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- [00:00]
Deirdre Schiefling
This government, this Trump administration has decided that it's going to have ICE enforcement happen anywhere. That includes hospitals, that includes schools, that includes churches and other places of worship. These are areas that have historically been kind of off limits for ICE enforcement. You know, people should be able. Kids should be able to go to school without being terrorized by their own government.
- [00:25]
Lee McGowan
Yeah. Hello and welcome to the Politics Girl Podcast. I'm your host, Lee McGowan. Let's get into it. Well, it's been a perfectly awful week if you believe in democracy, the rule of law, international order and basic human decency. Last Wednesday, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. And the government was on TV within an hour, smearing the victim and lying about what happened. It's almost a week later, and despite all the evidence to the contrary, the Trump administration and right wing media continue to justify the murder. But Nicole Goode is not the only person that ICE has shot. In the last four months, immigration officers have fired on at least nine people in five states, including D.C. and all of the individuals targeted were like Renee in their car. And in each case, the officials have claimed they were firing in self defense. But key aspects of the government's accounts keep coming into question. So it's starting to feel to me like there's something bigger going on. That the government is trying to convince us that the truth doesn't matter, that they can call any one of us domestic terrorists and justify our killing. That we shouldn't be protesting, that we shouldn't be getting in their way, that we shouldn't even be filming that even when we do and our recordings prove they are lying, it won't matter. Comply or die. And I think that is unacceptable to most of us who have been raised to use our First Amendment right to protest and speak up. So to talk to us about what our rights are when we do protest, because we absolutely should not stop doing that, no matter what this regime of sociopathic criminals wants us to do. I. I will be having a conversation with Deirdre Schiefling, who is the chief political and advocacy officer at the ACLU after beginning her career as a union organizer at the United Steelworkers of America. Deirdre spent almost a decade at Working Families Party and then at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. And before joining the aclu, she was the advocacy director of the White House Office of Political Strategy and Outreach under the Biden Harris administration. So without further ado, please welcome my guest. Thank you. Chief political and advocacy officer at the aclu, Deirdre Schiefling, welcome. Deirdre.
- [02:34]
Deirdre Schiefling
Thank you so much. I'm really happy to be here with you.
- [02:37]
Lee McGowan
Oh, thank you for coming. I mean, we were originally supposed to talk about what 2025 signaled about this administration's political strategy. And but now 2026, it's already clarified for us which direction we are walking, and it is nowhere good if you believe in the rule of law or constitutional democracy or the safety and security of the American people or this nation or the world. Honestly, we were less than a weekend and we' invaded a sovereign nation, kidnapped its leader, an immigration officer had murdered a woman in broad daylight on video, and the administration made no apologies for it. In fact, if anything, the Trump administration has done nothing but double down on their killing, justifying it, increasing tensions with the public. So watching what we watched over the past week, where does the aclu, which I should tell people, is the American Civil Liberties Union, which is an organization that was created to defend the rights enshrined in the US Constitution. Where do you guys stand on what they're doing to the American public right now?
- [03:37]
Deirdre Schiefling
Well, thank you for that question. I mean, the events of the last week have been horrific, but in some ways really not surprising given the massive escalation that this administration has done in terms of their immigration enforcement with the billions and billions of dollars that Congress has given them to ratchet up this campaign of terrorizing immigrant communities that the President is spearheading. I think the ACLU has really been at the forefront of many of the legal challenges to the kind of lawlessness and violations of rights and liberties that this administration has engaged in since the beginning. Since Inauguration Day almost one year ago on January 20, 2025, this administration has been attacking people's civil rights. And the ACLU has filed 230 and counting legal actions just over the past year, many of those around immigration. You know, what we saw in Minneapolis was horrific and I really think has created a turning point for the country in terms of public awareness of the terrorizing of communities that the administration's doing in the name of immigration enforcement and the kind of country we want to live in. The past weekend was very inspiring to me. Just in over the span of 48 hours, we saw and we were part of helping organize over 1200 protests around the country. You know, people saying ice out for good. And that was the tagline, ice out for good, which is, you know, a demand for ICE out of their communities, but also to honor the woman who was killed, whose last name is Good. And that kind of Outpouring of support and protest. You know, we have not seen that yet. This administration, that kind of spontaneous reaction to egregious violations of people's rights and really lives in this case. So that gives me some hope.
