← The Rachel Maddow Show
The Rachel Maddow Show
Americans thwart Trump's immigrant prisons plan by making it too hard
00:42:34
The Trump administration "would prefer to do things that are easy," Rachel Maddow points out. And so, by making the implementation of a nationwide immigrant prison system not at all easy, and, in fact, quite hard, Americans pushing back against Trump's plan are winning, and Trump's prisons are not opening.
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- [00:00]
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- [00:15]
Rachel Maddow
Subscribe to Ms. Now Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, ad free listening and bonus content to all of Ms. Now's original podcasts including the chart topping series the Best People with Nicole Wallace, why Is this Happening? Main justice and more. Plus new episod of all your favorite Ms. Now shows ad free and ad free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series including Rachel Maddow Presents Burn Order. Subscribe to Ms. Now Premium on Apple Podcasts.
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Very happy to have you here. One quick thing to tell you before we get started tonight. Just a little business thing. Next Tuesday, a week from tomorrow, I'm going to be doing a thing at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. And I just found out there are still some tickets left. Not a ton, but there are some. It's going to be Stephen J. Ross. He's a professor at usc. If you listen to my podcast Ultra, you remember Stephen J. Ross as one of the people who had a kind of starring role in that podcast. That's thanks to his incredible book Hitler in Los Angeles, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Well, now Steve Ross has a new book out that is even better than that one was. It is called the Secret War Against Hate. It's about basically this incredibly sort of brave and intrepid story about fighting the Klan and fighting neo Nazi groups in the United States in the immediate aftermath of World War II. So if you know anything about me, you know this is right up my alley. It's a fantastic book. Anyway, that's it. It's going to be me and Stephen J. Ross next week. Tuesday night, May 5th at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. I am told a handful of tickets are still available, so if you would like to come. Hopefully I'll see you there. All right, done. Okay. This was Romulus, Michigan this weekend out near the Detroit airport. Hundreds of people met up at the local middle school and then they marched a mile and a half to a warehouse facility where the Trump administration is trying to put in a Trump prison camp to hold thousands of people without trial. Local residents of Romulus, Michigan turned out for that protest. Lots of local officials did too, and state officials. The Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Michigan was there. Democratic Congressman Sri Thanadar was there. Some local State reps were there too, Dylan wagella and Donovan McKinney. People were marching and protesting there against the Trump administration's plan to put one of these warehouse prison camps out by the Detroit Airport in Romulus, Michigan. The Democratic led state government in Michigan has filed a lawsuit in federal court to try to stop that facility as well as, in addition to that, Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has also now filed federal legislation that would block the Trump administration from trying to convert warehouses into prison facilities anywhere in the country. She's already got tons of co sponsors for that legislation. I should say, though, in, in addition to that, that lawsuit that has already been filed to stop the Romulus facility, another lawsuit of that type, which was just filed by another Democratic led state, it was just filed in Arizona by Arizona's Democratic Attorney General, Chris Mays. She, with this lawsuit, with a federal lawsuit, is trying to stop the Trump administration from building another one of these Trump prison camps at a warehouse in the town of Surprise, Arizona, which is just outside of Phoenix. When Chris Mays filed that lawsuit against the Trump administration, the local indivisible chapter there released a statement expressing their, quote, deep gratitude to their state's attorney general for going to court to try to stop what Trump is doing there. And that lawsuit was announced on Friday. The very next day in Surprise, Arizona, on Saturday, hundreds of people turned out to say thank you to the attorney General for filing that lawsuit and just to protest that they will never allow it to be there, that they're gonna fight this thing every way they can. And there were a gazillion of these types of protests all over the country this weekend. And I'm going to show you some of them in part because I recognize that I am part of the national media. So therefore, I am a little self conscious about the fact that the national media has really been sucking its thumb on this story and hasn't much caught onto it yet. The national media has been really behind on this story, but local media have been taking notice of these fights everywhere they are happening. And local media everywhere this weekend took notice of these protests that happen in more than 180 different locations all over the country. And I'm just telling you right now, you know, file this for future reference someday when this signature sort of landmark turn against the Trump administration goes down in American history. When somebody in the future, looking back at this time, finally figures out that this was actually a really dramatic and important thing. When sometime in