador in's -- el salvadorians. guest: it has been going on since 2001. the white house made the decision it was not temporary, it had gone too long and they would ended. the reason other presidents have let it go on is these are people who have been in the country a integrateand they into american society and have work permit since 2001.

so other administrations of not wanted to end it, but the trump administration decided it should. i eventually think that would be a political issue. guest: here are the two sides. one side said the temporary program should end. areother side said these people who are hard-working contributed to american communities, let them stay. 2001,el salvador since from honduras since 1999. how many of those categories currently exist? guest: i don't know how many exist now but they have been reduced. haitians are ready have 18 months starting in the fall to leave. spaceect hondurans will the same fate. host: if i'm one of those people

who got that announcement, what does that mean for me? guest: it's a life-changing announcement. been back to el salvador in 25 years in some cases. they have been contracting members of american society that of raise their kids in most kate -- cases. they don't know if they stay in the u.s. or try to move back to a country they don't really know anymore that has real violence. >> if they decide to stay, what happens? to keepome may be able working, but a lot will have to look for jobs where nobody is asking for papers and that means taking a big pay cut. host: if they got caught for something. guest: any moment of the day they could be caught. the government will probably not go after them. if they get caught for any reason, they could be sent back. aboutour guest to talk the idea of temporary protected status.

if you want to ask him questions, you can do so on the phone lines. 202-748-8000 for democrats, 202-748-8001 for republicans. for independents, 202-748-8002. if you're under the program and want to talk about your experience, it is [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, .-202-748-8003 how does this compare to other administrations? guest: they have been generous on the times. you have a major multibillion-dollar effort to try and help el salvador, honduras and guatemala. they are mindful that doing this right now is doing some real damage to those countries. these countries depend on folks here sending remittances back. it's a generous amount of time, , that iswith 18 months

likely not a lot of time. host: they are not tepidly -- are they classified as refugees or those filing for asylum? refugees have really direct persecution. these are mostly people that did not qualify. it wasn't direct against them but they were affected by general conditions in the country. a country that has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. the highest outside a country at war. these people may not be subject to the rest -- direct persecution but do they want to be sent back with a could be in danger. host: if someone has this type of status, where can they work, what kind of benefits are they eligible for? guest: if you have temporary protected status, you can do anything in american can. you can do anything in terms of work.

these are people who had real legal lives in the u.s. for a long time. one thing you can't do is in most cases it's very hard to transfer to a green card. it's hard to get another status. the statute made it very hard for people to transition and that's another question. a lot of the people might qualify for other kinds of relief in the country but they can't. host: as far as health care, what is available for them? guest: they are a lot to have some benefits after five years in the country. very few seem to have welfare benefits. particularly if they have citizen children which is where most welfare benefits go. most of these folks after 20 or 25 years. host: do they get medicaid or health care provided by the state? guest: i believe they can. i'm not sure on that. as farhat is the set up

as we are talking about folks under gps. arizona,cott still, you are on. go ahead with your question or comment. caller: thanks for taking the call. believer of we are all immigrants. i'm attempt generation american but i firmly believe from a strong military family, i believe in immigration. like australia or canada, it has to be merit-based. these immigrants from all of the come and put us in a position whether it's medication, education or a string on the economy. i watch the news every night. by of the news is crime different cultures that are problems. let's face the facts here.

if we don't stop this, we are either going to go broke or there will be a civil war. guest: thanks for your comment. the one thing we do know for sure is that immigrants are much much less likely to commit crimes then native americans. people growing up around immigrants are much less likely. which is quite surprising. what we don't knows the economic benefits. there does seem to be dispute. immigrants are twice as likely to smart -- start small businesses as native americans are. there is competition in the economy with immigrants. we do know almost half of all immigrants coming to the country have a college degree. nativeborn americans about a third have a college degree.

a little bit less for people in central america, but not a surprising find. maryland, annapolis, dena, republican line. to ask yournted guest to comment a bit about temporary protected status and advanced -- i know a lot of people from el salvador that come to the country that are on tps means they have not been inspected, they just show up crossing the border as we know. they will get an exempt parole which means we will allow them to go back to their native country for many reasons and then allow them to come back into the country as they continue to stay in the country illegally. i would like him to explain to whatbody else out there

those together do for us that are here. the second comment, a lot of those people on tps also have their children here that are members of daca. all cameldren here here illegally and then they all come back and continue to be here illegally. host: thank you. guest: your question about advanced parole. that allows people who are here with some legal status or any other refugee status, any number of categories where they've been legally inspected already and it into a legal program but they are not in a category like the green card that allows you to come and go. it allows you to go back to your country. usually you have to have a specific reason.

