work. are of traditions that i do not have a better view on. >> i am afraid we have to stop with that. this has been a treat. interviewh this other you did at brookings. it has been a treat for all of the still listen. we thank you for taking time and being with us. [applause] >> the white house briefing with sarah sanders is scheduled to begin in 15 minutes. when it gets underway we will show it to you live.

until then, a conversation about asylum-seekers entering the u.s.. continues. host: we are joined by a discussion on the asylum process and the backlog facing immigration court. the americanh it immigration lawyers association. explain what the association is and how it is funded. guest: the american immigration lawyers association is the national bar association of the united states with 15,000 immigration lawyer and professor members with chapters across the country. we represent businesses and families seeking to have employees or family members come to the united states. we also have members that represent asylum-seekers who are seeking protection in the united states. paid?how are those folks is a pro bono representation? guest: we have many members

doing pro bono work, meaning they take no or low fee to represent someone based on if that person can pay. of course, lawyers are practicing lawyers, so many are paid by whatever business or family that is hiring them. mentioned asylum-seekers. president trump has been expressing concern about the caravan moving through mexico towards the united states. we found out they made it to the border. 150-200 of them. dozens are crossing to start the asylum process. why are they being allowed in after the expressions of concern from the president? guest: the president did say he was not going to allow in the people in the country. it by hiseen correct administration, because it would be contrary to u.s. and international treaties, the refugee convention in

particular, to bar people coming to our borders seeking asylum. this goes back decades in american history. even our founding fathers dedicated the united states to welcoming refugees at our shores or borders. people arriving at ports of entry are doing so in a highly regularized or organized way, which is good for them and our country. when you are coming from central america to mexico, the dangers these families are facing -- and havew our members historically represented many of these types of people coming from countries with the most dangerous conditions. gangs the government cannot androl, high levels of rape domestic violence these families are facing. as they leave their homes and come north they often traveling groups to seek reduction. when they -- seek pe

protection. when they reach of the border, they need the opportunity to seek asylum. tijuanae camp outside near the california border where there are two to 300 inside the caravan camped out to possibly enter the united states, do we have to let in anybody that claims they are seeking asylum? guest: anyone who claims seeking asylum that they would like protection in the united states, screeningntitled to a process. that is prescribed by law. the united states has one of the best legal systems worldwide. what our laws require is that the person first be screened by an asylum officer. that is a threshold screening. if you demonstrate a credible fear of persecution, meaning it is likely you might be persecuted if you are sent back, you will go before a judge.

the judge will determine if you are entitled to asylum. host: is it a matter of saying the right buzzwords or do you have to have proof of the threats you face? guest: there has been a lot of commentary about what is the actual standard applied. obtaining asylum is difficult. that theve made claims folks in the caravan are going to game the system, that they have been coached. that is why we have an officer that is trained to identify fraud or if the person poses a dangerous threat to the country, that they are screened out. that is why there is a second layer where they go before a judge and there will be a trial lawyer representing the government that will test the case. a tragedy of our court system is that our immigration court system has lots of broken problems. one is that we do not guarantee

someone the right to have represent lawyer, them if the person can't pay for lawyer.n you might have a family coming here with the young child who may not speak any english who probably don't have any idea that there is a term called asylum. many americans probably don't even know the technical definition. to go before an officer or a judge and say this is what the law entitles me to is almost impossible. that is why our system should guarantee people should have lawyers, but it doesn't do that yet. host: talking about the process of asylum coming to the united .tates talking with greg chen republicans, (202) 748-8001. .ndependents, (202) 748-8002 democrats (202) 748-8000.

a special line for those who may have received asylum, (202) 748-8003. explain what rights that those who cross the border illegally have if they are picked up by authorities and go before a court. guest: if someone appears that a port of entry, that is different than crossing illegally. is presenting itself at a quarter of entry and that is an important distinction to recognize. host: they get different rights than the others? guest: not different rights, but the processing is different. if they say i would like to seek asylum, they are going to be identified as such, then screened and interviewed by an asylum officer before going before a judge. if you cross without being screened, and you identified by border patrol officer, what

would happen is they would ask questions initially. if you say you would like to seek asylum, they will take you through the same process. they will apprehend you and take you to a border station, and then you would be scheduled for the interview. one thing that is important to recognize, most people in the united states assume this person will get to go before a judge and have their case heard. that is out should work, but border patrol officers have a great deal of authority to remove someone from the country, deport them, if they pick them up without ever having gone before judge. the problem is that the border patrol officers are not trained the same way that judges are to look at the facts of the case. the vast majority of cases, it is only one out of five coming into our borders that get to go before a judge. 4/5 aret majority

