What A Day - DREAMers Go To Washington

Episode Date: November 12, 2019

Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments about whether DACA can be ended by the Trump administration. We ask immigration activist Justino Mora how this all feels as a DACA recipient. Republican congressman and proud Islamophobe Peter King has announced his plan to retire. We say: good! And Crooked’s own Jon Lovett joins us for the headlines: Bevin won’t quit, Hearst v. herb, and Giuliani wants a Stitcher contract.

It's Tuesday, November 12th. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And this is What A Day, the Flamin' Hot Cheetos of daily news podcasts. The truth is dangerously cheesy. On today's show, DACA heads to the Supreme Court, another Republican member of Congress retires, which makes 20 total, and we're going to get into that. And then some headlines with special guest John Lovett. The legal status of nearly 700,000 young people goes before the Supreme Court today. The justices will hear arguments about whether or not DACA, the program to protect DREAMers, can be terminated by the Trump administration. DACA, which stands for Deferred

Action for Childhood Arrivals, was a program created by President Obama in 2012 to give young immigrants brought to the country as children legal status to live and work in the United States. In 2017, the Trump administration sought to terminate the program by saying it was unlawful. Challenger sued and the case has now wound its way to the Supreme Court. This case is going to come down to the Trump administration's claim that it is unconstitutional to grant protections for immigrants who have lived in this country for most of their lives. Lower court judges have said the Trump administration's moves to end DACA are, quote, capricious and unlawful. Now the Supreme Court will have the final say. But the important thing to

remember is that at the root of the case are real people with lives, families, and roots in America. To give us some perspective on that, I spoke to Justino Mora, a DACA recipient and immigration activist who came to America 19 years ago. He's now a computer engineer, and I asked him about how he and his family are feeling as the case gets argued today. I'm just feeling in general, it's like, it feels like a roller coaster. I feel like a lot of like mixed emotions, given the fact that I was one of the people that fought for this, for DACA back in 2011, 2012. So I've been in the movement for 10 years. So in my case, I live in a mixed status family, have other family members who are DACA recipients. So I know that whatever happens today in the Supreme

Court is going to determine our future in the coming months. Yeah, it's tough. So a lot of activists and DACA recipients are in D.C. for the Supreme Court arguments. Have you been keeping in touch with them? And are they sort of hopeful the court is going to uphold the Obama policy for DACA? So, yeah, I'm in contact with hundreds of them, actually, who have been traveling to Washington, D.C. Actually, there's like a group of individuals who marched from New York City all the way to Washington, D.C. to raise awareness on this issue. And across the board, I would say that the feelings, they're really mixed.

There's a lot of people who have been involved in the fight for a very long time. So, you know, some of them, they feel exhausted and, you know, tired that this is, that this has been happening for quite a long time. And then there's like newer people who have come into the movement and they're, you know, they're really energetic. And that's really incredible too, because that also shows the future of the movement, the future of this battle. So I would say it's like a really, you know, it's like a mixed range of emotions. And the people that are going to D.C., the majority of them are DACA recipients and allies and supporters. Yeah. If the Supreme Court does uphold, you know, Donald Trump's proclamation that, you know, DACA is unconstitutional,

can you lay out what the future holds for you and other DACA recipients? Like, what are the stakes here? The stakes are really high. You know, part of the reason why the Trump administration made this announcement in September 5th, 2017, is because they're driven by this white supremacist xenophobic agenda. So the Supreme Court upholding the Trump administration's basically decision and reason to terminate the program would be basically a way for the Supreme Court to say the Trump administration has a right to continue with its white supremacist agenda. So that's the first thing that I think about, what it means to democracy. I think that we are living in an authoritarian system, and people need to wake up and understand that what the Trump administration is doing on a

day-to-day basis, getting away with, you know, crimes and without, you know, being held accountable is a real threat to what we have. So if the Supreme Court upholds that decision by the Trump administration, yes, it's going to potentially lead and very likely lead to the end of the program. And how they determine how to bring it to an end, that's really hard to know. But I can just see, you know, 700,000 people, that's how many people currently have DACA, losing their jobs. And those are people working in many different industries. So the economic impact is going to be, you know, extremely, you know, significant. But I also think about how much of an impact it's going to have in families. Yeah.

