Speaker 1: Part of what is wrong right now with what is
Speaker 1: happening in our country is there is some perverse kind
Speaker 1: of suggestion that the strength of a leader is measured
Speaker 1: based on who you beat down instead of who you
Speaker 1: lift up.
Speaker 2: From Putro Media and PRX. It's Latino USA. I'm Mariao
Speaker 2: Hoosa Today, Kamala Harris, we revisit my one on one
Speaker 2: interview with the VP, the presumptive presidential nominee for the
Speaker 2: Democratic Party. Dear Latino USA listener, Well, the last few
Speaker 2: weeks in US politics have been quite a worldwin, to
Speaker 2: say the least, from President Joe Biden's disappointing debate performance
Speaker 2: against Donald Trump in late June.
Speaker 3: Right now as we speak, there is a deep, a wide,
Speaker 3: and a very aggressive panic in the Democratic.
Speaker 2: Party to the assassination attempt against former President Trump.
Speaker 4: Had new details tonight on the suspect here, sources now
Speaker 4: telling ABC News that he looked up Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: To the mounting calls asking for President Biden to step
Speaker 2: down as a candidate.
Speaker 3: We've got up to twenty House Democrats now calling for
Speaker 3: the president to step aside two out of three voters
Speaker 3: according to a lot of both Democratic voters.
Speaker 2: And then we reached a major flashpoint. On Sunday afternoon
Speaker 2: of July twenty, first.
Speaker 5: President Biden has just announced that he is ending his
Speaker 5: reelection bid. Just moments ago, the President tweeted out, it
Speaker 5: has been the greatest honor of my life to serve
Speaker 5: as your president.
Speaker 2: Well it has been now a presidential candidate stepping out
Speaker 2: so close to an election is something that hasn't happened
Speaker 2: since nineteen sixty eight, when then President Lyndon me Johnson
Speaker 2: said he would not seek reelection. President Biden has endorsed
Speaker 2: Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at this
Speaker 2: November's presidential election.
Speaker 6: We loved in jail, We really do. They truly are
Speaker 6: like family to n and we did.
Speaker 7: Everybody hear that.
Speaker 5: Tool.
Speaker 6: I know you're still there.
Speaker 1: You're not going anywhere, Joe.
Speaker 6: I love you, Joe.
Speaker 2: At fifty nine years old, Harris has often called herself
Speaker 2: a child of the civil rights movement, and that's because
Speaker 2: she attended protests with her family when she was just
Speaker 2: a toddler. She's also known as the first of many.
Speaker 2: In two thousand and four, she became the first woman
Speaker 2: district attorney in San Francisco and the first black person
Speaker 2: and first South Asian woman in all of California to
Speaker 2: hold that office. In twenty ten, Harris became the Attorney
Speaker 2: General for her home state of California, becoming the first
Speaker 2: woman in the state to do so. And when in
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, Harris was sworn in as a United States Senator,
Speaker 2: she became the first South Asian person and only the
Speaker 2: second black woman to achieve that. In twenty nineteen, then
Speaker 2: Senator Harris competed to become the Democratic presidential nominee, but
Speaker 2: after a lackluster performance, she dropped out. Then, when Joe
Speaker 2: Biden became the nominee, he asked her to be his
Speaker 2: running mate, and the two won the twenty twenty election
Speaker 2: with the support of more than eighty one million votes.
Speaker 2: Now Vice President Harris is bound to make history again
Speaker 2: if she officially becomes the Democratic presidential nominee and ends
Speaker 2: up defeating Donald Trump. Within twenty four hours of President
Speaker 2: Biden's historic announcement, Harris raised a record eighty one million
Speaker 2: dollars for her campaign. Latino, a grassroots organization, pledged forty
Speaker 2: four million dollars. The Vice President also started to rake
Speaker 2: in endorsements and has already secured enough delegates to become
Speaker 2: her party's nominee, but what about the voters? So we
Speaker 2: hear at Latino USA. Decided to reach out to you,
Speaker 2: dear listeners to hear what you had to say, and
Speaker 2: we got responses from Connecticut, Pennsylvania, California, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida,
Speaker 2: and New York City. So let's take a listen to
Speaker 2: what you had to say.
Speaker 7: I do feel relief in having Biden decide not to
Speaker 7: continue running for presidents, although I am extraordinarily worried about
Speaker 7: people inside his administration.
