Maddow on Trump's unbridled chaos: 'We are having some drama at the moment'

Summary

The Rachel Maddow Show

Episode: "Maddow on Trump's unbridled chaos: 'We are having some drama at the moment'"

Date: March 24, 2026
Host: Rachel Maddow (MS NOW)
Featured Guests: Guest Commentator/Co-host, Ezra Levin (Co-founder, Indivisible), Nate Blouin (Utah State Senator)

---

Episode Overview

In this urgent and jam-packed episode, Rachel Maddow unpacks a series of dramatic and alarming developments stemming from President Trump’s second term. The news is both international and domestic: geopolitical crises involving Denmark, Hungary, Iran; constitutional chaos and economic freefall at home; harrowing personal stories from Trump’s expanded immigration enforcement; and the enormous, evolving protest movement known as "No Kings." Maddow’s tone is exasperated, incisive, and at times incredulous, as she ties together global drama with everyday American consequences. The show also features key interviews with protest organizer Ezra Levin and Utah State Senator Nate Blouin.

---

Major Discussion Themes

1. International Chaos and "Over-The-Top" Geopolitical News (00:41–06:20)

Key Points:

• Denmark’s Defensive Measures against US:
  Denmark deployed troops to Greenland with explosives to defend against a hypothetical US invasion, prompted by President Trump’s renewed ambitions to seize Greenland.

  • Quote: “Denmark, it’s freaking Denmark. They are literally and officially our ally... but they had to send troops out... to protect their territory against us, against the United States.” (Rachel Maddow, 01:30)

• Hungary’s Elections and US/Russian Interference:

  • The Trump administration openly supports Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban ahead of tight elections, coordinating high-level diplomatic visits.
  • New Russian plot reported: Moscow considered staging an assassination attempt on Orban to boost his standing—a "game changer" to sway the election.
  • Quote: “They also apparently were plotting to fake an assassination attempt against Viktor Orban in order to get people to rally behind him.” (Rachel Maddow, 04:18)

• Open Conflict with Iran and War Threats:

  • Trump escalates US-Iran tensions, threatening direct war crimes (bombing civilian power infrastructure) in retaliation for the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
  • Quote: “Trump promised he would commit a capital W, capital C war crime. He said he would bomb Iran’s civilian power plants starting, ‘with the biggest one first.’” (Rachel Maddow, 04:45)
  • Trump claims of new, secret negotiations, disputed by the Iranians, come amid new troop deployments and ongoing market turmoil.
  • Quote: “How well are the talks going, however? Well, Trump says these phantom supposed talks are going. Watch what he does, not what he says.” (Rachel Maddow, 05:47)

2. Domestic Fallout: Consequences of Trump Era Policies (06:23–09:26)

Key Points:

• Economic and Social Unraveling:
  • 2 million Americans have lost health insurance since the start of the year.
  • Zero net job creation reported over the past 6 months.
  • Republican law enforcement (e.g., a MAGA sheriff) seizing election ballots in California by force.
  • Air travel chaos, including fatal collisions and security breakdowns; Trump uses the TSA meltdown as leverage to demand new voting restrictions.
  • ICE agents deployed to airports, unable to perform TSA functions, contributing only to a climate of intimidation.
  • Quote: “So what are they there for other than to creep everyone out and crowd the food court…” (Rachel Maddow, 08:36)

3. Immigration Horror Stories: ICE, Family Separation, and Commercial Airline Complicity (09:31–24:10)

Key Points:

• Nick Benson Tracks ICE Flights:

  • Minnesota "plane spotter" Nick Benson, motivated by local ICE crackdowns, documents secret deportation operations, including the case of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos.
  • Detailed recounting of Liam’s seizure by ICE, rapid transfer to Dilley Detention Center in Texas, and widely publicized release following a national outcry.
  • New investigative report reveals Liam and his father were transported on a regular Delta Airlines passenger flight, not a charter, escorted by unidentified agents—raising alarm about the use of commercial airlines for forced removals, including young children.
  • Quote: “A boy, his dad, his spiderman backpack, a non stop Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to San Antonio on the way to family immigration prison.” (Rachel Maddow, 17:07)
  • Neither Delta nor Homeland Security is forthcoming about the policy.

• Legal and Human Cost:

  • Many families describe similar experiences—being shuffled onto unknown commercial flights with no information, often separated from their loved ones for days without communication.
  • Memorable Moment: A detained mother smuggles a plea for help written on a vomit bag to a flight attendant, who then calls her husband. (21:10)

• Airlines’ Moral and Public Pressure:

  • Maddow highlights past and current pressure campaigns on airlines to cut ties with ICE, recalling that airlines previously rejected participating in family separation transports during the first Trump term.
  • Raises questions about contemporary complicity and public tolerance of Trump’s expanded immigration dragnet.
  • Quote: “Are your customers okay, knowing they could be flying on one of your planes, right, headed to a beach or a wedding... and in the next row, there’s the five year old and his dad that ICE just grabbed from outside their home…” (Rachel Maddow, 24:10)

• Update on Liam’s Family:

  • Liam’s family is appealing their deportation order; his lawyer says he is suffering lasting trauma and now avoids wearing his signature bunny hat due to notoriety. (25:04–25:37)

4. The "No Kings" Protest Movement: National Resistance (25:37–37:09)

Key Points:

• Origins and Growth of No Kings:

  • The movement began on June 14, 2025, with mass turnout shadowing Trump’s attempt at a militarized birthday parade.
  • October’s protest drew an astounding 7 million people (up from 5 million in June).
  • This Saturday’s third "No Kings" protest is predicted to be the largest yet, with over 3,100 gatherings planned nationwide and Minneapolis as the flagship event.

• Promotion and Grassroots Energy:

  • The show airs an Indivisible promotional video with rousing rhetoric:
    • Quote: “Our demonstration of moral strength is in opposition to the tyranny that threatens our very existence as a country... we will not stand down. Not now, not ever.” (No Kings Organizer, 29:35)
    • “What we are doing here today is as American as apple pie. We are standing up for our rights. We are standing up for our neighbors.” (No Kings Organizer, 29:55)

• Mapping the Mobilization:

  • The protest has spread into rural and urban America alike, with even the most remote regions hosting actions.
  • Quote: “There are already more than 3,100 protests planned all over the country. The flagship one will be in Minneapolis, the place that has spent the last four months showing the rest of the country what it looks like to stand up and fight back.” (Guest Commentator, 31:45)
  • Bruce Springsteen is set to perform at the Minneapolis march.