the future, somebody figures out that Donald Trump, when he got back into the office. When he got back into office, he tried to build himself a huge archipelago of prisons to hold people without trial. And he succeeded in getting Republicans in Congress to give him billions and billions of dollars for it. And his administration really did make all these secret, ominous warehouse purchases all over the country to do this for him. Someday, somewhere, someone in the future is going to marvel at the fact that despite the fact that Trump got back into office after everything about him, despite the fact that he got funding for this thing, despite the fact that they bought these things, somebody in the future is going to marvel at the fact that none of these things ever actually got opened. That Donald Trump did not get his archipelago of prison camps to hold people outside the legal system. And the reason he didn't get it is not because he didn't try hard enough, but because people all over the country stood up and said, no, not here. You cannot do this. We won't let you. You, sir, have a lot of bad ideas. This is the worst one, and we're not going to let you do it in our town. Someday that history will be written about this moment in American history. And when that history is finally written, I can tell you right now, all the footnotes in that history are going to be to like blue sky posts from local activists and sub articles from local activists and archive stories from local newspapers and little straight to the point YouTube clips from the local TV news stations we keep being told have all gone away. But they have been covering this even as the national media has fallen down on the job. And so I'll show you some of what I know. Here's Mount Kisco, New York, this weekend. Protesting this weekend against Trump's ICE prison camps. Out in the cold and the rain on Saturday in Mount Kisco, New York. Here's Anchorage, Alaska, this weekend. Or they had signs naming and shaming their Republican members of Congress who voted to fund ICE's expansion. Here's Colma, California, this weekend with the banner that you see there, Stop ICE Warehouse Detention. Here's Tucson, Arizona, protesting this weekend against Trump's ICE prison camps. They're outside the office of their Republican congressman, Juan Siskamani in Tucson. Here's El Paso, Texas, where the largest existing ICE prison is already up and running. It is not one of these warehouses they want to build. It's a tent facility that they built at Camp East Montana in El Paso. It has a horrific record of prisoners dying and infectious disease outbreaks. El Pasoans this weekend turned out in big numbers. They marched from the gates of Camp East Montana, to the local Homeland Security offices saying no to Trump's ICE prison camps. There were protests against Trump prison camps in Marietta, Georgia this weekend and in Conyers, Georgia and in McHenry, Illinois and in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Communities, not cages. In Portland, Maine. There were protests in Portland, Maine. Trump's federal agents took a 19 year old nursing student and locked her up in one of these ICE prisons. And Portlanders this weekend were out on the street saying, we want her back. There were protests against Trump prison camps this weekend in South Lake, Texas. There was a big protest this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, outside the Governor's Mansion. Salt Lake City is one of the places they are trying to build another one of these huge warehouse Trump prison camps. There was another really big one in San Antonio, Texas. In San Antonio, people rallied in front of the warehouse site itself, including local Catholic clergy and local elected officials. San Antonio has been pulling out all the stops locally to try to stop this thing that Trump's trying to do to them. Local news reports say that, you know, even though it's Texas, so they're not going to get any help from their state government. Local news reports say that city officials in San Antonio are not only passing resolutions trying to stop this thing within their own power, they're also currently taking legal advice on whether they too, as a city can bring the kind of lawsuit that has been brought by the state of New Jersey, by the state of Michigan, by the state of Maryland in Maryland, the lawsuit there again brought by the state. That lawsuit in Maryland has, has made landmark progress already. That lawsuit in Maryland against the prison that Trump wants to stand up in Williamsport, Maryland, just outside Hagerstown, that was supposed to be the first one of these big warehouse prisons to open. But that, that, that, that lawsuit by the state of Maryland and the implacable opposition of the local people of Maryland has already forced a halt to the construction there. That was the first one they wanted open. And the courts say they cannot, they cannot continue construction on getting that turned into a prison today. I can show you this on the road to that site, the road to that facility just outside Hagerstown in Williamsport, Maryland. You see this billboard, Ice Camp planned 5.6 miles ahead off Hopewell Road. Not in our community. Speak out now. That billboard in Maryland put up by indivisible. We're told it may not be the last at these sites where Trump is trying to build these warehouse facilities into prison camps. In Hagerstown, Maryland this weekend, Dominic Gwin, a veteran photojournalist caught some shots of people protesting against the planned Trump prison camp there. They were protesting out in the rain. He noted that it was prom night for a local high school. He said some of the kids steered well