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Feb. 14, 2026 - Rubin Report - Dave Rubin
22:34
How Dems Created an ICE Recipe for Disaster on Purpose | Anna Paulina Luna

Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna warns that sanctuary policies in Minnesota—like those blocking local law enforcement from collaborating with ICE—create a "recipe for disaster," citing rising violent crime risks and comparing it to Europe’s unvetted mass migration crises. She criticizes Democratic hypocrisy, including Chuck Schumer’s inconsistent stance on voter ID laws, and demands bipartisan support for the SAVE Act and stricter immigration enforcement, threatening shutdowns or impeachment if blocked. Luna pushes for a DOJ task force to investigate Epstein-related crimes beyond statute limitations, calling Ghaleen Maxwell a "monster" while questioning plea deal victims’ roles. Rejecting D.C.’s political bubble, she prioritizes electing younger, pro-sovereignty representatives before family life, outlining midterm Republican goals: voter ID laws, banning insider trading, capping drug prices, and 2% student loan interest rates, while urging voters to focus on economic relief—like lower gas costs—and ignore media narratives. The episode frames her fight as a battle against policies that undermine safety and sovereignty, with long-term economic gains tied to legislative wins by 2026. [Automatically generated summary]

Participants
Main
a
anna paulina luna
rep/r 16:28
d
dave rubin
blaze 05:54
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Speaker Time Text
Enforcing Borders and Laws 00:08:27
anna paulina luna
Remember, these sanctuary state sanctuary city policies are done on purpose.
And what they do is instead of having local law enforcement be liaisons to these other officers to kind of help de-escalate some of these situations where you might have protesters attacking officers, like we've seen in these last two incidences, they're intentionally telling these officers to stand down.
There's no liaison.
And when you pull that back, you're basically creating a recipe for disaster.
And that's not how any elected official, whether you're Democrat or Republican, should be supporting that type of policy.
And so I think that this is an important thing to remember.
At the end of the day, we're all Americans, but bad policies have impacts on the country.
And we want to ensure that our law enforcement are safe.
And we also want to ensure that we're not putting anyone's lives in danger.
dave rubin
All right, Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna.
I think you are sweating.
You literally ran here.
I saw you fly into the seat, throw something in your ear.
You're going somewhere.
You're coming from somewhere.
What's happening over there in D.C.?
anna paulina luna
I actually just got to from Foreign Affairs.
I had a committee on mass migration in Europe.
unidentified
All right.
dave rubin
Well, what's the deal with mass migration in Europe?
So not worried about our mass migration, at least for this one hearing.
This was what are we going to do to help the Europeans?
I assume they can't seem to help themselves.
anna paulina luna
Yeah, I think it's learning from their mistakes, right?
We know that unvetted, unchecked mass migration is hurting people.
There's a lot of stats to back it.
And then you're seeing, and they tried this here with people that, you know, were saying that they wanted border security and stricter logs on immigration that you're xenophobic and racist.
Same sentiment in Europe, except we're seeing with some of the results and crime statistics that a lot of the people that are coming into some of these European countries, now there's increases specifically targeting women on rape and violent crimes.
And we saw actually, and I think that this kind of correlates to what President Trump has been doing, but with deportation efforts, they've actually seen a drop in violent crime here in the states.
And so I always say that you can learn from other people's mistakes.
In this instance, it would be the European Union and their unvetted, unchecked mass migration.
And we don't want that here.
dave rubin
So since most people watching this probably agree with that, and we show the videos all the time, and you can see these European countries, particularly Western Europe, going completely the wrong direction.
I mean, do you, from what you're hearing, do your European counterparts, do they believe they can save their countries, particularly Western Europe?
I know Central and Eastern Europe, it's a little bit better.
anna paulina luna
Yeah, I think that there's a great sentiment from some of the more conservative leaning members of the European Union and some of these states.
But I also understand, and I sit on the House Democracy Partnership Institute.
And so I've traveled to Brussels.
I've met with many of these partner European nations.
And the problem is, is that if they do come out in favor of very similar platforms to the Trump administration or to Republicans here in the United States, they literally are demonized.
They're called racists.
They're called Nazis, et cetera.
And so actually, as a result of that, and wanting to at least further the connections and also build alliances with some of those more conservative thought leaders in Europe that might end up being presidents one day, et cetera.
I'm actually going to be chairing the Alliance of Sovereign Nations here in Washington, D.C. in March of this upcoming month.
And it's going to be the first ever summit that's really going to be focusing on issues of re-immigration, national sovereignty, freedom of speech, and border security, as well as energy independence.
And so we'll be discussing all of those things.
