WEBVTT
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You're listening to the voice of Nassau Community College 90.3 WHPC.
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My name is Bill McIntyre, and it's time for this
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week's Long Island News, the show that talks to newsmakers
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and other important people from Nassau and Suffolk County that
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matter to Long Island and Long Islanders like you. So
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each week we'll have a conversation about issues that affect
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all of us. I live on Long Island just like you,
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and I want to know more about the people making
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the big decisions that affect all of us. Well, some
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state lawmakers have recently made news by performing a surprise
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inspection of local ICE detention facilities and how local police
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departments interact with ICE has been under fire as a
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New York state law just went into effect. County Executive
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Bruce Blakeman, who was also running for governor on the
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Republican ticket, opposed the law signed by the incumbent New
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York Governor Kathy Hochul, but later said that he will
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comply by banning cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Well,
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let's learn more about it. Welcoming back to our show,
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one of the lawmakers who made that visit has been
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outspoken on this and many other statewide issues, New York
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State Assemblywoman Mikael Solage.
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Ms.
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Solage, welcome back to this week's Long Island News.
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Thank you for having me on.
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Let's remind the audience a little bit about you when
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you were first elected as a State Assemblywoman and how
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you feel about the job so far.
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It's always a pleasure to be on. And, you know,
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I was first elected in the state assembly in 2012.
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And it's a privilege to continue serving the communities that
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represented me. I was born and raised in Elmont, went
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to school in Franklin Square. I met my husband and
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he's from Valley Stream. So I'm a product of the
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district and I'm a Long Island through through. I went
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to Hofstra University. And it really it's a pleasure to
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represent the area and it keeps me grounded in a
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job that ultimately is responsible for solving everyday problems of
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New Yorkers. And I want to make sure that people
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continue to stay on Long Island, be able to afford homes,
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pay their utility bills, send their kids to the great
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Long Island schools that we have and feel safe in
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their community. So It's just a pleasure to represent people
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in state government and making sure that we allocate funds
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to local governments. And as chair of local governments committee,
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I spend a lot of time thinking about the decisions
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in Albany and how it affects our counties, our towns,
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our villages, and our families. So it's a job that
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I love. And every day I wake up and I say,
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how can I serve New Yorkers?
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Good to hear. But let's get into the ICE topic. Now,
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tell us about this surprise visit that you made. Where
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was it? And what did you see?
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As a state elected official, I have many responsibilities, including oversight.
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And I have the privilege of law that says I
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can go into any correctional facility in the state I
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could just walk up to the doors and make an
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inspection of all of the correctional facilities throughout the state.
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And so as state legislators, I joined many of my
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colleagues in visiting the Nassau County Correctional Center. And it
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wasn't our first visit. It was an inspection that we
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made last year when the agreement went into place. So
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Nassau County, under the direction of Bruce Blakeman, had gone
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into a 287G agreement with Nassau County Police and Homeland Security,
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which basically deputizes police officers and uses the Nassau County
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Jail as a conduit to store detainees for 72 hours.
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And so my concern was very simple. If people are
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being detained in a government facility in Nassau County, we
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have to make sure that there is proper accommodations and
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that we are not liable for any deaths or any
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issues that happen there. Unfortunately, we did have an issue.
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There was a 42-year-old detainee that passed away in the
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facility under ICE detention.
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And so.
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I felt it was important that we go back and
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see how the facility improved since.
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We last went there.
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And I could tell you really quick, when we first
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went last year, I felt the chaos. There was over,
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I would say, more than a dozen detainees. Many complained
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that they weren't receiving showers, basic accommodations.
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They were confused.
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They felt like they weren't having access to their constitutional
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right of representation. And we all have due process in
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this country. So they wanted to talk to, yeah, that's
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a basic right. I think every individual in this country
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is afforded and they felt that they didn't have an
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opportunity to call their.
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Lawyer or their family.
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So it was important that we went back and made
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sure that the facility was complying with the law and
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that ICE was really communicating with Nassau County as to
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what was important.
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So, you know what, the thing gets me, though, is
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let's just say somewhere down the road, somebody says all
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of this was illegal and no good. And that's really
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not going to do anything for the people who've been
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caught up in this.
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I want to make it clear. If someone is a criminal,
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they should be removed from this country. You know, we
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are law abiding citizens. However, unfortunately, ICE is picking up
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individuals with no criminal record. Everyday individuals who are serving
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our society and our economy. I have countless stories of
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a home health aid worker who's walking the street. They
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profile her, discover that she doesn't have status, pick her
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up and send her away. And I'm a person of
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Haitian descent. I'm the first person Haitian descent elected in
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New York state government. I have a large Haitian community
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who many individuals were under temporary protective status, which is TPS.
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And this federal administration terminated TPS. And now these people
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who have been here for a very long time, decades,
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are now don't have status. And I just want to
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remind people, TPS people came here legally, you know, you
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have to fill out documentation, you have to be approved,
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you can't be committed, you can't commit a crime, you
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have to pay taxes. And you have to frequently go
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to the federal government and redesignate and.
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Tell them where you are.
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Some of those people have been more vetted than the
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people overlooking them.
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Correct. Yes, yes, you are right.
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And so what's happening in my community is that people
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who even have mortgages, who have a whole life here,
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are now undocumented. And they can't even go to the
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supermarket or even drop off their American, U.S.-born kid to school.
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It's a classic case of changing the rules of the
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game in the middle of the game. But that was blindsided.
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When I read that, it was HB1 and HB2, I guess, visas.
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Yes, and I'm only talking about TPS holders.
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You're also talking about the other.
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Legal mechanisms that people use to get in this country
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that have been just quickly terminated.