- [05:45]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, that does give some hope. I mean, and this obviously isn't just your opinion. I mean, the aclu, if people don't know, has been the sort of top line defender of our constitutional rights since the 1920s. You guys have over a million members, 500 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys, offices across the country. And the ACLU was essentially, it was created to fight government abuse, to defend our individual freedoms. And over the years, the ACLU has stood up for our rights even when the cause was unpopular, like the right for white supremacists to have a fight and, you know, have their speeches. And the ACLU fought on behalf of neo Nazis, right? Because it was like, we are on the side of the Constitution and on the right. So even if the public doesn't agree with the aclu, you on every issue, I think Americans have really come to count on you for your dedication to the principle and the rights we are given in our Constitution. And that being said, though, what do we do if our government no longer respects those rights? I keep telling people that constitutional protections were not meant to protect the government from the people. It was meant to protect the people from the government. And we see right now what's happening when the government's like, ah, we don't care about any of these things in the Bill of Rights, we will make the laws and you guys will fall in line. And we're like, no, we've got the First Amendment, the fourth Amendment, you know, like, we have rights that are being trampled on by our own government right now, which was the reason we created the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the first place.
- [07:08]
Deirdre Schiefling
Yeah, that's 100% right. And this is an extreme stress test for our democracy, for sure. I will say three things. The first is all is not lost in the courts. So at the, at the lower court level, the lawsuits that the ACLU and other organizations have been bringing have been overwhelmingly successful. So judges are still acting to protect people's rights at the lower court level. The Supreme Court is another story. And we've been pretty disappointed in a lot of the decisions coming out of the Supreme Court. But I will say all is not lost. The second thing I'll just say is power does not just reside at the federal level. States and municipalities have power too. And the ACLU has embarked upon an initiative called Firewall for Freedom. And Firewall for Freedom is an effort to work with our state and local elected officials to pass protections for rights and liberties at the state and local level. And we have passed, since we embarked upon this last year, we've passed over 88 laws, executive orders, directives, really protecting people from this kind of federal overreach. The third thing I'll say is the best and most durable protection for our rights, for our democracy, comes in the form of everyday people. The government cannot trample on our rights if we don't let them. And I think the kind of massive protests that we've seen in the streets, the no Kings protests that the ACLU has been part of, along with many other organizations, we've seen millions and millions of people come out on those days of protests. And it just gets bigger every single time. And what we know from other countries experience other countries who have gone through what we are going through right now, which is, I would describe a period of democratic backsliding, which is very dangerous and frightening, but not irreversible. And part the core part, the most important piece of whether or not countries actually recover from a period of democratic backsliding and go back to a full and robust democracy is the engagement of civil society, the engagement of everyday people in fighting for that. And we're really seeing that in our country. And it's just getting bigger. So I have hope that between the courts, between the actions that state and local officials are taking and need to continue to take more of, and our people power in the streets, we have the right ingredients to protect ourselves from this dangerous administration.
- [09:52]
Lee McGowan
Yeah. And I think we should acknowledge that the administration is dangerous because watching what happened in the past week, you know, from the death of Renee Goode to the lies the administration has spread about her and the incident, to the vice president saying that ICE has, quote, full immunity, which of course they do not, to the Director of Homeland Security going on all the Sunday shows yesterday, we're recording on Monday. So she was on the shows yesterday, just outright lying about what happened and no one pushing back on her. Where do the people go from here? Because you're saying, like, we have to continue to come out in force. The courts are not going to completely let us down. Yes, the Supreme Court is a disappointment to us, but there are still ways for us to fight back and we have to do it on en masse all the time. But it's hard because it seems like we are supposed to de escalate, but someone like ICE is allowed to Escalate. It's almost like that is their goal. They are trying to be worse than they could possibly be to instigate us to do something that they actually want us to do to bring the violence they're hoping will bring.
