| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
With a discussion that includes Gabriel Neville, author of The Last Men Standing. | |
| The book chronicles the 8th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Army, highlighting the experiences of German and Irish immigrant soldiers during the Revolutionary War. | ||
| Live coverage starts at 6.30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN. | ||
| You can also watch on C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, or online at c-SPAN.org. | ||
| Welcome to today's Washington Journal. | ||
| We're glad you're with us. | ||
| Start with the front page of the Washington Post with a picture here from that morning. | ||
| That's Kilmar Abrego Garcia there in the middle with his wife next to him. | ||
| The headline, Judge Keeps Abrego in U.S. | ||
| It says, ICE arrested Kilmar Abrego Garcia on Monday, days after his release from criminal custody, a first step in the Trump administration's plan to deport him to Uganda, potentially before he faces trial on human smuggling charges. | ||
| Trump officials had insisted Abrego, quote, would never go free in the U.S., and they blasted a federal judge's ruling in Tennessee that the government had failed to prove he was a flight risk or threat to the community. | ||
| His freedom lasted less than 72 hours. | ||
| Officers took Abrego into custody after he arrived at a required check-in with ICE in Baltimore. | ||
| Whether the government will succeed in deporting him remains unclear. | ||
| Hours later, U.S. District Judge Zinnis temporarily barred the administration from removing him until she can hold a hearing to ensure that the Trump administration is following the law. | ||
| Let's take a look at this CBS News poll. | ||
| Now, this is from July, and the headline is, CBS News poll finds support for Trump's deportation program falls. | ||
| Americans call for more focus on prices, and here are the results of those polls. | ||
| The question was, Trump administration is trying to deport. | ||
| 52% said more people than you expected. | ||
| And about what you expected is at 37%, and fewer people than you expected is at 11%. | ||
| So 52% said that the administration is deporting more people than expected. | ||
| And who is Trump administration prioritizing for deportation? | ||
| Dangerous criminals. | ||
| In June, it was 53%. | ||
| It's called now, which is in July, is at 44%, showing a drop. | ||
| People who aren't criminals went up from June 47% to July at 56%. | ||
| Yesterday, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi addressed the arrest and planned deportation of Kilmar Obrego Garcia at the Oval Office. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Today, MS-13 gangbanger and human trafficker Kilmar Obrego-Garcia turned himself into ICE in Baltimore. | |
| Give me a comment on this and why are the Democrats so emotionally attached to this man who beats his wife and is part of a terrorist organization? | ||
| Because they think he's going to be good for votes and I think he's very bad for votes. | ||
| These people are deranged. | ||
| He's not good for votes. | ||
| He beat the hell out of his wife. | ||
| His wife is afraid to even talk about him. | ||
| She's been mauled by this animal. | ||
| And, you know, through a system of liberal courts, you know, he's doing things. | ||
| But, no, we have that under control. | ||
| And Pam has got that very much under control. | ||
| Do you want to comment on it? | ||
| No, no, we've got him under control. | ||
| He will no longer terrorize our country. | ||
| He's currently charged with human smuggling, including children. | ||
| The guy needs to be in prison. | ||
| He doesn't need to be on the streets like all these liberals want him to be. | ||
| And as part of this operation here in DC, we've also taken off MS-13 members. | ||
| We've taken, I think just last night, we got a TDA guy off our streets right here, right around from where we all work. | ||
| Another TDA member gone because of this project. | ||
| So we're going to keep America safe from all of these foreign terrorist organizations, including Obrego Garcia. | ||
| Now, regarding Uganda, this is the Associated Press. | ||
| It says Uganda agrees to take deported migrants from the U.S. if they don't have criminal records. | ||
| It says that the ministry, the foreign ministry, said in a statement that the agreement had been concluded, but that terms were still being worked out. | ||
| It added that Uganda prefers that the migrants sent there be of African nationalities, but did not elaborate on what Uganda might get in return for accepting deportees. | ||
| It says the U.S. Embassy in Uganda declined to comment on what it called diplomatic negotiations, but said that diplomats were seeking to uphold U.S. President Trump's policy of keeping Americans safe. | ||
| However, in Washington, the State Department said Secretary of State Rubio had spoken by phone with the Ugandan president about migration and a number of other issues. | ||
| Let's go to the phones now, Dahlia in Miami, Republican line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I came to this country legally in 1960. | ||
| I'm 78 years old, and I am retired from ICE. | ||
| President Biden opens the gate and let everyone in. | ||
| We don't even know who they are. | ||
| And now people are after Trump, what's wrong with the Democrats? | ||
| I guess they don't want Americans to be safe. | ||
| They don't care about the people in this country who are here legally. | ||
| And I resent the fact that people are treating the people from ICE as if they were criminals. | ||
| They are not. | ||
| I worked for the federal government for 34 years. | ||
| Dahlia, what did you do for ICE? | ||
| I was an investigative assistant. | ||
| I worked cases and I assisted the agents. | ||
| I worked in wiretaps as a translator. | ||
| And I went to several places overseas on cases of money laundering. | ||
| So I know what I'm talking about. | ||
| And what country did you immigrate from in 1960? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Cuba. | |
| That's another thing. | ||
| People who think that communism and socialism is great, look at what they have done to my former country. | ||
| They have destroyed it. | ||
| And people want to vote for a socialist in New York City. | ||
| I hope he wins. | ||
| That way, you will get a taste of what socialism is. | ||
| All right, Dahlia. | ||
| And here's David, Democrat, Sacramento, California. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| How are you? | ||
| Good. | ||
| One of the problems we have as Democrats face that too often our leaders walk into communities trying to tell the people what they want instead of asking them what they need. | ||