• Interview: Ezra Levin (Indivisible) (32:22–37:08)

  • Explains the dual aims of "No Kings": shattering Trump’s aura of invincibility and building organizing capacity everywhere, including rural conservative areas.
  • Quote: “You don’t look all powerful when you’re facing the largest nonviolent protests in American history in every nook and cranny in the country... The day after no Kings, democracy won’t suddenly be saved—Trump will still be in the White House... so we need to build.” (Ezra Levin, 33:10–33:50)
  • The murder and brutalization of protesters has only swelled the movement’s ranks, not deterred it.
  • Quote: “Two days after Alex Brady was murdered... we saw more than 200,000 people join a no Kings Eyes On Eyes training... If there is a shift, though, that I’ve seen is how the Republicans are responding to no Kings... Do not talk about this because if we don’t talk about it, then there’s no conflict... People won’t find out about it, they won’t show up. That’s a smart strategy on their part.” (Ezra Levin, 35:06–36:24)

5. Corruption, Prison Camps, and Local Pushback (38:29–46:28)

Key Points:

• Homeland Security Corruption Allegations:

  • New Secretary appointed: Mark Wayne Mullen replaces Kristi Noem after her firing.
  • Core allegations: Noem’s advisor, Corey Lewandowski, accused of soliciting kickbacks for DHS contracts.
    • Quote: “NBC News reports that some Homeland Security contractors have told the White House that Corey Lewandowski told them he wanted to be paid in exchange for helping them get Homeland Security contracts.” (Rachel Maddow, 39:08)

• Massive Overpayments for Prison Camps:

  • Administration overpays tens of millions for warehouse sites in Georgia and Utah, converting them into massive detention facilities without due process for migrants.
  • Communities see these facilities as profiteering and “internment camps.”
    • Quote: “Someone is making a whole bunch of money profiteering off the suffering of human lives.” (Nate Blouin quoting himself, 41:44)

• Interview: Nate Blouin, Utah State Senator (41:26–46:24)

  • Blouin voices constituents’ outrage at the rushed, overpriced secret deal for a giant “Trump prison camp” in Salt Lake City.
  • Calls for accountability, pledges congressional oversight and action to abolish ICE and block further privatization/profit in incarceration.
  • Quote: “Utah has a history with internment camps, and we don’t need more of them in our backyard... This is happening in one of the more diverse neighborhoods in Salt Lake City... this is an agency that has lost its social license to operate.” (Nate Blouin, 44:13–46:08)

---

Notable Quotes

• Rachel Maddow: “[W]e are having a moment of sort of unbelievably dramatic news. News that’s like if you were pitching a movie, the people you were pitching it to would say, no, that’s too over the top.” (00:41)
• Rachel Maddow: "Trump promised he would commit a capital W, capital C war crime. He said he would bomb Iran's civilian power plants starting, 'with the biggest one first.'" (04:45)
• Guest Commentator: “There is a very real prospect it is going to crater not only our own economy, but, but the world economy, with Trump having no plan for that whatsoever. To put it lightly, we are having some drama at the moment.” (06:08–06:20)
• Rachel Maddow: "So what are they there for other than to creep everyone out and crowd the food court... while these random bros from ICE who can't actually do anything are being paid their full salaries..." (08:36)
• No Kings Organizer: "What we are doing here today is as American as apple pie. We are standing up for our rights. We are standing up for our neighbors.” (29:55)
• Ezra Levin: “You don’t look all powerful when you’re facing the largest nonviolent protests in American history... The day after no Kings, democracy won’t suddenly be saved—Trump will still be in the White House... so we need to build.” (33:10–33:50)
• Nate Blouin: “Someone is making a whole bunch of money profiteering off the suffering of human lives.” (41:44)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Global drama: Denmark, Greenland, Hungary, Russia – 00:41–04:41
• Iran war, Strait of Hormuz, Trump’s ultimatum – 04:41–06:20
• Economic and social breakdown (healthcare, jobs, airports, elections) – 06:23–09:26
• Minnesota ICE deportations, story of Liam Conejo Ramos, use of airlines for removals – 09:31–24:10
• No Kings protests and Ezra Levin interview – 25:37–37:09
• DHS, corruption, overpaying for detention warehouses, Nate Blouin interview – 38:29–46:28

---

Conclusion

Rachel Maddow’s episode exposes the breathtaking scale and audacity of second-term Trump-era chaos—tying together war threats, democracy in crisis, ICE’s hidden machinery of detention, and the inspiring but embattled American protest movement. Through harrowing, personal testimonies and big-picture, systemic critique, the show both informs and rallies the audience to face historic challenges with moral clarity and determined organizing. The message is clear: the chaos is not an accident, and the resistance is both massive and growing.

Transcript

[The Knot Advertiser]

Planning a wedding shouldn't feel overwhelming. The Knot brings everything together in one place. Vendors who get your vibe, a custom planning checklist, guest list tools, and a free wedding website that syncs with it all. So instead of juggling a dozen apps and spreadsheets, you can actually enjoy getting married. Get [e-mail] audio the Knot let's plan your wedding together.

