Morning Joe - Trump officials trying to 'scare and intimidate votes': Democracy Foward report

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

October 7, 2026 – 6am:Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball shift key races toward DemocratsIsrael marks three years since October 7 terror attacksTrump to hold rally in San Antonio today for PaxtonTrump administration refuses international election monitors for the first time in over two decadesDemocracy Forward: Records details ICE’s attempt to silence votersMS NOW: ‘Justice Interrupted’: Understanding Trump’s unprecedented use of pardon powerMS NOW: ‘New details on National Guard’s role in immigration raid’ by David NoreigaChild seen crying in apparent ICE detention video To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ, vote, who is fantastic. He's on a job. We have some big surprises coming up in another few weeks, right, Russ? He's going to be one of the very important people in the history of our country, in my opinion. He's got some great things happening. President Trump yesterday giving a shout out to a little-known cabinet member, suggesting there are some big things coming from his administration. It comes as there is new reporting just out this morning on efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to undermine the midterm elections.

We're going to get to that developing story in just a moment. Meanwhile, multiple U.S. Senate races are shifting with less than four weeks until Election Day will go through those developments. Good morning and welcome to Morning Joe. It is Wednesday, October 7th. With us. We have the co-host of our 8 a.m. hour, staff writer at the Atlantic. Jonathan Lemire. MS now National Affairs analyst John Howman, he is partner and chief political columnist at Puck, and MS now contributor, Elise Jordan. And we start this hour, Willie,

with today's date and what it will forever be remembered for. Three years. It's been three years since those attacks of October the 7th, the deadliest single day in Israel's history, Hamas attacked the country, killing 1,200 people, taking more than 250 hostage. Israeli's gathering across the country today to remember. member mourn the lives lost, including at the site of the Nova Music Festival where 348 young people were killed by Hamas terrorists during the attack. Videos from the day showed militants gunning down, fleeing revelers, shooting the wounded at point-blank range and ambushing people seeking refuge in bomb shelters.

The anniversary is the first for Israelis without any hostages still remaining in Gaza after the remains of the last Israeli hostages were covered in January. The anniversary also is the first since the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal in the region. More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. That's according to health authorities there. Today also falls less than three weeks from Israel's first election since the attack, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an uphill battle and increased criticism after several media outlets reported Israel received warnings from the UAE

and Egypt ahead of October 7th. So, John, that is kind of the backdrop of this anniversary, which is all these questions about the days, weeks, and months leading up to that attack, to what Benjamin and Yahoo and his government knew ahead of time. All of those questions probably on the minds of voters, but for today, just a solemn anniversary and remembering waking up that morning to shock, to not being able to believe what we were seeing and hearing with our eyes and ears. Yeah, starting there, certainly a very somber day in Israel.

the more Jewish lives lost in one day since the Holocaust. That's what happened three years ago today. And obviously the ramifications of that day, you know, personal tragedy for so many there in that country, but such wide-ranging geopolitical impact as well with Israel's then response in Gaza, there are still open, there's still so many questions about Netanyahu and what he knew about the attack and his response to it. There's still not been an official line, an official Israeli government inquiry into what happened. There's a belief that then Yahoo's wanted to push that off to beyond the election.

You know, and as you say, Willie, there's been his reports of these warnings. He received from a number of countries, the payments that Hamas received via Qatar for years. And now we head into, we head into this election with so many things shadowing it, of course, October 7th, but also the war, the war in Iran with, you know, right now in sort of this somewhat of a stalemate, the occasion, but no real resolution. The Strait of Hormu still large. largely controlled by Iran, although more ill getting through now than a few weeks prior. Unclear of President Trump will ramp up hostilities before or after the American elections. And Netanyahu has, of course, tied himself to Trump in so many ways, but there's been real divisions there in recent months about the right approach.

