Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Part 2 First 100 Days Inside the White House w Linda McMahon & Tricia McLaughlin

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Part 2 First 100 Days Inside the White House w Linda McMahon & Tricia McLaughlin · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Good morning, Welcome. It is the Ben Ferguson Podcast. Nice
0:03
Speaker 1: to have you with U. Slide from the White House
0:05
Speaker 1: and sitting in front of me as a woman that
0:07
Speaker 1: has taken on an almost impossible task. I was so
0:11
Speaker 1: excited when I heard this name Linda McMahon. And if
0:15
Speaker 1: you don't know the history of Linda, you need to
0:17
Speaker 1: google it because she has done some amazing things.
0:20
Speaker 2: In her career. And you get this job.
0:23
Speaker 1: You get a phone call to become the United States
0:25
Speaker 1: Secretary of Education. How did this even come about? How
0:29
Speaker 1: was the phone call that you received from the President?
0:31
Speaker 1: I got to know the backstory real quick because I
0:33
Speaker 1: think it's so fascinating.
0:35
Speaker 3: Well, good morning, and thank you very much for having me. Ben.
0:39
Speaker 3: It Well, you may or may not recall, but I
0:41
Speaker 3: was the co chair of the transition committee for the President.
0:44
Speaker 3: So we were putting in place all of the different
0:47
Speaker 3: cabinet secretaries, etc. And you know, I'm working on everybody
0:51
Speaker 3: else's department. And the President talks to me and he says, look,
0:55
Speaker 3: he says, I've got the perfect place for you. And
0:57
Speaker 3: I said, oh, okay, what are you thinking. He's Department
1:00
Speaker 3: of Education. I said, well, you realize that my background
1:04
Speaker 3: is not, you know, in the world of education, although
1:07
Speaker 3: I got my certificate to teach and I was prepared
1:09
Speaker 3: to teach French. I also served on the Connecticut State
1:13
Speaker 3: Board of Education, and then I've been on the board
1:16
Speaker 3: of trustees at Sacred Heart University for sixteen years. I said,
1:20
Speaker 3: so I do have education background. And he said, look,
1:23
Speaker 3: here's what I want to do with the Department of Education.
1:25
Speaker 3: I want to shut it down. And so I laughed.
1:27
Speaker 3: I laughed, and I said, so in other words, excuse me,
1:32
Speaker 3: I said, so, in other words, you want me to
1:33
Speaker 3: preside over my own demise. And he laughed out loud
1:36
Speaker 3: and he said, yep. He said, I do want you
1:39
Speaker 3: to do that. He said, and here's what I need.
1:41
Speaker 3: He said, rather than have an educator in place to
1:43
Speaker 3: do this, what I really need is a business person.
1:46
Speaker 3: I need an executive. I need a leader who knows
1:49
Speaker 3: how to manage and can handle this. He said. We
1:51
Speaker 3: need to return education to the States. He said, I
1:55
Speaker 3: want to take the bureaucracy out of education, and as
1:59
Speaker 3: much money as we're saving and doing that, I want
2:01
Speaker 3: to make sure that the states can maximize, you know,
2:04
Speaker 3: that money and have the programs that they need in place.
2:08
Speaker 3: So he said, so I need you to come on
2:11
Speaker 3: board and do that, and I do that. Yes, I
2:14
Speaker 3: I Captain, I'm ready to go.
2:16
Speaker 1: So you get here and you get this new job,
2:19
Speaker 1: and it's an incredible job, and you're putting yourself out
2:22
Speaker 1: of business, which is also like a weird mentality to have.
2:27
Speaker 2: What was the biggest waste.
2:28
Speaker 1: Of tax dollars that you've uncovered at DOGE And let's
2:32
Speaker 1: start there.
2:33
Speaker 3: Well, I can tell you know they First of all,
2:36
Speaker 3: let me say I welcomed the DOGE group that came
2:39
Speaker 3: in and has been looking at a lot of the
2:41
Speaker 3: wasteful spending that has been going on. I think one
2:43
Speaker 3: of the things that jumped out at me was that
2:45
Speaker 3: we had about six hundred million dollars that we were
2:48
Speaker 3: spending on teacher training programs. Now that's so, now that sounds,
2:55
Speaker 3: you know, incredibly like a good amount of money to
2:57
Speaker 3: be spending on a good thing to train our teachers.
3:01
Speaker 3: But what we really were finding was that most of
3:04
Speaker 3: the programs at that point were really focused on DEI training, yeah,
3:09
Speaker 3: and not on what excuse me you would typically be
3:14
Speaker 3: looking at, you know, for teacher training. And so we
3:18
Speaker 3: took back that money and we shut down that kind
3:20
Speaker 3: of training program. So that was one that just jumped
3:22
Speaker 3: out at me.
3:23
Speaker 2: So is it fair to say the Department of Education?