[Vrbo Advertiser]

With Vrbill's last minute deals, you can save over $50 on your spring getaway. So whether it's a mountain escape city break or a week at the beach, there's still time to get great discounts. Book your next day Now. Average savings $72 select homes only really

[Rachel Maddow]

happy to have you here. We are having a moment of sort of unbelievably dramatic news. News that's like if you were pitching a movie, the people you were pitching it to would say, no, that's too over the top. We can't do that. Denmark reportedly sent soldiers. Just a few weeks ago, they sent soldiers to Greenland armed with explosives and blood supplies. The explosives were to blow up the runways at airports in Greenland, and the blood supplies were in anticipation of combat casualties in a conflict with the United States. That is if the US could find a way to put US Troops on the ground in Greenland without landing on the blown up airfields. Think about that for a second. I mean, Denmark, it's freaking Denmark. They are literally and officially our ally. But they had to send troops out with live ammunition and blood supplies and live explosives. Not for an exercise, not for training, but on a real deployment on which they planned to disable the airfields in Greenland to protect their territory against us, against the United States. You may also recall that Denmark is in NATO. So if Trump actually does try to use military force to take Greenland, we will be at war with all of NATO. But now I guess we know how it would start. Too dramatic? Too far fetched. Oh wait, there's more. Consider Hungary. Right now, the authoritarian leader in Hungary, Viktor Orban, keeps getting visits from top U.S. officials. He just got one from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He's supposed to Host Vice President J.D. vance very soon. Trump did a creepy video endorsement for Viktor Orban this weekend. Our government is doing everything they can to try to sort of fluff Viktor Orban right now to prop him up because Hungary is having elections next month and if Viktor Orban allows those elections to go forward, it really looks like he's going to lose. So our authoritarian government is trying to prop up his authoritarian government with these, these big public shows of support but because the news is the way it is right now, I also have to tell you that Russia is approaching this

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

same task with a bit more style.

[Rachel Maddow]

New reporting from the Washington Post this weekend. To tilt Hungarian election Russians proposed staging assassination attempt in the run up to Hungary's pivotal election in April. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service last month began sounding the alarm over plummeting public support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose friendly ties to Moscow have long given the Kremlin a strategic foothold inside NATO and the European Union. Officers from the SVR Russian military intelligence suggested that drastic action might be necessary to help Orban, a strategy they called the game changer. SVR SVR operatives said the game changer would, quote, fundamentally alter the entire paradigm of the election campaign. And what was the the game changer? The game changer was, quote, the staging of an assassination attempt on Viktor Orban.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Washington Post reporting that to try to

[Rachel Maddow]

help Orban in his election, the Russians have already mounted social media campaigns to boost Orban, much as they did for Donald Trump. They've used fake allegations against Orban's political enemies. They've used fake AI generated videos to spread wild smears against opposition candidates. But they also apparently were plotting to fake and assass assassination attempt against Viktor

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Orban in order to get to get people to rally behind him.

[Rachel Maddow]

Too dramatic? Too over the top? Not believable enough. Oh, but wait. We've also still got the Strait of Hormuz shut down, choked off as a result of the US President Donald Trump inexplicably starting a war with Iran for reasons he has yet to explain and with goals he has yet to credibly

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

articulate this weekend, President Trump announced a

[Rachel Maddow]

no ifs, ands or buts ultimatum that if Iran doesn't open up the shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz by today, by Monday, Trump promised he would commit a capital W, capital C war crime. He said he would bomb Iran's civilian power plants starting, quote, with the biggest one first. That was the ultimatum as of Saturday. He would do that today unless the Strait of Hormuz opened up today, rolled around, and even though it's not even yet taco Tuesday, Trump nevertheless backed down. He announced that he has delayed his planned war crime because there are now new talks he says happening between us and the Iranians. The Iranians say no, there aren't any new talks going on. Suspiciously, Trump won't say who these supposed talks are with, but he says they're definitely going great. And even though he says they're going Great. Now, he's also sending 4,500 sailors and Marines over there.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

And the New York Times has reported reporting that he's considering calling up the 82nd Airborne as well.

[Rachel Maddow]

How well are the talks going, however? Well, Trump says these phantom supposed talks are going. Watch what he does, not what he says. And if you do that in this inexplicable war, it really seems like Donald

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Trump has started something he has absolutely no idea how to finish. And aside from everything else this war

[Rachel Maddow]

is doing, there is a very real

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

prospect it is going to crater not only our own economy, but, but the

[Rachel Maddow]

world economy, with Trump having no plan for that whatsoever. To put it lightly, we are having

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

some drama at the moment.

[Rachel Maddow]

I mean, because of the president and his Republican Party's policies in Washington, 2 million Americans have lost their health insurance just since the beginning of the year. For millions more, health care has become dramatically, dramatically more expensive specifically because of Republican policies. The Federal Reserve just announced that there has been, quote, zero net job creation in the private sector over the past six months. Zero jobs created in six months in the private sector. One Trump, supporting Republican sheriff in California, has just seized the ballots from the last statewide California election in his county. Not because the sheriff's office has anything to do with election administration in Riverside county or anywhere else, but because that sheriff and his deputies have guns and badges and they say they heard something was wrong with the election. So in Riverside county, California, that MAGA sheriff just seized 1,000 boxes of elections material, including more than 650,000 ballots. As American air travel absolutely melts down, not only because the price of jet fuel is skyrocketing thanks to Trump's war of choice in Iran. No, as American air travel today absorbs not only that, but also yet another Trump era fatal collision at yet another airport. This time a Runway collision at LaGuardia in New York, which killed two pilots and sent 41 people to the hospital. As TSA security lines tonight exceed four hours just to get through security at Houston's airport. As Atlanta advises travelers on domestic flights that they're going to need at least four hours lead time at that airport before just domestic flights. Today, in the midst of that meltdown, President Trump told Republicans at a campaign event in Tennessee that he did not want the TSA crisis to be solved. He said he did not want there to be any talks about resolving the TSA crisis and funding TSA agents until Democrats agreed to pass new restrictions on voting rights. He said Republicans had to get this done for Jesus. Okay, Ms. now is reporting tonight that the ICE agents Trump has sent to the airport supposedly to help with the TSA disaster, the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers, the ERO officers that they've sent, they, quote, do not have the ability to check travelers identification or screen passengers. So what are they there for other than to creep everyone out and crowd the food court and, you know, remind the poor, beleaguered TSA agents who actually are trained to do this job that they're not being paid to be at work right now, while these random bros from ICE who can't actually do anything are being paid their full salaries to stand around and creep everyone out and add to how crowded it is in

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

the terminal without actually doing anything to help at all.

[Rachel Maddow]

So the news right now is dramatic.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

You might even call it melodramatic.

