WEBVTT - Botching the Border 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.120 A record number of unaccompanied miners at the southern border 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:06.920 of the United States, Miners that we were told would 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:12.200 not be held in detention facilities anymore. Now overflowing those facilities. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.880 A crisis you might call it at the border, but 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:18.840 the Biden administration would not call it a crisis. We'll 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:20.880 get into what's really going on. This is verdict with 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:29.680 Ted Cruz. Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz. I'm 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:34.600 Michael Knowles, Senator. There is one issue above all that 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:37.200 is dominating right now. It happens to have a lot 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:41.040 to do with your state. There is no transparency whatsoever 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:45.360 on this. You were having liberal reporters telling people that 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:49.360 they had a greater access under Trump under Obama. Right 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:52.080 now they are being shut out. What is going on 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:56.600 at the border, Well, it's a crisis and it's not complicated. 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.680 Call it that. We are saying the volume of the 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.280 league crossings rising dramatically last month. In the month of February, 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:08.480 we had over one hundred thousand illegal immigrants detained. We 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:13.319 are seeing, in particular crisis with children. We're seeing unaccompanied children, 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:17.640 the numbers rising and rising and rising. We're seeing detention 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.280 facilities that are overcrowded, that are packed, that are at 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:28.360 at you know, hundred six seven hunder capacity, and it 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.480 keeps getting worse. And there are several things to understand 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:36.800 about it. Number one, why it's happening. This is the 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.080 direct result of a series of decisions the Biden administration 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.240 is made. So Joe Biden gets selected to get sworn 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:47.760 in on January twentieth. Within days he announces We're stopping 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:53.960 construction of the wall. So border wall done. Within days, 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.840 the Biden administration returns to catch and release. Now know 0:01:57.880 --> 0:02:00.480 what is catching release? Catch and releases the policy. It 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:05.160 was the policy during the Obama administration where when an 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:09.600 illegal immigrant was caught, they'd be given a court date 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.520 sometime in the future and let go and said, hey, 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.799 come to court and lo and behold a whole bunch 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:16.880 of them never show up. This is not complicated to 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:20.040 figure out. One of the most significant things the Trump 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:25.880 administration was end catch and release. But the most important 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:30.960 thing that the Biden administration did is they ended the 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:34.480 remain in Mexico policy. Now, what is the remain in 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:38.799 Mexico policy? It was one of the biggest foreign policy 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.720 and immigration victories of the entire Trump administration and the 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:48.760 Trump administration negotiated a deal with the government of Mexico. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:52.320 So the vast majority of the immigrants crossing illegally into 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.799 this country are not Mexicans. They're Central Americans now who 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.600 are crossing through Mexico. So they're illegal immigrants in Mexico 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.480 crossing Mexico southern border illegally to get to the United States. 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.840 They're largely coming from Guatemala, El Salvador, a couple of 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:11.760 other countries, Nicaragua, and countries that have a lot of violence, 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:13.480 that have a lot of criminal activity, that have a 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.160 lot of poverty, and so they're fleeing that in large numbers. 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:19.359 The remain in Mexico policy was an agreement with Mexico 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.480 where where if these folks come and want to apply 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:24.800 for asylum in the United States, they stay in Mexico 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:29.480 while the case is proceeding. And what the Biden administration 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:33.440 did is it took that really important international agreement and 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.360 it essentially ripped it up, said nope, we don't want 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.880 to remain in Mexico. We want them here and we 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.800 want to let them go. And that consequence, we are 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:47.040 seeing massive numbers of illegal immigrants being released into the 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:50.320 United States, and in turn, Look, if you're sitting at 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:53.240 home in Guatemala and you're trying to decide whether to 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:55.280 come when you see people being released, when you see 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.520 people getting to stay, that's when you jump in a 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:02.240 caravan and had North. There was a liberal journalist, Martha 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.240 Radditts on a liberal network ABC, interviewed an illegal alien. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.840 His face was covered because he's obviously committing a crime, 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.040 and she said, would you have done this under Trump? 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.760 He said, no way, I'm doing this because Biden said 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:17.640 that basically I would not face any consequences. He said, 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:19.760 the primary reason I'm flaeing is my country is no 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:21.560 good and it's violent and I want to get out 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.440 of there. But I would never have done this if 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.159 not for the Biden administration. Well, what we're saying is 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:29.719 really the mirror image of what we saw in late 0:04:29.760 --> 0:04:33.680 twenty sixteen. In early twenty seventeen, when Trump was elected, 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:39.400 we saw illegal crossings plummet by two thirds, and it 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.680 plummeted by January and February of twenty seventeen. And at 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.920 the time Trump had just been sworn in. To be honest, 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:46.480 he hadn't done anything yet. I mean I mean he 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:51.080 literally was just moving in. Yeah, and it is actually 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.720 an astonishing thing. Think back to the presidential debates, the 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:59.400 race of twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen. If any Republican had said, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:03.359 if you elect me, the sheer act of electing me 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.159 will drop illegal immigration by two thirds, you'd have been 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.479 laughed out of the room, like every reporter would have 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:14.120 laughed at you. Everyone said, that is absurd. So Trump, 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:18.159 but January February twenty seventeen, hadn't hired new border patrol agents, 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:20.599 he hadn't built a wall, he hadn't done anything. And 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:25.280 the numbers plummeted. And the reason they plummeted is that 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.919 people believe Trump was going to enforce the law. And So, 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.400 if you're making the decision, do I leave my country, 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.279 do I pay thousands of dollars to a human traffic 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:37.400 or do I engage in a life risking journey only 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:39.280 to be apprehended and saying home, No, I think I'll 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.120 just stay here. We're seeing the mirror image of that 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.440 now right now, people making that same calculation are looking 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.000 at Joe Biden saying, you know what, if I get there, 0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:51.080 I get to stay. So Ali, Ali Oxen free. Let's 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.120 go right right, because you know, this is a very 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:58.000 basic matter. But when you incentivize certain behavior, you get 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.600 more of it, and you disincentivize a certain behavior, you 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.200 get you know, Michael, if you say things like that, 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.200 you're going to identify yourself as a conservative, and they're 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:08.680 going to require you to wear like a patch or something. 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:14.040 Liberals don't understand incentives. It's one of the most fundamental 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:18.360 divides between left and right. It is the concept of incentives. 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.640 So let's take kids and kids in cages. Remember, for 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:26.400 four years we heard the press harping on kids and cages, 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.039 kids and cages, kids and cages under Trump. Well, the 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:33.200 cages were built by Barack Obama. To quote the former 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:36.479 president who built the cages, Joe right, that a lot 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:38.920 of these photos that had gone viral, they were from 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:41.880 the Obama Obama administration. And here's why. So if you 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:48.360 go back to what broke the system was was DACA, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.560 which now the press loves and the Democrats love. It 0:06:50.920 --> 0:06:54.680 was President Obama's illegal executive amnesty and what had happened there. 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:56.040 If you go back and remember, and this feels like 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.440 a long time ago, this is twenty twelve, but if 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:01.680 you remember, Mamma had been asked over and over and 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.640 over again by immigration activists, will you just declare amnesty? 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.240 Use an executive order to declare amnesty? And Obama said repeatedly, 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.320 I can't do that. It's against the law. He said, 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:13.800 I'm not a king. I'm not an emperor. That's how 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:15.640 Obama put it. I'm not a king, I'm not an emperor. 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.160 And then one day he woke up and he was 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:23.880 an emperor, and he issued a lawless order directed his 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:26.280 administration never mind federal immigration law. We're not going to 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:29.120 follow it anymore. If you came to this country as 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.520 a kid, we're going to grant you amnesty. Now. The 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:36.000 year before he did that, there were roughly six thousand 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:40.600 unaccompanied miners came into this country. Six thousand significant number. 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:44.680 The next year, you know how many there were more. 