Transcripts For CSPAN2 After Words Rep. Pramila Jayapal Use

CSPAN2 After Words Rep. Pramila Jayapal Use The Power You Have July 12, 2024

17 educated in indonesia and a remarkable mother and father tell us i know we will talk about immigration and the policy issue with your Public Service lets start with what that was like. You are right is to nice to have an indepth conversation with a colleague and something we just dont get to do. And landed here a few minutes before i turn 17. I came by myself. My dad had 5000 in his bank account and used all of it to send me here because he really believe this is a place i would get the best education with the best opportunity. I showed up at my two suitcases thats all i could bring without having to pay for more baggage so i write about this in the about how strange it was that we were used to seeing even though its diverse in the grand scheme of things and the smells at mcdonalds and burger king and the smells you a dream about they had not made it yet and a completely new place with a completely new environment. I went to georgetown undergraduate here in the nations capital. Landing in georgetown to get the information and they said something about being a foreign student but not getting my rooming assignment and the guys who was wellmeaning he just heard foreign student and said do you speak english . I was so surprised and jokingly i said i do but only if you talk very slowly. [laughter] that was the beginning of my entry into the United States. I dont think i could have her dream speaking to you as a member of congress. Absolutely. I would encourage people just how somebody arrives for the first time ever. As a high profile leader of the progressive ring on wing of the Democrat Coalition one of the things that is fun about the book with the stereotype progresses have to grapple with the fact you went to Business School work for wall street and a medical device corporation. And the rich portrait and much more than the political stereotypes. Talk about that how they work for the private sector and those that affect the private sector. To be the ceo of ibm you had other be a doctor or lawyer or engineer politician was not one of them. And i went to college i got a degree in economics somewhere along the way i decided i wanted to be in english lit major and calling my dad i could call one time a year to be an english major and he screamed at me to say i did not send you to the United States to learn you how to speak english you already know how to speak english. I promised i would get the same job that i would have with an economics degree and in the med eighties wall street was a place you wanted to work if you are smart and competitive. So thats what i did. I worked for painewebber. I do something that no 20 oh that ever should have done. I realized it wasnt for me but its really important to to find out what you do want to do anybody camp but spreadsheet in front of me complex 300 read page spreadsheets back on the lotus 123 days and to understand Financial Statements to get a masters in business and work on economic one medical equipment. And that has made me better prepared and to think of a progressive and then to be completely divorced from business but to help inform my view wall street accountability to make good economic sense and its based on how i think about what the future looks like from an Economic Perspective and a social perspective. I like data bank for a while and i was 22 doing that. [laughter] i agree 100 percent i felt like i was learning a lot with those negotiations and i related to that with the private sector and hope this allows us to transition you are not satisfied you dont feel that soulful engagement. And the whole concept of immigration and then to say that so much that story and it is the core not the policy debate then we play defense against the president to create a red hot core of baloney quite frankly and this book with the immigration debate with morality and here we are at a moment at the most dysfunctional non conversation that i can remember. I know 9 11 was important but walk us through what gets you so passionate about moral immigration policy. When i was in thailand the summer between graduate school i was working for three months with the largest nonprofit which was the largest refugee camp at the time mostly from cambodia and then to still a very active camp in that sense. And then to get permanently settled and you can just see the resilience of people have how difficult it is for terrible situations throughout war and i dont think about it as i thought the immigration and migration at the moment but just experiencing and then related to the issue of immigration. But as hard as it was i spoke the language and then to be a lot easier with those that i worked with. Switching from the private sector and looking all over the world india and africa and asia, latin america, everywhere. And those are the root causes of migration and thats my orientation how do people get here and then i start thinking about it from the perspective of a us citizen and an immigrant here in the United States what does that need to be . And to be ensconced in that with the largest immigrant Advocacy Organization and many policies for immigrants to live and a lot of that is because over the last two decades so to know that policy detail and i talk about jen in the book about how there is such a lack of new wants to the debate of immigration in this country when in fact the system is so unbelievably complex and everybody has a story to tell. Africanamerican and brought on a slave ship unwilling is a very different situation. But everybody else has a story to tell. And the moral core of the identity that forms United States as a nation of immigrants. And then to explain to the American People to have a system of immigration laws. And then the congress has managed to move a complete overhaul but it has been decade there is no major change in that is untenable for a country was such deep Economic Needs and then to be focused on the roles of immigrants building the