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And it's like 250,000 people.
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It's a lot of people.
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You know, it's amazing how much time we spend on
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the transgender issue when I think nationwide we're talking about
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nine people. And when something like this happens with a
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sweep of the brush and 250,000 people are now subject
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to arrest by what I call the government goon squad,
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although people don't realize this, we are all subject to
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that arrest because they're not looking at licenses. They don't
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want to hear your story. They want to throw you
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in a cell. Okay. Now, my other question is, and
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I looked this up just because I had to, when
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did we first get private prisons?
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Right.
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Because I think that's when we stepped over a line.
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I don't think the government or anybody should be able
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to make money on someone else's misery.
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So luckily in.
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New York state, we don't have private prisons, but we
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do have privatization of our prison.
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So there are services that are privatized.
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For example, when I made this oversight visit, I discovered
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that ICE uses a private transportation company for to transport detainees.
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And so people are profiting off of the mass incarceration
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system that exists in our country. And so whether the
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actual infrastructure is not privatized, we are slowly privatizing the
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many services that incarcerated individuals are interacting with. And it's
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unfortunate because these are profit-making entities. And so as we
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privatize the nuts and bolts, ultimately, you know, essentially we're
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privatizing the actual industry.
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Those are just baby steps toward getting to the same end. Yeah.
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Exactly. And it's, you know.
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No, go ahead.
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No, I just think that what.
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Happens is that we lose the humanity and the opportunity
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for us to really talk about how we can repair
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people and not acknowledge them for their worst moment.
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It's ironic. We call it the corrections department, but we
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don't appear to be correcting anything.
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Not at all.
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And for people who are, you know, new citizens, people
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who are immigrants who have come here looking for the
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American dream, looking just for opportunity to add to our society.
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It's really terrible that we're doing this, but it's also
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impacting our economy. The health care industry relies heavily on
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TPS workers to supplement workers. And what happened now is
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that many people have lost their home health care aid,
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and now they are just not getting access to the
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appropriate care that they need, which may result in death
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of our most older New Yorkers, which is unfortunate.
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And sadly... I think it's part of the plan. I
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think this whole thing is, we're talking about a scorched
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earth policy. We're not talking about any light at the
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end of the tunnel. We've hollowed out all of the
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democratic institutions that we all used to trust Donald Trump
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stood at the podium in Helsinki next to Vladimir Putin
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and said that the DOJ stinks and the FBI stinks.
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And at the time, they didn't. But that was prophetic
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because he made sure that they do now. He's appointed
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people who are not even qualified to be dog catchers
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and they're running these major agencies now. Got rid of
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thousands of people. Oversight's gone. You don't want to get
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in trouble for doing something wrong? Well, then get rid
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of the guy who oversees it and tells everybody that
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you're doing something wrong. When did people lose that idea
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that journalism is printing something that other people don't want printed?
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That's the whole point, and we got rid of that.
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But you say decency. When we got for-profit prisons, and
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that was Ronald Reagan, by the way. I just want
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to make that clear. That's when we stepped over the line,
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in my opinion. If a prison needs to make more money,
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a good way to do that is just to start
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feeding the prisoners oatmeal. Why buy them meat? Why buy
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them good vegetables? Give them garbage and your profit margin
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will go up. These are simple things to see and understand,
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and yet we ignored all of this.
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And I'm, you know, I was raised born, I was
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raised Catholic, you know, I still practice in Catholic, and
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I've learned it's important to forgive those and acknowledge that
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they are not their worst day. And just recently, I
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went up to Kasaki correctional facility, because in New York State,
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we actually have a huge issue in our correctional facilities.
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There was recently a prison strike where thousands of correctional
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officers illegally striked because technically they cannot strike, but they
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walked off the job. Many of them were fired for that.
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And we are now supplementing the correctional officers.
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With national guardsmen. And women all across the state.
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And so I went to Kaxaki just to look at
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the conditions because, again, it's about oversight and, you know,
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circling back, it's really dangerous what's happening in our correctional.
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Facilities.
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We are not providing programming to incarcerated individuals. The food,
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from what I was told, is, as you said, I
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wouldn't feed that to my dog.
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And we are feeding it to these individuals.
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And we are not repairing people and getting them ready
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to come out of society and be, um, better than
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they were when they entered.
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And that's an.
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Issue because we have an opera. These people have an opportunity.
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I could see in their eyes, they want to be,
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they want to change, but they are in such bad
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conditions and not be given the tools change. And it's
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really impacting, um, uh, The staff there because the staff
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was being demoralized. These people are now getting angry and
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lashing out on the staff. And the staff is now
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struggling every day. They have to do 12 hour shifts.
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Well, if those are Coast Guard members that are filling
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in and do they're not trained for that kind of thing.
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So they train them a bit, but it's not like
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they train correctional officers. And so it's a tough situation because,
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God bless them, they are helping and providing a service,
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but it's a difficult situation because they've only been there
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for a couple of months where... You know, it's it's,
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you know, correctional officers spend years in a job learning
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from experience.
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And they do what they can do, but it's still
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an inadequate. Now, I have a question, too. This is
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all supposed to be about deportation. Then why are we
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building giant detention centers if it's about deportation? How much
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do private prisons make on a detention as opposed to
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a deportation?
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As you said, when Donald Trump entered office, a lot
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of these private prison companies and contractors on the stock
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market actually deported. uh, increased their, their, um, value of their,
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their company because they realized that Donald Trump was going
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to build detention centers and really double down on, on.
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Deportating, uh, people.