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.320 I'm going to guess ninety three thousand. Wow. I didn't 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:49.400 realize it was that high. And it goes back to 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:55.880 what you just said incentives, which is kids and parents realized, Okay, 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.240 the president just announced if you came as a kid, 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.280 you get to stay. What's going to happen. Well, let's 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.200 send a whole bunch of kids, and actually the Obama 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.119 Department Homeland Security, they interviewed a number of these kids. 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:11.480 They ask them, why are you coming? And the kids said, 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.080 because I get a bettermisso, which is if I come, 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:19.000 I get to stay. Fast forward to today, we're seeing 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.920 the exact same thing you're you're seeing the Obama administration, 0:08:22.520 --> 0:08:26.680 or rather than the Biden administration. Right, tomato tomato. Now 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:31.920 it's worse. It's tomato versus like massive bright red tomato paste. 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:39.400 Like I it's all the bad ideas like because and 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:45.000 they don't understand incentives, or perhaps they do understand incentives, 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:48.160 but actually they desire this sort of behavior because they 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.080 think it gives an advantage. You know. It reminds me 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.720 of years ago. I was reading a newspaper article and 0:08:52.800 --> 0:08:54.920 I think it was a city council member in San 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.400 Francisco who said, I don't understand we have the most 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.800 generous almost benefits in the country and we keep getting 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:06.319 more and more homeless people. It's so strange. Remember reading it, going, yeah, 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.000 you're right, you don't understand, Like if you pay people 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.720 to do something, they'll do it, right, And we're saying 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:14.439 this with it with these kids but you know, to 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:17.480 play devil's advocate a little bit, to give the devils 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:21.240 their due in the Biden administration. Jensaki said something the 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.080 other day that I was sort of exasperated when she 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.559 said it, because they said, Okay, you're you said you 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:29.400 wouldn't put the kids in cages, and you're putting the 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:31.160 kids in cages, and you're letting some of them go, 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.760 but you're you have to separate them because you've got 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:36.000 to verify that the adults that they're with actually are 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.080 their relatives. And the things you're doing, it's basically just 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:41.200 what the Trump administration did. Accept it, it it would seem 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.439 to be to a much greater degree. And she said, well, 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.560 there just aren't a lot of options. I said, well, 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:51.760 where was that kind of understanding when Resident Trump was 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:53.480 doing that? And I guess though, I would want to 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:56.600 take her question seriously, what are you going to do 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.880 when there aren't a lot of options? So, look, there 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.160 are some Democrats. I think there are a lot of 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:06.320 Democrats across the country who want to genuinely be compassionate, 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.640 and I understand that that's the right instinct. I mean, 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.960 it's not a little kid's fault, and so you know, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.199 Jen Saki has also said, you know, we're just we're 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.800 not going to lock up kids now, never mind that 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.240 they are locking up kids to a much greater degree, 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:24.920 to a massive degree. It comes down to incentives. Look, 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:28.080 during the Obama administration, I remember traveling down to Texas 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.400 and a lot of you know, of our two thousand 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.640 mile border that we have been with Mexico, twelve hundred 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.720 of those miles are along the border of the state 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:37.559 of Texas, so we've got more than half the borders 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:41.920 in Texas. And I remember visiting going to Lackland Air 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.679 Force Base outside of San Antonio, where they were housing 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:48.760 they had built facilities, built the early cages four kids. 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:51.800 This is the Obama administration. I was there visiting, and 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.200 I remember I was talking to an official from the 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.319 Health and Human Services Department, And mind you, this is 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:01.200 the Obama administration, so it's the Obama HHS. And this 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:06.280 official described to me how the cartels were putting guns 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.959 to the heads of little kids and forcing children to 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:15.640 cut off the fingers or the ears of other kids. 