How many kids, many of these DACA recipients have, you know, have families, have children. So that's, you know, 700,000, you know, families that can be separated and become, you know, subject to deportation. And then what happens to those children? Absolutely. You know, what we're seeing at the current, you know, at the U.S.-Mexico border where families are being separated, you know, kids are being taken away and being put in foster care. You know, that can be part of what could happen if DACA gets taken away. Things can become, you know, can be can get worse, you know, once that happens, if it happens. Yeah. And it's I mean, I just think about the generational implication, you know, like how do I explain one day to my grandkids that like there were people who were here who were a part of society who were just disappeared by the government?

I mean, it's it's really tough. Well, I don't want to end on such a down note. It is a heavy topic. And so, you know, thanks again for being willing to talk about it. But a lot of our listeners obviously, you know, want DACA to continue. They're on the side of dreamers. And obviously, like the program could be expanded if, you know, our listeners can be helpful? If they're interested in this immigration issue and the current case, you know, how can they be involved and advocate? So there's many different organizations. The ones that come to mind is, you know, Al Otorlado is one of them. Rayces is another one. There's, like, other organizations that are creating a lot of resources and informational, just like graphics that explain more about what DACA, what's at stake. They include NILC, the National Immigrant

Law Center, and also the ILRC, which is the Immigrant Law Resource Center. I hope I got those right. And they're creating a lot of resources, graphics, and just like information in general for people to learn more about what's going on. And they, on a day-to-day basis, tweet information about how to get involved in the community. So the best thing to do is just to, you know, use Google and search for immigrant rights organizations in their local communities because I think that's the best way to get involved locally. That's how we build power. So there's many different ways that people can get involved. That's awesome.

Do you know of any rallies or marches coming up in support of? I would say follow, you know, there's like several hashtags. And the first one that come to mind are, you know, just hashtag DACA, hashtag home is here, hashtag, you know, here to stay. And, you know, if people follow those hashtags, you know, they'll get the info. They'll get the info. You know, here to stay. And, you know, if people follow those hashtags, you know. They'll get the info. They'll get the info. You know, in my part, I haven't looked into any marches here in L.A. because the way that I'm going to sort of, you know, stand on this issue is by just, you know, spending time on my own and just do whatever I like.

Yeah, you should. As you should. Well within your rights. Justino, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us about this. Thank you for having me. That was Justino Mora, an immigration activist and DACA recipient. While the arguments are being heard today, the Supreme Court won't release its decision until next year, sometime between January and June. By the way, if you are a DACA recipient or were in the program at one time, Justino's advice is to renew as soon as possible.

Find out more information on that through the National Immigration Law Center at nilc.org or the Immigration Legal Resource Center at ilrc.org. Okay, so we've got some big retirement news to go over. Do I need a new co-host? No. Peter King, the longest serving Republican in New York's congressional delegation, said on Monday that he plans to retire. He's a 20th GOP House member to say they intend to retire before the 2020 elections next year. So King's official line here is that his decision was mostly motivated by not wanting to do the weekly commute over and over.

This sounds like bullshit. So what's really up, Gideon? I mean, I think it is a combination of not wanting to do that commute over and over. But like if you're in your 14th term in Congress, you can probably hold out for one more. Yeah, I think you got used to it by now. Yeah, if things were not so bad on, you know, the outside of this. I think for King and for most of these Republican members that have been there for a long time, they're looking at a situation right now where they're in the minority. They're not really getting stuff done. They're not really doing much of anything. And they're saddled to a president that is deeply unpopular and against whom there's an impeachment inquiry right now. So it doesn't sound like that appealing of a job.

And for somebody that has been around for as long as he has, it's sort of like, you know, if I was going to pull the ripcord on this, I might as well do it right now. Yeah, for sure. So King is obviously not the only person who's been like, I'm gonna head out before they face reelection next year. It kind of seems like the Trump party's winding down in the House. Is this a canary in the coal mine situation? Like, does this mean more? I mean, it could for sure. You know, I think Republicans look at the situation right now and say, it's already pretty hard to win back the House majority in 2020 after what happened in 2018. And the last time that we sort of got this look before we knew the results was before the 2018 midterms, there were more than two dozen Republicans that retired from the House. And people then were like, oh, like, what are they what are they seeing that

