england has an immigration problem, france, and germany has an immigration problem.s the harvest of the empire's that made this country so wealthy. the capital came, and at that -- but the people are coming out as well. >> we will take a break and come back to this discussion and what it means in 2012 with the elections here, immigration policy. the film is premiering in los angeles in pasadena and here in new york at the quad theatre beginning on the 28th, friday, right through the fourth. it is on 13th street. eduardo lopez is our guest, co- director and producer along with wendy thompson marquez and juan gonzalez, co-host on "democracy now!" columnist of "the daily news," and your of the book on which this is based, "harvest of empire: the untold story of latinos in america." we will continue this discussion in a moment. ♪ [music break] >> this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are spending the hour talking about a new film given the significance of the issue of immigration in this country today, the film is calle

of immigrants in this country. something that my former boss, john kennedy. to deal with the fact that we were trying to keep people from coming into this country that leads or build on the fact that we're a nation of immigrants. >> all nations are nations of immigrants. >> let's not the immediate history. ronald reagan and george w. bush, were more attractive to hispanic voters in a lot of ways. we shouldn't belittle the hispanic vote. they are, you know, more than almost a third of the country. so this is a group of voters, just like the women vote, just like working, they're going to vote on a myriad issue and a republican governor, i thought that he created kind of a lesson for republicans. don't position yourself so you're against the immigrants. >> it was overturned by the court. it wasn't the people of california. at least 47% of hispanics in california voted for proposition 187. >> i want to talk about the senate real quickly. we heard reince priebus right there, six months ago, most people who followed sen

we owe black people something. >> most of us, either immigrants or are the descendants of immigrants -- but we understand in this country, making so difficult for immigrants that they have to leave. or the dream act, you know, vetoing, threatening to veto the dream act, which romney has said, again and again, we have governor romney who is basically taking a position that's anti, the fastest growing segment of the population. >> if republicans are so far away from latinos they're going to lose not only this election, they might lose the white house for the future. >> that's why they're dropping blacks and moving on to the hispanics. jorge, i can't disagree with you when you're attacking president obama. but i think the point on immigration is you can open borders or a welfare state. you can't have both. when you have a big government giving out benefits for all sort of things, then you have to care very much who the immigrants are. >> exactly. >> both legal and illegal immigrants are way more likely to be on welfare than native-born americans. that's part of the problem. >> jorge, fi

were very outspoken about their immigrant heritage has that rhetoric swayed any of the immigration activists you've spoken to. well i mean i think it depends on who you ask you know a lot of i spoke to a lot of latinos when i was covering that story the undock you bust said and a lot of them were thrilled to see that the keynote speaker this year is a latino the first latino in history to be speaking giving the keynote address at the republican excuse me democratic national convention of course san antonio mayor julian. castro it is that kid that is that the keynote speaker but a lot of others are just disillusioned with the way that president obama has his policies when it comes to immigration or lack of immigration reform pointing out to the fact that it's under president obama's presidency that the most people in history in u.s. history were deported over one million people in the past three years were deported under his presidency so a lot of people disillusioned and of course hoping that that will come to an end liz that's really interesting that you brought that out but i'd like to sor

so, we need the economic benefits of immigration. more than anything, we are a nation of immigrants and after the election, i hope that as a country, the president and the congress together, will undertake immigration reform because it's something we have to do at the federal level. the states really can't have their own immigration policies. >> belva: you were quite emotional when you spoke about education. you said the failure of educating minority and poor students from k-12 was threatening the fabric of our society. you called it a civil rights issue. >> absolutely. it is a civil rights issue. because you cannot take advantage of the benefits of being american. whether you came here from another place or born here. i think it is especially a civil rights issue for the poorest kids trapped in the worst schools. the truth is, people opt out of bad schools if they have the means. they send their kids to private school or maybe they go to a district where the schools are good. the people who are trapped there are the poorest. that is

this is asked by gallup, what level should immigration be at. again, this is immigration. not illegal or legal. if you look at this present level dark green, increase to brighter green, decreased is the yellow. decreased, look at back in the mid '90s, 65%, spiked again here. now decreased is down to 35%. 42% of the american people say keep it right about where it is and 21% favor increase. you do see some spikes, especially back here in the '90s, and right here, it's a little less intense, if you will, a little less pressure on the government and politicians to decrease immigration at the moment. >> john, thanks very much. joining me now, antonio villaraigosa, national co-chair for the obama for america campaign. also joining us, the former u.s. secretary of commerce, carlos gutierrez, who co-chairs mitt romney's hispanic steering committee. gentlemen, thanks very much for joining us. mayor villaraigosa, i will start with you. the president participating in a discussion today in the spanish language network univision, was pressed pretty hard by the anchor, jorge ramos on w

