WEBVTT - Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) Talks ICE, Government Shutdown 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.040 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:10.760 Senator Cornyan, thanks so much for being with us, especially 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.440 at this busy time. I am wondering, though, after all 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:16.960 this is said and done, is Congress in the same 0:00:17.040 --> 0:00:18.960 situation two weeks from now. 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:26.439 Well, it's entirely possible. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer and President Trump 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:32.160 negotiated a deal that provides for a two week extensions 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.640 so the House can then take up and pass the 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.839 Defense excuse me, the Department Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. But 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:44.199 it sounds like the mister Hackeen Jeffries, the leader, and 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.000 the Democrats in the House are not going to cooperate. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.160 So we'll see whether the Speaker can pull a rabbit 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.560 out of the hat and get the votes with just Republicans. 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.920 Senator, though, don't both sides have the ability to cooperate 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:02.600 and shouldn't both sides be working together to get this done? 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.720 Yes, that's the short answer. It's really I mean, this 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.240 is the basic functioning of government. It's pay the bills, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:16.320 keep the lights on, and it's unnecessary and it is 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:20.040 also an opportunity cost in the sense that we are 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.759 using time that we could be doing other more important things. 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.240 For the American people, But unfortunately this is where we are. 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.720 Julie asks about the two week continuing resolution Senator, because 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:34.520 a lot of folks on Capitol Hill do not think 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.160 there will be enough time there to craft some sort 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:39.440 of agreement and put it in the form of legislation 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.200 when it comes to new restrictions on ICE, and I'm 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.920 wondering where your head is on some of the ideas 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.800 that are out there. Democrats want agents to be unmasked, 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:54.200 where body cameras, no more warrantless raids, and additional training. 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:56.520 Are you in favor of all four of those? 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.880 Well, I'm always or seeing how we can improve current 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:06.400 operations and that includes ICE. And I believe mister Homan, 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.480 who's now in charge up in Minnesota at Minneapolis, has 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:13.560 said the same thing. But I don't believe there is 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:17.839 enough time to open this whole range of topics, nor 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:21.200 do I think we should. Because these are professional law 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:25.920 enforcement officers. One of the main problems and what's happened 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:30.040 in places like Minneapolis is these are sanctuary jurisdictions. They 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.520 don't cooperate with law enforcement at the federal level, and 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:37.600 so ICE has no alternative but to make these detentions 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:41.840 in the general population, and of course you have various 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:47.680 instigators interrupting and interceding, sometimes with disastrous consequences. So I 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:52.799 don't think. I think, while certainly these institutional reforms are 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:55.440 important and I would support trying to make it better, 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.160 this unfortunately is part of the same sort of strain 0:02:59.240 --> 0:03:02.640 of thought to get us defund the police and abolish ICE, 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.480 and I think we have to enforce the law, and 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:08.280 that's what President Trump believes as well. 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:11.880 Are you, just to be clear, open to demasking ICE 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:13.320 agents when they're working in the field. 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:18.720 I think that's an insult two ICE agents. We know 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.760 that ICE agents are going to be targeted by some 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:26.200 of these instigators what I call really they are essentially 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:30.840 asking for anarchy, certainly chaos, because if we abandon the 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:33.760 rule of law, that's all we have left. And so 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.600 these ICE agents are being targeted by some of the 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:42.280 anti ICE instigators, and I think in some instances their 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.680 identity should be protected. But this is just to me, 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:48.400 just a ridiculous request. 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:51.440 Well, well, just to be clear before we move on 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.320 to some other issues here, Senator, following these two fatal 0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.640 shootings that we saw in Minneapolis, you don't feel any 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.160 different about restrictions on ICE. 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.920 Well, I think the main thing that needs to be 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.840 done is that the Minneapolis and Minnesota needs to quit 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:16.440 refusing to cooperate with federal law enforcement officers. You don't 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:21.200 see this happening in Texas because when illegal aliens are 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:26.760 apprehended for some state or local violation, they are routinely 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.560 handed over to ICE at the jail and then subject 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.680 to deportation. But when local law enforcement or state law 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:38.040 enforcement in some of these sanctuary jurisdictions don't do it, 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.679 ICE has no alternative but to try to go knock 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:44.640 on a door and make an arrest when they believe 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:51.520 they have an illegal alien evating, elating, evading apprehension. Excuse me, so, 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:57.520 I think unfortunately in both of these instances, these individuals 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:02.440 did not cooperate with law enforcement, and unfortunately that when 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:06.920 that happens, tragedies like this occur, which are regrettable. But 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:10.560 I think the answer to it is for the sanctuary 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:14.200 jurisdictions to cooperate with federal law enforcement so that federal 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.720 immigration laws can be enforced, hopefully without these kind of 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:19.440 tragedies occurring. 