a number of president trump's ambassador nominees take questions at a senate foreign relations hearing that include nominations for the european union, belgium, and zimbabwe. that is at 2:00 p.m. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies and today we bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. coming up on "washington journal" we are in juneau, alaska for the next stop on c-span's 50 capitals tour. the alaska governor joins us to talk about issues facing his state and a texas democratic

congressman discusses border security and immigration policy legislation the house is working on. i will republican congressman steve king talks about president trump's executive order on migrant children separations. pres. trump: we don't like to see families separated. at the same time, we don't like people coming into our country illegally. this solves the problem. ♪ host: that was president trump yesterday in the oval office after signing an executive order . today the house has teed up votes on a pair of republican immigration overhaul proposals. it is unclear whether either has the support to pass. we went to hear from you.

you can also catch up with us on social media on twitter @ cspanwj, and on facebook.com/cspan. those twotees up pieces of legislation the day after president trump reversed course on whether he could end childhood separations through an executive order. here are some of the headlines in this morning's paper. "trumpw york times," halts separating migrant families." post," "ok fine, i'll fix it."

"the daily news," "free your hostages." from the conservative newsmax website, "trump order will remain -trp border will remain tough despite order against separations." order states it is now the policy of the trump administration to keep families together. it appears to envision a system in which families will be housed together in an ad hoc detention center, including on military bases, that the ministration hopes a court will approve. it calls for many agencies including the pentagon to make available existing facilities or to construct them for the dertment of homeland security to use for the housing and care of alien families. here is the president yesterday, moments after signing that executive order. pres. trump: the border is just as tough, but we do want to keep families together.

this is a problem, if you look at some of those horrible scenes from a few years ago, to me they were horrible scenes. they were just terrible. and that was during the obama administration. other administrations have had the same thing. we are keeping the family together, so this is it. and also there may be some litigation. we are also wanting to go through congress. we will be going through congress. we are working on a much more comprehensive bill. a lot of good things are ,appening toward immigration but we have to have strong borders, and ultimately we want to see it done right, and it will be done right. but what we have done today is we are keeping families together. the borders are just as tough, just as strong. they can come in through ports of interest if they want. that as a whole different -- ports of entry if they want. that is a whole different process. that is what we want. host: getting your calls this morning on a two-hour "washington journal."

different line for democrats, republicans, and independents. john is up first from myrtle beach, south carolina. republican. caller: yes sir. this is an unfortunate scene with the children situati. however, i feel that this is being driven as a that version. the -- as a diversion. the children have been separated by the obama administration in the past. but in the past, we didn't see the collusion coming out of the white house using the fbi, the doj, the secretary of state's office, etc. to basically drive an election to a desired result. i believe that this is mainly being pushed as a diversion because the american populace has been kept in the dark, and they really don't understand that we have a soft coup using administrative agencies to try

and throw the last election. host: bring it to the president's actions yesterday. would using changed for the president with the issuing of this executive order after saying that this couldn't be fixed by executive order? caller: well, it is amazing how everybody screams about executive orders and him doing them and also obama doing them, they don't want the results hanging around their neck they will all of a sudden scream to have an executive order done. well, the executive order he issued yesterday basically said keep the immigration system the same way it is except don't separate families. well, i think the left is trying to use this either is a fast fix to push the daca deal or just to get rid of immigration law in its entirety. host: david is also in south

carolina, a democrat. though ahead. caller: i believe the guy has a little bit of a point, but what i really believe is i remember when he was running for the presidency, his wife had a problem immigration -- problem about immigration. does that mean his wife and his get our illegals? he said he was going to fix it and have it put out that she was legal, but it never happened. so just prove that, and i only want to say one more thing. have him prove his taxes and all this stuff will be over. thank you. host: eddie is in illinois independent -- illinois, independent. go-ahead. caller: i am glad to see that andpresident has a heart, he is trying to do see right thing. to really have to be blind

say the things that they are saying about him. i am just glad he is doing a great job. thank you. host: riverside, california's next. tim, republican. caller: i look at it this way. should justump stick with what the laws of the land has going on. whatever the law says, just go by. restate the laws of the land. that's all we have to do. if you get a speeding ticket, you have to pay your ticket or go to jail. that's all i have to say. host: plenty of articles today focusing on what changed for the president over the past week. here is one from "usa today." "trump pressed by own party and own family," focusing on first daughternia trump and

ivanka. "it was another case of president trump taking action because of disturbing images of children on television. the abrupt action was reminiscent of mr. trump's decision in april 2017 to hold syria's military accountable for a deadly chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of civilians, including small children who were shown on tv." that is on the front page of today's "washington times." entree is in maryland on the line -- andre is in maryland on the line for democrats. caller: donald trump brought up that peoplekets, are using children as tickets to get into the country. donald trump used groping women as tickets for their salaries. he should be an international criminal. that is all i have to say.

host: even is in new hampshire .- ethan is in new hampshire caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say i think president trump did the right thing yesterday by not separating the families and still be in strict with immigration, and i hope he gets the wall built, and i think he will get the wall built. host: plenty of questions after that executive order, including what happens to the children who have already been separated from their parents. "the new york times" taking up that question. "the administration said it would not initially separate children from families detained at the border, but the agency retreated later yesterday evening, saying it is still very early and we are waiting for further guidance on that order. always theon is

goal, noting the department was working towards that for children already affected by the president's policy. the children could be reunited with relatives and appropriate sponsors, not necessarily to parents they were separated from at the border. 2000 or separated from their parents at the border and placed in government license shelters." inler: i don't usually call unless it is something i'm serious about. donald trump has done something that i didn't agree with, and i made those clear. but president donald trump is exactly right on this issue. he is exactly right. thank you. have a nice day. host: exactly right how, fred? what do you think he is right on? merle in columbia, south

carolina, on the line for democrats. and i'mmy name is merle calling to say that the government of president trump is very wrong to separate the children from their parents. startingdevelopment mainly when people are young. for instance, i wasn't brought up with my mother or father, but you know who i was brought up with? my grandmother and grandfather, and my uncles and cousins and everything. alle kids have no one at that they know. i don't know why the president kids onnt on separating immigration. listen to this that i saw. 's grandfather was

friedrich drumpf from germany. in 1940, his father changed his name from drumpf to trump. then he lied and said he was was sweden because germany not popular in those days. he said it was not good for his business. host: bring that into yesterday and today. caller: well, yesterday and today, for the site i am seeing, it is awful. years, i have never seen that yet. i am an immigrant myself, but i came here because a hospital sent for me. i am a retired nurse. in all my work from new york to miami to south carolina, i

have never seen visuals like that. it is awful. tears come to my eyes. i have to turn every time that thing come. it is very wrong to separate the kids. what will happen to the others that were already separated? host: that is one of the questions being asked today. we will certainly keep you updated on what happens throughout the day after the president's executive order yesterday. here's more reaction from twitter. "he caused the problem, so giving him credit for stopping it is completely unjustified." "it is good they are keeping the families together. however, there is no plan for the kids effectively orphaned. a long-term comprehensive plan is needed, and now." "the democrats really care about the immigrants, or would they prefer to have that for what they feel is political gain?" the house of representatives are

in atlantic have to start work on two immigration overhaul proposals. they will be debated and eventually voted on, expected around dinner tonight. here is the fox news story about it. "the house of representatives barreling toward votes on two major truck backed immigration -- trump backed immigration proposals. one of the bills, a compromise approach branded by majority whip steve scully's as the theident's bill, would fund president's border wall to the tune of 25 million -- of $25 billion. it would also provide a pathway to citizenship for nearly one point 8 million so-called dreamers, illegal immigrants brought to the u.s. at a young age. the other bill up for a vote thursday put together by bob goodlatte of virginia takes a more conservative approach.