clear of the protest when they realized what was going on. But he said some others, even in the rain, even in the cold, even in their tuxes and prom dresses, some of the kids came over and joined in in that protest in Hagerstown this weekend. And over the last few days, we saw a whole bunch of protests in the Northeast, specifically against Citizens bank, which is based in the Northeast. Citizens bank has hundreds of millions of dollars invested in companies that run these immigrant prisons for Trump. In a statement, Citizens bank said in part that it does not comment on specific customer or client partnerships. They said, we, quote, regularly review our partnerships and evaluate clients against applicable laws, regulations, and our internal risk standards. That's how they have tried to sort of deflect attention from this matter, but it has not succeeded. This was the scene at their shareholders meeting in Providence, Rhode island, and all over these past few days, protests at Citizens bank branches asking the bank to drop these investments from, as I said, headquarters in Providence to Northampton, Massachusetts, to Great Neck, New York, to Saratoga, New York, to Wilmington, Delaware, to Plymouth, New Hampshire, to the Bronx in New York City to Queensbury, New York, to Roslindale, Massachusetts, to Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania. All over the Northeast, people over the last few days have been protesting at Citizens bank branches and at their shareholders meeting, protesting against Citizens bank over their involvement with Trump's immigrant prisons. And I'm showing you things, I'm showing you these things you might not be seeing elsewhere, not only because this is the news, this is an important part of the story of how the United States is responding to this presidency, how Americans are spending their weekends these days now that Donald Trump is back in the White House with this agenda that he has. But I'm also showing you these things are happening because I think it's important to get our heads around the fact that these folks are winning in this fight. Trump has not been able to open a single one of these warehouse prison camps, despite setting aside $38 billion to try to do it. They have not yet been able to open a single one of these warehouse prison camps, and I don't know if they ever will. They know the public is against them. Despite what they say. That does matter to them. They've made clear over and over again since the start of this administration, they would prefer to do things that are easy. And right now, this is not easy. The American people all over the country, even in red states, have made this a thing that is hard for them to do, and so they're not getting it done. And this is important not only in terms of thinking about the tactics of the American people saying no to this president, this phenomenally unpopular, radical president, but it's also substantively important in terms of what kind of presidency this is going to be. Because it would be a phenomenally radical new power to give this particular president, right? All these prison facilities to hold thousands, to hold tens of thousands of people who have never been convicted of a crime. That would be an incredibly radical power to give President Donald Trump. And I'm sure that is why the Trump administration would love to do it. But so far, despite their best efforts, it is really not working out for them. And as we will report tonight, just as they are wavering, just as they are really faltering in this effort, just as it seems to be sort of falling apart as local resistance has tripped them up, as lawsuits have stopped them in their tracks, as they are at their weakest point in trying to do this most radical of things. At this moment of profound weakness and vulnerability for the administration, along now comes a brand new effort to give them a mighty shove to stop this thing once and for all. This is a group that is going by the not at all subtle acronym, GTFOICE GTFOICE.org you might think you know what GTFO stands for, but they insist in this case, it's get the Facilities Out. We're going to be talking with some of the folks behind that nationwide effort tonight in just a few minutes. There's some real powerhouse folks that are joining forces in that nationwide effort to try to stop this thing once and for all. Since Saturday night, everybody in the news has been focused, quite understandably, on the scary security breach at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington this weekend in which a man armed with guns and knives got himself and those weapons from his room at the hotel down to the side of the correspondence dinner at the Washington Hilton. After the correspondence dinner was already underway, he sprinted past a security checkpoint headed toward the ballroom itself before he was apprehended after writings attributed to him reportedly include him describing himself as an assassin and criticizing the president and his administration. The man who was apprehended at the Washington Hilton was charged today with attempted assassination of President Trump. And while the administration has confirmed that a Secret Service agent was shot in his bulletproof vest during the incident, he was wounded, we're told, not seriously. It's not clear whether that Secret Service agent was shot by the guy who's just been arrested and charged or whether he might have been hit by friendly fire. But regardless, in that incredibly stressful, incredibly high stakes, incredibly dangerous situation for the US Secret Service, just spare a thought for the additional burden on them at the moment, the additional distraction and