Adversity hosted this discussion. The topic of this discussion were about to have his immigration, finding solutions. And i think the first thing we have to do is say what is the problem exactly. And when you start thinking about what is the problem, it goes in a lot of different directions. You have an issue of global migration, you have immigration and immigration policy in the United States, refugee and displaced persons and you have the treatment of people and human rights and how are these people handle. Just to give you a few numbers to think about as we start off, according to the un there are 272 million migrants in the world so were talking about people who have moved from country to country, that is a large number. Three and half of the global population. But another number more striking is 70 million displaced person and if you think about that, we are living at a time where we see more people forced out of their lives and out of their homes, sometimes out of their countries then at any time in history, we see these people on the move, over half of them that are in other countries are from three countries, syria, afghanistan and south suzanne. Which is also really striking. When you think about what this means for policy, obviously has to be policy for handling refugees, policy for migration, policy for immigration of people who are not refugees. In the country still today the largest to the United States. According to the 2015, the last one i saw over 12. 5 of the u. S. Population born in a foreign country over 39 million people. That is quite substantial. So we are a nation of immigrants and still a nation of immigrants. That puts a premium on what is the right immigration policy. So to address these questions and any other questions that they want to address and any other that you and the audience may have, we have a terrific group of people. Political science i believe. And we have an richard is a former secretary for population refugees and migration and adjunct professor at georgetown university. At a former director of human rights first is of the Georgetown Law School having a chair in human rights. We cover the government of all of these different issues of all of the people on this panel. It is the first question that i want to throw out to you is i just spent a little time describing the nature of this phenomenon little bit of the problem. But in your own words, and maybe was there with you. What is going on and why are so many people moving and what are our responsibilities. I think you have accommodation, and one of the problem is basically. We need for mike to be working. [inaudible]. Quote why we figure this out will get some Technical Assistance on stage and i will cause the same question to peter. So give us a sense peter, how you see the phenomenon here of global migration. It will come back to you professor. What you see happening this phenomenon of People Living and what is causing it. What are our responsibilities. Obviously a lot of factors. We have political instability in various places around the world for sure. Overlooked, we have increasing standards of living around the world. And while we typically, think of immigrants as people being driven by desperation, the evidence historically in contemporaneously, is an appearance on people who have aspiration have something want to get more. So they some of that is vector two. And of course the center that we are talking about is more than it just immigrants. Were talk about refugees and misplaced persons. Obviously we have political regimes instability run the world as well. Host think two things that you said then lead you to two different thoughts. One is people are looking for a better life because the country is causing some kind of economic challenge they feel like they can make it better lives elsewhere. In the listening to the conclusion that that is nice but why zero this possibility. They took note refugees and human rights issues, have a different reaction to this. To have for my money, that is the 64000dollar question. And we very seldom oppose it. I applaud you for causing it. I almost never answer it because from my perspective, there is a fundamental distinction that is not easy to draw that must be drawn and we seem almost incapable of drawing between people who flee for their lives or for some very compelling overwhelming reason, which we broadly define as refugees, and people are coming to may be in some strange economic difference, or have something to which they then aspire to more. And our migrants. We dont seem to be able to draw those distinctions and our politics, in my mind continually points of those distinctions. Lets try to draw these distinctions. Lets take a look first at the immigration policy so people who are voluntarily leaving to seek a better lives and family members here we obviously want immigrants. How many, what is the right number and how do we handle this one. What about the immigration policy funds british. Eisa massimino i think that first ball and is going to be back here and thank you all for being here and thanks to david. For meeting all of this. For all these folks in washington to come together. I was thinking about this from the very first presentation. There was a question and open to take this off your butt about should we limit ilLegal Immigration. If democrats, or surround somewhere around 20 percent in the republican somewhere around 63 percent. Intimate, the framework of that question, was a big part of our problem. Because it masks a lot of the fundamental questions that you originally posted which, you will hear people say i am in favor of Legal Immigration are just like ilLegal Immigration and then we need to ask ourselves, darlas make any sense. Do they serve american interests in any way. Are they connected in any way to our values. They hold our values as a country. We dont tend to talk about those things. So that means that the debate about immigration is just about as broken as the immigration system itself. Because we are completely