there has to be a child getting married, your grandmother passing away, there has to be some reason for advanced parole. a number of people with tps have been able to apply for that. it is very hard for them to leave the country. you have to apply specifically to the u.s. government with a compelling reason. they are granted and denied. most people don't end up applying for advanced parole. some of them do because they have something in their country of origin. host: what's the difference between those looking for tps and those who get it? guest: anyone who is in this were a lot apply for tps. as long as they didn't have a criminal conviction. if you had a felony or two disk -- misdemeanors, you could not apply for it. it was very hard. no one knew at the time they would get tps when they came in.

2003ould not walk in in and said let me do it retroactively. host: so if a country is declared in some distress, is it automatic guarantee you will receive status? guest: if you apply and you don't have a criminal conviction. there are other ways you can exclude you if they think you are a threat to american society. host: she mentioned children if a person receives tps and they bring extended members to the u.s.. guest: it doesn't give you any that other legal status is due. if you did come in with a child who was eligible for daca, they are eligible for daca as well. andrew of the migration policy institute is our guest. if you want to see the research he is talking about, go to migrationpolicy.org.

guest: we are a think tank that looks at migration policy. we are nonpartisan, we don't take positions. we are not for or against tps or daca, but we try to understand trends in u.s. immigration policy. how people become part of american society and then we work a lot with the rest of the world. we have been looking at issues of refugees and immigrants. host: were you surprised by the ministrations decision? guest: not at all. the trump administration has been clear they see temporary programs including daca and tps as temporary measures that should not be sustned over time. it's a change in philosophy. they believe immigration is harmful to the american economy. a different position taken by bush or obama, reagan or gw bush. this is a shift in how the

government sees immigration. the other piece is they've taken the position that temporary programs should be temporary. things done by executive order should be done by legislation. we have seen this with daca. president trump said you give me a legislative fix, i will sign it. it is both that sense they want fewer immigrants, but even the ones they want, they want them to be here through regular order. host: california, independent line. caller: good morning. i have a comment and question. i'm sympathetic to guatemalans especially because i lived there in 1980 and saw the massive genocide of innocence indigenous people and thought they should have protected status.

the same thing with el salvador and nicaragua. so i am sympathetic to that plight. the other question -- the question i have is about the armenians. areae in the los angeles stream ofe this huge armenians that came into the country with protective status matter what their financial situation was, they were eligible for medicare -- medi-cal and all kinds of benefits because they were refugees. long if thathow say forever, i know you this now there are certain time limits, but it seemed like the

armenians had no time limits at all. you.: thank great question. i don't know the specifics on the armenian case, but one is you come in with a temporary status. you have fewer rights on what you can access and it is temporary which is why we're seeing in and in this case. for a long time but it won't go forever. then there are refugee or asylum where you have a real fear of persecution and that is permanent. we accept a certain number. it comes with a different process in american immigration system, we accept people, check their visas, figure out if they have a real persecution. once we say yes, we do a series of things to help them integrate into american society. we assign them a place to go. they can eventually become a permanent resident of the u.s.. my guess is the people you are referring to probably came in

from armenia either from there or turkey through refugee status and that is a permanent process. host: democrats line from california, nicolas. caller: one comment and a question. that is a was the argument the foreigners taking everyone's jobs when clearly that is not the case, they take the jobs that americans won't take any way. my question is not with everyone of course, but do you think with some people there is an underlying unconscious racism? guest: that is an issue we have trouble researching. we have not actually gotten into the cultural factors and whether people are uncomfortable with that. i can tell you what we know overall is that almost all studies show immigrants are a net benefit to the economy, they are hugely entrepreneurial as a

big part of the engine and also in small and medium-size businesses around the country. small stores and restaurants where a lot of immigrants invest. but there can be a facts. reasonable people disagree on whether they compete for jobs. there is an issue on if certain in silicon valley are being competed for unfairly by people coming in and of using the rules to do that. there are questions for people with less than high school degrees if there are competing studies, but clearly that is something where reasonably people can disagree. there may be a net benefit for all of us but there could be tensions further down in specific job categories where it makes a difference. people can disagree on this. host: in the new york times they of an editorial about the plight