country. Yes. That is right. And for all of us that are not subscribers to the president s point of view and how morality subdues and its built on lies as you point out its a nation of immigrants and not to take the moral approach absolutely essential to our economy to have a more robust immigration and that is the agriculture and seen a seed and the restaurants is not hard from the current mess and then in moral terms but so describe what you think and has been for decades if you could wave a magic wand and policy would change overnight what would it look like compared to the bill over five or six years ago and then with the path of citizenship and with identification and verification so tell us what your view of a good immigration policy would look like with very strong bipartisan manner five or six years ago. I was on the outside pushing for that bill and frankly not all of us like and then a lot of americans say and then the political football and to demonize immigrant something no other president has done before him in history. But understand there is no line in the United States and for people to even kindly here and take me 18 years to get my citizenship. So the first thing we need to do is rectify with a process that is easy to navigate and what you are coming here to work temporarily or be a student those quotas and also have to be completely updated. That allows you to have a functioning system you have to provide a pathway citizenship to those undocumented immigrants these are those that are primarily been living here between 15 and 17 years it is hypocritical to say that the entire economy would collapse. And then to do the work we need them to do. And then give them a path to citizenship to allow them to be full contributors so that is exotic talking about the undocumented and then to have substantial republican support. That the Food Supply Chain for the meatpacking plants it doesnt work without that population. In spite of what trump has said there is still substantial support with the demonization that he has done but my goers are all staunch republicans for the chamber of commerce and a clear sense that we need a path to citizenship just as it is clear for human rights activist and to fix the system. Third to have humanitarian ways and with that beacon of hope and light. And traditionally to be bipartisan support Speaker Pelosi calls the Refugee Resettlement program the crown jewel of humanitarianism. But donald trump has destroyed everything that has to do to shut that down shut down the Asylum Program and barely taking any and shut off all legal ways. We should be clear donald trump opposition is not just to undocumented immigrants but all Legal Immigration thats why he tried to ban student visa and shut down legal immigrant programs spousal visa and rollback all of that. With the agenda of the White Nationalist is no immigration in this country will die without immigration and that is clear. I agree with your statement no president has made immigration such toxic part of the approach but at some level is same old same old in the late 18 hundreds absolutely to brutalize and dehumanize the mediterranean were very different that is very strong team unless we are indigenous and at some level that says value is all about to get a beacon and to the world and has been brutal to the latest wave of immigrants how do we change that because if we dont add demagogue in the future with the latest round of immigrants how do we change that . We have to fix the policy and in spite of what people say every Immigration Reform has happened with tremendous resistance and then to oversee that has moved forward despite any concerns he might have what the reaction might be. It is what is good for the country its what for civil rights and then pulling to the right place and from the field because lets be clear and america has had a very complex history with immigration. And that has to do with the fact and then as the playbook so our work has to be to reconnect the policy is not hard if crafted this over and over again in 2013 i would change some things about it today but the way that you secure the United States and preserve the National Security is to have a functioning immigration system we can keep track of everyone was easy for people to come in and go out those that are very popular earlier decades and to have borders that are security because it allows people to come in and go out not the other way around. And where donald trump fires up people based on immigrant base. And we need to pass this policy the thing that donald trump can go back to her any president frankly go back to over and over again and we should not be a divided country we do have a history. We do have the identity we do have the policy. And then we have spent so much less taxpayer dollars and we would have had a far more secure country instead we just pour money into walls and painting the black it doesnt make a bit of difference. Even in southwestern connecticut coming to town Hall Meetings using just brutal language with the undocumented despite the fact that the area that i represent so when the things that can be quite helpful is to reframe and remind people of those values. And that concerns and people are not wrong to say the system is broken with 12 Million People living in the shadows on the illegal basis it is the affront to the rule of law so when the general meetings immigration policy we have to acknowledge who we are. And then to dehumanizing people all immigrants are drug dealers and subhuman. Its not different from what your grandparents are greatgrandparents. And then i find that appeals to the core human value. O come in. Ken you stress that . Hispanic i go on fox news quite a bit and have to laugh sometimes because im never talking to the anchor. The anchors job is to get as explicit as possible but im talking to the people that watch because they are looking for a new way to think about things and what i say is listen, i understand if you are frustrated because you havent been able to find a good job before kobe behaved we had the worst