Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: A group of House Democrats who've been critical of President
Speaker 2: Trump's immigration enforcement policies left Washington today to gather in
Speaker 2: Minnesota for a field hearing titled Kidnapped and Disappeared Trump's
Speaker 2: Deadly assault on Minnesota, featuring testimony from people impacted by
Speaker 2: ICE raids in the state. Congresswoman Catherine Clark of Massachusetts,
Speaker 2: the House Democratic Whip, led that hearing and joined us
Speaker 2: from the Minnesota State Building in Saint Paul.
Speaker 3: Listen, well, Joe, thank you, thank you for having me
Speaker 3: on and bringing attention to this hearing that we held today.
Speaker 3: And let me tell you, hearing it firsthand from people
Speaker 3: who have been taken by ICE, US citizens, detained for
Speaker 3: no reason whatsoever, ripped out of their car, having a
Speaker 3: tear gas put in through the air filter of their car,
Speaker 3: just for honking their horn and blowing a whistle. The
Speaker 3: stories that we heard, and of course we have all
Speaker 3: seen the horrific video of the shooting of re Rene Good.
Speaker 3: They really bring to life what is at stake here
Speaker 3: in Minneapolis and here across the country if we continue
Speaker 3: to allow ICE to have this unlawful reign of terror
Speaker 3: on our communities, and so going to your question about
Speaker 3: what do we do about it as we are having
Speaker 3: one of the funding bills that funds the Department of
Speaker 3: Homeland Security coming up potentially next week, and the answer is,
Speaker 3: we have been very clear with Republicans there needs to
Speaker 3: be accountability and guardrails in this funding or they are
Speaker 3: going to have to fund this on their own, because
Speaker 3: we need to see that we are going to have
Speaker 3: body cameras, that we are going to have the ability
Speaker 3: to have actual arrest warrants, that there is going to
Speaker 3: be proper training for these officers, that we are going
Speaker 3: to have to look about how ICE is deploying these
Speaker 3: people who do not seem to have the training or
Speaker 3: the temperament to protect our communities and is being targeted
Speaker 3: by this administration in a highly political way.
Speaker 2: Well, I know Boston and the Boston area has been
Speaker 2: part of the areas targeted by ICE, whether it's Everet
Speaker 2: or Revere. With what you just described, If you can
Speaker 2: get legislation that puts body cameras on agents and provides
Speaker 2: training for deconfliction, for de escalation, will Democrats be on board?
Speaker 3: Listen, We're in active negotiations over this weekend. But we
Speaker 3: need to see real change and a real commitment to
Speaker 3: it from this administration. And so we have to be
Speaker 3: assured that the billions of dollars that they have poured
Speaker 3: in too Ice, it's sevenfold the size agency that it was.
Speaker 3: It is now the largest law enforcement agency in the
Speaker 3: federal government, is actually serving a national security purpose. And
Speaker 3: what we saw today in this hearing, what we heard
Speaker 3: from people in Minnesota, whether that was the chief of police,
Speaker 3: whether it was the mayor of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
Speaker 3: We got to speak with the governor earlier, the Attorney General,
Speaker 3: all of them with the same message. If this is
Speaker 3: happening in Minnesota, it can happen in your hometown as well.
Speaker 1: And so we at this moment have.
Speaker 3: To stand up for our constitution, for the rule of law,
Speaker 3: for fundamental fairness, and the end of terror that we're
Speaker 3: seeing here in Minneapolis.
Speaker 4: Congress Woman, while your group today obviously feels very strongly
Speaker 4: about this, are you getting any assurances from your colleagues
Speaker 4: or colleagues on the other side of the aisle that
Speaker 4: they would be in favor of this and that you
Speaker 4: can get it done fairly quickly.
Speaker 1: I have to say.
Speaker 3: In a day that was filled with both outrage and inspiration,
Speaker 3: it was just such a blow to know that not
Speaker 3: a single Republican from Minnesota has spoken out against what
Speaker 3: they're seeing happening in their own communities.