- [10:54]
Deirdre Schiefling
I think you're exactly right. And that is why it is so important for us to remain disciplined and controlled and peaceful. They are hoping to instigate violence that will justify their terrible actions and their overreach. And we can't let them have those. Those opportunities. We've done a lot of work alongside other organizations to train people in know your rights so that when they are encountering ICE or encountering law enforcement or protesting, they are aware of their rights going into that. We've trained over 80,000 people just in this past several months. We've also trained a lot of people in de escal. So what to do in a situation to try to de escalate, you know, keep things calm, keep things peaceful and safe, I think all of that is very important. Our most powerful tool is our vote. And I think this administration, you are seeing an administration that knows that it is historically unpopular. They are flailing around. They are doing all kinds of things to distract from the fact that President Trump has not delivered on the core promises that he made around the economy, around affordability. Right. He hasn't. He hasn't been focused on it. This is an administration that is historically corrupt and quite openly corrupt, and that is. Is extremely unpopular. 38% approval rating. So they know this is a dangerous area for them going into the midterm elections. And they are trying to double down on terrorizing immigrants, trying to divide and conquer with the American people. Double down on, you know, provoking international conflict with other countries. Right. They're doing other. They're flailing around, doing other things to kind of distract from their core failures at home, because they saw what happened in 2025 in the elections, which was a tsunami for Democrats, and they are terrified that that's going to happen in 2026. Now, the ACLU is a nonpartisan organization, so we do not tell people who to vote for. We do not align ourselves with political parties. So I'm saying this as an observation as to, like, why they could be acting this way, but I think our most powerful form of protest is to actually vote for candidates for people who are going to protect our rights.
- [13:20]
Lee McGowan
Yeah. And I think we should remind people that they don't need to wait until November to do that, that we have every single member of the House is up for election this November and one third of the Senate. But primaries for all of those seats start in a couple of weeks. So, like, get yourself involved in a primary, get yourself involved in a local election. We were talking about your firewall to freedom, that is state and local offices that can act as a stopgap, as a guard to our rights that are being taken by the federal government. So people shouldn't think that they have to sit on their hands until November. That's not actually what's going on. But I think that being aware that the government is deliberately instigating, is deliberately trying to create chaos, is deliberately, obviously hiding the Epstein files, is deliberately getting into it with the rest of the world to smoke and mirrors us into not noticing how badly they're doing at their job. And I think that that is a very important thing to note. I think we should also note that it's not an accident that they went after Tim Walls and tried to paint him as, you know, being corrupt and a fraudster. And they're trying to do the same thing now with Gavin Newsom. They're trying to take out all of their major competitors going into 26 and going into 28. And I think people should know that that is because their vote still counts. Your vote still counts. A lot of people are like, oh, well, we'll never vote our way out of this. And you're like, you have to remember that this, this group of people was only elected by one third of the voting public. Two thirds of the voting public did not actually choose this leader. And even one third, there's a number of them waking up right now because I think that they're justifiably scared. I mean, I think that makes sense. I think what we're watching makes sense. 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- [18:07]
Deirdre Schiefling
Yes, that is 100% correct. We see that in polling. We see that even around immigration, which was historically the Trump administration's strongest issue. People feeling like they want action to regulate the border, they want action on immigration. The public has now turned against the Trump administration on this issue because they are horrified by what they're watching, how they see people being treated. So I think that's exactly right. I think the other thing I would bring in is the need to proactively protect fair and free elections going into this cycle. So we have seen a lot of attempts by this administration to rig the system. We saw that with mid cycle gerrymandering efforts. Right. The Trump administration openly bullying states into changing their maps in the middle of the cycle at a scale pretty unheard of, in order to find more Republican seats. This, again, is extremely unpopular. It's unpopular across partisanship. Republicans don't like it. Independents don't like it. Democrats don't like it. No one wants to feel like their election is rigged. Their voice does not matter. And so this is another attempt to try to subvert the system and lock in power against the wishes of the American public. And I think it's an attempt that we need to continue to fight. We have been fighting it and we need to continue to fight it all the way through next year to make sure that the midterms are fair and free, that everybody's vote is counted and the rightful winner of those elections is seated. So as we are thinking about our work for this next coming year, we're thinking about election safeguarding as a core piece of what we need to be involved in. And I would encourage your listeners to also be involved in election safeguarding all the way through January, all the way through the person actually being seated.
