(CNN) I was in my hotel room in New York when I got a call from my friend Tracy Hollister. She invited me to be part of a Living Room Conversation, a bipartisan forum for peaceful, albeit highly political dialogue. In fact, Julia Song, a Brazilian immigrant and Republican, affirmed the horrifying realities of immigration at the southern border. Mario Benavente, active in local conservative politics and the son of immigrants himself, shared his own experience witnessing tired and hungry migrants arriving in North Carolina. Before this conversation, I thought Republicans had an empathy deficit -- an inability to truly feel for the plight of those less fortunate.

Source: CNN December 04, 2019 12:14 UTC