So, yeah, right now, polls suggest a very close race for Netanyahu in a few weeks. But that'll be a day for politics then. Today's a day for mourning and remembering. Yeah, and Mika, I'm thinking about over the last three years, all the families we've spoken to on this show. of who lost family members on that horrible day or those who were waiting and hoping that their family member would come home, held hostage there. Unfortunately, many of those we've had on the show

and kind of become family of our show who've been on the show so often and talked so eloquently and beautifully about the people they've lost sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, just thinking about them this morning when their loved ones didn't come home. Yeah, their loved ones and still waiting for some sort of accountability

and answers on this. We're going to return to this. We've got politics to get to with less than a month to go. Until Election Day, the nonpartisan Cook political report has shifted the closely watched Kansas Senate race to the Democrats' favor. Cook moved Kansas from lean Republican to toss up as Democrats work to win back control of the Republican-held chamber next month. Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor, has been closing the gap in recent polling against incumbent. Republican Senator Roger Marshall, Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. The Cook-Pill report also shifted the Senate race in New Hampshire from toss-up to

lean Democrat and North Carolina from lean Democrat to likely Democrat. According to Cook, those changes help move the number of possible pickups for Democrats from two to six seats. Democrats need to net four seats in the midterms to win the Senate majority. And more positive signs for Democrats, the nonpartisan election forecast in operation from the University of Virginia, known as Larry Sabatose, Crystal Ball, moved two more significant races toward the Democrats. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is battling incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan with recent polling showing Peltola in the lead. the crystal ball moved that race from toss-up to lean Democrat. And in South Carolina, the crystal ball moved the race between Republican Senator Darlene Graham and Democrat Annie Andrews from Safe Republican to likely Republican,

the crystal ball concluding that the state's underlying Republican lien should ultimately help Graham prevail. So there's a lot there, John Hylman. It's hard to, it's hard to sort of go with the polls, given everything. this country has been through and big surprises here and there. But looking at that, what does it tell you in sort of the grand scheme of things? It looks like the cost of living and other issues are really cutting through. Well, to sing a familiar song on this show, Mika, it's like we don't really ever want to put too much faith in any given poll. No, we don't.

Or in any given forecasters shift. But we have now seen, you know, months of consistent directional polling, which has been, the data from across, there's a lot of data out there, and there are a lot of people doing a lot of complex forecasting algorithms, and all of it kind of has gone in one direction, which has been in a direction that most of us thought early in the year. Certainly the beginning of last year was almost impossible, which is that Democrats would have a chance to retake the Senate, and I think there's kind of a broad consensus now that Democrats are more likely than not. That doesn't mean they're going to. It means they're in a place where if you had to bet

with a gun to your head, you'd probably pick the Democrats by a narrow margin to take control of the Senate. That's the kind of consensus of the forecast. There's been some contradictory, and there's just in this last day with the notion that Susan Collins seems to have put herself back in that familiar Susan Collins position where she

might be a slight favorite in Maine cuts against much of that, but the place in the race in Kansas, that South Carolina ship does not surprise me. Just if you are someone who's followed a lot of campaigns for a long time, the last, the thing you do in these last days is follow the money. And Republicans are spending a lot of money on South Carolina. You are not spending scarce resources in South Carolina if you think that city is safe.

So again, if you ask me, I'd be where Larry Sabato is about that, which is that you, you know, South Carolina is a very Republican state and you wouldn't probably bet on the Democrat there. But Republicans are nervous about South Carolina. And certainly that there's now kind of a consensus that Kansas truly is a toss-up race. So, you know, the races in, midterm elections do not tend to shift in the last month. They just historically, all let's talk about October surprises and how, you know, something can happen. We all have to caveat and say, well, you know, never know what's going to happen.

It's true. You know, you could have a Martian invasion or something that could happen in the last month that could change the race. But there's not a long history of midterm elections, which are really driven by basic economic fundamentals and the president's approval rating, almost always. What you see four weeks out is what you get on election day. And in that context, Democrats have a right to feel not over-optimistic, but they have a right to feel way more confident than they ever would have felt,

like I say, just a few months ago. In terms of looking at signs, too, the President of the United States going to Texas again today for the second time in a week to prop up Ken Paxton. And the governor not going to be there. Not going to be there with Donald Trump. Now what's that about? Well, that's about Greg Abbott.

That's about Greg Abbott wanting to win Texas. Who does he not want to be near? Ken Paxton or Trump? I'd say that's what not in either or a situation. Yeah, that's a good question. That's an end both situation. Literally, he's like, please don't get near me, Ken Paxton. Please don't get near me, Donald Trump.