It's going to be the first ever event.
unidentified
All right.
dave rubin
So let's take it fully to our shores.
And obviously, the big thing in the last month has been the deportation issue and what's going on with ICE, mostly in Minnesota, although it is happening in other states, but Minnesota is sort of ground zero for all of this.
Are you pleased with what the administration has done?
Is there a way to negotiate with the Democrats, or is it just they just simply are not going to stop and Trump has to do what he's going to do?
anna paulina luna
I think that Trump's going to have to continue doing what he's doing.
But look, anytime that you're in an instance where, you know, you have Americans getting hurt, obviously that's not good for law enforcement.
That's not good for the American people.
And ultimately, I think Christino made the correct decision in saying, hey, look, we're going to continue backing our law enforcement.
But there are certain implementation and policies taking place because in states like Minnesota specifically, remember, these sanctuary state sanctuary city policies are done on purpose.
And what they do is instead of having local law enforcement be liaisons to these other officers to kind of help de-escalate some of these situations where you might have protesters attacking officers, like we've seen in these last two incidences, they're intentionally telling these officers to stand down.
There's no liaison.
And when you pull that back, you're basically creating a recipe for disaster.
And that's not how any elected official, whether you're Democrat or Republican, should be supporting that type of policy.
And so I think that this is an important thing to remember.
At the end of the day, we're all Americans, but bad policies have impacts on the country.
And we want to ensure that our law enforcement are safe.
And we also want to ensure that we're not putting anyone's lives in danger.
And so I think the way that they're handling this, you see, Holman's actually saying that there's going to be some changes taking place here pretty soon.
So I'm looking forward to seeing what those are.
However, Chuck Schumer wants, literally, he said it himself the other day.
And I think that that's because I was talking about the SAVE Act and wanting to get that on the last DHS funding bill.
But he wants mass immigration.
He wants mass amnesty.
And, you know, we're not going to do that.
He doesn't want voter ID for American citizens for polling locations, but he wants voter ID for law enforcement, i.e. ICE.
dave rubin
When you point out the hypocrisy with these people, do you ever do it to their face behind closed doors?
And they're like, yeah, it's kind of true.
Like, I just don't understand at this point.
They are so exposed every which way.
Schumer saying the complete reverse of what he said 20 years ago, Hillary and Bill Clinton sound more moderate, make Trump sound moderate now relative to what they were saying 20 years ago on immigration.
I mean, do they ever admit it ever?
anna paulina luna
They're only looking at polling and they're looking at what they can do to lie to their voters to get them through the election cycle.
But what they're having a hard time with is explaining to their own base why they don't want voter security and voter ID, right?
We know that over 70% of Democrats want that.
And this is like a wildly popular issue, similar to banning insider trading, but specifically on immigration.
They're doing the same thing that Kamal Harris and Joe Biden did, you know, running on this open border platform.
Notice how they're not showing you pictures of military-aged males from Africa or the Middle East or China that are coming here illegally.
They're trying to say it's just, you know, women and children.
And they did the same thing with President Trump's administration 1.0.
And so I'm half Hispanic, but I'm not buying into the propaganda and not a lot of us are.
And so ultimately, moving forward, again, we want to keep the home front safe.
We want to keep all Americans safe, regardless of your socioeconomic status or demographic.
But ultimately, that means enforcing border securities and laws.
And I think that there will be some changes coming down.
But I don't think that the administration should negotiate with Schumer because Schumer is being a hypocrite.
He would like nothing more than for the government to shut down.
And they want to play this in the midterm so that they can impeach Trump all over again.
And we're not going to let that happen.
dave rubin
So let me ask you about a little bit of the screwiness within the Republican Party, too, because you mentioned the spending bill and you tried to, you personally tried to attach the SAVE Act to it so that it would allow for identification in federal elections.
Like this is pretty low bar stuff.
Not every Republican voted for it because they didn't want to increase spending.
So how do you deal with that?
anna paulina luna
Well, look, I voted for the rule, which is a parliamentary procedure to allow the legislation to come to the floor, but I did not vote for the spending bill because I personally, my voters specifically did not want transgendered surgeries.
And when you're giving all this money to refugees specifically, when you're giving money to hospitals that are performing those surgeries, after you're now having boards of physicians coming out saying, hey, this could really hurt children, I don't think that that's a useful, Useful way to spend our money.
But ultimately, the Senate negotiated that amongst themselves as a way to have Democrats in the Senate and some of the moderate Republicans support this spending bill.
And so I understand that, you know, they have slim majorities there and we also have a slim majority in the House.
However, voter ID is non-negotiable.
And I think that the Senate's in a pressure cooker right now.