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.359 And what would happen is a family in Nicaragua, Honduras 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:24.800 or El Salvador would give three four or five thousand 0:11:24.840 --> 0:11:28.800 dollars to a human trafficker. These human traffickers are not 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:34.280 nice people. They're not they don't love children. They are vicious, 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:39.360 horrific criminal cartels. And what they would do once the 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.000 family given three four five thousand dollars to the cartel, 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:46.000 to the trafficker, they would then deliver to the family 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:50.880 their child's finger or ear and say give us another 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.240 three thousand dollars, and they would extract more money from 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:58.280 the parents. And so the Obama HHS official told me 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.240 that they were getting number one, kids that were horribly deformed, 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.520 had fingers cut off or ears cut off, and they 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:06.600 were getting other kids who were psychologically traumatized because they 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.040 had a gun put to their forehead. It wasn't even 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.400 the traffickers that were cutting off the fingers and ears, 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:15.719 it was the other kids. And my view that the 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.079 Democrats say we need to grant amnesty, we need to 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:24.480 let kids come because we're compassionate, I'm sorry if you're 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:29.120 creating a system that is incentivizing tens of thousands or 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:32.160 even hundreds of thousands, and the Biden Department of Homeland 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.480 Security is projecting over one hundred thousand kids coming in 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.920 the country on a company little boys, little girls. If 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:40.920 you're putting little boys and little girls in the hands 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:44.079 of human traffickers, you're not compassionate, You're not humane. You 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:48.319 are a monster. And every one of those kids that 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.760 is sexually assaulted, and I remember, you know, I think 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:56.200 it's horrific. Huffington Posts some years ago with Fusion, published 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.760 a survey. I believe that the number was between sixty 0:12:59.840 --> 0:13:02.400 and eighty percent of women and girls who cross the 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.760 border illegally were raped or sexually assaulted along the way. 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:11.920 It is. It's staggering, and it's not humane or compassionate. 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.520 And I will say I get frustrated with Democrats who 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.880 virtue signal about how much they love immigrants that they 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.720 support a policy that involves a bunch of immigrant children 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:27.040 being physically and sexually abused. It is grotesque. And the 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:32.360 real compassionate policy is what we have had, which is 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:33.960 to say we're going to enforce the law, we're not 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:35.640 going to do catch and release, and if you come 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.160 here illegally, we're going to send you home. And the 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.880 reason that is compassionate is you don't end up with 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.680 kids being handed over to traffickers. Those numbers dropped dramatically, 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.000 and we're seeing that, and it seems like Biden the 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:50.959 Democrats don't understand because there is an effect. There's the 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.920 question of the justice in and of itself of saying 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:56.120 people has a right to have its own borders. Yeah, 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:59.680 but then there is this secondary effect, which is you're 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.600 going to see those numbers plummet. You know, obviously in 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:05.080 six thousand to ninety three thousand, we're not talking a 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:09.040 small effect, right, I mean, we're talking orders of magnitude. 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:10.960 And so I'll tell you on Friday of this week, 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:14.520 I'm going down to the border and I'm bringing a 0:14:14.600 --> 0:14:17.559 number of senators. Right now, the current numbers seventeen senators 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:21.000 are coming down. So I invited I invited John Cornyon, 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:24.480 my colleague from Texas. I invited the other Republican senators. 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:26.720 We've got a total of seventeen senators coming down. We're 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:30.600 gonna go and tour the facilities where they're detaining the kids. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.640 We're gonna tour, We're gonna meet with the Border Patrol. 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:34.520 We're gonna meet with the Border Patrol Union. I know 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.520 those guys very very well. We're gonna go out on 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:43.000 a boat with Texas STPs on the Rio Grand And 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.440 let me tell you something amazing. The Biden administration has 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:51.680 refused to allow any reporters to attend, which was this 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.760 was not true during the Trump administration, or you got 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.400 all that flat from the press. The press had bet 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:00.560 much better access under the Trump administrator. Trump adminis the 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:04.080 press had access to all these facilities. Obama administration the 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:06.960 press had access. Look, the Biden administration is already worse 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:09.920 than the Obama administration on this front. You know the 0:15:10.000 --> 0:15:12.360 picture of kids in cages