it would afford the nearly 700,000 daca recipients only a temporary protected legal status that could be indefinitely renewed." ryan: tomorrow the house will vote on legislation to keep families together. for people are prosecuted illegally crossing the border, families will remain together throughout the length of their legal proceedings. additional funding is also going to be made available so that dhs has sufficient resources to house and care for families during this entire process. this is obviously something we discussed last night with the president at our conference, and i hope we will be able to pass this tomorrow. , we areine is this going to take action to keep families together while we enforce our immigration laws. host: that was speaker ryan yesterday at his weekly press conference on capitol hill. some reporting from politico in

blog about what is happening today behind the houseboatsd of these -- these house votes. "there was drama in the house between hou freedom caucus chairman mark meadows, who got battle withd speaker paul ryan in the middle of the house floor vote late wednesday afternoon. meadows approached ryan on the house floor in what appeared to be something in a fit of rage. pointed their fingers at each other, and the republican said to ryan, "i don't care anymore. i'm done." this was the house feed yesterday at about 4:15. you can see the debate taking place in the center of the picture between mark meadows and speaker ryan. more from politico playbook, "it

was clear that the pair had a significant disagreement about the immigration bill, but it was not clear what the discriminate was." post," "ithington was clear that meadows thought someone was pulling a fast one on him." again, that discussion taking place down in the middle of that picture, right under the no vote s, with a heated discussion on the house floor yesterday. we will see what happens. several news outlets pointing out it is unclear whether either of the two pieces of immigration legislation have the support to pass today. we would take you there live for coverage. that to your calls. david in -- back to your calls. david in georgia, go ahead. caller: it is funny that they've hid the little girls. know what has said anything about that.

when the slaves came over here, they separated the men from the women, the children from everybody. this is the same thing that was done. you look at what happened with katrina. they did the same thing then. they separated the men from the woman and the children from their parents. and there was another catastrophe that happened -- i can room for -- i can't remember. they only separate the black families. they made a point to say they did not do that to the white families in that same predicament. lastly, we destroy all of these countries. we deplete their resourc. we kill their political systems. we do all this stuff to these people, and they want to run and come here, we get madame want to vilify them. -- we want to get mad at them and kill of -- and vilify them.

america is a heartless country. we do things to people and then to goo soul or whatever by. anyway, we just have to do things a little bit better in that sense. host: patty is next in florida on the line for democrats. caller: good morning. [indiscernible] -- he said everything i want it to say in a nutshell. i am not a democrat. i am not a republican. i am just listening to everything that is going on here. it is not right. i think the dhs secretary should remind it -- should resign immediately. the president should apologize to the world for these

despicable acts. and the girls, where are the girls? they are hiding everything from at everybody. we need to know more. what they signed yesterday, i don't think it is true. they are hiding it. they are lying. they need to let us know what is the situation. rstjen nielsenki should resign, the president should apologize to the world. host: the text of the president's executive order you can read at whitehouse.gov. the two proposals that will make their way to the floor in the house today we have on www.c-span.org if you want to read goes ahead of today's debate. bob on the line for republicans,

go ahead. caller: thanks. one thatt is close to carol sent on twitter just a few minutes ago. last time i checked, there's two parties in the united states, democrats and republicans. a question to you, john. why is it c-span hasn't had anything about how the general public feels about the democrats come in at only the response and what they are doing in this situation with the children and/or immigration, but in general? why don't you solicit comments on how the demrats are working? everything is with republicans or trump, primarily trump. we don't hear anything about what the democrats' position are. we know they are going to oppose and refuse this immigration bill. we know that. no matter what is put up, they are going to oppose it. we know the democrats are already going against the president.

why does the media focus on what democrats do? that is my question. why hasn't c-span put out a show that discusses how the public would feel about how the democrats are acting? host: bob, our entire show is people calling in to talk about how they are feeling about how congress is acting, public policy. we have been bringing you throughout the past week as this has been happening comments from democrats and republicans, and hearing from you. i've got a democratic member of congress coming on at 8:00. what question would you like me to ask him? we lost the caller. tom is in fort lauderdale, florida. line for independents. go ahead. caller: good morning. i have a point and a question. is these refugees are put on military bases and these truly are republican concentration camps, the question i have is where is the secretary of health and human services? how many reporters are working

in washington? how many magazines? how many networks? how many stories this week have you had of the health and human services secretary, where he is? he is the guy responsible for these kids. fors the guy responsible their names, for knowing who they are and their parents are and where they are. ere is he today? host: last night he was speaking with "the washington post" about the detention facilities. here is some of that conversation. >> have you visited any of these facilities? ? where and when? >> i am not going to disclose the particular facility. i think it is not good we have been having so much attention focused on them, and can actually subject our children to risk. i don't want to do that. i have are easily been to a facility, and as i said, the people who these take care of these children have a deep passion and sense of

mission for caring for these kids. they are out in the child welfare business to make sure these kids are well cared for. they are trying to get them place with appropriate sponsors, providing them with education, they have their meals and athletics everyday. we believe we are doing our best to care for these children extremely well. >> do you feel as though you've been treated unfairly? there's been a lot of criticism in the last couple of weeks about how these children are kept. >> the members of congress who have actually visited the facilities as opposed to those simply talking about it, i think they've been impressed by the level of care and the quality of services provided to these children. we are doing it under a consent decree, so there is a court monitoring.

we do it quite well and take the mission quite seriously. host: that was hhs secretary alex cesar. your thoughts after listening to that. caller: does he know their names, and does he know the parents?their parents? if one child is missing or one child is harmed, he is criminally liable. thank you. host: david in arizona, line for republicans. go ahead. caller: good morning. i was just wondering if anyone out there is aware of the company with the contracts to shelter illegal kids. , i wonder whys there is no comments or anybody making comments as far as that goes. host: ok. nat in baltimore, maryland. republican. go ahead. caller: hello. i'm very happy about having c-span. sometimes i wonder how you and

the other hosts managed to keep a straight face with some of the comments. they keep saying it is the responsibility of health and human services or someone else. it is the responsibility of parents. they are just taking the child by the hand, turn them around, walked back across the border, they wouldn't have been separated. it is something that i would do, and that any responsible parent would do. number two, i have seen four clips of president obama saying precisely what president trump has said. , i saw thisto that show that shows these kids behind this cage, and then casually we found out that the picture was taken in 2014.

i think president obama was in the office at that time. lastly, i would like to say that illegal is still the functioning word, and it is just a shame that in no way has the democrats, who should now be called the madison avenue party, been responsible for these irrational statements that have come out in the last two weeks. host: here's some of the op-ed in today's papers about the president's executive order. from "usa today," "trump caves on immigrant children." "trumpshington times," order prohibiting separation of children was the right thing to do." in "the new york times," andrew

cuomo, the governor of new york, "youhis piece, writing than 2200buse be more children that have been separated from their parents with the swipe of a pen. the policy has already done potentially irreparable harm to these children who are pawns in the president's political agenda, and the order includes no plan to reunite these children with their parents, something that should be done as quickly as possible." arnold in tennessee, the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i would just like to say that love is the answer. that is an absolute. and also to remind people that god is love. who you serve throughout your lifetime depends on the success you have in your life. you have to serve somebody. as bob dylan said, "everybody is

going to serve somebody." it may be the devil or it may be the lord. we need to serve love. it is online and it is free.at. there's no charge for it. godislove.org. , talking about the immigrants, that you must obey our laws, and what that really means is you must obey our laws even if it kills you, and folks aren't going to do that. on earlier whor said these families should just turn around and walk back across the border. they are walking into death, and they are not going to do that. we have to have compassion and love for each other. that is the only answer. thank you. host: it is approaching 7:30 on the east coast.