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So it's, you know, I, unfortunately it's all about the,
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the dollar with, um, you know, some of these, um, Republicans,
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they only care about, um, you know, their, their donors
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and their billionaire friends. And you could see, um, Just
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how they don't believe in the rule of law. The
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rally that happened in Nassau County where Trump came in
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and was supposed to talk about, you know, being a
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law and order was a despicable rally that was a
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campaign rally. paid by the taxpayer dollars. The rally didn't
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really give ordinary people a voice.
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It was straightforward.
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It was about taking the congressional candidates, bringing them forward,
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and allowing them to speak. And many of those individuals
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aren't current elected officials. They literally were political candidates. And
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he said, vote for these people. And it's really unfortunate
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because that whole rally, the whole scenario was paid by
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taxpayer dollars. It was supposed to be about law and order,
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but it was really about politics.
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Well, I think it was a really bad visual too.
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You know, they put that out on television and we
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saw a whole audience full of uniformed police officers applauding
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a convicted felon. And that was a bad look to me.
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I don't know who the media people are, but I
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don't know who decided that that was a good thing
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to show the public.
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And it's unfortunate because at a time where immigrant communities
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are worried and very afraid, they should be looking to
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build trust with these communities. But they were perpetuating that
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same conversation about how they're going to take away and
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deport and separate families.
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And, you know, I have a very.
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The cruelty is disarming, isn't it? The cruelty is disarming.
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Yeah, it's disarming because at the end of the day,
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it's going to, a lot of people in the community
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are going to not trust the police because they feel
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that they're there not to help them, but to take
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them away from their family.
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And that's a danger to public safety.
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Yeah, yeah. Well, I have a slew of questions here.
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Let's see if we can get to some of them.
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I don't, you know. What's your opinion on the new
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state law that bans the local police departments from cooperating
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with ICE? And your response is, to Nassau County's reluctance
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in cooperating with it?
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I support the law.
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I think that we have to be precise about what
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we do. And the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, which
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is the law that we enact in the state legislature,
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really targets the use of state and local resources for
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civil immigration enforcement. It doesn't prevent local police from enforcing
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criminal laws or cooperating legitimate criminal cases.
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And people have to get that in their head, that
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there's criminals and then there's immigrants.
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A civil, yeah.
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We're not talking about the, yeah.
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We're talking about the civil enforcement. And I tell people
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all the time, the federal government has countless dollars. I've
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seen them waste, they're using a billion dollars to build
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a ballroom. They really don't need... local government to fund
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their civil immigration enforcement. And so my position is that
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Nassau County police officers should be focused on Nassau County
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residents and making sure that they are not a extension
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of the federal civil immigration enforcement. And the law says
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that the law basically says that, you know, they still
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if they have a judicial warrant, if it's if it's
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a bad person, they can get them. And so, you know,
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I worry because I've I've seen a immigrant, a woman
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who was a victim of domestic violence and she was
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afraid to call the police. Because if ICE came or
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if she came, Nashville County would cooperate with ICE and
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she may get deported back to the country where her
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intimate partner has more power than her.
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So she didn't call 911.
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I had to work with her and try to navigate
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that situation. But we see that countless people are afraid
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to call 911 because they believe local police are acting
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as immigration agents.
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Nobody knows who the good guys are.
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It's unfortunate. And the county executive not... being reluctant shows
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that it's about politics.
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It's not about people.
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If he really cared about people and building trust in
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community and community policing, he would actually have never gotten
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into the 287G agreements. And also, I think that him
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challenging the law shows that he doesn't have an obligation
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to Nassau County residents, that he cares about his political career.
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Just a reminder, you're listening to this week's Long Island
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News on the voice of Nassau Community College 90.3 WHPC.
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My name is Bill McIntyre, and my guest today is
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New York State Assemblywoman Michaela Solage. I have a bunch
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of things here, but let's see now. You participated in
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an anti-ICE rally in the past week, I guess. How
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important do you think the rallies are and do you
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think they're effective?
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I believe that democracy doesn't begin and end on election day.
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You have to be active in it. It's like a sport.
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You know, every day you've got to practice and you've
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got to come to the games. And rallies like we
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did really give.
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People a voice.
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They feel like they can come to a space, express
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their concerns and join parties. the masses in ensuring that we,
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you know, prioritize what's important to the local residents. Our
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message at the rally was straight forward. Nassau County should
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apply with the law and they should focus on local
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priorities and that the president is wrong and his agenda
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is anti-American. And his agenda is increasing the cost of
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living on the average New Yorker. Look, the gas prices
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are high. The utilities are high. Groceries are high. I
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used to be able to buy blueberries for my kids
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by the by the cartons.
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And now it's a luxury. You know, it's really unfortunate.
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And, you know, we need to put public pressure on
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our federal administration to focus on Americans.
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Well, I think it's funny because we do. We all
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talk about that. price of gas and the price of
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vegetables in the soup. I think those things are all distractions.
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Because what I want people to remember is that none
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of this is normal. Never in my, I've been on
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Long Island a long time, probably twice your age.
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Okay.
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No kidding. No kidding. And never in my lifetime have
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I seen masked armed gunmen Paid for by my tax
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dollars harassing citizens on the streets of the United States.
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I've never seen that. And so all of these young
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people have to remember that this is not normal. Don't
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accept this. This is not how you want to live.
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When I was a kid, you know, when we saw
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people with guns in the streets, when we looked at
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Israel on television, on the news, and they needed that
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kind of security. This is what we're seeing is. horrible.
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There's no better word for it. And we don't deserve this.
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But we're paying for it. You want to talk about
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insult to injury? We're paying for it, too. We read
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the paper every morning and go, this is horrible. Yeah,
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it's really horrible when you realize that your money is
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paying for that. You know, when did a president get
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to put tariffs on anybody? Why didn't? And this is
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why Republicans are going to take a lot of crap
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from me, certainly. And anybody else that's thinking, you guys
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didn't stop him. Plain and simple, to the nth, to
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the end, every one of you didn't stop this.