we're not seeing? Yeah. And sometimes, you you know members do have the actual chance to see some actual specifics that like we might not see yet until the races happen yeah like polls polls like private polling fundraisers stuff like that they might go back to their districts and be like oh the guy that i normally talk to who gives me a casserole at the end of the block was kind of mean today you know like little things like that um so in that sense, yeah, I mean, when you have a bunch of people that are, again, deciding to part ways with this before they have to face reelection again, it does seem like a moment where the Republicans in the House are saying, like, you know, we don't have as great of a chance to keep doing this. Yeah. And, you know,

specifically for a lot of the spots where they are leaving, like King's District and others, a lot of them are based around suburbs. And the suburbs have been like the primary place in basically every election we've seen since Trump won in 2016 that have become super, super averse to him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, those are the new battlegrounds. Yeah, for sure. The burbs. Wow. Well, there's one more thing about this story that we definitely have to talk about. So Chuck Schumer, upon learning the news that King would retire, tweeted, Peter King stood head and shoulders above everyone else. He's been principled and never let others push him away from his principles. He's fiercely loved America, Long Island,

and his Irish heritage and left a lasting mark on all three. I will miss him in Congress and value his friendship, which is like all good and fine. If King was actually a moderate. Yeah, for sure. Not which, which he's not.

Yeah. And I mean, the thing here is like, this is a sort of old guard type of response, right? Like Schumer has worked with King on gun control, 9-11 stuff, other sort of New York-based work, Superstorm Sandy. So that's the kind of deferential treatment of old Congress

that just kind of seems weird to us now, I think. It's 2019. Why are we still doing this? Yeah, you know, it's a different attitude and it's a different um thing that's it's not just an age thing it's it's just like a experience thing almost where people are kind of accustomed to this hand shaking niceties and things like that that that you know our political age for better or worse doesn't really have now um but the important thing about king is it's exactly right what you said this is not a person who was like an aberration from Trump you could sort of see the fact like the the fact that you know years ago he had started pushing for more surveillance of uh Muslim communities after

9-11 he's talking about he's saying things like there are too many mosques in this country. He went to Trump and said that he should start a federal Muslim surveillance program, all sort of predicated on this notion that after 9-11, this entire religious community across the globe are an enemy. Yeah. And so in that sense, he's not a person that was a sort of just a Republican because he liked the way that Republicans view taxes. He was a guy who was a precursor to a lot of the modern views of the Republican Party and the things that Trump actually ran and won on. I mean, yeah. And I think you raise a good point because I think a lot of times there's this equivocation between, you know, you should work with people you don't agree with. And like the most important thing is the job. But I think that that misses the point specifically in this case, because, you know, it's really hard to reach across the aisle to someone who doesn't think that you're an equal human being. And, you know, I mean, the examples you gave highlight that. He also said some horrible things about Eric Garner and he was mad at the NFL players protesting. So it's like, you know, he's pretty consistent in that way, at least.

But yeah, I mean, do you think that have you seen that people have been saying sort of like, yeah, no, it's OK to like give this guy a pat on the back and like a gold watch because he's worked for Congress for a long time? No, I think that I think the response has been very confused to Schumer and to others that were sort of seeming to skate over some of this other stuff that really defined King's history just to do the sort of traditional deferential thing, which, you know, I understand that that's the way that people part with individuals that they've worked with for years and years and years. And I understand that that's sort of a weird DC thing that everyone does. But no, I do think that there was a particular kind of

realization of like, this is kind of a strange thing to say. One of the primary examples of it was Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who, you know, is one of the first Muslim women to be elected to Congress, straight up called Peter King an Islamophobe. And in her tweet about it, she said he, quote, held McCarthyite hearings targeting American Muslims. It said, like we talked about before, there are too many mosques in this country. So yeah, I mean, I do think that, you know, there was sort of a gut check really fast, like, hey, is this how we always have to do this? Yeah. And also, like, does Chuck Schumer know he just doesn't have to say anything? Or like, send a text. Right, exactly. We don't all have to see it. Make the, yeah, make the call private. I mean, everyone, the other thing about the whole,

like, you know, reaching across the aisle, handshaking thing like that is like, everybody has to work together. That's what they signed up for yeah you don't need to go out of your way to be like i loved working with this guy yeah exactly no one's asking for that yeah um so in any event king's race is sort of indicative of a lot of the kinds of races that democrats are going to aggressively compete in next year these places that like we've talked, were sort of held by Republicans, but the demographics have changed. The way that people think in those districts has changed to a degree. And for King specifically, he also had this enormous erosion of his vote share. He won by 24 points in 2016 and then just six points in 2018.