nonsense they are having to deal with at the moment, on top of their existentially challenging jobs. Because the United States Secret Service, God bless them, is part of the Department of Homeland Security. And the Department of Homeland Security is a worldwide scale level disaster right now. I mean, it is the Department of Homeland Security where we have the guy who says he was teleported to a Waffle House in Georgia serving as the key official in charge of the government's disaster response to hurricanes, earthquakes and fires. Why not just teleport the hurricanes to somewhere less dangerous? It is in the Department of Homeland Security where part of the reason they can't open these Trump prison camps is because literally, literally, I'm not kidding, in a place like Social Circle, Georgia, where they wanted to put one of these things. They told local officials in writing that local officials didn't have to worry that this huge prison camp for thousands of people would be drawing too much water from the town's water supply. They didn't have to worry about that, they said in writing, because these geniuses plan to use the water at night at, quote, off peak hours. So, hey, problem solved. You said we couldn't use a million gallons a day, so we won't. We'll use a million gallons a night. Ta da. No problem. It is in the Department of Homeland Security where not one, not two, but three local jurisdictions are either bringing criminal prosecutions against Homeland Security agents for their actions, or they are trying to. In Ramsey County, Minnesota, it's for dragging this American citizen out into sub zero temperatures in his underwear. An American citizen in Hennepin County, Minnesota, it's for allegedly pointing a loaded gun at the heads of random drivers from a moving vehicle in Durango, Colorado. It's for grabbing this woman by the hair and throwing her down an embankment. I mean, these are local prosecutors having to bring criminal charges under state law against federal agents for their wilding against American citizens in the streets of American cities. That's the Department of Homeland Security. Right now, it's in the Department of Homeland Security where the former secretary of the department, Kristi Noem, according to the Wall Street Journal, has been refusing to leave the waterfront home reserved for the Coast Guard commandant, which she took over for herself. She's refusing to leave it, reportedly, even though she hasn't been Homeland Security secretary for weeks now since she was fired last month. Quoting from the Wall Street Journal, the current Coast Guard commandant has told associates he plans to move into the house, but he can't because, quote, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has continued using the waterfront house on Joint Base Anacostia Balling, which is typically designated for the commandant of the Coast Guard. She's been using it since she took it over as a cabinet member. But she has continued to use the house even since Trump ousted her from the Homeland Security Department in early March. When the Journal asked the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security for comment, they did not receive a response. But, I mean, that's kind of the tenor at the Homeland Security Department these days under Donald Trump, right? Where the person in charge randomly just takes over a Coast Guard admiral's house, then refuses to give it back even after she gets fired. And now the Coast Guard commandant, whose house it is supposed to be, is trying to find someone, anyone to help here. That's my house. Isn't it supposed to be my it. Doesn't that go with the job? Isn't this. I'm in charge of the Coast Guard. It's in the Department of Homeland Security right now. The department has just had to confirm, confirm formally that a top level counterterrorism official, the deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism, has been put on leave as a result of a reported inspector general investigation. An inspector general investigation that has yielded lurid headlines like this one in the New York Post. Quote, DHS bigwig put on leave after ex boyfriend accuses glitzy terror official of $40,000 sugar baby scheme. Okay. I mean, put aside all the rest of it. I'm just gonna say I think the phrase glitzy terror official is enough. Pretty much all you need to know about the Department of Homeland Security under the leadership of Donald Trump. And listen, the response from the White House thus far to that armed man being tackled at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Thus far, the response from the White House has been to further enthuse about the President's Ballroom project and to say that surely now they ought to be allowed to fire the comedian Jimmy Kimmel. That's the right response to, yeah, it's the world's least serious responses to what was actually a serious security situation. But the agents, the Secret Service agents who actually had to spring into action to contend with this potential catastrophe, who had to physically respond in seconds to this sprinting, armed potential shooter. I mean, they deserve better than to have to do their work within the most catastrophically broken, flagrantly failing part of the government under this president. Americans all over the country are doing their part. They have been doing what they can to stop the worst of what the Homeland Security Department and ICE in particular have been trying to do all around the country. I will tell you, those Americans that have been standing up against dhs, they are on the verge of winning one of the most important of those fights. And we've got much more on that ahead tonight. Stay with us.