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It's funny, as a legislator, I really believe in the
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power of the legislature. And whether it's a state legislature
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or Congress, you have to push out and exude your power.
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And unfortunately, I see Congress under this Republican administration is muted.
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They don't fight for the American people.
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And it's really an injustice that's happening.
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And the other part of the injustice, they're getting paid $ 174, 000
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a year, a salary that they voted on for themselves.
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I don't know anybody else that's got a job like
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that who can decide what they're going to make and
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then not do the job and still go get the check.
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Mm-hmm. Yeah.
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We're being robbed in more ways than one. We're being
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robbed in more ways than one in this whole administration.
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And that's why it's important.
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I always believe that states are the border rooms of
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democracy and that as a state and the state legislature
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with the governor, we have to push back against the
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federal government. Our forefathers actually designed this country so that
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states have the power. And so when we pass this
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law or any other law, um, it's important that we
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enforce it so that we are protecting our own citizens.
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And I'm in New York state every day because we
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have put in place a lot of laws because this
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federal administration is targeting us, especially as a blue state.
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You see, you know, Trump.
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Has infatuation with California, you know, Massachusetts, New York, because
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we are baskins of freedom. And, you know, it's unfortunate
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that we have to just keep, you know, this bully
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at bay, you know, he always has threatened us, whether
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it's our infrastructure dollars, you know, our Medicaid dollars, our
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educational dollars.
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It's government by extortion. Government by extortion. That's what I
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call it.
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00:24:12.259 --> 00:24:13.339
Well put. Well put.
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If I can't twist your arm, then, you know, so
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we have to get everyone into a position where I
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can twist their arms. And now I can run the show.
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Yeah.
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Right into the ground. Right into the ground.
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And we've begged our congressional delegation, especially those in the majority,
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to extend TPS, to just be stronger in protecting New
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York State. And unfortunately, you know, the ones that have
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the power, the Republican congressional members, they, you know, they
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help here and there. But it's only for their reelection campaign.
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It's not actually for genuine, you know, viability of our state.
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Yeah.
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We only have a couple of minutes left. Very short.
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But I'd like to give them to you. What do
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you want your constituents to hear and things that our
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listeners can hear?
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Well, I'm constantly fighting for homeownership.
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I see that it's very difficult to purchase a home
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for someone who's a young person. They say the average homeowner,
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first-time homeowner used to be 30, now it's 40. And
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so in the state legislature, I'm trying to make sure
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that we build ways to stabilize our communities and also
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build generational wealth. So I've been working hard on a
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homeowner protection program that is currently funded by the state.
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And I'm trying to get it codified in law because
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I'm worried that there's going to be a recession soon
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or maybe even a deep depression. And we're going to
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see what happened in 2008 with the housing crisis. It's
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going to be duplicated and many people are going to
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be going through foreclosure. And we need to make sure
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that we're funding programs that have free counseling programs. and
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legal support for homeowners to stabilize communities and also provide
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grants for individuals who want to get into homes. So
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we've been fighting for that. And then also, lastly, for
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all of the individuals under TPS who are listening to
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your program or loved ones who have TPS holders, I
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say please make sure that you get proper immigration help
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and also join the cause. We've been doing a lot
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of initiatives to protect TPS holders, whether it's adding to
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the ICE tracker so that we know where ICE is
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in our communities, or even just simply providing support, resources,
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financial support to TPS holders during this time because they
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lost their work authorization. Let's all work together as a
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community to protect each other because they're first going after
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the immigrants, but you never know. I saw that they're
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going after the journalists.
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This is another thing.
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They're going after many people.
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You're so right. This is another thing Americans don't understand,
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that your rights are only as secure as your neighbors are.
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So if you don't care about your neighbor, then you're
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in danger of losing your own. Either everybody gets it
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or nobody gets it. That's the way this works.
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Yes.
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Oh, boy. Well, again, I can't thank you enough for coming.
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And if we could do two shows in a row,
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I would do them because there's so much to talk about.
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I look forward to it.
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Please. I'm always willing to come back because I greatly
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appreciate your voice.
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Where can people get in touch with you or see you?
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you know, things you have done?
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Definitely.
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I have an email address, silajm at nyassembly.gov that they
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can email me. They can call my office at 516-599-2972.
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And I'm also on social media. My handle on most
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platforms is silajny, very simple, at silajny. And I'm on TikTok, Instagram, X,
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you know.
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You're a digital kid. You're a digital kid.
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Well, that's a new form of communication. But I still
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love my classic radio. So, you know, that's why I
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appreciate you.
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I'm still using a pencil and old paper. But anyway.
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You and I both. It's analog forever, right? That's the
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new trend now, analog.
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But I really want to thank you for coming by today.
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My guest today has been New York State Assemblywoman Michael Solage.
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And thank you for taking the time to be here.
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We'll definitely talk to you again as things move on.
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But the clock on the wall says it's time for
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this week's Long Island News to get on out of here.
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I'm Bill McIntyre. Remember, you can listen to us by
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00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:23.200
searching for this week's Long Island News whenever you listen
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00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:26.750
to podcasts. And we're right here every Friday at 3 p.m.
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00:28:26.829 --> 00:28:29.250
on the voice of Nassau Community College, 90.3 WHBC.
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You're listening to the voice of Nassau Community College 90.3 WHPC.