| That has to change. | ||
| Real leadership listens first, then build solutions with the people. | ||
| Now, I know there's fear in the area when we see troops in some of our cities. | ||
| Let me be clear. | ||
| These men and women are not occupiers. | ||
| They are following lawful orders, and under the soldiers' code of conduct, which I lived under for 10 years in the military, they cannot and will not fire upon unarmed citizens. | ||
| They also have ability to refuse illegal orders. | ||
| History taught us this at Mili, where soldiers were court-martial for filing unlawful commands. | ||
| That lesson has been burning to their conscience forever. | ||
| So, when we see Donald Trump and his allies pushing illegal paragraphs, opposing the idea of martial law to silence elections, let's be clear: the military oath is to the Constitution and not to one man. | ||
| Our campaign as Democrats should not be about complaints or just opposition. | ||
| So, David, regarding deportation, what are your thoughts on that? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I believe that each person that is trying to be deported should have their day in court. | |
| This shouldn't just be raids that run into schools and churches and places on Home Depot. | ||
| And there should be a lot of opportunity to show that they have a right to be or an opportunity to be here in America. | ||
| Can't go running around picking people up that have masks and like that. | ||
| I was born in the 60s. | ||
| That's some of the stuff that I lived through. | ||
| That type of thing where they would just pull a black man off the street and he would disappear. | ||
| I lived through that. | ||
| All right, David, and we're taking your calls on the Trump administration's deportation efforts. | ||
| What you think about that? | ||
| Do you support? | ||
| Do you oppose it? | ||
| Our lines are by party. | ||
| So, Republicans are on 202748-8001, Democrats 202-748-8000, and Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| Here's Douglas in Ohio, Independent line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I'm totally against what Trump is doing. | ||
| That cry baby Trump party of law and order mine behind. | ||
| I mean, he is just disgusting with what he's pulling on these poor people. | ||
| All they are is workers in the field. | ||
| They're trying to support their families. | ||
| Hey, you know, you try to get your family a better life no matter who you are. | ||
| And this son of a gun, he wants to be a dictator so bad, he will pull out all the hooks to do it. | ||
| And we got to get rid of him sooner or later. | ||
| So let's make it sooner and make the country a lot better place. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| And here is Kilmar Obrego Garcia speaking yesterday morning outside of his outside of that ICE facility. | ||
| And this is, he speaks in Spanish, and then the translator will speak. | ||
|
unidentified
|
A toda la familia también que han sufrido separaciones y que viven constantemente por la amenaza de ser separadas, quiero decirle, aunque la injusticia no está golpeando duro, no perdamos la fe. | |
| To all the families who have been separated, or to all the families who have been threatened with family separation, this administration has hit us hard. | ||
| But I want to tell you guys something. | ||
| Dios está conosotros, dios nún cano dejara. | ||
| Dios hace justicia, a toda la injusticia que ang echo. | ||
| God is with us, and God will never leave us. | ||
| God will bring justice to all of the injustice that we are suffering. | ||
| And we're taking your calls and your social media posts. | ||
| Teddy posted on Facebook support in all caps. | ||
| Obviously, we want to make America great again. | ||
| And Mike, what do you think in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Democrat? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I'm concerned about people being deported off of the street with no, you don't have evidence that I mean, you're just picking people up randomly. | |
| It's something to be concerned about. | ||
| It could happen. | ||
| The thing that I'm mostly concerned about is I see mostly brown and black faces that's being picked up off the street. | ||
| But, you know, you have a lot of white European people here in this country with visas that overstayed their visas too. | ||
| Two-dimension visas, work visas, owning it on their own. | ||
| So what's make them different than the black and brown people whose visas they've overstayed their state? | ||
| And one more thing. | ||
| Trump is definitely a pedophile. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And regarding overstaying visas, so this is Axios with the headline, Trump administration vetting 55 million U.S. visa holders for potential violations. | ||
| Here's what the article says. | ||
| The Trump administration said Thursday it's scrutinizing the records of all U.S. visa holders for potential violations that could result in deportations from overstays to terrorist activities. | ||
| It says that President Trump has made immigration enforcement a key priority during his second administration, aggressively cracking down on undocumented immigrants and revoking visas for students for reasons such as pro-Palestinian activism. | ||
| That's on Axios, if you'd like to read that. | ||
| And this is Henrietta, Fort Pierce, Florida, Republican. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| I just want to say that I absolutely am behind what the president is doing. | ||
| We need to get the illegals out of the country. | ||
| We don't want them here. | ||
| They artificially lower wages. | ||
| In addition to that, they take up housing that's meant for American citizens. | ||
| Also, the illegal children that are in school take up space and are actually robbing American citizens from me. | ||
| No, I didn't. | ||
| Henrietta, I'm still here. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| They're robbing American citizens of the privilege of attention, full attention from their teachers. | ||
| And it's unacceptable, unacceptable. | ||
| And that young man who talked about black and brown faces missing and pulling them off the street, well, guess what? | ||
| The black and brown people are the ones who invaded our country. | ||
| In addition to that, I believe that Trump should round up the Russians who are here illegally, everyone who is here illegally, regardless of their color. | ||
| We are totally sick of this invasion and the illegals who are taking support from American citizens, taking money that does not belong to them. | ||
| And these fools that are like, oh my God, they're just coming here for a better opportunity. | ||
