Newsmakers Jan. 29: Immigration orders, political opposites agree and 'Souper Bowl'

HOUSTON – President Donald Trump signed executive orders designed to speed the process of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and again said Mexico will pay for it.

Charles Foster, chairman of Foster Global Immigration, was a guest on "Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall" and said Trump was elected, in part, because of his promise to build the border wall.

Foster says the promise was based on something that wasn’t true then and still isn’t. “All of that was completely false,” he said. “We have the lowest rates of illegal immigration since Richard Nixon was president.”

Jared Woodfill was, the former chairman of the Harris County GOP, says the wall is what President Trump’s supporters want and he believes Mexico will pay for it. “This guy is a deal maker and based on what the United States needs and the trade deficit with Mexico, the deal will get done,” he said.

It is part of a lively conversation among experts with strong opinions.

And

Geoffrey Hoffman, director of the Immigration Clinic at UH Law Center, says that one of his concerns is the ban on refugees.

“It doesn’t make sense to diminish our values as a country to ban refugees,” he said. “This is another important point. A 120-day ban on all refugees diminishes our international legal obligations as Americans.” 

“Building bridges and not walls” is the theme of Houston City Council Members Dwight Boykins, District D, and Dave Martin, District E, as the political opposites talk about how progress can be made even through differences.

“We separate the personal and we never go towards a personal attack because of the true friendship,” Boykins said.

“There’s no name-calling, even behind the scenes we don’t have any of that,” Martin said. “Now we’ll have a heated discussion, but we try and do it in a very respectful fashion.”

Also

Amy Ragan, chief development officer of the Houston Food Bank, wants to focus again on the organization "Making it Better," program that works to increase literacy in poor neighborhood schools.

"Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall," is on every Sunday Morning at 10 a.m., right after Meet the Press on KPRC Channel 2.

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