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00:00:08.589 --> 00:00:10.789
My name is Bill McIntyre, and it's time for this
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week's Long Island News, the show that talks to newsmakers
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and other important people from Nassau and Suffolk County that
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matter to Long Island and Long Islanders like you. So
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each week we'll have a conversation about issues that affect
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all of us. I live on Long Island just like you,
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and I want to know more about the people making
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the big decisions that affect all of us. Well, some
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state lawmakers have recently made news by performing a surprise
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inspection of local ICE detention facilities and how local police
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departments interact with ICE has been under fire as a
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New York state law just went into effect. County Executive
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Bruce Blakeman, who was also running for governor on the
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Republican ticket, opposed the law signed by the incumbent New
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York Governor Kathy Hochul, but later said that he will
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comply by banning cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Well,
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let's learn more about it. Welcoming back to our show,
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one of the lawmakers who made that visit has been
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outspoken on this and many other statewide issues, New York
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State Assemblywoman Mikael Solage.
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Ms.
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Solage, welcome back to this week's Long Island News.
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Thank you for having me on.
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Let's remind the audience a little bit about you when
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you were first elected as a State Assemblywoman and how
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you feel about the job so far.
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It's always a pleasure to be on. And, you know,
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I was first elected in the state assembly in 2012.
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And it's a privilege to continue serving the communities that
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represented me. I was born and raised in Elmont, went
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to school in Franklin Square. I met my husband and
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he's from Valley Stream. So I'm a product of the
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district and I'm a Long Island through through. I went
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to Hofstra University. And it really it's a pleasure to
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represent the area and it keeps me grounded in a
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job that ultimately is responsible for solving everyday problems of
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New Yorkers. And I want to make sure that people
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continue to stay on Long Island, be able to afford homes,
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pay their utility bills, send their kids to the great
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Long Island schools that we have and feel safe in
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their community. So It's just a pleasure to represent people
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in state government and making sure that we allocate funds
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to local governments. And as chair of local governments committee,
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I spend a lot of time thinking about the decisions
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in Albany and how it affects our counties, our towns,
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our villages, and our families. So it's a job that
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I love. And every day I wake up and I say,
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how can I serve New Yorkers?
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Good to hear. But let's get into the ICE topic. Now,
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tell us about this surprise visit that you made. Where
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was it? And what did you see?
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As a state elected official, I have many responsibilities, including oversight.
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And I have the privilege of law that says I
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can go into any correctional facility in the state I
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could just walk up to the doors and make an
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inspection of all of the correctional facilities throughout the state.
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And so as state legislators, I joined many of my
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colleagues in visiting the Nassau County Correctional Center. And it
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wasn't our first visit. It was an inspection that we
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made last year when the agreement went into place. So
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Nassau County, under the direction of Bruce Blakeman, had gone
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into a 287G agreement with Nassau County Police and Homeland Security,
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which basically deputizes police officers and uses the Nassau County
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Jail as a conduit to store detainees for 72 hours.
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And so my concern was very simple. If people are
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being detained in a government facility in Nassau County, we
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have to make sure that there is proper accommodations and
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that we are not liable for any deaths or any
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issues that happen there. Unfortunately, we did have an issue.
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There was a 42-year-old detainee that passed away in the
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facility under ICE detention.
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And so.
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I felt it was important that we go back and
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see how the facility improved since.
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We last went there.
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And I could tell you really quick, when we first
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went last year, I felt the chaos. There was over,
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I would say, more than a dozen detainees. Many complained
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that they weren't receiving showers, basic accommodations.
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They were confused.
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They felt like they weren't having access to their constitutional
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right of representation. And we all have due process in
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this country. So they wanted to talk to, yeah, that's
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a basic right. I think every individual in this country
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is afforded and they felt that they didn't have an
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opportunity to call their.
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Lawyer or their family.
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So it was important that we went back and made
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sure that the facility was complying with the law and
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that ICE was really communicating with Nassau County as to
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what was important.
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So, you know what, the thing gets me, though, is
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let's just say somewhere down the road, somebody says all
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of this was illegal and no good. And that's really
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not going to do anything for the people who've been
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caught up in this.
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I want to make it clear. If someone is a criminal,
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they should be removed from this country. You know, we
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are law abiding citizens. However, unfortunately, ICE is picking up
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individuals with no criminal record. Everyday individuals who are serving
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our society and our economy. I have countless stories of
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a home health aid worker who's walking the street. They
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profile her, discover that she doesn't have status, pick her
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up and send her away. And I'm a person of
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Haitian descent. I'm the first person Haitian descent elected in
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New York state government. I have a large Haitian community
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who many individuals were under temporary protective status, which is TPS.
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And this federal administration terminated TPS. And now these people
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who have been here for a very long time, decades,
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are now don't have status. And I just want to
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remind people, TPS people came here legally, you know, you
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have to fill out documentation, you have to be approved,
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you can't be committed, you can't commit a crime, you
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have to pay taxes. And you have to frequently go
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to the federal government and redesignate and.
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Tell them where you are.
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Some of those people have been more vetted than the
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people overlooking them.
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Correct. Yes, yes, you are right.
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And so what's happening in my community is that people
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who even have mortgages, who have a whole life here,
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are now undocumented. And they can't even go to the
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supermarket or even drop off their American, U.S.-born kid to school.
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It's a classic case of changing the rules of the
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game in the middle of the game. But that was blindsided.
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When I read that, it was HB1 and HB2, I guess, visas.
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Yes, and I'm only talking about TPS holders.
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You're also talking about the other.
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Legal mechanisms that people use to get in this country
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that have been just quickly terminated.
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And it's like 250,000 people.
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It's a lot of people.