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- [23:37]
Rachel Maddow
I'm about to break one of the informal rules that we have on this show. And I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but in general, I only ever put on one guest at a time. I mean, sometimes you got to put on a person and their lawyer. But other than that, I basically only ever talk to a person one on one. In this case, I am breaking that rule. The reason I'm about to bring on two people at once is because what I am most interested in about them is the fact that they are working together. Both of these people I'm about to bring on will be recognizable to you. The first is Michael Wriston. He has been on this show before. He's an Air Force veteran. He's at the helm of Project Saltbox, which is a really data driven, essential reporting based organization that has been really aggressively tracking the effort to open these Trump prison camps all over the country. The second person I'm about to bring on you will also recognize he is Miles Taylor. He was chief of staff at the Homeland Security Department in the first Trump administration before he became one of Donald Trump's sharpest and most outspoken critics. He now runs the Pro democracy organization defiance.org well, now I am intrigued to tell you Mike Wriston and Miles Taylor are working together among a lot of other folks on a new project called get the facilities out. GTFOICE.org it's nationwide. They're calling it a rapid response network to stop ice prison camps before they start. If you go to mattowblog.com, we have a link to what they're describing as their action guide. It basically leads you through what to do when ICE comes to your town. Do you have an ICE enforcement surge in your town? Click here. Do you have a secret warehouse purchase in your town? Click here. Does it look like they're going to be trying to do some sort of voter intimidation in your town on election day? Click here. It's really practical, well designed, well resourced, well thought out, and it is coming at a very auspicious time for this kind of a fight. Joining us now, two guests. I never do this, but here are Mike Riston and Miles Taylor. Gentlemen, I'm really, really appreciative that you were both able to be here. Thank you.
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Miles Taylor
Of course.
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Rachel Maddow
Yeah. Thanks, Rachel.
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Mike, let me start with you. I know that the project is using your Project Saltbox data to track where new ICE prison camps are being planned, where they might be in the process. Tell me about your decision at Project Saltbox to join up with this larger effort. What are you hoping that members of the public will do with the kind of information and data you guys have been able to dig up?
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Yeah. From the beginning, our mission has always been to put data in the hands of every single American citizen that cares about this issue so that they can use that data for good. And it's kind of funny that Miles and I are working together, but we truly believe that this is a bipartisan American issue. This is not a progressive issue. This is not a democratic issue. This is a American issue. And the way that we are going to put an end to these flagrant constitutional and legal violations, you know, as we've seen with the ruling in Williamsport and suits being brought in other jurisdiction is by banding together American and American and using data and every tool at our disposal to organize and push back against this encroachment on our rights, this violation of our fellow citizens safety, and to make sure that we're doing all that we can with the resources that we have to be effective in that fight.
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Miles, you have been a very high profile critic of Donald Trump and therefore one of his targets for years. Tell me about your thinking about focusing on this issue, fighting the Trump prison camps. Why is this important to you and what do you hope to be able to accomplish working together?
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Miles Taylor
Well, first, Rachel, I have to say, no joke, this is partly thanks to you because I had seen your segment with Michael and our team at Defiance was thinking, how can we do more in this space? And so, as Michael knows, after I'd seen coverage of this. I started trying to get into his DMs. I was like, how do I get to this guy? And Michael protects his information well. So I'm trying to hunt him down and say, we wanna work with you. Let's use this data to alert Americans about these facilities. And frankly, Rachel, to crowd cancel them. I mean, I've experienced this before all throughout politics. Usually it's in a bad way when people are getting canceled. This is a good thing to go cancel these facilities. And it's clear in the communities where it's been successful that that crowd cancellation, that outpouring of frustration, is enough to get municipalities and real estate developers and folks to take a beat and say, is this really what we want to sign up for? And on a personal front, Rachel, look, you know this about me. I saw these facilities. I saw them up close. I know what kind of detention capacity DHS needs to actually secure the country, and it ain't this. I mean, what most Americans don't realize is DHS will have more detention capacity if they go through with this plan than the entire federal prison system the size of Salt Lake City, Utah. Imagine the whole city of Salt Lake surrounded and every man, woman and child in federal custody. That's how much detention space DHS will have. And my former department does not need that much detention space to go arrest violent criminal folks who are in this country undocumented. It does not. The math doesn't add up. The math only adds up if you're trying to build a police state.