| Well, guess what? | ||
| They should stay home and make their country great again. | ||
| I had the opportunity to listen to a young woman who was from Venezuela who wanted to run for office, but she's here telling us to worry about socialism. | ||
| So, you know, after the speech, I went up to her and I said, you know, congratulations on your speech. | ||
| But I have one question. | ||
| Why are you not home in your country fighting for your country like we fought for our country? | ||
| What did she say? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's unacceptable. | |
| What did she say? | ||
| Pardon me? | ||
| So, what did she say? | ||
|
unidentified
|
That Venezuela is a dictator that I would actually have the temerity to ask her a consequential question. | |
| She had no answer. | ||
| All she wanted to do was come here and preload off of us. | ||
| Got it. | ||
| Here's John Donellan, Florida, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning, John. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| The lady in front of me said it pretty good. | ||
| I'd like to just add also that all the illegal aliens that have poured over the border under the Joe Biden administration, that the amount of poor women that have been raped and murdered by them. | ||
| Also, in Florida, we had that Indian truck driver who couldn't speak a word of English, was given a CDL by California, killed three people on the highway. | ||
| I mean, the blood and carnage that is being wrecked on this country by the Biden administration, the blood will always be on their hands. | ||
| The lady in front of me was right. | ||
| We can't afford to bring these people in. | ||
| We have plenty of Americans that need our help who are less fortunate than we are and that can use all these services that are being used by these illegal aliens. | ||
| You look at all these states that are $100 billion in shortfall because they're putting these kids through school and social services and putting these people up in hotels. | ||
| It's unsustainable. | ||
| It's just unsustainable. | ||
| So I'm all for what President Trump and his administration is trying to get done. | ||
| I mean, all the extra money that we have, which we don't, because we're $37 trillion in debt, should be going to American citizens who need a helping hand up. | ||
| Instead, we're giving a helping hand up to illegal aliens, and we're just discarding our American citizens to fend for themselves. | ||
| It's unacceptable in a country like the United States of America, and we need to get this thing cleaned up and start helping the people who deserve it, which are the United States citizens of this country and not illegal aliens who have poured over the border in the last four years under the Biden administration, who has massive amounts of blood on their hands. | ||
| We got that point, John. | ||
| And here is Border Czar Tom Homan. | ||
| He was defending actions on Garcia on Fox News from Sunday. | ||
| Abreo Garcia's lawyer says the government is, quote, weaponizing the immigration system against him. | ||
| My question is, what's your response to accusations that you're weaponizing the immigration system and will, in fact, Abrego Garcia soon be heading to Uganda? | ||
| He is absolutely going to be deported from this country. | ||
| He's not going to walk the streets of this nation. | ||
| So he can enjoy the little time he has with his family. | ||
| And for the person who says we're not going to separate family, well, his family can go with him because he's leaving. | ||
| He's going to be deported. | ||
| Look, he's a criminal alien. | ||
| He's a member of MS-13, which is now a designated terrorist. | ||
| He's a white beater. | ||
| He's a human trafficker. | ||
| He's been indicted for human trafficking and alien smuggling. | ||
| He's a bad person. | ||
| He's not going to be here. | ||
| He's been ordered removed twice. | ||
| Order removed by two different federal judges. | ||
| He's going to leave this country in the very near future and his family can go with him. | ||
| I can't see who was talking before the soundbites, but whoever said we're taking advantage of the broken immigration system, what do they do? | ||
| What do those people do the last four years about this broken immigration system? | ||
| They let 10.5 million people cross that border. | ||
| Sex trafficking, women, and children all-time high. | ||
| Overdose Testa Fatten all-time high. | ||
| Number of terrorists all-time high. | ||
| They didn't do anything to fix it. | ||
| President Trump is keeping his promise to American people to enforce the law, and that's what we're doing. | ||
| We'll make this country safer every day by removing people like Abrego Garcia. | ||
| And on social media, Cindy says this. | ||
| I support due process. | ||
| Unmasked, officially trained policing officials, deportation of criminals. | ||
| Do not support using our military unconstitutionally while holding persons without properly identifying an evidence of crimes in private prisons to enrich the prison owners. | ||
| Steve says, definitely approve. | ||
| They came in illegally, so they have no rights. | ||
| Send them all back to the country of origin and ban their return. | ||
| And here is Helen in Long Island in Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I have a couple of things to say. | |
| Don't hang up on me, please. | ||
| I have a couple of things. | ||
| These people are supposed to be Christians and angelicas. | ||
| Well, in the Bible, in three places, especially malicious three, it says, I will come to you in judgment. | ||
| I will be ready to witness against sorceries, adulteries, and swear fors, against who opposes the hard worker, the widow, and the father, and against those who deny justice to the recent aliens, which are immigrants. | ||
| And another thing, you talk, Trump keeps saying that bringing criminals here, he brought Putin, the man that kills children and mothers here. | ||
| So I don't even want to hear that. | ||
| He brought Putin here and put out the red carpet. | ||
| I'm sorry. | ||
| I don't mean to get upset, but all right, I'm done. | ||
| And here's Alex in Brooklyn, New York, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning, Alex. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, sir. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I just want to basically reply to the woman that says that immigrants are taking up space here. | ||
| I am of Colombian descent. | ||
| I grew up in New York City. | ||
| I have grown up in New York City my entire life. | ||
| I was the wave of Colombians that came here during the criminal wave of the 80s that destroyed my country. | ||