- [20:05]
Lee McGowan
Yeah. And I will remind people that if you missed last week's podcast, we had Mark Elias on last week talking about safeguarding our elections and what we're going to do and how we're going to make sure that we still have free and fair elections, because it's not that we're not going to have elections. The question is how legitimate will they be and will the people who win actually be seated? And that's what you're speaking about now. And I Think we should also be really clear that we shouldn't fall for the gaslighting that we're getting at the highest level of government right now. You know, I noticed that Kristi Noem was using the very specific language to describe Renee Goode after she was shot. So less than an hour after the incident, she was calling her a domestic terrorist. And I think that that was very deliberate language that we should make sure people don't fall into using. Because if everyone is a domestic terrorist, then no one is a domestic terrorist. I think we should also remind people that on December 4, Pam Bondi, who is the chief legal officer of the country and the woman who is currently breaking the law by refusing to release the Epstein files, she issued a presidential memorandum called NSPM 7, which the main message that, sadly, most people missed was that federal law enforcement would be targeting individuals, organizations, and the people who fund. Anyone that Trump's Department of Justice believes is a, quote, domestic terrorist. And they define domestic terrorists incredibly broadly because it includes anyone that they see as getting in the way. It is anyone who's filming ICE officers, anyone who doxes a police officer, anyone who is in the way of what they think is their legal right to do, if it's anyone that is aligned with antifa. So anyone who is publicly against fascism, anyone who has extremely extreme viewpoints on immigration or radical gender ideology or anti American sentiment, which is defined to include anti capitalism, anti Christianity, anti traditional values. So I think it wasn't a mistake that they originally referred to Renee Goode as a domestic terrorist because she was, quote, in the way of ICE organizations, which she was just pulling out of her flipping driveway. But I think that we need to not fall into the gaslighting that we're being given. And we need to know that they are trying to make it easier to strip all of us of our rights. And I think we need to be really careful of that. I mean, the President ran on having nothing to do with Project 2025, but a huge part of Project 2025, which we are seeing them go through step by step, is about limiting Americans personal freedoms and deciding which Trump bureaucrats decide how we live when we live. And that's part of what ACLU has always fought for. I know that when it comes to this, what is it? NS PM7. You guys. Yeah, you guys put out an article back in October, knowing that this was coming down, and you basically said at the ACLU that the bottom line in cutting through the noise of this reprehensible and irresponsible political rhetoric and action is that no president can rewrite the Constitutions and the safeguards we have under it. These safeguards most emphatically include our First Amendment protected freedoms of beliefs, speech association, our Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, our fifth Amendment right to due process, and our right to equal protection under the law of this country. And then you go on to talk about the 14th amendment, which they are of course trying to strip from us as well. But I think that anyone that's paying attention, especially in the legal world, knows that what they're telling us they're going to do is not actually legal. And that's where the courts come back into play.
- [23:29]
Deirdre Schiefling
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly right. And I think it's a great public service that you just did that explainer. And I think just, it's a good reminder that just because the President and his administration assert something does not make it true and does not make it legal. And they have tried to assert many things which are not true and not legal. And this is one of them. And it's really an attempt to bully people into silence and to create fear and to, you know, try to silence their opposition. That's all it is. And so I think, you know, like realizing that knowing we still have the First Amendment, we have freedom of speech, we have freedom to express ourselves openly, lawfully, and no president. No president can take that away.
- [24:20]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's one of the reasons you guys are doing this firewall for freedom thing, right? It's about what can other levels of government do to step up and help us and how do we, as the voter, encourage our state and local governments to do that? Can you tell me a little bit more about that, what you guys are doing with that project?
