The Daily Signal - #430: Texas Lawmaker Weighs in on Border Crisis: 'No Doubt It's a National Emergency'

Episode Date: April 1, 2019

Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, joins the podcast to chat about how Republicans are trying to protect the lives of babies born alive after an attempted abortion, and how in his South Texas district, the border crisis is affecting people. We also cover these stories:•As the crisis at the border continues, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen is sending back-up.•White House employee alleges people who don't meet criteria are getting security clearances.•One Democrat is trying to rid of the Electoral College the old fashioned way -- by introducing a constitutional amendment. The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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This Black Friday, you've got a whole month to catch all the exclusive offers waiting for you. See your local Nissan dealer or nissan.ca for details. Conditions apply. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, April 2nd. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Daniel Davis. This week, Republicans in the House are trying to force a vote on a bill to protect born infants, not unborn, but born infants who survive an abortion attempt.

Today, I'll be joined by Congressman Michael Cloud of Texas to discuss that initiative. We'll also discuss an issue close to home for his constituents, the immigration crisis, spilling over the border. Plus, Kate and I discuss unplanned, the new movie depicting the story of Abby Johnson, who left Planned Parenthood after coming to grips with abortion. And if you're enjoying this podcast, please consider leaving a review or a five-star rating on iTunes. And please subscribe. Those both help us grow the podcast and increase our listeners. Now on to our news.

As the crisis of the border continues, Homeland Security Secretary Kirsten Nielsen is sending back up. quote, the crisis at our border is worsening and DHS will do everything in its power to end it, Nielsen said in a statement. We will not stand idly by while Congress fails to act yet again, so all options are on the table. We will immediately redeploy hundreds of customs and border protection personnel to the border to respond to this emergency. We will urgently pursue additional reinforcements from within DHS and the interagency.

end quote. Nielsen also indicated in the press release that she would promote sending more migrants back to Mexico to wait for resolution on their cases. She said, we will require those seeking to enter the United States to wait in Mexico until an immigration court has reviewed their claims. Well, President Trump continues to threaten to close the border amid the massive surge of migrants. Kevin Hassett, who's an economic advisor to the president, says the White House is looking into the potential economic impact of closing the border. The president said on Friday that he would be closing the border or large sections of it if Mexico fails to block illegal border crossings. And here's what he said in Florida on Monday. They have the strongest immigration laws anywhere in the world, and we have the weakest, the most pathetic laws. Number one, Congress has to act. And number two, Mexico, they make so much money from the United States and so many other things, so many other assets.

They have to grab it and they have to stop it. And if they don't stop them, we're closing the border. They'll close it. And we'll keep it close for a long time. I'm not playing games. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are saying that a White House employee, Trisha Newbold, who has served in the White House for 18 years, is claiming that people are getting. security clearances who shouldn't be. A letter states that per Newbold, there are, quote, 25 individuals who are granted security clearances or eligibility to access national security

information despite recommendations to deny their application. The letter, signed by committee chairman, Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland, stated, in light of the grave reports from this whistleblower and the ongoing refusal of the White House to provide the information we need to conduct our investigation. The committee now plans to proceed with compulsory process and begin authorizing subpoenas. The Supreme Court handed a win to Planned Parenthood on Monday, declining to hear a case between Planned Parenthood and David Delighton, the pro-life activist, who recorded undercover footage that showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal tissue. Delighton had argued that his undercover activity was protected under the First Amendment,

but the court refused to rule out the possibility that he committed fraud, invasion of privacy, and other crimes that Planned Parenthood is accusing him of. The court's refusal to get involved means that the case will now proceed in lower court. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, Democrat of New York, announced that his committee is gearing up to vote on issuing subpoenas Wednesday to get the full report from special counsel Robert Mueller. Quote, Congress requires the full and complete special counsel report without redactions, as well as access to the underlying evidence.

Attorney General Barr has thus far indicated he will not meet the April 2nd deadline set by myself and five other committee chairs and refused to work with us to provide the full report without redactions to Congress, Nadler said in a statement. Well, one Democrat in the Senate is trying to get rid of the electoral college the old-fashioned way by introducing a constitutional amendment. Brian Schatz, a Democrat of Hawaii, told the Daily Beast that he would introduce the amendment this week and that it's already got support. from Democratic senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Dick Durbin, and Diane Feinstein. But of course, it faces a very tough road ahead. An amendment would have to earn support from two-thirds of Congress, both chambers, and then be ratified by three-quarters of the states. Former Vice President Joe Biden has long been made fun of online for his, shall we say,

odd touching of women. He doesn't know well. But now a former Nevada Assemblywoman is saying that when she ran for lieutenant governor in Nevada, Biden made her uncomfortable. She writes that he kissed her in the back of her head. Quote, he made me feel uneasy, gross, and confused. The vice president of the United States of America had just touched me in an intimate way reserved for close friends, family, or romantic partners, and I felt powerless to do anything about it.