| And my parents came here so that we could make a better life. | ||
| I own a business. | ||
| I have people that work for me, that pay taxes. | ||
| During the COVID epidemic, we made gowns when all those people were in their houses sheltering in place when we had no idea what was going on. | ||
| I was making 20,000 gowns a week so that hospitals could have gowns so people could be protected. | ||
| You people out there that listen to C-SPAN have been somehow manipulated into thinking that we are somehow less than humans. | ||
| And the moment you do that, you start degrading what this democracy is about. | ||
| This country was built by immigrants, waves of immigrants that came from Europe. | ||
| All you people calling right now telling Hispanics to go back to their countries is no different than your forefathers that came here after the war, before the war, to make a better lives for themselves. | ||
| The Italian migration wave, the Cuban migration wave, the Irish migration wave. | ||
| The largest German migration wave came to this country. | ||
| People that were fleeing the destruction that was left over from Hitler and the Nazis in Europe. | ||
| And that kind of ideology is what you people are spouting now. | ||
| And what I will finish by is saying this. | ||
| If you people out there allow this to happen here, then you do not deserve a democracy because that is what you're building. | ||
| You are dehumanizing people that are coming here for a better life. | ||
| If there are changes that need to be made so that people aren't freeloading as you say they are, then you can do that. | ||
| But do not dehumanize people that are coming here with good intentions to work to build better lives for themselves and their children. | ||
| The construction, the people that work in agriculture, the people that work in restaurants, people that become firefighters, policemen, police women, people that become soldiers, people that die. | ||
| Alex, I want to ask you about what the previous caller said, which is why don't they stay in their own country and improve their own country? | ||
| Why don't they run for office? | ||
| Why don't they work there and have a better life there instead of coming here? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What do you say to that? | |
| Because the policy of this country, why do you think so many people came here during the 90s? | ||
| Why do you think MS-13 was built here? | ||
| It was made here in the United States, even though people don't want to maybe study the facts. | ||
| But the migration trend that happened here because of NAFTA, NAFTA destroyed Mexico. | ||
| If you'd want to start putting these points together, you can start looking at the reasons why. | ||
| Look, I am not trying to blame anybody. | ||
| There is a reason why the United States has a fentanyl crisis because we have a drug epidemic in this country. | ||
| This country feeds off of the addiction of people, and it makes people addicted to drugs. | ||
| Fentanyl is an example of that. | ||
| Cocaine was an example of that in the 80s. | ||
| I came here, my parents came here, because of the crime wave that happened in Colombia because of the demand of cocaine here in the United States. | ||
| You have people in Mexico now that their economy was destroyed because of NAFTA. | ||
| I grew up in the garment industry. | ||
| I can tell you in the 90s, when Clinton passed NAFTA, it destroyed Mexico. | ||
| And a lot of the countries in Latin America were unfortunately victims of a great deal of, I'm not saying it's completely the United States' fault, but their economies were affected largely by the United States supporting economies that dealt with dictatorships. | ||
| It's the reality. | ||
| All right, Alex, I just got to move on. | ||
| This is Don in Chelton, Washington, Republican. | ||
| Good morning, Don. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I'll be brief. | ||
| There are circumstances and there are people. | ||
| There are people in bizarre circumstances and there are people that are in regulated circumstances. | ||
| And in this case, in regards to Mr. Garcia and what I've just said, is that one thing is for sure. | ||
| There is a relative reason why he has been sent to where he's being sent to, and that will prevail. | ||
| And that is the fact that he needs to recognize you gone. | ||
| Duh. | ||
| You gone, duh. | ||
| He is gone. | ||
| Duh. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| And here's Ryan in Edmond, Oklahoma, Independent Line. | ||
| Hi, Ryan. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, good morning. | |
| Thank you for taking my call, and thank you for serving us on C-SPAN. | ||
| I just wanted to say, you know, I love the idea of immigration in America as a melting pot. | ||
| But what I wonder is why isn't the media narrative focused on these employers who are exploiting migrants and immigrants without providing them a proper path to citizenship? | ||
| You know, we always talk about how they're supporting our country, and they truly are. | ||
| They're the fabric of our country. | ||
| But why aren't the employers being penalized or held accountable to offer these folks a way to citizenship? | ||
| And that's really all I have to say. | ||
| Thank you so much. | ||
| And here's Ray in Georgetown, South Carolina, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning, C-SPAN. | |
| On the immigration, all nations of people, all nations came to the United States for Abdella Lives. | ||
| It started years ago. | ||
| So why did it so much different now? | ||
| People come to this country looking for a better life. | ||
| They come, they work hard. | ||
| We had a crime in this country committed by an American. | ||
| What about them? | ||
| What illegal alien went into the school and shot the school up? | ||
| Those are Americans. | ||
| That's a lab to say. | ||
| And this is LaKel, Jessup, Georgia, Republican. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How are you doing? | |
| Good. | ||
| That's great. | ||
| I somewhat favor Mr. Trump's deportation efforts as well as somewhat in opposition to some measures. | ||
| I say that to say that the prejudice that hit the United States during the Biden administration, it kind of like offset some other prejudices. | ||
| And in doing such, it created a type of indifference towards a lot of factors as well as towards the federal government within itself. | ||
| Now, the color of the female that stated immigrants need to go back to their own school, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. | ||
| And brown and black people invaded the United States. | ||
| That's negative. | ||
| That's false. | ||