Yes. And Greg Adam, then how does Donald Trump... It's going to be the choice for his fourth term, consecutive term there. Don't get the math here. Sorry. You know, so it's a little early. You've been looking at Kansas. John just mentioned Kansas.

You know, Mika just said it. There hasn't been a senator or Democrat in almost 100 years out of the state of Kansas. Adam Hamilton is a really good candidate. He's people like him. he's hard to get at. They're trying to attack his faith, even though he's a popular methodist minister, and ministers across the state have come out to endorse him. I guess the question from your studying of the state and talking to people there, is this real? Is this really a toss-up? Is there really a chance a Democrat for the first time in almost 100 years could win in Kansas?

Well, I would love to be able to answer that question definitively, but I'm not going to, because I think that no one really knows just how real this is in terms of the fundamentals, in terms of is this actually what would be a pretty seismic shift and the conditions being so favorable to Democrats. And Kansas changing too and being so impacted by the gas prices, by the diesel prices, by turning more blue in the past years and, you know, the more metropolitan enclaves. We're going to be in Iowa at the end of the week.

And so I'm interested to go there and kind of see what's happening in the Midwest because states that are very similar, not the same, but to kind of pick up on the trend line. Because I do think that it is a little bit of a void when it comes to the Midwest right now, knowing what of these trends in the polls is actually real and could be a shot at the dams and a seat that otherwise would have seen far, far out of reach. And it is just remarkable, again, that some of the states we're talking about. Kansas, yes, but also Alaska, which has a Democratic candidate slightly up.

Now, I mean, Alaska is obviously a unique environment up there, and they have a very strong candidate. But there's now a consensus here that she really could win. we've talked about places like Iowa, Nebraska, maybe they're in play too. To John's point, I mean, this is kind of when these races do, these get solidified. And certainly it seems like everything's kind of breaking one way

with the possible exception of Maine because Susan Collins is such a survivor. I don't know. They had a debate last night. I'm curious to see how people feel after that. And then a quick note about, you know, North Carolina, not quite Texas in terms of elusive for Democrats, because Obama did win it.

But, like, North Carolina has largely remained out of their grasp. It's stunning how little we're talking about North Carolina. Because Roy Cooper's kind of put it away. And it seems like even Republicans are acknowledging we can't win there and they're diverting resources. So we're looking at potentially how people will vote. But now let's talk about the integrity of the vote because we do have some new information for you this morning.

The Trump administration is breaking with more than two decades of precedent by refusing to invite international election observers to monitor the upcoming midterms. The White House declined to invite observers from the Organization for Secure. and cooperation in Europe for next month's elections, joining only Russia and Belarus in its decision to exclude them. It comes as Democrats and election experts raise concerns about potential election meddling, including the Justice Department's plan to send its own monitors. The organization called the move regrettable, while human rights watch says the move,

quote, fuels fears of concerns around the election. elections. The OSCE has observed every federal election in the U.S. since 2002, with monitors typically visiting some polling stations and issuing a report about how the elections were conducted. Monitors do not interfere and have no enforcement power with their access to polling stations decided by each state. But wait, there's more. Joining us now is Sky Perryman. She is the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal organization focused on advancing democracy through litigation, policy, and public education. And sky breaking this morning, Democracy Forward, recently obtained records through a FOIA Freedom Information Act request that you say details

ICE's attempts to silence voters. Explain what you found. Yeah, this is really concerning. We obtained 166 documents that evidence that the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have been collecting records, including records that Heather Honey, a known election denier who serves in a role at DHS, has been obtaining on individual Americans from, quote, unknown sources. Over 48 million of those records. If those are records about individual people, that is about, that's a quarter, more than a quarter of the voting public. The records also show that the Department of Homeland Security has been investigating voter rights groups

and included even trying to potentially send or considering sending undercover agents to investigate certain groups, including in high contest areas like Pennsylvania and New Jersey and many other areas. So this is very concerning. It continues to confirm what we and others have known and been saying for some time.

which is that this administration is trying to weaponize the federal government to undermine elections and to continue to spread baseless myths about our elections, including myths about, quote, non-citizens voting when that's never been substantiated. What's the goal of what they're doing here? And I'm trying to understand ISIS involvement. These are U.S. citizens that they're getting the records of? We know that they are seeking, yes, millions of, you know, millions of records, tens of millions of documents in on people that live in America, U.S. citizens. They have obtained over 50 million records

from the Department of Justice, which is really concerning when you start looking at that type of information sharing. Look, the goal is very simple. They want to scare and intimidate voters. They want to continue to try to confuse the American public about our elections, creating all kinds of myths. We've already seen them come out and say that in Nevada, there were thousands of non-citizens that were registered that were on the rolls. And then they came back and said, no, it was just a little over 100. And then when Nevada looked at it, there was literally zero. And the Department of Homeland Security has had to admit that.

