if you disagree. you can also participate via social media. cspanwj is our twitter handle and you can join the live the conversation on facebook.com/c-span. here is the op-ed in "the washington post" for may 20. we must read out the ignorant americans from -- we must weed out the ignorant americans from the election. survey theed only ongoing presidential race to comprehend that the most pressing problem facing the nation is not big business, big labor, big media or even big money in politics, it is you, the american voter. out millions of irresponsible voters who cannot be bothered to learn the rudimentary workings of the constitution or the preferred proposals or their history, we may be able to mitigate the recklessness of the electorate. no, we should not direct physical barriers to ballot access. let's purchase more voting machines, higher dish in a poll workers, streamlined registration process, may allow more ballots for seniors and produce more "rock the boat" ads, employing apathetic millennials to mr. stick to do. let's also remember that checking the box for the candidate whose campaign ads you like best is one of the most overrated obligations of the self govern. if you have no clue to what the hell is going on, you also have pacific duty to avoid subjecting the rest of us to your ignorance. unfortunately, he writes, we can't trust you. if voting is a consecrated bright in democracy as liberals often argue, surely society can have certain minimal expectations for those participating, and of citizenship itself is as hollowed as republicans argue, then surely the perspective voter can be asked to know just as much as the prospective citizen. let's give voters a test of citizenship civics. that is what he writes. what do you think about that? 202 is the area code. 748-8000 if you disagree. (202)-748-8001 if you agree. we will start with dan and pennsylvania. here is your civics test question you have to answer and these are official questions from the u.s. citizenship and immigration test. 13 original colonies, name three. caller: delaware, pennsylvania, new york, i could name all of them. host: you got the question right. go ahead, why do you agree with the statement? little i just have a twist. i think most americans now do not even know how government or as their duty as a citizen to do the right thing and learn how government works, but i have a lot to say but i will say one more thing. it was once said, never underestimate the ignorance of the american voter. the uninformed american voter theyse most of them -- know less than what i think they he is handsome, i will vote for him, she is pretty, i will vote for her, we have a lot of people who do not know anything about american history or political science. host: you agree that the civics test is in order for people to have the right to vote? voluntarily, voluntarily. i think people should go, take the test and see what they really know or do not know and well, id back and say, should think about how i vote. thank you very much. host: thank you. jim is next in silver spring, maryland. here is your test question. if both the president and the vice president can no longer serve, who becomes president? caller: the speaker of the house of representatives. host: you pass, go ahead. caller: [laughter] fork you and thank you taking my call into ui for c-span. i think i am on the wrong line. i do not agree that we should have to take a civics test. i just think it should be a requirement for all registered voters to watch a minimum amount of c-span. host: [laughter] way they can stay educated about what really goes on and keep up the good work. ohio.tamazine is in good morning. caller: good morning. host: here is your civics test question. we elect you a senator for how many years? caller: senator, i believe it is six. host: correct. out do think about weeding ignorant voters? caller: i think this idea is a very bad one because it can get out of hand very quickly and it could do a great deal of damage. i went to read you what was in "time" magazine about 10 years ago. i kept a copy ever since. winston churchill, just after the second world war is talking to a reporter, and they are enjoying a drink, whatever they are doing. says, this isill a quote, "the only argument against democracy is five voter."with the average that is england and that was second world war, along the time ago. so there has always been people who do not know answers to things. that does not mean they don't have a good heart and they don't want the country to prosper. and theyed very hard are honest people. i think it would be very difficult to do it you are thinking of doing or thinking of proposing. it could go wrong and they could go really wrong. to me, that is a step into a dictatorship. i thank you for listening to me and i hope you enjoyed winston churchill. host: thank you. either way, it is not something we are proposing. we are reading an op-ed from "the washington post," which is entitled "weed out ignorant voters." he goes on to explain how many components of the two major candidates would pass the quiz. here are some of the questions in which run easy to preposterous and we go ahead and continue to cruise you on those. he writes -- i am tempered confident that at least a majority of voting public could pass such a test, though, i cannot say the same for the majority of presidential candidates. they should be a breeze for citizens intensely involved in the process that they feel compelled to plaster bumper stickers on their cars and attended rallies of the paper candidates. and my being too optimistic, he writes? -- am i being too optimistic? he writes. nearly 30% cannot name the vice president. more than 60% did not know the length of the u.s. extended their terms in office. 43% cannot say that the first 10 amendments to the constitution are known as the bill of rights. next call is charlie in new york. charlie agrees with the statement "weed out ignorant voters." why do some states have more representatives than other states? caller: it goes by population. host: thank you, sir. here is your voting question -- we elect the u.s. are presented for how many years? caller: 150 it seems like. host: [laughter] caller: actually two. host: go ahead. why do you agree with that statement? caller: back in the day when jay leno hosted "the tonight show," he went out with a camera and a microphone and the results were absolutely this graceful. benjamin franklin was the first president of the united states. 1973.vil war began in japan and germany were our allies during world war ii. answers that he got. let me be blunt, ok question mark -- ok? barack obama is in the white house because we let morons vote . host: that is charlie in new york and jim is calling them from king george, virginia, on our disagree line. here is your test question from the official u.s. immigration test -- what are two cabinet level positions? caller: secretary of state, secretary of the treasury. host: very good. go ahead. why do you disagree with the statement " weed out the ignorant voters and they must take pacific test?" caller: that goes against all principles of a republic or democracy. we should be training all people as they grow up how to be a good citizen. we have stopped doing that. the media has stopped doing that. they do not educate, they do not train, they do not make people that are citizens. instead, they substitute comedy for civility and they substitute ignorance for knowledge. the average citizen and instead, the media needs to grow up. that is a big issue of this election. the media has dropped the ball in their approach to citizenship and finally, i assume, many voters are so fed up with what they are hearing and the media that they turned their back on any kind of news coverage that is propaganda rather than knowledge. host: thank you, sir. david is calling in from atlanta, georgia, on the disagree my fear is your question -- how many justices are on the supreme court? caller: nine. host: currently -- caller: i'm side, there are eight now but there should be nine. host: correct. go ahead. caller: my thoughts are -- i see where he is going with this, but like the previous caller said, the real problem is something with our media. it is the corporate run media. back in the day when we had the doctrine, i think that there was less of this. we have gotten away from it, and i know it would be impossible to go back to the exact same form we had before with the famous doctrine, but there needs to be some kind of modified version of that to where people just cannot get paid on the radio and on the tv to discuss and say lies over and over again and not be called out. there has to be some kind of correcting method that will allow us to indirectly educate the public. for example, you ask a person, what is the difference between the deficit and debt and they cannot tell you. what is discretionary spending nurses nondiscretionary spending? most people cannot answer that question. so much of our political on notse is based knowing the facts and really what is going on. you are calling on the disagree line. if people do not know the difference during discretionary boating, --etionary spending, should they be allowed to vote? caller: of course they should be. it is not their responsibility to be educated. i agreed that they should be, but went back and saying is that the real way to get at that is to somehow regulate the discourse to where if a talking head or a pond in or a talk radio person just knowingly just lies over and over again without having to go back and correct the record, i think that that may go far as to the help of better elevate the overall knowledge level. host: this is current on face facebook, they have done the work all too well, the rfaction isupe at an all-time high. only ignorant voters are the ones who do not participate in the voting process. and rick graham says, your question get worse and worse every day, the voters should weed you out. host: next call from elizabeth, rufus, and here is your question -- we did this test with our director and producer this morning and, fortunately, i had the answers in front of me, but these get turkey and you get one of the trickier questions. here we go. there are four amendments to the constitution about who can vote, describe one of them. caller: say that again. host: there are four amendments to the constitution about who can vote. describe one of those amendments. caller: you have got to be an american citizen. the: to me, that seems like right answer, but here are the correct answers. think you got it because they mention citizen in a lot. you have to be 18 years old or older, a male citizen of any you have to be an american citizen, so why do you statement "weed out ignorant voters?" caller: one of the reason i agree is because of a man named frank perdue. he raised chickens and he raised the finest chickens. he did not raise them because he loved them but because he wants to kill them and make money. we have a lot of people voting, vote, vote, vote and they are voting for donald trump and they do not realize that once he is in office, they will have medicare or medicaid cut off. so while they shoot themselves in the foot [indiscernible] the republican party [indiscernible] what do you think about that? host: rufus, you called in on the agreed line, so you think people should take the civics test in order to vote? you should not have to do anything to vote. i am saying, it should not be like that, it should be every [indiscernible] vote,hould be able to white or black. host: next is kevin in minnesota. here is your citizenship test question -- what is one responsibility that is only for u.s. citizens? caller: ummm, voting? host: correct. vote in a federal election. one of those kind of threw me a little bit, but it was served on a jury and vote in the federal election. why do you disagree with the statement "weed out ignorant voters?" caller: anybody can have their opinion, but to put something like that in effect just sounds too much like a communist or like hitler did. he took over the press, he took over everything. to me, that is a slippery slope. we are a free country and everybody has their rights, but i do believe there should be more of there to educate us. andet so much to the left right, and that is why i do enjoy you guys. you state right down the middle, so there should be more education. like i said, everybody has the right to their opinions, but to put something like that in effect, that is too close to becoming communist. kevin int was minnesota. back to david's op-ed in "the washington post" on may 20. some of the will accuse me of peddling elitism, but i said the opposite is true. unlike the many who depend on ignorant voters to wield and secure power, i refuse to believe that working class or underprivileged citizens are any less capable of understanding the meaning of the constitution or the contours of government. are supercilious 1% is. i believe this despite the widespread failure of public school'so teach civics. it is our responsibility as voters. we must also remember the ugly history of poll taxes and other methods that americans used to deny black citizens. quote right to vote. in the effort to improve the itlity of the voting public, should ensure that all races, creeds, genders and sexual orientations of people of every socially economic background art innovated from voting went ignorant for the good of our democratic institution. he is with the federalist and prior to that, he was with human defense. steve is in virginia on our agreed line. steve's, here is your test question -- what are two rights of everyone living in the united states? what are two rights of everyone living in the united states? the own a firearm and to own property. property one is not necessarily here, but the right to their arms, read them of religion, freedom of assembly, petition government, freedom of speech and expression. why do you agree that there should be a civics test for voters? caller: because when i was a student at the university of central florida, dated a poll on who were inople front of the main library and it was only one question -- how many senators does the state of florida led to washington? onlywas 30 years ago, but 1% got that question right, the answer is two. opinions ied with have had before that convinced me that we really needed to do something, and i