| Haphazardly speaking, statistically based, in most cases, people are flying to America from Europe, from England, from Australia, from London, etc. | ||
| Now, the travel ban was incorporated in an effort to respect the ingenuity of America, but at the same time, try to say African Americans are suffocating, immigrants are suffocating economically wise. | ||
| However, if individuals who are like $100,000 bank can come in at luxury at will and suppress the economy, then that will kind of like be an infringe upon civil liberties. | ||
| All right, LaKelle. | ||
| And this was at that same press conference yesterday in Maryland Democratic Representative Glenn Ivey spoke discussing Garcia's fate. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Here he is. | |
| When I worked at the Department of Justice, when they made a mistake, they would acknowledge it, correct it, and move on. | ||
| This started with a mistake. | ||
| They picked him up. | ||
| They deported him. | ||
| They knew it was illegal. | ||
| They acknowledged it because the judge said he could stay here. | ||
| But instead of acknowledging it and bringing him back, they said, we can't bring him back. | ||
| They lied. | ||
| The Supreme Court said, no, he gets his day in court, bring him back. | ||
| But they didn't want to back down and just do what the Supreme Court ordered them to do. | ||
| So they charged him with crimes in Tennessee that came out of nowhere. | ||
| And then they brought him back immediately. | ||
| So we knew they could bring him back, right? | ||
| We know they can give him justice, right? | ||
| But they keep fighting it. | ||
| So he went in front of another judge in Tennessee, and what did that judge say? | ||
| He looked at the case that they charged him with and said, you know what? | ||
| I think he should be able to go home. | ||
| I think he should be able to stay home. | ||
| I think he should have his day in court, and we're going to let him go back to his house. | ||
| So he should be in his house this morning, not worried about getting deported anywhere, not worrying about injustice anywhere, not worrying about the pressure and the vengeance of the Department of Justice and the Trump administration. | ||
| He should be able to get his due process and go forward from there, right? | ||
|
unidentified
|
That's right. | |
| And if you're interested in why Kilmar Abrego-Garcia won't get deported back to El Salvador, take a look at this NPR article. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It says this, sorry. | |
| It says, Abrego Garcia on Monday filed a lawsuit challenging his current detention and any deportation to Uganda or any other country until a trial is held at an immigration court. | ||
| In a statement after his detention, Chrissy Noom, we talked about that, he would go to Uganda. | ||
| At the core of Abrego Garcia's case is the question of due process under President Trump's aggressive crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the U.S. | ||
| The man was arrested in March and sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to the Central American country because of the, quote, well-founded fear of gang persecution there. | ||
| The Trump administration conceded Abrego Garcia's removal was an administrative error and returned him to the U.S. in June to face criminal charges. | ||
| He was indicted on two charges, including conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants and unlawful transportation of migrants without legal status. | ||
| The Trump administration has said it intends to deport Abrego Garcia to Uganda despite the latter government indicating it prefers to receive people from other African countries and individuals without criminal records. | ||
| It said that attorneys, his attorneys in a court filing, the U.S. government has offered the possibility of deporting him to Costa Rica if he pled guilty to the criminal charges against him and served the imposed sentence. | ||
| His attorneys have said that move is coercive and vindictive. | ||
| This is Joe, Democrat in Oklahoma City. | ||
| Good morning, Joe. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, thanks so much. | |
| Let me give a shout out to Randy Rhodes. | ||
| She's a real champion of truth. | ||
| Let me go through a very quick education to some of your voters, some of your viewers that are voters that tend to vote Republican. | ||
| Donald Trump, when he was in the very first time, he didn't work to pass laws to upgrade our immigration system because Republicans for decades have refused to do that. | ||
| What he did is he did executive orders and he threatened the government of Mexico with tariffs. | ||
| This was back in 2016. | ||
| So the Mexican government was really the ones keeping the immigrants away from seeking asylum or coming into the United States. | ||
| Trump also passed executive orders making it where our border people could take children, babies, three-year-olds away from their parents. | ||
| So if you were going to come here to America, a lot of migrants stopped trying to get in here. | ||
| Well, when Joe Biden beat Trump by a legal vote in 2020, all Joe Biden did was get rid of the crazy executive orders. | ||
| And Mexico, no more fears of tariffs, let those people that were being held in camps and stuff through. | ||
| And there was a rush at the border. | ||
| Well, under normal law, if somebody shows up at the border and says, hey, I'm seeking asylum, they were just overwhelmed. | ||
| So they were giving people cheap cell phones to keep track of them. | ||
| So there was a rush at the border, but look it up. | ||
| Everybody that's a Republican out there, look it up. | ||
| Joe Biden deported, didn't allow into our country 4.8 million people. | ||
| Well, does that sound like an open word? | ||
| They're wide open. | ||
| They're handing them cash. | ||
| They're giving them hotel rooms. | ||
| Stop with the lies and look up facts. | ||
| Look up how many people came in under Biden. | ||
| Look up how many people he deported or removed from the country. | ||
| Let the truth sink in, and then you'll realize what a huge leafblower of lies Trump is. | ||
| Thanks, guys. | ||
| Well, later on in the Washington Journal, we will have an expert from Pew talking about immigration numbers. | ||
| So be sure to stay with us for that. | ||
| Here's Chris in Philadelphia, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I struggle with this whole issue because my father is an injured Vietnam veteran. | ||
| I'm 50 years old. | ||
| I'm currently taking care of him. | ||
| And I feel like the immigrants haven't done their share as far as defending this country. | ||
| Like the last caller just said, I think a lot of us visually are seeing them laying around begging for money. | ||