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You know, it's amazing how much time we spend on
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the transgender issue when I think nationwide we're talking about
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nine people. And when something like this happens with a
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sweep of the brush and 250,000 people are now subject
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to arrest by what I call the government goon squad,
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although people don't realize this, we are all subject to
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that arrest because they're not looking at licenses. They don't
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want to hear your story. They want to throw you
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in a cell. Okay. Now, my other question is, and
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I looked this up just because I had to, when
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did we first get private prisons?
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Right.
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Because I think that's when we stepped over a line.
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I don't think the government or anybody should be able
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to make money on someone else's misery.
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So luckily in.
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New York state, we don't have private prisons, but we
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do have privatization of our prison.
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So there are services that are privatized.
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For example, when I made this oversight visit, I discovered
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that ICE uses a private transportation company for to transport detainees.
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And so people are profiting off of the mass incarceration
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system that exists in our country. And so whether the
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actual infrastructure is not privatized, we are slowly privatizing the
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many services that incarcerated individuals are interacting with. And it's
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unfortunate because these are profit-making entities. And so as we
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privatize the nuts and bolts, ultimately, you know, essentially we're
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privatizing the actual industry.
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Those are just baby steps toward getting to the same end. Yeah.
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Exactly. And it's, you know.
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No, go ahead.
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No, I just think that what.
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Happens is that we lose the humanity and the opportunity
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for us to really talk about how we can repair
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people and not acknowledge them for their worst moment.
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It's ironic. We call it the corrections department, but we
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don't appear to be correcting anything.
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Not at all.
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And for people who are, you know, new citizens, people
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who are immigrants who have come here looking for the
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American dream, looking just for opportunity to add to our society.
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It's really terrible that we're doing this, but it's also
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impacting our economy. The health care industry relies heavily on
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TPS workers to supplement workers. And what happened now is
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that many people have lost their home health care aid,
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and now they are just not getting access to the
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appropriate care that they need, which may result in death
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of our most older New Yorkers, which is unfortunate.
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And sadly... I think it's part of the plan. I
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think this whole thing is, we're talking about a scorched
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earth policy. We're not talking about any light at the
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end of the tunnel. We've hollowed out all of the
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democratic institutions that we all used to trust Donald Trump
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stood at the podium in Helsinki next to Vladimir Putin
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and said that the DOJ stinks and the FBI stinks.
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And at the time, they didn't. But that was prophetic
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because he made sure that they do now. He's appointed
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people who are not even qualified to be dog catchers
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and they're running these major agencies now. Got rid of
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thousands of people. Oversight's gone. You don't want to get
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in trouble for doing something wrong? Well, then get rid
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of the guy who oversees it and tells everybody that
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you're doing something wrong. When did people lose that idea
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that journalism is printing something that other people don't want printed?
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That's the whole point, and we got rid of that.
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But you say decency. When we got for-profit prisons, and
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that was Ronald Reagan, by the way. I just want
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to make that clear. That's when we stepped over the line,
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in my opinion. If a prison needs to make more money,
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a good way to do that is just to start
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feeding the prisoners oatmeal. Why buy them meat? Why buy
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them good vegetables? Give them garbage and your profit margin
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will go up. These are simple things to see and understand,
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and yet we ignored all of this.
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And I'm, you know, I was raised born, I was
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raised Catholic, you know, I still practice in Catholic, and
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I've learned it's important to forgive those and acknowledge that
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they are not their worst day. And just recently, I
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went up to Kasaki correctional facility, because in New York State,
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we actually have a huge issue in our correctional facilities.
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There was recently a prison strike where thousands of correctional
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officers illegally striked because technically they cannot strike, but they
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walked off the job. Many of them were fired for that.
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And we are now supplementing the correctional officers.
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With national guardsmen. And women all across the state.
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And so I went to Kaxaki just to look at
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the conditions because, again, it's about oversight and, you know,
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circling back, it's really dangerous what's happening in our correctional.
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Facilities.
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We are not providing programming to incarcerated individuals. The food,
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from what I was told, is, as you said, I
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wouldn't feed that to my dog.
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And we are feeding it to these individuals.
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And we are not repairing people and getting them ready
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to come out of society and be, um, better than
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they were when they entered.
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And that's an.
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Issue because we have an opera. These people have an opportunity.
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I could see in their eyes, they want to be,
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they want to change, but they are in such bad
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conditions and not be given the tools change. And it's
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really impacting, um, uh, The staff there because the staff
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was being demoralized. These people are now getting angry and
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lashing out on the staff. And the staff is now
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struggling every day. They have to do 12 hour shifts.
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Well, if those are Coast Guard members that are filling
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in and do they're not trained for that kind of thing.
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So they train them a bit, but it's not like
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they train correctional officers. And so it's a tough situation because,
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God bless them, they are helping and providing a service,
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but it's a difficult situation because they've only been there
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for a couple of months where... You know, it's it's,
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you know, correctional officers spend years in a job learning
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from experience.
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And they do what they can do, but it's still
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an inadequate. Now, I have a question, too. This is
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all supposed to be about deportation. Then why are we
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building giant detention centers if it's about deportation? How much
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do private prisons make on a detention as opposed to
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a deportation?
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As you said, when Donald Trump entered office, a lot
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of these private prison companies and contractors on the stock
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market actually deported. uh, increased their, their, um, value of their,
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their company because they realized that Donald Trump was going
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to build detention centers and really double down on, on.
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Deportating, uh, people.
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So it's, you know, I, unfortunately it's all about the,
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the dollar with, um, you know, some of these, um, Republicans,
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they only care about, um, you know, their, their donors
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and their billionaire friends. And you could see, um, Just
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how they don't believe in the rule of law. The
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rally that happened in Nassau County where Trump came in
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and was supposed to talk about, you know, being a
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law and order was a despicable rally that was a
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campaign rally. paid by the taxpayer dollars. The rally didn't
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really give ordinary people a voice.