You're welcome.
And ultimately, I think what's going to happen is if they don't pass the Save America Act that's going to pass out of the House tomorrow, we're going to stick it on FISA and that will be the vehicle in which it passes and is signed into law by President Trump.
Egregious Emails and Victims' Stories 00:03:53
dave rubin
Okay, so just to be clear, we are actually holding this interview for a day or two.
So you are a little bit in the past as you do this now, but we'll see.
We'll see if you're right.
But okay, so, all right, so if it gets to the Senate, then your hope obviously is that the Senate passes it.
But you would be for the Senate doing it by simple majority, obviously, right?
anna paulina luna
Yes, 100%.
But I, you know, I don't want to hold my breath because I'd probably pass out if I waited for the Senate to actually do that.
dave rubin
Okay.
So border deportations.
You're also obviously deeply involved in uncovering a lot of this Epstein mess.
I don't even know where to begin with this.
I know you just saw some files, just as I saw this on Twitter a few moments ago, that you saw some of the unredacted stuff and that it's got names listed finally and everything.
Where are we with that, with all of this?
anna paulina luna
Look, I think the DOJ should appoint a special task force.
And I have also found out that some of these crimes cannot be prosecuted because they are outside of the statute of limitations.
So ultimately, as you know, they were handed, I think, many, many administrations' faults for not doing and properly bringing justice on behalf of these victims and really the hurt people involved in this.
But ultimately, they can use a civil rights statute, I think, to reopen some of these cases.
And I think one of the most disturbing things I found out is that a lot of these egregious emails referencing age 10, age 11, mockery of a little girl praying, basically, you know, you can see the dialogue and exchange with Jeffrey Epstein, as well as a number of other things, permission to kill, those are kind of keywords in some of these emails, actually came from women.
And the reason why their names are redacted is because these women said that they were victims.
But what's really disturbing about this, and I understand that, you know, each is a case-by-case basis, and not all the victims engaged in some of what we are seeing in these files.
But I do think that it is really not good that the only person sitting in jail right now is Ghaleen Maxwell.
And I don't think that she deserves clemency.
I read personally, as did other members of Congress, that she engaged in rape of these younger girls and ultimately was facilitating the whole thing.
So, yes, she is a monster.
The president has called her such in the files.
As you saw, he was actually the one that called in one of the tips, I guess, to the FBI.
You can see that in some of these files.
But ultimately, I do think that the DOJ needs to reopen up some of these investigations.
I will be recommending as such, but it's pretty egregious.
And honestly, it's really hard to read because I am a mom.
And you just, you don't want to think that that's happening, but it is.
dave rubin
So, in the things that you're seeing, do you view it as flat-out evidence that these things have happened?
Because a lot of it, as you sort of alluded to, it seems like it's coded language or could be like slightly unclear what they were doing.
But you feel that the emails provide enough direct evidence, I guess, with the corroboration from the women who would have to get out of some of their legal stuff to speak up, I suppose.
anna paulina luna
Yeah, so I definitely think that there is enough to open up an investigation.
And unfortunately, today I went back in and I looked at some of the videos of which were still redacted.
But from what I could tell in some of the redaction, I think that it was because there was either pornographic or CSAM-related materials of which I don't want to see, but it should be labeled so that members can understand what's happening in those videos.
But I mean, based on what I've read with the testimony and then also to, this is also based on unredacted files from the FBI during the initial investigations in New York, where it's talking about some of the now alleged victims being co-conspirators.
And I don't know what plea deals they got if they agreed to testify against Jeffrey Epstein for not maybe being punished for trafficking kids, but it's there in emails.
And so I definitely think that it's a lot.
Real People's Perspective 00:04:49
anna paulina luna
You know, you leave and it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican, everyone's pretty shocked.
And everyone has left and said the same thing that I've said and that some of the most egregious emails, again, were women.
But again, this is, you know, Congress only has a certain authority and then it goes to the Department of Justice.
You know, we do have limited investigative abilities, but we can't try cases.
We can't bring criminal prosecution.
And so that would be my advice.
But it is pretty heavy going through the files.
And I believe in God.
And if you don't believe in God after you read those files, you probably will because the stuff that they're doing is pretty evil.
dave rubin
Yeah, I heard you call it demonic this morning.
I mean, it's off the charts.
Is it strange for you personally to go from Florida where you're the local representative where things basically work?
We've got some screwy stuff here in our legislature.
Could probably be a little bit better as we discussed last time I saw you in D.C.
But things work here.
And then you go to D.C. and it's kind of like nothing works and you have to bounce between these two places constantly.
anna paulina luna
Yes.