3:26
Speaker 1: And I have a sister, she's in an innercy school
3:29
Speaker 1: and she's doing the best that she can. My mom
3:31
Speaker 1: was a teacher, my aunt was a principal. Like I
3:35
Speaker 1: come from that world. But what is sad to me
3:38
Speaker 1: is it seems like the Department of Education has basically
3:41
Speaker 1: decided we're going to indoctrinate kids instead of educate kids,
3:44
Speaker 1: and we're going to do it in a way with
3:45
Speaker 1: you using taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate them and what we
3:48
Speaker 1: believe in instead of reading, writing, and arithmetic. How far
3:50
Speaker 1: off am I on that from a national standpoint?
3:53
Speaker 3: You know, far off on that at all? And what
3:55
Speaker 3: we have really seen, I mean, think about this, Ben.
3:58
Speaker 3: The Department of Education was established in nineteen eighty and
4:02
Speaker 3: since that time, we have spent over three trillion dollars
4:05
Speaker 3: in education, and our performance scores have continued to go down.
4:09
Speaker 3: And you know, I don't I don't say there haven't
4:12
Speaker 3: been things that have been tried. I mean the Bush
4:14
Speaker 3: administration tried no child left Behind. Yeah, Barack Obama tried
4:20
Speaker 3: race to the top, but we're failing in the mission
4:25
Speaker 3: of teaching our our students. And I think the reason
4:28
Speaker 3: for that is we have gotten away from basics. We've
4:30
Speaker 3: gotten away from teaching reading and teaching arithmetic. And so
4:35
Speaker 3: what we're finding in schools that are showing improvement and
4:37
Speaker 3: scores is that they have returned to the science of reading,
4:41
Speaker 3: teaching phonics, teaching repetitive, you know, just memorization like in
4:47
Speaker 3: mathematics for your times table and things like that, and
4:50
Speaker 3: then building upon that base. You know, up through third
4:54
Speaker 3: grade you are learning to read, and after third grade
4:58
Speaker 3: you're reading to learn. And if you can read, you're
5:01
Speaker 3: not going to be able to learn. So we found
5:03
Speaker 3: that a lot of the fall off, if you will,
5:06
Speaker 3: in education is because we're not teaching the basics, and
5:08
Speaker 3: so a little return to that basics is great. Now
5:11
Speaker 3: a lot of other things that can be introduced that
5:14
Speaker 3: can be helpful, like AI yes, because they're how far.
5:17
Speaker 2: Behind are we on technology?
5:19
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean just because it seems like we're back
5:21
Speaker 1: twenty years ago and all of a sudden now are
5:25
Speaker 1: thirty years ago in technology and we're having these kids
5:28
Speaker 1: go out in the world I laughed the other day.
5:30
Speaker 2: I was talking to a group.
5:31
Speaker 1: Of students and the students said that at they're high school,
5:35
Speaker 1: they were still teaching them to do photography and develop film.
5:41
Speaker 1: And You're like, for what reason that doesn't happen anymore?
5:45
Speaker 3: You're not going to use is that going to be
5:47
Speaker 3: their major when they go off? Right a career path
5:50
Speaker 3: that they want to be on. If it's a career path,
5:51
Speaker 3: they want to be on them off for that right.
5:53
Speaker 1: However, it's digital now, pictures are digital, and they're like,
5:57
Speaker 1: the teacher's been there and said, well, this is how
5:58
Speaker 1: we've always done it.
5:59
Speaker 2: That was sponsor to students.
6:00
Speaker 1: I'm like, we're paying that salary to someone who's literally
6:03
Speaker 1: saying I refuse to move forward.
6:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I just think that just goes to the
6:07
Speaker 3: bigger problem of how I think education is not in
6:11
Speaker 3: touch with the communities. It's not in touch with the
6:13
Speaker 3: industries that we need. And that's what we need to
6:15
Speaker 3: make sure of that we are educating our students for
6:20
Speaker 3: you know, for their for their livelihood. What you know,
6:24
Speaker 3: what what does industry need? What does the community need? Uh,
6:28
Speaker 3: You'll hear most universities say that we want to make sure,
6:31
Speaker 3: we can keep students in the community when we're when
6:34
Speaker 3: we're training them, but if you don't understand what the community,
6:38
Speaker 3: what industry, what business needs, what or what technology needs,
6:41
Speaker 3: et cetera, you can't construct the proper curriculum to fill
6:46
Speaker 3: you know, that need, and you'll find we won't be successful.
6:50
Speaker 1: When I was going through school, and again I came
6:52
Speaker 1: from a family of educators that the dream, the goal
6:55
Speaker 1: was always you go to college. Right, you want to
6:58
Speaker 1: be successful, you go to college. I think think that
7:00
Speaker 1: has been a detriment to this new generation of students.