So this is just more of this intimidation effort seeking to silence voters and seeking to perpetuate election conspiracies, which is why it's very concerning. You see Heather Honey's involvement, including providing information from, quote, unknown sources is what the document says, millions, tens of millions of records. Yeah, you've got the January 6th crowd now looking into this election, Heather Honey and others. So, Sky, I guess Tamika's question, too, what is ICE's immigration customs enforcement? What would their interest be in pursuing data of American citizens? What are they aimed to do with this data exactly? Well, we know that this is an administration and ICE is a piece of the administration that is really sought to continue to spread conspiracy theories around immigrants and

around non-citizens voting in elections. Those theories have been debunked by all facts and evidence, including from places like the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Bipartisan Policy Center, but you continue to see them trying to use the mechanics of the federal government to create facts that just aren't there. And so this is all about fear and intimidation.

The other things the record shows is they evidence, as we have already sued in court, they evidence plans to send ice to the polls in certain circumstances, which of course is a viret violation of federal law, and that's why we're in court challenging that policy. But you see all of this spelled out in these documents that we've obtained. All right. The new report is also detailed in this morning's New York Times, breaking just moments ago. And president and CEO of Democracy Forward, Sky Perryman, thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. We appreciate it.

Still ahead on morning, Joe. We're going to take a look at last night's U.S. Senate debate in Maine, and how Republican Senator Susan Collins tried to disdise. herself from President Trump. Plus, we'll dig into new polling from that race. Another key Senate matchups, where Democrats appear to be pulling ahead. Also ahead, Ken Delaneyan joins us with the latest installment of

his Justice Interrupted series, looking at the clemencies and pardons by President Trump and the fallout from them. Also, Michael Douglas is going to be on the show. Did you hear that? Michael Douglas. Be Michael Douglas. All right, as we go. You've got the book. Oh, yeah. It's incredible. Is it? Okay. We're going to have him on as well. As we go to break,

a quick look at the Travelers forecast this morning from Accuethers, Bernie Rayno. Bernie, how's it looking? We do have a tropical storm now in the Bay of Campa, it is Aesaius. It'll be the season's first hurricane in the Atlantic, and that will make landfall along the Central Gulf Coast states as we get in the Friday night early Saturday. Okay. Your Wednesday's beautiful. sunshine across the northeast, a few spotty showers, Buffalo, Burlington, looks nice in Chicago. Texas looks great. Still some thunderstorms, though, across the Florida Peninsula,

and that will cause some travel delays in Miami and Orlando. But the rest of the area looks great. To help you make the best decisions and be more in the note, download the Accuather app today. Outside of a few exceptions, it's basically just the scumbags and frauds just with connections to Trump who get pardons. As one lawyer put it, If you're just an average citizen, you can't even get in the line.

I told my guy he'd probably be better off if he broke into the Capitol or made a major donation to Trump's inauguration, which is pretty bleak, isn't it? Especially given just how much Trump loves to rail about how tough he is when it comes to law and order. But that toughness is clearly deeply selective. John Oliver, with his recent take on President Trump's use of pardon power, including Trump granting clemency to about 1,500 defendants. charged in the January 6th Capitol attack. Since then, the president has pardoned at least 170 other people convicted of crimes. Let's bring in MS Now Justice and Intelligence Reporter. Ken Delanian, his series for MS Now Justice Interrupted, explore some of the more unique, shall we say,

pardoned Trump is issued. Ken, good morning. So tell us about your latest and the so-called Lady Trump. Hey, good morning, guys. You know, we decided to do this series because this president's been granting so many jaw-dropping pardons that individual cases are getting lost. And so for our fourth installment, we took a look at a case of this Nevada politician who was convicted of an absolutely outrageous fraud. Trump has never said a word about why he overturned the jury's verdict in this case.