And it's also to though a very real perspective in that if you're too caught up in the DC bubble, that you lose sight of what real people are facing.
And that's why it's not good to spend too much time here.
I go home as much as I can.
And I think part of the reason why the system is so broken is because, you know, initially the founding father said, you know, you come up and then you go back to your farms and do work.
Now it's a professional job for most people.
And some people do live up here full time.
But that creates this bubble and you're somewhat desensitized to everything happening.
You know, like I go back home and I'm stopped on the airplane.
I'm stopped in the airport.
I'm stopped when I'm waiting at my terminal and people are like, thank you so much for doing what you're doing.
And we understand that you're kind of like a smaller minority up there, but we just want to let you know that we appreciate you fighting.
And I appreciate that.
But I also understand that I, I think for my own just like emotional well-being, can't do this forever because it's just not good to be in a situation where it's constantly negative.
So I'm going to help other younger people get elected because I want to eventually be a mom and focus on my family and really focus on things that are such limited in time as your children grow.
But I also want to make sure that I'm executing my authorities and my responsibilities as a representative.
And I think that that's going to help get younger people as well as more people like-minded elected to office.
dave rubin
Well, I think it's pretty obvious.
You'll be warmly welcomed when you're officially in Florida 365 days here.
Let me ask you something about the Democrats, though, because it seems to me Trump has this, what is becoming an increasingly limited window to get a lot of stuff done because conventional wisdom obviously is that the midterms are not going to go that well for the Republicans, in which case he then probably gets impeached.
They try to pack the courts once they're in power.
D.C. becomes a state.
Like there's just like a laundry list of things that I see no reason they would not do.
Is that alarmist?
Do you think that's alarmist?
Am I blackpilling when I'm saying that?
anna paulina luna
No, it's true.
No, no, no.
That's an accurate read and assessment.
You've heard it directly that they fully intend and anticipate on A, obstructing, if they were to shut down the government, they would absolutely do it and nothing would get done because they understand that it would basically crip all the policies from the administration.
But then there is an aspect of some people are literally going to do, even though they know that they're lying, even though they see the truth, they will stop at nothing to really smear the administration, specifically the president.
It's personal for them.
And I think that that's the part of politics that's the nastiest because, you know, like I understand people need to get reelected, but there's also a certain amount of damage that's done.
Like, think about how many probably family members don't talk to each other over politics.
But then you see really how it works when the cameras are off and the facts, and you just realize that some people are totally cool with lying.
And so they will do what they need to do because to them, this is the means to an end and they're never going to leave here and they don't care.
dave rubin
You know, it's so interesting.
Just on my show this morning, I don't know if you saw this clip, but Jasmine Crockett was on a podcast and they asked her if she regrets saying that, who was it with the Epstein files, that Lee Zeldon talked to Jeffrey Epstein and took money from Jeffrey Epstein.
And then it turned out that it was a different Jeffrey Epstein.
It had nothing to do with Epstein.
And the interviewer asked her if she regretted it and she said no, because she's like, well, we're in a crazy time and you got to do what you got to do.
And that perfectly illustrates what you just laid out there.
anna paulina luna
Yeah, I think, you know, it takes a lot for people to admit when they're wrong.
I can, and I'm, and I'm, I've been forced to sometimes have to admit, you know, either I over speculated or, you know, but a lot of people can't do that.
And so it's unfortunate because people will get smeared in the process.
But that's like part of the reason why normal people don't want to run for office.
A lot of good people that could run for office don't want to subject their families to it.
They don't want to go through it.
And I've been able to see it, right?
Because I think I naively came in as an activist.
And, you know, I was like, you know, people wouldn't just lie about you or plant stories, but then you can see, and now that I am in office, I can see when a story has been planted.
Prescription Pricing Pressure 00:04:32
anna paulina luna
I know how it operates up here.
And so all I can say is, you know, don't go full black pill, right?
It only turns out that way if you choose to do nothing.
But it's definitely something that we have to take into consideration.
And so you have to show up in the midterms and you have to do what you can do to hold people accountable.
Independent journalism is so important because of this reason.
And I just hope people continue to stay in the fight.
unidentified
Yeah.
dave rubin
And by the way, I'm not a black pillar.
I just think if this doesn't happen, like I'm mostly a white pillar.
I'm kind of a world-weary white pillar.
But if the Republicans lose.
So lay out in the remaining, we just have a couple of minutes.
Can you lay out a couple things that you think the Republicans really have to do from now till November to make sure that the Democrats don't take over power?
anna paulina luna
One, number one thing, voter ID.
The Senate needs to act and pass it into law.
That will invigorate the base.
