way to resolve that particular problem, but my hope is that the u.s. would re-evaluate its position and come back. and we still have a lot of important work to do. and the u.s. does play an important role. zeid raad al hussein, pleasure to have you on. thank you, fareed. next on gps, we ll dig in deeper. why is immigration such a hot topic in america, and who won this round, the left or the right? when we come back, nick christoph, linda chavez and rayhan salaam. ou doing tomorrow -10am? staff meeting. noon? eating. 3:45? uh, compliance training. 6:30? sam s baseball practice. 8:30? tai chi. yeah, so sounds relaxing. alright, 9:53? i usually make their lunches then, and i have a little vegan so wow, you are busy. wouldn t it be great if you had investments that worked as hard as you do? yeah. introducing essential portfolios.
working class at immigrants, perception that they were partly to blame for the deep economic troubles there. but it s a lot harder to feel that resentment when unemployment is this low, when there are jobs available, signs everywhere. and i think the other thing that has really changed is, indeed, the fact that president trump is in office and that there is this very deep revulsion at the family separation, and i don t think immediately, but i do think that creates some opportunity over time to try to actually address these issues. rae hhan, let me ask you because you ve been on the conservative side of immigration. nick s argument in his columns that the family separation is so brutal, that it s immoral in his view and unconscionable, but also, it might backfire politically for the republicans. i think there is definitely something to that. if you look at the antiwar
the aisle has the upper hand politically? joining me to talk about that and more, nicholas kristof is a new york times op ed columnist. linda chavez is a columnist and commentator and the chair of the center for equal opportunity. and reihan salam is the executive editor of the national review. linda, you are a conservative republican. you worked for ronald reagan on these issues. and i m wondering what you think has changed, because ronald reagan was once asked something about illegal aliens, and he said, i have another word for illegal aliens, it s willing workers. that s exactly right. a long way from today. that s exactly right. and in fact, i think he would be mystified by what s going on. and by the way, illegal immigration when ronald reagan was president was actually at a higher level than it is today. so, this whole idea that there is this huge infusion of people coming across the border, it s a crisis, we have to do something about, we ve got to build walls, we ve g
net migration is, if anything, toward mexico. and what we ve been seeing in other words, more people are going back than are coming to the united states from mexico. that s correct. and central america has been the real source of immigration across the southern border, but that s because of huge violence in honduras, el salvador, guatema guatemala, and that violence seems to be going down again. so, there is some reason to think that we are still living with the consequences of this terrible gang violence there and that, you know, over the next few years, that may no longer be the issue it is today. final thought, reihan, is this immigration crisis going to peter out, if linda and nick are right, there isn t as big a problem, it s getting better, this is not going to dominate american politics? i m afraid not. i see things quite differently for this reason. when we talk about assimilation as people learning to speak english, it is absolutely
movement when george w. bush was president, it was large, it was vibrant, it was very powerful and influential. as soon as barack obama was inaugurated, however, that antiwar movement really receded very, very quickly. oftentimes in our politics, you see a kind of thermostatic reaction in which when you have the other party in power, you polarize the rest of the public against a given position. so, before donald trump was on the political scene, the american public was somewhat more restrictionist. once donald trump came on the scene, the american public has actually moved very quickly and very drastically towards a more favorable position towards immigration. the question is whether or not that s actually durable when you think about some of the larger issues. and one of the larger issues, i dare say, is what happens to immigrants after they ve been in the country for 10 or 20 years. the emphasis right now is on harr y harrowing stories at the border and the sacrifices people make to