7:04
Speaker 1: I think there's tradesmen, there's crafts, there's certain things that
7:07
Speaker 1: you can go into, and this obsession would just go
7:10
Speaker 1: to college no matter what, which is also I think
7:12
Speaker 1: we're one of the biggest problems is in public education.
7:15
Speaker 2: There's a lot of kids and if you look.
7:17
Speaker 1: At the data, they're not going to go to college,
7:19
Speaker 1: but they're not prepared to do anything when they leave
7:20
Speaker 1: high school. Is that one of the biggest things that
7:23
Speaker 1: we're missing as well that you've seen that we've got
7:25
Speaker 1: to do a better job of preparing these kids for
7:27
Speaker 1: real world and trade. And I mean, there's great jobs
7:31
Speaker 1: out there that you don't have to go to college
7:32
Speaker 1: for and you can make a great living if they're
7:34
Speaker 1: prepared for them. But we're not doing that either.
7:36
Speaker 3: No, we're not about eight million open jobs in the country,
7:39
Speaker 3: and we don't have a skilled workforce ready to go
7:41
Speaker 3: into those jobs. One of the things that I talk
7:43
Speaker 3: about when I'm traveling, and I am traveling to many
7:47
Speaker 3: states visiting schools to see what kind of different curriculum
7:50
Speaker 3: is being taught, both in lower in middle schools and
7:53
Speaker 3: then you know high schools as well, and we're not
7:57
Speaker 3: preparing students. And I think we have to change the
8:00
Speaker 3: culture of education in our country from just exactly what
8:03
Speaker 3: you were talking about. For your college is not necessary
8:06
Speaker 3: anymore for many of the skills that we should be teaching.
8:10
Speaker 3: And there are certain degrees that obviously do require college
8:14
Speaker 3: education if you're going to be a doctor or a lawyer,
8:16
Speaker 3: or an engineer and that sort of thing. However, there
8:19
Speaker 3: are many career paths that don't require a four year
8:23
Speaker 3: college education. If you're going to be a skilled tradesman,
8:27
Speaker 3: a plumber and electrician, an h VAC technician, sophisticated manufacturing
8:31
Speaker 3: like CSR, then you can get certificates that are much
8:34
Speaker 3: shorter than for you. As a matter of fact, I
8:36
Speaker 3: am a strong proponent of short term PEL grants to
8:42
Speaker 3: to help get people in the workforce faster. So that's
8:45
Speaker 3: really what I would like to see. And you have
8:47
Speaker 3: to be in touch with your community and with the
8:50
Speaker 3: needs of manufacturing, with the needs of industry so that
8:53
Speaker 3: we can consumer what.
8:54
Speaker 2: An other idea.
8:55
Speaker 1: Right, you work with people in the community where those
8:57
Speaker 1: jobs are, whether you're in a manufacturing city or an
8:59
Speaker 1: IT citty or a place like that. So let me
9:01
Speaker 1: ask you another question. This goes back to the big
9:04
Speaker 1: issue of what does it look like if you guys
9:05
Speaker 1: shut all this down and the power goes back to
9:08
Speaker 1: the state. And this is a really important one because
9:10
Speaker 1: there's a lot of parents right now that kids are
9:12
Speaker 1: in failing schools and they really are intrigued.
9:14
Speaker 2: By the idea as well of school choice is.
9:17
Speaker 1: Part of shutting down the Department of Education, going back
9:20
Speaker 1: to the states, giving the states empowerment to be able
9:22
Speaker 1: to do things like that.
9:24
Speaker 3: Absolutely, the President does not want to see any child
9:28
Speaker 3: trapped in a failing school, and that's he has talked
9:31
Speaker 3: about that forever. That's why I'm such a strong proponent
9:34
Speaker 3: of charter schools, public schools, homeschooling, magnet schools. There is
9:40
Speaker 3: no one size fits all for education.
9:42
Speaker 1: What amazing idea we have an administration actually likes parents,
9:44
Speaker 1: even in homeschooling. That hasn't I was homeschool when I
9:47
Speaker 1: was younger, and the disdain from the federal government for
9:49
Speaker 1: homeschooling has been shocking for decades.
9:52
Speaker 3: No, it's absolutely critical that we structure our education to
9:56
Speaker 3: fit the child. And that's one of the reasons why
9:59
Speaker 3: is we see technology that can be utilized in many
10:03
Speaker 3: more ways. I mean from AI if you think we
10:06
Speaker 3: can have almost a personal tutor in the classroom one
10:10
Speaker 3: on one. I saw a demonstration of this last week
10:13
Speaker 3: that there was a teacher in the classroom at twenty
10:15
Speaker 3: five students. She had on her screen the twenty five
10:19
Speaker 3: students who were each getting individual instruction in math, and
10:24
Speaker 3: she could tell which student was not keeping up on
10:26
Speaker 3: the exercise and go to that student and repeat things
10:30
Speaker 3: or reprogram and it was just amazing to see. And
10:34
Speaker 3: you'll see scores start to come up much quicker. Children
10:36
Speaker 3: can learn much faster when they're taught in the ways
10:39
Speaker 3: that they can learn. So as we shut down the
10:41
Speaker 3: Department of Education. I want to make sure that best
10:44
Speaker 3: practices are being shown to those states, that we provide
10:47
Speaker 3: the states with the tools to move forward, so because
10:51
Speaker 3: that's how they'll have their their greatest success, and then
10:54
Speaker 3: putting the money to them to help support those programs.