And it's such a massively bipartisan popular issue, even among Democrats.
dave rubin
So can you quickly?
Can you just explain the thought process then?
If you're Thune or whoever, whichever of these guys are now still in the Senate on the fence, what could possibly be going on in their mind on this?
anna paulina luna
Again, I think it's people, they don't want to appear that they're being bullied by the House, but it's not about that.
This is an issue that many people, the American people, are widely speaking to so much so that even I think Schumer is backtracking a little bit because now Democrats are being confronted on the fact that their own base, I think CNN to the poll, want voter ID.
Like this is a low-hanging fruit option here, right?
Like a mass, I think it's like an 80-20 issue.
So I don't think that there is an out, but I do think that they will be forced to act, especially because President Trump, as you know, is like the 800-pound gorilla in the White House and he is backing us fully on these efforts.
And so I met with him and he's fully behind it.
And now leadership in the House is fully behind it.
So this is a great team here.
Like, here's the play, run the play.
So I'd have to say, number one thing, voter ID.
Number two is banning insider trading.
And again, one of those wildly popular issues that I championed.
We actually have the piece of legislation ready to go and it will be voted on shortly after the state of the union.
So I'm sure you'll want to tune into the state of the union to hear what President Trump has to say about that.
And then I would have to say is the third thing is I would suggest that the DOJ form a task force to specifically look into some of these Epstein things because again, I think that this is an issue that is not going to go away.
but I also think that there needs to be justice served.
And I do think that the civil rights statute can be looked at.
But again, I'm not at the DOJ, but I do know that they're taking this very seriously.
And I look forward to kind of seeing what develops from that.
And then I would have to say that if you are a representative, listen to what your constituents want.
unidentified
Okay.
anna paulina luna
So like the one thing that my constituents have been really big on is prescription pill pricing capping.
And then also I'm going to be doing something to cap student loan interest at 2%.
I don't have student loans, but I think that that's a very common sense piece of legislation, especially because Congress does effectively control some of these loan programs.
And ultimately, if you really want a better society, you want people to be able to go to college.
They might not be able to afford it, but you also don't want to send them to a life of indentured servitude and paying back some of this debt.
And so I think that part of the United States, what's great about it, is we are in a very successful and wealthy country.
But as long as people are paying back their debt, there's no reason to have them pay it off for 30, 40 years.
dave rubin
So I can get on all five of those, but just give me broadly, what do you think has to happen on the economy?
Actually, when I saw you in December, it was right when the Big Beautiful bill was being passed.
And everybody, you and several other Republicans said the same thing, which is wait till 26 when it's passed and we see the economy open up a little bit.
So what does that actually look like in the last minute or so?
anna paulina luna
Well, I think you're already kind of seeing that.
You know, you're seeing gas prices go down.
You're seeing groceries go down.
Obviously, we're seeing some of the housing prices now starting to cool off.
And I think, you know, when people go to the polling locations, they think about how they're being personally impacted by policy.
And so I think that if we can collectively do something like codify prescription pricing, unfortunately, so many people, because there is, and this is probably a separate topic on, you know, how sick our country is, as in like physically because of processed foods, additives, et cetera.
But a lot of people are on prescription pricing that they're then having to pay.
And so I think that we need to do something to codify President Trump's executive order.
But then also to one of the pieces of legislation that I have that is bipartisan, that capping student loan prices at 2%, that impacts many people in this country.
So many people are impacted by that.
And I think that if you do those and you prove, you know, there's a lot of noise, but don't listen to some of the racket and the propaganda coming out of the mainstream media.
But how do these policies affect our pocketbooks?
And I think that we win by a large margin, but we have to remind voters of that.
Codifying Executive Orders Impacting Many 00:00:51
anna paulina luna
And then obviously, I always say this, but don't give, you know, don't get into the fray.
Don't do unnecessary leadslinging because it's not necessary.
And if you really kind of walk above all that, you can still get your message across without engaging in the tit for tat online.
dave rubin
Congresswoman, they haven't broke you yet.
However, when you do get out and you come back to Florida, I am all for building a wall and we'll keep this place safe and everything will be fine.
I thank you for your time.
And now you can, you were sweating.
What's the weather like over there?
You're sweating and it was like 20 degrees.
anna paulina luna
It's about 40, yeah, like 40 degrees outside.
But I literally ran.
I was like, I see, I've missed that segment.
So I ran up like two flights of stairs.
It pays getting your steps in every day.
So happy inventory.
unidentified
All right.
dave rubin
Thanks, Congresswoman.
If you're looking for thoughtful political conversations that won't raise your blood pressure too much, check out our politics playlist right here.
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