See in Immigration Law. Here are the numbers to call. Democrats, 2025853880. Republicans, 2025853881. And independent callers, 2025853882. We also have a live set up for Illegal Immigrants. They can call us at 2025853883. Were also online. You can join the conversation on social media. Accepted us a tweet by writing, cspanwj. Or chime in on facebook. Look for cspan to weigh in there. We also take emails, journal cspan. Org. Interceptions of immigrants stubborning low, Border Security efforts have a long way to go. It says host from the New York Times, we also see a piece this week looking at a new study on enforcement and the money spent enforcing Immigration Laws. It says a new report sets the stage for a debate on immigration overhaul, huge amounts of money spent on immigration. Joining us this morning to get our conversation started is off and on johnson of national journal. Shes a washington, d. C. , correspondent who covers immigration among a variety of other topics. Thanks for being here. Guest pleasure. Host are there prospects for Immigration Reform, changes to the law in 2013 . Guest sure. I think that this is the first breath of activity that weve seen in about six years. The president has named it as his top priority, and he has not backed away from that, despite the fact that some of the fiscal cliff problems that we saw at the end of last year still havent been resolved. And all indications that i have from anybody who knows about it is that the talks are going forward. Now, whether or not anything is actually going to happen in the end is still something that remains to be seen. Its as tough as it was in 2006, 2007, when we last debated this. Host you mentioned the words fiscal cliff. We saw the debate over budget issues unfold around the new year. Its not over yet. Is that conversation done . At what point can the white house and Congress Move on to Something Else . Guest well, im guessing and this is just me observing the conversation probably isnt going to be done until the next election or until Something Else changes. This is something that clearly, particularly republicans in the house really want to push. Theyre going to use every opportunity that they can. We managed to get some of the tax issues taken off the table at the end of last year. That was difficult for a lot of us to watch. But theres still some questions about spending. Thats going to come up in the next couple of months. Theres appropriations to be done. I imagine that conversation will keep on going. And i was very worried after i first came back to work after the break, because i said, well, what is this going to do for the immigration agenda . Having covered this in the past, i know how much energy it takes from members. But i dont think that the members who are going to be the most involved in the fiscal cliff spending kinds of discussions are the same ones who are going to be pushing on immigration. And as long as you have someone in the senate, like majority leader harry reid, who also wants to move forward, i think youre still going to see some action. Host lets hear what president obama had to say. This is when he was on meet the press right before the new year, him talking to david gregory. Im asking about time frame, as you well know, your secondterm president , even having one reelection, your capital is limited. What is your single priority of the second term . What is the equivalent to healthcare . Well, there are a couple of things that we need to get done. Ive said that fixing our broken i will great system is a top priority our broken immigration system is a top priority. I will introduce legislation to get that done. Weve talked about it long enough. We know how we can fix it. We can do it in a comprehensive way that the American People support. Thats something we should get done. Host president obama on nbc december 30. How much of that, off and on fawn johnson, do you hear as a response to the election . Guest well, its largely a response to the election, but keep in mind that the president made this particular priority before the election, which its hard to say exactly what drove that. But one of the things that has been very clear throughout his first term is that the latinos who helped him get elected in 2008 were very upset that not very much happened over the course of obamas first term. He was very focused on healthcare. And i think the president genuinely wants to deal with this issue. Everybody who has been involved in it knows how difficult it is. He just wasnt able to put the energy into it he did in the last term. Once the election happened, it became clear to republicans that they couldnt just say no like they had been doing over the last four, five years, because the hispanic population only voted for obama. That kind of sets up a much more friendly environment to talk about the issues. Host fawn johnson, correspondent with national journal, were focusing the washington journal this morning on issues surrounding immigration. Later on, well talk to some reporters as well as folks on both sides of the issue right here on n washington, d. C. Our first phone call is from ryan in texas on our democrats line. Hi, ryan. Caller yes, how you doing . Host good. Caller i would like to say, theyre not going to enforce the Immigration Laws. Some of the people that i know out with these charges, that theyre not going to follow immigration rules, just some of these guys that got these crack charges and trying to get back to their families. Host youre talking about drug charges . Ok. Lets go to trevor in arlington, virginia, on our independent line. Hi, trevor. Caller hello. How you doing . Host good morning. Caller basically the premise of my question is, you know, everybody involved in deciding whats going to happen with immigration, you would think they would have to be thinking, how much more revenue can we get if we do legalize the 13 