The Daily Signal - DHS Chief Chad Wolf Hopes to Have 450 Miles of Border Wall Built By End of Year

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, joined The Daily Signal Podcast at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year to detail the progress that has been made on President Donald Trump’s border wall with Mexico. Read a lightly edited transcript of the interview, posted below, or listen on the podcast. We also cover these stories: American hospitals are struggling to keep up amid the coronavirus pandemic. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo shared reasons for hope as New York struggles with COVID-19. California is loaning 500 ventilators to the national stock pile The Daily Signal Podcast is available on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, Pippa, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be foundat 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

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, April 7th. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. On today's episode, I speak with Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a pre-recorded interview to talk about all the progress that has been made on President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico. Plus, Andy No, the journalist who was attacked by Antifa last June, joins the podcast to reflect on socialism versus the American dream. And if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts, and please encourage others to give it a listen.

Now on to our top news. American hospitals are struggling to keep up amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Office of Inspector General in the Department of Health and Human Services contacted 323 hospitals in late March and compiled the results. The hospitals said they were facing staff shortages, as well as a lack of personal protective equipment necessary for the medical professionals caring for COVID-19 patients. The Office of Inspector General noted, to secure the necessary personal protective equipment, including ventilators and supplies for their staff, hospital administrators reported turning to new, sometimes unvetted and non-traditional sources of supplies and medical equipment.

To ensure adequate staffing to treat patients with COVID-19, hospitals were training medical staff like anesthesiologists, hospitalists, and nursing staff to help care for patients on ventilators. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday during a press conference that the coronavirus pandemic could be looking up. Here's what he had to say via ABC News. Total number of hospitalizations are down. The ICU admissions are down and the daily intubations are down. Those are all good signs.

And again, would suggest a possible flattening of the curve. The number of discharge is down, but that reflects the overall reduction in the numbers. California is loaning 500 ventilators to the national stockpile. Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement, we still have a long road ahead of us in the Golden State, and we're aggressively preparing for a surge, but we can't turn our back on Americans whose lives depend on having a ventilator now. Earlier this week, Washington State announced it would be giving back 400 ventilators to other states.

The Heritage Foundation unveiled a new commission on Monday to work towards saving lives and livelihoods in the face of the coronavirus. pandemic. The commission, which can be found at coronavirus commission.com, will be spearheaded by Heritage Foundation President K. Coles James. Experts who will be part of the new commission include health care professionals such as Dr. Bill Frist, a heart and lung transplant surgeon and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader, Timothy Flanagan, Chief Legal Officer of Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and the Reverend Samuel Rodriguez, President of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. to name just a few.

The first meeting of the commission is set for Thursday, with five additional video conferences through the month of April to discuss five specific questions. Following the conclusion of the commission's meetings, reports from each discussion will be placed into a final report for policymakers as well as the American public, according to a Heritage Foundation statement. Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, is the latest lawmaker to call for China to give answers. In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Jane's writes, as you are well aware, China's initial response to reports of an atypical pneumonia being detected by medical personnel

in Hubei province in late 2019 were hamfisted with government officials hiding cases, punishing doctors who dared to speak up, and resulted in delays that worsened the impact of COVID-19 on public health. and the economies of countries around the world. The American people deserve to have the information to truly understand why they are making the sacrifices that they are. Additionally, we must discover the truth about the origins of this disease in order to better prepare ourselves against another future pandemic. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is diagnosed with the coronavirus, is getting sicker. Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the intensive care unit at the hospital. A spokesperson said Monday, per the hill. Johnson was initially hospitalized over the weekend. Next up, we'll have Rachel's interview with Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

The daily signals priority is to make sure you and your family are receiving the best information. on how to stay healthy and keep the coronavirus from spreading. Here is an important message from U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams discussing how we can all help to slow the spread over the next 30 days. We extended the president's guidelines for America because it's important that everyone understands these next 30 days are critical. The data tells us that if we really focus on staying at home, on washing our hands, on not touching our hands,

on not touching our face for the next 30 days. We can flatten the curve, we can lower cases, and we can reopen our economy sooner. So America, please do your part. We're all in this together. We are joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Chad Wolf. He's the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Chad, thank you so much for being with us today.