Lucy Flores wrote in New York Magazine's The Cut. However, Stephanie Carter, wife of former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, and someone who was pictured with Biden holding her shoulders and leaning in behind her to whisper in her ear has written a defense of Biden on medium. She states, quote, when I next saw the Biden's referring to right after the picture was taken, I told them I felt awful that after he had generously taken time out of his day to swear in an old friend, his attempt to support me had become a joke and even more. Supposed it proved positive that he didn't understand how to respect women. I thought it would all blow over if I didn't dignify it with the response, she writes,

but also acknowledges that the media keeps asking her what she thought about it. Up next, I'll be joined by Congressman Michael Cloud of Texas. Do you have an opinion that you'd like to share? Leave us a voicemail at 202-608-6205 or email us at letters at dailysignal.com. Yours could be featured on the Daily Signal podcast. Joining me now in studio is Congressman Michael Cloud. He's a Republican representing the 27th District of Texas. Congressman Cloud, welcome to the studio. Thank you. It's good to be here. Congressman, one of the issues that you've given a lot of focus to in your time in Congress is the issue of protecting life. It's true. And it's been in the news a lot in the last couple of months for some reasons that aren't so great. We saw the New York bill. We heard Governor Northam's comments.

And in your chamber in the House right now, there's a discharge petition that is circulating, being led by Congresswoman Ann Wagner, along with Steve Scalese, basically trying to force a vote on a bill that would protect infants that survive an abortion attempt. This is going to come to a head this week. The window opens to trigger that vote. You were recently elected. When you got elected, did you really imagine that, you know, the issue of protecting born infants would be an issue in Congress? Yeah, and that's the thing. You knew issues about life would be certainly protecting the unborn, but who would have thought at this point that we'd be talking about children who are born alive and whether or not we should protect their life? That's just unconscionable.

The fact that we've moved the playing field to that, it's just a sad state on where we're at on that issue. in our nation at this point, and one that I hope that we can, I mean, what's, what's, the glimmer of hope is that it coming to the forefront is a point of conversation, you can see the American people that are with us on this issue, in that we should value life. And certainly there's no disputing whether a child who's born alive is alive and is a life worth protecting. Right. The discharge petition needs to get to 218 votes to trigger a House vote on the issue,

which would require 21 Democrats to switch over. Regardless of how that works out this week, what's interesting is since the Governor Northam comments, you've seen more polls coming out and actually a shift toward the pro-life side, a lot of Democrats even. I've got a couple numbers here to share from a recent poll. by UGov and Americans United for Life, 34% of Democrats now say they're pro-life. And 80% of all surveyed, all-American surveyed, said that they oppose removing medical care from a viable child after birth,

which is what this bill would do. How do you explain that disconnect between what seems to be a lot of actual Democratic voters from the politicians in the Democratic Party? Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the way, who, who's electing and nominating Democratic candidates. As far as the general populace and feel of our nation, the heartbeat of our nation, certainly so many people of faith, this issue is extremely important to them. And but you have this far left fringe, this socialist movement even, this movement that devalues life and liberty that's beginning to elect many of the nominees.

And so you're seeing that extreme size. have a grasp in our national politics that you wouldn't have imagined would have, you know, even 10 years ago. Yeah. So in the same way we would have said that socialism was on the dust steep of history yet we're talking about it again. Who would have thought we had been talking about a child born alive and whether or not it has value or not? You know, that's pretty, through the normal people who live throughout the nation, that's an obvious question. You ask any child who's, you know, if this child born alive deserves to live, yes, of course it does. When you speak to your constituents about this issue, is that pretty much the view mostly that you hear?

Yeah, so in this issue, there's not too, aside from your very fringe, die hard, you know, this is a unanimous thing. a child born life deserves to live and deserves to be protected. And, you know, there's been, we've had this decades-long question about when does life begin. We all should know that at the first breath, at a very minimum, this child is alive. And, of course, you know, we've seen a lot of development over the last 50 years in scientific technology. Even, you know, when it comes to protecting the life of an unborn 50 years ago, you can understand maybe, you know, I wouldn't have agreed with. it, but you could understand how somebody might say, okay, we don't know what's really going on inside. Ultrasounds were not common back then.