- [24:37]
Deirdre Schiefling
Yeah, yeah, I'd love to. So much of what the federal government is trying to do to violate people's rights, they need help from the state and local levels to do this. One example is immigration enforcement. Immigration enforcement. The federal government wants to work with state and local law enforcement in a cooperative way to get information, to share data, and to get access to different facilities around states to do their ICE enforcement. Those that kind of cooperation is not mandated by law. That's an option. So, you know, for instance, the state of Delaware recently passed a law saying we are not going to participate in 287g agreements anywhere in our state. We are refusing. There are a number of states who have taken those actions.
- [25:33]
Lee McGowan
And a two 87G would be like giving up immigrants personal information to the federal Government.
- [25:39]
Deirdre Schiefling
That's right. That's right. Making it easy. You know, for instance, it allows people to access any kind of records that a local law enforcement or local government agencies might have that could indicate somebody's immigration status. Another example would be this, you know, sensitive areas, enforcement, prohibition. So this government, this Trump administration has decided that it's going to have ICE enforcement happen anywhere that includes hospitals, that includes schools, that includes churches and other places of worship. These are areas that have historically been kind of off limits for ICE enforcement. You know, people should be able, kids should be able to go to school without being terrorized by their own government.
- [26:26]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, that would be great.
- [26:28]
Deirdre Schiefling
Exactly. So their lack of respect for kind of this kind of basic humanity, basic, you know, reasonable limits to ICE and enforcement has been part of what has really turned the country against this administration and their violations of rights. You know, parents organizing with their PTAs to protect all kids, to protect, to do watches during school drop off, to do, you know. Right. You know, I myself have been part of this with my children's school, local school, to like keep an eye out as schools are having back to school night or other, you know, basic community functions to protect people from that kind of terrorizing. So I think those are some of the ways that they can protect people's rights. Other examples would be Massachusetts recently passed an enhanced shield law to protect people who come to Massachusetts to access reproductive health care, like abortion, to, you know, from prosecution from red states. So we have these examples of this extreme old overreach of some Republican controlled states trying to prosecute their own, their own residents from going into other states to access reproductive health care or prosecute those reproductive health care providers. So shield laws saying, no, you're not going to, we're not giving you those records. If people want to come here and access reproductive health care, they can do so. And we're not going to violate their privacy by giving their health care records to another state. And we're going to protect reproductive health care providers in our state. It's insane that we need to pass protections like this, but this is the world that we're in right now. So those are some quick examples of some of the things that we've worked on this past year.
- [28:12]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, I mean, the stakes are incredibly high. Like we have families being ripped apart. We have children being taken out of their schools. We have citizens being rounded up as part of immigration, even though they're from here. We have, you know, criminalized reproductive health care. We have criminalizing gender affirming health, health Care, you know, and so I think the ACLU is basically saying let us help these state and local agencies to refuse to voluntarily cooperate with anything that would violate our civil rights.
- [28:41]
Deirdre Schiefling
That's right. That's exactly right. We are not saying break the law. So we are not saying refuse. If it's legally mandated that you cooperate, then okay, cooperate, but you don't need to volunteer anything extra. And in fact, it's good to pass as many and as strong protections for your residents rights and liberties as you can. Now is the time.