Speaker 8: Who concealed his cognitive issues.
Speaker 7: Not really a Kamala fans, but I do believe it's
Speaker 7: better than voting for Trump. I want to see if
Speaker 7: the patriarchy of the United States is actually going to
Speaker 7: finally vote for a woman.
Speaker 9: I am very happy that mister Biden stepped away. My
Speaker 9: only trouble with Kamala is that I wish that it
Speaker 9: had been under other circumstances, because otherwise she feels absolutely
Speaker 9: imposed by Biden. Yes, I am proud of being a woman,
Speaker 9: but that is not enough. I need to hear how
Speaker 9: are you different from Trump? What is the plan with
Speaker 9: a nation I mean, I hope that Kamala, because she
Speaker 9: is an incredibly smart woman, shows us what a president
Speaker 9: should do.
Speaker 10: As someone whose grandparents came to this country from Mexico,
Speaker 10: I'm very excited that Vice President Harris is now the
Speaker 10: candidate you see in Mexico, a woman as president. I
Speaker 10: can't that happened here in the US.
Speaker 11: As a woman from the Islands, as a mother of
Speaker 11: African American trojan Also, I am so proud of her,
Speaker 11: and this just gives me more enthusiastm to vote. And
Speaker 11: I tell my grandchildren who are at the age of voting,
Speaker 11: that you must vote her in because she is a
Speaker 11: positive force for all people.
Speaker 8: The fact that Kamala is a woman of color, she's
Speaker 8: a feminist, he believes in the human rights for everyone.
Speaker 8: I'm glad to be voting for her, donating and volunteering
Speaker 8: for her campaign.
Speaker 3: I was planning on voting for Joe Biden. Like I
Speaker 3: wasn't super thrilled, but it was going against you know, Trump,
Speaker 3: and I just do not agree with anything that he
Speaker 3: has said and anything that he believes in. But after
Speaker 3: the announcement, I suddenly became very excited and what a
Speaker 3: hairs presidency could look like she's just nothing like any
Speaker 3: other president we've seen before, all of the barriers that
Speaker 3: she's had to overcome. That is also very inspiring, and
Speaker 3: the nod to like the American dream.
Speaker 12: The nomination of Kamala Harris definitely makes me very happy
Speaker 12: and I'm definitely going to vote for her. Before that,
Speaker 12: I was even hesitant to vote for Biden as a
Speaker 12: protest for his actions in Zaza, and I just feel
Speaker 12: excitement again.
Speaker 13: While Kamala Harris has an opportunity to really inspire our generation,
Speaker 13: it is yet to be seen if she will take
Speaker 13: a serious position and what her vision for our peace
Speaker 13: and security will be, starting with continuing to ignore and
Speaker 13: be complicit in abuses of power like we've seen overseas
Speaker 13: and like we continue to see at home by the
Speaker 13: same police and surveillance apparatus.
Speaker 5: I'm happy that Biden is stepping down, but my fears
Speaker 5: for this election haven't necessarily gone away. Knowing Kamala has
Speaker 5: stepped in, it still kind of feels like I just
Speaker 5: have to vote to make sure Trump doesn't win, and
Speaker 5: I'm not necessarily voting for someone that I feel like
Speaker 5: represents me or will protect the communities I care about.
Speaker 6: I feel excited about the election, and I wasn't feeling
Speaker 6: it before.
Speaker 14: She's invigorating, you know, you could just see the spark
Speaker 14: in her eye.
Speaker 9: I think it's a promising thing and you've got God,
Speaker 9: Please God let her win.
Speaker 2: We want to thank all of you for taking the
Speaker 2: time to call in now, dear listener, wherever you might
Speaker 2: stand on your views of Vice President Kamala Harris as
Speaker 2: a potential candidate, we thought it was important to revisit
Speaker 2: my one on one interview with the VP. It's actually
Speaker 2: how we kicked off our ongoing political coverage, which we've
Speaker 2: called the Latino Factor How we Vote. Last September, myself
Speaker 2: and Latino USA producer Renaldo Leans Junior flew with the
Speaker 2: Vice President on Air Force two from just outside of
Speaker 2: DC all the way to Miami, and there I sat
Speaker 2: down with Harris at Florida International University, where we talked
Speaker 2: about everything from immigration, to critiques about the Democratic Party,
Speaker 2: to outreach for Latino voters and much more. But the
Speaker 2: one topic you won't hear us talking about is the
Speaker 2: war on Gaza, and that's because this interview took place
Speaker 2: just before the crisis erupted. So without any further ado,
Speaker 2: here's my twenty twenty three conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Speaker 2: Madame Vice President, thank you for speaking with us, sitting
Speaker 2: down with us.