removed before they get the opportunity to have a fair day in court. most host: americans would be troubled by that. under fearell-fo of persecution. with they can seek asylum on when it comes to a well-founded fear persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group, or opinion. guest: well-founded fear of persecution is legal jargon that has been developed through many years of courts in our country reviewing laws passed by congress to determine if you come into our country and are seeking asylum, or if you are a syria, not even at our borders, we'll have people interviewing in that country

saying if we return you to your country, it is likely that you a form ofience persecution under those five categories you mentioned. a person who is explaining to an his/her lifer situation, the asylum officer or judge has to be thinking is the standard met? that is what they need to have credible information or evidence to prove their case. host: we have heard of backlogs in immigration courts. how much of that is asylum-seekers seekers, and how much is other categories? guest: i don't know the exact percentage of how many cases hearthe immigration courts asylum cases. currently there is a backlog of cases that is 650,000, almost

700,000, cases waiting to be heard. cases, where someone is removed before the country, they don't even get to go before a judge. they can be not only asylum, it can be another form of release. there are a lot of different categories. people here as family members, as an employee for a company that accidentally stayed longer than they should. they could go before an immigration judge. as we talk about the asylum process in the united states. jim, line for democrats, good morning. caller: thank you for c-span. wondering, we do so much for dictators and other countries that abuse their people, and we have our neighbors to the south of us,

all of this brutality with the gangs in mexico and south , whyca, i don't understand don't we help these people out instead of having them escape to the united states for asylum? why don't we remove some of these dictators that are causing problems in other countries? these are our neighbors. is an excellent question. the issue of addressing what we ofer to as the root causes the problems that people are facing is one that the u.s. government has dedicated for innate to. it is on the -- has dedicated foreign aid to. it is on the order of being dedicated to mexico, honduras, el salvador, and guatemala. it spreads out over several years. it is a substantial amount of money.

it is true that we could be doing more to address what is, at this point, a systemic failure of those governments to protect their own people. , and i've heard experts testify, that a woman might be facing domestic violence from gang members in her village and they go to the police, but prosecutors don't have the resources to make sure --t that person who might be that the perpetrators of terrible crimes cannot perpetrate another crime. we need solutions on both sides of the border. as we provide aid, we want to make sure that we are a country that remains true to the most fundamental american values. we will welcome those that are seeking aid and fleeing from the violence that the listener was talking about. they can seekat fair process when they get to

the united states, to seek humanitarian protection. we can talk about the challenges in our system. i will mention a few. the persecution of asylum-seekers and the separation of asylum-seekers as families are three of the biggest problems that we need to fix. , jeffthe attorney general sessions, announcing he was deploying dozens of prosecutors and 18 immigration judges to the u.s.-mexico border to help with the problem. here are some of what he said. [video clip] sessions: we are announcing we are adding to the border to process entries to our border. moving 18 immigration judges to the border. these are supervisory judges that do not have existing

able tos and will be function full-time on moving the cases. it will be a 50% increase in the number of immigration judges handling the asylum claims. we will not let this country be overwhelmed. people are not going to caravan or stampede our border. we need legality and integrity in the system. people should wait their turn. they should ask to apply lawfully. we are sending a message worldwide, do not come illegally. make your claim to enter in the lawful way and wait your turn. host: your reaction to the announcement? guest: he talked about the deployment of judges to the border region and the deployment of u.s. attorneys to do persecutions. the main concern that i have about the second component is that the persecution of

will convene u.s. and national law. it for bids penalizing asylum-seekers when they come to our country. you are fleeing from the kinds of horrific what do we do? we say we are going to prosecute you for illegally entering our country. provides special provisions for asylum seekers with the idea if you fled from terrible conditions, civil war, another conflict, you may not have had time to go to the consulate to seek a visa or gather the papers to prove your

situation. many people come to the united states first and then seek asylum later. our law provides we are not going to treat them and penalize them for not going into the united states, entering our country in the usual methods, but they still have that right to seek asylum. my concern is that the attorney general just talked about, that by prosecuting them for seeking asylum, not just this administration, but administrations, is contravening our obligations under u.s. and international law. immigration council has done a great report explaining why the law is being violated when you prosecute these asylum-seekers. on the court issue, it is important there are enough judges process these cases. i do not know if they -- .