lay the blame on an education establishment that has really gotten away from teaching people to read the constitution. it is very simple. i talk about politics all the time. most people have no other idea what the constitution says and that is the root of the cause. host: that was steeped in virginia. here is your bonus question, name one of the senators from your state. caller: tim katie. host: yes, sir. tom is in new jersey. tom agrees that there should be civics test and we should "weed out ignorant voters." fromis your question -- the u.s. citizenship test, what is one promise you make when you become a u.s. citizen? caller: to defend the constitution. host: that is correct. give up loyalty to other countries, defend the constitution, obey the laws of the u.s., served in the u.s. military and be loyal to the united states. those are the things that you promising to become a citizen. why do you agree there should be a civics test for voters? well, i agree that we should weed out ignorant voters by doing exactly what the previous caller said. the education system has purposely destroyed just education in general. that is why they have to have all of these programs to remedy the ignorance that they instill in the education system or indoctrination system. host: that is it? caller: well, i could go on. host: you have that opportunity. caller: well, the same people who are talking about this stuff are also importing the most ignorant voters possible. they have to import voters because [indiscernible] the same time, talk about mandating 16-year-olds, some of the most ignorant people in the country to half to vote, so -- host: who are they? caller: they are not to be trusted. the establishment, especially they talk out but of both sides of the amount all the time. the question is, who would make these decisions as to who passes the test? it is nothing they cannot manipulate with their own tyrannical sense. host: that was tom and this is john in pennsylvania. on the disagree line, here is your test question -- what are two ways that americans can participate in a democracy? out andone, to get request against the government and the other is voting. host: voting, joint political party, joint acidic group, community group, kid an elected official beer opinion -- give an opinion,fficial your publicly support or oppose the policy, run for office and right to a newspaper. those are the correct answers according to the test. why do you disagree by taking such a civics test? respect and all deference to the guy who wrote the article, i just disagree with the fundamental reasons. i do not think it is the voters who have the problem. they are obviously struggling with not getting educated in the education system. they are struggling with not getting the correct information from the media, so i believe it is the parties, the democrats the stateicans at level, they organize voting precincts, open primaries, closed primaries, delegates, non-delegates, all this crazy stuff that people do not understand, so they are lucky that we have the small percentage of voters that we had because the process is rigged on both sides of the aisle against the voters, so i disagree with the test. i think we need to be testing the people who run the parties and say, why don't you want more voters? why are you making it so difficult for people to vote? that is why i disagree with it. host: thank you. pat is in new york city on our agree line. what is one reason colonists came to america? see, i guesslet's for freedom of religion. that is correct. religious freedom, economic opportunity, practice of religion and escaped persecution are the answers that a correct on this test. tell us your opinion about we eding out ignorant voters. anler: my opinion is this is example of an oversimplified answer to another complicated situation. the goal is what we want to the means ofagain, getting there is just not practical. i think the problem lies really with the ignorance of many of the people who are in the so-called press and correspondence. for example, when some candidates make these overly blown and overly simplistic claims, like the first day in office i will repeal obama care, i mean, where are the correspondence to say, how you going to do that? doesn't it have to go to congress? isn't this a process? this has been going on for years. it seems like the press and the people who are responsible for delivering the information that the voters made to make informed decisions -- they are just not there. it is entertainment. what the goal of the editorial is, but it is a note for simplification. an oversupply location how do you do that test? there are all kinds of constitutional problems when it limits onetting people who are allowed to vote. tweets -- whoary is to say what constitutes ignorance? in pennsylvania on our disagree line, maynard, here is your question -- when was the constitution written? caller: you give everybody easy questions and you give me when i do not really know right now. when the constitution was written, probably 1786. host: 1787. caller: i was close. host: yes, you are. go ahead and express your opinion about your topic this morning. caller: there was one about winston churchill. we always say that we did not learn from history and we are bound to repeat it. winston churchill said the thing we do learn from history is that we do not learn from history. look at the jim crow laws. who do we apply those to this time? the catholics, protestants, the hispanics or the blacks? it is not fair. you are a citizen of the country and you should have the right to express your opinions, right a wrong, you have a right to express that opinion. the news media for the last 30 years has pushed away for all this stuff. they have fed us all kind of stuff we cannot grow, feed us something we can grow to learn about our constitution and processes. what have you done for living in pennsylvania? caller: i was a deputy sheriff for some time and i did work at the international paper mill with the working blue-collar man. host: thank you for calling and thanks for watching "washington journal." john is in pennsylvania. lots of pennsylvania callers. john is on the disagree and here is your test question -- what is one thing benjamin franklin is famous for? franklin was very was for thed -- he revolution. actually in pennsylvania here, he was a neighbor of the quaker party before the revolution and he was famous for many of his inventions and he was also famous for supporting the revolution. his inventions included electricity. .ost: that was john the official answer, i think we let john pas, but he was a u.s. diplomat, member of the constitutional convention, "poor man's almanac," and he started the first free library. what is your opinion, should there be a civics test for ignorant voters? caller: no, i think all the voters should be more informed, but to try and get the test would be wrong. let me say, when i graduated from high school in 1967, most of us were drafted into the military or joined because the war was going on. thatnk most of us graduated at that time and served in the military took voting very seriously and you have to vote. i mean every state we have learned this, they have different laws as to voting. i guess i was really amazed. donald trump says he graduated form the wharton school of business in philadelphia, and his kids went to the most are stages schools in america, yet, they did not know how to vote. i think it trump had served in the military -- he refused to serve -- i think if he had served, he would have taken voting seriously and he would it taught his children how to vote. apparently, they did not know how to vote because they cannot vote for him. was john in pennsylvania. an issue being discussed right now, here is interestedj preteen -- if obey laws of the land is one of the requirements of being a citizen, then prisoners should not get to vote again. nick is calling in from el paso, texas. to the u.s. by from france in 1803? caller: louisiana purchase. host: that is correct. why do you agree with the statement, "weed out ignorant voters?" isler: all you have to do replayed that jonathan gruber video of him talking about how ignorant the american people are on economic, not just on civic duty, but on economics also. about how obama care was passed, you know? i have to do is show that video but you really can't do peopleuse most of the were not educated or informed. they don't read the newspaper or watch the news. host: thank you. what do you do in el paso? caller: i am a farmer. host: what kind? caller: cotton and not right chilnot having good, but e. host: hugo chiles? -- you grow chiles? caller: yes, the long green ones. host: thanks. name oneeorgia, war phot by the u.s. in the 1800s. caller: excuse me? by theame one war taught u.s. in the 1800s. caller: i would say the indian wars -- we fought the wars with the indians. host: they have listed under the official test, war of 18 12, mexican-american war, the first civil war and the spanish-american war. caller: yes, but the wars with the indians are the ones that are forgotten. the wars with the indians were real. take a look at the trail of tears. it started out in georgia. host: all right. you agree with the statement "weed out ignorant voters." why? caller: most assuredly everyone is ignorant. look at the national debt. how can we allow the national debt to get where it is? waiting to pay that off as we go. mostlyder myself to be ignorant, even though the person who is the most ignorant is the person who knows the most about ignorance. [laughter] in other words, if you know what knowledge is all about, it cannot ever developed algorithms or characteristic that would allow you to process all the information that is available accurateake an decision. there is just too much information available. you cannot even come up with an algorithm that will do that. either way, you have to be able to know the limitations of your own abilities and the limitations of the ability of your neighbors and your state. the limitations of the nation. we must certainly are all ignorant. it is just a matter or the extent of ignorance, not the fact that we are ignorant. host: that was built in georgia -- bill in georgia. next is betsy from elkhart, kansas. here is your test question -- these are official questions from the u.s. immigration test -- there are about 100 questions on the test and applicants will andsked 10 random questions they have to get at least six arrived in order to pass -- six arrived in order to pass. what did the emancipation proclamation do? isn't that what set the slaves free? host: that is correct. why do you disagree that ignorant voters should not be weeded out? i did not see the beginning of the program, however, my concern would be who would be making the judgment on who to leave out? i see people at college degrees but they don't have common sense. sensek people at common are not real intelligent with other things. host: thank you. we appreciate you calling in. brick is in beverly, -- rick is in beverly, massachusetts, disagree line. he was president during the great depression and world war ii? caller: during the depression i and durings hoover world war ii, franklin delano roosevelt. host: the correct answer is fdr, i guess they're looking at the depression starting during the 1930's. caller: i see. host: you disagree that there should not be a civics test and that ignorant voters should not be weeded out. caller: i think it is a tremendous problem. that is to say the lack of voter information is a tremendous problem, but i don't think the solution to the problem is to d outscore devised a system for weeding out poorly informed people. their original idea of the thomas jefferson had of ofresentative government calls to the notion that only knowledgeable people would vote and those were your representatives and that the only havetizenry with a voice in selecting representatives who would vote and make the decisions, so that was kind of the jeffersonian not a badthat was idea at the time, but today, with their population of 300 million, each individual citizen must have an opportunity to vote, but they need to be better informed. i think the absence of good information in the news media is really the source of the problem. up media is just too taken with the notion of bringing an audience to an advertiser, therefore, making their news programming primarily entertainment rather than and that is just a gigantic problem. host: respond to this, david harsanyi in his op-ed in "the post" writes that to be fair, the contemporary electorate is the difference is now we have unlimited access to information, and are not necessarily reliant wo, three or four sources of information, especially the internet. caller: the internet access to information is so overwhelming that it blurs reality. majority of the information is presented in a manner that is designed to entertain and to attract fewer listener interest on the radio or reader interest on the newspapers. you get a blast of news from the headline of the typical american newspaper and the blast of news in the headline is written to highlight the most possible thing that the editor of the newspaper can come up with that morning because the purpose is to sell newspapers in order to satisfy the demand of their advertisers for leadership rather than a serious conveyance of information that would be and withrmative television news, if you watch the morning news programs, they are very entertaining and they are humorous little chit chats between the male host, the female host and the humors third-party, who is often the weather forecaster and they go and and forth and make life entertaining conversation, but the amount of real information that is being conveyed is quite minimal. host: we will have to leave it there. rick in massachusetts. mike is in st. charles, maryland. mike, name one american indian tribe in the united states. caller: well, i will name a bunch under the title of iroquois. there are five or six separate tribes that were under the iroquois nation. now the will show you official list from the u.s. citizenship test. yes, you got it right. why do you disagree that ignorant voters should not be weeded out? caller: i disagree with the statement. very negative oriented statement, a lead to say and the gentleman is pointing his finger in the wrong direction. i agree with