Speaker 6: It is my pleasure and honor. Thank you. I'm glad
Speaker 6: to be with you. How you doing. I'm good.
Speaker 2: So tell me about what you were feeling out there.
Speaker 2: Just give me a sense because you're on this tour.
Speaker 2: This is a predominantly Latino institution. What's your what's your vibe?
Speaker 2: How'd you feel?
Speaker 1: So this is my sixth stop on my tour, which
Speaker 1: we have named the Fight for Our Freedom's Tour, and
Speaker 1: I decided to do this.
Speaker 2: What we've been told is that this entire idea of
Speaker 2: visiting historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic serving institutions, community colleges,
Speaker 2: and apprenticeship programs across the country was all Kamala Harris's idea.
Speaker 2: She wanted to travel from the University of Wisconsin in Madison,
Speaker 2: to here in Florida, to Northern Arizona University and Flagstaff
Speaker 2: all just to name a few, all of this during
Speaker 2: the months of September and October, with the goal of
Speaker 2: mobilizing young voters.
Speaker 1: I am very optimistic about the future of our country.
Speaker 1: And one of the main reasons is because when I
Speaker 1: look at these young leaders, when I look at gen
Speaker 1: Z for example, they are stepping up.
Speaker 6: They are not waiting around.
Speaker 1: For other people to create solutions. They are acutely aware
Speaker 1: of what is at stake. They are acutely aware of
Speaker 1: the clock ticking and the need for urgent action. And
Speaker 1: so I decided to embark on this tour as a
Speaker 1: way to one let them know that I see them,
Speaker 1: but also so I can hear from them. And I
Speaker 1: purposely decided to focus on college age people. So it's
Speaker 1: universities and colleges, it's community colleges, and it's apprenticeship programs,
Speaker 1: trade schools, and so today being here at an HSI,
Speaker 1: the largest Hispanic serving institution in the country, was just
Speaker 1: reinforcement of the importance of lifting up the voice of
Speaker 1: America's leadership currently and future leadership.
Speaker 2: The topics the students brought up to the Vice President
Speaker 2: were wide ranging.
Speaker 6: Here are a few of those questions.
Speaker 15: With the election approaching upon us, we understand how important
Speaker 15: and how pivotal it is for our voices to be
Speaker 15: heard and for our votes to be casted. What strategies
Speaker 15: can we the people employed to empower and engaged marginalized
Speaker 15: communities to ensure voting rights are respected and that our voices.
Speaker 16: Mentioned earlier, there have been detrimental changes to reproductive rights.
Speaker 16: Switch in turn has caused a woman's right to abortion
Speaker 16: and a decision to make the choices about her own
Speaker 16: body go under attack. What do you think about this issue,
Speaker 16: it's impact, and what can we do to address it?
Speaker 14: First of the recent advance I'm here in the state
Speaker 14: of Florida. What advice do you have for students looking
Speaker 14: to learn those raw on, you know, uncensored truths about
Speaker 14: our social issues that we face here in the country.
Speaker 14: And what advice would you have for educators looking to
Speaker 14: teach those topics while navigating through all of the roadblocks
Speaker 14: that are currently in stated.
Speaker 2: As each student came up to the mic to ask
Speaker 2: their question, Vice President Harris listened intently, sitting back in
Speaker 2: her chair, her legs crossed, very focused on each student
Speaker 2: as they spoke.
Speaker 1: I was raised in a community that believed in nurturing
Speaker 1: the children and the young people, and so this is
Speaker 1: very familiar to me as something one does as part
Speaker 1: of your responsibility and duty.
Speaker 2: According to the Brookings Institute, thirty one percent of all
Speaker 2: Latino eligible voters are between the ages of eighteen and
Speaker 2: twenty nine, and these voters are more supportive towards progressive policies.