[Rachel Maddow]

Everything seems to be just happening on this grand scale. But here's also part of what's going on that is unfolding more quietly without melodrama. It's definitely got moral drama, and it's the kind of story we can only get from people who are watching very, very closely. This story starts with a guy in Minnesota, man named Nick Benson, who would not mind if I described him to you as a plane spotter. He's a plane buff. He's an aviation geek. He studies planes. He looks at flight data. You know, at some airports, there are little places set aside for people to view the takeoffs and landings. Those are for people like Nick Benson in the Minneapolis area where he lives. Whenever he gets the chance, he goes to the Minneapolis airport and he takes photographs of interesting planes coming and going. This is his passion. And like most people who live in and near Minneapolis, Nick Benson has also been horrified by what Trump's federal agents, Trump's ICE agents and Border Patrol agents have done in Minneapolis and their attack on that city. And as part of Nick Benson's contributions to his community's fight against ice, their

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

fight back against this attack by the federal government.

[Rachel Maddow]

And Mr. Benson has been documenting ICE flights out of Minneapolis's airport. He's been doing it ever since ICE

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

surged into Minnesota in December.

[Rachel Maddow]

Along with other local plane spotters, Nick

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

has watched and kept count. He's kept a record. He's documented it as people made their

[Rachel Maddow]

way from the tarmac up the steps

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

into one of these deportation planes over

[Rachel Maddow]

and over and over again. He says many of the people he's seen put on these planes are put

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

on in shackles, both men and women. The long hours that he's put in waiting at the airport, going through flight

[Rachel Maddow]

data mean that Nick Benson has been in almost a unique position, not just to document those disappearances, those flights, but

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

specifically to follow up on a story that absolutely tore people up all across this country. The story of five year old Liam Conejo Ramos. You'll remember the story of Liam Ramos, right? Nick Benson was able to follow that up and uncover something about that story that nobody else in the public has been able to see. When I said the name Liam Ramos, you, you instantly pictured him, right? This is Liam Conejo Ramos standing in his neighborhood blue bunny hat, black and white check coat, Spider man backpack, and one of Trump's federal agents standing behind him with his hands on the backpack on a snowy street in Columbia Heights, Minnesota. This happened while Trump was crowing about

[Rachel Maddow]

how the people being taken by his

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

masked agents are all terrible criminals and monsters, the worst of the worst. And there's little five year old Liam in his bunny hat, in his backpack, the real picture of who they're picking up. The day after school officials took that photo, they announced that Liam and three other local kids from the same school had been grabbed by ICE agents along with their families. And then we learned that within one day of them snatching him off the

[Rachel Maddow]

street, ICE had already taken Liam and

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

his father all the way from Minnesota to Texas. They'd taken them to a notorious prison, the Dilley Detention center just outside San Antonio, a place where they lock up men and women and children, where prisoners have testified to horrific conditions.

[Rachel Maddow]

And if you've followed this story of little five year old Liam, you might remember that we know how Liam and his dad got out of Dilley, right? You remember this. A week after they were taken, Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro visited Liam and his dad at Dilley.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

He sent out this heartbreaking picture of Liam not looking well in his father's arms. There was continuing national uproar over this case, over what had happened to this little kid and his family.

[Rachel Maddow]

And then just days after that visit from the congressman On February 1, the Trump administration decided that they were going

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

to release Liam and his father from Dilley. And the government flew Liam back to Minnesota.

[Rachel Maddow]

And you might have seen the images from that, right?

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Liam getting to visit the cockpit of this Delta flight. He was flying on his flight home to Minnesota.

[Rachel Maddow]

A crew from ABC News was there

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

as the very, very nice pilots who were very kind to him, gave him a lot of attention and let him sit in the pilot's seat and gave him his own little pilot's wing. In the case of little five year old Liam, the public pressure worked in A way instead of being stuck in Dilley for weeks or months or longer, things moved faster for him and his family. Liam was taken off the street in

[Rachel Maddow]

Minneapolis, flown across the country, imprisoned, then freed from the prison and flown back home, all in less than two weeks.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

And went fast because of the national uproar.

[Rachel Maddow]

But back home in Minneapolis, that plane spotter, that activist, Nick Benson, he had this nagging question because in all of his weeks and weeks of watching ICE flights leave the Minneapolis airport, watching the

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

men and women in shackles go up

[Rachel Maddow]

those tarmac stairs, Nick said he'd never

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

once seen a kid boarding one of those flights. He'd never seen a little kid like a 5 year old like Liam. So then how did they do it?

[Rachel Maddow]

How exactly did ICE ship Liam and

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

his dad from Minneapolis to Texas?

[Rachel Maddow]

And so quickly, within 24 hours after

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

they grabbed him off the street, we

[Rachel Maddow]

know they sent this little boy to prison in Texas.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

How did he get there?

[Rachel Maddow]

How did he get from standing in his bunny hat and his black and white coat and a Spider man backpack

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

in Minnesota to a Trump prison camp one day later?

[Rachel Maddow]

How did they do it?

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Well, now, thanks to Nick Benson, we can see that part of the story. We can have a view now into

[Rachel Maddow]

the machinery of Trump's system for locking

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

up little kids, for locking up families,

[Rachel Maddow]

a view that we've not had before. And it's because Nick Benson knows the

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Minneapolis airport like the inside of his own car, right?

[Rachel Maddow]

Because he knows the flight schedules, he knows the layout of the gates, he knows roughly when Liam had had to have traveled. And because of all that, because of

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

what he's been doing, Nick Benson was

[Rachel Maddow]

able to tear this thing open. Quote, pursuant to the mini. Excuse me, the Minnesota open records law, I request copies of video footage of the following areas of the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. January 21, 2026, 5:30am to 10:00am Any footage of or that would show vehicular traffic entering or exiting gates 222 or 269, exterior ramp areas, interior gate areas, jet bridges near gates F11, F13 or F15. Nick Benson filed his open records law request. Under Minnesota state law, he paid his

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

$359.04 in processing costs. And what did he get?

[Rachel Maddow]

He got dozens of hours of footage

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

from half a dozen different surveillance cameras, all showing the Delta Air Lines passenger terminal or the operations going on just outside the terminal's windows in the hours leading up to that morning's non stop flight from Minneapolis to San Antonio. And he went through all of that footage and look There he is. Recognize the jacket? Heading for Gate F13, the Delta flight to San Antonio in his black and white checked coat. That's Liam Conejo Ramos and his dad.

[Rachel Maddow]

There's no sound with this footage, but

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

you will see three people with Liam and his dad.