having this conversation with you this morning in the wake of the president's executive order yesterday, and ahead of those two key immigration votes expected on the floor of the one other story to keep an eye on today is this. "the wall street journal," "the white house set to propose merging the labor and education departments of art of a reorganization of the federal .overnment changes would require approval from congress, but it isn't clear that lawmakers have the appetite to take on such far-reaching reorganization, especially at this point in the political calendar. republicans during the clinton administration proposed emergency departments, along with the equal employment , namingities commission

it the department of employ -- of education and employment. at the time, the government accountability office predicted an agency with a budget of $71 billion and 25,000 people." 's supreme court decision expected to be released at the a.m. on0. -- several different cases. and for those decisions stories to start trickling out at about 10:00 this morning. steve is in new jersey, line for democrats. good morning. caller: hi.

democrat, but since reagan i just don't vote for democrats. a few items have been overlooked. when u.s. citizens are arrested or detained by fbi, atf, u.s. marshals, even ice and custom border patrol, it is procedure for the adult to be separated from any minor. this happens every day. the special consideration for foreigners, illegal aliens? what gives them the special right? well, it is the democrats bussard to say. trump -- democrats, sorry to say. trump is absolutely right. the separation is necessary because if the adult and minor are together in the judicial process, there is a limit regarding days -- i guess it is

20 days -- and if there is no adjudication within that period, they are allowed to leave and have to come back within a year or two before a judge, but that never happens. i was watching c-span the other day. it was a month ago. and iceple from cbp were before congress. those were their facts. 80% leave, 20% stay. out of those 20% stake, only 20% are granted asylum, which would be 2%. anyway, the asylum laws, the bar is so low that all you have to posbility that they might be hurt by going back. it is so low. happen with the law, it will probably be challenged by the trump

.dministration but one question not being asked about is mexico. people are crossing into mexico. why does mexico not help these people? grantes not mexico asylum? host:host: that is steve in new jersey. this is mark, independent. go ahead. caller: just hear me out a minute. i think trump is right in this regard. he's proven that democrats and republicans don't want to do nothing about this. whenever president obama, during his eight years, even when he had the house and the senate, he never got an immigration bill from democrats, so all this stuff that democrats are doing, acting like they care so much, they didn't care a damn about it

at that time. presidents obama and trump both wanted immigration bills. they never got one. so something needs to be done there. the other thing about the $32,000 we spend per child coming in, illegal child, did you know that there's 2000 or something kids that the media and all of them are in hysteria about -- look, i feel for them, but do you know that there's 300,000 kids taken from their families for social services? i haven't seen y'all post that on c-span. i haven't seen you all ask what we should be doing about that, what we should do about them. imagine what we could do with all these children being torn apart from their families. 90% of them shouldn't have been taken away.

we should have been helping them. and i agree. whetherto do something, it is give money to mexico to keep these families from coming at the border, try to help them, building a wall. there's a lot of things, but democrats don't want to do anything. republicans don't want to do anything. what trump did, which he was right to do, was show that democrats and republicans don't want to fix this. that is all in saying. host: more of your calls in just a second. one other piece of legislation we have been following is that attempt at rescissions from the federal budget. the hill with the story on the vote in the senate yesterday. the senate narrowly rejected the president's planned to call back some $50 billion in spending approved by congress earlier this year in a 48-50 vote. senators failed to discharge the vote from committee. a majority vote was needed for that. republican senators richard burr

of north carolina and susan collins of maine joined 48 numbers of the democratic caucus in voting against bringing up that bill. "my belief," said senator that it is the job of congress to comb through these accounts, and that is what we do on the appropriations committee." a burr aide said he voted no on moving forward because he couldn't get a promise that his amendment addressing cuts to the land and water conservation fund would receive a vote. and another story focusing on last week's meeting between the president and kim jong-un of "the korea, "the near -- military expecting the return of of service members from north korea." president trump was speaking at a rally in minnesota last night

and seems to suggest the transfer had already occurred. "we got that our great fallen heroes. ,lready 200 have been sent back according to the in my accounting agency. 7700 american service members remain unaccounted for from the korean war, and about 5000 800 are believed to be located within north korea." speaking of the president's rally in minnesota last night, here is more of what the president had to say to that route last night that to that crowd last night. -- to that crowd last night. pres. trump: so the democrats want open borders. let everybody come in. [booing] let everyone poor in the we don't care. let them come in from the middle east. we don't care. we are not going to let it happen. and by the way, today i signed an executive order. we are going to keep families together, but the border is going to be just as tough as it has been. [cheers and applause]

democrats don't care about the impact of uncontrolled migration on your communities, your schools, your hospitals, your jobs or your safety. democrats put illegal immigrants before they put american citizens. what the hell is going on? [booing] illegal immigration costs our country hundreds of billions of dollars, so imagine if we could spend that money to help bring opportunity to our inner cities and our world communities and our roads and our highways and our schools. [cheers and applause] >> build that wall, build that

wall, build that wall! pres. trump: so we've already started the wall. we've got $1.6 million. the wall has been started. san diego and lots of different places, but boy it is tough. they want to do anything they can to obstruct and to make sure it doesn't happen, but it is happening. it's happening. morninge headlines this from the free press, which serves south-central minnesota, "ruckus in duluth. trump takes a hard line on immigrants." here's a few more headlines focusing on the executive order yesterday. from "the metro" from new york city, asking whether president is "the great reunite her." -- the great reuniter." " immigrant families must wait for reunion." "trump bows to pressure."

" the immigration issue roars on." sandra in arizona on the line for independents. caller: yes. if you could there with me because of medication i'm on, i forget words. i've been watching the spanish news. up on that little girl that they showed crying when her mother puts her down, that child was never separated from her mother. there's also another picture that's been going around of a little boy that is holding on to a fence and crying. rallyalso, they were at a and a protest, that would was there -- that boy was there. he wasn't even behind the gate. host: sandra, you saw this on which news channel? caller: on spanish -- i

sometimes keep notes as of my memory. i watch telemundo and another one. there's about four or five mexican channels that i watch. if i want to get good news, watch that. bipartisan because they have both sides of each story that they present. that is real journalism there. aware.e they were interviewing some women across the border before they came, these last people gate.ame through the excuse me. host: we will go to crystal in florida, the line for republicans. go ahead.

caller: good morning. i just want to say no one is talking about that these families are paying $5,000 to $7,500 to the cartel, ms 13 to get over here. named leon professor from michigan state that was on one of the c-span shows a few months ago. that they control the people getting on that train to get to hear, and mexico gets hate off -- to here, and mexico gets paid off. no one talks about. host: what should we be talking about that, and what should happen once they are here? caller: send them back. it is not right. the rest of the world would love to come here that fast, and people have to wait years. it's not right. host: ok. gene in maryland, on the line

for democrats. caller: good morning. pardon me for sharing this with you. i was asleep last night and woke up, and all of a sudden through my dreams i thought, what is happening to the young boys and girls? are they being drugged? are they being injected? are they being given food? i am very concerned about that. and immediately, i called congressmen and senators across the nation about that particular issue. two, for all of us out followedamerica who the attorney general's thing about the bible, i would recommend that they read a "washington times" article that deals with a book called

"grounded in the word," by dr. eugene williams sr. and dr. eugene williams jr. it is on amazon.com. number three, i called because i am really upset and disturbed. with all the people who want to know who i am, just google. host: all right. about thestories treatment of children in federal custody. revealnews.orgm with a story about a lawsuit claiming some children have been forcibly injected with drugs and some treatment centers. ae associated press also with story about young immigrants detained in virginia centers and allegations of abuse. some of those stories stting to trickle out. we will certainly follow those and see what happens in the coming days and weeks. that is going to do it for this

open phone segment of "washington journal." up next, we will hear from two members of congress. first up, vincent a gonzalez of texas, a democrat. later we will be joined by steve king of iowa. the c-span tours bus is working its way across the united states. this way the bus made it to the nation's northernmost state capital. >> welcome to alaska, stop number 38 on our 50 states capitals tour. today we are in the 49th state in the union, and the capital juneau.june oh -- of governor walker, i understand that you can't drive there from juneau. >> that is what is unique about alaska, and certainly about juneau.