the prior caller that the press needs to stop over superfine there a serious oversimplifying serious issues. the man made a metaphor, it is not have to do it the body is ancs, so that oversimplification. the answer to the correct question that was presented about the emancipation proclamation is that oversimplification -- if you want to analyze what lincoln did was he freed the states and the current jurisdiction he had control over, which excluded the states that were trying to secede from the union, so there is that very little effect, although that is the complexity. one thing the press is very adept at is trying to avoid complexities, some it up as fast as you can, do not spend too much money on doing research and indicating the qualifications and the limitations of your set of knowledge that they tried to summarize, so coming up with many false impressions. mr. trump's statement is not quite accurate, but with the press is doing is oversimplifying. i will going a term that i spread around to my friends, it is whend -- that someone graduates from college and they go out to the complex real-world and they have a flashback to their sophomore year when they learn names that were very simple. they never graduate, never go to college, and maybe they hit the real world and they want to get back to their sophomore year in high school. host: all right. this is valerie calling from now hawaii. name one u.s. territory. valerie? to turn down the volume on the tv or gets a delay. jared in virginia. name one u.s. territory. caller: i was hoping for a different question. host: [laughter] that is your question because valerie had the volume up on her tv. caller: i will plead the fifth on that. , puerto rico, american samoa, let's give you another -- why does the fly cap 13 stripes? caller: to represent the 13 colonies. host: there you go. why do you disagree that ignorant voters should not be weeded out? caller: i think this op-ed and this suggestion to weed out voters actually arose the basic tenants of our constitution, so in my opinion, it is like saying an airplane pilot knows everything about flying or a chef knows everything about cooking to suggest that we are leading out people that do not know the historical value or everything about the constitution or everything about the united states. that is extreme language and very dangerous. i think the real issue is this op-ed or the opinion of the current based upon the candidate issue in that voters are associating themselves with candidates that they like or that they can associate with either sociologically or otherwise. becomes we aren focusing on reading voters out to select the cap w -- weeding voters out to select a candidate ourthat goes to ar democratic values. the issue at hand is there are concerns about people who may be associate themselves with donald trump or hillary clinton, so it is an issue but i suppose if we are looking at this as -- if to not votingtion for a certain candidate, i do not agree with it. host: that was jared in virginia. myland tweets in, if it was up to me, voters would have to pass a high school level math test. right, david in washington, d.c., what did susan b anthony do? caller: susan b anthony was the one who i believe made the original flag for the united states of america. host: no, that was betsy ross. susan b anthony fought for women's rights and civil rights. caller: ok, clearly, i would have failed. the reason why i disagree is because not that the information is not available, but the only reason this is an issue is because i believe the politicians understand that the public in the united states of america is these outlets as entertainment, however, the information like one of the few callers said a while back, i had no idea what phone number to call to get in on this topic. i asked google on my phone and it worked. the same way i got my information about hillary clinton, donald trump, bernie sanders and a wide spectrum of people is to the outlet on my phone. people want the information to be fed to them like babies and we are all adults and in the position to inform ourselves. a want to blame the school system. when the school system is not failing, they're are doing a great job creating these chickens, just like frank dupree, so it is not like we are putting ourselves in the position not to be informed. we should turn the volume on the radios down, research exactly what identifies with their views. host: what do you do in washington? caller: i am an air monitor and i just pulled up to her. host: a what? caller: air monitor, air and airtre and i handle -- spectator and i handle [indiscernible] are calling in. all right, laura in san antonio. you are the last caller to get two tough questions. what are two rights the declaration of independence? caller: kid you repeat that? -- can you repeat that? host: what are two rights in the declaration of independence? caller: i am not sure. [laughter] host: i know, right? when i be real obvious say, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the three answers to that. --e is your bonus question how many amendments does the constitution have? everybody out there, come up .ith a number in your head let's see how many people get this right. caller: something like 22. host: you are pretty good. 27. you are a lot closer than i was. caller: [laughter] fantastic. host: "weed out ignorant voters ," disagree or agree? i disagree for the reason -- i do not see the beginning of the show, but w for the reason that the op-ed iter try to gloss over and it sounded like a form of elitism and that they would be ways to ensure that -- historically disenfranchised communities would not really be affected by such an implementation. while i appreciate that that would make voting more informed and that we would not have such untruths that are peddled out, it is just not practices. did --r caller said no callers have noted, how do you make sure these disenfranchised populations do not get affected negatively versus other people in public school systems that have better access to education? that peoplecognize are saying access is on the internet and things of that nature, but i do not think it is very fair or practical. host: what do you do intend to tell you? -- do you do in san antonio? i am a stay-at-home mom and in the hospital because my baby has a fever. host: you are watching c-span while your baby is in the hospital? caller: yes, i am. host: that is dedication. thanks for watching and best wishes for you. again, we are talking about 's op-ed in "the washington post" on may 20. you could search his name -- ha rsanyi. -- "wes the headline must weed out ignorant americans from the electorate." we were asking everyone official test questions given to new citizens in order that they need to pass. thanks to everyone who participated. coming up, dan stein will be out here, president for the federation for american immigration reform. we will talk about u.s. immigration policy. after, andrew maloney, a lead attorney representing families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. we will talk with him about some legislation moving through congress. if you are a regular viewer of c-span, you know that on the weekends, c-span2 turns in the book to be an c-span3 turns into american history tv, and you also know that we are out and about throughout the country visiting cities to visit their literary and historic sites this weekend. las vegas is our featured city, lots of interviews on book tv and american history tv. here is a little bit from the mayor talking about the city as well as the challenges it faces. >> what is las vegas best known for? it washen we came here, strictly gambling and entertainment. nowadays convention business, tourism and gaming, which is around the country, so we are really stepping to the plate, doing everything we can to improve the tourism effort and the convention business. lastd 42 plus millions year, and this year, we expect to exceed that. the consumer electronics show magically sold many conventions here because we have 155,000 hotel rooms, all in the four mile area, so what the great place to have the convention, so the name las vegas has really become to me so much more than it used to be as a sleepy old town to go gamble in. we also have great social skills because we do have the problems they have another cities around the country, so we additionally have water issues. we are a dry climate, a desert, so we had to run off from the rockies on the west side. that fills in lake mead, the colorado river, but we share water with verizon and ,alifornia and without the rain but we have had some this past a real aspectns for us, so we are really looking at ways that we can do things, in,her it is bringing water digging deeper into the water table, meeting with our surrounding states and seeing what we can do. >> "washington journal" continues. host: joining us on "the washington journal" is dan stein , federation for american immigration reform or fair. what is fair what positions do you take on immigration? guest: it is an organization that believes immigration should serve the national and american interest and that immigration laws should be enforced and enforceable and we should set them at levels that the low enough level that it does not challenge domestic priorities or confound global objectives. right now, immigration is far too high, it is unsustainable and everybody can see impacts from all across the country. we want to bring it down to 300,000 a year or less and we would like to implement legal reforms to make sure every immigrant is legal. host: how many illegal immigrants can come in on a yearly basis currently? guest: a statutory basis would is too high. there are administrative techniques in the last two years and we also saw studies the other day, the last two years, we're talking 125 million, legal and illegal, and the legal level is over 1 million and growing. it is growing because the obama administration has changed policy to change work visa categories and students are staying indefinitely based on work visas and that using other techniques to bring in people whether it is refugees, but basically to find ways to increase the number and it is exploding. host: what is the negative impact in your view of higher immigration? guest: we see it every day. sick level,most a we have a national infrastructure. highway systems going back to the 1950's. anybody commuting in high impact studies can see traffic congestion has now dramatically increased to the capacity of our infrastructure. 's immigration is not properly managed, it makes every challenge the nation faces more difficult. public schools are overwhelmed by foreign students, mostly illegally, and resources have to be divided among people of no right to be in the country. health, many people coming, some legally but mostly illegally, we wind up having great health care cost and we are allowing triplers to bring in labor and there is a subsidy where we, the taxpayers, are paying for employees who want to use immigration to moderate wages. wage growth is supposed to be one of the great recoveries but how does that happen if you are flooding the market with surplus labor? most of the net new jobs created in the obama administration have gone to foreign administrative e gone. at a time when american citizens have been losing jobs through manufacturing decline, or because of changes in our h-1b american native born label or force -- nativeborn labor force decreased. essentially, if you look at every major u.s. policy objective, uncontrolled and unsustainable mass immigration we are trying to maintain is making things more difficult and no one wants to talk about it. [video clip] mess, thatth immigrants are taking our jobs. let's look at the numbers. the number of people trying to cross our border illegally is near its lowest level in 40 years. its lowest level in 40 years. it is lower than i was before i came into office, lower than ronald reagan's time. they also start about 32% of businesses in america. everybody thinks immigrants come here and they are getting all of this stuff from the government. immigrants pay more in taxes than they receive and services. most importantly, immigrants are not the main reason wages have gone up for middle-class families. board rooms ofin companies where the top ceos are getting paid more than 300 times the income of the average worker. deporting 11 million immigrants, not only is that a fantasy, it would cost billions of dollars and would be impossible. guest: i would love to have a .eer with the president during his administration, most of the net new jobs went to foreign workers. if you see wage stagnation, policies that allow american companies to fire workers, wage see people if you impacted by immigration are the most of all ball, he's as don't blame me, blame the ceos. he is trying to shift the blame. of supply and demand. if you increase the supply of --or from whatever service from whatever source, you increase the ability to bargain wages. you can see it in the wage data and the labor force participation data. i have been here since the 1950's. they wonder why donald trump has been so successful in this campaign. the democratic party has made immigration a component of their political operation. if you want to control the border in mexico, hillary clinton says we are going to go to war with mexico if we put structures down there. if you take a look at hillary sheton's positions today, , ignoringng this idea the law, bringing in people without regards to what the law says. people coming in from cuba, as refugees, from the middle east and elsewhere, they get cadillac treatment. when donald trump says we are receiving -- we are treating certain classes of immigrants better than veterans, he is right. congress, when they had an opportunity to treat veterans better, do you know what the obama administration did? he used that money to pay for translators for refugees from african -- from afghanistan. everyone can see how the administration has dismantled immigration enforcement policy for the last eight years to the point we have a totally dysfunctional government. daniel stein is our guest. we set aside the fourth line for recent immigrants. .202) 748-8003 that is the number for you to call. as i speak, i am watching hispanic minorities cornering a young woman from last night at a donald trump rally, waving