[Rachel Maddow]

Three people who seem to be taking

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

them through the airport. To be clear, we don't know whether they're federal agents or contractors or something else, but there they are with Liam and his father. They're checking in before the flight. They're waiting in the terminal with all the other travelers. At one point in the background, you can see Liam laying his blanket down on the floor. I think it's so he can lie down on the blanket. Sometimes he gets up to look out the window with his dad. Liam's like any other kid at the airport, except for where he's going, except for the fact that US President Donald Trump is sending him to prison at age five. Finally, Liam and his dad and these minders line up with the other passengers and they head off for their flight. A boy, his dad, his spider man backpack, a non stop Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to San Antonio on the way to family immigration prison. Nick Benson went through that footage. He shared it with an excellent aviation journalist named Gillian Burkel, who broke this story last week. Gillian Burkel has tracked apparent ICE flights all around the world to places like

[Rachel Maddow]

Eswatini in Africa and Ireland and Egypt.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

She told us this was the first

[Rachel Maddow]

time she had seen this other part

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

of what they call ICE air. Not the flights on charter aircraft or contract aircraft that load up people in shackles.

[Rachel Maddow]

Right.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

But this other part that is happening quietly around all the rest of us. Unsuspecting passengers on passenger airlines in regular airports flying prisoners to Trump prison camps to be held without trial, including little kids. We contacted Delta Airlines for comment. They told us what they told Gillian Burkel, that government air travel is often

[Rachel Maddow]

booked via third parties like travel agencies.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

They said airlines may not have advance notice or detail as to who may be flying and for what reason.

[Rachel Maddow]

Delta also, and we should have seen this coming, they pointed us back to that happy ABC News report about Liam and his dad being flown home from

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Dilley on a Delta flight. That's the one where the pilots were so nice and they gave Liam his little wings. Delta was very happy to promote its involvement in Liam's homecoming, but not so much their involvement with sending him to prison. We also reached out to the Department of Homeland Security with a number of questions about the video from the Minneapolis airport and how the government Manages commercial airline travel with federal agents transporting prisoners against their will, including minors. We haven't heard back. We'll let you know if we do. What we do know is that what we can see in that video of Liam and his dad at the Minneapolis airport, we know that that is not an isolated incident. We know that ICE is moving in immigrant families and little kids on domestic commercial flights.

[Rachel Maddow]

And we know that because many of

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

the families imprisoned at that hellhole facility in Dilley, Texas, have described in legal

[Rachel Maddow]

declarations that that's how they got there. In one long running legal case about conditions for kids in these immigration prisons, there were declarations filed just this past Friday. Families imprisoned at Dilley. They don't say what airline they were

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

brought there on, but they describe being

[Rachel Maddow]

brought to the regular commercial airport alongside other passengers. But they're being forced onto flights by mysterious escorts, two or three escorts. And who knows who those escorts are. They generally don't identify themselves, nor will they tell the families where they are going. They just force them onto the planes. In one declaration from December, a woman describes being locked up with her nine

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

year old daughter for nearly two full

[Rachel Maddow]

days in a room in the Miami airport. And then three unidentified people escorted the woman and her daughter through two different airports and two different flights. These were regular commercial flights on regular

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

commercial airlines with other passengers.

[Rachel Maddow]

And on one of those flights, the woman said she desperately handed a flight

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

attendant a vomit bag on which she had written a plea to call her

[Rachel Maddow]

husband and tell him that she and her daughter had been taken and they were headed to San Antonio. She hadn't been allowed to make any phone calls for two days.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

This was her last desperate attempt. And the flight attendant mercifully did it, called the woman's husband. Even if the airlines don't want to talk about it, the families being shipped to Dilley on these flights are talking about it.

[Rachel Maddow]

And now this new footage of Liam

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

in the Delta terminal at Minneapolis St. Paul Airport makes it just impossible to ignore.

[Rachel Maddow]

You may remember we have covered a

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

lot on this show. Pressure campaigns that have been brought to bear on commercial airlines and airports that were facilitating these ICE flights, these deportation flights for Trump's federal agents.

[Rachel Maddow]

People were pretty upset to discover, for example, that Avelo Airlines, you know, an Avelo Airlines plane they might have been taking on vacation, might be used on a different day to fly out a plane full of people in chains who Trump's agents had snatched off the streets or rammed off the road or pulled out of their car windows. People were also set upset that an aviation Company called Daedalus was going to lease airplane hangar space at their local airport in Delaware. They were upset about that because Daedalus

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

was also flying these flights, these deportation flights for ice.

[Rachel Maddow]

And in both of those cases, public outcry worked. Avelo got out of the deportation business. They sold all their planes, many of them, to ice. Now they're back to trying to be a normal passenger airline again, trying to wash that moral stench off themselves. Daedalus, as far as we know, they still fly for ICE as well, but they don't also try to fly retail passengers. And after the pushback from the public,

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

they backed off their plans at Wilmington Airport as well.

[Rachel Maddow]

In the Trump administration may no longer

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

care what voters think of them. They may think that Donald Trump and his ilk are never, ever going to be subject again to elections that control whether or not they still hold power.

[Rachel Maddow]

But commercial, public facing companies, they very much care what their customers think of them.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

They have to.

[Rachel Maddow]

Back in the First Trump term, 2018,

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

commercial airlines discovered that that first Trump

[Rachel Maddow]

administration was using their flights to transport immigrant kids who had been separated from

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

their moms and dads and a bunch of airlines.

[Rachel Maddow]

When they discovered that their flights were being used for that purpose, they told the Trump administration that they wouldn't do it anymore. They asked the Trump administration to stop doing that. Delta at the time said that family separation policy did, quote, not align with Delta's core values. Well, that was then. How about now? Delta, are your core values? Are your customers okay with this second term Trump policy of family incarceration?

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Delta, with the help of your planes, how about the other big airlines?

[Rachel Maddow]

Are your customers okay, knowing they could be flying on one of your planes, right, headed to a beach or a wedding or to visit their family. And in the next row, there's the five year old and his dad that ICE just grabbed from outside their home and are transporting to a hellish Texas

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

prison against their will.

