1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,160 Speaker 1: Part of Barack Obama's legacy, where the dozens of agreements 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: the Justice Department reached with local police departments. The accords 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,879 Speaker 1: were aimed at fixing what the administration saw as racially 4 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: discriminatory policing and patterns of excessive force, Among them a 5 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 1: settlement with Baltimore in the aftermath of the death of 6 00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: Freddie Gray, a black man who died in police custody custody, 7 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:24,680 Speaker 1: but now Donald Trump's Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has ordered 8 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: a sweeping review of those agreements, and yesterday Justice Department 9 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,680 Speaker 1: lawyers asked a federal judge to postpone a hearing on 10 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: the Baltimore agreement. With us to talk about what all 11 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: this might mean. Is Amy Dillard. She is a law 12 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,360 Speaker 1: professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Amy, 13 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,160 Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. Can we just start by having 14 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: you remind us what sorts of things are in these agreements, 15 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:52,200 Speaker 1: and in particular the one in your hometown of Baltimore. Yes. So, 16 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: when the Department of Justice negotiated the agreement with the 17 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: City of Baltimore, uh, it did that cooperatively, meaning their 18 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: career Justice Department lawyers and then constituents in Baltimore, like 19 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: residents and the police union and the Baltimore Police Department. UM. 20 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: You know, it was an extensive investigation that came out 21 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:22,560 Speaker 1: about a year ago that revealed revealed serious constitutional violations 22 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,479 Speaker 1: UM and the Department of Justice found that those undermines 23 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,440 Speaker 1: the trust and public safety of the community. So the 24 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 1: agreement is one for oversight UM. In particular, there was 25 00:01:35,080 --> 00:01:38,479 Speaker 1: an agreement that there would be a community Oversight task Force. 26 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: There would also be an independent federal monitor over the 27 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 1: police department, and then required training for officers UM on 28 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 1: issues of implicit bias. Those are just three highlights from 29 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 1: the agreement UM. But as you can see, it's a 30 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: fairly light footprint that the federal government would have had 31 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,160 Speaker 1: in Baltimore, especially in light of the really serious problems 32 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 1: in Baltimore. Well, what is it that Jeff Sessions is 33 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: concerned about? He sent out a two page memo system 34 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: top j officials. What what is he talking about there? Well, 35 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: so his memo basically sets out new priorities UM for 36 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: the Justice Department in UM overseeing local and state law enforcement. 37 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: And he stated explicitly that UM, the Department of Justice 38 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: would have a new priority to promote police morale and 39 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: help bolster public respect for officers, and then he adds 40 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 1: to that while protecting Americans civil rights. UM. And so 41 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: you can see from the simple drafting that he is, 42 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: you know, putting out front UM the need to promote 43 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: police morale and UM bolster public respect for officers, and 44 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: then almost as an afterthought, protecting Americans civil rights. He 45 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: also said that he wanted, you know, the Department of 46 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,079 Speaker 1: Justice position and the administration's position is that there should 47 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 1: be local control and local accountability over police departments, and 48 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: that it was not the responsibility of the federal government 49 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: to manage state and local law enforcement. So it's a 50 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: very different UM and we want to say agenda, but 51 00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: just approach from UM. The Lauretta Lynch Justice Department, which 52 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: oversaw the consent decree that has been negotiated in Baltimore, 53 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 1: was negotiated by UM Venita poopta UM. You know, where 54 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: the goal was to do a thorough investigation of Baltimore policing, 55 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: listening to citizens, listening to residents, listening to populations that 56 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 1: are generally underrepresented in these investigations of particular interest. UM. 57 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: There and it's at the end of the investigation report 58 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: to a lot of allegations about ball More police officers 59 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: um coming into contact with women who had been trafficked 60 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: from both inside the United States and abroad, who are 61 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: trying to report that they were victims of trafficking, and 62 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: they alleged that rather than the police department officers helping them, 63 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: the police department officers instead agreed not to arrest them 64 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: if they would uh exchange sexual favors for free amy. 65 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: We only have about a minute left, but tell me 66 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: about what the impact of this review could be. These 67 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: agreements are kind of in different stages. Some of them 68 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: are are finalized, some of them are our court consett 69 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: decrees what's what's going to happen here. So the one 70 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: in Baltimore was set for a final signature when the 71 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,520 Speaker 1: d o J. Lawyers asked the federal judge yesterday for 72 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: a ninety day extension to review and possibly renegotiate the 73 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: agreement with the Baltimore police. You know what that means 74 00:04:56,880 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: is that the judge could sign off on the agreement 75 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 1: as it is, or he could wait and see if 76 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: there's a different agreement that's reached between the Department of 77 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: Justice and Baltimore police, And how about the agreement elsewhere, 78 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:15,919 Speaker 1: like like Chicago for example, that's a tentative agreement, right, 79 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:18,479 Speaker 1: could that whole thing be scrapped? It is, and it 80 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: is the same way that the agreement in Baltimore's tentative. 