once you get here, you are very happy you use whatever mode to get here. it is a beautiful city. >> we appreciate your hospitality. governor walker, can you help us understand the significance of the alaska pipeline and the energy industry to the state of alaska? we are a resource state, for the pipeline has 20% of our nation's oil at one time. to ourbeen crucial economy since the mid-1970's. >> does it preclude you from having a state income or sales tax because of the revenue generated from a pipe line? the income tax, that was the beginning of the oil revenues coming in. alaskans have been very fortunate to be able to live off the resources in our great state

for a long time. we've been very fortunate in that regard. we have other resources. of course, our natural gas up in the north is a very large opportunity for alaska and asia. reporter: governor walker, you just signed the state budget in alaska. there is a pretty substantial cut in funding, and your unemployment rate is high. what is going on economically there? gov. walker: our economy was tied almost solely to oil. almost 90% of our revenue came from oil. with the price dropped from always $100 a barrel to $26 a barrel come up we had to make some changes. it is an adjustment we have long known was going to have to take lace -- take place. we are in the process of doing that now. significant budget cuts and closures of facilities, but the

legislature has passed. now our largest revenue source is really is off of our revenue. earnings from our permanent fund, which is about $65 billion, now generate more revenue than the natural resources. reporter: if you can explain the alaska permanent fund. up inalker: it was set to set aside0's funds for a couple of things. one is to have a dividend program. we the only state that pays out a dividend. we have an annual dividend to every resident of alaska. that wecreates earnings are now going to use a slice of the earnings to help fund a portion of the cost of government. we don't risk the fund in doing that, but it is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the

stes.d states ofny of the the 740,000 people in alaska, how many work in the industry industry? our fishing and tourism industries are very high , but it is a significant generator of jobs, certainly in the top three or four employment in alaska in the energy sector. timeter: you are four zones away from washington, d.c. in much time do you spend washington, and how much attention to you pay to what goes on here? gov. walker: a lot. in fact, i will be there next week for most of the week. land is owned or controlled by the federal government, so we have an ongoing relationship with the federal government since statehood.

it is an important part that we have engagement with all administrations, and we have, certainly throughout my term. we've had significant engagement with the prior and current administration. reporter: trade is a big issue here in washington. you just returned from china recently on a trade mission. what are your thoughts when it comes to the current state of affairs between the u.s. and china? gov. walker: because of our location any resource nature of our state, if we were a nation we would be the eighth resource richest in the world. are location near china makes us a significant resource. we have enough for a 100 year supply of oil and gas to china. that project could be as high as $1 trillion. we will continue to work with china at the highest level, as well as with washington at the highest level, to do what we can.

we think we can be part of the solution, and we will work closely because we want to make sure our commodities are available for trade in the asian market, specifically china. portercan you give us an idea of your background? you are an actual alaska born governor, correct? correct.er: i am the only independent governor in the nation. i don't have a party. i have a state. i am enjoying the opportunity that brings. the lieutenant governor joined our campaign from the democratic ticket for governor. we join what was called the unity ticket. it is a great way to make decisions for a state when every decision is based solely on what is best for the state without party affiliation. we are very fortunate in that regard to be able to have that opportunity. reporter: you were born in fairbanks.

you forced as a carpenter, a laborer on the transatlantic pipeline. can you help us understand the politics a little more, the fact n -- you are in a an independent in the lieutenant governor was a former democrat? gov. walker: neither of us have held public office before. i am from the private sector. is the first government job i've ever had. my wife and i went to law school soon after we were married about 40 years ago. we had a law firm. we've done a lot of things in alaska. i describe myself as a carpenter, and lieutenant governor describes himself as a fisherman. it is kind of unusual. we don't have the political pedigrees that some do, political backgrounds, etc.. we are just a couple of lifelong alaskans doing what we believe is the best for alaska.

a platform ofto some sort other than what is best for alaska. the other event we have that way is i always believe that no one party has a monopoly on a good idea. my cabinet is very widespread with republicans, democrats, independents, non-partisans. it just doesn't matter because we don't have to worry about those kinds of labels. we draw from all sides, and we are very pleased with that. reporter: you are running for reelection this year. will there be a primary for you? there will not. we do not have a primary. we will be in the general election, and look forward to working towards that. governor walker, where do you think you have been successful, and what do you wish you had done better? gov. walker: successful is bringing people together. when we look at some of the

votes last legislative session, some of the most difficult votes in the history of our state, and must alertly unpopular -- most politically unpopular, and it was done on a very bipartisan basis. we had the majority and minority voting together. i think bringing people together really has been my strength, and i think that is what i've done all my life, and i am able to do , bringing a juneau group together that might not otherwise be on the same page. is i have focused so much on our fiscal situation. iran for governor largely because we were in a deficit of $1.6 billion and no one was talking about it because it was not politically comfortable. it bothered me significantly that we were not doing that. the other is we were deciding that we were letting someone else decide how -- we were letting someone off decide how

our resources got developed. i have made some of the most politically unpopular decisions in the history of our state, and i did that because i focused on alaska's future, not my future. that is what got us to where we are. people would kick the can down the road and say i don't want to do on my watch. we finally reached a point where someone had to make some tough decisions. i made some really tough decisions, knowing that if we did not do that, the future of our state as we went through ,tate things -- through savings -- i went through $14 billion in savings. when you look at all the things we can have done with $14 billion, but instead that went to providing services because they are concerned about reaching in and using a portion of the permanent fund. so that got set up. it is structured so it doesn't threaten the fund.

a lot of good things have been happening in the last six months. i'm very pleased about that. reporter: what is the future of medicaid expansion in your state? about 12% of the state budget goes toward medicaid or medicare today. walker: medicaid expansion saved alaska about $16 million in our budget. it is a matter of fact that we use our spending to provide health care for 42,000. i am a cancer survivor of a few years ago. i would not have found that cancer is headed not in for -- -- found that

cancer was enough for that. when people come up and say thank you for the life that you saved, that means an awful lot to me. my own personal experience is something i look at the last in's and hope we are able to maintain the health care coverage we have. reporter: finally, governor walker, does it make to seek that doesn't make sense to keep the capital in juneau when half of the population lives in the anchorage area? well, there's a lot of rich history throughout alaska. every area is unique and special. i am an opponent of the capital staying in juneau. it moved once. very as methods of communication that they can watch live throughout the state gavel-to-gavel. we've caught up with technology to allow people to access that way.

alaska airlines has a contiguous there that is cheaper to come down during the sessions. has done a lotau of work in helping people be a part of this community. everyone feels welcome. as far as i'm concerned, it will stay this way. reporter: bill walker is the governor of alaska, running for reelection this year. he is an independent. thank you for joining us. we also want to thank our cable partners in alaska, host: be sure to tune in the weekend of july 21 and 22nd as we air more programming from our trip to alaska. texas democratic congressman vicente gonzalez joins us. part of his congressional district runs along the border

in mcallen, texas, which has become a flashpoint in the debate. your reaction to the president's executive order. guest: i am happy to see him take some action and it is unfortunate he took so long. several thousand children have been separated that his executive order does not address so it is still a concern, but we are moving in the right direction. host: a column in "the washington post," the lessons of trump's retreat. what was the key in your mind forgetting the president to reverse course for whether an executive order could and family separation? caller: i believe he makes a lot of the decisions based on polling and popularity and how people feel, and i think the pressure was on, not only domestically but internationally. the pope spoke out. the international community spoke out on the issue and i think it had a certain impact. host: was it democratic pressure, republic pressure? guest: i think it was republican

pressure, but just pressure in general. independent pressure from independents. themight have seen some of recent polling, 66% of americans did not approve of ripping children from parents' arms. we still have approximately 2000 kids that have been taken from their parents that have not been reunited. you may have heard a story of a young guatemalan woman who had her child taken from her. she was processed and deported back to guatemala. they had trouble finding her child. that is a huge problem and concern for most members of congress, and the american people. host: what are you doing about it? guest: we are writing letters, putting pressure. .hs knows what they need to do i think this executive order is the right thing, moving in that direction.