asking each other. We have restriction to the claim were nation of laws only to obey the laws and if god pro immigrant communities to say were nation of immigrants. But everybody should come and really, we have always been we have to be both. The nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. We need them. In study after study shows the meaning them. So we had to be both. Richard, i know if you remember, hes the head of the Southern Baptist guy. We have two signs, at the border, no press just testing and help wanted. [laughter]. As a country, we just havent been able to sort out what we needed we need both. And of course we also have the statute. So what is the answer. I think you have illegal Legal Immigration. The only reason we have irregular immigration is because we didnt anticipate it. Its mostly the president of the Business Card is always going up and does not anticipate the problem and doesnt plan for different needs. We have the Federal Reserve manages the policy that we have nobody trying to manage in a practical sense, the week need and who we dont need. And we have a problem because i dont think its just a question of choosing opportunities, you have moments and then, nothing is ever sort of monolithic. As you have a situation where you have people leave where it is not working out. You late because, with the same idea. So you new car, and does not necessarily because what a great new wood but maybe the one you have, is not the best thing you have. In the countries we see those immigration to u. S. At the moment, we see problems that we should have anticipated but is almost like we covered our eyes and in europe is in the same situation construction of known close happening. And was bound to happen. When travel conflict, you will have people flee. Once you have environmental problems, you will have people playing. I think about the hottest times in civil war. What are these people think they were going to go and of course we are the beacon, the city on the hill and we promise people that we were going to have karen due process and the truth is the people who are anti illegal and probation are also against Legal Immigration because it is a start no nothingness and goes on. That is not always true. It is significant how not just restrictions, but the part of the immigration moment, their closely allied with europe. Host got the destination, that is true. Motors by war or economics, there is a reaction here. The population, we say an effort too much. Life. The thing is that people say well thats what the people are saying. Who are these people we the people. Its an obstruction. What is really going on is a you have this mongering going on that, okay and we take more. Its like of media, to people are tired of the homeless. Look homeless dont just eat on thanksgiving. The same thing, is what did you think would happen. What stuff is pretty full going to have a legal system to allow people to command, we need a fair legal system. I guess i would disagree and i would disagree rather strongly, to be sure and theres lots of fear mongering going on in her somebody in the white house who was laid off of that. Kurt and extend that to great negative affect i would argue but he has not done it alone. Because what donald trump represents in my opinion, is the culmination of at least two or three or so decades of our elites, on business and governmental relief, promoting the Program Immigration agenda that refused and still refuses in many ways, to acknowledge there is any pushback. Juan that theres any reason for large numbers of americans. To have anxieties about the massive cultural as well as demographic and to some extent economic challenges of mass migration. My least favorite version of this which i must talk about as an example, is the washington leaders for two decades, gloriously talked about us being transformed into a majority minority society. Peter probably the best immigration commissioner weve ever had, when around, willynilly say were becoming a majority minority society. The hollow do you think large numbers of ordinary white americans are going to like hearing that their culture in the way of life, apparently are going to be challenged and undermined. In 1996, you had a reaction to the 1986 dynasty had extreme restrictions by the gingrich administration. And then every attempt by people who dont know what theyre doing, to come up with mechanisms, you have the Mccain Kennedy bill, if all of the efforts that were made to trying to deal with problems a little bit at a time. Try to create mechanisms if you think of the crises that we knew around the world in 1980, wasnt the world of just hey everybody, and end, the truth is that the law was not exactly fair all the time. It wasnt hate, then, the more than 37 years laws have been harshly and insight immigrant. The restrictive laws they were talk about were at the southern border. Juan i think so. Host i just constant conscious, with senator mccain is here. Thank you so much for being here. I remember at least two major efforts by senator mccain to lead Immigration Reform. And not succeeding. It was a genuine hard thought bipartisan effort and not getting anywhere. Does anyone here see the prospects for any kind of bipartisan major comprehensive Immigration Reform ahead of us. Elisa dont forget senator durbin i think said were not going to get any kind of deal as long as Stephen Miller is a rep. Of the white house. So we have legitimate questions in the area of immigration refugees and then we have white house that is just shutting everything down. So there issues that are controversial, there issues that are noncontroversial but we still see the white house shutting the door to people coming to the United States. Migration is a human phenomena. Theres a lot of positives that are completely not controversial. This people coming in and investing here. Students from other countries. Study and our universities frank not controversial. Tourists are coming. There are a lot of positives. This is all migration. Whether