Breaking right now, Michelle Fiore guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud. It was one of the most brazen frauds prosecutors say they had ever seen. And it became a big story in Las Vegas. The jury returning the guilty verdict in less than two hours. Republican Michelle Fiore, a local politician and Donald Trump supporter, convicted on charges of federal wire fraud. She had raised money to build a memorial statue for a fallen officer and spent it instead on plastic surgery, rent, and her daughter's wedding. And Politico magazine said that I was the Lady Trump. She's been called Lady Trump because of her tight embrace of the president, at one point running for public office with a gun on her hip and a chip on her shoulder.

I'm Michelle Fiore and I'm ready for the fight. Back in 2018, she was serving as a Las Vegas City Councilwoman when she solicited donations to erect a memorial for two local police officers who had been killed on the job. At the groundbreaking for the memorial, she explained why it was important to commemorate the two officers. Just to give it that extra special touch and the bronze statue just came to win. But a few years later, as she was serving in another public office, Justice of the Peace, she faced federal charges for misusing those funds. An indictment is merely an accusation and an allegation.

And these allegations are repugnant. A lot of people donated money, including the governor. Other prominent lawyers and community figures testified that they gave with the understanding it was going to memorialize this fallen officer. A federal jury found her guilty in 2024 of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. After prosecutors showed that not a penitialized. penny of the $70,000 she raised went to the statue. In fact, a local developer paid for it.

The evidence that the trial was overwhelming that the money she raised never went to the statue. The jury took very little time to convict her. Fiore faced 140 years in prison, but she still had a card to play. Fiore claims she was set up by the FBI, the Justice Department, and the media, a victim of political weaponization. So the case centered on the misuse of over 70,000 donations intended for a memorial statue honoring fallen Las Vegas police officers. We agree with that. In April of last year, Trump granted Fiore a full pardon. He has never explained why.

In a statement to MS now, the White House called Fiore an outspoken and maverick personality, noting that she was the first female Republican majority leader in the Nevada State Assembly. and adding, due to her outspoken conservative views, she became a target and incurred government investigation and prosecution. She was convicted of wire fraud, but now she has received a pardon. I cried. You just started crying. Yeah, I just started crying. Michelle Fiore declined our request for an interview, but her attorney, Christine Wildevelt, defended the pardon, telling MS now she had submitted documents about Michelle's case to the Justice Department and adding, the White House did an extremely thorough job vetting Michelle. This was a completely valid pardon. It was a well-deserved pardon.

It was one of a series of pardons Trump has issued to Republican politicians convicted of fraud or corruption. Those include Scott Jenkins, a Virginia sheriff sentenced to 10 years for bribery, Michael Grimm, a former New York congressman convicted of tax fraud, and John Rowland, a former Connecticut governor who had been convicted of corruption. I would guess Trump knows nothing about the case itself. And just it was Michelle Fiore, who's been one of his loudest, most vociferous supporters since he first ran. And so he gave her a pardon out of that political loyalty. And you'll notice, guys, the White House is not saying here that this person was innocent. This is one of 20 politicians that Donald Trump has pardoned who have been convicted of corruption-related

offenses, mostly Republicans, but a handful of Democrats. And a lot of people believe it has to do with the fact that Donald Trump himself has been accused of corruption. And he's trying to send a message that none of these cases matter. They're not real. But in many of these cases, as in the most flagrant one might be January 6th, we see the crimes being committed. So we know some of them happen. And these people have been pardoned.

They go back out. And some of them have recommitted crimes. I appreciate that you're looking back on all of these. What's standing out to you? Is there a pattern beyond what the obvious? is. Well, as John and I were talking about, there's a pardon economy right now. If you want to pardon, you're hiring certain lawyers and people are getting rich. We're very, who are very Trump-connected lawyers who, and almost always, and almost always there's money involved. This is going to be one of

these things years later. We're going to find out about how many under-the-table payoffs there were, I suspect, around these things, because it really has become, yeah. You know, we've never seen this before in Washington, the fact that there's enough, there's enough pardon volume now that it supports an entire subdivision of the legal profession that just are moving these pardoned cases through on like an assembly line. A hundred percent. The biggest takeaway, though, is any one of these would have been a scandal in a previous administration.