the mexican flag. intimidation, fear, that is making this liberal democrat, who has never voted republican in his life, i have no problem voting for donald trump. host: because of the immigration issue? caller: exactly. no, it is about american pride. where is the american flag? what about learning english? doesn't that mean anything anymore? that's what i am talking about. an overtis is interference with the american rights to listen to candidates without burden or fear of .iolence the respect for law is the cornerstone of citizenship. abandon the basic s.inciple exemption for violating laws of the rest of us have to adhere to. why should anyone be surprised into theda has spilled streets. one thing that ties us together is a highly the first society as a respect for law and a common language. if you start tearing asunder the threads that tie us together, you so the seeds for what happens. this election, there has never been so stark a contrast. a democratic not organization, the party has something unrecognizable, saying immigration on demand. people can come without limit, they can stay unless they commit a serious violent crime. donald trump has told the wall street crowd -- screw you. this is a decisive moment. if you look at the democratic , a one dictator in california, that is the future for the rest of the country. the election is about a fight. machine style politics and immigration go together. they are very easy to exploit. it cannot continue. the southern poverty law center has labeled fair as an extremist organization. and -- fair can label anything you want. they have their opinions, but they oppose fair's policy positions, opposes us in court. host: fred, huntsville, alabama. this man is a breath of fresh air. cannot take on everybody around the world. we needed people. if you put a glass under a faucet, it can only old -- it can only hold so much water. then it will overflow. take that inscription off the statue of liberty. here is a new one. don't call us, we will call you. the president is wrong when he says crossings are at an all-time low. we know there is a surge coming from central america. itknow these things because has weakened immigration to the point there are no removals. people will come if nobody goes home. john kennedy's administration, we have not seen levels this low. how you expect to drink just to , if people get the message that if they get here they never have to leave. of our courtm system. we need to make it possible for state and local police to work with agencies, to identify people, get them out of the country. when congress or states have passed laws on immigrations, those who come illegally respond. there is a great responsiveness to this. there is a way to manage the flow. we don't have to allow immigration to become a political football for its own political power. and whoout what we are we are as a people. who comeal immigrants legally, whose talent may expand our potential. what we have now are haystacks. employers like exploiting immigrants illegally because they are subordinated labor status. they like slavery. on the left, because the political power base of the party, you have organizations that see the power of the democratic party, but they are defending a greed agenda, it is destroying the middle class. the two are working together to undermine the american people. ne, california. i hope god gives me the grace to talk as good as other callers, they sound so confident , they know what they are talking about. i think i do, but i don't know how to put it in words. ignorant, not knowing that i counted for a lot. since i have been washing "washington journal for all of -- i have so much to say. i don't know how to begin. our time is limited. make one statement. is, my the one statement family has been so affected by street drugs and doctors overprescribing. that is what i have been affected by. at the same time, i was so impressed with donald trump. i feel he is a good man trying to do good. i changed my party to try to vote in the primaries here. is so informative about everything. "washington journal gives so and makesmation people more knowledgeable. you for calling. we appreciate it. we appreciate you watching. we look forward to hearing from you again. is the wall season? epidemic is aoid result of people smuggling pills over the border. there are fences now that were built, started in the clinton administration. the idea of their ears, walls, , they are essential, absolutely important. the management of that border with modern technology can be done, along with a balance enforcement strategy, interior force event -- interior enforcement operations. donald trump has people advising .im the wall is a surrogate for the get that we are going to the border under control. there are a lot of people hurting in this country. they are using their remittances to pay for the wall. what a stroke of genius. imagine a more statement. he is a public relations master. you have to admit. host: connie, new jersey. good morning. caller: good morning. you are talking about ignorance, people, to vote. onish this person you have new something about history in the history of the united states of america. it used to be my -- it used to belong to my ancestors. all the jobs go out of the country. every manufacturer goes to china , the philippines. that is the problem we have. not the southern border. guest: i don't think we are giving taxes and california back to spain -- texas and spain back -- i don't think we are giving texas and california back to spain anytime soon. did put your finger on an important point. the outsourcing phenomenon conceived in the 1980's was supposed to be replaced with information jobs. all of those went off site. globalization has proved to be bankrupt for the labor market. the double whammy, outsourcing all of these jobs, and sourcing , neverthis foreign labor before seen in american history. ofs is not the level immigration we had. far in excess. to have this incoming foreign labor at a time when we are outsourcing all of these jobs. everybody agrees nafta has not saidered promises it has it would. you can see why it is a mix of policies. it is about time somebody spoke up for the average american getting screwed in this process. a tweet -- who is hiring the immigrants? there are different categories of immigrants. people who come legally are usually people of merit and ability. they will be hired by high-tech companies and others. people who hire other immigrants are going to have less skill and work for retail, food processing, food manufacturing. the employer is not paying taxes, pays under the table, shifts the burdens. a lot of employers ought to be in jail. immigration idea of amnesty -- the president is blaming these employers but he does not have a solution. he says we cannot enforce the law, so we will destroy our ability to enforce it. he needs thesaid money to enforce the law. now, nobody is going home. employers say they have to -- they do not have to worry about it. of exploitation is making it difficult for the average american to see. ofng people under the age 30, what is their path? independent line. go ahead. caller: we need more people like you. liberal sundayhe talk shows and get your message out. i am calling because i have two things to say. party andican democrat in the house or for the chamber of commerce, not the people. read this story going around -- obama made a deal with ups to fly in refugees in the dead of night and they are supposed to keep this a big secret. did you hear anything like that? host: where did you get that information? caller: it is on the internet. there are articles about it. host: have you heard about this? not ups per se, but the administration has been flying in refugees by their own determination. bring in people from central america, the middle east. they do it in the dead of night so there is no public debate. they bring it into communities. president'shing the soundbite can see he is not being up front with what is going on. there has been a news blackout. our government bringing in people with no right to be in the country, doing it in the miners who show up at the border, the inability or willingness to detain families from central america. they deliver them to family members illegally in the country. this is a collapse of the rule of law. in june, the supreme court will decide whether the obama administration can ignore the limit set by congress and bring in people without regards to the law or limits. we are in danger. it means a road executives can bring in millions of people, give them our benefits. it does not matter what congress says or what the american people think. the supreme court is going to rein in the president. no one can show direct injury. that will is what they were relying on. the reason he did this act is no one canwas told stop him because they cannot get into court. hopefully the supreme court will decide to hold the injunction. there has been a total lack of candor about what the actual policies have been. this is adon't think bipartisan issue. my view is like this. when i was in the navy, we went thing that might mess up the aircraft carrier. we would know how to fix it and make it work better. it is my belief that the american people are being -- people.e with enough stress, the government and everyone looking will see how much stress we can take. it is a stress test on the citizens of the country. guest: you are raising an excellent point. we believe there has been a social gap. happening is now huge. that and how the pundits misunderstood donald trump's viability as a nominee early on. they do not have their finger on the pulse. people are getting hammered. i love the idea of immigration. i know many immigrants are friends. it is a wonderful idea, but you can get too much of a good thing. history has not been kind to those countries that have crossed their borders. the point is, a nationstate to be viable has to control its borders. our political class benefits from reduced wages. they don't care about the taxes. the average american is getting killed by these policies. hillary clinton needs to address this. bill clinton said we are a nation of immigrants, but we are a nation of law. hillary clinton will need to move to the center of the immigration issue or she will be hammered by donald trump through november. host: laura is calling in from our republican line. i agree with you. one of the things with the illegals that has me concerned country they are coming from has a health care system. we are seeing diseases we have not seen for a long time. remember the measles that hit in the disneyland area. if they come in illegally, there are no screenings. in the low-paying positions, which is against the law. they are putting in a food service line. thatcould have something will be infecting thousands and thousands of people. this goes to the commander-in-chief. his responsibility to protect the american people. in this age, it is clear we can ill afford to have people running across the border. , you have toates have perimeter control. going to run into the country, trying to get on the system by virtue of the actuary getting on the system. these super bugs around the country are deadly and we are barely keeping up with them. the cdc has a responsibility in a responsibility in any to recognize you can't control contagious diseases if you can't control your borders. you are spot on. most americans have gotten to the point where they recognize what is going on. it is a question of how to get the political system to respond to the people. host: that's questioned comes from george -- last question comes from george. you have to have a better immigration policy. one, the gentleman should explain that the issue with cuba was planned from the eisenhower administration. ban that worked pretty well. the iris it came into the irish it is true, -- the that came into the 1980's, it is true. myself, we were born here, but at the same time, we were anchor babies. we have to have reasonable and we have to practice our laws. of how wenbalance treat immigration depending on where we come from. lastly, presidents from eisenhower on have dealt with this issue. . find it interesting president bush and president reagan had issues, too. has hadvery president issues. presidents throughout history have. i don't know how much time i have. we have had a schizophrenic policy with cuba. we say if you get here from cuba, you can stay. we relied on fidel castro cannot let everybody out. he's would've been overthrown decades ago. -- to allow him to offload we have an open border with cuba. sought tok obama normalize relations with cuba, you did not taking needed to repeal the act to put cuba back on the footing with the rest of the world. we have a policy this is if you get here from cuba, you get to get the benefit defense day. almost an immediate green card adjustment. that is like putting the cart before the horse. now, people are pouring in from cuba trying to get into the country before the policy changes. this has created another border crisis. the administration is helping to bring about. host: stephen green tweets how much money would require to remove 11 million people? if you take a look at arizona, there is an and the less response -- there is an and enormous response. people who come illegally no they don't believe they will be -- people who come illegally come here because they know they will not be deported. not everybody should have to go. the problem is our political system has not offered a compromise that says we will deal with cutting the future flow and make sure we don't have future illegal immigration. we were burned in 1986. ronald reagan says this was the last amnesty. i have been doing this a long time. full day once, shame on me. we will not be full twice. the guest is only half right. congress failure to do is job is just as bad. chuck schumer betray the american people by drafting a bill with a group of senators that did not take into account the average american's bu. any -- american's view. closest to the people if you are going to get to get you political consensus. the president never anticipated that it would pass beginning with his first amnesty. obama destroyed the basis for legislative compromise and consensus. since then, key has been using it as a political football. the democrats and their allies have been using immigration to polarize the latino vote against the republican party for their own short-term political gains. host: epstein's president of the president of immigration reform. in just a minute, coming up is one of the lead attorneys for the 9/11 families. his name is andrew maloney. after that, the acting chief of the u.s. customs and border protection will be here to take your calls. want to show you what the bureau of labor statistics just came out with a few minutes ago. these are may's unemployment numbers. 