romney didn't give any details about his immigration plan. when president obama faces this group today he'll likely get some tough questions about what many perceive as his failure to overhaul the immigration system. >> susan mcginnis in washington this morning. tharng you so much. on that note in arizona police have begun enforcing the provision of the state's tough immigration law the so-called show me your papers provision. a campaign to have illegal immigrants remain silent if they are pulled by police has begun across the state. a hotline to answer immigration questions is up and running. john blackstone has more. >> reporter: daniella cruz was brought to america from mexico. she is an undocumented immigrant and drives without a license. arizona's new law means she can face more than a ticket if stopped by police. police here are required to determine the immigration status of a person stopped or arrested if there's a quote reasonable suspicion they are in the u.s. illegally. but phoenix police chief says no one will be stopped without c

citizenship and immigration services and the immigration and customs enforcement in accordance with that same philosophy announcing the consideration for defered action for the child program which offers defevered action to immigrants who were brought to the united states as children and who meet other specific requirements and whereas mission high school community members came before the board of education on august 14, 2012 to announce their leadership efforts in making this national opportunity a reality for not just mission high school students but all eligible students in sfusd as rapidly as possible recognizing this program has no accompanying federal funding nor state allocated resources, to understand the guidelines, apply for consideration and ward off fraudulent prospectors in this arena. therefore be it resolved with the board of education with the san francisco unified school district hereby encourages the superintendent and staff to volunteer their free time and expert's to assist mission high school with its two-day action forum. friday september 7, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. and sa

but i'm also an immigration attorney, i've been an immigration attorney for 15 years. and i must clarify that unused diversity visas have never rolled over and this is just proof that this is more about politics than policy. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan. mr. conyers: mr. speaker, the previous speaker, and i'd like to gain his attention, the house of which you are a member passed the dream act 216-208 and we enjoyed the support of eight republican members. mr. speaker, i now turn to a senior member of the committee from the judiciary, sheila jackson lee, and i am only able to yield to her 1 1/2 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas, 90 seconds. ms. jackson lee: mr. chairman, i'm most grateful. let me thank you very much, to the speaker, and to my colleague from texas. this is the perfect infrastructure for collaboration and bipartisanship. we have worked together on this issue and we have crobted the issue that i mentioned -- confronted the issue that i mentioned to congresswoman

this goes beyond just looking at immigration policies. this affects all americans who are reasonably suspicious. i think many investigations have looked at this that this will not just open up a state of confusion -- all levels of local law-enforcement have to make this call. he was a person that is reasonably suspicious to be an undocumented alien? >> talk about what this aspect of the law means that has gone into effect. >> an respects, it is about the arizonafication of america. it is beyond the state policy, but a state of mind in arizona that says not only are we denying the country should have immigrants or dishonest reckoning of the facts -- this year was the lowest apprehension of undocumented immigrants in decades. this is a classic example of the shock doctrine or they have manufactured this immigration crisis. i think most importantly, it is greeted the state of mind that we have sanctioned law enforcement officials to go through with racial profiling and apprehend and detain people just because they be reasonably suspicious. >

i remember immigrant pride day events with you and your children. and for you and maggie and your family i wish you the best of everything. but i know that you're going to stay involved. and you have nurtured so many young activists to many other organizations. and i hope you get some rest, and recuperation, and then get back out there and helping to build our movements. but thank you so much for your service to san francisco. >> thank you. thank you, supervisor. >> [applause.] >> it's kind of rare i do two in one day but i've got another commendation for another amazing person, lilie haskell who i would like to call up to the podium. lilie haskell is a moroccan american organizer who has been organizing a community based organization here in san francisco since 2007. lilie has contributed to and led arab community organizing youth development and educational initiatives through cultural and political work as well as antiwar coalition building for over 10 years. she is a graduate of wellesley university with a bachelor in sociology. she cofounded a

what we need are fair and enforceable immigration laws that will stem the flow of illegal immigrationhile strengthening legal immigration. i want to make the system for more simple and transparent. you should not have to hire a lawyer to find out how to legally emigrate to the united states. [applause] i want to shift our diversity to bring together immediate family members and i want to structure our temporary worker visa programs so these meet the needs of our employers. if someone gets an advanced degree, i want them to stay here, so i will give them a green card with a diploma. [applause] america is a nation of immigrants, and immigration is essential to our economic growth and prosperity. 1 million immigrants legally enter america every year, the largest number of any country in the world. i like that. i want to preserve our heritage of robust legal immigration, and i want to make sure those who abide by the law and wait in line and do so legally are not at a disadvantage. that is why i oppose amnesty because amnesty will make it harder to strengthen our legal immigration system.

