Until then, more from todays washington journal. At our table, clarissa martinezdecastro. Calleddosus, formally the National Council of the of laraze. The president tweeted that march 5 is rapidly approaching and democrats are doing nothing about daca. They resist, blame, obstruct, and do nothing. Disagree. Ould only because the reality is that , and we have seen the reality play out on National Television as recently as when the president had the televised meeting on this issue at the white house, we know that there has been, for a good time now, a group of members from both sides of the aisle trying to move the issue forward. The president in that meeting asked for a bipartisan agreement, and that was represented. I think that members of congress have prepared multiple bipartisan proposals in the house and the senate. That includes democrat, right . That is the word bipartisan. The issue that we have been facing is that every time that members actually do their homework and produce something, the white house or someone in leadership moves the goalpost and says never mind, not that, something else. Host lets go back to that original meeting. The president insisted there were four pillars in any agreement the 20 and republicans. He reiterated that at the state of the union. [video clip] pres. Trump in recent months, my administration has met with democrats and republicans to craft a bipartisan approach to Immigration Reform. Based on these discussions, we presented congress with a detailed proposal that should be supported by both parties as a fair compromise. One where no one gets everything that they want, but where our country gets the Critical Reforms it needs and must have. [applause] here are the four pillars of our plan. Of ourst pillar framework generously offers a path to citizenship for 1. 8 million Illegal Immigrants who were brought here by their parents at a young age. That of our framework generously offers a three timesrs almost more people than the Previous Administration covered. [applause] under our plan, those who meet education and work requirements, and show good moral character, will be able to become full citizens of the United States over a 12year period. [applause] the second pillar fully secures the border. [applause] that means building a great wall on the southern border. It means hiring more heroes like cj to keep our communities safe. Host your reaction . Is that not a bipartisan offer by the president . Guest what you heard was 2 things. That is what i mean by the moving of the goalpost. When this conversation started, that was the scope of the conversation. People were saying, fine. Lets do something on relief for dreamers. That is the popular thing. 80 and 90 of americans support doing that, including republicans and trump voters. They say lets do the relief for dreamers and include measures for the border. That is how the conversation started. Then the white house said, never mind. When there were bipartisan proposals they said, we want this and we want this. At some point if you are trying to provide a solution, you have to wonder why does the goalpost keep moving . Is part of the frustration you are seeing in the senate and the house right now. Host if what the president just outlined was put on the floor of the house and the senate, would yes . Ay vote guest the problem is we have not seen the details. One thing that we do know from a couple of bullet points and yes . Comments that people have made is that the president is asking for 25 billion for the border. We do not know exactly how they will be deployed and used. Largest law of the enforcement agencies in the country, upon which there have been numerous reports of wrongdoing, and you are trying to write a blank check. It makes sense that members of Congress Want to know how that will be used. Things that there has been so much controversy about with this for pillar proposal is that the president is talking about, and because he is surrounding by advisers that have been wanting to cut Legal Immigration, something americans support, and they are trying to use relief for dreamers, wildly popular, to push cuts for Legal Immigration. Host is the wall a nonstarter . Guest we think that the wall is a waste of money. Even Law Enforcement agencies are saying that the best ports of entryn and technology needed in those places. We think that the wall is a waste of money. It will be a burden for taxpayers. We are willing to consider improvement to those structures, even though it is a waste of money. Timesthe Washington Congress considers slammed down plan. Plan to offern dreamers congressionally approved legal status, but not full citizenship rights, in exchange for limited Border Security improvements. Although their proposal falls far short of what dreamers have sought, democrats wouldnt have to accept big changes to Legal Immigration and conservatives would not have to vote for citizenship rights. Guest i think it is moving in the right direction. If you hear statements that have been made on both sides, if we limit the scope of this conversation to border provisions and relief for dreamers we can solve the problem. People want to modernize our immigration system, which we would welcome. We can move on to that. The question here is what these guys are talking about, interestingly, is doing what they criticized the Obama Administration for doing. The Obama Administration could not pass legislation, so they could not create an avenue for the youth to earn their way to citizenship. There is no automatic citizenship anywhere. The folks that have the power to enact legislation are saying we are not going to do what legislation can do. We are going to do what executive actions, which we have criticized, can do. That is weird. Call inviting viewers to in. We have a fourth line for those that came into the country illegally. Tell us what you think about the debate. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I wanted to say that i think if voteuld do an up or down on the dream act alone, i think we know how that would come out. That seems like such a simple solution. Why is that not the option . Guest thank you for raising that. You said it better than i was trying to. The wildly popular thing is relief for dreamers. I think that folks understand that these young people have grown up your. They have no Country Grown up here. They have no country to go back to. What we have learned about their stories, we have learned about the fact that dreamers, people in the daca program went through the daca program, actually went through background checks all the things that americans want immigrants to do, they have done. Ifis actually a fact that the dream act as a measure was brought to the floor of the house and the senate, it would pass. The problem we are having, i think, is that sadly, because there is bipartisan support for this measure is that republican congressional leadership is not doing that. But tammy is right. If this was brought to the floor, the dream act was brought to the floor for a vote, it would pass. Host but tammy is right. You said the daca participants had to go through vetting in order to get that certification. Did they go vetting through, and what did they have to prove in order to get to be approved . Guest they have to go through criminal background checks, to make sure they have a clean didrecord, and people who dont have a record, who have a record and have different offenses, are not able to be in the program, right . That shows you how much misinformation there is on this issue, right . We had recently a member of congress say the Capitol Police should address daca people who are coming to the state of the union. These are actually documented immigrants. They have gone through a process of background checks. Host they have paper . Permit. Hey have a they have gone through the process. In order to do that, they passed a background check. As a result of doing that, they get a permit and a work permit. Not only that, they have to renew it. It is not like they did that years ago and all is forgotten. Goy had to renew it and through that process again. So indeed, we are talking about vetted, documented immigrants, and that is why it makes sense to go forward. Host mark, who is in fort lauderdale, florida, independent, joining us. Morning, and as usual, thank you very much to cspan. Before i ask my question about immigration, perhaps, greta, you could look into something for me or us, your listeners. Morning, and as usual, thank you very much to cspan. Earlier in your show, you played a clip from tents where he was speaking at from pence where he was speaking at a retreat they are having right now. Talk about watching cspan right after the state of the union address, and then a story about how the first color to cspan virginiat was a west person that was a proud democrat that thought that trumps speech the world. T thing in i listened to cspan that night, and unless i missed the very first color insert calle in switching aroundr, i did not hear that. If i remember correctly, you guys keep pretty good records. You have video, etc. Could you have one of the interns or assistance or producers look through your tapes of that night . Host sure, absolutely. I will clarify, i think the Vice President was saying the very clarify, i think the Vice President was saying the very first phone call he heard when he turned it on, when he got home from the state of the union. Mark, do you have a question or comment . Caller i saw the show ended not hear that, so i would love to that really occurred. We always hear these stories from the trump administration. Sometimes, they are not 100 accurate. Thati hate to tell the lady th, your guest, but i think that you have got a very hard road to. Trump is of course using daca as a bargaining chip, and he is asking for so, so much as part of a bipartisan agreement that it could well lead to things were the democrats would just theyto pass on it, because would have to accept everything he wants to get a little bit of what they want. I have been focusing too much on dark out when the immigration, a comprehensive immigration package, which may be impossible, is the thing to go for. My wife is an immigrant. She just got her green card. She had started a long process that was going along fine until trump was inaugurated. Then, it slowed down immensely. Permission finally came through. I am certainly in the immigrants corner. I think that will make the country great. The daca, dreamer kids, young adults, certainly should host mark, lets take your point about not focusing solely. N the daca youth instead, a broader immigration package. If you dont focus on the daca youth, you are facing a deadline. What