4.7% is the official unemployment rate in the united states. 30,000 jobs added in may. -- 38,000 jobs added in may. we will be right back. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] has 48 hours of nonfiction books and authors every weekend. here are programs to watch for. on saturday night, at 10:00 eastern on afterwards, mitch mcconnell discusses his life and politics and his book "the long game: a memoir." key is interviewed by lamar alexander. -- he was interviewed by lamar alexander. >> i could be the minority leader next year and the majority leader position does present a real opportunity, even in a body like the senate, which is buried difficult to make function. there are advantages to set a new agenda and what we call a right of first recognition, to move the direction -- to move the country in the direction it would need to go. forbes magazine will join us to talk about his life and career in latest book "revive in america," and witchy argues for repealing obamacare, replacing the tax code, and reforming the fed. other titles include money, how capitalism will save us, power, ambition, and glory. join in on the conversation. we will take your e-mails, tw and tweets. sunday night, cbs 60 minutes correspondent lesley stahl discusses the science behind grandparenting, the joys and sciences of the new grandparenting. colleagues,wed friends, doctors, and scientists about the changes that occur in women as they transition to the role of grandparent. go to book tv.org for the complete weekend schedule. "washington journal" continues. host: joining gas from our new york city studio is andrew maloney who is a lawyer, a partner, and a 9/11 families attorney. what does that mean? guest: i am liaison counsel to the 9/11 families involved in litigation in new york against the 9/11 terrorist in the sponsors of those terrorists. not just bin laden and al qaeda, but some offering -- some sovereign entities that supported the 9/11 attacks. host: who are some of the families you are working with and how many? guest: we represent over 1000 of the victims, death and injury cases. we are cocounsel with other firms that also represent some of the families. there is also a parallel peace litigation that represents the insurance claims for money that was paid out to some of the families as compensation at some of the property/business losses. those cases have been consolidated in one courtroom in new york, which is known as the 9/11 terror case. host: we're coming up on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. how much longer will this be litigated in the courtrooms? guest: it is going to be litigated until we get justice for our families. a long, it has been road. we have had some twists and turns. we had been able to obtain hasence that we believe been barely helpful in substantiating a lot of our claims we made it 14 years ago. some of the connections to saudi arabia, a lot of information has come of late and a lot more has been sequestered by our own government we are trying to get access to. a lot of people have heard about the 28 ages of the report. that is the tip of the iceberg. we have gotten information that has worked around those edges and continue to corroborate some of our claims. host: what is the process for suing or litigating against another country? there is a law on the books since 1976 call the foreign sovereign immunities act. it allows -- the notes certain exceptions when you can sue a sovereign. there is an exception. but alas fortysomething years -- for the last fortysomething years, you could only sue a tort. negligible act. the u.s. postal service and hit someone in the cross rock -- crosswalk can sue the post office. into the early 2000, that same exception has been used to sue nations that have sponsored terrorism, not just libya and , china.t chile we started our lawsuit believing that was the appropriate exception to the sovereign immunities act, to be able to sue saudi arabia and other nations. unfortunately, in the last several years, this 9/11 litigation has had skits of running rulings in the court when you consume a foreign nation for terrorism. ironically, they don't have a problem suing a foreign nation for negligence, but when it comes to an act of terrorism, murder, that has been an issue with the courts. there is another statute, the anti-terrorism act that says it is illegal to support terrorist who commit terrorist acts against civilians and americans of united states. these laws already exists. that is how we started our lawsuit. we have had some rulings both in the district court level and the circuit level that i put some of that into a cloud. can't you that support a terrorist act and no sovereignty can get immunity supporting terrorist acts in united states that kill or and or americans. host: the president was on charlie rose and spoke about this act and his opposition to it. here is what he had to say. [video clip] this is a matter of how the united states approaches our interactions with other countries. if we open up the possibility individuals in united states can routinely start suing other governments then we are also opening the united states to being continually sued individuals in other countries. precedent be a bad because we are the largest superpower in the world. we are everywhere. we are in peoples' business all the time. if we are in a situation where we are being hauled into various thats because of the claim some individual has been harmed, then that will tie us up and it could harm u.s. servicemen, diplomats, a whole bunch of stuff. as a matter of policy, this is .ot something we have ever done this is not unique to this administration. think it is important for us to maintain that principle. host: mr. maloney. onst: well, he's misinformed the legal issue and the factual issue. we have done just that. and we had other cases have cited it to the justice department. i am not sure who is informing president obama, but there has been tons of litigation with respect to suing a foreign sovereign both in the negligence arena and also on terrorist support -- or acts of terrorism. the world has not changed. united states has been sued in the past for some of its negligent acts. it is not opened pandora's box. there is nothing routine about terrorism and nothing routine about the 9/11 case. i think it is a false argument justy that passing jasta clarifies existing law and history. it is a false premise to say that it will open pandora's box and other countries will start soon united states. --t is not the reality that reality of what has occurred in the last 40 years. jordan a narrowly statistic and americans killed by terrorists by foreign entity. i don't know how anyone could be in favor of giving that foreign immunity for terrorist act. our conversation with andrew maloney who is a 9/11 families attorney. the area code for all of our numbers. 10's begin with a call from in north carolina. go ahead, 10. caller: thank you. don't try to cut me off. i will be brief. i want to ask your guest a question. think this was saudi arabia, with this be different? saudi arabia has got so many ties to the rich people here in america. our also influence a lot of politics in washington through money. that is a very, very thing. that is a grego, very dangerous thing. 9/11, people were flown out of the country. no one was allowed to fly at all. then they had an investigation. this is why americans don't trust the governor. after 9/11, that none of this,. , i think we got your two points. let's get a response from us to maloney. guest: you raise and a excellent point. the reason why this pending legislation is so controversial at the white house level is because we are talking about saudi arabia. there was no resistance when we sued libya for the bombing. iran has been said multiple times. other nations have been sued for similar acts. it is because we are talking about saudi arabia and 9/11 that has raised antennas. a reported ally. they are and what important player in the middle east. you have touched on something we have been dealing with for the last 15 years -- that is their influence. have a lot of money. they have a lot of oil. they have a lot of political influence. they spend millions of dollars every year with law firms and lobbyist and washington d.c. the are buried politically connected. i am not saying everyone in the saudi government is a bad person, or was out of this conspiracy to support al qaeda and attacked america -- and attack america, but there are elements there. the only way we can have a true, good relationship with a to go back tois the festering wound and clean it out. we are not going away. but you touch on some bury important points about the saudi arabia-influence at the highest level of our governments. how canephen tweet 10, you blame a government for the actions of individuals decisions? citizensll, if those are also government officials and they had a policy, or a portion of the government that and theorted al qaeda are a jihad against america and the west, you can hold that nation responsible and we have held every other nation responsible. kinges not have to be the of the nation to condone it. it could be the lower-level government officials. we are not talking about one person here. we are talking about a foot people or a long-standing policy to support the modern and al when they were attacking americans overseas. essentially, the law provides that if a government officials acting in the scope of his supports terrorism, you can hold the employer, in this case the government, libel for that action. is in florida. go ahead, brian. caller: thanks. i think that people need to get behind mr. maloney. there is a bigger kanab wants to be opened up. -- there is a bigger can of worms to be opened up. there is a lot of supportive people want to get to the bottom of what really happened. brian, are you a 9/11 trooper? caller: i guess i am. maloneyt's give mr. his opinion. if you has 1 -- guest: we need to get to the bottom of it. the reason we are here today talking about it is because of our litigation going on for 14 years. also, we represent thousands of murdered americans murdered right here in united states. as much as some people want to move on because it seems like it was a long time ago, i don't think we can move on until we fix the problem. there are still problems today funding --udi's worldwide funding a bury conservative form of islam that has turned violent. the problem has not been fixed. it's a current problem. you see what is going on with isis. but we need to open that can of worms and need to go back and hold a particular people accountable. imagine if it were your spouse, your son or daughter that was murdered. you would want justice. you would want to know what happened. you would want accountability. that is what our lawsuit is about. that is what the pending legislation is about. i am hoping the house does what they need to do, but does it quickly and pass this bill. host: rick tweeps and, pandora's ox or not, if those families consume foreign governments, why can't long suffering descendents sue the u.s.? guest: that is a bury different issue that is a lot more complex. are you talking about derivative actions over 150 years old? you --d be one thing if to talk about a derivative action 150 years later is a completely different kind of issue. we are talking about terrorism here. not about the fundamental concepts of right or wrong. obviously, slavery was wrong. but it is apples and oranges. i would need a lot more time to delve into that. that is not the issue we are talking about at the moment. host: paul is in florida. go ahead, paul. it caller: good morning. the question i have for the -- you say key says you represent families involved in the 9/11 attacks and this, that, and the other. are there attorneys out there that would represent the families of the servicemen who lost their lives toward clinton and her administration? guest: well. you are referring to, but there are other lawsuits. for example, there are lawyers representing marines killed in the marine corps barracks in lebanon in a suit iran. they are close to resolving that litigation right now to get money from frozen assets from iran. this is not the only terror lawsuit. this may be the largest and has a most victims, but there are other lawsuits. my firm was involved, the lead counsel in the case against bombing, the panama that flight over scotland. this is not the first case. it is not an unprecedented case. it is just the largest. that is there a president applies to today? guest: absolutely. it is very, very similar. libya was at the time, listed by the state department as a sponsor of terrorism. saudi arabia is not on that list. ironically, we recently asked, how come we can be sued for beirut and the saudi's can't be sued? make a lot of sense. that is the only distinction. that distinction is one without much of a difference. that is something the state department decides on its own, it is going to list on the state sponsor of terrorist nations and that usually result in sanctions by the u.s. and the u.n. saudi arabia is not on that list. we don't have any trade sanctions against the saudi's. but that is actually, i think a side issue. under the existing law, we believe there is a legal basis to sue them. that has been thrown into question, and that is why we have sought congress to fix any ambiguities in the law and in the court's recent interpretation of it so we have a crystal-clear path to telling the saudi's, you don't get immunity for this. you have to come into a courtroom and answers the legislation. it just allows us to bring them into a courtroom to finish investigation, and maybe have a trial against them. host: when andrew maloney says jasta, heat is referring to the -- go ahead brian. caller: i'm in support of the lawsuit of terrorism and the families that lost a