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Ezra Levin
Wow.
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Rachel Maddow
Michael, you referenced some of the local fights and some of the progress that they have made already in either canceling these projects or slowing them down or halting construction, as with the Williamsport facility, the one near Hagerstown, Maryland. Do you see this effort that you guys are working together on now is essentially trying to nationalize those. The lessons learned from those campaigns. Or is this a qualitatively different type of approach?
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No, this is very much building on effective work that's been proven to work. And really, the mission of our organization right now is to take those lessons learned and put those in the hands of folks that are not activated, that are not currently organized or working in this space. And so if you're an average American that's realizing the extent of these facilities and the ramifications that come from them, and you want more information, but you don't know where to get started, GTFOICE.org is a great place to do that. You can log in, you enter your region you enter a way of contacting you. And as we update our, you know, our ICE warehouse tracker and the data back end for the GTFO ICE website, you'll get notifications, links to guides that'll help walk you through finding a local indivisible chapter or getting involved with standing one up if you happen to live in an area where there isn't one. And so that's taking lessons learned from a number of different municipalities. I mean, we watched in Social Circle as their city council came forward and said, we're turning the water off. We're not letting you have access. That didn't come from nowhere. That came from very vocal residents of Social Circle demanding that their elected leaders take action and do that sort of thing. And, you know, one of my favorite stories, it was briefly on the screen there at the beginning. Attorney General Chris Mays in Arizona brought suit against the Department of Homeland Security just last week on April 24th. And based on the, you know, sort of the outcome of the court cases so far and just the groundswell of resistance that these warehouses have been met with, ICE issued a stop work order to Gardaworld, the construction and wraparound services firm that's responsible for staffing that site, two days before she brought that suit. When her press release went out and said she was bringing that suit forward, ICE went ahead and called it off preemptively. So that's the sort of, you know, organization we want to bring to this fight.
- [31:50]
Miles, let me just ask you, given your previous role at Homeland Security and what you know about that agency, I just ran through earlier in the show, just some of the crazy things that are happening in that department right now in that agency right now, particularly at the higher levels, particularly with the new political appointees there. How do you see this resolving? What is your take on how crazy things are there right now and on this issue in particular, can you imagine a way that this ends where none of these things ever opens?
- [32:23]
Miles Taylor
Yeah, let me take the last part first. I can't imagine it. I mean, if enough people create a nationwide network here to identify these things and act quickly, I really do think it can be stopped. I mean, I had friends in Ashland, Virginia, texting me about the facility that was going to open there. And because they showed up, I mean, it's as simple as a classic protest story because they drove their cars, showed up at the city council meeting and they made some noise, the thing was canceled. So it's not too hard to slow these things down. So I do have confidence that the people can make that possible. And that's why we teamed with Michael to launch this. But the bigger picture on the department, I think it's too soon to tell, Rachel. I mean, we don't really have a sense of what Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen is going to do yet. But I'm not really sure we need to, because I have a sense from having worked on Capitol Hill when he was on Capitol Hill watching his career, he's gonna do what Donald Trump wants. And we've already heard from this administration, even though they've said these detention facilities are under review. We had Tom Holman on TV this week, the President's immigration czar, and he said nothing has changed. The mass deportation campaign will continue talking about the mass deportation campaign. They're gonna find a way to go forward with this. They're gonna try to take a little bit of lipstick and put it on the pig to say, well, we'll consult with some of these communities. But, Rachel, make no mistake, the forces inside the White House want there to be this much capacity. And it effectively makes the Department of Homeland Security the warden of the police state. I mean, I've never seen any perversion of any department as thoroughly as I've seen this at the Department of Homeland Security. Every agency has been politicized in dhs. And I say that as a national security conservative who spent most of my career trying to build dhs, I very much worry about what it's becoming. It's the center of the Orwellian story in this administration. And, and less rhetoric from Mark Wayne Mullen doesn't take away from the reality that DHS is being used as Donald Trump's cudgel against dissenters and the political opposition in this country. That's what we need to worry about. Whether we are Republicans, Democrats, or Independents, that's not okay. That's not a precedent. We want a precedent to set.