income any coffee and wealth inequality to have decent opportunities, then i talk about how in that moment it is easy to blame somebody. Weve all been in this situation before but dont blame the immigrants. Lets talk about and think about your immigration story and family history, just getting people to connect back on how they came to this country and then the third in terms of the border i find that so funny because we are talking about creating a system so that you could go through is coming in and out and allow people to have the beauty of being with their family. Family. I see fox news hosts all the time, you used to be the party of family values. Would have been a values when you walk kids in cages or segregate a child from their parent for 16 years if youre filipino or 22 years if you are from some other country. The amount of time that if they stew allow a parent to be with a child even separate from teachers so if we had a system that functions that isnt about open borders its about saying the United States has the right to do the sam but at the same tu dont have that, that is when you need to worry because not only do you not have what you need for the economy or for security, but you also dont have what you need for the heart and soul of america, the moral value of america as a nation of immigrants in the country that shined a beacon of light around the world for people that like me come here and for so many ancestors and generations of people to come to the United States. So i find when i go through that little litany of things quickly, i may not get the fox news posts but those who say to me i didnt realize Social Security taxes so that i can go and retire as a u. S. Citizen. They are paying my Social Security taxes. Great, great, good conversation. Lets go even deeper and talk about morality and politics. We talk about the areas and your story is infused with an awareness and advocacy. And i really enjoyed reading it because i spent years thinking about the morality and politics. What ive been able to figure out over time is politics without phone morality is a sort of insane notion. We are here because we have values morality, everything we do there is a downside for morl framing which is on the extreme that will make us. Sometimes when we are aggressive and framing things in moral terms said very hard to compromise a. Something we are not known for in the Congress Today because you can compromise with a libertarian so im really interested in where and when morality is key and then we need to draw back. No human can look at family segregation, and i saw this at the border as you did, too mac. If that doesnt fly for five years of moral outrage outside of you, im not sure if you are alive. On the other end of the spectrum, it is immensely technical. So what is the proportion that kind of stuff doesnt really lend itself to the kind of clarity family segregation does. Where is it essential and at what point do you pull back and closed the door and get a deal done kind of way of thinking about this. Host one of the said im so depressed that your first is called politics and the second is moral vision. Do they not go together and i think this is the question you are asking. I think that for me, it is clear to me morality is infused in everything. I dont know what you fight for if you dont know what your own values are and we can use the term values because i actually think that we share regardless whether you are republican, independent or democrat, we share some core human values which is we want the right to be respected. We want opportunity and to be treated with dignity and respect. Those are the kind of things that i talk to universally with republicans in my district as well. And so, i think that the thing we have to remember is our system is not a representative system. It has led to an unrepresentative government. Now its represented in the sense 750,000 People Choose you and choose me and we call that a representative democracy. But if you look at so much of the institutionalized racism and sexism that has pervaded the system for so long, the reality is that people who are in power making decisions have a particular perspective of what may be moral or not and many of the details of the policy, even though it doesnt sound like it, lays the groundwork for a continuation of that racism and sexism or whatever it is, so when you look at these policies, i do think that its very important to keep a northstar there and i think that our colleague who just passed away, or Elijah Cummings who also just passed away, both of whom were so welcoming to me when i came into congress and i remember saying in my fighting too hard on family separation and immigration and other. And they both sort of took me and shook me by the shoulders and said you keep fighting with the urgency because i think sometimes politics gets reduced to the lowest common denominat denominator, the thing that is easiest to move forward as quickly, but that isnt actually the thing that gets at the root causes of what is happening that requires a much deeper analysis and fix to the solution. So, is it do we need people to agree with us 100 on everything, of course not. Definitely not. Are there technical pieces where you can argue about how many people here or how many get covered for health care, sure. All of those things are real but what happens is the characterization for example the criminalization of the poor or the criminalization of the immigrants have happened with welfare reform, those are detrimental to any progress moving forward, so that is often the thing i think we have to fight it out and we dont. When we are on the floor and the republicans want to divide us, what do they do . They use the motion to reconnect, for people who dont follow every piece of what we do. Thats focused on the criminalization, criminalization of immigrants, of black people, brown people, and we dont we are too afraid to take that on and say go ahead, you want to talk about criminalization, lets talk about th

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