Economic perspective . Now the state department under Hillary Clintons leadership saw the importance of whats called the diaspora. So i am a member of the jamaican diaspora because i am no longer living in my country. Gepsie is a member of the haitian diaspora living here. The state department under mrs. Clintons leadership has seen the importance of the diaspora and so there has been programs that have been put in place for different members of the diaspora to come together to see how they can benefit their home countries. And as jamaicans we do that, i know the Haitian Community also has a very vibrant diaspora. So thats one way that you can help to stop the pull factor. The push factor, rather. But the pull factor is always going to be there where people are always going to want to come to america because its a shining beacon in the world of everything that you can achieve. And to the young man who missed the daca by 30 days, you certainly wouldve been, you are an example of somebody who wouldve benefited from the president s executive action because the executive action changed the date. It moved it up. [inaudible] you came within the timeframe but you came 30 days to old . Yes. You are really an example of somebody who could use overall Immigration Reform in order to change your status. We have a kid that is your age. Helen to be an unaccompanied minor is a frightening experience. Even though you are a young man, your journey may not have been an easy one, we do not know. I can only imagine if you do not have family here how difficult it is to be able to face the trials and tribulations of coming to a different country that is foreign on multiple levels, it is frightening. Part of the problem of trying to assist with unaccompanied minors, particularly the many who are under the age of 12, is who propelled them to come here . Are they really unaccompanied . Do they have parents that are here . Many of them are not going to court. It is a very complex system but there is something that i find interesting and we danced a little over the 2016 president ial election and something that i find gratifying is that two possible republican candidates from florida talk marco rubio and jeb bush, have talked about understanding the opportunities and if they were in similar situations they would do the same thing and for the benefit of their families would come over here and break the law. The struggle is that there is the misunderstanding of breaking the law as if all laws are felonies and they are not. Being here illegally is a civil offense and it is not a felony. But unfortunately there is a huge misunderstanding given that issue. Marco rubio gets heckled a lot and criticized a lot because she was on the forefront of Immigration Reform and then he pushed back because you did not like the bill at the end of it. He does not get the credit for bringing it forward and having it approved and he does not get credit then after for trying to walk it back. But i will tell you something about marco rubio and that is that before the president , six months before the president did different action, i called his office and i asked if i could take a number of undocumented students to him so that he could get a sense of who they were and speak to them and see if there was something we could do with Immigration Reform. And he accepted and there were maybe eight or nine students who went. Some gave full names and some only gave a first name because they were mistrustful. And senator rubio was only in office six months or so, maybe less, and he had a very frank conversation with the students about what could be done and what could not be done. He allowed them approximately a two hour meeting, allowed them to speak about what the experience was about. They asked, if we are legalized, i think they spoke about legalization but it was met but it was not just deportation. What does that imply . Do we get Social Security numbers and a drivers license . What happened to parents was a big concern, will they be kept whole . It was a fascinating process and it started what i think is an important conversation. Gabby was a part of that group and she was one of the leaders that really started the dream act from miamidade college. In that conversation, it was obvious that gabby, because of her age, was not going to be included in what was being proposed and aged out for daca as well. So you are not alone in missing it because of age, but that is not to say that you cannot contribute and i wanted you to know that. I find it ironic that we struggle with this conversation today and yet, tell me if this isnt strange . We are allowing people to pay for visas to come in here. We have even dropped the threshold. Im not saying having half a Million Dollars is easy, but if you have 500,000, you can come into miami and you can promise five jobs. You dont have to prove them. We have people here that deserve the right to not fear deportation. It is not a right to not fear deportation but deserve the benefit to be here and to not fear deportation. Archbishop Thomas Wenski we need Immigration Reform, comprehensive Immigration Reform. We should not give up on this congress. We have to keep on asking people in this congress. And i think that daca will, on the table. The judge put out a stay but that could be overruled. It could take time. When it gets overruled, then it will be in effect and this time right now for those that could be beneficiaries of it, it is time for them to gather up documentation. There is going to be a lot of paperwork, rent receipts, things the lawyers will be asking. And you should save up your money because the u. S. Government will charge you 500 to partake in that. And a lawyer might ask you for a few dollars more. [laughter] archbishop Thomas Wenski for those who are potential beneficiaries of this bandaid and it is only a bandaid to start preparing written documentation and money to participate in it in the eventuality of the stay being overturned. In the meantime, we all have to work for