Speaker 2: That's something elected officials and aspiring twenty twenty four candidates
Speaker 2: are talking about and taking notice. So it's not all
Speaker 2: too surprising that the Biden Harris administration is here today
Speaker 2: in Miami trying to mobilize the vote. But will it work.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we get into what exactly the
Speaker 2: Biden Harris administration is doing to foster the Latino vote
Speaker 2: in Republican leaning Florida, and later we're going to hear
Speaker 2: her thoughts on abortion, immigration and more. Stay with us,
Speaker 2: not yes, welcome back to Latino USA. When we left off,
Speaker 2: we heard Vice President Harris begin to talk about the
Speaker 2: administration's outreach to young voters across the country, especially Latinos
Speaker 2: and Latinas. It's part of the college tour that the
Speaker 2: Vice President designed. Let's go back to my conversation with
Speaker 2: the Vice president now, So when we were on the plane,
Speaker 2: you were very clear when I asked you about Latino
Speaker 2: and Latina voters, and you were like, yep, I know.
Speaker 2: And your answer was they're the future, right. You were
Speaker 2: just like, so, yeah. A lot of people are like, wait,
Speaker 2: what are you talking about Latinos and Latinas?
Speaker 6: Do they vote?
Speaker 2: Aren't they all immigrants? Aren't they takers? You know, this
Speaker 2: whole kind of very confusing narrative that is not true.
Speaker 2: But you were like, I see the future and you're
Speaker 2: talking like data, but you're also talking hard.
Speaker 6: I'm talking life experience.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a kid who was raised by parents
Speaker 1: who are actors the civil rights movement in California. I've
Speaker 1: grown up in the community, under standing the community as
Speaker 1: part of an extension of the neighborhood and the folks
Speaker 1: who raised me, and it's natural then for me to
Speaker 1: hopefully be informed about who people are, the history and
Speaker 1: also the future of any group of people. So I
Speaker 1: am very clear about what we're talking about and on
Speaker 1: a variety of subjects. If you look at it in
Speaker 1: terms of the student body here at the school, if
Speaker 1: i u if you look at it in terms of
Speaker 1: some of the work that I've been doing that is
Speaker 1: really a labor of love for me, focusing on small
Speaker 1: businesses and that the fastest one of the fastest growing
Speaker 1: groups of small business owners are Latinas. That the last
Speaker 1: numbers I saw, one in four new small businesses are
Speaker 1: are Latino or Latino owned. Right, So you're talking about
Speaker 1: it in terms of young people in the future of
Speaker 1: our country and leadership, You're talking about the future of
Speaker 1: our economy. You're talking about just the fact that we
Speaker 1: are a nation that is a diverse nation, and all
Speaker 1: people must be recognized and given the dignity and respect
Speaker 1: they deserve.
Speaker 2: My mantra is Latinos and Latinas are the second largest
Speaker 2: voting cohort in the United States, the second largest voting cohort,
Speaker 2: not a block. Yeah, And people are just like, wait,
Speaker 2: they are and the connection has not been made. There
Speaker 2: are Latino activists that I've been speaking to and they're
Speaker 2: just like, we think the Democratic Party and Biden Harris
Speaker 2: get that. So you're having a big impact on.
Speaker 6: This, Oh, we all are.
Speaker 1: But I will say that I feel very strongly about it,
Speaker 1: and for a number of reasons. You know, I'm look
Speaker 1: on this college tour, I'm engaged in real talk everywhere
Speaker 1: I go. I talk about, for example, the attacks on
Speaker 1: dei diversity, equity and inclusion, which was born that attack
Speaker 1: was born here in the state of Florida, and an
Speaker 1: attempt by these extremists, so called leaders, to diminish the
Speaker 1: significance of diversity and equity and inclusion.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 1: So back to the point about the state of Latinos
Speaker 1: in America, and of course we know that this is
Speaker 1: not a monolith either. Only two percent of venture capital
Speaker 1: investment go to Latino owned businesses. You look at the
Speaker 1: disparities across the board, and so I'm focused on issues
Speaker 1: like equity. Understand that people don't all start at the
Speaker 1: same base, but they have ambition and aspiration and we
Speaker 1: have to pay attention to the differences to make sure
Speaker 1: people have equal opportunity for success. This is how I
Speaker 1: think about things, and so it's not just only about voting.