- [29:04]
Lee McGowan
Yeah. And it comes down to knowing our rights. You know, like the states need to know their rights as well as the citizens need to know their rights. I mean, what else can we do? You were talking about the ACLU does these know your rights training and de escalation training. What do you teach in those things and how can people join if you're having meetings that teach people how to de escalate a situation or what their rights are if somebody comes up to them and tells them to get out of their car? Deleteme makes it easy, quick and safe to remove your personal data online. At a time when surveillance and data breaches are common enough to make everyone vulnerable, sadly, it is easier than ever to find people's personal information online. More nefarious actors are seeking out our addresses and our phone numbers and our family members information. And when they get a hold of it, they can have major consequences in the real world. With Deleteme, you can protect your personal privacy or the privacy of your business, so you are less likely to be exploited. I am someone who is very active online and I have to tell you, we have used Deleteme for a while now. There's a reason New York Times Wirecutter has named Deleteme their top pick for data removal services. Sadly, data brokers who steal and sell our information are just an unfortunate side effect of modern online life. So take control of your data and keep your private life private by signing up for Deleteme now at a special discount for our Link listeners. Get 20% off your Delete Me plan when you join DeleteMe.com PoliticsGirl and use the promo code politicsgirl at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com PoliticsGirl and enter the code Politics Girl at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com PoliticsGirl code PoliticsGirl. Do you want to start the new year with a refreshed wardrobe? Maybe you got some things for the holidays, but now you're thinking oh, now that I have that, I actually need this. Well, Quint has you covered. From soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters that feel like designer pieces without the markup to 100% silk tops and skirts for easy dressing up to everyday denim. Their wardrobe essentials are crafted to last season through season. I spent the holiday season in their maxi burgundy silk skirt and matching cashmere sweater. I cannot recommend that combo enough. Buy it. It is so easy to put together. Maybe you're going into January thinking you need a new coat. I would check out Quince's Italian wool coats. Beautifully tailored, soft to the touch and built for years, not just one season. Fashion influencers are currently raving about Quince's oversized leather jackets. It gives you that super cool girl look without breaking the bank. You will see the quality in the stitching, in the fit of the fabrics. And everything from Quince is made from premium materials in ethical trusted factories and priced far below what other luxury brands charge. So refresh your wardrobe with Quince. Don't wait. Go to quince.com politicsgirl for free shipping on your order and 365 days of returns. And for my Canadian friends and family, it is now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N c-e.com politicsgirl to get free shipping and 365 days of returns. Quince politicsgirl what do you teach in those things and how can people join if you're having meetings that teach people how to de escalate a situation or what their rights are if somebody comes up to them and tells them to get out of their car?
- [32:14]
Deirdre Schiefling
Great question. The first thing I would suggest is joining our People Power program. So People power is the ACLU's Volunteer Engagement Program. We have millions of people who are part of it and that People Power program will help train you in how to get involved. So everything from how to a phone bank to let folks know if a protest is happening or a phone bank people to let them know about election day and kind of what their rights are around election day to texting or calling their elected officials to ask them to vote on protections either at their state level or their federal level, or getting trained on Know youw Rights. And part of what we're doing with Know youw Rights is passing out Know your Rights cards. That kind of list out. You know, if you encounter ICE or if you encounter law enforcement during a protest, here are your basic rights in that situation. And it's a little card that people can keep with them so that you know they get into the situation, they don't feel flustered, they remember that they have it. It's also a card that you can pass out to others so that you know, you encounter an ICE enforcement action happening on a street corner or at a protest and you have the tools that you need to share that know your rights information with all the people around you. So those are some key ways that people can really get involved. The last thing I'll just mention is really being trained to be part of our election safeguarding program. So that is going to be a huge volunteer effort in key states across the country, the states that are going to be most likely to be the sites of voter suppression to make sure that people understand what their rights are for voting and that we have people who are really skilled at monitoring and making sure that everything is happening the way it should happen and that if it doesn't, we are ready to raise the alarm right away and make sure that that situation is dealt with. So that's going to be really a huge team effort across the country.
- [34:20]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, that seems like a really efficient one because you were saying the best and most durable protectors come from the people. Like you're gonna help us, you're going to help organize us, you're going to give us the tools, but it has to be not okay on our watch and our needs to be a lot of people. And so I think that's the most important thing because you know, I look at some of these videos now, these, you know, super cuts of ICE agents out in the world and I'm like, can these people even be de escalated at this point? I mean they are running full force and double hand pushing teenage boys, you know what I mean? They are throwing people on the ground and smashing their face into the pavement. I watched a guy just knee a guy in the face over and over again. And the person that was filming was like, you can't do that. Then they bum rushed that guy, you know, and arrested him. And I was like, this seems like chaos, right? Like, and then you get the head of DHS or the president himself saying, yep, there's nothing you can do, like just comply. And I'm like, comply or die is not really our motto here in the country, you know, and so I think it's understandable that people are like, what do we do? And it's like you actually keep coming out, you keep contacting your members of Congress, you keep going to all the elections, local, state, federal, right? You, these guys are going to continue breaking the law because I think they're kind of hoping to provoke us into the violence that will allow them to declare martial law, which I think they're personally chomping at the bit to do. And we cannot give them that excuse. Right. We have to kind of do the things that we can do. And a lot of that is literally keep calling Congress. They are annoying and they don't listen to us all the time, but literally they are the ones that fund ice. Their.