comprehensive Immigration Reform not only for the beneficiaries but for everybody like our friend here. Jorge duany i think we have time for a couple more questions. Anybody else . I am a professor in the English Department and i have a question. Everything you are saying is important and pertinent for questions. Media is important and law is important and communal activism is important. But i have not heard one element that i think might also be of significant importance and that is education. We are talking about putting a face to the problem, but who talks about people here . You talk about the laws, different procedures, a lot of technical things which are very important, i do not deny the significance. But how about education . Is there a role for education to play in advancing the cause you have so elegantly advocated . Thank you. Helen ag. Irre ferre i would say education has been at the forefront of this discussion. Educational institutions have been the primary proponents of the dream act. To show you how complicated it is, we did not get the state tuition waiver, our form of the dream act, until last year. It was absolutely astounding, a state where the hispanic population is so significant. It has been there but for some reason or another, educational institutions push for so many things, at the end of the day they end up pulling back on some things because they have, in legislatures, budget interests that they need to push more strongly than other issues. I would say that education has been at the forefront as has been hospitals. Archbishop Thomas Wenski and the human faces, i see them in pews every sunday and you see them in the desks every day. That is the human face. Education, like the church, can put a human face on this issue because we are not talking about statistics, we are talking about human beings, men, women, and children, whose futures are affected by a broken system. Somebody said, as i like to say, Immigration Law is not criminal law, it is civil law, so it is not a criminal offense, it is a civil offense. Call undocumented aliens lawbreakers is a bit of a misnomer. In that reality, they are not breaking the law as much as the law is breaking them. That is why the law is unjust and has to be changed. Dahlia walkerhuntington the panel that is being done, i want to say thank you for providing us the opportunity by hosting this panel. This can just be one of many that is held. Certainly, there is a certain amount of fear in the community. You talked about some of the students not giving their last name. There is this fear of deportation that is very real. From time to time, washington will send an email. A reporter is doing a story and they want to see a particular person who fits this demographic and you cannot find anybody because nobody wants to come forward to put a face on it so that becomes difficult. Helen Aguirre Ferre two years ago, the feds would come in and clear everybody out. We did not have this fear 10 years ago. Dahlia walkerhuntington the fear was always there. Archbishop Thomas Wenski it is not just a fair because in the past six years more people have been deported than in the past 19 years. 15 years. Gepsie metellus to address another issue of your comment, i think in the Advocacy Community we need to step up the education through creating opportunities to share the Success Stories on the one hand. And on the other to remind american brothers and sisters and our country of history and heritage as a land of immigrants, a land whose riches we all enjoy and benefit from today. Created and built upon continuously by immigrants. Yes, we have a lot more work to do in terms of community education. Helen Aguirre Ferre youre absolutely right about that. And just a thought to throw out there, it will be interesting to see if jeb bush runs for president , he married a mexican and he did peace corps. He met her in mexico city. It will be interesting to see how that plays. I was fascinated to see how we presented at cpac, the conservative pac in the Republican Party. 25 or 30 people walked out but the rest stayed and he got applause. And he had been proImmigration Reform. That to me says something that i think we have reached the Tipping Point and things are beginning to change in this country but that needs political will. I will tell you something, a couple of weeks ago, what did john boehner do . He passed the Homeland Security bill. He said, forget the hasstert view. Lets vote up or down and it passed. The world as we know it, continued. And i think that is a lesson that maybe others are going to notice, that the bread continues to be sliced. Dahlia walkerhuntington it is interesting that you talked about jeb bush because his name cannot you mentioned in conjunction with that cannot be mentioned in conjunction with his run for presidency without knowing how his immigration is going to fall out. I would hope he would step up to the plate and that is a problem that people have with politicians in general and marco rubio in particular. Because of his wishywashy, i introduced the bill that i am not going to back it and you are not coming up with an alternative and not your hands off as though your family came over on the mayflower. It is a problem. If politicians will stand up for what they believe in, people will have more respect for them. I certainly would respect to jeb bush if he stepped up to the plate. I am not going to vote for him but i would certainly respect him for stepping up and taking on immigration. Archbishop Thomas Wenski they say that making laws is like making sausage. Not a pretty process. But i think there has got to be a way to clear the logjam. I do not think the Republican Party is completely restrictionist. There are certainly some restrictionists in the party strong antiimmigration. There are some on the democratic side as well. I think we have to deal with the good angels on everybodys side and remind people that politics is a noble vocation and it is about the common good. And one of the areas that touches on the common