And we're just inundated with so many that we can't even process. Yeah. And also there's another through line, which is the reaction from the people who have been convicted, which is the Justice Department was weaponized against me. The media is out to get me. It's a fake case. Well, like all of those January 6 cases, these were cases presented to juries. Right.

who took the evidence in this case for only two hours and brought back convictions. So this isn't weaponized. This is a jury system in America that they're complaining about. 100%. And Donald Trump is overturning those verdicts, which were regular citizens, spent time looking at the evidence, render them, and Trump is blowing that away. MSN now, Justice and Intelligence reporter Ken Delaan, thank you very much. You can read other installments of Justice Interrupted. It's a series on MS. dot now. And coming up, MSNNOWRORIGO joins us with new information on a chaotic immigration raid in Southern California that may have violated federal law by involving National Guard troops. Morning Joe, we'll be right back. 37 past the hour, an internal army document shared exclusively with MS now is raising new questions about the role of the National Guard involved in a Southern California immigration raid in July of last. year. According to the document, troops were sent into the operation with little notice or guidance and may have been prepared to carry out duties that experts say could violate federal law,

barring the military from domestic law enforcement. The findings are also raising concerns about President Trump's use of the military in immigration enforcement and for political purposes. MSNNNNAL reporter David Nurega joins us now live from Los Angeles. What more can you tell us about this? Mika, good morning. This document, which was obtained by the National Immigration Law Center via Freedom of Information Act request and shared with me is an after-action review prepared by the unit of the Army Northern Command that was in charge of the National Guard troops that were put under federal

control over the objections of California's governor by Donald Trump back in the summer of 2025 when we had these big sweeping and discriminated ice raids in the L.A. area that led to weeks of protests. We all remember when Trump deployed the National Guard troops to LA in the surrounding area. But up until now, what we knew about the troops' involvement in these operations was relatively minimal. They sort of stood on the sidelines, established security perimeters, et cetera. What this document does is it gives us a lot of detail about one of those operations exactly and how exactly the troops' involvement went down. This was a big raid that happened on a cannabis farm in Ventura County outside L.A., in a place

called Camarillo, during which hundreds of federal agents descended on the farm, arrested hundreds of people, and there were National Guard troops present. Up until now, we just knew that the troops were there. What this document shows is that the troops were much more deeply involved in the operation than we thought, and specifically, the document strongly suggests that troops were involved in taking custody of and transporting detained immigrants. Now, I should be very clear, the Army gave me a statement in which they denied this. They said that the army did not take custody of anyone, did not transport anyone in military vehicles,

but they didn't answer questions asking them to square that with the version of events that's in this document. Because what this document makes very clear is that the National Guard troops showed up, figured, realized that the DHS agents on the scene had no plan for transporting these hundreds of people that they detained, were overwhelmed by the number of people that they detained during the operation, and that those migrants were subsequently, that, that, uh, The Guard troops had authorization to transport them and that they were subsequently transported to a naval base nearby. Now, why does this matter? It gives us detail about what it's like when Donald Trump uses the military for domestic purposes.

It's chaotic and the bounds of authority are not clearly defined. This is something important given widespread concerns about the potential use of troops during the upcoming midterms. Okay, well, we'll be following that. Thank you very much. MS now is David Noriega. for your reporting. Meanwhile, in Texas, the Department of Homeland Security is responding to a video posted online, appearing to show a young child crying during an ICE detainment operation. This video was shared on social media by Austin Mayor Pro Tem, Jose Chito Vela, with the caption, quote,

ICE arrested the mom of a nine-year-old at a school bus stop in Austin, leaving him alone and crying. This is evil. This is evil. This is wrong and it has to stop. An ICE spokesperson responded to the video issuing a statement to local media that reads in part, quote, On October 1st, ICE encountered an illegal alien. That's what they're calling undocumented civil crime, not necessarily matching the word illegal alien, but that's what they're calling this person during a vehicle stop. After learning, she was the sole caregiver for minor children who may have been

left without supervision. ICE released her approximately 10 minutes later. No children were present during the stop. And ICE has not confirmed that the childhood crying in a circulating video is related to her. And Austin Mayor Pro Tem

Council member Jose Cito Vela joins us now. It's really good to have you on the show. I want to talk to you about the legal bind elected officials in Texas are in due to the SB4 law. and also your point of view as a former immigration defense attorney. But let's talk about this case. ICE says no children were present.