that for four years was 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:15.760 blamed on Trump, that was actually a picture taken during 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:19.960 the Obama administration. It's because they actually, you know, Biden 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.000 promised to have the most transparent administration ever. We sent 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:28.040 a letter and here's the ridiculous justification the Biden administration 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.200 is doing. They say, well, we'd love to have reporters there, 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:35.920 but we can't because of COVID. Oh so you've got 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.440 facilities with hundreds of illegal immigrants packed into them at 0:15:39.920 --> 0:15:43.200 many hundreds of percent greater than their capacity. You've got 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:46.960 kids almost stacked upon each other, and their view is 0:15:47.240 --> 0:15:51.280 there's no risk of COVID there. But one reporter, if 0:15:51.280 --> 0:15:54.960 you are So ABC News wants to embed with us, 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.240 wants to come and we invited an ABC News offered 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.520 to bring a TV camera and be a pool camera. No, 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:01.640 what is a camera pull camera is what they call 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.560 a TV camera that will share its footage with all 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:07.360 the other networks. So they could literally have one reporter 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.520 and one cameraman. Yeah, no, that would be a risk, 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:14.440 and there is a risk for COVID. And it's such 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:19.920 an obvious lie. You know Alejandro Mayorchis, who's the Secretary 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:22.360 of Homeland Security, he went on the Sunday shows this 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:25.200 weekend and he repeated the obvious lie. Well, it's just 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:30.240 because of COVID, we intend to do it. And look, 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:32.560 some of the press is getting agitated. So this week 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:36.280 I have been a vigorous defender of the press, which 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.880 is an odd position for me today. This is very strange. 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.480 I'm biting my tongue on all the great jokes I 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:43.760 could make about the press right now because I actually 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:46.320 do sort of defend them against the Biden administration. So 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:48.080 I actually believe in a free press. I believe in 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:52.080 the Fresh Amendment and what the Biden if Trump had 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.040 done with the Biden administration had done, the press would 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:58.280 be lighting themselves on fire. Yeah, of course. Instead they're 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.240 just shilling for and defend ending at the Trump administration. 0:17:01.320 --> 0:17:03.120 Let me get the most absurd part about all of this. 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.000 So they're releasing thousands upon thousands of illegal immigrants into 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.280 my home state of Texas. They're setting up detention facilities 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:15.240 downtown Dallas, the Convention Center. They're detaining illegal immigrants Middland, Texas. 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.680 They're detaining illegal immigrants, much against the wishes of the community, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.520 they're releasing them. Here's an amazing stat in Harlingen, Texas. 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:28.159 The illegal immigrants they're releasing are testing positive for COVID 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:33.919 nineteen at a seven times greater rate than the US population. 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:37.840 I also did not realize it was that severe. All 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:43.080 I noticed was that the administration is now admitting that 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.080 it is releasing people into the United States who have 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:50.439 not been illegal aliens, who have not been tested for COVID. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.240 And you saw the DHS secretary was sort of backed 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:55.080 into a corner on this and he said, well, it 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:58.680 is the official policy to test, is right, but are 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.919 you doing that? Well, we are doing our best, and 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.639 it's an admission, it's all but an admission that they 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:07.000 are releasing people in the midst of this pandemic where 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.080 we're not allowed to leave our homes, and they're releasing 0:18:09.240 --> 0:18:11.960 in Texas, my home state, right and the communities in 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:14.800 Texas are not happy about that. And it's one of 0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.120 the things that is frustrating about watching the Biden administration 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.399 is the absolute hypocrisy on COVID. So they're perfectly willing 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:27.640 to release illegal immigrants who may be criminals into Texas, 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:30.560 into the United States, even if they may have COVID nineteen, 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:34.160 and not test them. But yet they won't allow a 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.119 single reporter with a camera to see anything on the 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.879 border because that reporter might have COVID. And you know what, 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.200 I'm willing to bet even if that reporter tested negative 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.480 that day and had been vaccinated. Yeah, they still say no, 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:50.919 it's not the COVID risk that they're worried about. It 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:53.600 is the risk we don't want anyone to see the 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:56.440 Biden cages. I have to ask you this, with regard 0:18:56.520 --> 0:18:58.600 to being able to go out and do