I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. So Chief Rodney Scott, who works at the U.S. Border Patrol, he recently announced that 126 miles of the border have been completed. There are 213 miles under construction and 414 miles in pre-construction. Can you tell us about those landmarks that have been reached? Yeah, actually, it's very exciting. So at the end of this calendar year, we hope to have 450 miles built.

So that's new wall system, border wall system. That's new capability for the Border Patrol agents that they've never had before. So we're replacing 6, 7, 8 foot high landing mat, 70s-era landing mat fence with ballard fencing that's 8 to 30 feet high. but it's not only that physical infrastructure, it's the cameras, the roads, the lighting, the fiber optic cables. It's that whole border wall system that gives them capabilities that they'd never had before. And again, as I go down to the border and I talk to the Border Patrol agents, first thing I ask it was, what do you need to secure the border?

And it's an effective border wall system is the first thing that they tell me. Can you tell us a little bit about all the work that went up to reaching those landmarks? You all have been busy making this happen. And can you give a little bit of a sneak peek into everything that went into this, whole project. Sure. It starts with our operators. So the requirements of where that border wall system will be placed along the southwest border in what manner, what are the heights, what are the features of it. It all starts with our operators. So CBP Customs and Border Protection takes the operators, takes their input, puts it into what we call our border security

improvement plan, our BSEP. We share that with Congress and then we fund that, we work with Congress to fund that. And I think what's been actually remarkable from President Trump is as Congress would not fund that or choose to fund it in very small slices. He used the authority that Congress had given him to find additional funding. So we have about $15 billion today that we continue to build border wall funding. It's going to include over 700 miles. As I indicated, I hope to have 450 done by the end of this calendar year. And we'll continue to build and continue to work with Congress and others to make sure that that capability and system is where it needs to be along the southwest border. And your travels to the border, as well as throughout the country and

all the work that you do, is there a particular story or incident that really captures well the severity of the situation and why we need to work on our southern border? Yeah, I was in Tucson on the 100th mile that we put in. I believe that was in January. And we were in an area that we were replacing what we call normity barriers, their vehicle barriers. It's basically an X. It's about four and a half feet tall. You can jump over it. You can go under it. You can go around it. Very easy. we're replacing that with 30-foot high ballard wall. And so I was talking to the chief there and asking what type of traffic they came through. And that was one of their busiest areas because it was just right across the river.

The river is not very large there. And they were saying that individuals would just come over in droves. What that would require them to do is to surge Border Patrol agents there. And as they did that, the adversary would do that for a particular reason. And then they would sneak in other individuals further down the line. And so we want to make sure that we're able to make sure we get Border Patrol agents where they need to be. We put up physical infrastructure to funnel them to certain places that are easier to patrol, easier to apprehend individuals. And so that story really hit home to me.

And as you look at, I'm sure we can show you some photos. As you look at the four foot high wall and then the 30 foot high, it's that impedance in denial. So a lot of individuals talk to me about how walls can be defeated. And I don't disagree, although this wall is very difficult to defeat. This is all about impedance and denial. It may take someone seven minutes, eight minutes, ten minutes, twelve minutes to get above and around that wall. What that allows to do is the Border Patrol agents waiting for them. There's no more hopping the fence in 30 seconds and then getting away into the interior of the country.

We have a number of capabilities there that allows that Border Patrol agents to be waiting on those individuals that are trying to, again, illegally enter the country. Well, I actually was in Tucson about two weeks ago, and we met with Sheriff Lamb in Pinell County, and he does a lot. a lot of work with drug trafficking there. And something he mentioned when we were talking with him is how a lot of times when Border Patrol is outworking, if someone's an illegal immigrant is caught in the desert, they don't have enough food or water, they call 911, Border Patrol is called. And he said a lot of Americans don't realize the amount of humanitarian work the Border Patrol does. So can you talk a little bit about that?