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It was straightforward.
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It was about taking the congressional candidates, bringing them forward,
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and allowing them to speak. And many of those individuals
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aren't current elected officials. They literally were political candidates. And
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he said, vote for these people. And it's really unfortunate
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because that whole rally, the whole scenario was paid by
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taxpayer dollars. It was supposed to be about law and order,
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but it was really about politics.
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Well, I think it was a really bad visual too.
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You know, they put that out on television and we
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saw a whole audience full of uniformed police officers applauding
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a convicted felon. And that was a bad look to me.
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I don't know who the media people are, but I
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don't know who decided that that was a good thing
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to show the public.
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And it's unfortunate because at a time where immigrant communities
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are worried and very afraid, they should be looking to
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build trust with these communities. But they were perpetuating that
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same conversation about how they're going to take away and
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deport and separate families.
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And, you know, I have a very.
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The cruelty is disarming, isn't it? The cruelty is disarming.
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Yeah, it's disarming because at the end of the day,
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it's going to, a lot of people in the community
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are going to not trust the police because they feel
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that they're there not to help them, but to take
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them away from their family.
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And that's a danger to public safety.
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Yeah, yeah. Well, I have a slew of questions here.
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Let's see if we can get to some of them.
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I don't, you know. What's your opinion on the new
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state law that bans the local police departments from cooperating
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with ICE? And your response is, to Nassau County's reluctance
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in cooperating with it?
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I support the law.
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I think that we have to be precise about what
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we do. And the Local Cops, Local Crimes Act, which
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is the law that we enact in the state legislature,
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really targets the use of state and local resources for
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civil immigration enforcement. It doesn't prevent local police from enforcing
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criminal laws or cooperating legitimate criminal cases.
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And people have to get that in their head, that
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there's criminals and then there's immigrants.
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A civil, yeah.
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We're not talking about the, yeah.
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We're talking about the civil enforcement. And I tell people
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all the time, the federal government has countless dollars. I've
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seen them waste, they're using a billion dollars to build
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a ballroom. They really don't need... local government to fund
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their civil immigration enforcement. And so my position is that
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Nassau County police officers should be focused on Nassau County
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residents and making sure that they are not a extension
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of the federal civil immigration enforcement. And the law says
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that the law basically says that, you know, they still
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if they have a judicial warrant, if it's if it's
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a bad person, they can get them. And so, you know,
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I worry because I've I've seen a immigrant, a woman
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who was a victim of domestic violence and she was
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afraid to call the police. Because if ICE came or
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if she came, Nashville County would cooperate with ICE and
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she may get deported back to the country where her
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intimate partner has more power than her.
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So she didn't call 911.
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I had to work with her and try to navigate
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that situation. But we see that countless people are afraid
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to call 911 because they believe local police are acting
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as immigration agents.
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Nobody knows who the good guys are.
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It's unfortunate. And the county executive not... being reluctant shows
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that it's about politics.
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It's not about people.
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If he really cared about people and building trust in
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community and community policing, he would actually have never gotten
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into the 287G agreements. And also, I think that him
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challenging the law shows that he doesn't have an obligation
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to Nassau County residents, that he cares about his political career.
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Just a reminder, you're listening to this week's Long Island
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News on the voice of Nassau Community College 90.3 WHPC.
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My name is Bill McIntyre, and my guest today is
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New York State Assemblywoman Michaela Solage. I have a bunch
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of things here, but let's see now. You participated in
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an anti-ICE rally in the past week, I guess. How
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important do you think the rallies are and do you
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think they're effective?
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I believe that democracy doesn't begin and end on election day.
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You have to be active in it. It's like a sport.
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You know, every day you've got to practice and you've
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got to come to the games. And rallies like we
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did really give.
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People a voice.
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They feel like they can come to a space, express
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their concerns and join parties. the masses in ensuring that we,
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you know, prioritize what's important to the local residents. Our
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message at the rally was straight forward. Nassau County should
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apply with the law and they should focus on local
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priorities and that the president is wrong and his agenda
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is anti-American. And his agenda is increasing the cost of
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living on the average New Yorker. Look, the gas prices
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are high. The utilities are high. Groceries are high. I
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used to be able to buy blueberries for my kids
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by the by the cartons.
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And now it's a luxury. You know, it's really unfortunate.
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And, you know, we need to put public pressure on
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our federal administration to focus on Americans.
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Well, I think it's funny because we do. We all
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talk about that. price of gas and the price of
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vegetables in the soup. I think those things are all distractions.
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Because what I want people to remember is that none
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of this is normal. Never in my, I've been on
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Long Island a long time, probably twice your age.
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Okay.
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No kidding. No kidding. And never in my lifetime have
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I seen masked armed gunmen Paid for by my tax
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dollars harassing citizens on the streets of the United States.
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I've never seen that. And so all of these young
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people have to remember that this is not normal. Don't
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accept this. This is not how you want to live.
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When I was a kid, you know, when we saw
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people with guns in the streets, when we looked at
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Israel on television, on the news, and they needed that
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kind of security. This is what we're seeing is. horrible.
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There's no better word for it. And we don't deserve this.
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But we're paying for it. You want to talk about
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insult to injury? We're paying for it, too. We read
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the paper every morning and go, this is horrible. Yeah,
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it's really horrible when you realize that your money is
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paying for that. You know, when did a president get
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to put tariffs on anybody? Why didn't? And this is
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why Republicans are going to take a lot of crap
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from me, certainly. And anybody else that's thinking, you guys
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didn't stop him. Plain and simple, to the nth, to
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the end, every one of you didn't stop this.