Today we have 40 ultrasounds. We know a child feels pain at 20 weeks. We know there's a heartbeat. We know there's brain activity. We know there's even emotions and smiling and those kind of things already going on. So there's a strong case. Technologies has made this available to us that we can see inside. We can peer inside, watch the wonderful development of a child and understand.

that there's actual life there. There's something to be cherished, something to be valued. And certainly at a very minimum, a child born alive, it deserves to be valued. Absolutely. Well, shifting to another issue in the news this week, Board Security, also an issue important to your constituents in South Texas. Now, you represent a district, is it Corpus Christi or just outside Corpus Christi? It's Corpus Christi is in the, the county that's the southernmost tip of my district. So it goes up the coast, almost to Houston, and cuts over to almost to Austin. And so we're the southernmost Republican, I guess, in the state of Texas. And for years, we've known what's called this fatal funnel, two major highways from the

border come through our district, go to Houston, and whether it's drugs or whether it's human trafficking, it kind of follows what's called that fatal funnel. We had 19 migrants. die in the back of a pickup truck some years ago, you know, 10 minutes from my town because of this callous regard for life. But we're seeing it at unprecedented levels, you know, 80,000 people, I think, in February crossing our border. I think last month it was closer to 100,000. We're not equipped for this. We're not ready to deal with this sort of situation. And these cases are coming over and claiming asylum, which is supposed to be a credible fear of prosecution. that's different than wanting economic freedom, which we all do want.

But our founders gave us a model, and that is to be that shining city on a hill that says, if you live by these principles, you can have a free and prosperous society. And so it's not that we don't care about these individuals, but imagine if 14, 20,000 people in Honduras marched on their capital, the kind of effect they can have on their nation for generations. And so it's about the principles that sustain liberty and prosperity. and those principles, you know, if people are not seeing those results in their nation, they should question the principles that their nation are being led by and work to affect change.

And that's how we cannot immigrate 3 trillion people who are living in substandard living or developing nations into our country to heal the world. The way to heal the world is to be the champion for these principles that promote freedom, prosperity that we've seen throughout decades bring social uplift throughout the world, certainly in our nation and throughout the world. world to have those principles promulgated throughout the world and in governments across the world. And that's how we see social uplift. That's how we see people reach economic prosperity and be able to take care of their families and live the opportunities that we've been so blessed to live

here in the United States. Yeah, you mentioned that recent surge in migrants coming across just in the last couple of months. Right. And Border Patrol is reporting that they are overwhelmed. They can't, they're starting to release migrants into the country because they just, just can't handle and they don't have the resources from from from from Washington to handle it you know with divided control of Congress it you know it looks difficult to move forward but the president has declared that national emergency how do you feel about that at this point there's no doubt that it's a national emergency there there's absolutely no doubt a hundred thousand people a month but potentially coming across the border our resources are

overwhelmed. We do not have enough people to handle it. And cartels are driving this. It's not like this sudden mass. Cartels are driving this because they want the chaos. It allows them to get drugs across our border, trafficking humans. Many of these women who are in these caravans are being abused. And this is driven by cartels who have complete operational control across the southern border. They have. I recently visited the border and I was asking, I was asking them, I said, the next win, and this is before the 100,000 people come a month, what's the next win? They said, we just want operational, we want situational awareness. We want to have enough resources to understand what the cartels are doing. We're not to the point we're mitigating it.

We're just trying to understand what's going on. Now that's, we've even taken a step back from that to where we're having to close checkpoints and such because we're so taxed and overwhelmed by the insurge and the influx of migrants. And cartels are doing this. I mean, they're sending people one way. Customs and Border Patrol released a video the other day. They dropped a couple of young people. I think there were a couple of young ladies into some barbed wire, some razor wire, so that our Customs and Border Patrol people would leave their post

to go deal with the human need. And then while they were over there dealing with these young people, they were just filtering people through the open checkpoint. This is the callous disregard that is at the border. and we must deal with it. When it comes to these surges of migrants coming across, a lot of them are coming from Central America. We saw the president, I guess he cut foreign aid

to several countries in Central America recently, although I guess Congress will probably have something to say about that. Do you see that as a positive move trying to get those countries to do something to reduce the flow of migrants? Obviously Mexico has shown some more willingness in recent months to try to help the administration, but you still got migrants coming across.

What's the responsibility there? This is a true humanitarian crisis, and it is one that should be dealt with with more than just us. You know, we need to do everything we can at the border, but the more we can bring other nations on to realize that this is their problem, too. You know, it will help the situation. So, you know, I applaud any efforts to make this a multilateral solution. And when it comes to the border wall, extending the wall, you know, across the entire border, I'm not actually sure where the wall is with regard to your district. South Texas. Is there a wall near, I guess Brownsville would be the... Throughout the border, there's wall in different regions.