[Rachel Maddow]

Everybody okay with this? In addition to Delta Airlines, we reached out to United and American Airlines as well to ask whether ICE is also moving migrant families on their planes as well. Whether the companies have a position on it, we have not heard back.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

As for Liam Ramos and his family, last week, lawyers for the family said they're appealing a deportation order. Their lawyer tells us the appeal of that deportation order could take months or even years. She says the government does appear to

[Rachel Maddow]

be moving with remarkable speed on this case. In particular, she tells us that if the Trump administration follows the law, Liam

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

and his family cannot be deported while

[Rachel Maddow]

their appeal is pending. But that's a big if. If they follow the law.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

One other thing Liam's family lawyer tells us today. She says that in addition to Liam and his father still coping with the trauma of this ordeal, contending with anxiety and trouble sleeping and all the rest of it, she says Liam no longer wants to wear his bunny hat when he's out in public because it's now recognizable and he does not want the attention that it draws

[Rachel Maddow]

this weekend.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

This Saturday, Liam's hometown of Minneapolis will be the flagship protest and what is expected potentially to be the largest single day of protest in American history.

[Rachel Maddow]

June of last year.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

That was the first no Kings protest that drew an astonishing 5 million people across the country. You might remember that was June 14th, the first no Kings Day.

[Rachel Maddow]

That was the day Trump tried to throw himself a weird North Korea style military parade for his own birthday. That sad, low turnout event was wildly overshadowed by 5 million Americans turning out at protests against Trump all over the country. And then there was the second no Kings Day in October.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

That one did not draw 5 million people.

[Rachel Maddow]

That one drew 7 million people.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

The flagship protest in October was in

[Rachel Maddow]

Philadelphia, the birthplace of the Constitution. Seven million people turned out on no

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Kings Day in October.

[Rachel Maddow]

And that was before Trump bulldozed the

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

east wing of the White House and before he tried to arrest six Democratic members of Congress. And before we learned that in addition to bombing random boats in the Caribbean, he was also deliberately killing the survivors of those bombings, which is a war crime. It was before he invaded Venezuela and announced he was taking their oil. It was before he started an apocalyptic war with Iran. It was before he renamed the Kennedy center for himself and then announced that he would close it. It's before he blew up health insurance for millions of American families.

[Rachel Maddow]

It's before he effectively made the Nobel Peace Prize winner give him her prize. It's before he sent the FBI to

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

seize the ballots from Atlanta, Georgia.

[Rachel Maddow]

It's before he posted a video online

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

depicting President Obama and his wife Michelle Obama as if they were apes. It's before they killed Renee Nicole Goode. It's before they killed Alex Preddy. It's before they took Liam. This Saturday, it will be Minneapolis as the flagship. But there are more than 3,000 separate protests planned all over the country this Saturday. No kinks. More ahead. Stay with us.

[RAICES Representative]

What do you know about the family detention center in Dilley, Texas? It's where our government imprisons immigrant parents, children and even newborns. A place with putrid drinking water, food with bugs and worms, and even a confirmed measles outbreak. These conditions are unsafe and inhumane. The Refugee and Immigrant center for Education and Legal Services, or raices, is the only legal aid provider inside Dilley. Day in and day out, we're there right now defending immigrants rights to due process and filing emergency petitions to free families illegally detained. You can fuel our fight to protect the rights of our children, our neighbors and all of us. Donate at freeallfamilies.org that's freeallfamilies.org early birds

[Vrbo Advertiser]

always rise to the occasion for summer vacation planning because early gets you closer to the action. So don't be late. Book your next vacation early on VRBO and save over $120. Rise and shine. Average savings $141 select homes only.

[The Knot Advertiser]

Planning a wedding shouldn't feel overwhelming. The Knot brings everything together in one place. Vendors who get your vibe, a custom planning checklist, guest list tools, and a free wedding website that syncs with it all. So instead of juggling a dozen apps and spreadsheets, you can actually enjoy getting married. Get [e-mail] audio the knot. Let's plan your wedding together.

[Rachel Maddow]

So this is just about 45 seconds. Just watch this.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

This is part of how they are promoting it.

[No Kings Protest Organizer]

Our demonstration of moral strength is in opposition to the tyranny that threatens our very existence as a country. And this kind of gathering can unite us in a moral movement to save America. And we will not stand down. Not now, not ever.

I've got a question for you. Are we afraid? Did it scare us off? Are we going to back down now? That's right. What we are doing here today is as American as apple pie. We are standing up for our rights. We are standing up for our neighbors.

[Rachel Maddow]

That is a video put out by the Indivisible movement promoting the no Kings Day protest this Saturday. This weekend.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

This is going to be the third one. And all across the country people have been doing kind of guerrilla promotion about that protest this weekend in Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin. Local organizers there showed up with shovels

[Rachel Maddow]

and dye and made this very cool sign in the snow. No Kings 3 3-28-vote. We ain't afraid of no stinkin blizzard. Wisconsin is ready for no Kings 3.0. Bundle up and get your bunnies out here. We'll be waiting for you in Sunnyvale, California.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

They're advertising Saturday's protests with this sign

[Rachel Maddow]

over a local highway overpass. This is Waterville, Maine this weekend. People promoting this everywhere. At the first no Kings Day protest last June, organizers say more than 5 million people showed up at marches and rallies all across the country. Then the second no Kings was in October, just four months later. Organizers said more than 7 million people showed up. How many people do you think are

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

going to show up for the third one this Saturday?

[Rachel Maddow]

Each of the dots on this map marks where an individual no Kings protest is being held in the United States. There so many protests that from a distance, the map is basically useless. The only thing you can see is areas where no one lives. A couple of them.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

There were 2,500 protests at the first no Kings. There were 2700 protests at the second no Kings organizers say for this one, there are Already more than 3,100 protests planned all over the country. The flagship one will be in Minneapolis, the place that has spent the last four months showing the rest of the country what it looks like to stand up and fight back. Tonight, Bruce Springsteen announced that he will be performing at that flagship protest. Joining us now is Ezra Levin. He's the co founder of Indivisible, one of the grassroots groups that has helped lead the organizing for the no Kings protest. Ezra, it's nice to see you. Thanks for being here.

[Ezra Levin]

Great to see you, Rachel.

