to be very, very at the forefront of the political activists throughout the entire campaign as we get ready for the election in 2016. let me introduce our guests and we'll get to our questioning. monica reyes is a unistudent, a senior at uni, she was born and emmig greated to the united states with her single mother and her younger sister when she was just 3ears old. they grew up in new hampton, so she's a graduate of new hampton county, of course, the first latino to ever graduate from new hampton high school. she's currently a senior at uniand plans to graduate with a major in sociology and a minor in spanish and she's actively involved in immigration reform and immigrant rights advocacy. she's a cofounder o o whats known as dream iowa and we'll talk more about that later. gunda brost is a language specialist, a language teacher, also an immigration attorney in cedar falls. she's represented many, many

clients fromom a oveve the world in various immigration related proition, she's a member of the american immigration lawyers association, and i understand you're fluent in not only spanish, but german and frequently as well. welcome to the program. this is a rebuttal on an earlier show i had a few weeks ago when i had on republican iowa congressman steve king, who is probably the most outspoken member of the iowa delegation particularly in the area of immigration and immigration rights, so this a little bit a ruttal to some of the things he said. in a moment, an i will -- i'm going to read the audience what i think are very interesting statistics about u.s. immigration and population, but i want to begin by asking both of you, why do you think immigration is such a controversial, polarizing issue in t t united ates? do you even see it as such? what are americans afraid of? why is it so volatile, do you think, monica? >> monica: i think a lot of it

surrounds the issue. it's really a humanitarian issue and it should be work on from both -- all sides, all d dferent angles, andd unfortunately, people are just not willing to compromise and willing to talk to each other on this subject because, me as an undocumented immigrant, i'm more than willing to work with whoever it takes to work through this issue so that we can, you know, fororlate some sort of comprehenenve immigration reform that is humanitarian, but also is watching out for the safety of the american people. >> ron: and do you think -- are people affray, are americans afraid of this issue? because obviously it's not going away and there will be millionss of additional immigrants in coming ars. >> gunda: well, for one thing, i want to point out that we are a nation of immigrants. >> ron: absolutely. >> gunda: that's the foundation of our country and so are people afraid? yes, i think they are. i think theres a prevailing sense out there that we are going to be losing the resourceses that we haha and there's a lot

of misconceptions out there as to that fact and we want to talk about them today. >> ron: the 1965 immigration and nationality act, you both know celeated 50 yearsack in september. it open theoor to tremendously dramatic diversity in the origin of immigrants coming to the united states. between 1965 and this year, new immigrants, their children and their grandchildren, that would include you, added 72 million residents to the u.s. population. the '65 population in america was 194 miion, i's now around 324 million and projected to be almost 450 millili by the year 2055. without the '65 act, the u.s. population is estimated to be 75% white, 14% black, and 8% hispanic, so obviously there's dramatic changes and do you see an account a like that having

and wh does it meano you and does that act even anything to you or do you even know about it or concerned about it? it did celebrate 50 years, but what did it do for you, your mom and ster? >> monica: unfortunely, i don't think it opened the doors for my mom to freely immigrant to the united ststes bought at that time she decided to come, she was reunion nighting with the best of the -- reuniting with the rest of the fily and hur drawers were on the -- her brothers were on the way to citizenship. she was escaping an abusive partner and at that time, there wasn't a better way to come to the united states, so unfortunately, i think it probably has opened lots of doors for different kinds of immigrants coming to the united states, but for people at least from just the americas, it hasn't done a whole lot. if you look at south america and mexico, central america, people are suffering in different

countries and are unable to come re legally. there's no opportunity for them. >> ron: so in other words, thout the act that i just read, the country as we know it today would still be 75% white, so it had to have done a lot of good for some people, do you think? >> gunda: well, i mean, in the sense that we are an increasingly mulul national, multi ethihi multi cultural world, yes, i think, youn know -- actually, the beginning of immigration laws came with the chinese exclusion act and that was one of the first acts tat congress enacted and as the name implies, it was to exclude the asian immigrants because of what was perceived to be a predominantly white anglo culture and to preserve it that way, and so it is still tremendousus difficult today to

