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from politico. can you talk about the homeland security secretary >> what is homeland security's role in border security? guest: as homeland security secretary, she is the chief cabinet member responsible for immigration enforcement. with this particular administration you have president trump, illegal immigration is a major focus and he wants to make progress. there is an enormous amount of pressure for her to deliver. that has come to a head in the last week or so. in particular, reports that during a cabinet meeting on wednesday, president trump went on a rant about it illegal immigration. sheng that cabinet meeting took it personally. she even considered quitting. to the point where according to fox news, john kelly actually and imploredielsen

her not to quit. it came to a point where there were tensions between her and trump, and it almost seemed like she would have to leave her job. the president is rightly frustrated that the loophole has prevented this administration from securing the border and protecting the american people. i share that frustration. are complicated issues. why do you think about that response and arguments that she makes? the tsa spokesperson tweeted it was not true that she was close to resigning and drafted a resignation letter. two days later john kelly told

another media outlet that he asked her not to quit, which seemed to confirm the story to begin with. in a tight spot with the president. there is so much that a secretary can do. some of the changes he would like to see have to be done by congress or would require an agreement with mexico, for instance, on immigration issues. she can act within a certain sphere of influence, but has limitations on what she can do. host: that hearing will have an earlier. -- will happen later. if you have questions about her role in national security, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. for did the president use nothing has been being done? she was previously john

kelly's deputy at the white house. the expectations are high from president trump. during his first year in office, border arrests dropped to the 1971. level since that has not been maintained. it has started to pick up. the president is saying that border arrests are increasing. there was a caravan of migrants traveling through mexico that caught the president's attention. andresumably saw them on tv tweeted about them repeatedly. this issue was on the forefront of his mind and he was not abc and the progress that he wanted border arrests were dropping. when it comes to the hearing, what is she being questioned about, and what kind

of responses to the topic of border security will happen? guest: the hearing is supposed president'sthe budget request, $1.6 billion for a border wall and $80 million over a longer time to build the border wall. the justice department, homeland security department, announced they wanted to refer 100% of people crossing the border illegally for persecution. it means families could be separated when they are crossing the border. that is also a topic she will face at the hearing today. host: overall strategy, is it still based on the wall, or are there other aspects homeland security could use? guest: they still think, the administration, thinks the wall is a central component of their

border strategy. they are trying whatever they can do to bring arrests down, to bring crossings down. this policy, referring everyone for persecution at the border, is meant to be used as a deterrent to keep people from crossing. they are encouraging people, for example, who might want to request asylum to not try to cross the border illegally and go to a port of entry, which is committing a crime, and request asylum when they get there. -- : guest: she at least has some time in this position. come out withrump cabinet secretaries, and there may have been tengion, but he hasn't taken action for some time. if the relationship doesn't seem to repair itself, it might be months before he decides to let

her go or she decides she doesn't want to be in the role. that she isyou say a loyal supporter of president trump? how would you describe her? guest: there seems to be a campaign amongst advisors who are painting her in the picture of a never trumper. that she was not an original trump supporter. i cannot say for sure, but i can't say she was part of the george w. bush administration and she worked at the homeland security department before that. that is the case for many people it vhs. some people were with the -- dhs. some people were with the obama administration. execute theble to president's mission and work for previous presidents, certainly. "ost: ted hesson from "politico joins us. teresa from columbus, ohio. caller: hi, thank you so much

for c-span. is, as a border security policy, isn't this a property rights policy, too? if i was in my backyard having a barbecue and 20 strangers started rolling through, i would be appalled. i don't think that people have a put that on people's land because they have a goal that is in their interest and i forgo my right to have my private property. thet this just as much of whole makeup? i certainly wouldn't want to live next to the border with this going on. i wouldn't want to live in columbus, ohio with this going on. can you talk about private property rights and where people fit in? a good question.

there are plenty of people you would talk to you at the border that are concerned with people crossing and paying on their property. part of the mission of what homeland security is asking for pushing people towards ports of entry is to discourage it regular crossings at the border. the private property debate goes both ways. they are talking about building a wall, and plenty of people would not like to see that and are not willing to surrender their property for that. host: beaverton, oregon. say in of it like to terms of the overall -- i would like to say the overall border policy is repugnant. it has increased potentially in 2019 up to 52,000. in terms of the justice department declaring they have

no problems separating families, i just do not understand that. a couple of weeks ago i went to the head of catholic charities. she talks about -- he talked respectingicians her. they will be a point where the people of faith will not simply want to be respected. they will want to be heard. guest: i know you raised the detention bed question. the 52,000 or so is what the administration is requesting in their fiscal 2019 budget. i think it will be a question of separating families, of course, some people have ethic issues with that and what it could mean for kids psychologically and years to come that they were