Speaker 1: It's about my investment in the strength and the prosperity
Speaker 1: and the security of our nation.
Speaker 6: It's not just about winning election.
Speaker 2: As my point, my dad may he rest in peace
Speaker 2: was the big dream when he was born in Dampico
Speaker 2: in Mexico. He was like, I want to help to
Speaker 2: create something that will have people who were born deaf
Speaker 2: here again. So he came to this country hired by
Speaker 2: the University of Chicago, helped to create the cochlear implant,
Speaker 2: Like your mom had a vision and my mom, like
Speaker 2: your mom took me out to the protests when I
Speaker 2: was eight years old. So the nub is that that
Speaker 2: you're like, You're like, well, I was in an a stroller,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, well, I'm a little bit older.
Speaker 1: Age is more than a chronological fact, It's a state
Speaker 1: of mind, you know.
Speaker 2: So I was actually out there, but none of us
Speaker 2: could vote. Only my dad could vote. Right, So this
Speaker 2: notion of democracy as something that goes beyond the vote.
Speaker 1: That's a great point. That's an excellent that's an excellent point.
Speaker 1: And I think your point is and certainly the way
Speaker 1: I think of it, it's about participation, and there are
Speaker 1: many ways to participate, right, But the alternative is unacceptable,
Speaker 1: which is to be passive and watch things as they happen, invariably,
Speaker 1: knowing they will happen to you if you're not active
Speaker 1: and standing for the things you believe in.
Speaker 2: It is a criticism of the Democratic Party, though, you know,
Speaker 2: which is that you know you don't fight enough, you
Speaker 2: don't stand up for yourselves enough. You don't push back
Speaker 2: against the Republican Party and all of that kind of
Speaker 2: authoritarian push And it's kind of like, why don't the
Speaker 2: Democrats come on you guys.
Speaker 6: You've heard that before.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I will tell you that we've got some
Speaker 1: real fighters and the party who are fighting. But we
Speaker 1: let me I feed on mind. I'm going to just
Speaker 1: step back for a moment. What I'm seeing among these extremists,
Speaker 1: so called leaders, is they are intent on dividing and distracting,
Speaker 1: and they want to divide our country, and they want
Speaker 1: to distract people from the fact they're not getting a
Speaker 1: thing done.
Speaker 6: They're not getting anything done, So that's their game.
Speaker 1: And I say everywhere, let's not be distracted by what
Speaker 1: they're up to.
Speaker 6: Right.
Speaker 1: They want to create unnecessary debates. They want to create
Speaker 1: a debate about whether enslaved people benefited from slavery. No, no,
Speaker 1: I will not get distracted from the things that we
Speaker 1: need to deal with, such as the fact that you're
Speaker 1: proposing that women and people don't have a right to
Speaker 1: make decisions about their own body. So we are fighting,
Speaker 1: but we're going to fight the fights that are worth having, right,
Speaker 1: and the most important thing is that we have been
Speaker 1: able to achieve things that are actually moving the needle,
Speaker 1: like the climate issue, like capping insulin at thirty five
Speaker 1: dollars a month, like allowing Medicare for the first time
Speaker 1: to negotiate drug prices on behalf of Medicare recipients, so
Speaker 1: that we're going to bring down the cost of prescription
Speaker 1: medication cap it at two thousand dollars a year for seniors.
Speaker 1: That's a big deal. How many people in our country
Speaker 1: are suffering from medical debt which is messing up their
Speaker 1: credit score, not to mention, you know, putting them on
Speaker 1: the verge of bankruptcy. So we're fighting four things for
Speaker 1: the people right and we're going to have a fight
Speaker 1: in front of us in this election to make sure
Speaker 1: that folks vote. And that's one of the reasons I'm
Speaker 1: doing this college tour to remind people they've got to vote.
Speaker 6: They have to vote.
Speaker 1: The elections make a difference. And let's not forget where
Speaker 1: we were just a couple of years ago and what
Speaker 1: we were dealing with.
Speaker 2: So for the first time that we know of reproductive
Speaker 2: right now, abortion access have ended up in the top
Speaker 2: five issues that Latino and Latino voters care about.
Speaker 6: Can you talk a little.
Speaker 2: Bit about that particular issue of reproductive rights and why
Speaker 2: it matters so much for Latinas and what you're going.