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Rachel Maddow
Mike Riston and Miles Taylor, co creators of get the facilities out. GTFOICE.org Gentlemen, as I said, this is an unusual circumstance for me talking to you both at once, but your partnership here is a big part of what is so interesting about this work that you are doing. Please keep me apprised. I'm very interested to see what you guys are able to do together. Thank you.
- [35:02]
Thank you.
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Ezra Levin
Thanks, Rachel.
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Rachel Maddow
All right, much more news ahead here tonight. Stay with us.
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- [35:56]
Rachel Maddow
As President Trump continues implementing his ambitious agenda, follow along with the MSNow newsletter Project 47. You'll get weekly updates sent straight to your inbox with expert analysis on the administration's latest actions and how they're affecting the American people.
- [36:13]
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- [36:14]
Rachel Maddow
President that they are not okay with any of this.
- [36:17]
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- [36:27]
You know, in congressional politics, there aren't that many swing districts anymore, right? Most of the country is so gerrymandered to be guaranteed to one party or the other that you don't have very much competition between the parties for most congressional seats every once in a while. I mean, depending on which way the political winds are blowing, depending on the individual candidate, depending on the state, you might find one. Well, here's a real one. New Jersey's seventh District. That's a legit swing district. It's currently represented by a Republican congressman named Tom Kaine. Looks like Keene, but it's pronounced Kane. Is considered to be a moderate Republican Congressman Tom Kaine holds one of the most vulnerable seats in the entire House House leading into this November's midterm elections. Prognosticators say that seat is a total toss up. Here's the thing. Holding onto that seat might prove to be extra difficult this year for the Republican Party because Congressman Tom Kaine has not been seen in Washington in almost two months. The last time he voted in Congress was March 5th. A spokesperson for Congressman Kaine says that he has been dealing with a, quote, personal medical issue and that the congressman is, quote, going to be totally fine. Now everybody, of course, wishes Congressman Kaine all the best. We absolutely hope he is okay. I'm raising this, though, because this is an important swing seat and the mystery here has been unspooled, has been unspooling in a way that is unusual. And today it took an even more unusual turn. I mean, what we knew before today is that the speaker of The House says that he has has talked to Congressman Cain since his absence. But two of the congressman's congressional colleagues from New Jersey say they tried to contact him both by phone and by text and they got no response at all. Total radio silence. Four more members of the New Jersey congressional delegation say they have no idea where Congressman Kaine has been or why he's not coming to work or what he's contending with or when they expect to see him again. So it's been strange that people haven't been able to reach him at all and that really nobody seems to know what's up at all. But then today, things took a stranger turn to add a little extra mystery to the already a mystery today. The news outlet notice is now reporting that despite total radio silence from the congressman, despite his unexplained and complete absence for weeks now, Congressman Kaine has nevertheless actively been trading stocks since he otherwise disappeared from public life. When those trades, those recent trades since he has been gone from Washington were disclosed to the federal government, the Congress personally certified the disclosure himself via digital signature. His office says the congressman has a, quote, blind structure with his personal investments. But they didn't answer any other questions about why the congressman appeared to be trading stocks during his mysterious disappearance, nor how he could personally certify that they were his. So I will say, on the one hand, this seems like very good news. It seems like whatever is going on with the congressman, at least his digital name signing hand is okay and working. The Congressman did post a statement from his campaign social media account this evening saying that he will be back to work soon. We hope so, but we don't understand any of this. Watch this space. The nonviolent grassroots group Indivisible has been a key part not only of things like this weekend's protests all over the country against the Trump prison camps and the ICE immigrant prisons, but also all of the historic no Kings rallies, including the huge no kings 3 event that took place all over the country last month. These have been some of the largest protests ever in American history, turning out millions of Americans in nonviolent opposition to the Trump administration and its policies. Indivisible has been a key mobilizer and a leader from the very, very beginning, which is why it is notable that the next thing Indivisible plans to be part of is something a little different. Different? Different not just in terms of approach, but in terms of what they are asking of people and in terms of what kind of impact it might have. They're calling it May Day. Strong. And May Day is May 1st. And that's this Friday. This week. They're calling this Friday, May 1st, a nationwide day of economic disruption. And the idea is very simple. No work, no school, no shopping on that one day, Friday, May 1st. Joining us now is Ezra Levin, co founder of Indivisible, which is one of more than 600 hundred groups putting together this day of action. Mr. Levin, it is nice to see you. Thanks very much for being here.