things and been a leader on his is speaking out about exploiting migrants. People who have been trafficked. People who are smuggling new benefiting from the in the u. S. In the human rights rule the world that i was in spoke out against work leaders in saying that we have to manage migration and instead what we see this too much fear mongering and in the migrants are automatically criminals there somehow a threat to us. Underneath that, if you listen to some politicians there is this hidden layer of racism. Anne and it is anti, muslim, anti for people essentially. Poor people. One of the legitimate questions about immigration is who do we want to bring to the United States. Up by the soul we are shut the door thing. We have a great story to tell about how immigrants in this country, have revitalized our country. So do we want to come. A legitimate question for us to look at is, under what circumstances. In the past, one of the things that was decided was to we had discrimination against parts of the worlds of the work changes to allow people to come from different parts of the world. I personally think you dont have to bring in high skilled people. I think we have seen this doesnt matter. People do well here weather the coming super skilled or not. But i know one of the policies being pushed in some circles is we need north or meritbased system the way the canadians have. Elisa i wanted to up something that peter said about immigration. This is a parallel to the Previous Panel we make statements where americans no support, u. S. Immigrants and then we look at the polls, the questions that they are asking and actually turns out that they do support that in the majority of them do. They also do some on immigration. And successes calling by the groups as shown in a majority of americans actually, there is art expressed by the rhetoric. Their supporters generally are for moving people out of the shadows pretty 10. 5 million undocumented. Getting them on the pathway to citizenship. Theres a silent majority hopefully we can solve this problem. Going back to the first plan, about illegal versus Legal Immigration, unbeknownst to most americans, this administration is transforming all immigration into the ilLegal Immigration. By closing off the avenues for refugees to seek a son, to essentially stop resettling refugees and allowing people to seek asylum. It was a human rights fiasco on the southern border right now with people under the euphemism mystically named margaret protection protocols that are basically forcing people to plug for their lives to remain in mexico. Hundreds of those people, have been attacked, kidnapped, beaten, raped including children. It is a terrible scenario down there. But mostly, it is an attempt by Stephen Miller, led by him to shut down all immigration so that all immigration becomes ilLegal Immigration. People say, i am all for immigration it and people should just wait in line. There is no line. Juan what should the immigration policy be. And can we get there. Peter let me take a step in that direction. So to lisa, i am a little stunned at this point in time that you can claim the polls that support for immigration. Clearly lots of them americans support it but a lot americans dont pretty in their pretty mobilized and pretty angry and i dont think you can whistle plus that. Having said that, how about lets talk about what we can agree on. Stimulate the Stephen Miller is not my god. Okay. IlLegal Immigration. What can we do about that. I think that is a real problem. Elisa i think theres a lot we can do. Juan udo have a mechanism for people who find themselves trying to integrate to the u. S. You have a family. Peter you have the sort of decent lottery over here. And then you have asylum thing over here. The truth is that the numbers are significantly restricted. Understanding that we have uncontrolled numbers. I left because im talking are i dont know what theyre talking about. Just been a career, deciding these are the numbers that youre letting in every year. Our being very sort of selfdestructive in that we are hurting our commercial immigration where this distance of desensitizing people like coming in fort students because there is not a future for you. You must not even be able to use finisher studies because if there is another situation where we start marring people or we create an anti element environment, you have no future so the problem is that we have for decades, you might have a future in the u. S. And that is fading. We need to deal with commercial immigration as it helps our economy on the one side, you need to understand that individuals, like a merit system, could come to the u. S. But not using the same processes that we have now because they dont work. Juan the process that we have now that thats the problem is that most of the people, would refer to as illegal immigrants, i really just playing a crisis. Theyre not just leaving. In the upcoming here to clean our homes. You understand this. They are leaving because their lives in their childrens lives are in danger. Kurt i disagree. You do not know and you cannot sit here and argue seriously that the reason why all of the Central Americans are coming is because they are fleeing for their lives. You dont know that and i dont know that. Some of them are. Juan do you really believe that any of these people and how many of these individuals, have you sat with. How many of these individuals have you tried to get a fair hearing for and they dont get a chance about the gang dealer, misogynist, the anti whatever religion the person is, the homophobes, you keep going down the list and you will see that the vast majority of these people, are flaying help. Kurt the vast majority of the people that you are talking to our. Elisa you guys talked about who you can but we can agree on. Nothing of the refugees we can agree that we have a legal obligation of the United States but also moral obligation to find out. Kurt i agree. Elisa whether they come seeking protection in america. Whether they have