we should find a way to reunite the 2000 plus kids separated already. host: is there a way you have in mind? is there a path you are sketching out in that letter? guest: we are asking to reunite now, asking to put them in the same detention center as the family. i am a law and order member of congress on the border. i believe in a strict border security. i don't believe in open borders. i do believe that families need to be united, whether they are granted asylum or whether they will be deported. it needs to be donin a family unit. it is disgraceful that we would take children from their parents, separate them in a very chaotic and unplanned way. we did not have the infrastructure to proceed in the manner we did. obviously, for example in my , atrict, we have a warehouse 75,000 square foot warehouse

with cage like holding cells. andparate men and women separate them by ages. i saw some very young children alone. i saw probably 150 kids in the facility and i did not see a single smile. host: when were you able to get inside? guest: on father's day, so it was a sad day to see fathers alone, away from their kids and children away from their parents. you can blame the parents or you can blame the government or you can blame anyone, but we cannot blame the children. children are sake it and most americans feel that way. host: here are some comments from the health and human services secretary in an interview with "the washington post" yesterday. he said the members who have toured the facilities would be

impressed and talked about the quality of service they are providing. guest: let's talk about that for a second. i agree they are clean, orderly, and air-conditioned, so in that respect he may be right. the fact that we are caging children in kennel like cells is not the american way. the fact that we are taking children from parents is not the way the world views america, and it is certainly not the america of the world knows and loves. most americans, regardless of party affiliation, they do not agree with that. host: we are talking with congressman vicente gonzalez, democrat from texas. if you want to join in the conversation, republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. bring us to what is happening today on capitol hill, these

bills on immigration overhaul and at least one of them deals with family separation. what are they and how are you voting? guest: i am still considering it but i'm probably a know. there is two bills. ,omething we should make clear it is a compromise within the republican party, not a bipartisan compromise. it is a compromise between some extreme right-wing members and more moderate republicans. the dreameraddress issue. it has border wall funding, which for me is a deal killer. i have met with the president several times and we have talked about the border wall. billion -- it would be a monumental waste of taxpayer dollars. i know the border very well and i know that it would not bring real border security. when i met with him, i talked

with him about potentially a virtual wall made of technology with arrow stats and sensors and cameras and maybe better infrastructure along the border. that would bring real border security. i do not think people like to hear the word "virtual" but that would bring cutting-edge technology. a fourth century solution will not work. these walls have been tunneled under come across over. and they be breached will come at a expensive price to the american people. we need to make sure it makes sense. host: the president pushed for pieces of legislation yesterday, talking with members of congress, or republican members. is it your understanding that this vote will go forward today? ere has been some reporting about republicans not having the votes for either of these bills. guest: i heard that yesterday at 7:00 p.m.

i hear that it is going to be voted on today, so we will see what happens. at comes to tell you that both parties, we are far from each other on immigration issues but even within the republican party, there is some dysfunction in terms of being united on immigration. host: congressman vicente gone -- vicente gonzalez is here to take your calls. caller: how are you doing? guest: good. caller: the only way we can solve this whole immigration and mexico,rump because junk does not like latinos. -- trump does not like latinos. if mexico was part of the united states. host: on indexing mexico? guest: obviously, that will never happen. the mexican op proud of their country and i do not see

that realistically happening anytime in the near future. host: can you talk about life along the u.s.-mexico border? there has been a lot of concerns about crime rates from illegal immigration. what is happening in your district? guest: my district is one of the safest cities in the country. we are at a 34 year low. .ckellen is a supersafe city i feel much safer in mcallen, texas than i do in washington, d.c. at the middle of the night. people are shocked to hear that. my district runs from the northeast of san antonio 200 miles down to the mexico border and i live in mcallen, texas. on my phonep comparing crime rates from city to city and i have not found a member with a city safer than mine. something that people do not expect if you just listen to the news, but if you visit you will

find it is a clean, safe, welcoming city with a lot of business opportunities, a lot of commerce because of the north american free trade agreement. we havhaa very good relationship with our neighbors south of the border. violence in the past eight to nine years, for the most part people would cross for lunch or dinner. many people have family members on both sides of the border. we have been friends, neighbors, family, and commercial partners for centuries. host: several members of congress went to that homeland security facility in texas on father's day. did you organize that trip? guest: i was one of the organizers. i took them to the detention center and took them to the bridge in my district, and got to walk on the bridge to visit with some of the asylum-seekers that were waiting in line in 110 degree heat, asking for asylum.

we got to see the operation, the processing center once they are processed. that is before they get to the detention center where they are separated from their children. host: did you talk to border patrol agents themselves and how they felt about the policy? guest: i did, and many are my friends and neighbors and we have a good relationship. unfortunately, they have to follow the rules they are given and they follow the policy from the top. many of them may not feel personally committed to such policy, but that is their job. they are committed to doing their job and what the government asks them. host: michael, hagerstown maryland, independent, go ahead. these: i want to discuss children and families coming , buts the border illegally not at the point of entries that are already set up.

i believe what needs to happen is these are perilous journeys that these kids are going on. rapes andates and -- all kinds of things happening. i think we need to make an investment in central air -- area of a sanctuary maybe 2000 acres, 5000, whatever , invest some dollars in a secure, sanctuary area, if you will, that is secure. you can have faith organizations helping out. you can provide food and shelter for them. well we can look at their process and their asylum claims -- while we can look at their process and their asylum claims, but let us put them back in their areas. liberals think america is this run place. we killed indians and we brought

slaves so why would we want to be here? i want a secure wall with wide open gates. host: congressman? guest: he is not completely off. we do not ask ourselves how we got here. we are dealing with a symptom and failed american policy in these three latin american states. they have particularly, el salvador and honduras and guatemala have a huge insecurity problem on the ground that we as a country have not helped them address. there is very little economic opportunity. if we went back and boosted those economies the way we have thugh commerce and trade the , very fewe in mexico mexican nationals are trying to migrate to the united states. they are making good livings, opening small businesses. there is economic possibilities.

you do not have that in these three countries and that is probably one of the biggest issues that drives them north, particularly in el salvador and honduras. i visited el salvador and guatemala in my last recess and met with presidents and vice presidents to find solutions to incentivize citizens to stay home in a humane manner. i think that is something we have not done in a long time and that is something we should be looking at, or we will continue to be dealing with a symptom on our front step. host: walter, a republican in no river, maryland. caller: i know you are going to take a little heat, let me ask you a question. aw can the democrats justify visa lottery system versus a merit-based system? we want to bring in the smartest and the best people, not really the opposite of that.

how can the democrats really justify that? explainuestion, can you to the deplorables in this country how these people from those three countries you just mentioned get put ahead of the people who have come here legally and are waiting in line to be u.s. citizens? thank you for your response. guest: i would like to address ttingottery versus the ve system. place thatystem in brings and phd's and engineers and people involved in tech that we need. we also need laborers. ,f we vetted folks on merit merit-based, my grandfather would not have arrived to this country and neither would have president trump's, under those standards he is trying to implement. i believe we give people with need an opportunity to come to

this country to work hard, improve themselves, educate future generations, and that should stay open to the extent we need it. should we be looking at merit-based migration? of course we should. in my area we have a large amount of medical doctors who have immigrated from mostly latin america but also around the world, becau we need physicians. in certain areas of the state we need engineers, or around the country, and we do that kind of immigration. have a shortage of labor. in order for us to continue growing our economy, we must continue growing our population and we are not having children at the rate of other countries. we still need some set of migration. i believe it needs to be done in an orderly way and cannot be just mass migration coming across the border. i do not agree with that process . i think people need to go through embassies and consulates and apply properly.