million or whatever undocumented workers . I mean, that has to be an upside. And also, how its related to the war on drugs, you know, affecting where they come from and how violent it is, and really pushing them north. It really is all interrelated, and mainly, i would say you would have to think theres an upside to gaining the extra revenue. Thats it. Host thanks for your call. Fawn johnson . Guest i agree. Thats an interesting point, especially when were talking about spending. I havent seen the full debate yet about the costs versus the advantages or the fiscal advantages of having more legal immigrants inside the country. Keep in mind that a lot of them are already here, and whatever they wind up doing is probably not going to increase the flow of immigration that much. Since 2008, the recession, theres not been as many people wanting to come here just because there arent as many jobs. It is true, however, that if you are able to come up with some sort of legal status for all of the people who are undocumented, that you would get a greater tax revenue. Most of the proposals i think obama would also endorse, would not make them eligible for the kind of benefits that are very costly for things like healthcare and medicaid and stuff like that. They would be in the schools that i believe they railroad will, so i dont think thats a huge change. I think youre going to have people who are going to talk a lot more about that. Host here are some numbers that the Cato Institute developed, how overhauling Immigration Law might alter the economy. We see the cost of mass deportation. They estimate that to be 2. 6 trillion. Temporary worker program, they see it as a benefit to the u. S. Economy of nearly 800 billion. And then comprehensive revisions to Immigration Law, 1. 5 trillion. They say that would entail giving unauthorized immigrants a pathway to permanent legal status and citizenship, also open the boreder to new immigrants who would have full labor rights so. One snapshot of that financial picture. Wells up next, joining us from florida on our democrats line. What part of florida are you from . Turn down your tv for us and go ahead. Caller ok. Yes, first of all, good morning, everybody. Were all immigrants. We come from other countries. And we all have to learn to get along, you know . So i say lets go here and lets get this reform, a situation, then go on the table , and lets get it worked out from and get these jobs back so we can get all our jobs in this country, a great country. Host william, what would reform mean to you . What would immigration, your version of Immigration Reform, look like . Caller what it would mean to me . Host what would you do . What would you change . Caller not be not be like like putting fences up and all these deportation and stuff. Everybody come to the country because it is a great country. And my view of it is what it has been since 1960. You know, come to america, something thats great. It should be that same way. We should all feel that same way. If they dont go to other countries to be sold back, we should have our business here for everybody to come, give their part, and share in making it a better country. Host ok. William is a democratic caller. Lets listen to what House Speaker john boehner had to see. This is after the election, Speaker Boehner speaking from the capitol. I want to go back to your comments about Immigration Reform. When you said comprehensive Immigration Reform, are you endorsing a pathway to citizenship . Well, im not talking about 3,000. What im talking about is a commonsense, stepbystep approach to secure our borders, allow us to enforce the laws, and fix a broken immigration system. But again, on an issue this big, the president has to lead. I think members on both sides of the aisle want to resolve this issue. The president s going to have to lead here. Are you endorsing a pathway to citizenship . Im not going get into any of the details of how you would get there. Its just time to get the job done. Host House Speaker boehner has called for comprehensive Immigration Reform changes to the law. Does it look like what the white house would want . You saw from that clip that he was really not specific about what he wanted. I have heard from his aides also that they really want the president to lead. The big question that i have is , what happens if the president leads . We have seen what the House Republicans do when the president leads. They usually just reject it out of hand. The people that i talked to who are involved in immigration in the house tend to want to do something thats a little less ambitious than what the president is talking about doing. They want to have little different parts of the law go through committee and pass the house on their own. Youve seen in the house the unwillingness to look at any legislation, and they have a hard time as we saw with the fiscal cliff getting those on the republican side. I dont think its going to look anything like what happens with the president. The other question is, nobody is expecting the house to act on this until the senate does something. The senate will probably do something thats much broader and will encompass all aspects of immigration. Host here are comments coming from twitter. Joe writes, we do have to address the problem with immigration and the welfare state, but i think thats easier than securing the borders. With another perspective, fred says, no reform until the border is secure. Secure the border before passing any more laws, please. Guest yeah. Those are actually probably the best perspectives that you can have on this debate. One of the things that i found interesting is that the question about Border Security is starting to get a little more sophisticated than it was back several years ago when this was first being debated. The administration has put tons of resources into enforcement to the extent that a lot of