Latest / The People's News / Garnet Colman Passes; Texas' Dirty Secret: Coal; Reports from Austin Tribfest 2026 - TPN 9/27/26

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Garnet Colman Passes; Texas' Dirty Secret: Coal; Reports from Austin Tribfest 2026 - TPN 9/27/26 · The People's News

0:03
Speaker 1: It's the week of September 27, 2026, and this is
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Speaker 1: what's on the People's News. We remember the great Garnett Coleman.
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Speaker 1: Ice shooting again, this time in Austin. The cost of
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Speaker 1: energy increases as Texas utilities focus on more expensive gas
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Speaker 1: and coal. A community fights back against diabetes. listening to
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Speaker 1: students about what they want for the future of education.
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Speaker 1: TribFest brings speakers that affect the future of the country.
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Speaker 1: All that and more on the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington,
0:45
Speaker 1: this is the People's News, and the People's News starts now.
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Speaker 1: Former State Representative Garnett Coleman died this past Wednesday. He
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Speaker 1: was 65, but his record speaks louder than his passing.
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Speaker 1: He served in the State House of Representatives for over
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Speaker 1: 30 years. During that time, he fought for children, Medicaid,
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Speaker 1: and health insurance. He authored a sweeping bill that required
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Speaker 1: county jails to divert people with mental issues to hospitals
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Speaker 1: and other facilities, and also report jail deaths to be
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Speaker 1: investigated by independent law enforcement agencies. He fought hard for
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Speaker 1: the community, making sure that schools like Texas Southern University
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Speaker 1: and Prairie View A & M received equal funding as
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Speaker 1: historically black colleges and universities. Reverend James Dixon, head of
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Speaker 1: the NAACP Houston, had this to say about his passing.
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Speaker 2: Yes, first of all, thank you for the opportunity, Brother Richard.
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Speaker 2: Anyone who's been in Houston for a few decades knows
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Speaker 2: the Coleman family.
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Speaker 3: I grew up here in.
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Speaker 2: Houston, and hearing the name of Dr. Coleman and his
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Speaker 2: amazing work, not only in the medical field, because he
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Speaker 2: was a consummate professional in that regard, but also his philanthropy.
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Speaker 2: He set a standard that was very high. His father
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Speaker 2: was the dad of State Rep. Garnett Coleman, And I'm
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Speaker 2: speaking of him because he was a model of what
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Speaker 2: it meant to be community engaged, community involved, and community impactful.
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Speaker 2: His investment in so many people produced city council members,
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Speaker 2: black city council members, produced black state legislators, produced black
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Speaker 2: congressional members. And so Garnett Coleman was the fruit of
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Speaker 2: of that experience. He saw what his dad did and
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Speaker 2: became much of what his dad supported. What a tribute
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Speaker 2: to his dad's legacy. And then, of course, State Rep.
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Speaker 2: Garnett Coleman lived his life, as you know, in the
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Speaker 2: legislative arena, seeking to make a difference, particularly in his
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Speaker 2: district that encompassed much of Third Ward, never forgot his roots,
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Speaker 2: and was actively engaged in upholding the values and the
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Speaker 2: goals that were all about democracy, freedom, and the liberation
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Speaker 2: of the oppressed. And so we honor his legacy. Sad
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Speaker 2: to hear his passing, and I pray as I'm certainly
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Speaker 2: with his family for such a time as this. We're
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Speaker 2: praying that the Coleman legacy will live on through the
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Speaker 2: Coleman offspring throughout generations because that family has been and
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Speaker 2: remains in our city to be a family of that
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Speaker 2: projected stability, strength, and what it meant to be a
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Speaker 2: proud African American in Houston and in Texas and the
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Speaker 2: United States of America.
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Speaker 1: That was the Reverend James Dixon, head of the NAACP,
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Speaker 1: Houston chapter. ICE shot a Venezuelan man, 28-year-old Wilbur Rafael
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Speaker 1: Garces Perez, in his car while he was delivering DoorDash
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Speaker 1: on Sunday in Austin. Perez was taken to the hospital
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Speaker 1: and then released to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Speaker 1: He is currently being held in their custody, and his
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Speaker 1: wife and family have been given few details. Attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch,
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Speaker 1: who has been on this show numerous times on immigration issues,
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Speaker 1: is representing Perez and has stated that he is here legally.
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Speaker 1: This comes less than three months since the killing of
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Speaker 1: Lorenzo Salgado Arajo in Houston. We talked to Laura Perez-Boston,
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Speaker 1: Organizing Director with the Workers' Defense Action Fund.
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Speaker 4: The Workers' Defense Action Fund is a statewide organization. We're membership-based,
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Speaker 4: and we build power with immigrant Latino working-class families across Texas.
