alan bersin is the assistant secretary for international affairs and chief diplomatic officer at the.s. department of homeland security's. laura dawson is the director of the canadian institute at the wilson center. henshaw the principle secretary at the department of state. and commissioner gil kerlikowske. thank you for being here. [applause] six months ago, the trudeau government was elected on the ambitious promise of taking in and resettling 25,000 refugees. last month, that mission was announced to be accomplished. previously, canada took in, all told, 20,000 refugees per year. this is not only a big increase, but in the context of a u.s. comparison, that would be, you know, like taking in almost 250,000 refugees into the united states. so, there have been a lot of questions raised in washington about what that really means for this country. i would like to discuss today how this policy is being method -- implemented in canada, how it compares to the united states refugee policy, what it means for u.s. border security, and what kinds of new border policies or agreements we can

assistant secretary alan bersin testified on visa overstays, a significant issue, which we needed, because we do not really have a biometric exit system in this country for, for instance, and governance. people come in on a visa, but we do not always know did they leave, and did they leave on time? we need to be able to exchange and do more of that information. if so, i think you will see greater exchanges of information. luiza: so, basically, if you are an american leave in the united states, driving into canada, canada will then turn around and give that information back to the american government to say this person has left the country? also lessikowske: is about u.s. citizens, the more about foreign nationals. luiza: but it will cover u.s. citizens and canadians -- a canadian coming into the united states will also now have a record of coming in and out. comm. kerlikowske: so, what we have been doing the last couple of years between canada and the united states, as the commissioner suggested, third -country nationals, neither canadians, when you cross the bridge into detroit or winter,

alan bersin for international affairs and the chief diplomatic officer for the u.s.department of homeland security. laura dawson is director of the canada institute at the woodrow motion center. and trina levin at the bureau population of refugees at the department of state. commissioner gil kerlikowske at the customs and border protection. thank you for being here. [applause] so six months ago, the trudeau government was elected on this very ambitious promise of taking men and resettling 25,000 syrian refugees. last month, that mission was announced to be accomplished. previously, canada taken 20,000 refugees per year. this is not only a big increase, but in the context of the u.s. comparison, and that would be like taking in almost 250,000 refugees into the united states. there have been a lot of questions raised about what that really means for this country. i would like to discuss today how does policy being implemented in canada, how that compares to the united states refugee policy, what it means for u.s. border security and what kinds of new border policies ar