the immigration debate is always about spanish-speaking citizens. what do you make of the fact that this debate never seems to for me it was important -- "the score"was created and how it was created, because fans have this cd, and the cd has love in it. it has lost in a. it has the trail. it has spirituality and politics -- betrayal and poverty. it is uncomfortable in that it puts my wife reliving this, but if it is not like i do not love my wife, but at a time there was a love triangle, and keep in mind the sensitive issue and now. -- and the sensitive issue was rethinking the child was my child, and sitting where i was sitting there was nothing in my mind to make me think different, but i want to go into that and the child was born and has a beautiful father and mother, but in the time of why did the fugees break up, it was important to say that was the contribution of what led them to break out. >> they you feel bad about that? >> looking back at it, i feel bad about a few things ended -- i did when i was 20. feeling bad about something and dest

we're losing our huge advantage in immigration, especially in skill-based immigration.system is broken. wadhwa points out that we allocate 140,000 green cards or permanent residency status to people who are here on work visas. these visas allow workers to jump ship from working on a company to starting on their own, creating jobs, but the law stipulates that no nationality can claim more than 7% of these cards. now, given that half of the applicants are indian and chinese, the same number that's dominant in the silicon valley, we have a problem. the irony is for once president obama and governor romney know we have a problem. even then, our politics are failing us. a bill to expand the green cards allotted to foreign students in stem field, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, was voted down in congress. on a recent prime time special on cnn, "fixing immigration," i pointed out that canada and australia now have larger foreign-born populations than the united states. both of those countries revamped their immigration systems to attract and keep the best and br

is a really just about immigration? >> immigration is a gateway issue. do republicans get a hearing on their of their views if they're good enough on immigration? this is where romney is not getting a hearing on other issues even though many of the positions the republican party takes are not in favor with the hispanic population that is investing in their young people to be educated and have support so they can have a shot at the american dream. do the experiment. what did jeb bush was the ticket this year? we would have a very different discussion about the hispanic vote. we will be talking about this appointment. how jeb bush is perfectly conditioned to maybe when 50's arm of the latino vote instead of 25%. it would shift the electoral map so dramatically that we will be talking about the southwest in a very different way. the republicans have an opportunity to reposition themselves with the hispanic community. john mccain himself says it starts with immigration. how does the republican candidates run the gauntlet of a primary season. we saw it with m

you are skirting around the idea, immigration, we all love immigration, but it is the illegal immigration. we have law. they're not being obeid. it's not broken. that's what i want to bring to you, if you could do something about that, that would be great. guest: thanks, yvonne. i appreciate that. a couple of things, you said that you are afraid of inclusion. the reality is, we at the organization have reached across many communities of color and with many different organizations in collaboration to work on issues together. the reality is there are so many organizations with different issues that affect all of us as americans that it makes sense for us to come together. so we have reached out across different communities of color to work together and to find solutions that we think affect the issues -- the issues that we think are affecting this country. when it comes to education, if we see that affecting every young person in this country. it is important for us to work with everyone and figure out what kind of reforms we need in education so that every child can achieve its full potent

well i mean illegal immigration into the european union through greece has always been an issue it's not a new crisis is just taking really new and bigger proportions not only because greece has just less money to spend on controlling its borders but also because political crises conflict and economic this placement in the middle east and north africa is touching people out and people towards what they think is a european dream and many of these people are going to actually want to sustain greece but greece is the geographical border they have to cross to get into the e.u. greece being an external border for the e.u. so what you see is this massive influx of illegal immigrants people who haven't got these if you haven't got work permits who go through have to reach europe and when they get to greece weapon find is you know there's no there's no european dream really because they arrive at a country where there is no jobs for the locals or for them a country that's growing increasingly and secure about it sell and in some ways turns against those people who in in their own way may be

immigration revision. which is quite frankly meant to keep inferior immigrants out of the country.hat means jews, italians catholics, general anyone who might be a radical, based on a new racialist sense of a hierarchy that become a prevalence among some americans in the early 20th century. the notion that -- and perhaps the germans ironically enough are superior madison grant who is with trevor helps draft the legislation in congress. gets fan mail from adolf hitler before hitler takes pour this they help draft a law which re severely restricts who can immigrant in the country when the law is reformed again in 1965. you have new yorkers immigrants and antiimmigrant in this period really affecting public policy for the nation. jumping ahead to the '30s. these are american nazis. in 1939 this is the german-american. a minority within the german-american exphiewnty. world war i was traumatic for german-americans the willingness to get out there and be nationalist had been quelled. there was a small group of german-american nazis. most of them were recent immigrants from germany and t