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It's funny, as a legislator, I really believe in the
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power of the legislature. And whether it's a state legislature
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or Congress, you have to push out and exude your power.
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And unfortunately, I see Congress under this Republican administration is muted.
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They don't fight for the American people.
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And it's really an injustice that's happening.
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And the other part of the injustice, they're getting paid $ 174, 000
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a year, a salary that they voted on for themselves.
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I don't know anybody else that's got a job like
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that who can decide what they're going to make and
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then not do the job and still go get the check.
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Mm-hmm. Yeah.
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We're being robbed in more ways than one. We're being
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robbed in more ways than one in this whole administration.
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And that's why it's important.
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I always believe that states are the border rooms of
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democracy and that as a state and the state legislature
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with the governor, we have to push back against the
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federal government. Our forefathers actually designed this country so that
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states have the power. And so when we pass this
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law or any other law, um, it's important that we
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enforce it so that we are protecting our own citizens.
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And I'm in New York state every day because we
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have put in place a lot of laws because this
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federal administration is targeting us, especially as a blue state.
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You see, you know, Trump.
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Has infatuation with California, you know, Massachusetts, New York, because
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we are baskins of freedom. And, you know, it's unfortunate
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that we have to just keep, you know, this bully
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at bay, you know, he always has threatened us, whether
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it's our infrastructure dollars, you know, our Medicaid dollars, our
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educational dollars.
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It's government by extortion. Government by extortion. That's what I
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call it.
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Well put. Well put.
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If I can't twist your arm, then, you know, so
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we have to get everyone into a position where I
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can twist their arms. And now I can run the show.
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Yeah.
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Right into the ground. Right into the ground.
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And we've begged our congressional delegation, especially those in the majority,
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to extend TPS, to just be stronger in protecting New
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York State. And unfortunately, you know, the ones that have
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the power, the Republican congressional members, they, you know, they
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help here and there. But it's only for their reelection campaign.
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It's not actually for genuine, you know, viability of our state.
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Yeah.
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We only have a couple of minutes left. Very short.
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But I'd like to give them to you. What do
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you want your constituents to hear and things that our
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listeners can hear?
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Well, I'm constantly fighting for homeownership.
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I see that it's very difficult to purchase a home
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for someone who's a young person. They say the average homeowner,
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first-time homeowner used to be 30, now it's 40. And
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so in the state legislature, I'm trying to make sure
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that we build ways to stabilize our communities and also
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build generational wealth. So I've been working hard on a
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homeowner protection program that is currently funded by the state.
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And I'm trying to get it codified in law because
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I'm worried that there's going to be a recession soon
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or maybe even a deep depression. And we're going to
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see what happened in 2008 with the housing crisis. It's
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going to be duplicated and many people are going to
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be going through foreclosure. And we need to make sure
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that we're funding programs that have free counseling programs. and
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legal support for homeowners to stabilize communities and also provide
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grants for individuals who want to get into homes. So
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we've been fighting for that. And then also, lastly, for
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all of the individuals under TPS who are listening to
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your program or loved ones who have TPS holders, I
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say please make sure that you get proper immigration help
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and also join the cause. We've been doing a lot
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of initiatives to protect TPS holders, whether it's adding to
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the ICE tracker so that we know where ICE is
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in our communities, or even just simply providing support, resources,
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financial support to TPS holders during this time because they
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lost their work authorization. Let's all work together as a
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community to protect each other because they're first going after
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the immigrants, but you never know. I saw that they're
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going after the journalists.
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This is another thing.
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They're going after many people.
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00:26:41.849 --> 00:26:44.369
You're so right. This is another thing Americans don't understand,
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that your rights are only as secure as your neighbors are.
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So if you don't care about your neighbor, then you're
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in danger of losing your own. Either everybody gets it
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or nobody gets it. That's the way this works.
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Yes.
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Oh, boy. Well, again, I can't thank you enough for coming.
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And if we could do two shows in a row,
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I would do them because there's so much to talk about.
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I look forward to it.
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00:27:08.569 --> 00:27:11.549
Please. I'm always willing to come back because I greatly
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appreciate your voice.
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Where can people get in touch with you or see you?
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you know, things you have done?
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Definitely.
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I have an email address, silajm at nyassembly.gov that they
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can email me. They can call my office at 516-599-2972.
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00:27:25.349 --> 00:27:31.890
And I'm also on social media. My handle on most
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platforms is silajny, very simple, at silajny. And I'm on TikTok, Instagram, X,
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00:27:38.859 --> 00:27:39.759
you know.
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You're a digital kid. You're a digital kid.
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00:27:41.980 --> 00:27:45.819
Well, that's a new form of communication. But I still
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love my classic radio. So, you know, that's why I
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00:27:49.299 --> 00:27:49.920
appreciate you.
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00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:54.440
I'm still using a pencil and old paper. But anyway.
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00:27:54.660 --> 00:27:57.829
You and I both. It's analog forever, right? That's the
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new trend now, analog.
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But I really want to thank you for coming by today.
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My guest today has been New York State Assemblywoman Michael Solage.
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And thank you for taking the time to be here.
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We'll definitely talk to you again as things move on.
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But the clock on the wall says it's time for
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this week's Long Island News to get on out of here.
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I'm Bill McIntyre. Remember, you can listen to us by
519
00:28:20.680 --> 00:28:23.200
searching for this week's Long Island News whenever you listen
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00:28:23.220 --> 00:28:26.750
to podcasts. And we're right here every Friday at 3 p.m.
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00:28:26.829 --> 00:28:29.250
on the voice of Nassau Community College, 90.3 WHBC.