good of everyone in this country today is our broken immigration system, and it needs to be fixed. Jorge duany thank you to a wonderful panel and thank you all for being here. [applause] jorge duany and good afternoon. Tuesday at 2 15 p. M. , the rein Nuclear Agreement act. On cspan3. During this month cspan is pleased to present the entries in this years student cam documentary competition. Student cam encourages middle and High School Students to think critically about issues that affect the nation. Students were asked the three branches and you to tell a story that demonstrates how a policy law, or action has affected you or your community. Paul levin haley ally lee, haley leavenns and clare pene. They focused on the issue of same sex marriage. Hi. We live in oregon where same sex marriage is legal. I really love the fact that leah will have two parents that are married. I think it is important for children to see that in their lifetime. It truly does feel like we are solid. Not that we wrpt solid before, but we are truly a recognized family. Same sex marriage is legal in 35 states. 15 do not. In seven of those states, same sex marriage laws have been overturned. These states include missouri, texas. Completely against are alabama georgia, louisiana north dakota south dakota, tennessee and nebraska. 36 states have made same sex marriage legal. One of the arguments against same sex marriage is religion. That god says he doesnt like it. That it may lead to other nontraditional marriages, and that same sex marriage threatens their lives and relationships. If you belong to a religion that doesnt accept same sex marriage you have a right to belong to that organization and hold that religious view, but that doesnt mean that other people have to adhere to your particular religious view. Religious institutions can discriminate. They are allowed to decide as an institution who is going to be a member, who is going to be eligible. They get to decide. They always get to decide the religious definition of marriage separate of that state. Thats who they are. Thats who god made them to be. The big difference between matrimony and civil unions is matrimony receives both state and civil benefits whereas civil union only receives state benefits. Matrimony also receives much higher praise than criffle unions do. Than civil unions do. There are over 1,000 protections that civil unions dont get and domestic partners dont get that are in marriage laws. I dont think civil laws are appropriate, constitutional, or respectable. Ive never been in favor of civil unions. I dont think there should be a distinction between marriage and Something Else between two people who are committed and who love each other. One is for straight couples and we have this lesser marriage for you people. If you are going to present benefits to another group and deny benefits to another group, you need to have a good reason to do that. The government has said we dont really have a reason for that. The reason is traditional and morality, two reasons the law cannot get into making decision based on. About two million l same sex couples have had children, so that means two million families that are not equal under the law to other families. It is about not just the financial rights they get, but more importantly, that the law is supportive to families to get to saying, we have the same recognition as other families instead of this idea that were in a different status. For children, i think there is a lot of advantage, not just a legal advantage, but sort of a social structure of knowing we feel like a complete family. We are recognized as a complete family in our community. I think thats really important. Some people believe that families should have one scommom one dad where they can have a family where two men and two women cannot. It has always been my version of normal. We have never known any other kind of family. I felt we had a normal family. It is not traditional. But there are very few traditional families. I didnt have a dad. Im sure people with dads have great relationships growing up with their father that are probably a little different than experiences with mothers. I didnt have those. At the same time i have a totally different thing, and i wouldnt change it. Legalizing gay marriage would help our economy by boosting tax revenues, helping cities economies, it would make creating laws about relationships easier, and would help economics. I think anyone who ask can contribute to the economy, and if we can make aamerica stronger and provide more opportunity for people, thats a good thing. They contribute to society, and should be entitled to the same benefits. Here are a few opinions on the topic. It is an important social commitment in our culture. I think social commitments are important. I think when we commit to a community or a cause or a church or a person who is a more solid human being because they have made a commitment. I think those commitments are important, and marriage certainly falls within that. I think every society must recognize the rights of each individual. That means it is very important. When you are talking about law and fairness you have to actually recognize it is the glue that puts this country together, that holds it together. That we are all treated equally. It is very important toward finding a constitutional right to same sex marriage. We are much more accepting of each other as time goes on. It is a different world today. To watch all these videos and learn more about our competition, go to cspan. Org and click on student cam. Also tell us what you think about these issues on facebook and twitter. On our next washington journal well get an update on the president ial race. We will be joined by shira center and catherine lucey. President obama will talk to former u. S. Ambassador to iraq Christopher Hill about relations between the two countries. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. Were you a fan of cspans first ladies series . First ladies is now a book. Lookin