10:58
Speaker 1: So what a success look like? How do you define
11:01
Speaker 1: us at the Department of Education for your tenure moving forward?
11:05
Speaker 1: Is that shutting it down? Or is that changing the
11:08
Speaker 1: narrative and giving and going and working with these states?
11:11
Speaker 2: And what's the timeline look like as well?
11:13
Speaker 3: Well, it's not mutually exclusive, it's not either or were
11:16
Speaker 3: clearly are going to close down the Department of Education,
11:19
Speaker 3: but that is going to take an Act of Congress.
11:21
Speaker 3: So we're going to have to work with Congress. And
11:23
Speaker 3: I've said all along that I want Congress to be
11:26
Speaker 3: my partner in doing this.
11:27
Speaker 2: How's the reception been there?
11:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I see a lot of these guys in Congress,
11:31
Speaker 1: there's a lot of pressure from unions.
11:34
Speaker 2: What does the back room conversation of this look like?
11:37
Speaker 1: Because at first, I'm sure when you said it, there
11:39
Speaker 1: was a lot of people in Congress like, hold on
11:40
Speaker 1: a second, dial it down.
11:43
Speaker 3: It's pretty divided at the moment, but I think that
11:46
Speaker 3: I'm hoping absolutely that they will be my partner's when
11:50
Speaker 3: I show them that I believe the programs that we're
11:54
Speaker 3: going to put forth and how we're going to do
11:56
Speaker 3: it will strengthen education. Because the President believes, as do I,
12:01
Speaker 3: that the best education is that closest to the student.
12:04
Speaker 3: So if we can provide the best practices and the
12:06
Speaker 3: tools for those best practices, then I think we're going
12:09
Speaker 3: to raise the scores of kids in those states and
12:12
Speaker 3: money will be better spent.
12:14
Speaker 2: So when you work at the state level, who are
12:16
Speaker 2: your biggest allies? There?
12:18
Speaker 1: Is it governors and state legislatures that people in education.
12:22
Speaker 3: It's all of the above, but primarily the people when
12:24
Speaker 3: I go and talk and meet with are principles of schools.
12:28
Speaker 3: There may be some of the local superintendents. Parents have come.
12:32
Speaker 3: I was there. Let's see where it was. I was
12:35
Speaker 3: in Las Vegas this past Friday, which was a holiday
12:39
Speaker 3: for schools, but I had parents, students, teachers coming in
12:43
Speaker 3: to meet with me to show me what their school
12:45
Speaker 3: was doing and about the things that they needed, and
12:48
Speaker 3: it was incredibly refreshing to see that parental involvement is
12:52
Speaker 3: one of the keys. I think that was the silver
12:54
Speaker 3: lining of COVID. Parental involvement is really one of the
12:58
Speaker 3: keys to show how they are supporting their students and
13:01
Speaker 3: understanding what they want the curriculum to look like.
13:03
Speaker 1: It seems like the mentality that you're advocating for is
13:06
Speaker 1: you know, it was in the last administration parents that
13:09
Speaker 1: showed up at school board meetings were considered domestic terrorists
13:11
Speaker 1: if they were saying something you didn't want to hear.
13:13
Speaker 1: You're now saying, I want to welcome parents back in
13:17
Speaker 1: the educational process.
13:18
Speaker 2: Is that part of the core goal as well?
13:20
Speaker 3: Absolutely, if you don't have parental support in local school systems,
13:23
Speaker 3: it makes the success of teaching I think in the
13:28
Speaker 3: schools nowhere near what it is when you see parental involvement.
13:32
Speaker 3: I mean, parents have rights. They have a right to
13:34
Speaker 3: look at what kind of curriculum is being taught in
13:37
Speaker 3: the schools, whether it's appropriate for their child. They should
13:41
Speaker 3: be involved. But they also have to be involved in
13:44
Speaker 3: supporting the men's school for making sure they're doing their
13:46
Speaker 3: homework for all of those things as well, and so
13:48
Speaker 3: hopefully we're making that connection a much more solid as well.
13:54
Speaker 1: Final question for you and this is one of those
13:57
Speaker 1: that I think is so important.
13:58
Speaker 2: The people that listen to this show. There's a lot
14:00
Speaker 2: of people that.