things once 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:02.960 we're vaccinated, His Royal Highness, Doctor Anthony Faucci has come 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:07.120 out and suggested that sure we all get vaccinated, we're 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:10.600 still going to have to wear the masks socially distanced, 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.040 not gather. Maybe we can have a few friends over 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:16.120 for the fourth of July. Senator, We're now on day 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.080 what three hundred and seventy two of fifteen days to 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.560 slow the spread? When can we return to normal? Come 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.280 to Texas? You can do it right now. Look, Look, 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:31.679 it is assinine and insane. So I've been vaccinated. Members 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:35.320 of Congress were offered the vaccine early in January. I 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.840 actually didn't take it. Then there were number of members 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.119 of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, who got the vaccine 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:46.840 early and ostentatiously. I didn't. I didn't think it was right. Look, 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.680 I'm relatively young, I'm healthy. I didn't want to cut 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.120 in line. Yea. And so my view at the time, 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:55.400 as I said, we need to wait and let seniors, 0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:59.120 let frontline workers get the vaccine first, and I don't 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:03.320 want to hurry. Ultimately, in the last couple of weeks, 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:05.119 I went ahead and got the vaccine. It had been 0:20:05.160 --> 0:20:07.760 you know, there'd been tens of millions of vaccines administered, 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:09.679 many of the seniors, many of the frontline workers had 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:11.800 gotten it. And you know, I mean, I do have 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:13.960 My mom is eighty six. My dad my dad actually 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:17.560 turned eighty two today. And so given my parents, I said, 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:19.679 I'm given that. I'm out a lot. As a senator, 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.399 I went ahead and got the vaccine in the Senate. 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.800 I think it's the case that all one hundred senators 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:31.160 have the vaccine. Now I think Rand Pall may may 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:33.760 not have gotten it, although Rand had COVID so so 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.840 he's got the natural immunity from having had it. CDC's 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:41.280 guidance today is that people who are vaccinated can gather 0:20:41.359 --> 0:20:44.720 in small groups. The most ascinining thing is senators still 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:47.400 gather all wearing masks, and it's just like, okay, wait, 0:20:47.440 --> 0:20:49.760 this may be the safest place on the planet. Like 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:54.119 every person you're all vaccinated. But it's a virtue signal. 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:56.440 And you get Democrats that are wearing two masks and 0:20:57.119 --> 0:21:00.840 it's coming three four five, They're just gonna walk around 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:02.679 with bags on their head. I mean, and it is. 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.639 And I'm not one of the Like there are people 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:11.480 who are crazies who say it's all a hoax, it 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.159 doesn't make any sense, do nothing. It's going to give 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.160 you five g which frankly I could use the better 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:19.040 cell service. If I became a hotspot, that'd be perfectly fine. 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:23.760 This is Look, this is serious disease. We've had over 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.520 half million Americans killed, We've had over forty seven thousand 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:28.880 Texans killed. I think we need to treat it seriously. 0:21:28.920 --> 0:21:31.639 But we have for God's sakes, has there been an 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.600 infectious disease certainly not in our lifetime that we've treated 0:21:34.640 --> 0:21:39.880 this seriously and it has become this this irrational zellatry 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.320 and a means of control. I gotta say, if you've 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.399 had the vaccine, the idea that you must wear a 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.399 mask forever is idiotic. The whole point of getting the 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.160 vaccine is to go back to normal. Well, this gets 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:55.040 back to incentives. If you're if you're going to say, 0:21:55.359 --> 0:21:58.359 all right, we want you all three hundred plus million Americans, 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:02.200 you need to all get the vaccine. But also, nothing 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:04.119 about your life can change once you get the vaccine. 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.040 It doesn't make any sense. And look, I think a 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:10.119 lot of people. There are people on the extremes. There 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.360 are people that are like, shut down everything and they're 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:15.960 terrified to breathe. There are people who are like doesn't matter, 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:19.080 licking door knobs and things like that door knobs are delicious, 0:22:20.680 --> 0:22:23.359 but most people are somewhere in the middle of like, 0:22:23.480 --> 0:22:26.080 take reasonable precautions, but let's not be nuts about it. 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:32.240 If you look at how this is, this is playing out. 0:22:33.320 --> 0:22:36.879 Those who want government control don't want to let go 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:38.879 of it. And I think a lot of people recognize 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.359 there's an irrationality to so, for example, restaurants. You know, 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:45.720 when Houston opened up, Heidi and I began going out 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:47.600