Speaker 6: To say to them.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, it goes back to your point
Speaker 1: about the stereotypes about who cares about and thinks about what,
Speaker 1: because what I know is the majority of Latinos and
Speaker 1: Latinas support the right of the individual to be able
Speaker 1: to make that decision and not the government. And so
Speaker 1: contrary to some stereotypes about based on religious beliefs that
Speaker 1: there would be a different perspective now and especially depending
Speaker 1: on who you're talking about and when they arrived in
Speaker 1: the country and from where they also know personally a
Speaker 1: history of a government taking their rights from them, right,
Speaker 1: So this is a big issue for a lot of reasons.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the impact, of course, the
Speaker 1: impact is significant. You're looking at, you know, states like Texas,
Speaker 1: states like Florida with huge Latino Latina populations who are
Speaker 1: now being restricted in terms of their access to essential
Speaker 1: reproductive health care. You're looking at when you still look
Speaker 1: at disparities around income and then what that means to
Speaker 1: a woman in Texas or in Florida who has the
Speaker 1: majority of women who seek abortion care have children, right,
Speaker 1: So what that means, god willing, she has a job
Speaker 1: that gives her paid sick leave. God willing she has
Speaker 1: affordable childcare because she's got have to leave the state
Speaker 1: and think about childcare, think about the day she's going
Speaker 1: to miss from work and what that's going to mean
Speaker 1: in terms of her ability to pay rent or buy groceries.
Speaker 1: So the thing is that I think that there are
Speaker 1: lots of stereotypes about where Latinas are on this issue,
Speaker 1: but the reality is that, like anyone else, I think
Speaker 1: that that Latinas and we're all clear, the governm it
Speaker 1: should not be telling her.
Speaker 6: What to do with her body.
Speaker 2: I spent the last six months since January basically in Uvalde.
Speaker 2: I know you did, you know.
Speaker 6: I know you did. That must have been heart rending.
Speaker 2: But also hopeful because there's a generation of young activists. Yes, yes,
Speaker 2: from Uvalde, like from here in Parkland. Yeah yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: shouldn't there be a federal assault weapons ban?
Speaker 6: Period? Yes? Period?
Speaker 1: Congress has the ability to do it, and we And
Speaker 1: this is why I'm saying to these young leaders here
Speaker 1: and around the country, when they start voting in their
Speaker 1: numbers this is going to change because every Maria, every
Speaker 1: college that I'm going to, I ask the students, and
Speaker 1: they're showing up by the thousands each place. I asked
Speaker 1: the students, raise your hand if you ever had to
Speaker 1: have from kindergarten through twelfth grade an active shooter drill
Speaker 1: at school.
Speaker 6: I mean, you see all those hands. Honestly, I had
Speaker 6: a moment.
Speaker 2: My heart just clinched because ninety percent of the students
Speaker 2: raised their hands.
Speaker 1: And the point that I make every time is older
Speaker 1: adults have no idea what these kids have been through.
Speaker 1: They have no idea that these kids like the story
Speaker 1: I tell about this young student who, when I'm talking
Speaker 1: with about this, said to me, yeah, and then and
Speaker 1: because of all that, I don't like to go to
Speaker 1: fifth period. And I said, sweetheart, why, And I was
Speaker 1: told because in fifth period that classroom has no closet,
Speaker 1: which means the child has nowhere to hide. And they're
Speaker 1: acutely aware of that when they're sitting in a classroom
Speaker 1: where their minds should be open to the wonders of
Speaker 1: the world, and half of them is concerned about whether
Speaker 1: someone's going to come bust through the door with a gun.
Speaker 1: And so I say on this issue that as it
Speaker 1: relates to what I'm doing in terms of traveling the
Speaker 1: country to speak to young leaders. When they start voting
Speaker 1: in their numbers, this is going to change because they
Speaker 1: are practical. They understand false choices to say you're either
Speaker 1: in favor of the Second Amendment or you want to
Speaker 1: take everyone's guns. I'm in favor of the Second Amendment,
Speaker 1: and we need an assault weapons ban, we need background checks,
Speaker 1: we need red laws.
Speaker 2: On the issue of immigration, yeah, and I thought about
Speaker 2: this a lot, Madame Vice President, and I was like,
Speaker 2: you know what the issue of denial of due process?