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Speaker 4: We have offices here in Houston, in Dallas, and also
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Speaker 4: in Austin, and we are fighting for immigrant and worker justice.
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Speaker 5: The incident in Austin this past weekend.
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Speaker 5: Can you talk to us about that?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, so a beloved community member, Wilbur Garces Perez, was working.
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Speaker 4: He was working for DoorDash, and I can't go. I
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Speaker 4: don't know all of the details of what happened leading
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Speaker 4: up to this, but we know and have documented in
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Speaker 4: many cases how ICE has lied about what happened, but
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Speaker 4: we do know that ICE agents pulled him over and
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Speaker 4: shot him in the back. And he was taken initially
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Speaker 4: to a hospital but was not allowed to stay there
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Speaker 4: or get the full medical care that he needed and
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Speaker 4: was roughed up and taken to ICE detention. And his
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Speaker 4: wife was not allowed to see him initially. His attorney
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Speaker 4: was not allowed to see him. And so we are
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Speaker 4: joining with many organizations demanding justice for Wilbur, for him
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Speaker 4: to be able to access medical care and be released
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Speaker 4: from the detention center. But also for all immigrants, Austin
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Speaker 4: right now is facing, you know, this fascist takeover of
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Speaker 4: our cities and our communities where immigrants are being taken
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Speaker 4: from their families and detained.
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Speaker 5: I've heard he said he was working for DoorDash. Does
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Speaker 5: DoorDash say anything about this?
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Speaker 4: They haven't. They have not said anything about this. We
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Speaker 4: don't know the details of, you know, if there was
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Speaker 4: technology where that's kind of how they were tracking him
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Speaker 4: or something. We don't know about that. However, there have
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Speaker 4: been a lot of calls for DoorDash to speak out
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Speaker 4: and condemn ICE's actions.
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Speaker 5: We know this has happened in other places, especially in Houston.
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Speaker 5: And it seems like ICE agents have got leeway to
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Speaker 5: do what they want to do with no consequences. Is
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Speaker 5: that what you're seeing there?
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Speaker 4: Yes, we know that ICE agents are not vetted, not trained,
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Speaker 4: and they have no place in our communities, on our streets,
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Speaker 4: especially with the violent tactics that we've seen time and again. And,
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Speaker 4: you know, it's these types of cases with Mr.
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Speaker 7: Wilbur, Mr.
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Speaker 4: Lorenzo, right, that we hear about and we learn the
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Speaker 4: details of. But every single day, there are moms, dads,
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Speaker 4: neighbors that are snatched and kidnapped from their families, from
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Speaker 4: their communities, and taken into ICE custody. Not necessarily because
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Speaker 4: they committed a crime, not necessarily because even they're undocumented,
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Speaker 4: just taken from their families because this government wants to, right?
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Speaker 4: Because there is a racist, xenophobic agenda to separate families
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Speaker 4: and to attack immigrant communities.
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Speaker 5: How is his family doing?
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Speaker 4: I don't, I can't imagine his, what his wife must
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Speaker 4: be feeling and just, Uh, yeah, I can't imagine how
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Speaker 4: she's getting through each day, but I do know that
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Speaker 4: she continues to be active and speaking to the media
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Speaker 4: and advocating for her husband because of course, unlike, you know, thankfully,
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Speaker 4: you know, he is still alive, right? There's, we have
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Speaker 4: an opportunity to fight for his life, but he does
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Speaker 4: have a bullet in his back. That's very close to
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Speaker 4: his spine and his shoulder. And so he does need
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Speaker 4: surgery and he does need, uh, you know, medical care.
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Speaker 5: And right now he's still in ICE detention. You know
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Speaker 5: where in ICE detention he's being held?
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Speaker 4: I believe it's in Pearsall Detention Center.
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Speaker 8: In Texas?
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 4: However, it's possible that, you know, they have moved him
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Speaker 4: or something, so there's always.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the last that I heard, I guess, is
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Speaker 4: what I would say.
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Speaker 5: What are you guys calling for as far as the state?
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Speaker 5: I know what the governor, has the governor said anything yet?
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Speaker 4: I don't believe so.
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 4: So we have not just Workers' Defense Action Fund, but
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Speaker 4: also sister organizations in Austin, including Grassroots Leadership, the Texas
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Speaker 4: Civil Rights Project, and many others. have both vetted demands
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Speaker 4: with the family, and then also we have our own demands, right?
