"washington journal," continues. host: this is stef kight with axios here to talk about recent immigration events in the news.

what's the reaction about republican governors. guest: we see a lot of excitement about the actions from the right. a lot of republicans that we have spoken to see it as bringing necessary attention to the number of people crossing the u.s./mexican border. we have seen harsh words from the democratic party who see this as a political move taking advantage of desperate people and using them as political pods. people are definitely paying attention to the story line. we see really clear political divides on immigration. host: when it comes to the story itself, those who are boarding the plane or buses, what are they told about the destinations? are they told the truth? guest: that is the big question. in the state of texas or arizona, when they started

sending them to washington dc, new york or chicago. migrants were given the option of getting on those buses and told where they were going. many immigrants and asylum-seekers have families in those states. it was potentially helpful for them to board those buses. governor desantis flying them to martha's vineyard. there were questions raised if they knew where they were going. one of my colleagues went to martha's vineyard and they were not aware of where they were going. especially not martha's vineyard which is an island and not set up with resources. that is something that we are watching very closely and will be a point of the investigation that one of the texas sheriffs has initiated. host: sheriffs salazar in san antonio. he opened a criminal investigation to those criminals who lord immigrants from san

antonio to martha's vineyard. the criminal aspect, do you know what that might be? guest: that they may have been manipulated to get on those planes. it is not illegal for them to be transported voluntarily. if it was offered and they chose to take the governor up on those things. if they were manipulated, there are questions around is this human trafficking? we heard from attorneys who are talking to migrants and asylum-seekers who were flown to martha's vineyard and they think they are -- u visas. there have been some questions raised if funds were used appropriately.

host: you talked about governor desantis but let's talk about governor abbott of texas. what role did he play in this? guest: he has said that he did not directly communicate with governor desantis on the flights but of course, they originated in texas and were flown from their and eventually ended up in martha's vineyard. it is unclear if there was any communication but as far as we know, no one said they have directly communicated. greg abbott was the first two made a show of flying migrants to other state so that is the person who started this dread and we see this following. host: some of those buses came to washington dc. it has gained a lot more attention this time around. what makes a difference? guest: the fact that we are seeing the flights in the destination choice, martha's

vineyard seems more out there and more politically calculated than one of these bigger cities that has more resources and nonprofits are already established to receive migrants. the fact that it came as a surprise into martha's vineyard where there are not resources ready to receive migrants. governor desantis, people are talking about him in 2024. people pay a lot of attention when he does something. host: governor ducey in arizona, what is the role? guest: he started by saying immigrants to washington dc. they have not been busting migrants anywhere else. they have spent millions of dollars on that effort. following in abbott's footsteps, they have received high numbers of asylum-seekers. they have been following that same playbook. host: stef kight from axios.

if you want to join in the conversation it is (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, (202) 748-8002 for independents. have we heard from the biden administration? guest: we have heard from the press secretary who has condemned these actions. they have focused on the way this has become a political move. republicans are trying to paint the biden administration on immigration and using these people as political pods. i did report that there was a meeting on immigration. a cabinet level meeting on immigration last week. these happen regularly but one of those agenda items was to

look into litigation options for this issues. it is unclear what that may look like or what became of that meeting. it is something i tracking very closely. this is something the administration sees and needs to respond to. host: this deals with immigration policy. there have been reports of what is happening at the border. can you give us a sense on what is happening to those who want to come in? guest: the border numbers are setting a record number of border officials and those crossing the border between illegal ports of entry. that number passed 2 million and there have been significant numbers of people crossing the border over the past two years. for as much as we see these actions as a political move, there are real issues. we have seen the bided

administration struggle with the logistical and humanitarian issues in the political concerns. host: this report today, 180 thousand arrested at the southern border. remind people what the biden administration did when it came to border policy. guest: one of the big trump era policy was the one called remain in mexico. they had to wait and mexico for their asylum hearings. it has ended so they stopped using that. one controversial policy they have continued using that originated under trout is a policy called title 42. it allows border officials turned back asylum-seekers or deport them back to their home country without the chance of going through the asylum process. it is controversy all and many

advocates have expressed -- they are not happy about them continuing to use the policy but they have continued to use it up to this point. lots of people argue that is why we have seen such high numbers because people are kick back quickly they come back. each time they recross they are counted towards that number. those are two of the biggest policy that the administration has taken action on. host: the 2 million may not be 2 million individuals. guest: that includes repeat crossers. host: stef kight from axios. this is daniel from great falls, virginia. on the republican line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i want to comment that this administration has no interest in stopping the stem of this