loved one's. we goingering, are after the families and loved ones of the pentagon? -- or are they must military collateral damage? guest: we represent everybody who is joined a lawsuit. there is a pending class part of it. even families who haven't hired lawyers to join, we have sought to protect their rights, including the victims of the pentagon. are not matter if they government officials, military, they are victims and they were murdered. the represent some of those people as well. i am glad to hear callers from both republicans and demo at an independent -- republicans and independents. this is a bipartisan issue. the justice against sponsors of terrorism act which passed family -- which passed unanimously in the senate which is hard to do. theas passed unanimously in senate and pending in the house. we are hoping they look at it similarly as a bipartisan issue. so you take the politics out of it. we hope the house conduct it hearings next week and we quickly call upon speaker line to get a vote on it. comes from enid. [indiscernible] host: thank you for your comments. let's hear from george in new jersey. independent line. go ahead, george. caller: hi. i support this act. i lost my cousin in the towers. is this about money? what would this do about the israeli state bombing people over there is a marked cash bombing people over there? everything is about civilians. mr. moloney, to the ramifications of such a bill internationally. first, let me give you sympathies for the loss of your cousin. this legislation is an american legislation designed to give we just two americans and american courtrooms. i cannot tell you what would happen to israelis killed by hamas. the rocket that is in israel and 70 there are terrorist acts being committed daily all over the world. this legislature in our lawsuit are not directly design to address those issues. i am not sure how those countries will handle those issues. but if they pass similar law, i would think it could have some civil redress against terror groups and their sponsors. it is designed to get at the sponsors. the people in the operational -- this lawsuit is not going to stop them. to do, not simply about getting money and compensation. it is designed to do to stop or deter the people and government that are providing money and logistical support to those terrorists and those terrorists causes. everynt to make it difficult for them to conduct business as usual. terrorists need money. they take airplane lessons, they need to travel, they need money. where they are getting that money, we want to cut out the source from that money. it is coming from wealthy people and the middle east. our lawsuit is designed, exposed stop doing it to and to cut out the source of funding. and yes, to get compensation for the family members who lost loved ones. host: who is opposing you on this lawsuit? guest: right now, the only one who was publicly come out opposing it is president obama and secretary kerry. they say on the one hand they support the 9/11 families, but they are not in favor of the legislation. there had been tim esmay by the white house that they would -- there have been statements made by the white house that they would consider the telling it. ng they would consider vetoi it. the president will realize that it is a good bill and will not have the scary ramifications and his administration think it might. we could be looking at an and an important backlash by americans and other folks around the world who are anti-terrorism. when heat talks about threats -- when he talks about threats, the biggest threat we are facing in my opinion is islamic terrorism, not the threat of civil lawsuits with united states is being sued from some foreign country. it is a false argument. i hope he reconsiders his argument. it is onlye know, the white house and state department that does not like this bill because they don't want any purported interference with her diplomatic deletions. host: when can we foresee some more courtroom action on this lawsuit? guest: well, there is courtroom action every day in this case. there are multiple defendants, not just the saudi's. there has been ongoing litigation and things taking place in court for many years. a motion tohave dismiss the lawsuit for the second or third time up on appeal right now. jasta's appeal may be moot at that point. we want this law on the books and signed before this next anniversary on september 11. that is the 15th anniversary in a pretty big milestone in the last time president obama will be president during an anniversary. we hope and pray that he -- first the house passes it and the president signs it be for the next anniversary. there has been a lot going on in his case aside from the pending legislation on almost a daily basis. host: other courtroom proceedings open to the public? guest: they are. every hearing we have is open to the public. most all of the documents are filed -- most all of the documents filed in the case are a matter of public record. some are filed under seal. but the vast majority of the documents and breeds filed are open to the public. host: who is the judge? guest: george daniels is a district judge, a federal judge in manhattan. host: bernie is in ohio. go ahead with your question or comment for andrew maloney. caller: yes. is if your lawsuit ,you sue 'em and and saudi arabia says, no, we're not going to pay them. how would you get the families the money to have sue them for ? two,r two soak, -- number how come george bush is not being sued? she was president of united states and was supposed to protect the american people, and heeded not. thank you. host: mr. maloney? inst: a couple of questions there. i will address the first one. what happens if we go forward and prove our case against saudi arabia. multiple steps along the way can occur as in any litigation. if we are able to convince the courts, or get jasta past, we have a lot of discovery to conduct and a lot of requests from our own government to release documents -- the 28 pages that the government has. once all the evidence is in, it will be a compelling case against the saudi's. at that point, the saudi's can, if they wish, discuss may be resolving the litigation. kind of case and up in settlements. that could happen here. that is a possibility. the jasta legislation has a clause that allows the president and the executive branch to issue a stay in the litigation for six months if they are engaged in a state to state negotiation to carve out some kind of compromise. i assume that would include the participation of the families and lawyers, like we did in the case against libya. but there was a provision that allows the president to have a stay issued in the litigation for six months to engage in such negotiations and compromises. if it is not done in six months, he's he -- if it is not done in six months he can do it again. that is a possibility. that is what happened against -- that is what happened in the case in libya and the panama bombing. it will be up to a jury to decide. if a jury decides they were all, they will fix the damage that gets -- damages against the saudi's and others who participated. let's assume a huge multibillion dollar judgment against the saudi's, then they have got real problems because we can seek to enforce the judgment against any assets of the saudi's that is here or in cooperating countries around the world like in europe to seize some of their money. that is the reason the saudi's issued a recent, empty threat that they were going to pull $750 billion out of the u.s. economy because they claimed we do not want those assets frozen. they are getting ahead of themselves the as that is potentially years down the road. but that shows consciousness of guilt on their part and frankly, extortion. i that will hurt them more than it hurts us. but once you have a judgment against any defendant, you can then seek to enforce the judgment against their assets. anywhere they are. maybe it is harder to get them in the middle east, but there are also companies, american and european oil companies that do business with the saudi's are they have to think twice if there is a huge judgment against the saudi's where they can be dragged into resolving that judgment. there are a lot of ways to get the money when it comes to a foreign power like saudi arabia. if i were the saudi's, i would resolution amicable in getting this resolved. you asked a question about president bush. that is a horse of a different color. it is completely separate and different. years not a defendant -- he is not at and and. what the president knew at the time, i cannot day. i don't have any information that would eat me to believe about saudiw support. -- i don't have any information that would lead me to believe that he new about saudi support. evidence theyt of have had for 14 years the american people should see and specifically the murdered -- the families of the murdered victim should say. host: melvin and south carolina on our independent line. andrew maloney is our guest. caller: how are you doing mr. maloney? i have a question and a statement. is, where are the parts of the plane at? host: make your statement, melvin. caller: the statement is, i thoseally believe buildings were blown up. what happened to all of the money in those buildings? no one has said anything about that. host: thank you, sir. andrew maloney, a we spent a lot of time talking with people who believe this was an inside job, etc. calllked to the 9/11 for a in. do you have opinions for smart -- you have opinions? are they part of your lawsuit? sayinglet me start by people since the kennedy assassination has casted conspiracy aeries. i do not think that is fair to do, certainly not here. was clearly a conspiracy to attack united states. qaeda.spiracy beyond al there is clearly a conspiracy here to attack americans in the united states. makeldn't simply conspiracy theories a footnote here. however, there are folks who believe somehow the united states, our own government, had something to do with the attacks were building -- four breaking down those buildings. i don't see any evidence or give credence to that. this was an attack that was filmed live on television. we clearly see the airliners hitting the world trade center and the pentagon. we don't have any similar, live evidence on this. there were four planes hijacked. that was a fact. most of the stuff was on television and don't live in terms of what occurred. the fire and explosion that resulted from the plane crashes at the world trade enter were burning for over an hour. the heat actually started to expand the steel and the floors. ande has been a huge thorough investigation of how the buildings collapsed. the lack of fireproofing and some of the steel. what you had was the walls cascading down. there is no asked illusion of the lower floors of tower one and tower two. there were thousands of people that witnessed that live down at the world trade center and of course the millions watching on television. this particular event may be the most documented visually through video, audio, and witnesses than any other than i'm aware of. to have people sort of go off on tangents all conspiracy theories about the buildings down, i think is a bit of a stretch. host: all right. final call, denise, new york city, democrats line. caller: good morning, sir. i believe you stated the u.s. has been sued in the past for tears ask -- four terrorist acts. can you cite a few of those attacks? guest: i have not said they had been sued for other terrorist attacks. they had been sued for ask of negligence both in the united states and abroad. if they evidently were to kill or it or somebody, the united states has been sued and has resolved those cases and paid compensation. there has been a couple of incidences -- i don't know if i would call it a lawsuit, but aims made by families made by the iranian jetliner shot down accidentally many years ago. they paid compensation. there have been government officials, cia, -- cia employees that have accidentally injured or killed people in foreign nations where are government has compensated the innocent but is. i don't know if we have been sued and resolve cases in which we had been accused of a terrorist attack. united states has made mistakes may notast, and they have made good on all of them, but in some instances, they have tried to own up to those mistakes with the compensation and apologized. let's go back to where we started this whole conversation. the crux of what is going on. this is a tweet -- should we sued saudi arabia excessively? what would prevent another country from serving as for perceived wrongs? guest: there is nothing that prevents us from doing that now. they can pass whatever laws they want to pass. yesterday, tomorrow, or today. we cannot stop them from doing what they want to do. but we are the united states. we should not be afraid the king about what other countries or people might be doing in terms of bringing a lawsuit to united states. whether they have merit or not, we cannot live in that kind of. we need to live by the code that we are a nation of laws. accountable.e we cannot stop other nations from doing what they are going to do. if we could, we would have a peaceful planet right now. but what we can do is send a message to the world that we are a nation of laws that have to be honored and respected. if americans we are going to protect. if you commented united states and harm our civilians, you'll ,e held accountable, militarily and diplomatically and a civil arena. we need to send a message that terrorism is wrong and anybody who sponsors or supports terrorists will be held accountable the matter what. we can't worry about what might happen in a courtroom, or somewhere around the world. many courtrooms around the world do not operate like we have in united states. host: enter maloney is an attorney with a september 11 families. that is what best that is who we -- that is who we had been talking to. coming up, the acting chief of the u.s. customs and border protection organization. ♪ >> american history tv on c-span three, saturday night at 10 of hockey eastern on real america. cuba.,000 cubans fleeing coming to key west florida in nearly 2000 votes. why do they come? why are they so many? >> during the spring through fall of 1980, approximately 125,000 cuban refugees arrived in florida. hear interviews from the new arrivals to america and find out i they left. 70 morning at 10:00 on "road to the white house rewind," the 1992 democratic conventions. >> in the name of the hard-working americans who make up our forgotten middle class, i probably except her nomination for resident of united states. [applause] >> and incumbent george h.w. bush except his party's nomination in houston. receive andproud to i am honored to accept your nomination for president of united states. [applause] >> at 4:40 five, architectural historian on the creation and evolution of new york city's greenwich village. >> when it opened on 6th avenue, it gave us what we understood. if it was washington square, was sixth was the west side. west of sixrom avenue might cross the line to work as a servant in washington square, but believe me, the people in washington square never went on the other side of avenue. >> at 8:00 p.m. -- >> every time i look at washington, it is unanimous. unanimous president of the constitution. president oflected the united states. unanimously appointed as the lieutenant general. >> george washington scholar peter explores head even though washington was officially retired, she continued to meet with political figures and was often called on to craft policy. for the complete american history tv weekend schedule, go to www.c-span.org. washington journal continues. host: ronald vitiello is the acting chief of the u.s. customs and border's protection service. what do you do? guest: i am with united states border patrol. we are responsible for patrolling the border through ports of entry. host: how many agents do you have on the southern border and the northern border? 