advocates, particularly civil rights advocates, are actually very angry about it. Its never going to be perfect. I think that thats the place where the last comment that you read comes forward. We still have people who do constantly believe that a lot of them are criminals, drugging drugs or people. Nobody wants that. So the question is, how much more needs to happen on the border and inside the United States before other kinds of reforms can happen . I believe that what the administration has been trying to say for the last two years is weve done that. Look at the number of people we deported, Something Like 400,000 people, which is more than any president ever has in the last, you know, in all of history. The border is looking much better. Ive been down, ive looked at it, its looking better, but there are still problems. The question is, is it ok . Thats going to be theres going to be competing versions of that no matter what happens. Host here are some of those numbers. On u. S. Immigrant deportations, you can see the total so far during the Obama Administration, 1. 5 million. For the entirity of the Bush Administration, two terms in office, we saw about two million deportations. And then in 2012 alone, nearly more than, rather, 400,000 immigrants deported, which is a record high. Our next phone call is from mark in new jersey, republican. Hi, mark. Caller good morning. Im also a municipal chair here for the republican committee. Im also going to be running for the state republican committee. I think the idea given Immigration Reform is absurd. We look at all the construction work theres these people have devalued over the years. Who compensates them . We talk about equality and Everything Else and helping people. These Illegal Immigrants have destroyed more africanamerican communities because of the lack of jabs being taken by these people. Theyre devaluing our weages. You look at the drug problems that are across the country that these people are transporting, and then you want to give them amnesty and make them legal citizens . Theyve criminals. Theyve destroyed millions of americans. You got 40 million americans on food stamps. Another over 20 million that are underemployed or unemployed. Give me a break. I mean, its the American People. Host what do you think about tightening the law . Would you make changes to the law . Caller i think employers that hire them need to be fined, put in jail. I mean, you look at the costs to our healthcare and Everything Else, these people arent held accountable. My wife just had a baby. Obamacare wouldnt do for me, i still have to pay the cobra. Theres no help for working people. Host lets get a response from fawn johnson. Mark was talking about how hed like to see verifying and businesses held accountable. Guest hes absolutely right. This is one of the big republican points, and this is something that the previous chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who is quite conservative and also quite conservative on immigration tried to get passed in the house in the last congress, and he did not succeed. Just for the caller, everify is essential an electronic database where employers who, when they hire someone, can look to make sure that that particular person is legally in the United States. Its not a perfect system, but essential what will it does is just match their names and Social Security or whatever their tax i. D. Number is and say they are legally authorized to work. Its something that employers are a little nervous about, because the system had some glitches earlier. Its a voluntary system now. But i think that its been improved significantly, and it is something that will be part of a broader immigration conversation no matter what. The only question is, do you want to institute that first and then see what happens . There are some states that have done that. Its been a nightmare for some of them, because i think, on the flip side of what the caller was saying, there are industries, particularly the agriculture industry that really rely on immigrant labor. And if they cant get those employees because they have to make sure that theyre authorized, then their crops go unpicked, and that can be a problem also. Host fawn johnson is correspondent for national journal. Were talking about immigration. We started our show this morning by asking what you changes, if any, youd like to see in Immigration Law. Would you like to see the laws made more friendly for immigrants . Would you like to see them made tighter . You can give us a call on our usual democratic, republican, and independent lines. We also have a line set up for Illegal Immigrants, and that number is 2025853883. We have a conversation going on on facebook. Bobby says yes, the laws should be made tighter. We hear from eric who says, yes, ought yes, ban automatic citizenship. Change it for at least one parent needs to be a legal citizen for the child to be one. One says, force i. N. S. To respond within days to an application for citizenship. Most of our ancestors were citizens the day they came here, and todays applicants wait for as many as five years. Fawn johnson, our facebookers bring up a range of issues. Whats the administration doing in terms of visas and the application process for a green card or citizenship . Guest well, theyre doing what they can. There has been a backlog, and this goes back a decade or so, of people waiting in line to get their green cards, and then it takes five years after you get your green card to apply for citizenship. As i understand it, they have actually resolved the backlog issue. Theyve put a lot of money into the aadjudication process. The issues are a little more complicated because theres only so much the administration can do to make that process easier. They can put money towards the adjudications. They can help the people who are they can make the application process easier. But the organi