announcer: also discussing the issue of immigration were representatives of th leonard lance of new jersey, and peter welch. we begin with leonard lance. table, congressman leonard lance who represents the seventh district. you voted no against what has been called the goodlatte maccoll bill put on the floor yesterday. you joined 40 other republicans and all the democrats to vote no. why? aest: it does not contain path to citizenship for the dreamers and i think there should be such a path. i have worked hard on that issue with colleagues. i think without having signatories on that we would not be discussing this issue as we are at the moment.

host: more conservative members say they disagreed with a pathway to citizenship. what they believe it is amnesty. >> i do not believe it is amnesty. these are residents who came .ere as infants or toddlers beenieve they have americans over the course of their lives. this would be a path that would not be automatic. there would be challenges but i do favor that. host: the president tweeted republicans should stop wasting time on immigration until after we elect more senators in november. democrats are playing games and have no intention of doing anything to solve this problem. we can pass great legislation after the red wave?

do you agree they should not vote next week? guest: i disagree. i want to continue with the process. i hope we are able to vote next .eek on the compromise bill it is important for congress. guest: what were you told by republican leaders about what they plan to do to get enough for somens to vote yes piece of immigration legislation? is e-verify.sue there is the challenge which -- with agricultural these is. that is being discussed. i don't represent a largely agricultural district but i recognize the concerns of colleagues regarding the agricultural community. we need men and women regarding

agriculture. that is a legitimate issue. where are you on this moderate compromise proposal? would you agreed to supporting it if language is changed included to have the e-verify and agricultural guestworkers? guest: i am leaning to voted for it. i circui want to see language as it would relates to these issues that were discussed yesterday. guest: what happens -- host: what happens next on the house floor am a what happens over the weekend before you debate again? guest: undoubtedly the whip team is counting votes as to whether there is a majority. i would encourage to my credit colleagues to work with us. reached outhave not a hand to them. i want to reach out to them.

i point out in the senate, on the issue of children being separated from their parents, i oppose that, senator feinstein and senator cruz are working together. i think that is a helpful sign. larger issue but that is important as well. host: would you agree to passing something narrow dealing with the separation of children? guest: absolutely. host: what grade would you give speaker ryan on how he handled this immigration debate so far? think we are in an area of not being complete. i think we should continue. i disagree with the president who tweeted this morning he untilto place this aside after the election. speaker ryan indicated he would bring legislation to the floor

by the deadline in march that did not occur. there were several reasons. intervened and congress may work best when we are on a deadline. i am not suggesting that is the way we should work but that is the way we do work. signed the discharge petition were responsible for the fact we are not discussing this on the floor of the house. host: what is the discharge petition? for those not aware of parliamentary means. where does that stand? could that still be a play that moderate republicans make? isst: on the definition, it a suggestion that a bill come to the floor that has not gone through the committee process. it requires a majority of the .ouse to get that to the floor it is extremely rare it actually happens.

usually when you are in the majority you do not sign a discharge petition. you sign it when you are in a minority. 23 republicans to have signed a discharge petition to get the ball rolling on the immigration issue. because we voted yesterday on the more conservative till we would have to start again in the discharge petition process. certainly that is in our back pocket. host: when or why would you bring it up? guest: because i want to see progress and would want to see a more moderate bill reach the floor of the house. herdlso a cosponsor of the aguilar bill. they have a bill with a path to citizenship for dreamers. it contains border security funding.

it is bipartisan in nature. of the bills and discussion over the last month i think that is the bill that is most likely to have support of republicans and democrats. host: let's hear what our viewers have to say. bedford, virginia. you were up first. caller: i agree with the zero-tolerance policy. too many countries have treated our borders as a joke for far too long. that is why our war on drugs and so on, they have girls they forced into prostitution, the only country in the world, we cannot take on every other person. the democrats should wake up and belize they are supposed to working for america's people in america's problems. the illegals are not the ones paying them. american taxpayer areas.

i agree with her zero-tolerance policy. it is long overdue. thank you for the question. i certainly believe we should secure our southern border. there was immigration reform a generation ago with the promise to secure our southern border and that did not occur. it was signed by president reagan. the second half of that which was to occur at the same time did not occur. i favor securing our southern border. i favor putting more funds into that. fencing, drones, greater personnel. on what ised happening with the recent situation regarding children, we need more immigration judges. we have 350 or so in this country. i would double that. come to ourose who country, however based upon horrible conditions in their own countries.

