Arizona town hall shows ‘profound misunderstanding’ of immigration

>> i want to bring in congressman castro, it's good to have you on the show. they would have had loved to have a tap on the phone, three republicans that he talked to yesterday talking about immigration. what do you take away from that?

>> i think that the president is serious about working in a bipartisan way to get comprehensive immigration reform done. he does want to be a leader on this but also that he respects the role of the congress and specifically of those republicans who have gone out on a limb a bit to make comprehensive immigration reform a reality.

>> we've been talking about the c contentious town hall , only guns will discourage illegal immigration . most illegal immigrants are i will literal and want free benefits. how much of that do you hear? and how much of a problem are people like that to comprehensive immigration reform ?

>> well, i think nobody has ever thought that getting it through congress would be a cake walk. we've expected some of that. for republicans it's tougher because that group tends to be in their party. it was an ugly scene. and sadly, there is a profound misunderstanding among this group about the life of immigrants here in the united states . so it is going to be a little bit of a tough path. but, you know, we've got to remember that 60% of the american public supports a path to earned citizenship. when you hear a loud angry mob like that, you've got to realize, that's not the majority of americans.

>> do you get a sense -- and we talked about this new coalition of latino and african-american and labor church groups who want to make a push for immigration, do you get a sense that people who support immigration reform are getting more activists and can make more of a difference than they have in the past?

>> oh, absolutely. i think this issue has galvanized and strengthened a lot of different groups. it's not the traditional democratic groups but now you also have the faith evangelical community and business community like chamber of commerce , which is mostly republican, coming together with democratic groups to support a push for comprehensive reform.

>> another big issue hanging over congress is the sequester. the clock is ticking. a lot of criticism that you folks are back in your districts, not in washington today. and when you come back, there will be five days to get something done. is there time? will there be a deal?

>> i hope that there is --

>> what do you think the chances realistically are though?

>> right now i put it at 50/50, either we see a deal before march 1st or in march we come to an agreement.

>> will it get done before the economy starts to feel the impact before thousands of people lose their jobs?

>> it absolutely should. that would be the responsible thing to do.

>> congressman joaquin castro , come back again, it's good to see you.