14:01
Speaker 1: Say, I want a blueprint of what you need for
14:04
Speaker 1: me as a parent. Is it going to school board meetings?
14:08
Speaker 1: Is it going to my legislature, Is it calling my
14:10
Speaker 1: congressman or my center. You clearly need support because Congress
14:14
Speaker 1: has to go along with you, but they also need
14:16
Speaker 1: to advocate for supporting their state and their local municipalities.
14:19
Speaker 1: So if you're a mom listing right now and your
14:22
Speaker 1: kids in a failing school, your dad that it says, hey,
14:25
Speaker 1: my kids in a failing school, tell me what I
14:28
Speaker 1: need to do. You're in charge. What are you asking
14:33
Speaker 1: for me? What can they do as a parent to
14:35
Speaker 1: get involved?
14:36
Speaker 3: I think the two best things that they can do,
14:38
Speaker 3: first of all, is to really be involved locally, because
14:43
Speaker 3: that's really where it happens. It's at their school or
14:45
Speaker 3: in their town or in their community. And if they're
14:47
Speaker 3: in a failing school and there's another school that is potential,
14:50
Speaker 3: whether it's a charter school or a private school, and
14:53
Speaker 3: they have the opportunity to move their child into that school.
14:56
Speaker 3: But in order to have that opportunity, the legislation has
14:59
Speaker 3: to be in place for them to be able to
15:01
Speaker 3: do that, and so they have to work locally. They
15:05
Speaker 3: also have to call their local They also have to
15:08
Speaker 3: call their US representatives and senators as well as their
15:11
Speaker 3: local representatives and senators because it's legislation, but it's time,
15:17
Speaker 3: it's effort. But be involved, be involved.
15:20
Speaker 2: And that includes school choice advocating for that as well.
15:22
Speaker 3: We absolutely I am a strong proponent, as is the
15:24
Speaker 3: President for school choice. That's why he has been such
15:28
Speaker 3: a strong proponent for charter schools. And I've been visiting
15:31
Speaker 3: some charter schools recently on a couple of states that
15:34
Speaker 3: I've been in to see the programs that they're putting
15:36
Speaker 3: in place, and they are They're pretty magnificent.
15:39
Speaker 1: It's incredible, it's refreshing. I hope this gives people and
15:43
Speaker 1: moms that and dads are listening, grandparents hope that we're
15:46
Speaker 1: going to actually have a real impact.
15:47
Speaker 2: You've got a long haul ahead of you.
15:49
Speaker 3: It is a long haul. But and I'll tell you,
15:51
Speaker 3: and know a lot of folks look at what we're
15:52
Speaker 3: doing and say, oh, well, you know, the Department of
15:54
Speaker 3: Education is really looking to close down public schools couldn't
15:57
Speaker 3: be farther from the truth.
15:58
Speaker 2: That's one of the lies.
15:58
Speaker 1: And we saw that right away, and that was not
16:00
Speaker 1: the goal here. It was just to say we want
16:02
Speaker 1: to get rid of the bureaucracy. That am I wrong
16:04
Speaker 1: in saying it that way?
16:06
Speaker 3: Get rid of the bureaucracy. But you know, rising tide
16:08
Speaker 3: lifts all boats. Schools can be competitive, curriculum can be competitive,
16:12
Speaker 3: and what we have seen and one of the other
16:16
Speaker 3: lies that if you will is you're taking money away
16:19
Speaker 3: from public schools and that's not the case either.
16:21
Speaker 1: Lastly, and then I know you got to go, but
16:23
Speaker 1: I want to ask you, this is this something that
16:25
Speaker 1: you ever thought would be part of your legacy? And
16:27
Speaker 1: how exciting is this to say I am going to
16:30
Speaker 1: maybe get to do something that is grand when it
16:32
Speaker 1: comes to redefining how we educate kids in America.
16:35
Speaker 3: Well, it was certainly something that I had contemplated prior
16:38
Speaker 3: to the President asking me to take on this role.
16:41
Speaker 3: But the more that I've gotten into it and thought
16:43
Speaker 3: about it, and I really do believe that if my
16:46
Speaker 3: legacy could be to help the president be the education
16:50
Speaker 3: president and help raise levels of education and to do
16:54
Speaker 3: what his goal is, which is to provide equal access
16:58
Speaker 3: to excellent education to every student in the country.
17:02
Speaker 1: One of the big issues that so many Americans care
17:05
Speaker 1: about right now is the issue of what's happening at
17:08
Speaker 1: the southern border. We have done a lot to secure
17:10
Speaker 1: the border in our President Trump and in the first
17:12
Speaker 1: hundred days, but then there's the issue of all the
17:15
Speaker 1: illegal immigrants that are in this country and how we're
17:18
Speaker 1: going to deport them, especially those that are in MS
17:20
Speaker 1: thirteen gang members and Trey de la Laga gangs. This
17:24
Speaker 1: is still a major issue for safety for so many Americans.