under el salvadorians tps. in 2016 about 4.6 billion in remittances accounted for 17% of el salvador's economy. that is put into american coffers by those under tps. guest: it is very large because all immigrants pay taxes. to gif we manage somehow uncle sam, where always paying sales tax or rental, property tax whether we are renting or buying. most of these people who are under legal like tps. tps folks, they are almost all in the formal economy and are paying tax. they sent quite at home to their families as well because they are helping grandparents and parents back home. host: for those were americans

they have social security. how does that work under tps? guest: they have a social security number as well. they're are the trappings of an american life in many ways. there are a few things they can't access. in many ways they have been able to have a very american life. host: did you say voting was one of those? guest: they cannot vote and they cannot transition most categories of legal status. there are real things that are different. in terms of having a legal job and paying taxes, they live like the rest of us. host: how do you make sure they don't vote? you are supposed to have proof of citizenship when you show up to vote. there as near we can tell than isolated abuses, but they have been very isolated. colleagues of the american dialog have surveyed and find voting is not something very high on people's radar screen. they want to be here to earn money and raise their children,

they are not terribly interested in the voting side. they might if they became citizens one day. guestgreg is next for our in virginia, independent line. this guy seems like he's playing it right up the middle until the last comment about the remittances that go back to south america and other countries. whether they got it degree in some uselessly not helping the country. , i'mthey get to voting age sure he's here to help out all the other immigrant friends. 90% of them will probably vote democrat which will bring the country down the communist road. host: question or comment for a guest please. caller: i work in construction and i've heard painters and drywall or's and roofers call into this show and say they are taking jobs from them, they have

undercut them. they start businesses because they undercut the american. they have three families to a home and i could go on and on on that. you got to them for 287. yearses of not gone up in because i show up on job sites. this is heavy construction, concrete work raising historic buildings and i can't -- there is no one who speaks english. i'm at lunchtime and everyone is headed to the roach coach speaking spanish or some other foreign dialect. this is the question, is there economic competition. some people in construction -- this is as good as mine so i can't tell you there is no competition there. you are seeing what you are seeing on this. this is thenow is history of the united states. a hundred years ago people from italy and ireland were coming in. you go back further, people from germany coming in from

scandinavia. people work long hours, much more sparsely than we are willing to do because they come from more precarious places and they are very entrepreneurial. does that undercut people here? probably not because people here already have other assets. people here have a set of cultural skills. so people may be willing to do things the nativeborn americans aren't, but native americans -- nativeborn americans have a set of assets to deal with as well. host: are we seeing any trends emerging from the trump administration on how to approach refugees? guest: we have seen a huge cut in the refugee cap. the processing has gone down. the obama administration raised the cap. the bush administration raised the cap. the trump administration has decided to cut it to 45,000.

it never quite reached 110,000 but we were allowed to go up to that many. the position on this would be we need to get our security situation straight, we are taking people from countries like syria where most people are good legitimate flow -- folks fleeing a dangerous regime, but you might get a terrorist in their so we need to beef up security measures. the other side would say these are people overwhelmingly who have a real fear of persecution and we do a great job of letting these people and we should be a leader in the world. it is a big part of our reputation around the world is being seen as someone who takes in those facing persecution. host: for those the trump administration excepts as refugees, what are we seeing as trends? guest: they've made it harder for certain countries to come in. they've a list of nine or 11 countries with extra vetting and very narrow window to go through to come here.

shifting the balance away from a number of muslim majority countries. i think as we are stressing it is not a muslim -- as they are stretching. they have become much more subtle in this, much more nuanced. they are looking at countries where there is a reasonable fear there could be terrorist infiltration. people on the refugee side will tell you we are to have some of the best vetting in the world and it takes about a year and a half to get in on the refugee program. there is a question of how much more we can do on this. host: what was her take away from the discussion of the white house over daca and dreamers? guest: in many ways when you get asn, we're not as far apart they seem to be. we know we are in immigrant society. we are also a country of laws

and people know we have to be able to enforce the laws that we have and that includes immigration laws. you can see the glimmer of how we actually have a civilized conversation and work out something like daca in return for some sort of enforcement measures or we can put this on the table and talk about copperheads of immigration reform in return for real enforcement. when you get down to the policies of it and the details of it. going from those big ideas like we saw yesterday to the brass tacks of how this happened, we get lost along the way. host: we will hear from david on the line for democrats. thanks for waiting. my question is considering the temporary status of these people, why are they paying in social security? they are never going to get any of that money back so why are they paying into that? my second question is what