there are a lot of requirements that need to be met for somebody. you have to work for an employment, to be emigrated likik that, yoyoneed to have an advanced degree and show you're not taking the workplace of an american worker and there's a very difficult process that you need to go through, and so -- and monica mentned, there is really no line. everybody is -- seems to want to come here, and so if you get into the line, you are going to be waiting, i mean, 20 years or something like that for some countries. and we still have,ou know, different preferences for countries. >> ron: so what would you likik totoee happen? just open the doorssnd openn the border border, let everybody in? what would be ideal from your perspective? >> gunda: well, i'm not saying that i have the panacea here for what is the answer, but i think

whene're talking about something like building a bordeder or building a wall, i mean, building a wall, that is -- when i'm communicating with somebody and i'm builng a wall, i'm building myself in and i do not see that kind of approach as an answer. we need to collaborore, we nee to reform the laws in a positive way and make it a syste that actually works because the alternative, i think everybody, whether republican or democrat, the current system does not work. >> monica: i'd like to add, you mentioned it came out in 1965. since then, only restrictive immigration laws have really come intolace and if you look at it, the immigration system that's in place in the uninid states really has to modernize. we need some reform, and for

for people from -- for countries like mexico, guatemala, all these countries that are suffering from extreme gang violence, genocide, whatever it might be, and people are wanting to emigrate, but there's caps on those countries that are really our neighbors. they're right to the south of the united states, but unfortunately, the caps are limiting the amount of immigrants that can come here legally because, unfortunately, because of those caps, they're forced to do so illegally and which they even risk their lives to do so and pay crazy amounts of money when they c cld be paying that to thth united states government and doing so safely and legally, and even if it means, you know, sending -- opening up more work permits or taking off some of those caps or or, or at least letting more

people in instead of -- or even just some sort of pathway. one of the biggest issues is what about the 11 or 12 million undocumented immigrants already here. that's one offhe firstssues at has to be taken care of because that's already here and people should also look at backlogged? is the usis properly staffed, too they need more people or what's going on?

those, they're just blailing to take a short break here. >> ron: welcome back to the steele report, segment two where we talk about immigration reform and immigration policy right now. the dream act first introduced in the senate back in 2001 really has gotten nowhere in the senate that i can tell and already you're upset about that, but the development relief education act for minors, the dream act, does not look like it's going to pass the senate. that must bother you significantly y d you have confusion sometimes with the dream act and the childhood arrivals act which the president enacted in 2012. now frustrated are you about that -- how frustrates ssed- frustrated are you about that? >> monica: i'm going to be honest with you, for a long time i was banking on the dream act

coming through and providing some sort of relief for myself. i came here with my mom, i had no choice in that, but i definitely don't blame her for coming here, but i do -- i don't think it's - - immigration to me is really confusing because i did not make the choice. but at the same time, i know that it is an issue that has to be looked at and with the dream act, i was very hopeful that i was finally going to be given some sort of pathway to citizenship, u uard mobility, i'd be able to hopefully -- in my eyes, when i was young, the dream act would have allowed me to go on to further education, would have allowed me to, if i graduate from college, get a b, thingsike that. thankfully we do have the daca, deferred action for childhood arrivals, in which we have protection from deportation, but that is it and we are living our

it is aa bandaid over what the real problem is. >> ron: how do you feel about that? >> gunda: daca stands for deferred action for childhood arriva, so somebody who was brought to this countryry as a child and at monica pointed out, it's not their choice when they're brought here as a child, so it's not their fault that they are here legally or not. daca is only an agreement by the government not to deport you for now and that's why s said, you know, living in increments. only leads to really an employment card and that agreement that you're not going to be deported for now if you, you know, stay away from a criminal record and it's very rigorous to obtain daca. you have to have a high school degree or b enrolled currently in a program that leads to aless or ged degree. you cannot have a criminal recordo speak of. you need to show that you have

