Carter: Obama Was Right To Bypass Congress on Immigration

FARROW: "When you look at right now the president rolling out executive action on immigration, was he right to go around Congress?"

CARTER: "Yes. (Applause) To expand on that, I think he has tried every possible way to get Congress to pass a reasonable bill. And as you know the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, Republicans and Democrats, overwhelmingly supported the Senate version. I think President Obama has worked as well as he can with the House of Representatives."

FARROW: "Was he justified in waiting to reveal what he was going to do until after the mid-terms?"

CARTER: "My grandson was running for the Governor of Georgia and I am  little bit biased on that certainly now because although all the Democrats lost all over the nation as you know, including the Governor in Massachusetts, I think from a partisan point of view, he was justified to wait until after the election but he was mistaken in thinking it would make a difference."

FARROW: "In 1977, you sent a letter to Congress proposing various ways you would tackle immigration reform. You were rebuffed by that Congress at that time, but you didn’t pursue executive action to go around. You just said you support President Obama doing so, why didn't you?"

CARTER: "We didn’t have nearly the problem we have now and we didn’t have the infusion of people across the border. So, trust me, we didn’t have 11 million so-called undocumented aliens in this country then. And I had a quite harmonious relationship with the Congress, Democrats and Republicans. So I didn’t have the polarization, partisan polarization that we have now. So I think it's quite a different situation."