17:27
Speaker 1: So join me now to talk about this is Tricia mcloffin.
17:30
Speaker 1: She is the Assistant Secretary Department of Homeland Security. Tricia,
17:34
Speaker 1: it's a pleasure to have you here and to talk
17:36
Speaker 1: about this. Let's go to the headlines and start there.
17:39
Speaker 1: You've got this story of a MS thirteen gang member
17:43
Speaker 1: who even his own wife was making sure that his
17:45
Speaker 1: knuckles were that had the tattoo of the MS thirteen
17:48
Speaker 1: gang symbol was not on social media in some of
17:52
Speaker 1: her postings. Then the media tried to say that he
17:55
Speaker 1: was not a gang member, that this was terrible that
17:58
Speaker 1: we kicked him out of this country.
17:59
Speaker 2: And that we send Salvador and they're domating him back.
18:01
Speaker 1: And now Democrats have gone all in on this, like
18:03
Speaker 1: there's delegations using taxpayer dollars to go and meet with
18:07
Speaker 1: this person, not meet with family members and victims in
18:09
Speaker 1: this country, those that have been terrorized, those have been killed,
18:12
Speaker 1: those have been raped and murdered by this gang that
18:15
Speaker 1: is a terrorist organization. And now we're also seeing lawfare
18:18
Speaker 1: in the courts trying to say no, no, no, President Trump,
18:20
Speaker 1: you can't keep American safe as.
18:22
Speaker 4: Well, exactly, Ben, And there really is a concerted effort
18:25
Speaker 4: by the media and Democrats to whitewash this story, whitewash
18:29
Speaker 4: who this guy is, that he's some innocent Maryland father,
18:32
Speaker 4: when he's anything but. First and foremost, he is in
18:35
Speaker 4: the country illegally. He had final deportation orders. But let's
18:38
Speaker 4: go through the timeline a little bit to describe who
18:41
Speaker 4: this guy Abrego Garcia actually is. When he was initially
18:44
Speaker 4: arrested in twenty nineteen, he was found among other MUS
18:48
Speaker 4: thirteen gang members, decked out an MS thirteen gear having
18:51
Speaker 4: different MS thirteen symbols on it. He was found with
18:54
Speaker 4: drugs and rolls of money as well two separate immigration
18:59
Speaker 4: judges found that he was an MS thirteen gang member
19:03
Speaker 4: as well as the Prince George's County gang unit. Keep
19:05
Speaker 4: in mind, Prince George County, Maryland isn't exactly some red haven,
19:09
Speaker 4: it is very blue. They found that he is in
19:13
Speaker 4: MS thirteen as well. Flash forwarded to twenty twenty one.
19:16
Speaker 4: His wife, his own wife, who like you said, was
19:19
Speaker 4: covering up his knuckles, was filed a domestic restraining order
19:23
Speaker 4: against him for slapping her, for ripping off her shirt,
19:26
Speaker 4: for pinching and scratching her sheet, and her own written
19:29
Speaker 4: testimony said how she feared for her children and tried
19:32
Speaker 4: to take them away from him, and then, man, if
19:35
Speaker 4: I'm a one more time is In twenty twenty two,
19:38
Speaker 4: he was pulled over by the Tennessee State Highway Patrol
19:42
Speaker 4: during which he was allegedly taking eight individuals from Texas
19:47
Speaker 4: to Maryland on a three day journey. On a three
19:50
Speaker 4: day journey with eight people, and there was not a
19:52
Speaker 4: single piece of luggage in that vehicle that reeks of
19:56
Speaker 4: human trafficking. That is textbook, and so we're left to
19:59
Speaker 4: believe that, oh no, this is an innocent guy.
20:02
Speaker 1: And by the way, that let's be queer the Biden administration,
20:04
Speaker 1: the FBI said no, no, no, just let him go.
20:06
Speaker 2: Don't worry about that.
20:07
Speaker 4: There's certainly more to the story, and I'd love to
20:09
Speaker 4: hear more from the FBI and what went down there.
20:12
Speaker 1: So you look at this guy and he's over there,
20:14
Speaker 1: and now the media has become like he's some sort
20:17
Speaker 1: of folk hero or hero for them, the Democratic Party
20:21
Speaker 1: spending taxpayer hours to go down there and meet with
20:23
Speaker 1: him like he's a celebrity. You have centers that are
20:26
Speaker 1: holding his hand like he's been persecuted by the United
20:28
Speaker 1: States of America and demands to bring him back. What
20:31
Speaker 1: so we can deport him to another country as soon
20:33
Speaker 1: as he gets here, because that's exactly what could happen.
