at 3:45, congressman and dingell's casket arrives at the u.s. capitol. on c-span two, the senate works on legislation regarding public lands and national resources. a final passage vote on a bill expected in the afternoon. the chamber also vote on whether to advance william barr's nomination as attorney general. on c-span3 at 9:30 a.m., the senate armed services looks at military operations in the indo pacific and korea. an hour, ap in discussion with legislation reclaiming congresses role in the war powers act and the latest on the border security talks. at 8:30, our guest is the executive director for the center for immigration studies who will talk about the immigration policies and his group's priorities for border security negotiations on capitol hill. at 9:00 a.m., veterans of paris

-- affairs correspondent looks at the death rates, wait times, in overall care at va hospital's across the country. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] morning, it is tuesday, february 12, 2019. we begin with the border security deal reached by negotiators to avert a government shutdown at the end of this week. with just $1.4 billion for physical barriers, the agreement comes up short for what president trump demanded for a wall. it remains to be seen if the deal can be passed and signed by the president before friday. we want to hear what you think about this deal. give us a call. (202) 748-8001.

democrats (202) 748-8000. independents (202) 748-8002. or you can go to facebook.com/cspan. schedule on capitol hill today, the senate is in at 10:00. the houses in at 9:00 for a brief pro forma session. members likely to be asked about this deal that came together late last night on border security and to keep the government open. the new york times calling it a deal in principle to avoid a shutdown. the5 billion dollars is number for fencing and other physical barriers at the border. the agreement would allow for 55 miles of new fencing with some restrictions on location based on community or environmental concerns. that is a fraction of the more than 200 miles of stealing concrete wall that president

trump demanded. he wanted $5.7 billion and is 10 miles last then negotiators agreed to last summer before democrats took control of the house. the agreement primarily funds the department of homeland security and would also provide one point $7 billion for more border security including technology at ports of entry, more officers, and humanitarian aid. about this deal through the first segment of the washington journal, but here is the president at the campaign rally in el paso. president trump: as i was walking up to the stage, they that progress is being made with this committee. just so you know. we are building the wall anyway. they say that progress is made. applause]d just now.

wait a minute, i have to take care of my people from texas. i don't even want to hear about it. i don't want to hear about it. so i don't know what they mean. progress is being made. the democrats were being hit really hard on the concept of releasing criminals into our society. that has not been playing well. maybe progress is made, maybe not. i could have listened or i could have come out to the people of el paso, texas. president was the last night. talking about this deal that came together late yesterday. you will likely hear about it through the coming days. we will see if the house and senate can pass those in the chamber. we want to hear from you.

.epublicans, (202) 748-8001 .emocrats, (202) 748-8000 independents (202) 748-8002. it is something that came up in recent days and brought talks to a standstill over the weekend. here is how that is resolved yesterday. democrats wanted to impose a $34,000 -- a 34,000 people a day cap and an even lower cap of 16,500 on the number of detainees that can come through illegal immigrants arrested in the interior of the united states. the washington times story knows of 40,000oal , ice averages 46,000 detainees a day.

house asked for 52,000 beds. we want to hear your thoughts. jim is up first from new york, and independent. i called a couple of times about this. i don't think this is enough. [indiscernible] we are over run. i don't know what the carrying capacity of long island is. but i don't see anybody getting deported. called have this thing chain migration. that could afford to get out of here left already. do you think the president signs this deal? caller: i'm not sure. you had eisenhower back in the

wetback had operation where they deported people. tonow you're not going answer so it will be a rhetorical question, but would you or any of these liberal democrats want to send their kids to a school where the spanish? are in and you can't get a job. want to be a cop, you have the upper hand if you speak spanish. a natural born citizen is not going to get the job. i will leave it here to make room for other people. host: this is john in florida. john, are you with s? -- with us? caller: this is diane, actually.

he wanted me to speak. i heard of the new deal that the democrats are giving trump. one point i don't know -- host: $1.375 billion is the number reported today. they want the facilities aliensout a lot of the that are in there. aliens aref these criminals. most of them are criminals and the rest of them are people that never showed up for court hearings and are here illegally. so what kind of deal is that? it is another slap in the face of the president. is a dealsaid this

that democrats are offering, but this is a deal that both democrats and republican conferees are offering. this came together with appropriations committee members after the government was reopened to try to strike a deal. and this is what they have come up with. it has to get passed by the house and the senate. already getting pushback from conservatives in his party. mark meadows, the head of the house freedom caucus saying the conference agreement is hardly a serious attempt to secure our border or stop the flow of illegal immigration and kick the can down the road yet again. congress is not doing its job. it one more from jim jordan, a member of the freedom caucus saying that while the president was giving a great speech, congress is putting together a bad deal on immigration. we want to hear your thoughts.

matthews north carolina. i don't think that the president is going to shut the government down. problem with the coverage. this is not the problem in america, this wall. we have more serious problems. we have children being arrested down there and put in cages. the water is still no good in flint, michigan. distraction of a wall is keeping the country tied up in nothing. there will never be a real wall there. that we arehis era

going over this, nothing is getting done. education ofto the the american people. this stuff, it would be so simple. and people can't see through it. it is almost elementary. we get caught up in repeal and replace. that getting to the point -- how are we going to lead the world if we can't lead ourselves? rich in hickory hills, illinois. good morning. caller: the last gentleman was talking about -- my opinion about this presidency and how he's dealing with these issues. i don't think they are dealing with these issues at all. we talked about this border wall. the problem is, the president

has hired these illegals and just fired them. that is where the problem has been. not haveple should been employing them and they should of been held accountable for the problems they created. now all the smoke and mirrors about building at a wall -- building a wall, you need to deport them, keep from employing them. make it to where they are not desiring to come to this country because they can't get jobs. what is their motivation to leave? it is creating supply and demand. to build a wall to keep them out, they are coming through the gates. a going under the wall. over the wall. you need to address that matter of how you will end the situation they have created. the employment issue

something that we will be talking aloud -- about. our guest from the center for immigration studies will be here from 8:00 to 9:00 this morning. anthony from arizona, go ahead. about the shutdown, what do i think? you don't always get what you want. that is why we have the three branches of government. i like to reference the fact documenter that boat about the civil war and series out,re is a "the untold history of the united states." that is truly worth binge watching. and also, let's not think about or forget about when dr. martin

luther king spoke to a group of philadelphia on october 26, 1967. blueprint., life's truly worth reading and educating yourself on. how the wall street journal describes this deal that came together yesterday. the deal giving both parties that they had sought. ats wanted less funding for a physical barrier and republicans wanted to put -- the larger implications about the government shutdown that would happen on friday, it would

signal that the government would have full funding through the end of this september if the deal is passed. it does not include disaster relief money to assist victims of recent hurricanes, suggesting another emergency spending bill may be needed later this year. that is the implication. from capitol hill from texas congresswoman sheila jackson lee, a democrat saying on twitter last night that federal employees should never be held hostage at any time. negotiators have come up with a strong, smart border security deal. the house and senate need to join democrats to keep the government open. the president needs to sign the bill immediately. good morning. caller: good morning. , what are about this

the detainees costing us as taxpayers? why are we detaining? why are we not immediately deporting? what are we waiting for immigration reform? what are we waiting for? what is the problem? host: what do you want to see? seatr: i want to see that -- people do not simply cross our borders. stay whilelace to their cases are being analyzed or reviewed. what is really -- why? this influx of masses at this particular time trying to come into the united

states at this time? what is behind this? refer these as cages. but i have seen clips on television and some areas do not look like cages at all. some areas look very clean. getting very good food. for the children, i see bunkbeds. i see cribbs. i see clean mattresses. more than what people get in their own country. all this is costing us money. we have a lot of infrastructure issues internally that need attention. and yet we have this immigration issue. next, $1.4 billion is not nearly enough.