| Grown men. | ||
| Then they use the children sometimes to offset that. | ||
| And I feel for them. | ||
| I'm a human. | ||
| What I think needs to happen in our country is instead of closing the door, they need to build the opportunity. | ||
| Put them in the army. | ||
| Train them. | ||
| Make them fight for what they want. | ||
| You know, look at what's happening in Venezuela. | ||
| Millions of people are signing up. | ||
| Offer that here. | ||
| Offer them, you know, a way to transition. | ||
| There's so many people with degrees in language and schooling. | ||
| Bill, why aren't we having a school that teaches people English? | ||
| You know, it's just like Trump says that he's investing in AI. | ||
| I have to laugh because if you ever notice him standing there holding up a billboard behind him, you know, these are the numbers. | ||
| These are the numbers. | ||
| Where's your investment in AI? | ||
| We are America, and it's 2025, and you're holding up a billboard. | ||
| And as far as my point about war, Donald Trump's never fought a day in his life except against the alleged sex crimes. | ||
| So this country really needs to look at opportunity instead of closing the doors. | ||
| So, Chris, is it your idea that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to join the U.S. military? | ||
| Because right now, you either have to be a citizen or a green card holder. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think they should develop a program, just like they had the National Guards or something. | |
| Develop a program. | ||
| You know, come on, Hag Set. | ||
| Let's see you do some work. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| I see you stand up with your hair perfectly defined, but do some work that would be beneficial for both the country and for the aliens. | ||
| Because we got to accept that, yeah, instead of trying to pinpoint and pick every one of them and throw them out, let's try to build our country. | ||
| I don't see that happening. | ||
| I'm 50 years old. | ||
| I see cuts happening, education going away. | ||
| Where is all this money going? | ||
| Elon Musk, somebody's got to start to take charge here. | ||
| You know, you want to make America great again? | ||
| Well, start by showing us how AI works. | ||
| You know how many millions of elderly folks have no clue what we're even talking about? | ||
| I had a caller yesterday, heard her call it A1. | ||
| It's not a state sauce. | ||
| All right, Chris. | ||
| Here is a text we got from Skippers, Virginia. | ||
| Yorf says, I support Trump's deportation effort, especially at deporting foreign gang members. | ||
| But making the hiring of an undocumented worker a felony would be more effective policy, as many would self-deport. | ||
| Connie in Colorado says, Homan is on a power trip and deporting must get to process first and should never include jailing, deporting, jailing. | ||
| Deporting means leaving the U.S., not being sent without proof of a crime. | ||
| Being here illegally is a civil case, not criminal. | ||
| Let's talk to Mario in Brooklyn, New York, Republican. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I like to say it seems like everybody's got an answer to what's happening. | |
| I think what's happening, I'm currently, I think what's going on is they're allowing immigrants in, and they're not scouting them. | ||
| So they're allowing all these immigrants that are coming here. | ||
| And basically, what they're doing is they're abusing our system. | ||
| Immigration, yes, our country was built on immigration. | ||
| But, you know, when my father came from Italy, migrated here, he came with the right intentions to build a life, to build a future for his family. | ||
| I don't think that's what's going on currently. | ||
| And I do agree with what Trump is doing, to be honest with you, because we've got a lot of immigrants here that are just causing more chaos than anything else. | ||
| And that's all I have to say. | ||
| Thank you and have a lovely day. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And this is Eddie, New York City, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning, Eddie. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, this is Eddie right here. | |
| Look, when I was born in Guantanamo Vay, Cuba, right, when I came here as a child, 1975, black family took us in until my mother could find a place to live. | ||
| When I came here as a child, nobody gave me $9,000 cards to get food. | ||
| Nobody put me in a beautiful hotel with these people. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
| Sorry, I just wanted to ask: what was the situation in 1975 as far as immigration from Cuba? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, like I said, you had a Cold War going on, so we came in here as Cuban refugees, and I got a resident alien card, and then 89, I became an American citizen. | |
| So at that time, Cubans were allowed to claim refugee status then and come legally into the United States. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Legally, but it's not like what Biden did. | |
| He opened up the borders, and then you had all these crazy Venezuelan gangs terrorizing half of America. | ||
| That's not the way it was back in the 70s. | ||
| We had a Cold War, but we came in the legal way. | ||
| And I became an American citizen the legal way. | ||
| You know, you're giving these people all these $9,000 cards, putting them in a hotel. | ||
| Come on now. | ||
| When the majority of New Yorkers in New York City is homeless, that's not fair. | ||
| That's not fair. | ||
| That's not the America I remember when I came here as a child. | ||
| That's not the America I remember. | ||
| I mean, they had no choice but to shut down the border. | ||
| They had no choice but to round out these people out here because New York City got enough crime as it is. | ||
| I mean, you know, the Bronx is a shooting gallery where I live at. | ||
| This place is a shooting gallery, man. | ||
| All right, Eddie. | ||
| And some other news for you from NBC. | ||
| Trump says he's removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, citing his administration's allegations of mortgage fraud. | ||
| Cook, the first black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, responded by saying she has done nothing wrong and Trump cannot fire her. | ||
| This is Mark in Newport, Kentucky, Republican. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I was just wanting to talk about that Garcia guy. | |
| Why the Democrats is using him for a poster child is unbelievable. | ||
| He's a woman beater. | ||
