BROOKE BALDWIN (HOST): So, as someone who grew up on a border state, governed a border state, now lives in another border state, I have is to ask you, what do you think of the wall?
JANET NAPOLITANO: You know, we've heard the wall idea for years. I remember in 2004 when I was the governor of Arizona, the wall idea was around and I said basically, “show me a ten-foot wall, I'll show you a 12-foot ladder.” That's not the way you do border enforcement, and the amount of resources it would divert from a real border plan that involves more manpower, technology, air coverage, all the things that are now in place currently at the U.S.-Mexico border. And we know that illegal migration across that border is the lowest it's been in decades.
BALDWIN: Is there anything about Mr. Trump's immigration plans that seem admirable, palatable, realistic to you?
NAPOLITANO: Very little, to be quite frank. And I'll point out two other areas that I found unrealistic or unfair. Not wise. One was to repeal the president's executive order allowing young people who have grown up in this country, who are here undocumented, to stay in this country. They get their education. We have probably 3,500 or 4,000 of these so-called DACA students at the University of California. These are wonderful young people. They will contribute a lot to our country. They are the so-called DREAMers. That's how they're known in the vernacular, and it would be such a shame to repeal those orders.
And a second area that I find, I can almost say un-American, is this idea that you are going to do an ideological test on these people before they emigrate into the United States.
BALDWIN: Right, the screenings.
NAPOLITANO: First of all, there is a lot of vetting that goes on, particularly from areas of the world that -- where there is a lot of conflict. And that's never reported on enough, but the amount of vetting that already occurs is quite substantial. But how do you do an ideological test? That's not the way America has always viewed itself.