Yeah, Rio Grande Valley sector is where we're seeing a lot of the issues right now, and it's because they don't have the kind of protections that they do in other parts of the border. You know, it's not... The wall gets all the attention, but it's not just about the wall. The wall is the backbone of a system. We need the boots on the ground. We need the immigration judges. We need enough bed space to deal with the situation. And we've got to even take... take a very targeted strategic, I think, even a stronger stance against what the cartels are trying to do and be a little more proactive, I think, instead of reactionary in those ways and figure out the tools we can to take it to the cartels instead of constantly reacting

to what they're doing. And when you speak to your constituents on this issue, what are they sensing at this moment? Well, in South Texas, we get it and we understand. You know, when I came to Congress, I guess, about eight, nine months ago, I was surprised to talk to the, how many reps who had no clue what was going on in the board. You know, and a number of them are against it because they're not feeling the results of it. But in South Texas, we get it, we know it, we see it. We see the drain on resources right now. There's a health crisis that's coming.

Diseases that we pretty much eradicated from the United States are now entering, again, through this situation. You see the hospitals that are taxed, the school districts that are taxed, the counties who have to. to bury the migrants who are found dead on ranches. You know, and, of course, the biggest thing is that these lives are being lost, and the counties are having to deal with the situation, that it's not really part of their job description. You know, so we've got to do what we can. Each life that's lost is part of our responsibility because we did not secure the board.

We have not done what we can to do it. The wall is part of that system. It does slow people down. We have proof that it's worked in the past. A number of reps didn't even know we, they think the wall is this new idea. It's like, no, we've been building a wall for many decades now, and we have the statistical proof that it works very well.

You know, continue to build the border fence that we've been building for many decades. It doesn't fit on a poster or on a hat or as well as build the wall. But the truth is that this is a proven way to deal with the situation, and it's part of a system that will work. Congressman Michael Cloud, really appreciate you coming in, taking the time to chat. Sure, thank you. It's good to be here. Do you own an Alexa? You can now get the Daily Signal podcast every day as part of your daily flash briefing.

It's easy to do. Just open up your Alexa app, go to settings, and select Flash Briefing. From there, you can search for the Daily Signal podcast and add it to your flash briefing so you can stay up to date with the top news of the day that the liberal media isn't covering. Unplanned, the Pro-Life movie that hit theaters this weekend was a surprise hit, coming in at number five over the weekend with 6.1 million. and ticket sales according to box office mojo. Joining us to discuss is our own reporter and podcast co-host Rachel Del Judas,

who along with Daniel has seen the movie. Rachel, what did you think of unplanned? It was stunning, honestly. I mean, from the scene in the movie where Abby, she has like her own chemical abortion and she's in the bathroom crying. It's a very intense scene. And can you explain to people who Abby is? Sure.

So Abby is the clinic worker who had been reached out to by Planned Parenthood at this college fair. in Texas and they said we want to help women and we want to get you involved so she ended up volunteering for them and then she ended up working for them ultimately she was one of the youngest clinic directors at Planned Parenthood and at one point in the movie she decides to have a chemical abortion and she's alone in this bathroom crying and the doctor had told her oh you're not going to feel very much pain like it's going to be this quick and easy process and she's on the floor of the bathroom crying and she's like it was one of the first moments in the movie that you know she she verbalized that out loud and you could just tell you know through her own character progression

that everything that she had been told by plan parenthood was a lie um there was another instance where she was talking with her young daughter in the movie she um had one daughter and her husband dug and she had been gone all day working in the clinic and came back to her little daughter wanting to play with her and there was some like blood that had been sprinkled on her shoes and she was trying to explain like you know her daughter asked like mommy what's happened. She was like, oh, I was helping sick people today. You could see in Abby's face that she, you know, she didn't even know what to say. She was, you know, she went from overseeing abortions and, you know, taking care of these and killing these children to going home and trying to play with

her own daughter and just the conflict and seeing her own, her own character move from, oh, I'm, you know, actually not helping women. I'm harming them. And these children that they're carrying to her conversion was just, it's incredibly powerful. Daniel, what did you think of it? Yeah, that was pretty powerful. I thought one aspect that they really capture, which is so accurate, is how well Planned Parenthood markets itself. And they have a very shrewd branding where all the words are carefully chosen and you avoid sort of the ugly truth that lies beneath those words. But the way Abby Johnson was marketed to at a college, I guess it was a club fair or career fair.