81 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: That is, it hasn't been signed off by a federal 82 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: judge yet. You're listening to Bloomberg lawng. We're talking about 83 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: the H one B visa program and steps the Trump 84 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: administration is taking to crackdown on what sees as fraud 85 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,880 Speaker 1: and abuse. Our guests are Caitlin Webber of Bloomberg Intelligence 86 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 1: and Ron Hera of Howard University. Ron, I want to 87 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: get in a second, get into the possibility we need. 88 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: You know, Congress may step in here, but tell me, um, 89 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 1: are there other shoes that could drop, just in terms 90 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: of what the administration UH might do to make changes 91 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: to the H one B program. Well, I think there's 92 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,039 Speaker 1: a This is frankly, for for those folks who have 93 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 1: wanted and asked for change, this is a bit disappointing. 94 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 1: It's kind of underwhelming. UH. There are major problems with 95 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 1: the with the program and these are kind of small, 96 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,839 Speaker 1: UH steps maybe necessary steps to step up enforcement. But 97 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:14,520 Speaker 1: there's much more that the administration should be doing in 98 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,840 Speaker 1: terms of UH, writing regulations, issuing new policy guidance and 99 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,920 Speaker 1: UH UH and like UM in order to tighten things up. 100 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 1: They can do a lot on their own even without Congress, 101 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 1: like raising wage levels UM and and the Department of 102 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: Labor could be involved in in enforcement. So there's a 103 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: number of things that they can and should be doing. UM. 104 00:06:35,680 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: These are small steps in the right direction, but they're 105 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: very small steps. Caitlyn, you sent me a note earlier 106 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,799 Speaker 1: today saying you saw growing prospects for Congress to get involved. 107 00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: Are we talking about bipartisan push or is this going 108 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: to be uh the kind of you know, Republican led 109 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: effort that we're getting used to seeing. Yeah, this is 110 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: actually a rare area where there is bipartisan support for 111 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,520 Speaker 1: cracking down on some of these alleged abuses. UM. And 112 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,520 Speaker 1: there's even bipartisan support for curtailing access to the visas 113 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: by some of these larger I T outsourcing firms based 114 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: in India. UM. There are a number of proposals out 115 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: right now. UM. Many of them focus on getting at 116 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: alleged abuse by focusing on wages. Right now, the average 117 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: hwin B wages around eighty thousand dollars. A lot of 118 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: people argue that's too low, it should at least be 119 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: six figures. Republican named Daryl Isa has a proposal that 120 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: would require a hundred thousand dollar minimum h one V wage. 121 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 1: Um A Democrat Zolofgren, who represents Silicon Valley, has another way, 122 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: another bill that would require some employers to pay a 123 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: hundred and thirty thousand dollars. And then there's also been 124 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,280 Speaker 1: proposals to change the way the lottery is run. Right now, 125 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,760 Speaker 1: it's random, it's just assigned by computer. But to assign them, 126 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 1: to assign the visas really to where there is a 127 00:07:47,360 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: is a need for more specialty workers, where there really 128 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,280 Speaker 1: is a dearth and then also or to assign them 129 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: in terms of the companies that pay the highest wages run. 130 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:57,559 Speaker 1: What do you see as the prospects for those sorts 131 00:07:57,560 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: of changes. Is there enough of the consensus that can happen, 132 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: or is this gonna potentially get caught up in you know, 133 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: what could be a much bigger fight over other aspects 134 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:11,640 Speaker 1: of the nation's immigration laws. Well, I say a couple 135 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: of things. One is I think that a lot of 136 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:16,480 Speaker 1: people in Congress are waiting for the Trump administration to 137 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: give a signal of what they're trying to accomplish, both 138 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: on the executive side, but also in terms of what 139 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: they're gonna push on the legislative side. Um. There's a 140 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: bill that's been introduced by Grassley and Durban, which is 141 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: a bipartisan bill in the Senate and has a companion 142 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: uh in that in the House. And that one is 143 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,679 Speaker 1: probably the closest to fixing the real problems. The minimalist 144 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:43,760 Speaker 1: bills like darryl Isa's bill really don't solve any of 145 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: the real problems. In fact, it won't change much behavior. 146 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: It does not actually raise the minimum wage till hundred 147 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:52,840 Speaker 1: thousand UM. And that's been misreported quite a bit. So 148 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: some of this is clouded, um, but I think a 149 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: lot of it the balls in President Trump's court right now. Um. 150 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: This the politics of this are more complicated. They follow 151 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: along more populist elite lines than they do across party lines. Kitlyn, 152 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: we only have about thirty seconds left. But let me 153 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,960 Speaker 1: ask you the same question I asked Ron. Is this 154 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: going to get caught up in bigger questions about immigration? 155 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: That's really the biggest turtle. Is this being associated with 156 00:09:18,559 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 1: um a path the citizenship for undocumented immigrants? I mean, 157 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:23,720 Speaker 1: in the past, Congress has really wanted to tackle immigration 158 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: form on a comprehensive basis, and there's much much less 159 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: bipartisan support for some of this with earth measures UM 160 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: targeting you know, lower wage workers, and there are for 161 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: the H one B program. Okay, well, we will look 162 00:09:35,559 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: forward to talking with both of you about this going forward, 163 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: because it sounds like we're gonna have a lot to 164 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: talk about. Ron here of Howard University, Caitlin Webber of 165 00:09:43,160 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: Bloomberg Intelligence, thanks for joining us on Bloomberg Lack