we need to have a controlled process in immigrating to the united states. unfortunately, with the failed policy in central america, you are forcing people living in crime-ridden neighborh in countries to migrate north. we are dealing with it on our border. host: about 15 minutes left with congressman the centre gonzales. -- v sent a gonzales. gonzalez. president trump tweeting now. not that people come in to our country based on the legal phrase they are so -- told to say as their password. your response? guest: i believe at this point in time, we may need more immigration judges at the border, even if it is temporarily, to deal with the crisis we have now. in terms of people using legal phrases, i think our judges and

issue prettyhe well to get to the bottom of that to see if what they are saying is true before they are granted asylum. many of them are turned down. i am not sure if he is aware of that, but many people do not get asylum. host: you were a lawyer before you came to congress. did you work on immigration cases? guest: no, i was not an immigration lawyer, but just dealing -- being on the border you deal with immigration issues. i had a case with the client who was deported. someone who had been living in the country for 20 years, someone i did not know they did not have legal status so i would have to get involved in an immigration issue to address the issue on my civil case. ,f you live along the border somewhere along the line of practicing law you will deal with immigration. host: first-term congressman from the 15th district of texas,

larry is a republican. caller: i would like to know about your democratic colleagues like president obama, president clinton, nancy pelosi, schumer. all of these people voted to remove illegal immigrants from this country. why all of a sudden when president trump tries to enforce these laws, the democrats run tall thingsg foul that is going on. of thef it is because democrats will not get up and do what they are supposed to do. duringi was not here past administrations, so i cannot speak to what democrats were doing at the time. i can tell you that right now, the republicans controlled the house and the senate and the white house. if there is any plausible opportunity of passing immigration reform under

republican administration, it will be totally up to them. i believe we need to address issues fairly, regardless of whether it is democrats or republicans in charge. host: davenport, iowa, jack is a democrat. caller: a lot of americans fear illegals swamping the united states and messing up our social security. there are two possibilities. one is we could send our marines in to clean out these druglords and straighten out the government situation in latin america, south america. the second possibility is we could reposition these illegal guantanamo, and let fidel and his relatives deal with the problem. if they are all living in cuba, they can live with her

communists -- live with the communists. guest: guantanamo is controlled by the united states. host: any other thoughts? guest: that is pretty extreme. i cannot really address extreme ideas like that. host: agness, fairview, oklahoma, independent. caller: that last caller is an example of a lot of the misinformation and hatred against these people. they do not understand the difference between an immigrant coming here for economic reasons or when coming here for asylum. they are lumping them all into one group, lying about them. i even heard online that these people are not even the parents of these kids. they are using them to come here. they deserve to have those kids taken away. this is ridiculous. we need factual information getting out there.

thank god for a lot of the cable programs that are going to the border, showing us what is going on. we are finding out the horrendous things being done to all these children, don't even know where they are. this is child abuse, what is going on. guest: i have to agree with her. i think she is right on target. there is a lot of misinformation. i get letters and emails to my office telling me the wildest things imaginable. many great that we have so news outlets and opportunities to read other people's opinions, but sometimes there is so much misinformation that we have a good population in the american public that does not have factual information they are basing their decisions on. host: on twitter -- please explain the difference between immigration and asylum seekers. guest: asylum seekers are coming here because of a reasonable threat and risk from their country, usually government ,ppression or gang oppression

particularly in those countries i mentioned. regular immigration as folks who apply to open a business, to send their kids to school, to stay in the country for a certain amount of time and then returned to their country. they don't have an extreme violent or critical reason for coming to the united states. host: de soto, texas, anna is a democrat. caller: good morning representative gonzales -- good morning, representative gonzalez. known as thema was dip order in chief but he did not separate families. we have a lot of jobs open here that are menial jobs, and not one person will, and take these jobs. to get on and see people us what isr telling going on in the border, you do

not know what is going on in the border. this is a moral issue. ups is an issue that i grew as a send all the blacks back to during took our babies slavery. i have to say to white men, this is not the first time you have taken families and separated them and destroyed families. take the moral high ground, because here in texas, we need people for jobs. we need them for the roads and highways. you know that. to hear people say that it is wrong, no, donald trump is wrong and he is an immoral person. host: got your point. guest: i have to agree on the employment issue. we have vast industries that

need labor. i talked to my u.s. homebuilders who the vast majority are republicans who need laborers and are concerned about immigration policy because of the lack of labor, and how it inhibits their possibi of building and constructing more in this country. ag folks in texas, we need more labor. we are having trouble with strict migration on the border. we do not have the guest worker programs at the level we would need to be able to work the fields and harvest our food. if we got rid of all the illegal migration, prices at grocery stores would double and triple and quadruple. host: you brought up the term during then chief" obama administration. guest: he took a lot of heat from his own party. members of the democratic party and the hispanic caucus protested him at the white house. chicago wasez from

brutal to the president because of the mass deportations, however he never once separated families, never once took children from their parents. that is the main issue we are talking about now. migration and illegal migration at the border according to the law, but we have never ripped children from parents' arms and removed them with no end insight. dust in sight. -- in sight. peoplethe reporters said would scream at her, do you know where my daughter is? do you know where my son is? i cannot imagine any parent in count with toddlers and babies should imagine the idea of going to a foreign country and having your kid ripped from your arms with no end insight -- in sight. that is inhumane and un-american.

it is a shameful thing for us to do. host: on the issue of deportations, what is that repatriate act? guest: i do not consider that an immigration bill, i consider it a veterans bill. we are deporting american veterans from this country, people who fought for freedom, have legal status. --y were heavily included recruited in high school, served honorably, some of them highly decorated, and come home with high levels of ptsd, start drinking or using drugs or get in trouble. the next thing, they find themselves in deportation centers. i first got involved with this. i have a young man in my district who was a purple heart andpient who served in iraq afghanistan, got hit by an ied. comes home, starts drinking,

gets 3-d uis, and lands himself in a deportation center. this is a purple heart recipient marine who was serving our country honorably. he was honorably discharged and is now living in a foreign country. we have hundreds of these members of the military living -- the record i have is 38 countries. that is the most shameful act we have ever committed against our veterans. deportation needs to stop. i filed this will asking asking congress to stop the deportation of american veterans and to bring our heroes home. minutescouple more left, lisa is in kansas city, line for democrats. , myer: mr. gonzalez grandfather came here. he had nothing. he went through ellis island. they told him if he was going to

live off the government, turn around and go home because they were not going to support him. this country would not take care of him. he ended up having to come here, work his way to get enough money to send for my grandmother, my great-grandmother, and his sisters and brothers. he worked his tail off. they compare now, people come here now and they come in a legally and they are given welfare benefits, places to live , they are getting things. i have seen them in grocery stores where i live and they are giving out their welfare cards to the cashier at the grocery line for ebt cd for groceries. guest: that is a huge misconception. in fact, illegal immigrants who are here illegally do not qualify for welfare, do not qualify for student loans, do not qualify for any freebies. that is a huge misconception. you can read that on the

internet or off news channels that people listen to. it is absolutely false. by the way, i congratulate you and the story of your family. i have a similar story in my family. my grandfather arrived to this country and worked hard and assured everybody had a job and went to school and was educated, and here we are. his grandson is a member of the united states congress and that is who america is. let's not close our doors to the rest of the world now that we have made it through. of course we do not want criminals are people doing things illegally, but we must also keep the american dream alive. host: nashville, tennessee, richard, independent. caller: i have got a story to tell you real quick and then i have got to ask a question about what is our government or private enterprise doing to the foreign nations of the central

american countries that are not -- they are taking money from the u.s. in support of their military, their democracy, but they are not protecting those people in that country. should we just overthrow their governments and takeovers of these children can be safe? on the thing is food stamps and welfare and benefits, i lost my job in 2006. i am 62 years old. i worked for a major grocery chain, a union company, and i am independent. worked when the second major leading grocery store, here is what they do. african people are coming in from different african nations. they have welfare and wic programs. in some cases, these children are pregnant and with older men.