Yeah, career fair. Like, oh, we're here to help you. And she says her first reaction is, well, my family's pro-life. I think I'm probably pro-life. And the woman is like, oh, totally understand. And we want to reduce the number of abortions. But, you know, when you need an abortion, you know, we're where you go. And so she gets her to sign up. And what's interesting is later on in the movie that comes out that there's a real conflict between that stated goal of trying to reduce the number of abortions and their actual business model. and all these years Abby thinks of herself as reducing the number of abortions, even though she's overseeing abortions.

And she there's sort of, it comes to a head with her boss who wants to, for the next year, double the number of abortions. And she's like, well, I thought we were supposed to reduce the number of abortions. And this is in front of a whole bunch of colleagues, and it kind of makes a big scene. And you realize at that moment, and they have a little conversation afterwards, her boss says, we are an abortion business. This is what pays your salary, what pays your vacations. Like, you're naive if you don't understand that. And so I think some of the falsehoods and the internal incoherency of Planned Parenthood is really brought to the four in a very effective way.

And the one clinic director that you mentioned, Daniel, she even said, you know, this is about the numbers. And I think they were opening at that point or wanting to open a larger clinic. And they're like, well, if we're going to staff this and if this is going to be a security, We have to skyrocket these numbers. And it's just like you could see the shock and horror on her face, on Abby's face. One of the things that also struck me was she was at that clinic for eight years. She worked her way up. And throughout it, you see there are different conversations she has with other pro-lifers who are there praying, her parents who are pro-life.

And you can see she's wrestling with it, but she doesn't really, she's not thinking about what abortion is. She's only thinking about how she's helping women. And that bubble just bursts when the moment she's actually asked to assist in an abortion, she sees the baby as one of the most dramatic scene in the movie. She sees the baby on the, what's it called, the ultrasound screen. And you see the baby squirming and it's very graphic. But she realizes in that moment, like her conscience is triggered and she realizes that she's been a part of 22,000 abortions. since she had been at that clinic.

And she just feels the overwhelming guilt of that, which is really the beginning of a new process of finding grace and redemption. Something I love to, and I have mentioned this to other people, but it struck me so deeply, is I love the character of her husband, Doug Johnson. He, I felt like the producers,

they did an incredible job, and I met Doug in person, so they really pegged him well. But they never, they did a great job of casting him. He never judged, Abby, he supported her as a husband and he would ask her thoughtful questions and they would have discussions about what she did and, you know, why, you know, he would ask her like, Abby, how can what you be, what you're doing, how can you see this is a good thing? And they would talk about

this, but he never, you know, judged her or kind of played into the stereotype that the pro-abortion movement, you know, a lot of times lays out there that, you know, pro-life people are just intolerant and they don't care. He cared deeply for Abby and he was so supportive of her. And it was was that love and support that I think, I mean, definitely helped her and her conversation and helped her ask those hard questions. And then that one day when she had the realization she saw and helped assist in this abortion and saw the baby scrimming away on the ultrasound. And when she went to 40 days for life and asked them for help, she said, you know, I'm done.

I'm ready. You know, I'm quitting. She went back home that night and told Doug. And he even guessed without singing things like, oh, so you went to see 40 days for life. And she said, yeah, like, how did you know? but it was just, I think he was so in tune with her and wanted to help her and wanted her to ultimately, you know, see, you know, come to his side of, you know, he was very pro-life. And I think it was, you know, that invitation in him being so open and respectful, but his challenging personality that helped her come to the other side. Yeah, I think him and then also the pro-life activists who were standing out there faithfully every Saturday, which is when it was their big abortion day.

They would be out. The same couple that throughout the movie were just there praying, trying to talk to the women as they got out of their cars to have abortions. The way they engaged her, I think, models how you can reach people. Sometimes it will take years. I mean, it took her years. But I think that's a lesson from the movie is that we have to be content not to just win in a single conversation. but that for, I mean, there's human beings, like when you're set in a certain mode and your job and your whole life is oriented toward, you know, being pro-choice, sometimes it can take a long time for people to come around and really see what this is. But I think it was very hopeful because during her moment of crisis, she then knew that she could go to that pro-life couple that they would help.

Right, she knew they were trustworthy. Yeah. And it's building that relationship, which I think the probably movement does well, but I think this movie will help build that conversation and encourage it even more. Okay, well, check it out in theaters. And thanks for joining us, Rachel. Thank you for having me. And we'll leave it there for today.

Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast, brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud, and please give us a review or rating on iTunes to give us feedback. We'll see you again tomorrow. You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visit DailySignal.com.