that is the last of the chants of those immigrants as they're being arrested today, undocumented immigrantsere just outside the democratic national convention. a daughter with her mother, they were a mother with her daughter and her husband, they were young people and older people. many were here for 15, 12, 10 years. one young woman who could have applied under president obama is executive order to not be deported said if her mother is deported, the whole family is deported. they sat around a banner before they were arrested of a butterfly because they said a butterfly knows no borders. a butterfly is free. it is the opening day of the democratic national convention, and they are asking president obama to listen to their message. they say no person is illegal. >> ♪ [singing in spanish] >> the 10 undocumented immigrants who were arrested have been released, but as they got arrested, they knew they could face deportation. "democracy now!" mike burke spoke to tania unzueta, her father, mother, and sister were arrested during the action. >> it is called the no papers, no fear. it began july 29

over 200,000 young immigrants could have applications in the pipeline.ther issues of one of the extreme proponents of the dream act congressman luis gutierrez. i see mitt romney campaigning around latinos then i see him standing with steve king who is the most rabid anti-immigration. >> you have the politics, then you have rubio. good speaker introduces him. affectionate--latino. then the next step, steve king. he not only goes to iowa you endorses him. there are ten things you can say about him or more, this is the man who came before the floor the house with an electrified model of fence of electricity saying this is the way we take care of our lifestyle. in other words. >> eliot: i saw that on c-span and i couldn't quite believe what i was hearing the level of rhetoric, the inhumanity of what was reflected in what he said. it was deeply troubling. >> mitt romney spoke about immigrants, a beautiful introduction, look they're going back, and they're going to lose the election. they need to expand. this is not going to play well. as i discussed with you

but on this issue of what it means for our country to have immigrants coming to get immigrants who have been the building blocks of our nation, i really believe we need to take a sober look at it could hope we can get comprehensive immigration reform passed. i believe that the dreamers were morally blameless and ought to be allowed to stay here and pursue their dreams of going to college or serving the military were working or whatever. i don't think that coming in the long run, the united states will be well served by being a nation that sends the signal to the world that come even though we are saying we like legal immigrants, we are comfortable with where we are at. the needs of our workforce don't support that. i think the future of our country is stronger if we go in another direction. so my hope is that we can get comprehensive immigration reform passed. >> is there a question? we will have you lining up. do that now while mr. cruz speaks. >> let me make a point on what the president did in terms of acting unilaterally. i think it should troublemaker castro and it should trouble d

she is an undocumented immigrant and drives without a license. police here are required to determine the immigration status of a person stopped or arrested if there's a quote reasonable suspicion they are in the u.s. illegally. but phoenix police chief says no one will be stopped without cause. >> before you have reasonable suspicion that someone is here illegally you have to have reasonable suspicion as a police officer that a crime has occurred before you have reasonable suspicion on the documentation or not. >> is a crime not stopping fully at a stop sign? >> yes. >> reporter: suspects will be held while officers check with federal officials at i.c.e. >> the question is how long will we detain them? it should be no longer than any other traffic stop. ten minutes at the most. if i have answers then we have an answer. if they don't answer then we have an obligation to let that citizen go. >> reporter: but civil rights advocates will be watching for signs of racially profiling. >> they say they can enforce the law without racially profiling. >> l

and was occupied by successive generations, mostly immigrants, newcomers, really up until 1935 when the building was closed. what i'm going to be doing today is given a slice of the story, really from the civil war, the 1860s up through the 1930s and the onset of world war ii. and the book does deal with a bunch of intersect team, overlapping themes. economic, political, defense, what morris was suggesting is the fortification is the key element of course. what i want to do in addition to nehr when the chronological focus is to focus tonight on one of the particular themes of the book, which is that new york really repeatedly through its history, i would argue, has been a city of war with itself. there is a paradox really about new york's role in its various wars. i suppose you could say this about america generally. i'm not trying to say new york is the only place in the united states that this has happened. but wars have often been an occasion for unity, for cohesion. you know, we're all in this together. we've all got to win this together, so we've got to put our more parochial i

>> it's not a leap on immigration, but immigration's a gateway issue. it's do republicans get a hearing on their other views if they're good enough on immigration? not all latino voters, but for many. so this is where romney is not getting a hearing on other issues even though, you know, many of the positions the republican party now takes on economic issues are not in favor with a hispanic population that's interested in investments in their young people to be educated and have a support so they can have a shot at the american dream. just do the thought experiment, ron and i were talking about this down in charlotte. what if jeb bush and susana martinez was the ticket this year? we'd be talking about the disappointment with obama on the economy and immigration, how jeb bush is perfectly positioned to maybe win 50% of the latino vote instead of the 25% that romney's heading for and that it could -- it would shift the electoral map so dramatically that we would be talking about the southwest in a very different way. so, um, the republicans have an opport