we do not know what their situation is. then they, and have the women in infant care program, food stamps, and it is middle eastern people doing it, asian people doing it, from all ethnic backgrounds. when you talk about the border, we have to secure it. some of their children are in better situations now than they were coming. guest: i agree with some of what he is saying. we cannot go into central american countries and just overthrow them. the way to do it is to get on the ground and bring ideas that bring economic prosperity and security, try to rid them of their gangs. that would be a good american policy that would incentivize people to stay home. programstalk about wic , you do not qualify unless you are in the united states legally. ,here is a huge misconception that people believe if you are here illegally that they can get

here and get welfare and free schooling and free health care. they don't. they may be accepted into public schools in most states, but in terms of being able to apply for welfare or food stamps or housing or some kind of medicaid , medicare, they do not have that. host: i want to thank congressman vicente gonzalez, his first appearance on "the washington journal." we will continue our discussion with republican congressman steve king of iowa. we will be right back. thank you, sir. ♪ >> this weekend on afterwords, congressman john delaney, the first democrat to declare a run for the presidency of 2020, offers his vision of america in his book.

he is interviewed by donna brazil, former chair of the democratic national committee. >> you have been a member of congress since 2013. europe had an opportunity to introduce legislation, work with democrats and republicans, but you also call for an end of partisanship, especially partisanship that rewards vision. what do you mean? >> a president or any elected leader in this country should effectively represent everyone, whether they voted for them or not. they should almost take a pledge never to divide us. that does not mean they don't go out there and say why they should vote for me over the other person or why my ideas are better than the other person's ideas. it to the step where you are actually kind of cultivating a spirit of division is one of

the things going on in this country right now which is really insidious. i think if you have the privilege of serving -- which i feel like i do -- in addition to swearing to defend and protect the constitution, we should pledge to the american people that we will not say things to divide us, that we are going to go out of our way to try to unify the country. the country is inherently stronger when we are unified. on sundayfterwords night at 9:00 p.m. on c-span twos book tv. >> this language of attack, of harm, damage, that by expressing an opinion that people don't like, you have inflicted an injury, i found that very striking and frankly, rather frightening if the truth be told , and quite emblematic of the way that the left is now

responding to any sort of dissent, and especially one that trenches on identity grievance politics, which of course is everywhere and has infected everything. >> university of pennsylvania law school professor amy wax on the limits of free expression on college campuses the united states, sunday night at 8:00 eastern on cue and they. a. q& >> "washington journal" continues. host: congressman steve king is back at our desk. did president trump make the right decision yesterday? guest: i think he did. part of it was because of the public furor that blew up over it all. i had been down at least twice to visit those youth that were detained along the border. i was there with a bipartisan

group the second time, last october. there were really no issues raised by democrats or republicans. there were questions asked but no objections raised. this became just the public controversy and at some point it needed to be tamped down. whether it is the best policy decision is a secondary question. host: was it? guest: for now, but we have to fix it and fix it a lot better. this does not turn down a magnet for people to come to america. shut that magnet off, restore the border and respect the rule of law or we will never be a sovereign nation again. i look back to eisenhower who was the president who enforced immigration law effectively and after that we have had diminished immigration law. each president down the line essentially put up the neon line

that said, sneak into america and you get to stay. was elected,rump resellers border crossings diminished dramatically. the numbers dropped off dramatically for 4, 5, 6 months before they realized policy had not changed that much. coyotes,ruglords and their cartels artur's agencies .ecruiting people host: do you think the executive order will be challenged? tol there be a lawsuit joint get the president to continue the separations as an effort of turning off the magnet to come here? guest: what will the left do on this? they have come up with some lawsuits i would never imagine. i just read the constitution and most all of it makes sense to me. will i think conservatives

challenge this, they will want the president to continue family separations. guest: i think they will let this one go because it is the best temporary solution they could put together in the matter of hours they have had to evaluate this. i misunderstood your question because i do not think they will. host: today, two immigration proposals expected to have a vote on the house floor. will that happen? guest: i think it will. there is so much inertia whether they have the votes are not. what is your vote on those bills? guest: mine will be no. last 32 yearshe since ronald reagan signed the amnesty act of 1986, one of two big mistakes i believe he made, but that was a big mistake. it set up the sign that said if you can get enough people into america that have broken our immigration laws, there will be more amnesty.

this would be the biggest one in the history of the united states of america. my whole effort on immigration, and there have been very few people in congress who have done more work on immigration over the years that i have, but my whole effort has been about restoring the respect for the rule of law. that is a central pillar of american exceptionalism. we cannot have that if we let the streets rule and simply ignore our borders. i will be no on each one of those bills because they each have a component of amnesty. the first goodlatte bill is the first dell. it has the strongest enforcement and reduces the flow of chain migration the most. host: explain the first black bill. -- goodlatte bill. there was some confusion on what dell would be voted on. thing.that is a tricky

as it is right now, i am not sure i know what is in the second l -- bill, maybe not even the first one. things get moved around and at some point leadership was making decision behind closed doors. there are chosen people they negotiate with and their staff that writes it in, that can all change by the time the print gets on the paper. the differences between the two come down to goodlatte has the most enforcement and it is the most restrictive, but has components in it of amnesty. i will say it this way, the amnesty for daca recipients is a component of each. when you look at those two scenarios, the goodlatte bill looks like it gives daca amnesty to fewer people than the ryan amnesty bill does. that is the distinction. it is not a distinction for may because they are both amnesty, but that is the distinction some

letter -- some are looking at. host: we will be taking you therat 9:00 when they come in for gavel to gavel coverage. we are talking with steve king from iowa. calls, republicans, (202) 748-8002. democrats, (202) 748-8001. .- republicans, (202) 748-8001 democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. talk to me about assimilation. guest: if we go back to the middle part of the 20th century, we have established a foundation and pattern of assimilation that promoted english is our common language and in many states, our official language. , there is a stone with

a brass plaque on it in keokuk, iowa, a civil war memorial put together by the daughters of the american revolution and it says on there -- "one country, one flag, one language." those thing should tie us together with a common experience and a flag to rally around when we need to defend ourselves. there is a component of the american civilization that is americanism and we should be proud of that. everyone should embrace it. what the circumstances of assimilation, the study of sociologists, they will say and there is a consistent theme that emerges as i read through a group of them, that the higher the concentration is of immigrants within communities, the slower is their assimilation because there is less need for them to interact with the outside world. the more we can assimilate, the more we can be together as a people and the less controversy we have in our country.

language difficulties create suspicion and division, even though it is good to have that so we can communicate with the rest of the world. i would like to see a rally around our language, flag, country, and understand that that is what we are working towards rather than that is what people are pulling us away from. too many advocates oppose assimilation and many of them are in the minority groups of the hard-core left and aclu and others. host: congressman steve russell took to the floor of the house to talk about immigrants and culture. americans of all generations have had concerns about immigrants. irish, dutch, chinese, eastern european, vietnamese, lebanese, syrian. we fret over language. we even show that second generation americans are engaged

and third generation americans speak not of their own tong. they carry such worrisome traits . as a conservative, it sounds a lot like the things i stand for. as an american, it sounds a lot like the america i fought for. , on thisgressman king comments last night from your colleague? guest: i am wondering about the studies that show that third-generation immigrants essentially retain nothing of their ancestors' language. i think that is true in the past but we do not have third-generation current immigrants. we have the largest number of immigrants in america, both illegal and legal, and most came in the last generation. i would give an example. i appreciate the approach of stephen russell.

he is a solid membern service to our country and i do not disagree with him, but i would point out some alternative things. when i was elected in 2002, when iwas -- before i was sworn in invited 16 representatives of minority groups within that area and i said to them, in one minute, i said i am here to serve you. i don't think you voted for me but it does not matter. i want to listen. i listened for 89 minutes. it was all grievances. and i was done, i said, i only have time for this. i want to understand by your body language what you think of this word i'm about to say, so they did that. " said the word "assimilation and they all through their sums back -- through their selves back and rejected the term. it is dividing americans against americans.