It's actually fascinating. And as you said, it's humanitarian or what our Border Patrol agents end up being. So they do a number of rescues every single day rescuing individuals that are making this very dangerous journey. And we have to think about the individuals that are coming across the border. They're likely being smuggled from a transnational criminal organization that they've paid thousands of dollars. They've probably been on a very dangerous journey for many, many weeks, maybe even a month. They come to our southwest border. Those individuals just turn them over.

They're not. And so you're in the middle of the desert in most cases or in the wilderness. in most cases, not near a city. And you're not sure what to do. So you do. You get lost. You run out of water. You do a number of things. And Border Patrol are out there saving individuals. Again, with local law enforcement.

I will say that our local law enforcement, our sheriffs along the Southwest border, are also on the front lines of this. It's their communities that these individuals are coming into either legally or illegally that they have to deal with. But Border Patrol agents every day are rescuing individuals crossing the river in the desert, running out of water and the like. So it's an incredible mission that they do, not only protecting the border, protecting the communities along the border, protecting the American men and women,

but also rescuing migrants that perhaps didn't really know what they were signing up for as they come into the country. Well, on the topic of the humanitarian crisis, I know you do a lot of response with human trafficking issues like that. Can you talk a little bit about the response of Border Patrol when it comes to human trafficking? Sure. I think we see a number of what we saw last year is a number of growing incidents of human trafficking. And I think where this really hit home from me is what an operation that we discovered,

our ICE Homeland Security investigators discovered, along with Border Patrol, what we call child recycling. And these were individuals, again, south of the border that would use a child to come into the country. Because the way our law is written, if you come into the country with a child, at that time you were released into the interior of the country. So what we saw is an individual coming in with a child, we would see that same child perhaps several weeks later with another adult claiming to be their parent. And then a couple weeks later, same child. And so after time, we started investigating and looking at this, and it was a ring where they would come in and the child would be sent back to Central America, Mexico. And again, using that.

So it's very, very disturbing. Obviously, it's very, very dangerous for that child. And again, it's exploiting our immigration system. So ICE HSI, Border Patrol, they deal with that every day. Human trafficking overall is a very big issue for the department. We released our first ever human trafficking strategies two months ago. We continue to look at that. We continue to do more ICE Homeland Security investigation.

That's what they do. They investigate human trafficking. And I will say some of the laws that we see across this country, particularly in New York, is very troubling where we talk about sanctuary policies or the lack of information sharing with DHS. and it impacts enforcing criminal laws like human trafficking, where our law enforcement agents don't have the information they need to do their job, and it's very dangerous. Well, Secretary Wolf, thank you so much for joining us today on the Daily Signal podcast. Thank you.

Conservative women. Conservative feminists. It's true. We do exist. I'm Virginia Allen, and every Thursday morning on problematic women, Lauren Evans and I sort through the news to bring you stories and interviews that are particular interest to conservative leaning or problematic women.

That is women whose views and opinions are often excluded or mocked by those on the so-called feminist left. We talk about everything from pop culture to policy and politics. Search for problematic women wherever you get your podcast. We are joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Andy No. He's the editor at large, the post-millennial, and he's host of the podcast, things you know. Andy, thank you for being with us today. It's a pleasure to be with you again. Well, you've been on the podcast a few times before. It's great to have you back. You have a very

interesting story about Antifa and your work covering them. For those who don't know your story, though, can you briefly tell us that? Yeah, so my main beat is I cover Antifa and I focus on highlighting their violent extremism in addition to focusing on their acts of violence that happen in the Pacific Northwest and other parts of the U.S. Also shining a light on their ideology. It's a movement and ideology of extreme anarchists and communists, and they are working to actually overthrow the U.S. I think that sounds kind of conspiratorial, but if you look at the literature that

they disseminate, the literature they use to radicalize prospective members, that is what they are calling for. They have a grand strategy. It's the violence that we've seen on the streets have been highlighted because of what happened to me last year is just one part of the Sanctuary movement. And can you tell us a little bit about that day what happened when you were attacked by Antifa and you had to go to the hospital? There was some hemorrhaging, I think. Can you briefly tell us how that went down? Yes, in June of 2019, I was beaten by a mob of mass militants.