split from their parents for may be months at a time and placed in restrictive settings. that said, the administration is considering this a deterrent. host: you can see this hearing on c-span.org. if you go to our website you can get all of the information on the hearing and border security topics at c-span.org. san antonio, texas, republican line. yes, sir. i think president trump has hit the nail on the head. we need to secure our borders. we are still a nation. borders without is eroded over time. a lot of people want to come in -- and you know, but they have to come across legal. we don't want riffraff, we want

people that want to work and make an honest living. secure our borders because the drugs are pouring across. americans deserve it. we pay taxes, we want to live secure and our homes. i think president trump is heading in the right direction, whether we need a wall, a wider river,, whatever it takes to secure the north, south, east, west, whatever it takes time for it and go president trump. i thought ofestion is where border arrests stand. vocalesident has been that they have increased and he is not happy. through march and april. last year they reached the lowest point in decades. a report inut out september are the border is harder to cross illegally than it ever has before by all the

metrics they have. i think the border is quite secure. whether some people think it could be taken further is another question. host: (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. independents, (202) 748-8002. host: the ninth circuit court of appeals takes a look at a case involving the daca program and the trump administration. what will happen? guest: this allows young undocumented immigrants to apply for work permits and have some deportation relief. not renew the program. a federal judge in san francisco in january blocked trump's decision to and the program meaning that the administration had to keep accepting renewals through daca.

appealed, and now we are at the ninth circuit where therguments, administration hopes to convince the appeals court to overturn the block on the decision. host: you can see the hearing live at 4:00 this afternoon. if you miss it, it will re-air on c-span 2 at 8:00 this afternoon. we will get you to respond. [video clip] >> more than two months have passed since the administration the daca program. during our meeting last week, when the issue of daca was raised, i was encouraged to hear you say you want to work on this. daca include hundreds of thousands of individuals and servingcolleges

in the military. every day since that announcement was made and before terrified.p every night they are afraid there will be a knock on their door at midnight removing them from their home and tearing them family.om their do you agree that legislation must be passed to protect these young people before the end of this calendar year? >> we owe it to them to find a permanent solution. it is no way to expect anyone to live 2 months at a time. >> hopefully we will be working in a bipartisan way. if confirmed, will you commit these young people will not be ement priority while congress is working to fix this problem? >> yes, ma'am. host: the secretary's role in

daca overall as the solution is being sought? is forced tourt continue accepting renewals. they are still seeking to end the program as they originally intended. what you heard in nielsen's comments about wanting a legislative solution, the white house says they do want some kind of law passed in congress to solve the daca program. very high.price is they are not just wanting to pass a law to legalize dreamers enrolled in the program, they would like other things that involve a border wall and funding for that, cutting legal immigration in half, which is not palatable to democrats and many republicans, and what they loopholes,g asylum which would reform asylum laws. though they say they want administration to deal with dreamers, they want that and a

much grander package of laws. host: looking at the larger issue of daca, is this part of the permanent solution or is there reality to this effort? guest: what you have in the house are some republican to feel they need to take action on daca and are pushing a discharge petition so the house will vote on it. get 218 signatures before it can move forward. i'm not sure it will get to that at the moment. even if it can advance, it needs to pass in the senate and the president needs to sign it. the white house has said they would reject legislation that doesn't deal with other security measures. and: the immigration employment reporter from politico joining us. hello. pedro. good morning, i was listening to him talk about arrests on our border today. the arrest is where you have to detain somebody.

what he doesn't talk about is what is called apprehensions and kickbacks. in operationrted in 1950k in -- wetback five. that is a skewed way of saying something. when i hear these people talk like of this, it makes me wonder, it is no different than obama. before obama started with a deportation hearing. obama got smart and said we are going to call deportations -- apprehensions and kickbacks deportations. that is skewing the numbers. obama never deported close to as many people as past administrations. these people are skewing things a bad just for

political party. wouldn't it be fun to go into the editorial board when they are sitting down for a meeting and hearing how they are going to write something? host: what would you like our guest to clarify? caller: when he is talking about the lowest amount of arrests? what does that mean? an arrest means that you have to detain someone. guest: border apprehensions. that is often used for proxy for people crossing the border illegally. they don't have a perfect way to judge how many people try to cross every month, but they can track border arrests and apprehensions is another word for it. those numbers have stood up to scrutiny. they have been looked at externally over time. people do think they are reliable and trustworthy. whether there are different metrics you can look at, people