not nearly enough. host: before you go, you said money is the issue and there is too much out there? what number would you like to see for the wall? caller: not nearly enough to protect people from walking right in? i think the president should get what he wants. morning.d caller: i was just suggesting money is not a factor in terms of building a wall. with what it is used and the practical way it is used as far as the state and federal government. the federal government is the entity of the system itself as far as the government centers

and how they are fluctuated by not even doing what they need to be doing. i believe there should be a shutdown. i could pay for the wall as far as the business that i have not been able to run all my years. vietnam asomers age, far as my father. at ascan't even be looked far as in the system itself. this is an wilson, north carolina. go ahead. caller: thank you for taking my call. i really have a problem with us trying to -- host: us trying to what? caller: doing the things that

you are doing to the children. how would donald trump feel if someone had taken his child from him for things that he has done in the past? people are coming in illegally, but there should be a way to let them do the work and let them go back out. we are up in arms with the price of groceries. the price of groceries will get even worse. i don't want to get out there in the field and pick lettuce, tomatoes, and collard greens. do you? no. it is not fair the way we are putting these people down. insteaduld come legally of coming in it illegally. donald trump needs to leave office. thank you. republicans and democrats have sparred over this issue of the number of beds that

immigration enforcement agencies could have for detainees. president trump spoke about that at the rallynight in el paso. cutident trump: if we detention space, we are cutting loose dangerous criminals into our country. e detention is the first step of many for the far left. they call them the radical left. they want to abolish ice. we will never abolish ice. very clearly to those pushing this ridiculous and radical agenda. i will never sign a bill that forces the mass release of violent criminals into our country. and i will never abolish or in

-- way mistry -- miss treat mistreat our border patrol. host: the deal last night not expected to limit the number of beds that officials can use for immigrants attained in the interior of the united states. the bill would provide funding for 3000 more beds. an averagecifies daily population that democrats said would require ice to reduce the number of beds over the next seven months. the agency could transfer money as it has been doing to use more beds. more as that continues to play out. in about 40 minutes, we will ask about this issue and the

democrats concerns about this issue. .tephen is in new york a republican. good morning. caller: how are you? host: doing well. caller: the dislike for donald trump, i have never seen anything like it before. can't getiticians over the fact that it is took this country to the next level. one thing about the arrest, i watch hannity and everything i can. to be able to tell you 1.7 is good, 5.5 is what we need. i can't guess to that. arrest,re talking about arrest, arrest. this is not the first time these people have committed.

you can have someone that has committed 15 crimes before they get arrested. take these statistics and multiply them. multiply them by the true numbers. hasmany times law-enforcement caught someone the first time? criminal, that is the tendency. host: to richard in massachusetts. good morning. it, i can'take on see what the big deal is. they can't just put these people right back where they came from? make a move to another country by the thousands.

[indiscernible] law and obey and the law, that is the point. [indiscernible] she, they have bad lives in a bad family. that is no excuse. get these people and send them right back. that is it. i'm tired of hearing these people calling up, especially the people of color. this because ion have watched c-span for 15 years. every black person says we should ship them all back. host: how do you know the race of people that call into this show? caller: look at them. i their voice. -- by their voice.

and howgood morning, are you? rally last night. i guess what i am confused about , in my opinion, the executive that the saying economy is better than it ever has been. jobseople are stealing our and we need to put money toward something else. i am less than an hour south of flint. they don't even have drinking water. understandust can't that if the economy is doing so , why do we need a wall? this we have been having

discussion about the deal that came together yesterday. do democrats think the american people are joking about border security. republicans are getting way more than they should. not one dollar. it democrats caved and some will pay for it dearly. this is bs. some of the comments this morning as the deal came together for $1.375 billion for border structures, less than the $5.7 billion president trump had demanded originally for his wall. we will be talking about it for most of the program today as well.

karen is in norman, oklahoma. it morning. -- good morning. caller: i keep hearing people call-in saying they don't know why we need border security or the wall, fence, whatever you want to call it. once people step foot into our country, they come in here. it they are released. you have your ms 13 all around terrorizing the neighborhoods. we have to catch them, put them up, feed them, give them medical care. we have veterans that are dayitting suicide, 22 a because the government claims there is no money for them to get the mental health they need. tents that the people are in a dead at the

homeless veterans would love to have something like that. and i bet the homeless veterans would love to have something like that. they are bringing diseases over here. work all their lives to try to eradicate. so it ised the border not here in the first place. host: we're learning some of the numbers that are in this deal. up in el paso county. i am hispanic and a conservative. if it has conditions of limited dead space, i would like

conservatives to come back and say if you limit my bed space, .hat is the maximum limit when people say health care for and that means would i be eligible in 2038? i think there ought to be some conditions on the counter offer. then we only allow 16,000 to be treated for free. i think that is a fair counter. host: on what happens next from here, the lead negotiators richard shelby, the chairman of the senate appropriations , they talknita lowey

to reporters yesterday. richard shelby saying we think so when reporters asked about the likelihood of president trump signing this deal. we hope so, is what he said. of anotherecter government shutdown this close, we don't want that to happen. senator mitch mcconnell urged shall be to get it done in the negotiations. said that she had been in close communication with speaker nancy pelosi and expected her support. we are confident we made the right decisions. president trump spent last night in el paso. president trump: last year, juarez had 1200 murders.

el paso had 23 murders. to 1200.ed walls work. there is nothing like them for what we are talking about. we want to stop drugs. we want to stop traffickers. we want to stop criminals coming in. malls save lives. walls save tremendous numbers of lives. host: about a mile or two away, congressman be to o'rourke -- ourke was holding a counter rally and talked about walls as well. been one of the safest cities in the u.s. for 20 years and counting. the wall was built in 2008.

it was a little less safe after the wall was built. we can show the rest of the country as we make our stand here together tonight that walls do not make us safer. walls require us to take someone's property, their house, their farm, their ranch to build a wall at a time of record low northbound apprehensions. el paso is not the outlier. look at mcallen. look at san diego. look at all the points in between. -- u.s. cities on the barter on the border are far safer then cities deeper in the interior. just after 7:30 a.m. on the east coast. we are getting your reaction to this deal that would fund the government through the end of this fiscal year and is also a

deal on border security. $1.375 billion for border barriers. we are joined by julie grace presti. take us to the sequence of events late last night that led to this breakthrough? over the weekend, we had negotiators at a cap david. it did not go well. , the negotiations continued. they came out and there is some flexibility. what remains to be seen is if the president will touch it. say tentative deal.

how much room is there for negotiation before we see something on the floor of the house and senate? what is the typing for that to -- to happen? camegrace: when nita lowey out, she said staffers would be working on it all day. it would be out as soon as possible. on what it will hinge the white house does today. president trump will be facing a lot of pressure from conservatives and members of the house freedom caucus that have come out against the deal. it played a large role in why he rejected the deal back in december. but he has lost a lot of the , theage now that the house democrats now control the house. it may be the best deal the white house can get at this point.