20:35
Speaker 4: It's remarkable to me that this is the hill that
20:38
Speaker 4: the Democrats and media are willing to die on, that
20:41
Speaker 4: they have one small shred of any credibility left and
20:44
Speaker 4: this is what they're going to burn it on. Is
20:46
Speaker 4: this MS thirteen gang member. Americans should remember who MS
20:49
Speaker 4: thirteen is. It is a vicious gang that sex traffics,
20:54
Speaker 4: that human traffics, that maimes, rapes and kills Americans for sport.
20:58
Speaker 4: These are people who should not be in our country
21:00
Speaker 4: and should be hunted down and locked up immediately.
21:04
Speaker 1: You just look at some of the things that apparently
21:06
Speaker 1: were found on his devices. And that's one of the
21:09
Speaker 1: things that I found interesting on the reporting is you
21:11
Speaker 1: look at what they share MS thirteen game members. They
21:14
Speaker 1: share the pictures of beheadings, the butchering of humans. And
21:18
Speaker 1: then yet they're trying to say, oh, this guy's a
21:20
Speaker 1: victim who broke into America.
21:23
Speaker 4: Anything but and that is I mean, if you look
21:25
Speaker 4: at the crime on American streets and crimes by these
21:28
Speaker 4: illegal immigrant gangs, so much of the time they're done
21:31
Speaker 4: by MS thirteen, they're done by Trendy Arragua, they're done
21:34
Speaker 4: by these other vicious gangs. They shouldn't have been here
21:37
Speaker 4: in the first place because they're in the country illegally.
21:39
Speaker 4: Much less the fact that with impunity they've been allowed
21:43
Speaker 4: to rain terwer on American streets for the last four years.
21:47
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the court system now, and we've seen
21:49
Speaker 1: these activist judges who are stepping in and using law
21:52
Speaker 1: fair to say, hey, the president can't do this anymore.
21:55
Speaker 1: You can't just ship people off to the other countries.
21:58
Speaker 1: We're gonna stop you every step of the way. What
22:01
Speaker 1: is the administration's response to that. How long is it
22:04
Speaker 1: going to take for this to play out.
22:05
Speaker 4: I think ultimately President Trump, Secretary Noman, this entire administration
22:10
Speaker 4: are going to be victorious on this issue. On November fifth,
22:14
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four, there is a clear mandate from the
22:17
Speaker 4: American people that we need to get criminal illegal aliens
22:20
Speaker 4: out of this country. There was likely ten to twenty
22:23
Speaker 4: million illegal aliens who came into this country under Joe Biden.
22:27
Speaker 4: The American people are done with it. Look, whether Garcia
22:30
Speaker 4: is in an American detention facility or an Ala Salvador,
22:33
Speaker 4: what matters really is that he's locked up. But I
22:35
Speaker 4: do think ultimately this will be sorted out. We will
22:39
Speaker 4: ensure that these individuals have due process. That was what
22:42
Speaker 4: the Supreme Court was most concerned about, was the amount
22:45
Speaker 4: of time these individuals were given notice. But we're going
22:47
Speaker 4: to be very clear that despite the fact that these
22:50
Speaker 4: are terrorists, these are criminal gang members, this is still
22:54
Speaker 4: the United States of American. We guarantee due process under
22:58
Speaker 4: the US Constitution.
22:59
Speaker 1: So when you look forward after we're at the one
23:02
Speaker 1: hundred day mark, in essence, and this is pretty awesome
23:04
Speaker 1: because there's a lot that's been done. The border is
23:06
Speaker 1: now more secure than's been in decades, the number of
23:09
Speaker 1: people are coming across. I think the message the present
23:11
Speaker 1: sent loud and clear was you come here now, it's
23:14
Speaker 1: game on. We're saying that the number of crossings have
23:17
Speaker 1: dropped significantly, but there's the big question of Okay, there's
23:21
Speaker 1: a lot of people that got in under the Biden years.
23:23
Speaker 2: There's literally millions.
23:25
Speaker 1: How are we going to unwind all of that in
23:27
Speaker 1: an orderly fashion.
23:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that we're working to do just that.
23:31
Speaker 4: Secretary Nome was handed a tough task and she's taking
23:34
Speaker 4: it on miraculously. Look at the border, as you just mentioned,
23:38
Speaker 4: we virtually have operational control of the border. Border crossings
23:41
Speaker 4: are down ninety five percent.
23:43
Speaker 2: That is, i all.
23:44
Speaker 4: Accounts, the most secure border in American history. That's in
23:47
Speaker 4: less than ninety days. It's pretty pretty remarkable. But we
23:51
Speaker 4: also have to look at our legal immigration system as well.