- [35:53]
Deirdre Schiefling
That's right.
- [35:53]
Lee McGowan
Their budget, their extraordinary budget is because Congress signed off on it. Democrats and Republicans. Right. This is an election year. We have to tell them, like, we do not want to continue to fund ICE like this. We do not want to continue to give them an unlimited budget to beat us up in our own streets. Like, we are witnessing this. This is bad. And we don't want it. And we have to be calling them every day to do that. I think that is something we can actually do. What else do you think we should be doing?
- [36:18]
Deirdre Schiefling
Yeah, I agree. I think we should call Congress and make them feel accountable and feel like people are watching them and asking them to be the kind of check and balance and presidential power that they are supposed to be. I think we need to get involved with the ACLU or other organizations in your state, locally, or in your city and find out what campaigns are happening right now to protect rights and liberties locally, because there's a campaign in every state. And so just finding out what it is and getting involved in helping push it forward and then finally getting ready for elections and really getting ready to educate your neighbors and your friends about people's records. So the ACLU will also be part of that. We, we will be doing voter education so that people understand who they're voting for and what their records are, what their positions are. We will not tell you who to vote for, but we will certainly make sure that you are educated on the background and the record of the people that you have the opportunity to vote for, get out the vote, and then enforce the vote. We have to not just point out the vote. We have to enforce the vote. And getting ready to do that to make sure we have fair and free elections.
- [37:28]
Lee McGowan
Yeah. And I think it isn't partisan. I think what you're saying is, isn't partisan. Like, at the end of the day, you don't need to be panicking alone. You need to be joining groups that can help you organize together. Like Congress created ICE in 2003. They can defund them and. And uncreate them. I mean, in many ways, Congress created the DHS after 9, 11. You know what I mean? Maybe that's not working as well. And we should discuss that. Like, we should remind people that if you're just talking to your friends and family, it's not anti Trump administration to say, look, ICE currently has a budget larger than all federal law enforcement agencies combined. And that's including the FBI and DEA and the federal marshals and the Bureau of Prisons. That's nuts. Like, that's not partisan for me to say that budget is too big. Right. We are paying our tax dollars to put fully armed, unhinged men on the streets after 45 days of training. We know these guys are not properly vetted. We know they are failing background checks and still getting hired. We know they are failing drug tests and still getting hired. This is not about Republican versus Democrat. This is like, what makes it safe for us to be on our streets. Whether we're an American citizen like Renee Good or we're an immigrant who's going to their immigration court to have their actual hearing. This is not how we need to be doing it. And it doesn't matter if we're partizan, because, I mean, I just watched and we have to keep filming these guys. I will say that again. Don't stop filming these guys. They want you to, but don't. Because we see what happened with Renee Good and the story they tried to spin is impossible when we have nine different videos that show the actual opposite. But I just watched someone film a DHS ICE officer going into a porta potty with a woman who was completely bound. And you're like, why is he getting in that porta potty with her? Like, I'm pretty sure that person that filmed that just filmed a sexual assault and the other officers just sitting in the car waiting for them. Like, this is what's happening. And we do need to capture it on video because it will convince our friends and neighbors, like, this isn't what we want. It has nothing to do with politics. It's about how we want to live our lives.
- [39:28]
Deirdre Schiefling
Yeah, I think that's exactly right. It's about what kind of country do we want to live in? What does it mean to be American? What does it mean to be part of this country? And I think the silver lining that gives me hope in this moment, because this is a very hard moment that we are living through as a country, is that I think this has given us the impetus that we need to make the kind of changes that we need to our democracy. You know, you're right. We should not have an ICE budget that is this obscenely big. We should not have these kind of rules that allow executive authority to run amok this way. Like, our checks and balances have really broken down. Many parts of our democracy need to be reformed. And I think this next stage that will come after the elections, after we have elected people who respect rights and liberties, who are ready to be in a true democracy, is going to be really important. This rebuilding of a much, much stronger and more representative democracy that respects the Voting Rights act, that respects fair districts. Right. Representative districts, not gerrymandered, and on and on. That has some good parameters around judges, around executive authority. Like, this is a chance for us to really remake the kind of democracy that we want to see because it has broken down so much in this moment.