we have to examine those situations, each at a time. need to do at we better job securing our border, and i hope we can pass legislation in that regard. host: cindy, republican. caller: hi. i believe that there is a question here, we all need to think about this. do we not believe that we make waste? there are so many different being, more every moment paddled onto the immigration bills. and then they will want to have other amendments added. i believe this is being thrown ,ut there to fix a band-aid which opportunists are going to take advantage of. , we haver thing here this concern for humanity.

but there is a deeper humanity that god has ejected onto the souls. to have true love for god's laws . our founding fathers knew this. late 1700s,of the didy 1800s, it was did say you one of our founding fathers wrote to the king of england stopped sending slave ships to america. to includey voted african immigrants but by 1876 they restarted to restrict them. , inof the things i found 1875 a series of restrictions were enacted bending criminals, people with disease, polygamists, anarchists, people who don't believe in god. beggars. importers of prostitution.

these are things to opposed to god's laws for humanity. as time goes by people become lacks in these laws which dictate our true moral character. host: i'm going to leave it there. any thoughts? guest: i think we should have an immigration system that .ncourages legal immigration i think it is the lifeblood of this country. i certainly agree that criminal should not be permitted to come into this country. we have to be careful in this regard and we have to secure our southern border. most of us are the descendents of immigrants. most of our ancestors came here voluntarily. i add is quickly as i can that many african-americans in this country had ancestors who came here in chains and we should recognize that horrible portion

of our history. i want an immigration system based on legality. i think we can accomplish that. recognizing criminals and others in that category should not be permitted into this country. host: tony. caller: good morning. saying like to start out in latin there is a phrase that says a man so good he is good for nothing. my family came here in the 1700s from ireland. we were useless. free slaves. the blacks, you had to buy them. we would die in the fields. medicare and medicaid are you going to pay for that when coming in with disease?

you want to expand medicaid but you want to bring so many people in that have not paid into it at all. host: let's talk about the cost. prosecuting the whole process. this headline, contracts to care for migrants on the rise. a texas nonprofit awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to house migrant children and operates a facility and a former walmart. in florida comprehensive health services, 22 million to help operate a 500 bed shelter. in may extended the contract to make it 1000 bed shelter. we have to recognize the cost associated with illegal immigration. that is why i certainly am conscious of the fact we have to be fiscally responsible regarding the issue of medicare

and medicaid. these are challenges facing the congress. i tried to be fiscally responsible in that regard. this is a problem that has been on our agenda in washington this year but it should have been on our agenda before that. secretary johnson of the obama administration stated yesterday he recognized the obama administration was unable to deal with this situation completely successfully, certainly i think it is the responsibility of those holding office now and the executive branch and the legislative branch to address this. host: "the wall street journal notes the federal government has a total of 100 shelters in 17 states. 11,700 children are living in

the shelters. john in miami. caller: can you hear me ok? i have so many questions. i don't know where to start. they are pouring in through the southern border. yet they are worried about these children. they are being used as pawns. the reality is we have 10 million children in the united states starving to death and we are worried about people coming across the border. do somethingexico about it? , whatdid that to mexico they do to us? host: let's talk about mexico and their responsibility here. that is a point the president it has made as well. guest: mexico does have a responsibility. many who come here illegally crossing our southern border are

from central american countries. they travel through mexico to get here. , unaccompanied children is a significant portion of this. hillary clinton and her campaign recognized this. we have to get control over our southern border. americansking sure are protected and that we have an obligation to the american citizenry. i think the compromise bill we are discussing in the house of representatives is a path forward at least in part and then we have to address larger immigration issues as well. i want to continue to work on this issue, including a compromise bill under negotiation at the moment. host: here is the story in politico. how mexico could force america's hand. they are trying a humanitarian

it angle. along with the counterparts from colombia, ecuador, guatemala, launched a former complaint. guest: i don't know the particulars of that situation. i would say it is responsibility of the mexican government as immigrants come north into toico from central america try to stop that migration at their southern border and i simply think they have a responsibility greater than merely be the conduit from central america to the southern united states. host: we will hear from barbara. caller: >> the trip administration intentionally disappeared babies and toddlers. even the nazis kept detailed records of who they killed, and

to which prison camps the victims were taken to be tortured. rescindedtrump representation for the children prior to enactment of this new policy. please, ask your colleagues to get the resources to help bring back the children. thank you. guest: thank you for your question. should bechildren reunited with their parents as quickly as possible. that was the intent of the executive order the president signed earlier. i do not think there should be a policy separating children from their parents. i hope that congress make sure that we follow through so that children are reunited. hello?