happened to the debt that these people have accrued when they are deported from the country? that is considering everybody. guest: good questions. they pay to social security because of you stay long enough or adjust, there are some narrow ways like if you get married to an american citizen, in certain cases depending on how you came in, american citizen children can apply for you to stay in the u.s.. there are some ways that some of these people can stay in the country and this is in the courts right now to figure out who can stay, even who has those categories for getting married. that's why we have people paying in. anyone that comes to work in the u.s. can pay into social security together is a chance you might stay. debt is an interesting one. if you get deported and you only mortgage, you default unless you

pay from your country. there are people who hope to come back and they want to keep their credit worthy so they keep trying to pay that. it is obviously a risk from the credit side to lose some of these people. host: mary on our line from democrats. caller: good morning. this morning i was listening to the early-morning calls and i felt like i was in a cesspool of hate. i'm glad you are doing something about it to help people. i want the daca people to stay here. i want everybody that wants to be here to stay here. everybody the called up today are immigrants. the native americans are the people who were here first and the rest of us, we came whatever way we came. , when all kinds of people the europeans came over illegally, no one says anything. why is that not brought up?

all these to coney and laws are fueled by hate, it is not necessary. this country belongs to god, this world belongs to god and that's the person who makes a physician who comes and goes. guest: the only thing i can say is i think my position on this is these are issues we should be able to have a civilized conversation about, recognize that we do need immigration in this country, we have always had it. a reasonably people can disagree on how much immigration. should people come in with work visas are temporary, but we should have a civilized conversation. have should -- we should one that's respectful of american communities and the immigrants themselves and then we can disagree in a way that outs and tries to figure the best policy for society. host: when we talk about dreamers we tend to think of them as young people. what's the average age? break that down for us. guest: the dreamers are

increasingly older because this is something that was done a few years ago so you increasingly have a number of those in their 20's and 30's. they are still young in the sense this is still a young adult population, but it is not a youth population. host: we have caller struck the morning saying those of the could go and adapt to a country and they made it sound easy. how easy is it? guest: i talked to a number of dreamers and some of these have never been in the country there are born in living memory. other folks i've met when they were one or two and they don't know that country. they don't have the basic skills , cultural skills to adapt quickly. i think some of them would do well if they ended a moving back. they know english, they are well educated. do well inactually their country of origin, but

like any of us, suddenly being in a country we don't know or have a vague memory of, they don't really have a connection. host: i kind of tend to think of them from the southern border. is that the case or there are other -- or are there other exceptions? them from allt over. mexicans are but the largest number, but there are dreamers that come from every country and from every socioeconomic level. mccain and with professional parents and folks are came in with parents who are farmworkers. host: maryland, elizabeth, republican line. because i'mcalling listening to mr. sealy. , as is a u.s. program refugee program. iran into a woman who sits in on the meetings of this resettlement program and a lot

of what he is saying is simply not the truth. we are having tens of thousands the middleople from east, from syria, iraq, --hanistan, they come in and in the middle of the night, they don't speak english, they claim they don't know their names. this is a woman who sits in on the u.s. program, i'm not just talking about anybody i ran into on the street. they give them food stamps, medi-cal, medicaid, clothes and cash. then there is no help setting -- vetting. she says they put them right on the plane and put them all over america. anywhere they want to go. you are aually if refugee coming into the program, you have been vetted about 18 months before you get there.

you have gone through very extensive process with the state department. while you are in a refugee camp or in holding somewhere else around the world before you are coming to the united states. once you get to the u.s., these are folks who we go out of our way to take care of in a way we don't with most immigrant groups. this is a group we take special care of to help them get on their feet. we saw health and human services did a study and what they find is refugees over time give back much more in terms of taxes than they take out in terms of benefits. but it takes a few years to get there. right now the mayor in montana is a refugee from sierra leone. years ago from sierra leone and ended up living there. others of his they don't prosper in american society. this is something, we were the leaders on refugee issues after world war ii, a lot of the

refugee regimes around the world were things the u.s. helped build because we were concerned about people being displaced after world war ii and being persecuted. these are things we believed as a country were really important to take care of people fleeing persecution, i think it is a legitimate argument to have today about where we want to position ourselves >> all of this conversation online at c-span.org. "washington journal" live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. we'll leave here. the u.s. house is gaveling in for legislative work, including a measure combining several native american tribal issues into a bill, and they'll begin work today on re-authorizing the foreign intelligence surveillance act, program for another six years, fisa. live coverage of the house here on c-span. the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by