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Speaker 4: And so, of course, they are first and foremost that
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Speaker 4: Wilbur receive the medical care that he deserves and be
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Speaker 4: released from detention, and then also that there be an
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Speaker 4: independent investigation. I believe just today the Travis County District
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Speaker 4: Attorney's Office did commit to leading an independent investigation. So
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Speaker 4: that's good news. And then also, like I said, ICE
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Speaker 4: out of Austin, ICE out of Texas, ICE out of everywhere.
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Speaker 4: And then also, right, this is our tax dollars at work.
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Speaker 4: $ 240 billion was given in our tax dollars to DHS
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Speaker 4: for this mass deportation agenda. And we want those funds back, right?
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Speaker 4: We want to see those being reinvested in our communities
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Speaker 4: in programs like school lunches for kids, SNAP, health care,
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Speaker 4: things that our communities desperately need right now, and we
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Speaker 4: don't need this type of violence in our streets. We
11:27
Speaker 4: need a government that actually has our back and provides
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Speaker 4: what our communities need.
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Speaker 5: And how can people get in touch with your organization?
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Speaker 4: Yeah, they can check out our website at wdactionfund.org. They
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Speaker 4: can also find us on Instagram, Facebook. I believe the
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Speaker 4: tag is Workers' Defense.
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Speaker 1: That was Laura Perez-Boston, Organizing Director with the Workers' Defense
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Speaker 1: Action Fund. We will try to have Ms. Goldfinch on
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Speaker 1: next week as we follow this case and others. There
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Speaker 1: have been 21 people shot by ICE and CBP since
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Speaker 1: the beginning of the second Trump administration. On Thursday, the U.S.
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Speaker 1: Department of Energy awarded Centerpoint Energy a $ 50 million grant
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Speaker 1: to improve and accelerate the Houston area power grid operation.
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Speaker 1: But a report by the Sierra Club says Texas utilities
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Speaker 1: deliver mixed results and higher fees for energies as utility
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Speaker 1: companies rely more on gas and coal. The report is
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Speaker 1: called The Dirty Truth 2026, shows that most are not
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Speaker 1: using affordable energy, especially while prices are up in the
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Speaker 1: midst of a heat wave in Texas. Emma Pabst is
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Speaker 1: the campaign manager with the Sierra Club. She talked about
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Speaker 1: what the energy report shows and why your bills in
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Speaker 1: Houston are so high.
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Speaker 8: Unfortunately, we're seeing that in Houston and across the nation,
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Speaker 8: that because of utilities, poor choices and planning, Utility bills
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Speaker 8: are going up. The Dirty Truth Report, which Sierra Club
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Speaker 8: just released, shines a light on how much progress utilities
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Speaker 8: all across the U.S. are making on using affordable and
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Speaker 8: clean energy sources, right? Oftentimes, Texans know that their bills
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Speaker 8: are high, but they don't know why. And this report
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Speaker 8: seeks to hold utilities accountable for that. More specifically, it
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Speaker 8: grades utilities on closing expensive coal and not building new
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Speaker 8: gas and building enough clean energy to meet electric demand. And,
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Speaker 8: you know, this year we're seeing rising electric bills all
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Speaker 8: across the country, and particularly in Texas, and simultaneously the
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Speaker 8: results of this year's report were alarming. Utilities earned the
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Speaker 8: lowest score ever, earning a 7 out of 100 and
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Speaker 8: getting an F on this year's report, which is the
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Speaker 8: lowest grade in the history of Sierra Club producing this report.
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Speaker 5: And it says here that you live in a state
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Speaker 5: where they cut a lot of the energy for dealing
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Speaker 5: with wind power and solar power.
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Speaker 8: 100%. We know that wind and solar are the cleanest,
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Speaker 8: most affordable ways to produce electricity. But unfortunately, many utilities
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Speaker 8: in Texas are headed in the opposite direction. Energy Texas,
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Speaker 8: for example, which provides power in Harris, Galveston, and a
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Speaker 8: host of other local counties, scored a D in this
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Speaker 8: year's report, which is down from a C last year.
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Speaker 8: And that poor score is based on over-relying on gas,
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Speaker 8: but also investing far too little in renewable energy. And
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Speaker 8: the renewable energy component explains exactly why their score decreased
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Speaker 8: so much from last year. Entergy Texas went from planning
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Speaker 8: just over 2,700 megawatts of solar and wind last year
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Speaker 8: to only planning 100 megawatts of solar and wind this year,
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Speaker 8: which is a decrease of over 90%, right? At the
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Speaker 8: exact moment that Texas needs clean energy to lower our
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Speaker 8: bills and protect from those rising gas prices, energy and
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Speaker 8: other utilities are leaving us high and dry.
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Speaker 5: And that's depending on coal coming.
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Speaker 8: From somewhere else.
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Speaker 5: Am I correct on that?