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.159 Senator, one more quick question on this so you don't 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:25.800 think really any reforms are needed or is there anything 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:28.200 you would be open to changing about ICE. 0:05:29.240 --> 0:05:33.599 No, I didn't mean to suggest no reforms would be necessary, 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.400 But I think, as Tom Homan said, and by the way, 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.640 I think he's the right guy for the job, this 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:44.040 is escalated, totally out of control, and I think everybody 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.520 realizes that and it needs to de escalate. And I 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:50.679 think mister Holman has been the voice of a seasoned 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:56.560 professional who has been applauded by Democrat administrations and republic 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.560 administrations to try to bring some order out of this 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:04.400 chaos us. But the simple answer is that while ICE 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.360 may need to fine tune some of its procedures in 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.960 order to try to de escalate and avoid conflict, that's 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:16.480 a two way street. And these sanctuary jurisdictions need to 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.839 cooperate with law enforcement in the interests of de escalating 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:22.680 and avoiding some of these tragedies. 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:26.040 Senator, I do want to turn out too our home 0:06:26.080 --> 0:06:30.200 state of Texas and Texas Senate District nine. The Democrat 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.200 really a shocking upset in that race there. Does it 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.680 concern you as you were up for reelection this year? 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.480 It does concern me as We know these special elections 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.960 are notoriously volatile, and I know a lot of people 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.040 are trying to figure out exactly what happened here a 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:52.200 district that President Trump won by seventeen points and then 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:57.160 the Democrat won by a swing to sixteen points, and 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.560 so a huge swing there. Some of it had to 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.200 do with with a small turnout, I think it was 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:06.280 about fifteen percent of registered voters, But the quality of 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.600 the candidates and the nature of the campaigns also matter. 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:14.240 And obviously what the candidates were the Republican candidate was 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:18.480 campaigning on was not something that was received well by 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:21.000 the voters. So I think there's going to be more 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:25.120 analysis to this, and there's a lot of different reasons 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:28.360 why this could have occurred, but hopefully we'll learn the 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.800 lessons from this disastrous outcome. 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.280 One of your thoughts on nationalizing elections, Senator, The President 0:07:35.320 --> 0:07:39.240 was in an interview yesterday on Dan Bongino's show and 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:41.680 said we should take over the voting in at least 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:46.600 fifteen places the Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. Is 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:47.680 that something you support? 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.640 Well? There is one area where I do believe there 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:57.960 should be a standard of voter identification you're familiar with 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.240 the Save Act, the Save America Act, which I support, 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.120 That is not a takeover of state run elections. But 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:08.600 what it does require, it is the irreducible minimum, is 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.000 that American citizens be allowed to vote, and anyone who 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:16.040 can't produce the appropriate identification would not be allowed. And 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:18.720 that's a matter of protecting the integrity of the ballot. 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.280 But you do think states should continue to administer elections 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:24.800 as for. 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:28.520 The I do. But I do think that in those 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:33.640 blue states, particularly where they don't have these same sort 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:37.000 of integrity measures that we have in Texas and are 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.720 in other states, that a requirement of a proof of 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:45.640 American citizenship and voter idea is something that is supported 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.520 on a bipartisan basis makes a lot of sense. So 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:51.120 that's why I support the Save America Act. 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:55.000 Center Before we let you go, we do want to 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:57.760 touch on foreign affairs very quickly. What should happen next 0:08:57.760 --> 0:08:58.200 in Iran? 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:05.040 Well, the President's got a very tough call here, obviously. 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:09.520 This Iran is the number one state sponsor of international terrorism, 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:13.160 is responsible for most of the misery and mischief that's 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:17.439 occurring in the Middle East, including the October seventh attack, 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.960 in Israel by Hamas one of their proxies. They have 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.560 of course been trying to develop nuclear weapons. They have 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.160 long range ballistic missiles that threaten our allies in the region, 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:31.680 and the President, I know, is being presented with a 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.199 range of options here. The real question, I think, Julie, 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.719 is what comes next if the supreme leader is deposed. 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.920 Usually what happens in these countries like Venezuela and Iran 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:49.000 is are virtual police states and the leadership, the authoritarian 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:53.040 leaders basically kill all their competition and they destroy the 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.760 institutions that would be there once they are deposed. So 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:59.640 this is going to be a hard decision by the 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:02.520 President because there's no easy answer in Iran. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.000 Do you support another round of strikes then, Senator, is 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:07.000 it time to hit Tehran? 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:10.679 Well, I think that that is one of the things 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.240 that the President, I'm sure is being presented because they 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:17.200 have the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Kuds Forces 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:23.520 is called, which are their primary primary tools or instruments 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:29.280 of international terrorism emanating from Tehran through its proxies. So 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.199 the President may decide that that's an appropriate target. 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:36.640 Senator, it's good to spend some time with you and 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:40.040 We appreciate the insights as always on Bloomberg. Republican Senator 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:41.480 John Corn of Texas, thank you.