[Rachel Maddow]

Indivisible does lots of different kinds of organizing. How do these large, very decentralized no Kings protests.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

We'll now have the third one of them. This.

[Rachel Maddow]

How do they fit into the overall

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

movement to oppose Trump and to limit his freedom of movement as president?

[Ezra Levin]

Oh, Rachel, that's a great question because I think actually people tend to both underplay and overplay the role of massive one day protests like this. I would say no Kings is a tactic, an extremely important tactic that can accomplish a couple of things. One, it can bust through that bubble, that air of inevitability that Trump, that this regime is invincible, is unstoppable, is all powerful. You don't look all powerful when you're facing the largest nonviolent protests in American history in every nook and cranny in the country. So sending that message is great is key is why I'm excited that there are more than 3,100 protests already planned for Saturday. But the second thing it does, the second thing it does that I think is just as important is it doesn't just gather millions of people in one place. I love that Springsteen is playing in the Twin Cities. I love we're gonna have a big New York and Chicago event and San Francisco event. That's great. I'm from rural Texas. I love that Kyle, Texas has an event. I love that the reddest and most rural parts of the country also have protests. Because the day after no Kings democracy won't suddenly be saved. Trump will still be in the White House. This illegal and unconstitutional war will still be going on. His secret police force goon squad will still be terrorizing American communities. So we need to build. This is why it's important to be organizing where you are and why we recommend if there is not a no Kings protest within 30 minutes or so of where you live, you should probably be organizing your own, both to make the point on March 28, but also to start organizing your own community for what comes next.

[Rachel Maddow]

In terms of the sort of atmosphere in the country, I will say that it's two different but related feelings that it creates in me. To see a gigantic protest of a

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

million people, you know, in New York or someplace where there's lots of people

[Rachel Maddow]

have come together, and also to see

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

five people out on a street corner in a rural place where that doesn't have a lot of population.

[Rachel Maddow]

It's kind of the same feeling in

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

terms of the import of it.

[Rachel Maddow]

Ezra, I wanted to ask you, you know, one of the things that's happened between the last huge no Kings Day protest and this one this Saturday is, of course, the killing of two protesters

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

in Minneapolis and the brutalizing of protesters in some other places.

[Rachel Maddow]

Do you think that's affected the way people are thinking about showing up for this kind of event?

[Ezra Levin]

Oh, absolutely. But I don't think the way that Trump and his folks all across the country who are launching these campaigns of terror in communities, thought it would. Two days after Alex Paredi was murdered in the Twin Cities, you could imagine people all over the country said, oh, my gosh, that's sad. I'm mad about that. But I've got to protect myself. I'm not going to show up. I've got to hide. I've got to not be targeted by this regime. Instead, we saw the exact opposite, Rachel. The exact opposite. Two days after Alex Brady was murdered, we saw more than 200,000 people join a no Kings Eyes On Eyes training to get trained up on exactly what Alex Brady was doing, exactly what Renee Goode was doing. If there is a shift, though, that I've seen is how the Republicans are responding to no Kings. It's really interesting because in the lead up to no Kings ii, they spent two, three weeks talking all about no Kings, how this is going to be a violent protest, we were going to demolish the country. They had to call out the National Guard. And of course, that's not what we saw. We saw powerful joy from millions of people around the country. But you'll see. Right now I challenge you find one national elected Republican who has said the phrase no Kings in the last month. I don't think you'll find that person cuz the word has gone out. Do not talk about this because if we don't talk about it, then there's no conflict. And if there's no conflict, press won't cover it. And if press doesn't cover it, then people won't find out about it. And if people don't find out about it, they won't show up. That's a smart strategy on their part. I think we've got to adapt our tactics to recruit folks ourselves. So I do hope people will text no Kings to 59798, find out where your event is and then text three people who never attended a protest before. They're not activists, they're not organizers. They might not even be political, but they don't like what's happening in this country. Text them and recruit them to no Kings on Saturday. Invite them to join you.

[Rachel Maddow]

Ezra Levin, co founder of Indivisible Ezra, good luck this weekend. Keep us surprised. We'll have you back soon to talk about it.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Thank you.

[Ezra Levin]

Thanks Rachel.

[Rachel Maddow]

All right, much more news ahead.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Stay with us.

[The Knot Advertiser]

Planning a wedding shouldn't feel overwhelming. The Knot brings everything together in one place. Vendors who get your vibe, a custom planning checklist, guest list tools, and a free wedding website that syncs with it all. So instead of juggling a dozen apps and spreadsheets, you can actually enjoy getting married. Get [e-mail] audio the Knot let's plan your wedding together.

[Jeep Advertiser]

Wherever your family is headed, every mile should feel like part of the adventure. With room for seven, the 2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee is built for your whole crew. Quick morning drop off, weekend tournaments and those unplanned sunset chases that bring everyone together. 4x4 capability keeps you confident through surprises, detours, and let's see where this goes moments. Because the laughter, the stories, and the everyone talking at once rides are the ones that become family legends. The 2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee Made for family adventures that matter, Jeep in a Jeep Grill are registered trademarks of FCA us, llc.

[Nespresso Advertiser]

Savor mornings with Nespresso Vertuo up and make your coffee ritual irresistible with an Espresso Coffee plus range. With added ingredients, it's easier than ever to brew coffee your way over or milk at the Click of a Button shop. Now [e-mail]

[Rachel Maddow]