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Ezra Levin
Great to see you, Rachel.
- [41:32]
Rachel Maddow
This is something a little bit different. Tell us the thinking behind this different approach and what you're expecting to see on Friday.
- [41:41]
Ezra Levin
It is a little bit different, Rachel. I think people have grown used to on a Saturday, we have a historic number of people showing up. And I am incredibly proud to be part of the no Kings movement where we have had 5 million, then 7 million, then more than 8 million people after the largest protests in American history. But I would view this as a tactical escalation. It is inspired in no small part by the incredible organizing we saw in the Twin Cities. There was a day of truth and freedom is what they called, if you'll remember, at the end of January where in sub zero temperatures we saw thousands of faith leaders, community leaders, nurses, teachers, just members of that community be linking arms and saying we're not going to treat this as business as usual. The secret police force that this regime is sending around communities and murdering Americans needs to be stopped. And they raise the alarm in an incredible way. Now what we're doing here in a big coalition is like that, but at a national scale where we're asking people to not just show up on a Saturday, but actually flex the economic power that you have to raise the alarm against a billionaire fueled regime that is leaving everybody else behind. And look, I will say, as proud as I am to be part of Indivisible building for this, I got to give a shout out to the Mayday Strong coalition, our union brothers and sisters in the movement who have been leading the charge here. It's up to all of us to do what we can. On Friday, some of us are going to be able to skip school or skip work or refuse to shop. Some of us are going to be joining local protests near us. But it's important that we prepare for what, what's to come. Because I think everybody sees what Donald Trump is doing, promising to engage not just to win the midterm elections, but possibly to sabotage them if they don't go his way. And when that happens, Rachel, it's not
- [43:28]
Rachel Maddow
going to be enough.
- [43:29]
Ezra Levin
To show up on a Saturday even with millions of people, we're going to have to learn to flex our economic strength in that moment. Not just to win the midterms, but to protect the results. Mayday is an opportunity for us to test our strength, learn some things and grow from now until the midterm so we can actually protect free and fair elections.
- [43:48]
Rachel Maddow
A tactical escalation, learning to flex a new kind of muscle, which as you say, is something that can be done on very short notice in an emergency situation. And in addition to a planned event like this Friday, it'll be fascinating to see the impact of this. Ezra Levin, co founder of Indivisible, one of the hundreds of organizations organizing for May Day Strong on Friday. Ezra, thanks for helping us understand what to look for. Thanks again for your time. Good to see you.
- [44:15]
Ezra Levin
Thanks, Rachel.
- [44:17]
Rachel Maddow
All right, we'll be right back. Stay with us. One last thing before you go. I am supposed to remind you about this thing every once in a while, but I keep forgetting and now I'm in trouble for it. So here's my reminder of this thing I'm supposed to tell you I have this free newsletter thing that you can sign up for. It's a free daily newsletter. We send it out by email and basically all it is is you can see what I'm looking at and reading day by day what me and my staff are all discussing and working on in the lead up to every Monday show. Again, it's free. You can sign up with a QR code that we've got there up on the screen or you can just go directly to Ms. Now mattownewsletter and sign up. That's it. Now, hopefully I'm no longer in trouble. That does it for me tonight.
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