they do not want to see america pull together. advantagea political and some of it promotes lawlessness and chaos. host: your calls with congressman steve king, ken is from iowa, dubuque, line four republicans. republican -- democrats. caller: i have zero respect for this man even though he is in the fourth district. if he wants to take care of this problem, one of the things that could be done was to go back to indentured labor. rates and the industry -- in the port industry. let them go down indentured for whatever time congress decides,

sponsor the families. they get assimilated, even senator denies that. host: let the congressman respond. guest: i had not heard that proposal in some time, but it makes me look back at one of my ancestors in 1757 who came over to baltimore as an indentured servant. he worked in a stable until he worked off his passage. in this time that we are today, there might be a better way to market that if we are going to phrase it differently. what you were talking about is make sure they have jobs, make sure someone sponsors them. i think they would want to get an adequate pay. all of that is still back to this -- are we going to have laws in this country and will we respect our laws and will we

have people coming into america in a legal way who have demonstrated respect for our laws? or are we going to reward the people who have demonstrated their contempt for the loss? it is -- for the laws. it is a consideration and it pulls back a piece of history. 1757,ltimore situation in there is more to be said about that, but i appreciate your proposal. host: silver spring, maryland, j, republican. caller: long time listener, first time i have gotten through. what i would like the congressman to address, to take him back in a little bit of history and have him address since he makes these comparisons to obama, and i need to state i am an african american. the democratic party to become a republican because i did not believe in obama's policies on immigration.

however, i think the congressman is a little dishonest because if you take it back in history and you look at the reagan presidency, and you look at ,liver north and what they did and a criminal who sold drugs in america -- all of this is whenented and admitted -- the drug culture first started to hit america, how they allowed this to fund a war, and illegal war in central america, and how that all turned out. that is when our original floodgates opened to allow hondurans and salvadorans into this country. host: congressman? guest: that is a little hard for me to read all of that, and there is documentation for two sides to every story out there. resistanceo the

the actions that were taken by ronald reagan in an attempt to -- i will say that, my understanding is he was attempting to shut down a marxist operation in nicaragua. that was daniel ortega then and it is daniel ortega now having trouble keeping order. the trouble has pushed people up here, and i have met a good people -- a good number of people who came out of that area during that time. we have el salvador and's that were in the prisons in california, deported back to el wevador and it is alleged started ms 13 because we locked up and deported the el salvador aims. they are responsible for what is happening in their country and it is being exported into our country, ms 13 in particular. i appreciate all the calls. of all the issues i have dealt with in this congress over the years, whether it is a health care issue or foreign policy or

national defense, nothing is more complex than the immigration issue. the reason is because if you make a mistake on health care policy, you can go back and fix it. people are disadvantaged, but not back into the next generation. the same with tax policy. in immigration, it is very complex and you have an intergenerational impact that goes on in perpetuity. to understand those aspects and anticipate which direction things go out on the contingency and hypothetical scale is too much for anyone to get their mind around. let's bring it back to the central principle, america needs to be a sovereign nation and we need an immigration policy that to a dress the well-being of the united states of america. it has been the mission of the earliest settlers to carry those values to the rest of the world.

we cannot help everybody in america but we can carry our american values to the rest of the world. host: about 10 minutes before the house is supposed to come in. i want to ask you about some headlines you appeared in late last week. congressman steve king promotes well known neo-nazi on twitter, retreating a british racist, a white supremacist who expressed admiration for adolf hitler and called himself a nazi sympathizer. guest: i think it is an example of the media of the left. i have to ask that question -- is it that they really do not understand the english language or they willfully misunderstand it think the people who read them are so stupid they don't understand the difference? host: what was the tweet about. guest: this was a bright back story. -- breitbart story.

it was to the effect of, is europe waking up because 65% of the under 35 in italy reject the flow of migration pouring into italy. i want people to know that. i see that headline. i see breitbart and retweet that with the comment. otherwise civilized society of western civilization does any critic get to assign the believe system of some anonymous person i have never heard of before and chase him far back in the chain of what heations, and say might have said about some other topic is attached to my convictions? it is up seeing to do that to people in the society. i went out the next day or so and found the original link to the breitbart story. i tweeted that out with the same message. host: has twitter been helpful or hurtful in your political

career? guest: every once in a while, i get those national viral attacks where it just blows up for a week or two, becomes national news. what happens is people are not looking at the text that i write. they are looking at the text that people write about the text i write. in the oval office with four or five members of congress negotiating a bill and they are telling him, mr. president, stop tweeting. everyone said something about stop tweeting. i said, i want you to tweet whenever you get the impulse because i need the cover. up next in is pensacola, florida, the line for independents. caller: good morning. i really have one question for you. when i grew up -- and i'm older now, very much -- one of our greatest symbols of strength to the world was the statue of

liberty. the statue of liberty plaque said -- "send me your poor and your downtrodden." sitting here are telling me, take that off and put a dollar sign up and say, whoever comes in, wring your money because we don't want no worthless people without money. sir, say your father came in and he had no money. he had to work his whole life. i have worked my whole life and i really am ashamed of what this country is saying to the world. i would like to find out, do you think we need to take that plaque off and put up a $? guest: i think you have assigned me a believe system that does not match up with what i said. in particular, the father was not born in 1757 when my great great multiple times grandfather came over from england.

imply that there is not value to people. i said we need an immigration policy designed to enhance the economic, social, and cultural well-being of the united states of america. you assumed that is whoever has the most money. i have watched americans pull themselves up by their bootstraps. that is the american dream. i started with a net worth of $5,000 and i have a second generation company. we wonder whether we can feed our kids in that area. now we are wonderi how to avoid spoiling our grandchildren. we are to be looking for young people to come into america to demonstrate an education or skill set, and can contribute to the society. let's lift america, improve the per capita gdp of our country so we have a lot more value to the

world. up over 4% gdp growth. that is good to have that mon but we have got to get our culture right. we have to come together as a people and get rid of the divisions that have been accelerated over the last generations. host: you are catholic? guest: yes. host: what are your thoughts on pope francis tweeting on this issue? "a persons think that he not depend on them being a citizen, a migrant, or a refugee. saving the life of someone fleeing war and poverty is an active humanity." guest: that is solid from a catholic or christian perspective. i get an easy about pope francis when i hear some of these ideas that come out about say, economics, or the idea that somehow open borders are good.

i have had these discussions pretty far up the catholic chain and when i go to the vatican i look around and see 34 walls. they say, do not promote english as the official language. what is the official language? latin and italian. if you live inside those walls, maybe temper those words a little bit. the most successful institutions in the last 200 years have been the nationstate. if we destroy the nationstate with globalism, then you merge all these cultures and we are back to being scrambled again. i think we have got to respect all people in the world, but let's respect ourselves enough to know that we have built something in america that has never been matched in the history of the world. it's not destroy it over some myopic idea that all cultures are equal. host: jonathan in south dakota, republican. caller: thank you for taking

questions. -- youe a comment about are recorded saying there is nothing cruel about the policy. i was curious if you would still say that if maybe you were inspectorat a texas looked at one of the detention centers and found there was over 150 health violations. host: got your question. guest: i do not believe i said there was nothing cruel about the policy. i said there is nothing cruel about the care that we give them . i have been down there to review the care and i was amazed at what they did. they had tens of thousands pouring in they needed to take care of about three summers ago. it is hot in texas in the summertime. they took a big warehouse, strict it out, put air-conditioning and changed -- chain-link dividers to separate

boys and girls. they get three squares a day. they get nice mats to sleep on. they were playing soccer in the air-conditioning. host: to do that. host: congressman steve king of iowa, we appreciate your time this morning. we will a you get to the house as the house gavels and in just a minute or so for the day. we are expecting two major votes in the house on legislation. we taking a live to the house floor.