You're in the stop. And there's no confirmation that child heard crying in the circulated video is related to her. What have you found? It appears that the child is hers. And honestly, the audio from that video is the worst part of the video because you can hear the child's cries, which are just heart-rending. But from accounts of witnesses that were at the scene, the ICE came and detained this woman. And this was at a school bus stop.

In Austin, the buses go to like one spot in a neighborhood, and the parents all drive or walk to that spot and then wait for the bus to pick up the kids. That appears to be the context. So ICE was conducting law enforcement operations, essentially at a school bus stop, where there were a bunch of kids and parents present. Thankfully, the child was reunited with family.

I've talked to folks that were on the scene, and they said that the child is okay and is back with his family. So that was reassuring at the very least. How were you able to ascertain that this was the child with a person being detained and that there were children there and that this video is exactly what we're talking about? Because I says,

No children were present during the stop. I mean, the child is right there in view of the vehicles, in view of the ICE agents. There's a crowd of folks that are there kind of hollering at the ICE agents. I don't understand how they would say that the child, there was no children present. Obviously, there was a child present. And it appears from all indications that that that, that, that, that, that, was her child. And again, I think they implicitly acknowledge that by releasing the mother, which, again, good for them, that there was a shred of humanity there and they realized that they had a mom that a bunch of children were going to be left alone if they detained this mom. And then they let her go about 10 minutes later. I think the very fact that they released her indicates that they did know that there was a child that needed her and that there was, the right thing to do was to let her go. There are many cases in which kids are left parentless or without one parent.

If you could talk a little bit about your experience as an immigration defense attorney and why people are coming to you with their stories and then take it a step further to your area and the kind of bind that elected officials are in, especially due to the SB 4 law. Sure. I've practiced immigration defense and criminal defense for many years. Still have a lot of folks that I'm very close to, and I'm just constantly getting calls from friends, family, former clients talking about ICE detentions. And the worst thing about it is that the folks that are calling have no criminal record are being picked up by eyes in what is largely racial profiling-based stops, where I've characterized it as kind of a, hey, Mexican come here type, type stops,

where there's really no reasonable suspicion, there's no probable cause. They're just approaching folks at, you know, gas stations and the parking lots of grocery stores and other places like that and using racial profiling to stop and question people. Again, these tactics, we've seen them all over the country, but now they're here in Austin, and Austin as a community is reacting very negatively.

Unfortunately, as you mentioned, there is a state law SB4 that does not allow interference, and to a certain extent requires cooperation by local governments and local police departments with immigration. So we're trying to walk its final line. align as possible. The Austin Police Department does not ask about the immigration status of anyone that it encounters. That's not relevant. That's a policy that's been in place for years. And this council has been, and this mayor has been very strong about making sure that that is the ongoing policy. We only want to do what we're required to do by law and nothing more. We want to protect our immigrant community. It's a very, very difficult time for our immigrant community. here in Austin, as it is across the country.

Austin, council member, Mayor Pro Tem, Jose, Chito Vela, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning. Please keep us posted as to what's going on in Austin. We appreciate it. My pleasure. Elise, you're doing these focus groups, and I'm just curious how much the ICE operations

and all the different sort of factors playing into the story from detention centers to people getting sent to countries that they don't come from, from people getting disappeared, beat up in the streets, and sometimes shot dead. Has that come up at all in these focus groups and does it play a role in their decision-making? It's been huge. We heard it first in Maine in Lewiston, which was the site of a huge ice surge there, Operation Catch and Release. And then in Michigan, too, in the Detroit area, we heard from all four groups, the increase in presence. Now, there are plenty of voters who support a secure border.

And we heard from some voters that, yes, they were happy that the border does seem to be more in control now. But they did not sign up for this. They did not sign up for rogue agents going out into their communities and having these tactics of fear, especially in Dearborn. What I heard from those participants was really grim, just that there was an increase in presence in targeting a lot of legal immigrants, legal residents, long-term Americans, simply because they tended to be Muslim and Arab American. Elise, thank you.