17,900 on the southern border. just under 2000 on another border -- 2000 on the northern border. we have a handful of folks in puerto rico, new orleans, and florida. host: why so many on the south was ? why are you acting chief and not chief? december, they named me acting. host: are you being considered? guest: yes. host: how long have you been with border patrol? to find these agencies for us and how they work together because you are border patrol but you are u.s. customs and then there is ice -- help us. guest: there are 22 components. ice the similar work we do. p is the largest single entity within the department. within cdp, we have a marine office. customs and border protection officers for people who work and do customs and entry immigration and lan ports. then we have border patrol, who does all of the enforcement. host: you joined border patrol when market guest: 1985. host: do you speak spanish? guest: i do. host: do you have to be bilingual? guest: we teach that. we are hiring at cdp. cdp.gov. host: the numbers on the screen. we want to get you involved in his conversation. we have divided the numbers differently for this last segment. first number up there is for border states only --202-748-8000. if you live on a border state, being southern northern, we want to get your view on one for the patrol doesn't some of the issues you face. all others can call and at 202-748-8001. when you were in laredo. washington journal was in laredo during my programming from the border in laredo. when you were down there as the chief for the big gun down in laredo, were the issues the same as they are today was marked guest: i started my career in laredo in 1985. essentially the work is the same. making -- the work is essentially the same. a lot more commerce, a lot more people. better, moreorse, efficient? resourcedre better than we were in 1984. we are better resourced. the threat is much different. host: in what way? guest: these cartels, smuggling organizations, and the primary threat, or the threat of terrorism, the threats have changed as it relates to the work we do and how will we do it. there is an expectation. in thes a lot of talk culture about securing the border and what it means to have an effective security measures. an average day, do you catch a drug cartel? a family speaking across? guest: it runs the gamut. it is all of those things. we have protocols in place to deal with follow-up by other authorities for drug prosecution and someone might be a terrorist and our own work. on an average day, forrding to the center customs import a protection agency, one million plus passengers and pedestrians are processed to the u.s.. it 72,000 trucks are processed through the u.s.. pensions are happening. along the texas border, how many people try to come across illegally every day? guest: it depends on where you are at. most active area is the rio grande valley in and around and points west of there. it is in the neighborhood between 900 and 1000 apprehensions a day. probably half of that from texas. the busiest places rio grande valley. host: why? guest: geographically, where it is located, the traffic, the people are coming from south america, so it is the quickest way to get from that part of the world. host: we are looking at the rio grande river right now at the border. we are looking across to ethical. this is a check that "washington journal" took down there. what a fence help? guest: we have fencing and a lot of the borders. 700 miles of fence. host: and how long is that border? guest: 2000 miles. host: ok. you have 700 miles of fence. it is -- is it helpful? guest: it is and gives our agency good time to respond. in certain locations, it gives us an advantage as it relates to patrolling. host: what is the corporation level with the mexican border agents? guest: it is good. it is not always enough as the war it too. always in the place we wanted to. we do what we can to inform them , extend information, joint patrols. we would like to have more of that and more cooperation. there is a willingness on both sides to have a relationship. host: let's begin with a call from greg and croswell, michigan. greg, we got the chief of the u.s. customs and border patrol protection. for customs or border protection, or border patrol? guest: i work for border patrol. host: greg, go ahead. caller: good morning, sir. i respect you vary much. guest: thank you, greg. caller: i think we should close the borders down. comes into this country unless they can prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that they are not terrorists, criminals, dope pushers -- we got too much of this crap going on. it is simple to stop. just stop people from coming in. as donald trump's wall, it should be about america. host: do you think of the same thing up on the canadian border? caller: we get along good with canada. we go everything -- we go over there and don't have to have no past or is or nothing. it works out good. for these other people, these low life, evil terrorist people, you know. host: we got the point. when you see people stopped across the border. are they mostly families are people who want to work? guest: the majority of the people we encounter are coming here for economic reasons. a lot of families and the rio grande valley in south texas are being apprehended -- are being encountered along the border there. people about 70% of the arrested and rio grande valley are from somewhere else other than that sicko. there is quite a bit -- from somewhere else other than mexico. host: do you estimate how many people are in this country illegally? guest: that is not what we do. host: do you have an opinion on policy about how immigrants and immigration policy should be? guest: i have experience and a responsibility to enact policies that the legislature and the president gives us. host: when was the last time you were on patrol? guest: it is been a well. a year and a half ago, i was in laredo and i did a couple of right along while i was down there. -- i'm on a couple of ride alon gs. agents are working around the clock, 70's a week, nights, all kinds of weather. the terrain can be difficult to navigate. the work is demanding. most of us like it. that i came ints with, people out there now, enjoy the work they do it know it is important. largely, they do a great project. in houston,s otis texas. caller: good morning. host: we are listening. caller: good morning. host: good morning. this,: my question is with a president like barack obama. host: otis, go ahead and make your statement. caller: with border patrol doing , will the president of the united states will not -- has our border patrol not effectively secured our borders. can't we impeach him? why do we have to put up with his mess letting all these people into our country? america voted him into office. with america telling him to do? host: we appreciate the comment. how many people -- i'm thinking about laredo because we were just down there. there is the walking bridge uevo laredo and laredo. easy to walk across. how many walk across on a daily basis, can they waive themselves in at this point? everybody that is in line to go across laredo needs some documentation. host: even if they do it every day and the agents recognize this person. cbp does have fast lanes, trusted traveler kinds of things, but all the people that come to the port of entry are screened by customs and border protection officers, so they can verify their legitimacy to come into the united states. host: bill, mt. airy, maryland. caller: i have the understanding that the border patrol has endorsed donald trump. host: weight, what is the situation? guest: the national board patrol council, the employee union. just trying to find out about specific policies, what it is that he stands for that has brought this to light, as a decision on behalf of of the employee counsel. i have to refer you to them. that is an internal union matter. host: what is the average salary of a border patrol agent? guest: it ranges based on time in, position, somewhere in the 85 thousand dollars to $90,000 range. host: that does not include overtime. guest: these days, it would. host: there is this 100-mile rule. once you get on the highway, in some of the border states, there is another stop you have to make. who runs those? guest: the border patrol, interior checkpoints. host: everybody has to stop on those. have they been helpful? guest: in the sense that it allows us to maintain control -- better control at the border. screening traffic on those routes of egress is an important tool for us for immigration enforcement. how many trucks across the border in the laredo area alone? we could say nationwide -- but how many trucks cross, is there a trusted commerce lane as well? is.t: there cbp does quite a bit of work with shippers, great companies, ightnesses that move fre through the port. laredo is one of the largest in theade borders united states. host: do people try to get across the border every day? guest: yes. host: brian in michigan. we are listening. people try to place blame, after 9/11, i figured we would have close the border. host: i apologize, can you get closer to the phone? i apologize. the we look at mexico and potential of the gross domestic product, they have a ton of potential, a bunch of fine people, but a lot of them are coming to america. so aren't we an enabler in this? we are an enabler because we are promoting, through nafta, a global economy. but with a global economy, the next sentence is open borders with that eventually. on,t that the course we are and where the confusion lies with the american people, as to my we have not sealed the border? host: any response for the caller? guest: i agree there are lots of potential -- with mexico, in mexico, we do a lot of trade. it is a crucial part of the economy's in all the border cities i have lived in. host: recently, brandon darby was on "washington journal" and is with bright park texas and talked about some of the criticisms that the border patrol faces. i want to get your response to that. >> there is a lot of misinformation, from the right about what goes on on the border, a lot of misinformation from the left. the people in these communities are often political leaders and have economic reasons to continue, for instance, to use the uniform crime report, which to us onirector said record are not representative of cross-border crime. they continue to use that outdated system. citiesint to a couple of like el paso and say, look, the border is safe, without technology that el paso has a level of security that none of the other cities in texas have. here. in a major problem the biggest problem is the lack of accurate information. guest: ief vitiello. am familiar with his derby's work. the statistics or the qualification of how safe the border is, the resources, the kind of activity, that is on cbp.gov. people that live in the border ty can tell you how safe it is. our job is to be present along the border, make those seizures and arrest. next call for ron vitiello of the border patrol comes from tim in flat rock, michigan. i just wanted to thank you for your service, c-span. everybody talks about the southern mexican border, and i am closer to the ambassador bridge, where we do a lot of trade with canada. i do not see the same drug problems up here, as much as down there. i would love to hear your comment about that. volume. lot different the same kinds of things that we see on the southern border also have been on the canadian border. we have a much more transparent relationship with canada and the , and then theere volume of drug activity, alien smuggling, transnational crime -- it exists, but not in the volumes that we see in the southern border. host: stella, oakland, california. caller: hello. i am just calling to state that i feel the border should be completely closed until we can vet these people coming in. i am still pretty upset about the border patrol that got killed with the fast and furious . i noticed there are a lot of diseases coming in that we never had before. thanks for taking my call. host: is there legitimacy to what she is saying about diseases coming across the border? in the flow of people we arrest, we see people with convictions in the u.s., wanted in other countries, etc. vielma was another guest the past couple of days. your response to what she had to say, she is an immigration lawyer. >> it is awful what is happening with family detentions. it takes us back to the concentration cans of world war ii. last week, we went to a facility that can house up to 2400 women and children, and it is a shame to see. we are still treating them as we did in world war ii in concentration camps pretty much. people are entitled to due