, richard shelby offered 10 more miles and $1.6 billion. ,hether that will factor in that still remains to be seen. host: which chamber goes first in terms of taking a vote? do we have a sense of who we will be hearing from first on this? juliegrace: i would have to double check on that, but my guess would be the house. host: timing wise, can this all get done before friday? are there certain deadlines about the amount of hours that a dell has to be -- that a bill has to sit after it is introduced? juliegrace: there is talk about waiving the three-day rule or maybe over the weekend voting. there are definitely ways to get around the time period. they should be able to get it

all said and done by friday. host: what is your plan for today in terms of tracking these members down? who are you most interested in i will to? juliegrace: be trying to get in touch with white house sources. conservatives, what type of pressure they will place on the president. where they see this deal going. what is happening with appropriators. they continue the legislative text. host: thank you so much for your time. juliegrace: thank you for having me. host: the house not in session today. there will be a brief pro forma

session at 9 a.m. and we will be going briefly for gavel to gavel coverage. members are not in session today, the house allowing time for members to go to the funeral in michigan of the late congressman john dingell. that funeral taking place at the church of the divine child at dearborn. later in the day, the congressman's casket will be flown to d.c. it will be driven past the u.s. capitol on the east plaza. that is why members note you can

watch all the service today. we start at 11 a.m. eastern. caller: thank you so much for taking my call. i find it ironic that liberal democrats never mention the millions of struggling poor families of america living paycheck to paycheck. homeless. no american dream in their future. all their sympathy seems to be with the illegals. i sympathize with them, but we can't take on the port of the world until we solve our problems. they don't seem to be interested in that. every city has low wages, drugs, and poverty. work for a need to better life for our citizens.

all these problems we face now whether it is drug addiction, poverty -- this is caused by both sides before trump. he did not cause the problems we are facing. the average american seems to be forgotten. walls are a symbol of asking permission to come across. build the wall. let's move on. nothing when we are $21 trillion in debt. the president take this $1.375 billion deal or should he called out for the $5.7 billion? caller: i am torn between that because i want him to, but i want to make sure that he can to put ahe needs barrier, a wall, whatever you want to call it. i don't know.

we have plenty of our own poor. we have lots of drugs in our city. which is so sad. america has so many problems. what you see on tv during election years is doing the thing for the illegal people that want a better life. has eight or nine dollars an hour. i own rental property. they live paycheck to paycheck. what are these people supposed ?o do they come in with nothing and they need housing and education. citizens?he host: in decatur, alabama, a democrat.

it good morning. we have a different situation. i like what general mccain said. let's make a legend. n said to make a legend out of it. if they don't get a paycheck on time, what you do is everybody leave and find another job. let's see how the government will operate. we have had 45 presidents. no president has gotten everything he wanted. shut the whole thing down and we will see who done what. host: good morning.

i complement the lady just before him and i agree with what he said. , i complementpoor her on what she thinks. complement so many others, analyzing, giving them money every year. for their security, this and that. allies to give to us for us to build the wall that will take congress and everybody else out of it. get our allies outside the u.s. to give us the money to build our wall. host: who would be most likely to chip in on that effort? i think a lot of them would be if donald trump could get them one-on-one? host: how do you make that pitch

to a foreign government? we have comeears, to your defense and we have helped you support your nation. we have helped you support your people. agriculturally and every other way. and what we are asking is that we have gridlock in washington. the democrats are not about to move. are about to wall. give it to us. william in cleveland, ohio. caller: with respect to the gentleman from georgia, i agree with what he is saying and i understand what the woman who , the problemto him

-- we shouldment not shut down the government. we should freeze the assets of the senators and the congressman . their income. since they can't seem to do their damn job. dmz andst set up a everybody will be happy. that way you can put a military base, send military units out. we don't need a wall. military on one side, personnel can open fire. follow the line to go through the proper entry gate or, at your own risk, sacrifice your life. william in ohio on the issue of military personnel on the border.

here is a story out of california. governor knew some of california announcing he will withdraw -- of californiam and at he will withdraw troops from the border and assign them to other duties. he will speak publicly about the redeployment during his state of the state address on tuesday. the national guard has had an expanded presence since april when mr. newsom's predecessor agreed to add 400 troops to shore up border related security . mr. brown stressed the deployment which was financed by the federal government would support efforts to go after criminal gangs, human traffickers, and drug smugglers. he said the troops would not be used to enforce federal immigration policy. look for that change. caller: i think the whole thing is an invented crisis.

nobody talked about it until trump got in. talk about the mexicans being violent and dangerous when we have people shooting out of hotel rooms and murdering people on the street. going into schools, murdering people. chicago, so many people murdered. trump said emergency rooms were overcrowded. the next thing, you will see mexicans crowding up emergency rooms. most people in emergency rooms were white americans. that is what he has invented and he has a lot of people cheering. the people of the united states are prejudice, so they jump on any bandwagon. you think 25% of this people in this country are prejudice. caller: yes, i do. if they are not, they think they

are better than any other race. they may not be prejudice, but they think they are superior. like todd put them in us -- like god put them in a special place on this earth. lawrence, massachusetts. an independent. thank you for taking my call today. thank you very much. how are you doing today? host: what are your thoughts about the deal coming together? should the president sign at? caller: it is a brave collaboration. , when i smoke out of my water bong -- host: we will go to a republican. good morning. i don't usually call-in. i am sick and tired of hearing people call like a lady from

north carolina talking about the babies. you go to work and you don't take your kids with you. these women coming with these kids, they are not coming to work. they are coming for welfare, food stamps, free housing, and anything else they can get. i want a wall. law.body must obey the host: illegal immigrants are not eligible for social where fire programs -- welfare programs like food stamps. aredo you think that they using them? caller: that is why they are coming. you don't come to work and take your kids. host: this is angela in montgomery, alabama. caller: good morning.

me,probably don't remember i called on super tuesday in 2016 and everything i said has come true. i said they will do the tax cuts and take our money. i have a way to stop hunger. clement andorming a paying them a certain amount of money to get everybody making under $75,000 a food card. you can apply for it if you want and if you don't need it, don't do it. all you have to do is put e-ve rify. if they don't use it, put them in jail. make them pay a fine. that will stop that. , don't put all those people in the race. you are messing up. if you don't make it the first few months, get out. host: who do you think should be in it?