| Can you imagine how many kids that he transports over here that may be in some type of a sex scam or something? | ||
| I just think it's disgusting what they're doing. | ||
| And that's all I got. | ||
| Thanks. | ||
| And here is Christopher, Pikesville, Maryland, Independent Line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, good morning. | |
| How are you doing? | ||
| Thanks for taking my call. | ||
| Go right ahead, Christopher. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I noticed that all the illegal aliens are brown or from south of the border. | |
| Yeah, I know they got illegal aliens. | ||
| Like you got Russians, you got a lot of European illegal aliens. | ||
| How come, I wonder why he's not going after illegal aliens that are light-colored skin. | ||
| You got Japanese, Chinese, up in New York and San Francisco working in these sweatshops. | ||
| How come they're not being going after? | ||
| If you're going to go after illegal illness, just don't go after one race or one color. | ||
| Go after all of them. | ||
| That's all I want to say. | ||
| Just if you're going to be honest, if you're going to be fair and balanced, do that. | ||
| Just don't go after one race. | ||
| There's a whole bunch of illegal aliens. | ||
| They may not come through the border, but they're coming in anyway. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And we're talking about the Trump administration's deportation efforts and getting your views on that for the next 10, 15 minutes. | ||
| Let's talk to Iris, Rochester, New York, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning, Iris. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I just want to say in regards to deportation, Donald Trump is going way off the books about deportation. | ||
| This country was made with immigrants, black people. | ||
| What he needs to concentrate on is stop being a dictator and stop going into these cities the way he's going into these, the black cities. | ||
| That's all I need to say. | ||
| If anybody get it, you know, come on. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right. | ||
| And here's an article here from Time Magazine. | ||
| The headline is, the people, judges say Trump has wrongly deported so far. | ||
| This is from June, so it's from about two months ago. | ||
| And the article says, as the Trump administration seeks to deliver on the president's campaign promise to enact the largest deportation program in history, carrying out a surge of immigration arrests and working to ramp up the pace of deportations, officials have wrongfully removed multiple people from the country. | ||
| It says that the courts have directed his administration to bring back at least four people it has deported. | ||
| And you can read about that in time.com. | ||
| John, Rockville, Maryland, Republican. | ||
| Hello, John. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, good morning. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Go right ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, no, I mean, I just wanted to talk a little bit about the situation because it's a little, it's complicated because, you know, I'm an immigrant. | |
| And I, you know, I see white people come to this country, but I came here the legal way. | ||
| I saw my parents, you know, really work hard and, you know, decide to stay here only the legal way. | ||
| But I also know a lot of people that struggle outside the country. | ||
| The problem is that when people start taking advantage of the opportunity to be in this country, I worked as an interpreter in the DMV area. | ||
| And in the last four years, I came across a lot of people that, you know, just kind of had just arrived into the country. | ||
| And in about a week or two, they were already given, you know, medical insurance on top of, you know, a lot of the stories really lined up with each other. | ||
| Everybody was telling the same story of how they came here. | ||
| So in my opinion, you know, a lot of people do need to come here. | ||
| However, do a lot of people have a valid story to come here? | ||
| I'm not 100% sure about that. | ||
| That's all I wanted to share. | ||
| All right, John, and this is Darlene, a Democrat in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I wanted to say that it is really bad that Trump is doing what he's doing to immigrants. | ||
| His family came here as immigrants, and it's not right. | ||
| And we all were beautiful and good to go until he became president again. | ||
| And Kristen in Clifton Park, New York, Independent Line. | ||
| Kristen, you're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I hear a lot of people calling in and citing information that is not factual. | ||
| Immigrants are not being issued debit cards with $9,000, $8,000, any thousand dollar amounts. | ||
| I hear people citing this both today and yesterday. | ||
| It is just not true. | ||
| And if that's the basis for someone's belief that issue with immigrants, well, it's just not correct. | ||
| And secondly, I hear immigrants calling in and saying that people are, or people who have grandparents or parents who are immigrants saying that people are coming to this country trying to immigrate now for reasons that are different than their grandparents or their parents came to this country for. | ||
| And, you know, I think that's not correct either. | ||
| It's just sad that immigrants are being demonized in our country. | ||
| Our country is built on, we're a nation of immigrants, and I do not support Donald Trump's agenda. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right, Kristen. | ||
| And Michael in Greenville sent us a text along those lines. | ||
| He says he opposes. | ||
| It's criminal and inhumane and goes against everything America has stood for for 250 years. | ||
| Getting rid of criminals and gang members is one thing. | ||
| Kidnapping grandmas and veterans and legal citizens is entirely unacceptable. | ||
| And Robin Huntington, West Virginia, says, I'm in favor of deportation in certain circumstances if those being considered for deportation are afforded due process. | ||
| Also, why can't lawmakers pass comprehensive immigration reform? | ||
| Remember when Trump quashed that in the months leading up to the election? | ||
| And we're taking your views on the administration's deportation efforts. | ||
| Here's John Bayport, New York, Republican. | ||
| Good morning, John. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, good morning. | |
| I'm calling about the veterans. | ||
| I'm a veteran from Vietnam veteran, and I recently have a 100% rating for disability. | ||
| I believe that the government shouldn't allow one illegal immigrant in this country until all homeless veterans are taken off the streets and giving a proper home or place to stay. | ||