So this one will definitely be one to watch next year. Let's wrap up with some headlines with our friend, John Lovett. Headlines. What's up, team? Hello. How's it going? So good. Things are so good. It's news, man. It's the news. It's news, team? Hello. How's it going? So good. Things are so good.

It's news, man. It's the news. It's news, baby. That's it. After resigning from office and going into hiding following what he described as a coup, former Bolivian President Evo Morales has accepted asylum in Mexico. Mexico's foreign minister told reporters that the government will be taking in Morales on account of the, quote, urgent situation which he faces in Bolivia,

where his life and safety are at risk. Morales is vice president and Bolivia's Senate president have also resigned, leaving the country with an unprecedented power vacuum. Rudy Giuliani is doing what everyone does when they've run out of options, starting a podcast. The Trump lawyer, former New York City mayor and current spokesman for divorce was overheard discussing his idea over lunch on Saturday, and his conversation was later confirmed by a spokesperson. Giuliani intends to use the podcast to tell his side of the impeachment story. So, sort of a lonely kind of clown, desperately seeking approval. Sort of a gritty. Are there any movies that are like this currently?

I'm trying to think of one. Someone who kind of puts on a happy face, but deep down is filled with kind of a crippling loneliness, guiding his every decision. Nothing's coming to mind. Even to his detriment. Wow. Not very good on stairs.

Someone like that. Yeah. Anyway, the point is, key point, do not contribute to rudy giuliani's patreon please thank you yeah all right well tightly wound kentucky governor matt bevin still hasn't conceded the race to governor-elect andy beshear but that's okay because senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is doing it for him while Bevin is still calling for a re-canvas and citing unspecified irregularities, McConnell said, quote, I'm sorry Matt came up short, but he had a good four years. I don't know if anyone else agrees with that.

But he did seem to encourage Matt Bevin to move on. Easier said than done for Bevin, who has probably been yelling, I wish I knew how to quit you at his governor's mansion for the past week. I just like the idea that McConnell's like, sorry, Matt, you had a good four years. You primary me. Go fuck yourself. Get the fuck out of here. There's only there's only one thing I care more about Republican power, and it is fucking

the people that try to take power away from me. Do we curse on this show? Yeah. Not enough. There's an E for explicit next to it. Nice. T-Mobile CEO John Ledger is in talks to take over leadership of WeWork where he would replace fellow long-haired CEO Adam Neumann.

Ledger is one of the country's most visible executives, known for his in-your-face approach and his signature look, flowing locks, leather jacket, and T-Mobile pink, everything else. My man looks like if Lisa Frank created Sons of Anarchy. But he has proven results, having turned around T-Mobile's business and initiating their pending takeover of Sprint. What the?

Lisa Frank created Sons of Anarchy? I have no idea what that means. I just want, if you're listening to this, I want you to know that I don't know either. Do you have a reference point for either of them no i mean i know sons of anarchy was a motorcycle show remains a motorcycle show that's it employees at hearst magazines announced that they will be forming a union with the writers guild of america east citizen kane would be furious what a what an up to date

reference for all of you listening Citizen Kane being a character loosely based on William Randolph Hearst the founder of the company that led to Hearst Magazine so that's to kind of complete the loop for that it's a brand

that has heavy hitters like Cosmo and Good Housekeeping. Good Housekeeping, Bats Cleanup, getting in. Yeah, that's what I've been told. It will be the largest

editorial union in the media industry. Wow. Solidarity against all herbs, including Citizen Kane. The original herb. And those are the headlines. Oh. game or tag on Xbox Live and tell your friends to listen. By the way, if you're into reading and not just one-star reviews of

The Seven Wonders of the World like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash newsletters. I'm Akilah Hughes. I'm Gideon Resnick. And that's why we love Lisa Frank. What A Day is a product of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis.

Sonia Tun is our assistant producer. Our head writer is John Milstein, and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.