and part of that attack was caught on camera and it became a viral moment. The video that most people have seen shows the second half of the attack, the first half, were multiple punches and blows to my head and that was likely what caused the traumatic brain injury that I received, had a brain bleed,

and the healing process has been long at times really challenging. And, you know, after I was beaten and bloodied and trying to make my way out, then this mob begins to throw milkshakes, eggs, and other liquids at my face. And I couldn't even see it. It was complete anarchy. Every time I repeat it, it's been eight months now since it's happened. It's just kind of, it's so depressing that this happened in a major American city in downtown,

right next to the central police precinct, nearby city, Hall. So it's like these buildings that hold these institutions are supposed to represent the rule of law. They're like shelves and husks, like empty. When that happened, do you remember seeing any bystanders that looked concerned or called law enforcement or anything like that? Or was it were people pretty disengaged? What I remember is that those who are not participating in throwing things on me, were laughing and cursing at me. I think that whole ordeal just shows me,

like, the animalistic sort of part of people that can really easily manifest, particularly when they believe that they are targeting an enemy who's evil. And they generally believe me to be an evil person, a fascist. somebody who is there to try to get people killed like these vicious lies but they believed it and in their minds that's what justified for violence against me and if there's any silver lining in what happened you know i still haven't had any justice there hasn't been a single arrest but the one positive thing i guess is that it really has forced into the the mainstream consciousness this anti-fam movement and the far left in general.

We're having to confront that media may tell us that our anti-fascist fighting on behalf of the marginalized and oppressed, but then the real footage that comes out shows them attacking regular citizens, decent people, attacking them with no mercy, attacking them with the intention to kill them. So do you see a double standard there versus, what's being told in the media about what Antifa is versus what actually happens and what they've been known to do? The mainstream media, I think the narrative that they put out is not necessarily out of bias, but I think it's utter ignorance.

You know, things that Don LeMond or Chris Kremas that are seen and, for example, referring to Antifa as sort of like comparable to anti-fascists who fought him in World War II, like American soldiers, for example. Like, that's just born out of ignorance. They're not familiar with the views in the positions that and for ideologues actually advocate for. I think that the media that has done, like, the most damage has been, particularly, like, websites, you know, Vox, Slate, Vice, Huffington Post, team Vogue even. These places have been published in content from contributors who open,

espoused support for left-wing political violence. So we're here talking at CPAC, their 2020 Political Action Conference, and the theme for this year is socialism versus the American dream. Why is this such an important topic to discuss? It's important to talk now because it's already conservatives are late to discuss in this. I mean, it's too bad that this is the topic for 2020 when it should have happened, I think, in the past and focused heavily on over. over and over because you look at the polling data on young people's sentiments on socialism

and it's majority positive. Like this transformation didn't just happen overnight and it seems to have pulled the rug from conservatives and that they completely are kind of unprepared. Like socialism for me is, it's personal. My parents escaped the socialist republic of Vietnam. They were imprisoned after the regime change in South Vietnam that now put in a communist government. And so they were sent to prison camps, concentration camps, actual concentration camps,

not what AOC considers. Subject to intense brainwashing, indoctrination, hard labor, had property businesses, confiscated. This wasn't just unique to Vietnam. You have so many examples from the 20th centuries of the horrors of the communist totalitarianism. But there's like an amnesia that has taken route across the West.

You don't just see this in the U.S. You see this also in Western Europe. Of young people having not just, you know, obviously no memory of the Soviet Union, the Cold War, any of that, but they have a romanticized view. And I think it's because of academia. You know, of course, then when you have the Democrat frontrunner, like Bernie Sanders, who has spent decades singing praises

to so-called good things that these communist regimes have done after they achieved the revolution. Yet he never qualified any of that praise were talking about how dissidents were treated, how they were killed. So young people are being told half the story. You know, they're being sold the utopian ideal. And for them, it's all kind of theoretical, because they're living in a prosperous society like the U.S.

in idealizing, desiring something else. So it's all theoretical for them. I think you, you know, America has become a home to so many diaspora communities and people who have escaped communist regimes and socialist countries. These are the voices that need to be amplified. And I regret that the mainstream left is really no longer unified in its opposition to communism. What, do your parents, are there any stories they have told you about growing up in a socialist country being imprisoned? And is anything of what they told you, is it vivid you, stands out to you and something that you go back to when you hear discussions about why socialism is so great or why we need to adopt policies like Medicare for all?