of years since 2007 and you need to have -- be ae to show thaha you have comeere as a child arrival. so it's a good program, but then it simply leads to more problems because these people are now in a limbo and i mean they are contributing to our socie by working very hard, by earning good grades in college, going on, you know, getting degrees and becoming very productive in the workforce. but they do not have the rights that flow with that to become a citizen or even a green card holder. >> ron: i was reading an article in the los angeles times a few months, and they said the program, while it's made it easier for immigrants to apply for jobs that were previously out of reach for many of them, quote, obstacles remain for actually getting them, talking $& about getting the jobs. since the program started, more than 40% of participapas have failed too lanan new jobs after receiving work permits and 40% reported not getting any pay raises at all.

this is a robert gonzalez report, he's an assistant professor at the harvard university school of education. so daca is working in some areas, but it's not doing maybe some of the things that you would hoped it would do. are you still listed as an undocumented immigrant, do you worry about this? obviously they're not going to come and take you away, but obviously that's a concern, right, the whole situation? >> monica: i still consider myself an undocumented immigrant because i still don't have a legal status. i'm only in protection from deportation, that is it. i'm not a permanent resident, i don't have a pathway -- i'm not a refugee, not here with a papaway to citizenship. all i s protected pr deportation and -- from deportation and that is it. i do think that daca, i don't know very much about noiationwide, but locally where i grew up and also across iowa, i've seen a lot of people w w are dreamers,

for the dream act are typically considered dreamers, which were undocumented immigrants brought here as a young age, as children. from what i've seen, a lot might have friends have had many opportunities through wh still working on just regular jobs because i didn't have a degree yet, and now that i am on my pathway to finally finishing up college, i already have a job that i would have -- you know, that was kind of what i was working for and i know that i will have the opportunity to get jobs that require, you know, like extensive background checks or even, you know, like if you think about it, when you w wt to volunteer with children or anything like that, they do a background check, which i will not have been able to pass. there were so many doors that were closed at that time, anywhere from community volunteering through education and on to jobs jobs

things that, you know, as a cocoege student, we are -- a lot of my friends had internships and i wasn't getting any of them because i just couldn't at that time. so it's just all of these doors that are finally open and i know myself and a lot of my friends that are dreamers are taking advantage of that. >> ron: : at's good, i glado hear that. i forgot to mention this, you both are here representing the cedar valley advocates for information and refugee rights. tell me about that organization. i assume it's a nonprofit volunteer. gunda,a, what's that all about? >> gunda: yes, it's individuals in this community, it's nonprofit, people who are interested in supporting and advocating for immigrants. theyo in theeed to be undocumented or documented, just we are concerned with whahas going on and we arerying to get theheord out there about some of these misconceptions and trying to get involved in our communities to support immigrants. >> monica: i think the biggest

part whatever weeuce bringing the issue -- part of what we do is bringing the issue to light. i think a lot of times,s, immigranted, and not just undocumented, but refugees have been left in the shadows and their issues have not been brought up and we're trying to empower people to advocate for others whoho might not f fl -- who might still feel like they need to remain in the shadows, but is people like myself who are still undocumented, it's because of groups le this that i have been empowered to finally speak out and put a face on the issue of immigration.

ganization is cedar valley >> ron:: welcome back to this this week's s ition of the steele report. we're talking about immigration reform and immigration issues going on right now with monica reyes and also gunda brost. both representing the cedar valley advocates for immigration and refugee rights. the highly respected pew centete says one in five of the world's immigrants now resides here in the united states. more than any other nation by far, and that future immigrants and their descendants will continue to be a source offhe nation's growth i ithe future. so if immigration trends continue as they are right now, by 2055, the united states will have 78 million immigrants, 24% hispanic, but no racial or et

thick group will dominate or actually have control o o the majority of the u.s. population, which at that time will be over 440 million. it's very interesting. we get all the headlines, we're hear the headlines of california and undocumented illal immigrt killed somebody and that's rare. i mean, yes, it happpps. we have also problems right in our own community. what is the general feeling of the people in your organization, what do they really want? they just want to be here, live a life, raise their families, work. beyond that, what' the general feelelg th ty're gng through >> monica: like the undocumented community? >> ron: the people that are part of or organization, the people that are your clients, so to speak. >> monica: okay. it's just kind of trying to bring light to a lot of misconceptions, like she mentioned before. i grew up paying taxes and my mom paid taxes and a lot of people say, oh, they don't pay