tonight, the US Senate has confirmed as the new Secretary of Homeland Security former Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. He replaces Kristi Noem, whom President Trump fired earlier this month. Noem's top advisor, Corey Lewandowski, is at the center of new reporting alleging what sure looks like a series of proposed kickbacks and other kinds of financial corruption within the Homeland Security Department. NBC News reports that some Homeland Security contractors have told the White House that Corey Lewandowski told them he wanted to be paid in exchange for helping them get Homeland Security contracts. When the companies refused, they say Lewandowski then blocked them from being granted government contracts. Lewandowski has denied these claims roundly and adamantly. A statement on his behalf says in part, quote, Mr. Lewandowski adamantly denies ever demanding any payment or compensation from any potential former or current government contractor. The statement says the allegations are, quote, not supported by a single piece of evidence because there is none. I should tell you. These reports have nonetheless spurred a congressional inquiry by Democrats on House oversight. But alongside those allegations, there's a second sort of mysterious financial update we have for you about the Homeland Security Department and specifically how the Trump administration has been buying up warehouses all over the country to use as Trump prison camps to hold people without trial. Well, now in at least two of the places where they are trying to do that, in Utah and Georgia, local press are reporting that the Trump administration agreed to purchase these warehouses to turn into Trump prison camps. But they appear to have purchased these facilities for way, way, way more than the facilities are worth. In Georgia, for example, the Trump administration has agreed to pay $129 million for a vacant warehouse. Just a little over a year ago, that same property was valued at just $26 million, a fraction of what the Trump administration just paid for it. Same thing over in Utah. The Trump administration agreed to pay more than $145 million for a warehouse there. According to local property records, that warehouse is only worth around $97 million, meaning the Trump administration potentially overpaid for that one by, oh, say, 48 million. Why the overpaying? These proposed Trump prison camps have been wildly unpopular in the communities where Trump has been buying up these warehouses. As you see here in Utah, there have been multiple protests against the planned conversion of this Salt Lake City warehouse, which the White House appears to have massively overpaid for at a time when the agency that paid for them is being accused of rank corruption and self

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

dealing at the highest level levels.

[Rachel Maddow]

What's going on here? And do these two dots connect More on this in just a moment.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

Stay with us.

[Rachel Maddow]

Nate Bluein is a state senator from

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

the great state of Utah.

[Rachel Maddow]

His South Salt Lake City constituents are wildly against the Trump administration's efforts to put a massive Trump prison camp in

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

a warehouse in Salt Lake City.

[Rachel Maddow]

A prison camp to hold thousands of

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

people indefinitely and without trial.

[Rachel Maddow]

Senator Bluein is one of the local officials who's attended protests against that facility. And last week at one of those protests, he specifically called out the inexplicable $150 million price tag the Trump administration agreed to pay for an empty warehouse in Salt Lake City, which appears to be tens of millions of dollars more than the property is worth. He said, quote, out there, someone is making a whole bunch of money profiteering off the suffering of human lives. Joining us now is Utah State Senator Nate Bluein, who is also a candidate for Congress this year. Senator Blue, and thank you very much for being here. I appreciate you taking the time.

[Nate Blouin]

Thank you, Rachel. Appreciate it.

[Rachel Maddow]

So what do your constituents think about this proposed facility? I know that Salt Lake City felt like it dodged a bullet. There had been an original plan to buy a warehouse that had then been

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

scuttled after the owner was sort of

[Rachel Maddow]

talked out of it. But then ICE came in and bought a second facility. How do your constituents feel about it?

[Nate Blouin]

People feel betrayed. This happened out of nowhere. We saw overnight this transaction for, as you called out earlier, $50 million over the appraised value of this site. And people are so frustrated. They want leaders who are going to step up and be accountable for the decisions that they're getting made. And we have not had any of that accountability here in Utah. Our governor recently invited this in and said that he supports having such a facility. But we have had strong local leaders in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake county standing up and speaking out against this and really making sure that our constituents feel heard and that we have the opportunity to get involved in this process and to actually make a difference. As you also mentioned, we did shut down a similar facility months ago. And for this to come out of nowhere and again, for someone to be making tens of million dollars, millions of dollars off of it is just so unconscionable in the current environment.

[Rachel Maddow]

Well, let me ask you about that price tag part of does seem unusual that they seem to be wildly overpaying for a facility like this, but it is also a pattern that we're starting to see emerge with other facilities that they're buying around the country. Certainly there's been reporting similar to what you found in Utah, in Georgia, just over the past few days, and we've seen it in other places as well. Do you, as a state senator, or does anybody acting locally in Utah have any recourse to try to figure out how the price was arrived at? Who. Who, in your words, might be profiteering off of this type of. Of planned facilities? Is there any way to. To follow the money here?

[Nate Blouin]

Well, you know, I am running for Congress, and I think that's where we're going to make this difference, is we need to lean in with the power that Democrats are gonna take back in November and to hold hearings and to hold everyone accountable, to abolish ICE and to make sure that we are actually going after the people who have made these decisions and establishing where this money is coming from, because this is taxpayer dollars that are getting spent far over the budgets of what we should be spending. And frankly, we shouldn't be spending any money on these sorts of internment camps. Utah has a history with internment camps, and we don't need more of them in our backyard. So I think we need to. Need to be exercising every single option here. We need our local governments to step in and say no to permits and, you know, for infrastructure, for water, for the safety needs that these are going to bring along. At the protest I was at just last week, we saw people lining the streets and trucks were having a hard time getting by. This is, frankly, bad for business. That's the least of my concerns here. But that sort of disruption needs to become the norm as long as we see the Trump administration and folks playing along. My opponent in this race has taken tens of thousands of dollars from private prison corporations. You know, we need to elect leaders who do not, who are not going to be accountable to these corporations that are making money, the billionaire class, and splitting us up and really driving us apart. So it's important that we do have these strong people to speak up for our communities, for South Salt Lake and others in particular that are going to be targeted here. This is happening in one of the more diverse neighborhoods in Salt Lake City. And I think everything I've heard from my constituents that I represent right now, from the folks that I'm speaking with as I'm running for Congress, are speaking out loudly against this. They see ice's overreach. They see all of the things that are happening and believe that this is an agency that has lost its social license to operate. And so to move forward with something that would lock up 7,500 people, 800,000 square feet, I walked around this thing I mean, it takes. It takes time to just get around one side of the building and to imagine what's happening in there is just so criminal to me.

[Rachel Maddow]

Utah state senator, congressional candidate Nate Blouin. Thank you very much for being here. Keep us surprised. We'd love to have you back to

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

talk about this again.

[Nate Blouin]

Thank you. Check out nateforutah.com if you want to learn more.

[Guest Commentator/Co-host]

We'll be right back. Stay with us.

[Rachel Maddow]

All right, that's gonna do it for me tonight.

[M]

Mud, sand, snow, the track. Places where excuses don't work, where capability is something you prove one race at a time. Off road racing, Formula one. Different worlds that pose the same question.

[Ezra Levin]

What.

[M]

What are you made of? Every ground is our proving ground. Ready, Set.

[Jeep Advertiser]

Forward.