Speaker 2: Because your mother, your father, me, who was not born
Speaker 2: in this country, you know that every single night, every
Speaker 2: single day, people are being denied that due process. And
Speaker 2: I don't know as a lawyer how you can sit
Speaker 2: with that, knowing that just because we weren't born in
Speaker 2: this country, our country denies those people any kind of
Speaker 2: due process.
Speaker 6: So let me start with this.
Speaker 1: As you and I both know from personal experience and
Speaker 1: just understanding who our country is. This is a nation
Speaker 1: that was founded by immigrants. Immigration makes our country stronger.
Speaker 1: When we came into office, Joe Biden and I were
Speaker 1: looking at a situation where the previous administration I believe
Speaker 1: intentionally tried to break our immigration system dismantle it. Let's
Speaker 1: not forget before we came in family separation policies, what
Speaker 1: they were trying to do to end DAKA, what they
Speaker 1: were trying to do to NTPs, the Muslim ban, right,
Speaker 1: and we undid a lot of that. We are still
Speaker 1: fighting for DACA in the courts. We expanded Temporary Protected
Speaker 1: Status TPS, and most recently we announced for Venezuelans. And
Speaker 1: we are trying to fix a broken immigration system in
Speaker 1: terms of the process by which people can come in.
Speaker 1: So that's the state of affairs. There is a lot
Speaker 1: of work to be done on the issue. I think
Speaker 1: it's really important to also deal with the fact that
Speaker 1: the first bill, Maria, that we dropped, the first bill,
Speaker 1: and I'll never forget the day it was. The first day,
Speaker 1: I think, the day one that we entered after the inauguration,
Speaker 1: the first bill we dropped was a Pathway for Citizenship,
Speaker 1: an immigration bill that Joe Biden sent over to Congress.
Speaker 1: These and I don't like to just so simply characterize
Speaker 1: Republicans versus Democrats, but on this issue, there are especially
Speaker 1: among the Republican leadership there is it's pure politics right now.
Speaker 1: They believe they are politically profiting from the chaos that
Speaker 1: they are intent on creating on this issue of immigration,
Speaker 1: intent on creating on the issue of the border. Instead
Speaker 1: of taking control of the solutions in a productive way.
Speaker 1: They are politically benefited and this is what they've been doing.
Speaker 6: Gone are the days of you know, you.
Speaker 1: Know, we can criticize the other stuff, but Bush or
Speaker 1: you look at John McCain who said, you know, as Republicans,
Speaker 1: we know we need to deal with this and let's
Speaker 1: figure it out our policy as we want a safe
Speaker 1: and orderly and humane system and we're going to keep
Speaker 1: fighting for that.
Speaker 2: A few days after our interview with the Vice president,
Speaker 2: it was announced that the Biden administration would begin deporting
Speaker 2: Venezuelan's at the border. There was also news about more
Speaker 2: construction of twenty miles of border wall in South Texas,
Speaker 2: despite Biden's campaign promise not to build another single inch
Speaker 2: of the wall. The money comes from dollars that were
Speaker 2: appropriated during the Trump administration. President Biden says he had
Speaker 2: to use the money in this way, and when asked
Speaker 2: if he thought the border wall would be effective. The
Speaker 2: President said no, okay, back to my interview now with
Speaker 2: the Vice president. So finally, and this is a hard
Speaker 2: one because it's such an emotional issue, right, and politics
Speaker 2: and campaigning, there's a lot of emotion. So I was like, well,
Speaker 2: you know, people would love to hear the vice president
Speaker 2: apologize for I mean, you said once at one point,
Speaker 2: don't come.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear to folks in this region
Speaker 1: who are thinking about making that dangerous track to the
Speaker 1: United States Mexico border, do not come.
Speaker 6: Do not come.
Speaker 1: The United States will continue to enforce our laws and
Speaker 1: secure our border.
Speaker 2: You said, don't come from Central America, and people were
Speaker 2: really shocked. And then I thought, well, Joe Biden actually
Speaker 2: has been covering and on the issue of immigration since
Speaker 2: I've been a journalist. He's really the one that should
Speaker 2: apologize to every immigrant that has been mistreated or badly
Speaker 2: treated in the country. And I'm like, well, will the
Speaker 2: Vice president even ask the president? Because if you apologize,
Speaker 2: if you said, look, we are sorry for the mess.