caller: it's not up to me. everybody runs because they think they can beat trump. i told you hillary wasn't going to win. everybody on facebook blasted me. atple of color are still mad what the republicans did to obama. mitch mcconnell, please get rid of him. this is what you are not understanding. first thing they did was tax cuts. haven't done anything to help anybody else. i want you to go back and pull up my clip. not help anybody after the economy broke down. cutshey did was give tax to the rich, making us slaves to corporations. host: the good thing about the c-span archives is that you can do that. all of our segments on washington journal are available

at c-span.org. go back and check out angela's comments or any of our segments. a minnesota congresswoman apologizing yesterday for using language criticized as anti-semitic after both democratic and republican leaders condemned her suggestion that lawmakers support for israel was driven by money from a pro-israel group. and i amtism is real grateful for jewish allies and colleagues for educating me on this painful history of anti-semitic tropes. minnesotaat from tweeted out, adding, i apologize. she also said she would continue to raise concerns about the influence of lobbyist money in politics. tweets over the weekend and the last couple of days. a statement by nancy pelosi and

democratic leadership called on to apologize. he is nancy pelosi's statement and tweet from yesterday along with a statement from leadership saying anti-semitism must be called out, confronted, and condemned. supporters.strong it is based on shared values and strategic interests. congresswoman omar's use of anti-semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations is deeply offensive. that is a bit from the statement released yesterday by democratic leadership. at the other end of pennsylvania avenue, some information about vice president mike pence's travel plans. the vice president will visit

herhwitz on friday and to -- tour a memorial to jews -- of as part of an era european trip. tour a site in southern poland with the polish president. he will be in poland for a joint conference. the pentagon considers a potential base for u.s. forces in the country. a few minutes left in this segment. it lets talk about the deal reached late last night that would avert a government shutdown. good morning. i am really a democrat but turned independent. to tell you the truth, we will have one world government for

the democrats to keep them in here. they will make each one of us dislike each other. we are all one nation under god. we are individual people. and we can all get along. if my son or my daughter did anything to break the law, they would be in jail. this country are going to jail while we let all these illegal immigrants come over. not only are they illegal, many of them have been doing criminals. so should trump take this deal, the $1.75 billion offered for border barriers? or should he hold out for $5.7 billion? caller: holdout. and storing my food, water,

i've got my gun. i am 70 years old and i'm sick and tired of the new world government bringing people over here to bring us down. -- debbie is that the of north carolina. caller: i am proud of president trump and i hope he holds out. did daca and handed it over to the democrats to appease them and they slapped him in the face. scrapped and all the loopholes need to be closed. keep going, president trump. we are proud of you. extension was a three-year extension. dapa was a separate program. should he hold out for a potential government shutdown? with that concern you? caller: it would not.

if that is what it takes. the losey and schumer need to do their job and quit protecting adults.g those two need to learn a lesson. they are supposed to be for us. what lesson should washington learn from that got -- shutdown? schumer and policy need to grow up. it is their fault. they are supposed to be for us and they are not. they will take down their gated community and let them live with them and see what it is like. host: tom in jensen beach, florida. caller: i think trump should say no. i have been in construction for over 40 years.

jobs that americans won't do is a crock. it is propaganda. construction, my phone did not ring from 2000 to 2012. it stopped bringing because they were using cheaper labor. say as far ast to ,ike when they come down here these guys have a lot of money on hand. they have probably at least 10 grand cash in their house. they are all doing very well. you are doing very well. i think we need to address this. it has been going on way too long. host: what is the best way to

address it? caller: put boules in the water water with the sensors. and they can go apprehend people. bouysi don't know about in the water, but this deal --ludes one point $7 billion $1.7 billion for technology on the border. there are calls for things like drones and other technology to help secure the border. reported.on is being good morning. caller: to begin with, the shutdown of the government is ridiculous. my suggestion to everybody in this country that drives and asian made automobile, drive it

down to the border, leave the key in it. there are probably enough in this country taking our jobs here. they took our auto industry over. make a wall 100 feet high with them. understand why people don't realize that is what is taking our jobs. host: what needs to be done? caller: what i just said. automobiles.n made besides that, in terms of policy -- we will be talking border security.

we will be right back. ♪ ♪ >> the c-span bus recently traveled to louisiana, asking folks what does it mean to be american? >> to be an american means that you are part of a community that is innately able to overcome any obstacle. that includes everyone, the community as a whole in the country. american is to have the mindset that you can do anything you put your mind to, no matter where you are from in this world when you come you can do anything. it's like to be an american. >> to me being an american means that you love this country. and i mean truly love this

country. and to love all kinds of people, we are all broken, maybe the countries broken sometimes what you love it all the same. to me it means standing for the constitution, the bill of rights, and if you don't know them or you don't uphold the more you think we don't need them those of the formations of our country and what we are built upon. i would say he would be un-american to not be devoted to those. >> i think to be american means that we get to stand up and express ourselves, that we have the right to express our voice, actions, and to quote in 1914 send by silence what we should protest makes cowards out of men. >> i think what it means to be an american is to have the right to choose your own future, whether that means choosing where you live, picking whatever

job you want, and living the way you want, spending your money how you want. that's what it means to be american, having the life you choose. >> voices from the road on c-span. washington journal continues. host: covers men jim himes is back at our desk, -- congressman jim himes is back at our desk, let's start with a deal that came together last night to avert a government shutdown on border security. $1.375 billion for border barriers, are you in support of the deal? else i haveeveryone three or four top lines on the deal, but it is great that there is a deal out there. at just about all costs i think we need to avoid another 35 day shutdown, it was devastating for millions of people around the country. from what i've heard, it sounds

like it has a little money for border barriers, things that we ae today, there was last-minute debate on the number of beds, it sounds like there has been agreement on that. i'm encouraged, without the details, that we have a deal. host: i will circle back to the beds, on the border barriers, there are democrats who have said not one dollar for president trump's wall, will they be able to support the deal? guest: the wall conversation has gone really wild. what is president trump's wall? as he described it during the campaign it was a wall that would extend all the way across the southern border from the caribbean to the pacific. it would be a big beautiful 30 foot concrete wall paid for by mexico. i think we are a long way from that. i think we are in the realm of reasonable border security, if you go to san diego, where i was a couple weeks ago, you see in densely urban areas we do have

fencing and steel slats. so speaking for myself, if there is money to do more of what we areas,rks in dense urban where you need more barriers, i think that's fine. that's a long distance from the big beautiful wall from the caribbean to the pacific that was paid for by mexico. host: explain the bed issue, there is some confusion on that and concern by some who believe that democrats brought this up at the end of the negotiations. guest: i can't speak to the process of when it came up. i can tell you the underlying issue. have, the moreou people you can detain and hold. and the democrats worry about two things. that people are here to apply for asylum, because you have people were crossing the border illegally, usually because they're looking for a job that they can't get wherever it is they come from. and there are people who are fleeing violence, seeking

asylum. those are people you don't put into detention, you adjudicate their cases and find out if they have a credible fear. the concern of the democrats is twofold, the more beds you have, the more you get away from detaining people who are real threats. people who are violent, members of gangs, and you get into detaining people who are simply seeking asylum. or people who pose no threat whatsoever. immigration is obviously a very emotional debate, the government does not begin to have the resources to detain the 11 million people who are here on an undocumented basis. so the question is who do you detain? and the democrats certainly say you done -- detain the people who are threats to their communities. host: congressman jim himes is with us until the bottom of the ire, if you want to join the conversation the phone lines are open. for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002.

the clock is still ticking to that friday midnight deadline. the government would still partially shut down if the president does not sign off. could you walk through the timing? who goes first, the house or the senate and how does this happen? guest: i'm ashley not sure who goes first, the story broke last night, -- i'm actually not sure who goes first, the story broke last night. both houses have to pass it. it sounds like we have a deal that democrats and republicans agree on, so the price -- the question is can the president get there? if he can't, what next? potentially you have a shut down. i think that shutdown would be on him, again. the republican and democratic the republican and democratic support if he vetoes it, it's on him. the question is what congress override a veto?

that's a big deal for the president of the united states, conceivably, given how toxic the idea of another shutdown is, you may hear people talking about that. host: stephen is up first in glenwood springs, colorado, a republican. caller: good morning. i would like to hear more discussion of the possibility of calling for a national emergency that is lightly discussed publicly. i would like to know what that would involve and what could result from that? also about calling for a at the borderency at 2017, which was already called for with the executive order calling for the seizure of assets of those involved in human rights abuse and corruption. what about that? it's already been called? host: let's take the questions.

guest: national emergency is a good question, this is something that every american and member of congress should be thinking about. if the president doesn't get what he wants for border security for a wall in congress, maybe he declares a national emergency. the reason to think hard about that, all presidents get frustrated that congress doesn't do what they want. barack obama famously said i have a phone, and a pen. and wasn't that horrible, he will ignore the will of congress , and trump's version is i will declare a national emergency. all presidents get frustrated that they don't get exactly what they want from congress. and the reason to think hard about a national emergency and i think my republican friends get this. if president trump can't get what he wants, all of a sudden he starts building a wall on department of defense territory along the border, people need to be mindful that if that

precedent is that we will have other presidents in the future, some of them will be democrats. thehat precedent is set, american people have to get comfortable with the president with enormous powers. imagine we have a democratic president three years from now and they decide that climate change is an emergency, i could make the case that climate change is an emergency. does that president bypass congress for climate change? the opioid emergency, 50,000 americans dying every year from drug overdoses from opioids, is that a national emergency? why not? maybe the president should declare an emergency? when you let the genie out of the bottle you change the way we govern ourselves and the president has a lot more power relative to the representatives of the people. host: you bring up climate change, we brought up the green new deal yesterday, do you think we needed? view itrom my point of

has some very good ideas, including saying climate change is a massive threat to the planet. i believe that, scientists believe that, most people believe that. i admire that it says we are really going to dedicate ourselves in a big way to solving that. we are behind, and it will affect every american. the green new deal also has lots of other stuff, a federal job guarantee, everyone who wants a job would apparently be given a job by the federal government. i would like to learn more about that. it has massive improvement in our infrastructure, president trump ran on massive improvement in our infrastructure. so the bottom line from this guy's perspective is that there are some great ideas and there are some ideas i don't fully understand and i'm not sure they'd be a good idea what i'm glad were talking about a significant -- but i'm glad were talking about a significant dedication to challenging

climate change. host: michael, a democrat from georgia, you're up. caller: i would like to talk to about thessman politicians on the border states. most of the politicians at the border states, they don't want -- this is a case where -- -- this is a disgrace, he makes america look bad. and i would like to hear from the politicians at the border states. thank you. isst: michael is right, this

one of the interesting things, there are democrats and republicans who have districts along the southern border. most famously my colleague will heard is a texan republican who has a district that stretches along the southern border. not a single one of them supports a border wall. there are two reasons, at least two. number one is the idea of building a border wall in the middle of nowhere, and hostile desert, that's a bad idea. -- in hostile desert, that's a bad idea. that's not where drugs come in, and one of the things that people talk about, other than senator cruz, is that if the president got his way and he had to use the military version of eminent domain and i'm not sure anyone is sure what that is, but that's taking private land. this connecticut representative who doesn't know a ton about texas, i may get some popcorn to watch what happens when the president of the united states

tells a bunch of texan ranchers that he's taking their land. host: remind viewers of the new democrat coalition. guest: we are 101 members of the house democratic coalition, people talk about us as pragmatists and moderates, where people tend to come out of districts that are purple. you have a lot of independence, maybe even republican districts. and evenindependents republik and district. we tend to look for ways to reach across the island compromise to get something done. they call us moderates but that's not a word i like a lot -- to reach across the aisle and compromise to get something done. they call us moderates and that's not a word i like. host: we had a call or say i'm a blue dog democrat, what happened to the blue dog democrats? guest: when i was here in 2009, they were more socially conservative and often southern democrats. as the country has sorted itself

out, as the south has become more republican except in the more urban areas in the north has become more democratic, we morelost a lot of those conservative southern democrats. i would not confuse the new democratic coalition with the blue dogs, we tend to come from those more moderate districts but the blue dogs tended to be very socially conservative, which is not something i would say about new democrats. host: jordan is in north carolina, a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. voter is a young understand that republicans would want border security. my question to represented times -- representative himes, do you think we need border security? host: you say you are young voter, how young? caller: i'm 18.

guest: i'm great that -- that's great, the 18-year-olds do not vote nearly enough. thank you for the question. of course democrats want border security. governing is hard enough when you don't have the president of the united states throwing complete baloney out there saying nancy pelosi and the democrats want open borders and they don't want border security and they support drug dealers. that's toxic and completely false rhetoric. of course were very serious about border security, we just know that border security doesn't mean a wall from sea to shining sea. it's not a coincidence that we made it 240 years to our national history without a single person calling for the trump wall from the caribbean to the pacific. that's because it's a bad idea. that doesn't mean a border berry is in urban areas are a bad idea, we -- border barriers in urban areas are a bad idea, we have them there. if you go to san diego there are

wire. fences, and barbed but the idea that democrats don't care about border security is just ridiculous and doesn't help the conversation, and it's an important one. mike, a republican, from pennsylvania. good morning. caller: i'm calling about the wall. building a steel fence would be , why not make it out of concrete and put solar panels there to collect energy, sell , and it would be totally secure in the wall would make money to pay for itself? host: you see it as an infrastructure investment? caller: yes.

idea, it's a creative let's put solar panel on the border barriers, it's creative. i wishortant thing, and we would have a calm and more rational conversation about this -- calmer and more rational conversation about this, democrats are not opposed to border barriers. there is not a country on the planet that doesn't put certain barriers somewhere. famously israel where there is a wall through the west bank designed to keep terrorists out of their territory. but even israel does not have a wall around all of its land border. if you go to the north or into the desert, and desert being the opportune word, there is no wall. there are other mechanisms. this deal would appear to have some money for the kinds of barriers we use. i don't get too excited whether we talk about concrete or steel

slats, that's a technical question that technical people ought to resolve. a little money available for what we do today, barriers, where they are appropriate, in my opinion is fine. what's not fine is the stream of the wall that extends across the whole southern border that will not be paid for by mexico it turns out, but would be paid for .y u.s. taxpayers even if we put solar panels on it, that's not a good idea. host: we have 10 minutes left with congressman jim himes, we mentioned your house intelligence committee work. can you talked about when michael cowan, president trump's former lawyer, will be testifying and in what form he will be doing that? guest: my understanding is that he comes in next week or the week after, he was supposed to be testifying to the committee last week, that was rescheduled. the reason for him being called guilty, itis now

turns out, of lying to our committee. needless to say, the committee, now that he has come clean with the special counsel, the committee is interested in hearing the truth. he is obviously a critical player in this whole question of donald trump and the trump campaign and what was said and what was done. and now that he has come clean and is being honest with people, we need him to come back and tell us what the truth is. and we have follow-up questions because since the house investigation was shut down lots of things have happened that we want to talk about. host: why did the questions had to take place behind closed doors? i understand it's going to be a nonpublic hearing. guest: that's a good question and not one i'm sure i know the answer to. i'm always in favor is doing as many of these things as publicly as we can. i think it's a combination of not wanting this to be the kind of show that some of these open

hearings can be, so we can really get down to business and ask questions. nobody's playing to the camera. and i think it says that he feels protected. he has expressed concern about retaliation, appropriately so, from the president and his people. so part of it is to make sure that he feels comfortable and that everyone is comfortable being open and honest. host: what are your thoughts of the chairman of the committee, adam schiff, and how comfortable he is becoming a target of the presidents criticism? the headline from nbc news, the president has plenty of criticism for has intelligence committee chairman after the probe expands, the president tweeting about concerns of unlimited presidential harassment. wish: two things to say, i the dialogue weren't there, the president punching down and attacking members of congress and the senate is pretty unseemly. and he thinks if he is hurting

adam schiff by singling him out, he's making him famous and increasing his support in democratic circles. and number three, what's really serious here, the president needs to understand that it is the constitutional obligation of the congress of the united states to do oversight. to poke at the administration, whether it's a publican president and democratic congress or vice versa. -- a republican president and democratic congress, or vice versa. baltic,ve you been to connecticut? guest: i haven't. host: mike is a democrat, from baltic. caller: i was wondering, when president obama did the daca and dapa, did he do that with executive order or did it go through congress? guest: i will have to look up baltic, we have 106 t9 towns in connecticut and i'm still learning about the ones i haven't visited -- 106 t9 towns

in connecticut and i'm at 1 in connecticut. obama did daca by executive order and it's being litigated in the courts. administration's position was we don't begin to have the resources to deport everyone, so we have to pick who we are going to deport and who we are not going to deport and we will take a conscious decision not to deport young people who were brought here illegally through no fault of their own who are in college, or working. that was the daca deal, and the vulnerability is that it can be challenged or canceled by the next president, as president trump dance old -- canceled da ca. concerns you express about barack obama using the

executive order to make daca happen? guest: a national emergency is not the normal exercise a presidential power, and the courts will determine whether obama overstepped. usinging that we are roski torrey discretion saying i cannot begin to -- using prosecutorial discretion saying i cannot deport everyone, so i'm choosing who to deport, that's very different than declaring a national emergency. national emergency powers are truly massive, it's a long way between the two. host: in missouri, jim is a democrat. good morning. caller: what i've noted with this presidency, starting with the muslim band of syrian of syrian- ban refugees, and whole countries and mexicans, when trump

supporters make america great, they here make america white. which it never was and never will be. thank you. guest: i appreciate jim's clarity on the issue. we tie ourselves in knots in courts and the congress talking about the muslim band. let's be honest -- muslim ban. telling theest, undocumented who cross our borders are rapists and criminals, when that is almost by and large exclusively not true. what the president is doing is trying to scare americans, using people whose skin is darker than they are, who worship differently than they do. at this is a story as old as the republic -- this is a story as old as the republic. some leaders will be aspirational and bring us together, some dried the campaign based on fear and fear of people who look and worship differently.

i think that is the story of donald trump's assent to the presidency. host: so much focus will likely be on the deal in the next couple of days, but we also talked about the reclamation of war powers act and how it relates to yemen, can you tell us about it? guest: there's a point to be made, the senate has acted and i think the house will action this week on saying hey, our assistance of the saudi's and complicity to the war in yemen, which is a tragedy with hundreds of thousands of people dead, needs to stop. that's a constitutional prerogative of congress. if you read the constitution, it is congress that gets to declare war. we have gotten away from that and that's a larger issue in the last 60 years where congress has given up that authority to the president. it's not a democrat republican thing, barack obama went to war in libya without any congressional approval.

that's not a good thing. if you believe in the constitution we have to get back to the notion that if we're going to commit are fabulously expensive military, and setting aside the money risk the lives of our young men and women in uniform, it is the representatives of the people who decide to do that, not one person in the oval office. host: jerry, in new jersey, a democrat. caller: good morning represented himes. i have a couple questions. i notice that originally this all started with going after president trump for russian collusion, it looks like the democrats are not going to get what they want from mueller, so they're trying to discredit some of the stuff he is doing because afraide saying they are he's not looking into finances. what i want to know is mueller looking into the fact that hillary clinton's campaign went with russia for the dossier to

start the whole thing. are you guys investigating the fisa warrants? hillary clinton? are you investigating all of this stuff? it's to science, are you doing it for both sides? and the other thing i want to say, if you keep using identity politics, i'm so sick of hearing whites, muslims. we are one people. don't say that trump is the one doing it and separating. all i hear from you guys is he is about blacks, skin color, get off that. he is making unemployment lower for blacks, for the spanish. if you really want to work for this country, do it together. your: let me take care of first point -- your second point

first. it's not the democrats who are articulating racial politics. the president of the united states instituted a muslim band. ban.s -- -- muslim true --ed that lgt be lgtb troops cannot serve in the faxtary, despite there's no justifying taking out trans troops. he uses language vilifying people coming across the southern border as rapists and drug addicts. i appreciate your condemnation of identity politics, that this president is all about it in his rhetoric and i just gave you three examples of identity politics. people like me are going to say no, you cannot vilify the ,ransgender community, latinos and you cannot vilify muslims because they are muslims. , i can werst point

speak for myself. the democrats don't help there was conclusion, -- collusion, there was a bipartisan investigation in the senate and house to look at what has happened with russian intervention in our elections and whether there was any collusion by donald trump. that's a fair investigation. i don't know how it will come out, i hope we get the results soon and i'm ready for that to happen. but nobody is hoping for one thing or another. those of us involved want the truth to come out and it's hard to get the truth when george papadopoulos, michael flynn, paul manafort, and the list goes , or lying toohen us. that's a problem and it raises the question of why are you all lying to us? i is much as anyone hope that we can move beyond this. -- as much as anyone wants to move beyond this, my constituents want to focus on health care and infrastructure.

but there are legitimate questions the investigation is looking into. i looked closely at the suppose advisor abuses, and the inspector general of the department of justice looked at that, i understand it's important to fox news but it's not true. there was no pfizer abuse -- fisa abuse. and we will learn more about the steele dossier and if hillary clinton's campaign committed crimes though should be pursued by law enforcement. the idea that these investigations are driven by politics is unfortunate. we need to fully understand what russia did and whether anyone helped them do it? host: we have to leave it there, come back again and we will talk about these topics. jim himes, a democrat, from connecticut. up next we continue the conversation about immigration and border security with mark krikorian, the executive director for the center of immigration studies. and later on, a discussion on

reporting at -- of challenges at the nations va hospital's. we will be right back. ♪ >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies. today, we continue to bring unfiltered coverage of congress, ,hite house, the supreme court and public policy events and washington, d.c. end around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >> there are nearly 100 new members of the house of representatives this year, ohio, west virginia, maryland, mississippi, and washington are five states that added one new member. representative anthony gonzalez was a football star at ohio

state for the indianapolis colts drafted him in 2007. after injuries cut short his professional football career, represented gonzalez earned his mba at stanford business school. these the first latino elected to ohio's congressional delegation. carol miller served over a decade in the state house before voters in west virginia's third district elected her to congress. politics runs in her family, she's the daughter of former congressman samuel divide, whose seat would be filled by john kasich. angressman michael guest was local prosecutor in mississippi for 25 years. his last decade as district attorney before his election to the house. he's a sunday school teacher at his local baptist church. representative david trout own and his brother opened a small liquor store in delaware in the 1990's. the company moved its headquarters to maryland and has

expanded to become the largest independent fine wine retailer in the country. and washington's eighth district elected kim schrier, a pediatrician and the only female doctor in congress. leaders, watch it all in c-span. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> washington journal continues. mark krikorian is back, he is the executive director for the center for immigration studies, mr. krikorian, headlines post the tentative deal to avert a shutdown. border fences,r president trump's support is uncertain. where does your support lie? guest: i don't know, the deal hasn't been finalized and we don't know the details. what it seems like happened is they agreed to a smaller amount of money for border fencing. but democrats backed away from their demands that there be

reductions in the number of detention beds. and i think that's more important, the ability to detain illegal immigrants is more important than an extra 50 mile of -- 50 miles of fencing. host: why is that? a lot of people are just coming to this issue. guest: immigration detention is not a punishment, it's not locking people in jail for a sentence of three years or what have you. the point is to make sure that they show up for their proceedings, their hearings, and make sure that they can be removed and we know where they are. if you cannot detain an illegal person is almost the definition of a flight risk. and even in cases of asylum, the vast majority of these central americans on the southern

border, for instance, who are making claims of asylum, it's a strategy for illegal immigration, in other words, these are not real asylum claims. half of them let into the country to pursue asylum claims applications. if you do not detain those people, until there has been a resolution to their case, you will never find them again. host: you have written that democrats want to fundamentally change ice into a welcome wagon for immigrants, explained that. guest: this is a proposal the democrats had initially offered, this is now a week or so ago. they were wanting to reduce detention dramatically, give less money for ice to hold people, which would result in almost certainly criminals having to be released onto the street because ice did not have facilities. but also the democratic proposal wanted increased funding for

what they call case managers. which are social workers, health workers, literally in order to serve as a conduit and a welcome wagon for illegal immigrants. wet: with the deal in detail know, do you think the president has held the line or did he get anything -- or republicans, there a president has yet to announce his support -- the president has yet to announce his support. guest: clearly they are excepting less money for border security. they held the lines on these democratic demands to gut detention and reduce detention. the democrats have demanded that family detention, kids and parents together, be phased out together. i don't know if that's included in this tentative agreement. that would be a serious problem. that would essentially make it

official that if you brought a child with you, you would be let go, home free into the united states. to some degree they held the line, on the other hand there is a basic change in our asylum rules. the loopholes in our asylum rules, that were not included at all. and that would have been more important than all of these other measures. host: the other number we have seen is $1.7 billion for technology to help secure the border, your feelings on that? guest: that's essential, no question about it. the thing to keep in mind as that's not just between the crossing points. that's technology for scanning trucks, and cars more effectively. lots of illegal immigrants come between the ports of entry, where the border patrol works. but lots come through the ports of entry in trucks, hidden in the back, buried under cargo.

that sort of thing. that's essential to have. you cannot open up every truck. you need to have a more efficient way of checking what's inside. are there drugs? people? other contraband? so x or technology is important. -- so extra technology is important. host: mark will be with us until 9:00 where we expect a pro forma of the house. but it will be brief and we will have more of the knot -- the washington journal after that. but mark krikorian is with us for the center of immigration studies. what is that? guest: a small think tank that makes the case for tighter enforcement and lower immigration levels. we produce reports, we have a blog, every day we have new postings. we do panel discussions and things like that. host: do you do briefings president? guest: i met the president once, a broader meeting with other

people on this border issue during the government shutdown. but on a regular basis no. host: what about interaction with white house staff? guest: we usually get requests about if this is a good idea, or do you have research on, why, or z. but not -- on x, y, host: the phone lines are open if you want to join the conversation for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002. richard is from pineville, louisiana, a republican. caller: i was wondering, with costshutdown last time, it $7 billion i believe it said, and $3 billion of that we would not get back. the $3 billion, could we have put that towards the wall? host: the number i think your

siding is from the congressional budget office, it was $11 billion is the total cost and the government will be able to make up $8 billion. guest: clearly government shutdowns are an inefficient way to change policy. it's not so much that you could recover that money, governments are run more efficiently if they are not shutting down whole portions of them, including the border security parts. bob, a democrat, from utah, good morning. caller: i have a simple question , i would like to know why nobody even talks about going it's fine tople -- have people coming in -- the people employing them. it's fine to have people in the country but it's not find to employ them. if people want to come on vacation, fine. but that's what i'd like to know, i'd like to have an answer

on that and i'd like to see more people talk about it. guest: i would like more people to talk about that. magnate of jobs that pulls illegal immigrants in in the first place is one of the most important parts. you can't let the illegal immigrants themselves off the hook, they are grown-ups and they are responsible for their actions. there's no question that we need to have more action against employers of illegal immigrants. there's a few reasons that's a problem. fakeyers can now take documents, and illegal immigrants routinely gave fake or stolen -- give a fake or stolen documents, and employers are barred by law or looking too closely at them. they can be punished for discrimination if they say this document looks fishy, do you have anything else? the most important first thing we need to do, and i would say this is more important than all of the elements in this funding

e-verifymake the system mandatory for all new hires. host: you would put that over the wall? guest: i would put that over almost anything, it's the most important first thing we need to do. host: why wasn't that in this conversation? guest: i have no idea. it seems to be that people are very resistant, interest groups are resistant to e-verify, which is an online system that's free, when you hire someone you take their social security information and irs information and it mandates you to check it online and make sure it is real. host: who's not interested in doing it? guest: businesses, especially those that use lots of illegal immigrants, landscapers, farmers, restaurants, they don't want to know who the illegal immigrants are. and that's more on the right. on the left, people succeed in reducing illegal immigration and there's hostility to that.

so you have resistance to the idea of e-verify, which would be the single most important thing. it's not a silver bullet, but it's the most important step we could take to reduce illegal immigration. michigan,lint, anthony, and independent. good morning. caller: i wanted to ask the gentleman about starting from zero, when kings and monarchs were taking people out of the country and the countries were coming over here. how do would he feel if these ice agents came after him? the only people subject immigration enforcement are people who are violating immigration laws. the number of law-abiding people who deal with ice or the border patrol is zero. a greenimmigrant with card, even a visitor who is rules withinthe the period of time given, much less a citizen, who doesn't have any interaction with the

immigration authorities, isis not going to be coming after them. only people who have broken the law. host: and then coover, washington, peter, a republican , washington,er peter, republican. caller: i would like to know, well i've already looked it up, but i've looked at the irs statistics. there's $26 billion a year that is remitted back to mexico, that's more money than what mexico makes in their oil industry, which is their biggest amount of money they make. there's also $5 billion every year that the irs says is being falsely claimed in child tax credits. i don't understand why people don't get that, the minute they step over the line they are breaking the law. and immediately they are

lawbreakers, and they come from countries that have no law. they don't understand the idea of trying to live under a constitution. if you look at mexico and the criminality of that government, and what they do to their people , and all you have to do is look at what's happening at the border and understand that. host: mr. krikorian? guest: remittances was the first part of his question, this is immigrants sending money back to relatives at home. it's important and it something the president missed an his mexico to make will pay for the wall thing have some substance, it was abandoned and it was a dumb idea to begin with. messtances is in a menorah -- is an enormous source of money sent home. but it's their own money, they earned the money in parts of it they sent home, but it's untaxed