And still ahead, the former mayor of Chicago and former ambassador Rahm Emanuel joins the table. Plus, Academy Award-winning actor Michael Douglas, live in studio with a look at his new, very revealing memoir. Morning Joe, we'll be right back. With runners in scoring position, they've stranded 10. It's King against the captain. It's been swinging towards...

And with that, the same thing. San Diego Padres season lives. The game ending double play holding off the Milwaukee Brewers game three of the NF Division series. Ace right-hander Michael King came in out of the bullpen to pick the final two innings on it. One day of rest. All hands on deck in an elimination game. Padres avoiding that elimination four three win.

Brewers lead the Padres two games to one game four tonight in San Diego. In Atlanta, Dodgers right-hander Yamamoto out dual Braves A's Chris Sale striking out 10 batters in seven innings of work on the mound. Kike Hernandez and Freddie Freeman, each hit home runs for the Dodgers. L.A. taking the edge in that series with a 3-1 win. They're up two games to one. They are in Atlanta for game four tonight. The AL Division series resumes today.

The Chicago White Sox hosting the Cleveland Guardians with a chance to clinch a playoff series at home for the first time in 120 years. when they beat the Cubs in the 1906 World Series. Tonight, the New York Yankees. We'll try to avoid elimination at home in game three against the Tampa Bay race. Mike Rodicles at the table. Mike, last night, your assessment, Padres, staying alive. Dodgers getting the edge.

You know, last night was a gift to all of us of a certain age, and the gift was Kiki Hernandez, you know, who manages to get on that team every year. He makes the team every year. probably doesn't deserve to be on the team, but he makes the Ross. I was kidding his teeth. Last night, bang, that home run changed the nature of the series. October legend.

Every October, Kekekin Hernandez transforms into Babe Ruth. He has 17 home runs now. That's as many in the postseason as names like David Ortiz and Jim Tomey and other legends. And we've been talking all morning about how good. Here he is. There we go. We're talking all morning about how good Yamamoto was yesterday. Chris Dale was good.

Yamamoto was better. He's arguably the best October pitcher. right now, period, in the league. And John Halman, you're a Dodgers fan. You know, for a team that definitely showed a little creaky down the stretch, cluey guys are playing hurt, Otani, chief among them. But with the pitcher, starting pitching staff that they have, it may not matter. Well, Mike just said, you know, the Dodgers are showing their age in some ways,

and Otani is clearly not right. Right. And without Otani's bat being solid in the middle lineup, they're not as strong as they could be or should be. But those three guys between Scooblesnell and Yomoto, they're a legitimate, they're always a legitimate threat in any short series. But Mike thinks the Brewers are the best team in the NL. And I think that's where we're headed here is a Brewers, Dodgers, NLCS,

and people will remember, at least I do. Let's that way. American League, Mike, Yankees are in a two-o-hole. They're going to pitch. We know that. They've got Max Fried going tonight. Then tomorrow night, if they say they've got Rodon and maybe Cole comes in, too. and then if you get to game 5, Schlittler comes back.

They're not out of it. The question will be, is it the offense from the Red Sox series, or is it more of what we've seen in this series, which is Ben Rice and no one else? I think it's more of what you're seeing in this series. The Yankees are an incomplete team. They were fortunate to face the Red Sox in the first round because that was like facing the four of us.

Yes. No, really. Seriously, it was the same team that appeared for the Red Sox earlier in the year. But the Yankees have a tough roster. They don't have the skill, level that is needed to go all the way. I think Tampa Bay comes out of the American League as the American League champion.

They're good. And it's Brewers versus the Tampa Bay. The Yankees can pitch, but they can't hit or feel it. And that's a problem. If you have three errors in the first inning, you've dug yourself a hole. Also, let's take a moment for the, let's take a moment for the Chicago White Sox. The Chicago White Sacks coming off,

three 100 lost seasons are now one game away from the ALCS. Incredible. What possibly could have changed? The rosary beads. There is. Oh, my Lord. All right. Now to move on.

Still ahead on Morning Joe. Fresh off her debate last night with Republican Rick Jackson, former Atlanta mayor, and Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms, joins us. Morning Joe, we'll be right back.