migrate tide that is coming in. yes it is a political move for these republican governors. it shows the hypocrisy of these liberal elites. they say they want all this illegal immigration. they do nothing to stop it and of course it will call them out and show their hypocrisy. we have to secure the border. actually secure the border and put policies in place that don't incentivize people to make this trip up here. this administration and democrats in general have no interest in doing that. guest: of course, democrats have a different approach than republicans have. president trump was clear that he wanted strict policies at the border that punish people who

cross the border illegally and there is a question of what is the bidens real philosophy towards immigration? they want to make sure that people who are fleeing disastrous situations are able to access the asylum situation. how sure should we make sure that people are pushed to legal ports of entry? once they are on legal u.s. soil to apply. host: this is john in pennsylvania on the democrat side. caller: my concern is not with the people crossing the border. my concern is with the hate groups, 28 of which are in pennsylvania. governor desantis complained about the russians who come in

to have babies and go back to russia. there is no concern there i guess. i heard last night on the to alk show. were they illegal or were they asylum seekers are refugees? guest: that is a good question and a complicated one. while people were crossing. they often turn themselves into border part because they want to go through the legal process of asylum. many of them were in that process of asylum. we do not know if they will be granted for asylum. it is a difficult process. you have to prove that you have a fear of returning to your home country. most of these migrants are going through a legal process of getting asylum. host: you heard the biden

administration dealing with a backlog. what is the weight between when they get a court date? guest: the process for asylum to take years. the administration has been working on ways to expedite that. they have a new asylum office. the goal is to get these cases down at a quicker pace. the backlog is a very real issue. as much as we can talk about border policy, the immigration system as a whole takes a very long time. many people across illegally because they know it will take a very long time. host: have we heard from homeland security about what is going on as far as the busing or playwrights for the migrants in the border situation overall? guest: this is something that he

pays a lot of attention to. i'm sure we will be hearing more from him. i'm sure there are ongoing discussions. the dhs does move migrants around and they are dealing with large numbers of people at the border. my understanding is that there is a focus. they don't want to get distracted by the political sides of this. they are trying to find ways to ensure there is a safe and humane process at the border. looking to move people away from the border. in el paso, border control is overrun. how can we fix this problem rather than addressing some of these actions from governors. host: we will hear from joe in nebraska on the independent line. oh i'm sorry, you are in maine. caller: i was wondering myself

there for a second. my question i guess is basically the republicans in 2016 were going to fix the immigration problem. they were going to fix the da ca and fix the immigration problem. what they did and eliminated asylum. they destroyed the cases of handling asylum cases. he disbanded all the money for the situations. kyrsten sinema who got fired, jeff sessions said we have to take the babies out of these mothers arms. host: if you could condense it

down to a question what would that be? caller: could she address that? all of those policies that attracted to destroy the asylum system that was broken but in place. the lawyers were in place. host: thank you. guest: the trump administration had a different approach than the current administration. many people play back to the family separation policy that were hard for people to watch. families were being torn apart at the border. we saw in 2019 the trump administration we had a record at the u.s./mexico border. the reasons that people cross the border are varied and complex. u.s. policy has a role in it but so do the issues in these latin american countries.

we are seeing large numbers of people coming from venezuela, cuba, nicaragua. authoritarian regimes where there is corruption, economic instability. no one u.s. policy will fix this. host: you travel to guatemala, can you tell our viewers about that? guest: i saw one of the unique ways that our government deals with human traffic and smuggling. we work with foreign law enforcement to help them learn better ways to break apart these human smuggling rings. we talk about the political divide where democrats focus on issues in the host countries and republicans focus on border issues. in between there are criminal networks that take advantage of these policies. host: you can see the story

among your other stories including pictures from her trip to guatemala. stef kight from axios. we will hear from danny and kentucky, a republican. caller: 2 million people have crossed illegally. there have been 800,000 that got away. we need to stop the flow of traffic at the border. department of homeland security has said the border is secure. how can it be secure if you have that many people walking across the border? we have had 857,000 children come alone. how is our border secure with the president and the dhs says it is secure and it is not secure? guest: that is a difficult question?