Speaker 6: We didn't create it. We didn't create the mess, so we.
Speaker 2: Are sorry for what it's doing.
Speaker 6: Now, well, listen, let me just be very clear.
Speaker 1: My heart aches for anyone who has to flee their home,
Speaker 1: especially those who flee harm to themselves or their family,
Speaker 1: much less those who have to leave a place they
Speaker 1: love because they just simply can't take care of the
Speaker 1: basic necessities of their family if they stay. In fact,
Speaker 1: that is why I have taken on the issue of
Speaker 1: the root causes of people leaving and what we are
Speaker 1: seeing in terms of migration that is happening in particularly
Speaker 1: from the northern part of Central America. I have now
Speaker 1: raised over four billion dollars to focus on what we
Speaker 1: can do to support people in their natural desire to
Speaker 1: stay and not have to leave. The majority people. You
Speaker 1: and I both know this. There majority people don't want
Speaker 1: to leave home. They don't want to leave their grandmother,
Speaker 1: they don't want to leave the church where they pray,
Speaker 1: they don't want to leave the neighborhood they grew up
Speaker 1: in and the own only reason they do.
Speaker 6: Usually it's one of two reasons.
Speaker 1: They are escaping and fleeing some harm or they can't
Speaker 1: satisfy their basic needs. So at the core of what
Speaker 1: you are talking about is the importance of humanity and
Speaker 1: having an approach that is humane and understands the condition
Speaker 1: of people.
Speaker 2: And are not worry that they're worried that they're not
Speaker 2: feeling that from Joe Biden and from you.
Speaker 6: That's why I'm pressing you on it. How do you
Speaker 6: push through on that?
Speaker 1: Well, I hope that they see in terms of the
Speaker 1: approach that we are taking. For example, the work that
Speaker 1: I am doing on the root causes not to mention
Speaker 1: the history of my work on this issue to no,
Speaker 1: I care deeply. I've been working on this issue for years.
Speaker 1: You talk about children, you know, when I was Attorney General,
Speaker 1: I pull the legal community of California together to represent
Speaker 1: unaccompanied children who are coming across the border. So there's
Speaker 1: a history and a body of work that I have
Speaker 1: that I think is evidence of something I feel very
Speaker 1: strongly and very deeply. It is important to understand the
Speaker 1: experience of people and to have some level of empathy.
Speaker 1: And in fact, i'll end this on this point. Part
Speaker 1: of what is wrong right now with what is happening
Speaker 1: in our country is there is some perverse kind of
Speaker 1: suggestion that the strength of a leader is measured based
Speaker 1: on who you beat down instead of who you lift up.
Speaker 1: I believe one of the characteristics of strong leadership is
Speaker 1: the ability to have some level of curiosity, concern and
Speaker 1: care for the suffering of other people. That's called empathy.
Speaker 1: No one can ever question whether Joe Biden possesses that
Speaker 1: important quality, and I believe that people who know me
Speaker 1: know I do as well.
Speaker 2: That was my one on one interview with Vice President
Speaker 2: Kamala Harris. This episode was produced by Rinaldo Leanos Junior.
Speaker 2: It was edited by Andrell Lopez Cruzado. It was mixed
Speaker 2: by Stephanie LAbau, Julia Cruso, and gabriel A Biez. The
Speaker 2: Latino USA team also includes Jessica Ellis, Victoria Strada, Ruis Luna,
Speaker 2: Lonimir Marquez, Marta Martinez, Mike Sargent, Nour Saudi, and Nancy Trujillo.
Speaker 2: Peti Lei Ramidez is our co executive producer I'm Your
Speaker 2: Host and co executive producer Marienno Posa. Remember join us
Speaker 2: again on our next episode. In the meantime, look for
Speaker 2: us on all of your social media. I'll see you
Speaker 2: there and remember mate, maayas Chao.
Speaker 4: Latino You is made possible in part by the Heising
Speaker 4: Simons Foundation, Unlocking knowledge, opportunity and possibilities. More at Hsfoundation
Speaker 4: Dot org, the Ford Foundation, working with visionaries on the
Speaker 4: front lines of social change worldwide, and the John D.
Speaker 4: And Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation