Immigration moving forward on two fronts

>> let me bring in congresswoman judy chu , who is part of today's committee hearing . and from california, a state that knows a little bit about immigration, congresswoman, good morning.

>> good morning.

>> in "the washington post " today, greg sargent points out, "many individual house republicans don't have incentives to back immigration reform , even if opposing it is bad for the gop overall. well over half of house republicans represent districts that are over 80% white and over 200 of them represent districts that back mitt romney ." what's your take on where we are on this immigration debate and are you concerned your republican colleagues won't support any change?

>> well, i think the election showed that the american people want immigration reform . certainly, democrats and the president want it. i think the republicans really need it.

>> but to the point that he was making, for individual members of congress to be re-elected, they don't feel they have to.

>> but if they want the republican party to be able to continue on and not erode, even more, with regard to its overall national base, they really will need to join in to this fight. and also, they need to make sure that this country has the immigrants that it needs to continue forward. for instance, in engineering and technology fields and in the agricultural industry .

>> this morning, eric cantor was on some of the shows, and he would not commit to supporting the rubio bipartisan plan. let me read you an excerpt from the speech he's giving today. "we must balance respect for the rule of law and respect for those waiting to enter this country legally with care for people and families, most of whom just want to make a better life and contribute to america." do you take from that statement some possible movement?

>> i feel very encouraged by his statement. and i was so glad that he was part of the eight group of bipartisan senators that came up with a framework. i think this is a great step forward .

>> we also saw the pictures a little bit earlier of janet napolitano . she was on the u.s./ mexican border . and as you know, there were a lot of republicans who were saying that these changes need to be tied to tougher border security . let me get your take on that and what you think can and should happen.

>> well, let me say that more money has been put into border security than all the other federal law enforcement agencies combined. we've had $18 billion for border security , $14 billion for all the rest, fbi, atf, secret security, everything that there is. so we have put quite a bit of money already into this arena.

>> let me ask you finally what you're hoping to get out of this hearing today.

>> i hope that we can take a great step forward in making sure that we have this comprehensive immigration bill . i hope this is not just lip service and that this is just a series of hearings. i hope this comes to the conclusion of having a bill that will relieve so many aspiring citizens in this country.

>> congresswoman judy chu , thank you so much for being with us.

>> thank you.