what do we mean when we say the border secure? that 2 million number counts the people that were encountered by border officials and were taken into custody and were taken information. while it looks like a lot of people are coming across illegally it shows that the system is working. border officials are doing their job. they are taking their information and going through that legal process. host: we saw president biden sin the vice president go to other countries. guest: the u.s. has been funding efforts to create better economic stability in these countries. building partnerships with foreign governments. this is something that will be long-term and we have seen this in the biden administration,

focusing on the root causes which will take a long time to address. it is complicated by the fact that the u.s. government doesn't have the best relationship with the governments in these countries. i don't know if we've seen any concrete takeaways at this point. but we agreed that this is something the u.s. needs to be doing. host: an this complicates sending these people back? guest: in venezuela and guatemala, more than a third came from these nations. those governments do not comply with deportation efforts. it is difficult to send people back to those countries. host: this is sharon from minnesota on the democrat line. caller: good morning pedro and ms. kight. i am from northern minnesota.

we have sugar beet farms. they are unable to get workers in these fields. they have always been able to. we are all white appear. none of these white people want to work on these farms. i suggested to desantis, bring them up here because we need them. since we have decided in the divided states of america that we want to use human beings as political pawns, i am wondering because i actually heard a caller on c-span that the democrats start shipping homeless people. my homeless people cannot handle the weather. let's send homeless people to mar-a-lago because it's the fair

thing to do. what do you think? thank you. guest: i don't know if i can react to that particular suggestion. we are seeing people use us political pawns in this immigration debate. to your point, there is a good question we should be asking how should we be using immigrants who are trying to flee their home countries that can better our own society and economy. immigration has always played a critical role in our own economy. especially as we have seen birth rates decline in the u.s.. we will see a need for labor and immigration will be a pathway for that. host: on our independent line, this is alex. caller: hey, good morning. i want to say that there is lots of talk about blaming governors, blaming biden, blaming trout.

ultimately, this is a problem with congress. they have failed to act on reforming immigration for decades. we have had solid democrat majorities, solid republican majorities that have not done anything. the problem is on both sides. the administration and the governors are trying to make do with the bad situation. sometimes it is ineffective or contradictory laws. the whole family separation problem was that there are laws that say two different things. there are basic problems that congress needs to fix. they are unable to function, unable to do their jobs and i guess my question is, as there at the slightest ray of hope that congress will step up and do what they are supposed to and

try to fix those? host: ok, thank you caller. guest: as someone who has covered a few rows of hope for an immigration bill. immigration continues to be a divisive issue. i would not say there is a lot of hope at this point but i do agree with a lot of what the caller was saying that this is a bigger issue that anyone administration. it was not built for the kind of asylum-seekers we are seeing and that requires more sweeping changes than one change. host: how partisan is this issue of reform are changing what we have in our immigration system? do we see people able to come in the middle? guest: we see a handful willing

to come together and they fall apart. if you look at the trump administration there were a few efforts to come together to get a compromise which would be some kind of daca deal but someone was hung up on money for the border wall or just how many daca recipients would be legalized. while it looks like there is some overlap when you look at the big picture, when you look at the big details that's where it falls apart. host: on the republican line, from texas. caller: the sheriff in san antonio has decided who gets what and who does not get what. when these people came across the barda in airplanes and busloads during the middle of the night and under the biden

administration and no one raised any pain then. there is a double dip of hypocrisy involved in this matter. that is about all i have to say. i think each should stay in their own lane in san antonio and elsewhere. guest: you raise a question i have heard from other readers that asked about the reports of unaccompanied minors being flown late at night from one area of the border to other parts of the u.s.. the u.s. government does move migrants for good reason to one place to another. they move them closer to family members where they can be sponsored and continued their immigration cases. there are reasons for them to be moved. the case you are referring to is when children were being

reunited with their families. we hear from some government organizations that help migrants get to their final destination. from border locations to their final destination. host: do you say there is a difference between the border being closed in the border being secure? guest: i think there is a difference between the border being closed in the border being secure. i think we saw the border close to being closed during the pandemic where the numbers stopped significantly and people were not trying to cross during that time. . that is why we are seeing higher numbers over the past two years or so. there is a difference between assuring people have access to our asylum system and there is a clear path to do so. this runs about 25 minutes.

>> mr. president of the general assembly, excellencies, ladies