- [40:58]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, in many ways it was already broken and now we can just all see it. And I think that that is important. We can either say, okay, well, it continues to devolve until there's about seven people that run the whole country and the rest of us are, you know, destroyed under their boot, or we, we fight back in this moment, we get to our election, we hold people accountable, we turn the tide, and then we create something better. And I think that's what people should be looking toward. I want to thank you so much for joining us today, Deirdre, and thank you to the ACLU for all the work you're doing. Before you go, is there anything that you would like people to do or any words of wisdom your organization has after 100 years of protecting American constitutional rights? I mean, yeah.
- [41:42]
Deirdre Schiefling
I know.
- [41:42]
Lee McGowan
I am very proud of being the aclu.
- [41:46]
Deirdre Schiefling
I would just say, like, we have been through moments like this in the past, so this is not the first time we have been through a democratic backslide in our country. And we are going to turn this around and we going to get out of this. And so I think get involved. All the things that you just said, all the different ways that you can get involved, are so important. We cannot allow a handful of people to take our democracy away. We will not. Not on our watch. And so join us. Get involved with ACLU People Power. Get involved with other organizations in your area and help us build the democracy that we deserve.
- [42:22]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, help us build the democracy we actually deserve. And tell people how they can find the ACLU online.
- [42:27]
Deirdre Schiefling
So aclu.org, just google aclu.org and you will find our website and then on there, there will be an invitation to Join People Power. That's our volunteer program. Join People Power. We will train you, we will deploy you, we will put you to work. Join us.
- [42:43]
Lee McGowan
Yeah, absolutely. Join them and definitely be trained to be part of that election safeguard thing because there's, this is the election that we really need to protect ourselves and we need every single one of us out there to make sure that our votes are counted and heard and our people are seated. Absolutely. Thank you so much, Deirdre.
- [42:58]
Deirdre Schiefling
Thank you.
- [43:00]
Lee McGowan
So that was Deirdre Schiefeling reminding us. What's happening right now is horrifying but not surprising. That we are living through an extreme stress test for democracy. But all is not lost. That the best and most durable protectors of our rights are, are actually our people. Yes, we are definitely in a period of democratic backsliding and that is scary and dangerous, but it is not irreversible, especially if we all work together. We need to keep coming out, keep talking to our friends and family, keep pushing our democracy forward and upholding our own rights. That at the end of the day this isn't a partisan issue. It's about what it means to live in this country and be an American and what we're seeing, ain't it? I want to thank Deirdre for joining us today and you for caring enough about democracy to be here. Now go to the ACLU website and join their people Power program. Join with others to say this is not okay and it will not continue on our watch. We can do something and it starts now. Until next week. PG out. Before you go, I don't know if you've noticed but left wing creators and progressive people like me who share the truth and facts are getting drowned out by right wing propaganda and lies. The mainstream media is barely hanging on and it is becoming harder and harder to find anything that isn't billionaire backed propaganda at this point. I was fighting for my life on CNN this week for the truth. So if you respect what I am trying to do here, if you learn something from my podcasts or my rants, if you would like to get this podcast ad free delivered directly to your inbox along with my rants, then please consider becoming a member of Politics Girl Premium by going to politicsgirl.com and signing up. If you are already a premium member of this podcast, thank you for your support and if you're not a member, please consider being a patron of my work. If you want real knowledge in a world of lies, it is essential to support those of us out here still trying to bring them to you. There's a link to sign up in the bio of this episode, but also@politicsgirl.com and as always, please like and share this podcast so we can grow our audience, because the more people who have access to this kind of information, the better. As always, thank you for your time and support. The Politics Girl podcast is written and performed by me, Leigh McGowan, and produced and edited by Happy Warrior Entertainment. All rights reserved.