happens to these kids that fromgiven relief deportation by the Obama Administration . What happens . Guest it is absolutely right, and i agree with mark. Nobody is saying this is easy. That is where we have not seen the dream act brought to the ther, which would be easiest way, as tammy mentioned before. Organization that has worked on Immigration Reform for years. We would welcome the opportunity to have that debate. And congress got close earlier. They did not get there. We desperately need to modernize our Legal Immigration system. What we haveid, right now is a manmade crisis, right . These kids have been fully vetted. All of a sudden, the rug was pulled from under their feet, and they are in a sticky spot march 5. At that time, we are already seeing people lose their status. There has been a Court Decision that has kind of provided some reprieve, but that can be gone at any moment, and that is what we need to remember. On march 5, the 122 or so dreamers that we have seen loose status every single day now goes to thousands of day. Youth who have grown up here, who go to our schools, who are first responders, who are in our they are in all segments of society. Those folks start losing status. Hat is why this is so critical what happens when you go to the emergency room . You take the most critical patient first. I totally agree. We desperately need to modernize our Legal Immigration system. Unfortunately, like Stephen Miller in the white house has but we have a critical patient in our hands. Even that, democrats, can they what that caller suggested and refuse any offer from the white house . Are they not in a position where if they have to demand a vote on this for the daca population, they need to compromise . Perhaps the wall is the compromise. Host here is the thing. Immigrants have been willing to compromise, right . Sometimes, some people would say they have been willing to compromise too much. The point is, they have been at the table. They have worked on bipartisan agreements that they have said some of this stuff, we dont agree with, but we are willing to do this. The problem is that every time they reach that time and come together, not with a democratic proposal, but with a bipartisan proposal, with republican support, the president or his team at the white house move the goalposts. So what happens . Imagine if you are playing a game and people keep moving the goalposts, keep changing the rules on you. How can you get there . I think it is kind of duplicitous to say that democrats are refusing to compromise, when reality it is the goalposts that keep getting moved. Host roberta in san diego, republican. Caller hi there. Well, first off, i find it kind of amazing that we never hold mr. Obama responsible for his comment regarding, i may not get immigration fixed in the first hundred days, but i will get it fixed in the first year. Had he kept that promise, which we see mr. Trump doing, i would say that maybe the daca people would have been taken care of. But as usual, no one in the democrat side, no one in our lower rosin group our la raza group, once you ever give anyone credit, and blame should be given to that. Ask our guests, what grade would you give president obama on immigration . Guest we worked with president obama really hard. I encourage roberta to look at a. At one point, our Organization Called him the to porter the leftter in chief, and that a mark. We did it because we are nonpartisan and we are looking at the effect of policy on a number of communities. Not just the undocumented community. Not just the latino community. But the millions of American Families being affected by these issues. Indeed, we criticized president obama quite a bit, and we pushed Congress Really hard. You might remember it was in 2013 when the senate actually tosed Bipartisan Legislation modernize our immigration system. The daca issue. Unfortunately, in the house, they refused to bring it to a vote. This is where we find ourselves. We did hold president obamas feet to the fire on this and other issues, because we work on many other issues, as we are doing now, with frankly policies we are seeing rolling out from the trump administration, but also their rhetoric. We have to acknowledge the impact of their rhetoric on how people feel and start looking at each other. This notion of making us afraid of each other, which we believe as a civil rights organization, that when you invest your time in making people afraid of each other, what you are doing is taking away their power of agency, to come together and solve problems. Host james in north carolina, a democrat. Hi, james. , thank you for cspan. I have two things to talk about. About the chain immigration. I am an immigrant, and now a u. S. Citizen, and i am trying to petition for my parents to come here. To now, they are trying count my parents as extended family. I dont understand why as u. S. Citizen i cannot bring my parents here. To classify my parents as distant. Right now i am in the process of petitioning them to come. I want to know what happens to that petition if this bill has gone through. Thank you. Obviously, i hope you are working with a qualified Community Organization or a lawyer on that case. I am not giving you advice on your case. James makes the point obviously, when you played the clip from the president , the stuff that clip did not cover