. and taxing remittances would be a source of funding. host: you mean besides the federal taxes that are taken out of the pay. guest: yes. if they were working on the books. the point is, oklahoma is the only state that taxes out-of-state remittances, money transfers. but you get it all back when you file your tax return. and if you're an illegal immigrant, and you are filing tax returns, you are the one paying taxes, they collect millions of dollars a year. a modest 1% level, remittance tax, and you get the money when you file your returns , would result in money for the federal government. and it would only be scofflaws paying it, because it's only people who don't file tax returns, this is an opportunity that congress had to raise this idea and implement it and they never took it. and i have always been mystified

why they have not gone that way. host: about 15 minutes before the house comes in for a pro forma session. if you want to join in the conversation for democrats (202) 748-8000, for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002, and we have a special line for a border state residents at (202) 748-8003. in watching the state of the union address for the president, there was a common he made i wanted to bounce off of you, and sing i want to come people come into our country and the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally. ever: the largest numbers part was ad-libbed, apparently. i didn't give it much credence, it was the president with one reporter calling it superlativizing. but he was asked about it the

next day and he doubled down, saying absolutely. then i was concerned. the president seems to be -- has fallen for this idea that the only problem with illegal immigration is its illegality. the legality is bad. but legal immigrants with little education, and take low skilled jobs and don't earn a lot of wages and end up getting government benefits for their children have the same social consequences as illegal immigrants. legality -- illegality is bad, but legal immigration on large scales are not that different. they have similar effects and the president has this idea, shared by a lot of people, that mass illegal immigration is fine and has no real consequences. it's only mass illegal immigration. host: how many legal

immigrations per year? guest: about one million. host: what would you like the number to be? guest: it should build up from the bottom, start at zero because no modern society with a third of the billion people stretching between oceans need at -- needs any immigration. but there are people we should let in. husbands and wives of american citizens, real einsteins, and the handful of people who are refugees with nowhere to go. that adds to something like 400,000 people year, more than any other country in the world but less than half of what we take now. next, a democrat, in pennsylvania. caller: good morning, thank you for taking my call. angry about this immigration thing all of a sudden being such a high profile political thing.

this has been going on for probably 100 years or more in our country. the immigrants from mexico were we turned come in, our eyes heavenward and we let them work in the fields in california. years, if youew looked around you, you would have known that we were being flooded with illegal immigrants. in the cities in pennsylvania started trying to do something about this, and they were cut .hort for me it's just rhetoric from a and itdifferent people has been a problem for many years. guest: and politics you need rhetoric, that's what politics is about. people articulating different points of view.

i agree that the immigration problem has been building for a but that was really the opening that allow for donald trump to become president. both parties did not really address people's concerns about this issue. and when immigration was addressed, as congress looked at it in the mid to thousands under obama,d in 2013 under they had debated legislation that was terrible. it ignored people's concerns and would have dramatically increased immigration as well as amnesty. my point is that politicians have been talking about it, but they have not been addressing people's concerns. neither party has and that left open a market opportunity for someone like donald trump, who was an improbable candidate.

the idea that donald trump as president was a joke on the simpsons years ago, and it happened because politicians in the republican and democratic 'srties did not address people concerns. host: charlie, an independent, from florida. caller: thank you for c-span. ifave a question for mark, he's familiar with the recent d.l. study that shows that e-verify -- with the recent study showing that e-verify is a failure, only five states require it and when they went into the data they found out that most of the companies that hire illegal immigrants are small companies that don't have to go back and look at the data. they can get false information on a social security card which can be easily copied. what i'm asking is what about

, apanies posting a bond $50,000 bond, and once the data is cleared and verified then the person can be hired. when people come into the country, they could post a bond so if they don't show up to their court hearing, if they overextend their visa, then they could lose the bond and there chasers police or bond bringing people into court. that would be incentive, mostly for corporations and businesses that hire these people. i watch bricklayers out here, people putting roofs on and they are hispanic. and it's new slave labor because these people can be paid cash under the table by a subcontractor. if they are injured under the job they go to our hospital, because they can go to a doctor or get insurance and they have no legal rights. so they can't file a court case, and there's no workman comp for

these people so they let that person go went higher than expert in. i think there are ways you could enforce this, a bond would work. host: we've got your point. guest: e-verify does work pretty well, but it's not a magic solution. only half of new hires were screened through e-verify last it is stille voluntary. but when arizona introduced e-verify there was a significant reduction in illegal employment. but the point about bonds is an interesting idea but you can't apply it to the whole workforce. e-verify has to be used for everyone. bonds you could use for guestworkers you bring in, and i think that would be a good idea. bonds are used to a limited degree in immigration in the immigration context. i'm just suspicious of bringing in guestworkers anyway altogether. i'm not interested in how to do it better.

in 2017 there was 35 million e-verify checks, about 803,000 -- i'm sorry 80,000 companies used that system. i want to get your thoughts on a series of articles from the washington post looking at the trump organization. and the use of the undocumented immigrant's by the trump organization and the purpose of those immigrants losing their jobs, some invited to the state of the union last week by democratic members. guest: honestly anyone who runs a hotel or golf course is likely to have some illegal immigrants trying to work for them. i was not surprised that this happened. i am surprised it happened now instead of two years ago. it seems to me that the residents said -- should have said look, i will be running for president, let's do diligence --

do due diligence and double check. i think the president lost an opportunity in the state of the union, saying i run this business and we found out we had these illegal immigrants, they presented documents and we were fooled. this is why i'm calling for e-verify so others don't end up and i same situation think that was a lost opportunity. when e-verify applies to so those people are not and if some illegal immigrants sneak through your off the hook but the fact that you used it show that you are willing to screen out illegal .orkers host: michael is in tennessee,

go ahead. caller: i am praying donald trump is not sign this bill, that he holds out and gets what he wants. if you could pass a law where if you get caught in a car, driving a car and there are four people in their and one of you is illegal or doesn't have identification, you confiscate somewhere. put it and eventually sell the car and put the money towards prisons, a wall, whatever. or if you catch someone in the house, and they are illegal, or they don't have a work visa. the house later on and put that money in a trust .und for a wall or prison that would stop a lot of immigration's. it would be hard to pass but i would like to see something like that done. what do think about that. guest: something like that

exists if you are a smuggler. if a smuggler is driving a car, and smuggling illegal immigrants in the car, the car can be seized. and presumably the same thing holding illegal immigrants and cars. it on a mass scale, how do you may if some friend of yours be, or a friend of a friend is an illegal immigrant and you're giving someone a ride? there are young illegal immigrants, the dreamers, some who did not know they were illegal themselves until in high school when they went to get a social security number. so in the limited context of battling smugglers, there is an unusual tool. host: lauren is waiting, and independent. go ahead.

i get your newsletter, i wonder why you continue to have a white nationalists and anti-semitic website on your newsletter. guest: we send out a weekly roundup of immigration commentary from all sides, including people we don't agree with. times hasrk editorials that we usually complete lead disagree with, and we include a broad range, including some sites that publish other material that i find objectionable. but there are important sites of immigration news and we include them because these are broad spectrums of use. the: mark krikorian is executive director director of immigration studies. we appreciate your time. that is about to take