tax many, they don't contribute. we do, and we can't reap any of the benefits. also, like, for instance, they tie, like how youu mentionon with the california case, how undocumented immigrants are spreading crime and bringing weapons and disease and all of these things. if you look at research, immigrants tend to have a negative correlati with crime, meaning that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born americans. so that's also something that we like to bring to light because some of the people that i've been confronted by say, you know, you guys are just bringing violence. we have to protect ourselves, and that's -- you know, basically that's off of maybe some politicians or some authorities that say things out of feeling rather than actual research and statistics. and also, lik social services, like#i mentied before, we're paying into them, but we're not reaping the benefitsts if you see someone that's maybe

maybe food stamps, it's the food stamps not issue to that person, it's probably because they have a u.s. citizen child, and that also brings to light another issue which we try to concentrate on is thaha immigration is n n -- you know, we shouldn't be dealing with it as politics. it should be dealt with as a family issue because in my family, we have a mixed status family. what that means is that part of the family is undocumemeed, my sister -- my m, my sister and i are undocumented. my sister is going to be soon on her pathway to citizenship because she married an american citizen, and then my brother and my little sister, they're both native-born citizens, so if you were to deport -- and that's something that's being -- even the 14th amendment is being kind of brought to light now. >> ron: by politics again. >> monica: yes, by politicians and the negative language like anchor baby.

ster could be call an anchor baby or my brother. that's not what i consider them. i consider them american citizens. that's what i tell them every day, you are an american citizen and you have%the right to express yourself and stand up for what you beleve in and unfortunately when p pple are reading all these myths and basing their talking points on fear, it's just -- it's not productive and it's not moving us forward. it's just moving us backwards. >> ron: not on the show today, but also representing your organization, lisa munoz is watchingnghis recording i i the studio, but lisa wants me to ask steve king how he would handle the fact that 25 to 40% of current undocumented people in the united states came here via tourist visas and have just simply overstayed their expipition. wowo be in favor of -- would he be in favor of getting rid of vees says. what's the situation there? what about people who overstay their visas and there aren't enough buses to bus everybody

>> gunda: well, the hijackers of 9/11, they came legally on a visa. >> ron: that's correct. >> gunda: so you can enter legally and then become what they call illegal by overstaying your visa, and so the border, a wa is not going to stop that. but another thing i wanted to say is that the point that a lot of these families are mixed status. i mean, you asked me earlier why do they want to come here. i had a client in immigration cower the other way, it was a -- immigration court the other way, it was a ononyear-old child and that child was in deportation proceedings because the mother had brought them in desperation across the desert. what are they looking for? they're looking for a better life. if we were in that situation and we are surrounded by cme and poverty y d next doooo there is a betterlife, i t tnk mosttf us would want to go there as well. >> ron: some of these ethics are really fascinating.

over the years, but half of all immigrants who arrived in the united states since 1965 are from latin america, and right now, peoplple don't realili that less immigrants are coming in from mexico than ever before and the new immigrants will be asian immigrants, and there's a lot to be discussed there, but when a guy like donald trump says i want to build a wall, that must raise your ire really quickly because it does sound un-american to build a wall. they say they can do it just like they can build a highway, but in your opinion, that's obviously not the answer by any means. >> monica: no, if you look at it, for manynerations, the people comomg to the united states of america, the image they saw was the statue of liberty lighting the way and supporting them. what donald trump is supporting as huge wall, which is the complete opposite of what people have seen the unitetestates for and have seen americans f f and i have faith in the american people that we will work through

approach to the issue of immigration. i meenan my whole family is at stake here with the issue. >> ron: if you'd like to contact these ladies again, the orornization is cedar valley advocates for immigration and refugee rights. i really appreciate you taking the time. best of luck.

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