is the other we are movinghat the goalposts away from where we are. That is one key. The American Public wants to see immigration be legal. The thing here that the administration is trying to use, relief for dreamers, which is incredibly popular, to actually try to push through radical changes to our Legal Immigration system. As james mentions, these are rights of u. S. Citizens. For some people, your parents or your brother and sister might be distant relationships. Obviously, for james they are not. They are not for me either. This is the most important thing. If anybody wants to understand what family migration looks like or results in, even if people are trying to call it chain migration to disparage it, look in the mirror. Today,merican family including trump on both sides of his family, is here because somewhere along the way there was family migration that allowed us to come. Host lets listen to what the president had to stay best to say of the state of the union about stopping unlimited numbers of distant relatives. Under the current, broken system, a single immigrant can bring and virtually unlimited numbers of distant relatives. Under our plan, we focus on the immediate family by limiting sponsorships to spouses and minor children. This vital reform is necessary not just for our economy, but for our security, and for the future of america. Terroristweeks, two attacks in new york were made possible by the visa lottery and chamber gratian. In the age of terrorism, these programs present risks. We can just no longer afford. It is time to reform. These outdated immigration rules , and finally bring our immigration system into the 21st century. What is the impact of the president and republicans wanting to limit the petition to just spouses and minor children . Imagine people who have a sibling, and that is their whole family, and they want to be with that sibling, or their parents. The one thing that is missed in this conversation is that citizens who are sponsoring someone to come in have to demonstrate that they are able to take care economically of that person. I have not heard that in this discussion, right . Here is the other thing that always strikes me, is when the president said, there was one immigrant from this program that did something wrong, so we are going to get rid of this program. Is,way i think about this imagine a member of congress does something wrong, which we seem to read about in the paper every single day, and their response was, we are going to get rid of congress. That is how ridiculous this notion is. I know some people may say, yes, lets get rid of congress, right . But that is how ridiculous this responses. Yes, we have to focus on the people who mean us harm. What if instead of doing that, we are trying to do away with Legal Immigration that vets people coming in, they have to acknowledge that they are creating incentives for the type of immigration that most of us want to see diminish or go away, which is ilLegal Immigration. Maryland. E plains, eric is a republican. You are on the air. Caller good morning, cspan, and good morning to your guest. Me, myself, i am an immigrant. I came in this country, and i followed the law, and it took me a lot of time. I am a u. S. Citizen today. When i hear your guest, it seems as if she is blaming the republican for the problem that we have right now. Actually, i would say that neither the republican or the democrat are your ally in this fight. If you really have an ally, it is trump, because the deal he offered is the best. Member, president obama had both the house, the senate, and the presidency, and he did not do anything. Actually, he deported even more immigrants them trump has done so far. Host ok, lets get a response. Is this the best offer . Guest heres the thing, right . And i agree with him that obama was in office, in control of government, something similar to what we are seeing right now, and we are Holding People accountable to the same standard, which is, ok, if republicans need democratic votes, there needs to be a bipartisan compromise. Immigration, regardless of who is in control, it has always been a bipartisan issue. The president presented a proposal. Anyone who reads the newspapers or your ipad or online media can see that it has been denounced or condemned, or said people were not going to support it, from both sides of the aisle. I know people are saying the president is saying democrats dont want to move. People in his own party say they dont want this proposal. At the end of the day, what i am seeing is, where legislation is concerned, it is up to the people who have a vote in this very illustrious capital, and that is republicans and democrats. Right now, going back to the first caller, the easiest thing would be, bring the dream act to the floor. It would pass. Who is not allowing that to happen is republican leadership. That is who happens to be controlling the process right now. From richardson, texas, independent caller. Good morning. Caller thanks for taking my call. I want to washington journal is live every day at 7 00 eastern. We will take you live to the site of the republican treat republican retreat in West Virginia to hear from Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan. Ryan i want to express that our hearts and prayers are with the victims of yesterdays tragic accident. For those of us