| And they should be able to get their benefits without going through all the nonsense that I had to go through. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's just not fair. | |
| And these people fought for their country, and they should take priority over these people that are coming in illegally. | ||
| So have a laugh at that. | ||
| John, I've got a question for you because this is brought up by a previous caller about: do you think that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to enroll in the U.S. military? | ||
| What do you think about that as a vet? | ||
|
unidentified
|
No, I don't. | |
| You have to be a citizen. | ||
| You have to love this country. | ||
| These people don't love this country. | ||
| They come in here for benefits and for a better way of life, which is fine if you do it legally. | ||
| But what about all the veterans that are homeless? | ||
| All right, we got that. | ||
| And here's Evelyn in Baltimore, Democrat. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| You know, I called in because I hear everybody calling in, especially the Republicans talking about people need to go back where they come from and everything. | ||
| Everybody that's here in this country, well, for as long as this country has been in existence, came from somewhere else. | ||
| And I don't understand how we got all these other countries from the northern board. | ||
| I guess I know Germany, Poland, France. | ||
| And you mean to tell me none of these people here are illegal? | ||
| And I'd like y'all to do a statistic on how many murders are done by foreigners opposed to Americans. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And here's Nelson in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, Independent. | ||
| Hi, Nelson. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, good morning, and thank you for taking my call. | |
| I don't support the deportation of immigrants who are law, like folks who have come here. | ||
| They just want to build a family. | ||
| We see them every day to work at restaurants. | ||
| They're building our roads. | ||
| They're working in our schools. | ||
| They're cleaners everywhere. | ||
| Those people, I am a proponent that if you haven't committed a crime, you haven't done anything that's a moral topitude because immigration law actually states if you've committed a crime and that is a moral topitude. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So it's punishable over three years, then you should be sent back to your country. | |
| That's our immigration law. | ||
| So for all the Republicans who are calling, we actually have a law that says if you've committed a crime, you should be deported. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And if the crime is immoral. | |
| Looks like we might have lost you, Nelson. | ||
| Sorry about that. | ||
| Gary, Kentucky, Republican Lion, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Once again, the public is misinformed by the media. | ||
| It's illegals that are being deported, not anybody else. | ||
| Now, a few of them might get caught up in a tangle if they're hanging with the wrong people at the wrong time, but it's illegal that are in this country that are being deported. | ||
| And everybody's getting in a big uproar over this. | ||
| And those laws, those laws that both sides, Democrats and Republicans, voted for to support these deportations. | ||
| So once again, it's illegals that are in this country. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| All right, Gary, and this is Ricky in Dumbray, Oklahoma, Line for Democrats. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I'd like to make a statement. | |
| I believe they are to be allowed immigrants to serve in the military to make a better life for themselves and their families. | ||
|
unidentified
|
And all these Republicans that keep coming up with this Trump made better, he ain't made nothing better. | |
| He's made this country weaker. | ||
| And that's all I've got to say. | ||
| Bye. | ||
| And here's Patricia, an Independent in Chesapeake, Virginia. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Go ahead, Patricia. | ||
| You're on the air. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I was just listening to what your other callers were saying, and I can't believe how far they're going with who should be in this country and deported and all this kind of stuff. | |
| I realize there are a lot of immigrants who came here to make this country what it is, but you're still forgetting who the sole people were here in the beginning, which everybody forgets about. | ||
| That's the Native Americans. | ||
| And what rights do they have? | ||
| None. | ||
| So when everybody's here talking about all these immigrants and how they need to be out of here, the immigration, as far as what I can tell, the Democrats are using them for their better efforts. | ||
| And that's just going to pick their pears and apples and all that kind of stuff. | ||
| And that came straight from Washington State. | ||
| So we need to look at that. | ||
| I don't think that's fair. | ||
| And that's being overlooked too. | ||
| But Native Americans, they've been overlooked, veterans and everybody else. | ||
| So everybody just needs to stand back and get a better picture of what's going on here. | ||
| And our Native Americans, as well as our veterans, all need to be taken care of. | ||
| And they've never been taken care of, Native Americans. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| And on the line for Democrats in Germantown, Maryland, John, you're on. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| Well, I would say that people don't really realize that legal immigration, the people are required to have sponsors. | ||
| They're not allowed to be on welfare or any other program like that. | ||
| And these people that are coming in illegally are claiming asylum, which, hey, really, if at all, maybe not even a half of 1% would even qualify. | ||
| And this is the same thing. | ||
| Wait, but John, when you say legal immigrants are not allowed to be on public assistance, they well, they have to have a sponsor, and the sponsor is responsible to that they actually go into that. | ||
| But they are eligible for Medicaid. | ||
| They're eligible for SNAP benefits. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, and that's changed because how the law was originally written, they were not. | |
| All right. | ||
| And let's talk to Clenn in Apex, North Carolina, Republican line. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, morning, Mimi. | |
| I just want to challenge the woman that spoke earlier. |