23:55
Speaker 4: The Biden administration majorc has use parole programs, temporary protected status,
23:59
Speaker 4: and these their programs to allow illegal immigrants to come
24:04
Speaker 4: into this country unvetted. We don't know really who's in
24:07
Speaker 4: this country, So we have to really take a pause
24:09
Speaker 4: and go through who did we let in for the
24:12
Speaker 4: last four years. So I think it's going to take
24:15
Speaker 4: also a unleashed ICE. Secretary name has been remarkable in that.
24:19
Speaker 4: But the fact is, for the last four years, Biden
24:22
Speaker 4: did not allow these ICE agents to actually do their jobs.
24:25
Speaker 4: They were disincentivized for making any of these arrests, whether
24:28
Speaker 4: it be just illegal aliens to criminal vicious aliens like
24:32
Speaker 4: these MS thirteen members, as we've mentioned before. So we
24:36
Speaker 4: have a tall task and we've got to get these
24:38
Speaker 4: arrests numbers up. But that's part of the reason why
24:40
Speaker 4: Secretary Nome is on the ground on a weekly basis
24:44
Speaker 4: with our enforcement officers from Border and Protection Patrol and
24:49
Speaker 4: from ICE to make sure that we're getting them the
24:51
Speaker 4: resources they need to be successful to get these arrests
24:54
Speaker 4: numbers up and to make sure they're safe on the job.
24:56
Speaker 1: Let's talk about detention detainers that the ICE needs in
25:00
Speaker 1: the court systems. They need these courts to alert them
25:02
Speaker 1: when they have somebody in custody that is clearly needs
25:05
Speaker 1: to be deported. We still are seeing activists that are
25:08
Speaker 1: not allowing for that to happen. How big of an
25:10
Speaker 1: issue is that going to be moving forward, and is
25:11
Speaker 1: there more than the White House can do to stop
25:13
Speaker 1: that from being a thing.
25:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the Department of Justice under Attorney General
25:17
Speaker 4: Pam Bondi is definitely looking at options with these sanctuary cities.
25:21
Speaker 4: Like you mentioned, if ICE isn't able to lodge these
25:24
Speaker 4: detainers against these criminal aliens, that they could be released
25:27
Speaker 4: into American communities and go out and commit the same act. Actually,
25:30
Speaker 4: a couple of weeks ago, Secretary Nome was in New
25:33
Speaker 4: York City and a lot of listeners will probably remember
25:37
Speaker 4: this really heinous crime at Coney Island, the subway station
25:41
Speaker 4: there where this illegal immigrant lit this woman on fire
25:44
Speaker 4: and killed her. It was incredibly depraved. ICE tried to
25:48
Speaker 4: lodge a detainer, and we are not sure if that's
25:50
Speaker 4: going to be honored. So we don't know if and
25:52
Speaker 4: when this guy will get out, But if he's not,
25:54
Speaker 4: he could be released back into New York even though
25:56
Speaker 4: he's in this country illegally. That's the kind of case
25:59
Speaker 4: is we have to end. And that's why, I mean,
26:02
Speaker 4: case in point, why sanctuary cities are so so dangerous.
26:06
Speaker 1: Final question for you on moving forward The next one
26:09
Speaker 1: hundred days. What do you expect the headlines to be
26:12
Speaker 1: from this administration on this issue? Obviously the border secure,
26:16
Speaker 1: we can check that box. We're doing more, But where
26:18
Speaker 1: is this going to go and what can the American
26:20
Speaker 1: people expect.
26:21
Speaker 4: I think you're going to see ramped up deportation numbers.
26:23
Speaker 4: I think you're going to see more agreements with third
26:26
Speaker 4: party countries. Whether you'll see that with Al Salvador, that
26:29
Speaker 4: they're taking some of our most vicious, worse, the worst
26:32
Speaker 4: criminal aliens. I think you're going to see more of
26:34
Speaker 4: that from other countries to make sure that these guys
26:36
Speaker 4: are off of Americans oil and take and take part
26:39
Speaker 4: in getting their their folks folks back. I also think
26:43
Speaker 4: we're going to see more you know, we're going to
26:44
Speaker 4: see more action with these the courts and some of
26:46
Speaker 4: these activist judges. But we're not going to let it
26:48
Speaker 4: stop us. We have deportation flights going almost every single day,
26:52
Speaker 4: and alien a Numies Act is only one tool in
26:55
Speaker 4: our arsenal. We have a lot of authorities to get
26:56
Speaker 4: these people out of the country.
26:58
Speaker 2: It's incredible. You guys are doing great work. Your boss
27:01
Speaker 2: is doing great work as well.
27:02
Speaker 1: It's nice to have leadership at the Department of Home
27:05
Speaker 1: in Security that actually knows who the bad guys are
27:07
Speaker 1: and they're willing to go after them. Chrisha mcglofflin. She
27:10
Speaker 1: is the Assistant Secretary Department of Homelandsecurity. Always a pleasure,
27:13
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming on.
27:14
Speaker 4: It's not honor. Thank you.