So last month, Project Veritas released some of these great sting videos of Bernie Sanders staffers in Iowa. other states, saying on camera, when they didn't know they were being recorded, expressing support for things that the Soviet Union did in its treatment of its dissidents. For example, defending the gulags, talking about lining people against the wall who are counter-revolutionaries, praising this evil actions that were done, praising it openly. And then, how did the Bernie Sanders campaign respond? they protected these traffickers. They weren't fired,

and Bernie himself never came out to distance himself from these extremist views. I think, like when I heard and was watching these videos, you know, growing up, my parents gave me various vignettes of their experiences,

really post-75. They were, my mother was a teenager at that time. My father was a young adult. But those few years, from 75 to 79, of living under the communist regime were so traumatic for them. My mother was just a teenager,

so she wasn't even punished for her political belief. She didn't happen any of the time. She was a child, but she and her family were punished because of the social strata that they were part of. They had business, they had property, which was all confiscated, and they were deemed counter-revolutionaries,

people who had so-called exploited the labor of workers to get rid. and therefore they needed to be punished, not just by having their property taken away, but sent to labor camps to do hard labors, including her younger siblings who were, the youngest was a 10-year-old boy, you know, putting them in these deplorable conditions and subjecting them not just to hard labor and hunger and starvation, but intensive brainwash and indoctrination. You know, the text that they were exposed to, the things that they had to memorize and say.

you know when I hear Bernie talking about these literacy programs that Cuba implemented and how they're you know allegedly improved literacy rates like well what kind of materials is he aware of the materials that the people were being subject to to so-called improve their reading skills it's like it's all part of the the brainwashing project that happened so I'm disturbed that Marxism is now a mainstream left-ling worldview. Since your mom did grow up in a socialist country, and now she's living in America, living in Oregon, living the American dream,

what do you think if she had the opportunity to tell younger people who might be fascinated with the ideas of socialism and communism, if she had the opportunity to say something about her experience and what that was like to these people, people, what do you think that might be? I don't think my mother realizes how bad it is right now, but here's one thing that she told me a lot when I was growing up that I think this is a lesson that would be valuable for young people like me, is that she taught me to have gratitude for being a U.S. citizen. And I never understood that, right? When you're born and raised in freedom,

you can spit her name, that's all you know, that's what it means to be privileged. She always tell me, like, you're Andy, you're so lucky to have been born in the U.S. And, you know, as a child, I didn't, I was like, what are you talking about? My parents wouldn't buy me these video games that I wanted, whereas my tears had this and that. You know, I was completely foolish. And it wasn't until adulthood that I really understood what, not just what such a shit means, but what America as an ideal in principles are. And so she would tell young people to center gratitude.

Because, you know, what we have in the United States and other Western countries has taken centuries to build up. And it actually doesn't take a lot to destroy that. I think when you live through regime change, particularly when you are coasting along life and thinking that your government and life is stable and then things get completely turned upside down. Like, young Americans don't have that experience and knowledge.

You know, the wars are fought in other country, World War II. It's longer. And they're subject to intense indoctrination, I think through media and academia about They're only presented with the horrors of 20th century fascism and with no counterpoint on the evils of communist totalitarianism. Well, Andy, thank you for sharing that. Thank you for that perspective.

And thank you for joining us again on the Daily Signal podcast. My pleasure. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. We really appreciate your patience as we record remotely during these weeks. Please be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify, and please leave us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts to give us your feedback. Stay healthy and we'll be back with you all tomorrow.

The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Shrinco and Rachel Del Judas. Sound design by Lauren Evans, Thelia Rampersad, Mark Geinie, and John Pop. For more information, visit you. at daily signal.com.