process. the country was built by immigrants. it is a shame that nowadays there is a lack of due process. we are spending over $20 billion a year in enforcement. enforcement we are supporting over 430,000 people. we are spending too much on these detention facilities because we have a quota of 34,000 people a day that have to be detained in order for the budgets to be approved by congress. that needs to be repealed. host: chief vitiello. in 2014, we saw a large increase of family units coming to the border, women and children, children by themselves, unaccompanied minors . one of the responses to that was to reinitiate family detention. residential centers to hold people while their immigration cases were heard. about a couple thousand folks. those centers are managed by our we sawues in i.c.e., and that as an important response to the influx, having a safe place to detain people while their cases are being heard. --t: our family separated are families separated? with: it children are their parents, no. sometimes, a father may be separated from the other family, and when they are housed, there may be different conditions. again, that is what i.c.e. does for us. host: i want to get your response, even though it is i.c.e. who manages these. she referred to them as concentration camps. is that a fair description? guest: that is a mischaracterization. these are well-equipped facilities with dining halls, televisions, schools, barbershops, libraries. host: if somebody gets detained on the border by your agents, walk us through the process, before they eventually may be sent home. can verify an agent somebody in the country illegally, they will be taken to a collection point, a border patrol station and they will be processed. biometric information. they will verify their identity to the extent they can, they would check against records in the u.s. once it is determined that they are here illegally, eligible to make a choice -- if they are from mexico, they can voluntarily return, if they don't have a criminal record, if not a threat to public safety. theyom another country, have the opportunity to have an immigration hearing. in that process, agents will set them up for that hearing. then we will turn them over to i.c.e. i.c.e. will either take them to detention center or adjudicate their status until the hearing. host: if you are a mexican resident and you are caught, how long does the process take before you are turned around and waved off at the border? guest: without criminal record, threat to public safety, could be within the same day. host: if you are from another country and the same thing, no clinical record, economic refugee, whatever. how long before that hearing? guest: we do not do the detention peace. for us, it is a couple of hours worth of processing. then we turn it over to i.c.e. depending on their status, prior record, whether they make a claim for fear, those kinds of things, those are adjudicated by other parts of the department. back,when you send people do sender names to the mexican authorities as well? guest: yes, we have agreements, when mexicans are returned. recidivismis the rate of people crossing the border? guest: about 14%. we have seen a number come down. we talked earlier about consequences. we have made some improvements in the repeat offender numbers going down over the last couple of years. next call for ron vitello, acting chief of the u.s. customs and border patrol. brenda in manchester, washington. i want i love c-span and to tell your guess that i appreciate you, i thank you. i know your job seems to be a very unappreciated and thankless job. i wanted to talk about the northern border. you had a couple of northern calls before, but i hear a lot of talk about how terrorists are always crossing the southern border. i know you have such struggles on the southern border that you don't have on the northern border, but i'm curious about the fact, to my knowledge, the only person that has ever been apprehended with a credible terrorist attack did come through our washington border. i'm curious if you know about that, and if that is true, if there are really these terrorist coming through the southern border. thank you for being on c-span. guest: i think you are talking , ant the case in washington individual involved in a plot to bomb lax. he was encountered by an immigration inspector -- this was pre-9/11, pre-cbp. discovered his intent to come into the u.s. and apprehended him there while he was trying to enter canada. we have a very good relationship with canada. face arets that they the same that we face in the u.s., so we exchange a lot of information, we are aware of their capability, we share where information,iques, to help us control the border. host: top story this morning in ," i'mashington times i' sure you have seen it. six individuals were captured. the journalist writes that they were terrorists. guest: is happened in tucson, i think, of last year. several individuals from pakistan, one from afghanistan. it was later determined that they had a terrorist record in the system in the u.s. host: and where are those folks right now? guest: once the border patrol makes the determination that they are here illegally and does this processing, we turn them over to i.c.e. the person who had a terrorist record is still in custody. not sure of the others. host: what percentage of folks coming across the southern border are mexican, what presented from other countries, what percentage not from this hemisphere? guest: 50% of the people we encounter from this last year are other than mexico. from central america, el salvador, guatemala, honduras. maybe 5% from outside the hemisphere. host: we were hearing a few months back that cubans were coming across the border. is that legitimate? guest: border patrol makes a lot of apprehensions of cubans in the southern florida area. most of the cubans that were taken into custody by cbp are being done at the ports. making their way through mexico or traditional routes, coming through the ports and then surrendering. comes acrossban the border and is captured by border patrol, are they treated differently than a mexican, because of law? guest: yes. law, they are referred for deportation hearing. in effect, they will be granted asylum in the u.s. host: ruben in denison, texas. caller: hello. i lived in the southern part of texas, kingsville. you saw the border patrol every day. i live in dallas now. hospital, sat.a. down on a bench, and there were 30 people out there eating lunch. i spoke to the foreman and asked, what percentage of people are spanish? i was joking around and said what percentage are illegal? he said, i have 60 people working for me, and four of them are legal. this is at the va hospital. are there no inspections, as far as people working for the government? they are working at a government site. why not turn border patrol andts into i.c.e. agents put them to work in dallas and all these other places where they really are? guest: i did that work in dallas for a couple of years. the border patrol has not focused our resources at the border. we think it is more important to work the line and secure the border close to the border. the work that is done on the interior is the responsibility of i.c.e. as well. we help where we can. when i was doing that work many years ago, it just does not have the kind of impact we can have at the line with the technology and the resources we have. host: for the viewers tuning in now, has there been an increase in illegal crossings at the border? guest: this year, we are showing a 24% increase over last year. but over the last several years we have seen a major decline in activity. host: doug in tennessee. caller: thank you for taking my call. a few years ago, my wife and i used to watch a web camera site, i believe it was privately run, a camera network. we were curious if that helped or hindered anything that the border patrol did. guest: i am not familiar with blue servo. we have our own cameras along the border, our remote video surveillance system. monitor the border and other agents when activity is occurring is always a benefit to us. host: of that 2000 miles, how much is under video surveillance? guest: probably less than half. border alonge there that is simply wide-open, no roads, you cannot tell if you are in mexico or the u.s.? area: you think about the like big bend, texas, sparsely populated areas in new mexico, southeastern arizona. the infrastructure is light, there are not a lot of roads, neighborhoods. then you have places like laredo or no galas, where it is very urbanized. and then there are places where there is nothing. do border patrol agent's have a humanitarian mission as well if they capture people? guest: the job requires that people have compassion. they see people in their worst moments of their lives. journeye made a long and finally come into the u.s. only to be encountered by us, arrested, put into a very unfamiliar scenario. agents had to show quite a bit of compassion for those people in the circumstances. mexico isaclu in currently suing border patrol. any comments on that case? they say people were harassed along the border. guest: it is not my experience that agents harass people. there are sometimes conflicts and encounters, things happen, but i would not call that we do harassment. host: is that case currently in litigation? guest: i believe it is. host: ray in santa rosa, texas. where is that? caller: thank you for taking my call. santa rosa is about 20 miles from the mcallen area. to the chief, -- i was born in edinburg. i am 72 years old. foreems it is so easy illegals to come over here and intoow income housing, get welfare, and get into our hospitals and drain our system. is that part of border patrol, i.c.e., that controls that? you, do you to ask the programs? host: the what program? which program? [speaking spanish] in the 1940's and 1950's, the government had a plan to import workers from mexico. i don't know if that was the official name of the program, but that was the program where people came in on permits. host: do you have an opinion on that concept? guest: there are lots of ways for people to enter the u.s. legally. a lot of the people we encounter are coming for economic reasons. tore is not a way for them enter because of that circumstance. host: and his first question. guest: the things that happen in the interior, not part and parcel to what the border patrol does. our focus is controlling and protecting the line. host: does it help, matter to you when a news organization like c-span comes down and spends a few days with you, gets a tour, spend some time? peoplewe always like for to be informed about the work that we do on the border. the work that we do has come to its. we like the opportunity for people to come and learn about it. -- has consequence. host: next phone call. reiteratejust want to -- i think the previous caller called it a strain on our economy. i have seen here in this town there has been a great influx of illegals. they do not have any papers, ids. contractors hire them, they are being brought in to work in hotels. i am sure it is affecting the economy. . am disabled i do not have as much of a dog in the fight. if i was working, i would be talking to some senators somewhere about this situation. i do not see anything being done about the situation here. host: chief otello, any comments for the caller? ourt: as we stated, concentration is being at the border. matters of the interior, you can refer to i.c.e. and local authorities. host: how many people get through? guest: that is a question we are often asked. we have a couple of systems in place to measure the activity. it is very difficult to report on or accurately guess how many people you don't see. the system we use, we break the border into the vero significant -- two significant pieces, where we have a lot of resources, about half of the border. the other half, we use methods to record. agents are very good at being detect footprints in the sand, that sort of thing, so we try to aggregate all the reports of the encounters that we see, the ones we do not see. it is not a perfect system but we put ourselves in the ballpark of about 80% effective. again, it is a human endeavor, we don't see everything that happens along the border. but in the areas where well-situated, we think we do well. deaths fromny people coming across the border? guest: unfortunately, that is another consequence of the people who do not understand the perils of the journey. it is in the hundreds every year. host: dehydration, heat, snakes? guest: some of everything. i think the most is due to the heat and the terrain. people get left behind. these smugglers are ruthless as it relates to making money and find their criminal trade. they often leave people behind. host: do the coyotes ever crossed the border or do they come up to the border? guest: both. we are regularly trying to prosecute those cases as well. clark, fort lauderdale. you are the last call. caller: thank you, c-span, for your work. earliereen mentioned that the economy is one of the reasons immigrants are coming into the u.s. what is your view if the government focus more on foreign policy and global poverty? host: any view on that? sense, ifis common conditions were better in the places where the people are coming from, less would come. i sort of agree with that. vitiello, what is the budget of the border patrol, how many employees? guest: about 21,000 employees. aboutdget annually is $3.8 billion, which again is mostly salary. host: is it enough? operator.m an i started as an agent in 1985. we could always use more resources, but that is an enormous amount of money that the taxpayers are applied toward our mission. host: how much time do you spend with folks on capitol hill? guest: last month, i testified twice. there is always a call for briefings, we hold reports at every cycle. host: how often do you get the chance to get out of washington? guest: as often as i can. i was in detroit last week visiting our team there. actingonald botelho, chief of the border patrol, we appreciate your time. we appreciate all the help down in laredo that we got from you. thank you. weekend.continues this coming up today at 4:00, donald trump will be doing a campaign andt in redding, california road to the white house will be live with that event. 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