for taking my call. i have a couple of quick questions. do any of the bills being considered have anything in them that parents who brought these children in through no fault of their own, will the parents face any prosecution or justice for the american taxpayers? we know the agreement about these children is that they are from mexico. they will be turned back. i believe that is why the central americans are coming up. they know they will not be immediately turned back like mexicans well. the third thing is, specific invasion into our country. if we look at where the drugs are coming, human trafficking, can't the president issue, view

this as a threat to national security? could the president declared the order a demilitarized sown and we would have to view this as an act of war? i would be interested in what your guest has to say. i want to increased romantically the number of immigration judges so these cases can be decided as quickly as possible. where those have come into this country illegally, sometimes with their children, those cases can be resolved asap. there is a humanitarian reason if they are not under torture from their own countries. then they have entered this country illegally and should be returned to their home countries. i agree with the caller that this is a problem regarding

central america and mexico has a greater responsibility. i do not favor a demilitarized zone. i want there to be a southern border that is safe and secure. i want a process of legal immigration. i think the two goals are not mutually exclusive and we can work together to achieve those. raymond is a democrat. you are on the air. caller: you look like a fair man. i hope you can give me a fair response. i'm not quite a talk about the tax bill that passed. republicans like the tax bill. several months ago, you passed a $1.3 trillion budget that had everything in their republicans wanted and everything in their democrats wanted.

full funding for planned parenthood. billion for the military. everybody got everything they wanted. all president trump had to do i want that budget to go for the wall. all he had to do was threatened a veto. even if you could get the extra 20 billion, you could have taken 20 billion out of the defense budget and use it for defense on the ball -- on the wall. all he had to do was threatened a veto. why wasn't that 20 billion put into that budget for that wall? obviously he just wants the issue. guest: thank you. i think you raise a great issue. i didn't vote for the tax bill. i didn't vote for the tax bill because i think it exacerbates our long-term national debt.

over the course of the next decade it might increase the debt by $2 trillion or so. i'm a social moderate but i believe i'm a fiscal conservative. i was one of the republicans. there were not many. who did not vote for the tax bill. regarding the funding of the government, this was passed in march. to fund the government for the rest of the year. the fiscal year in washington in september 30. that was a bipartisan compromise. the moderate bill under discussion in the house now and this weekend into next week does contain funding for border security. it is a significant amount of , $5y over a five-year time billion a year. something like that. that is a component of the bill

we are discussing, the compromise bill. i favor funding for border security and greater fiscal responsibility. that was one of two reasons the other thing that we should have the ability to deduct state and local taxes as to why i didn't vote for the tax bill. host: mariam in florida. a beautiful day in florida. i'm really thrilled that you put me on your program. i will soon be 91 years old. inannot find the logic people's thinking. the mistake was made by some adult, parent, guardian who decided they were going to send children appear. then they just put them on our doorstep for us to do something with the problem. the problem started when the adults, wherever they were,

decided to send their children. host: have you spoken with authorities? why they would make that trick from central america for mexico to the u.s. border knowing they could be apprehended, paying thousands of dollars to a coyote ? guest: it is not the best public policy for adults to send their children north. many of those now in centers are unaccompanied children. have a responsibility to adjudicate those situations as quickly as possible. caller isent of the that parents should not have sent their children north unaccompanied. i agree with that.

if you are about to be 91, i calculate you may have been born in 1927. happy birthday is you approach your 91st birthday. i hohat i ve the same type of genes that you have. i commend you for your wonderful life. host: bob in tyler. good morning. i have two quick questions. defendtake an oath to the constitution every two years? guest: yes, sir. caller: what is your interpretation of article four, section four regarding our border? we have ahink responsibility to make sure our border is secure. i try to defend all aspects of the american constitution. americanhe constitution is the greatest governing document that has been produced over the history of mankind.

our rights come from the hand of god, not from the hand of man. district in new jersey. new jersey was the first state to ratify the bill of rights in 1791. i try to take seriously the constitutional oath i take every two years. washington journal continues. host: back at our table, congressman peter welch, chief deputy whip. separationabout this policy separating families at the border. we have heard from our callers. some have argued this started with the obama administration. guest: it did not. two things here. when kids and families have come in the past and the bush administration and the obama administration those families were kept together. a day for be given their asylum hearing. that process would proceed.