Speaker 1: And it is not just restrained to the Twin Cities.
Speaker 3: It is throughout Minnesota, and as you know Joe pointed out,
Speaker 3: throughout communities in my district and across the country.
Speaker 1: So this is the moment.
Speaker 3: This isn't a left or right issue, a red or
Speaker 3: blue issue.
Speaker 1: This is about.
Speaker 3: Who are we going to be? Are we going to
Speaker 3: be a country that has law enforcement that is working
Speaker 3: for the safety and security of our communities, that are
Speaker 3: accountable and transparent and well trained, or are we going
Speaker 3: to have a mass paramilitary special force that is working
Speaker 3: on behalf of the president and carrying out political retribution.
Speaker 3: And this should not be a partisan issue. So we're
Speaker 3: going to continue to negotiate. I hope that people will
Speaker 3: come and hear what happened in Minneapolis and take those
Speaker 3: lessons of this is the moment History is calling us
Speaker 3: to stand up at this moment and say, while we
Speaker 3: are fighting for the economic security to lower the cost
Speaker 3: of living, for Americans make sure we protect their healthcare.
Speaker 3: We also have to stand up at this moment for
Speaker 3: our constitutional rights, whether it's the First Amendment right to
Speaker 3: protest peacefully, or whether it is the right to just
Speaker 3: go about your daily life and not have to fear
Speaker 3: being stopped, asked for papers, and possibly abducted.
Speaker 4: Congresswoman, this is all happening within weeks of a possible
Speaker 4: government shut down. Are you willing to shut down the
Speaker 4: government over this?
Speaker 3: You know, we have had one approach around these government budgets,
Speaker 3: and that is negotiate and imploring our Republican colleagues to
Speaker 3: come to the table and negotiate with us.
Speaker 1: And we saw what happened back in the fall.
Speaker 3: Rather than coming and working with us around extending the
Speaker 3: ACA tax credits, they chose to go home, to close
Speaker 3: the government down, and to leave town for over forty days.
Speaker 3: I certainly hope they are not going to make that
Speaker 3: choice now and do that again to the American people,
Speaker 3: to our economy, and to the message that it would
Speaker 3: send that they are unwilling to come and negotiate around
Speaker 3: guardrails for ICE and DHS and would choose ACA.
Speaker 2: Matter is still not resolved Congresswoman, I'm just wondering where
Speaker 2: your head is on this. I know there's the Bernie
Speaker 2: Marino bill in the Senate, but senators just left town
Speaker 2: House won't be here when they get back. Is the
Speaker 2: extension of Obamacare subsidies on the rocks?
Speaker 1: Oh? It certainly is.
Speaker 3: And what a tragedy and what a statement to the
Speaker 3: American people. We had seventeen Republican members of Congress join
Speaker 3: us in a three year extension to give time to
Speaker 3: the American people to delay the pikes we're seeing in
Speaker 3: premiums and to leave DC without resolving this, to let
Speaker 3: the last day of enrollment in the ACA come and go.
Speaker 1: It is just part of what we are seeing in
Speaker 1: difference on.
Speaker 3: Behalf of this administration, and my colleagues across the island
Speaker 3: Congress to the plight of American people, and they are
Speaker 3: telling us loudly they can't afford their lives, whether it's
Speaker 3: the cost of housing or groceries or utility bills. And certainly,
Speaker 3: what is so fundamental to giving your family security to
Speaker 3: have affordable health insurance so they can get care when
Speaker 3: and where they need it. All of that has been
Speaker 3: turned upside down by Republicans and Congress and this administration
Speaker 3: taking away healthcare.
Speaker 1: In order to fund tax cuts. But we will stay
Speaker 1: with it.
Speaker 3: We will keep the pressure up, whether it's on healthcare,
Speaker 3: whether it's on lowering costs, certainly on whether it is
Speaker 3: putting guardrails and accountability and stopping this invasion.
Speaker 1: Advice in Minnesota