that were pushed back and go is anotherico, that thing, but following border arrests i think it is indisputable they dropped through the first year of the trump presidency and are starting to pick back up now. host: susan, hello. caller: i am from the maryland area. lots of businesses by the shore are closing. they used seasonal workers. a lot of them voted for trump. i have some of them that our friends. where going to find out what happens when you do not allow people to do jobs that americans are not doing. you are not going to get these people addicted to opioids to do the work. maybe this is a lesson we will learn when you vote for someone that really doesn't care. host: and that 50,000 workers will be added for the summertime, paint that into the

picture. the administration is considering adding 15,000 or so pieces coming -- 15,000 or so guestworker visas for seasonal jobs. those businesses have been clamoring for more guestworkers in recent months. the administration is of super open to the idea bringing a bigger guestworker program into the country, and have been careful about how far they will go for this. hasetary kirstjen nielsen said they are considering adding more pieces. it is reported 15,000 or so could be added. host: democrats line. caller: i'm talking about the children being separated.

judges onmigration c-span where they spoke about the guatemalan mother who had come in illegally and paid a coyote to deliver her child to the border guard. sometimes people are deliberately separating themselves from their children because it is to their vantage. advantage. i'm not for separating children, but this is a complicated issue. guest: it is complicated, and some people are probably traveling to the border and ascending for their kids to unify with them later. the administration is taking deterrent steps to say all people who attempt to cross illegally, we will persecute them. if we separate families, then we separate families. they're hoping that deters people not to come. host: the migrant caravan, what happened? guest: it was an activist

movement that had happened a few times in years past. some of them reached the border, not the number traveling originally. 150 or so ended up seeking asylum in the u.s. when that happens, people will drop out of sight. they will cross into the country. entry, went to a port of they will likely be released with a notice to appear. and lest their lawyers publicize their cases, we might not know exactly how they end. host: independent line from north carolina. my question is with the mexican government. of millionsds of dollars in trade with them each year, why can't they provide jobs for their own people? that should be throughout the

whole of south america. guest: one interesting trend is in recent years the level of illegal immigration from mexico has decreased quite a bit. more with the administration seems to be focusing on people arriving from central american countries. it is a different economic picture than in mexico right now. there is instability economically and violence and gang violence. all those factors are pulling people appear. that said, the trump administration would love to come to an agreement with mexico where mexico accepts some of the central american asylum-seekers. sorthave not reached that of agreement yet, but that is something they will love to come to if they could. host: richard, kansas, independent line. caller: my comment is i have republican-ledhe

congress and administration is more concerned confirming judges to change the laws, which will have a big effect on immigration , sanctuary cities. that's all i have. thank you, very much. guest: certainly a lot of the immigration policy has played out in the courts cents trump -- since trump took office. there has been his travel ban policy, three versions that have ended up in federal courts one way or the other. sanctuary cities is another one. it is interesting, the role of the judiciary is playing in whether these policies are able to go forward or not. administration bolstering judges or those who deal with the issue? to theconfirming judges federal judiciary. immigration lawyers are part of the judiciary department.

they want funding for more of the judges, but it is a question of securing the resources to hire more judges, which they would like to do more of in the future. host: one more call from the republican line. morning, gentlemen. there is a a lot of talk about the ethical problem of theyating families once get here. what about the ethical problem of the people bringing the kids on a dangerous, dangerous journey to bring them into a country illegally, kids illegally, and live in the , or hiring coyotes? the coyotes, people don't have the money to give the coyotes and they are sold into ,lavery, ms 13 and other gangs to do prostitution and drugs. it is always us that is bad,

what about these parents letting.their kids going on a dangerous journey they could get killed, raped, whatever. what about that ethical part? guest: that is a consideration. i have heard the ice acting director talk about things you mentioned, how it is a dangerous journey and how people shouldn't be making it. he will say the administration has a responsibility to discourage people from making the trip because it is dangerous and they could come to harm. , you can findon his work at >> c-span's "washington journal" live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up, wednesday morning, democratic congressman tim ryan talks about the 2018 election. then politico tech reporter on

senate vote on reinstating net neutrality rules. live from bismarck, north dakota, for the next stop on our 50 capitals tour with north dakota's governor who will talk in hisop policy issues state. journal," liveon at 7:00 a.m. eastern. majority leader mitch mcconnell held a news conference meetingllowing a lunch on capitol hill with president trump and g.o.p. senators and variety ofons on a topics, including the u.s. embassy moving to jerusalem, as rules andnate procedures.