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Speaker 8: Yeah. Texas has more operating coal plants than any other
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Speaker 8: state in the nation. And coal is the single most
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Speaker 8: expensive way to produce electricity. All of these utility companies,
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Speaker 8: Entergy included, are betting on yesterday's fuel while we're facing
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Speaker 8: tomorrow's bill.
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Speaker 5: How can people find out this study that you guys
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Speaker 5: just put out?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, you go to sc.org slash dirty truth, I believe.
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Speaker 8: Let me verify that as we're talking. Yep, sc.org slash
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Speaker 8: dirty truth. You can go there to check your utility's
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Speaker 8: grade and read the report.
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Speaker 5: And what can be done about this?
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Speaker 8: Because.
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Speaker 5: It seems like nobody's really, at the legislative level, nobody's
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Speaker 5: really paying attention to this.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, absolutely. Well, what we're calling on folks to do
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Speaker 8: with the release of this report is tell Congress to
16:17
Speaker 8: tell the Department of Energy to reduce costs on everyday Americans, right?
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Speaker 8: We know that Americans are paying more every month for electricity,
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Speaker 8: but utilities are making the problem worse by investing in
16:29
Speaker 8: that expensive fossil fuel while delaying their affordable and clean energy.
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Speaker 8: And the Department of Energy is bailing them out for it, right?
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Speaker 8: They're handing them grants and loans to keep these coal
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Speaker 8: plants running and keep making those expensive investments in that coal.
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Speaker 8: We have an active petition going to urge our people
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Speaker 8: in Congress to tell them to do otherwise.
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Speaker 5: How can you try to make people understand that this
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Speaker 5: is not the way to go? Because we have leaders
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Speaker 5: that are tied into that industry and tied into the
17:01
Speaker 5: myth that If we try to do something else, it
17:04
Speaker 5: would cut jobs that are dependent on fossil fuel or
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Speaker 5: the fossil fuel industry.
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Speaker 8: You know, in response to the jobs question, I ask
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Speaker 8: just how much are we willing to pay, right? There's
17:16
Speaker 8: tons of jobs out there in the world, and we
17:18
Speaker 8: know that jobs in solar and wind are well-paying, they
17:22
Speaker 8: have good benefits, and they produce affordable energy for Texans
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Speaker 8: in a healthy way, right, that doesn't put workers in
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Speaker 8: harm's way. We know that the coal industry is historically
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Speaker 8: a very dangerous one to work in and that there
17:35
Speaker 8: are also numerous health and safety risks that come with
17:38
Speaker 8: working in the oil and gas industry. The clean energy
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Speaker 8: industry provides numerous opportunities for Americans. Additionally, we know that
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Speaker 8: the costs of climate change are far too high to ignore.
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Speaker 8: More climate pollution means more extreme weather. More extreme weather
17:54
Speaker 8: means higher electric bills, rising insurance premiums, and more disasters
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Speaker 8: past 2021. More disaster costs passed on to families. Really,
18:04
Speaker 8: no matter how you slice it, utilities subsidizing this coal
18:09
Speaker 8: and gas isn't just garden variety deregulation. It is a
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Speaker 8: subsidy for the fossil fuel industry paid for by your
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Speaker 8: family and our planet's future. Utilities are raking in millions
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Speaker 8: of dollars of profits from this coal and gas. And
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Speaker 8: Americans and Texans everywhere are going to pay the price
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Speaker 8: for it.
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Speaker 5: And so how can people get in touch with you
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Speaker 5: and your organization?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, they're welcome to reach out to us via our
18:41
Speaker 8: contact form on sierraclub.org. Again, my name is Emma Papps.
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Speaker 8: I'm a campaign manager for the Sierra Club and They
18:49
Speaker 8: got my bio online. Folks are welcome to reach out
18:51
Speaker 8: to me directly as well. But overall, I'd say go
18:54
Speaker 8: to sierraclub.org, check out our website, see what we have
18:56
Speaker 8: to offer, and contact the email address at the bottom
18:59
Speaker 8: of the page to get more involved.
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Speaker 1: That was Emma Pabst with the Sierra Club. Her report
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Speaker 1: can be found at sc.org forward slash dirty truth. A
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Speaker 1: community in Houston is fighting back against the high rate
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Speaker 1: of diabetes. We hear more from the Texas Public News
19:17
Speaker 1: Service and Frida Ross.
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Speaker 9: A nonprofit in one southwest Houston neighborhood is taking on
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Speaker 9: the diabetes epidemic. Gulfton Home Community has permission from the
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Speaker 9: CDC to teach the agency's diabetes prevention program in Spanish
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Speaker 9: to residents in the area, which is majority Hispanic.
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Speaker 5: Dr.
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Speaker 9: Osvaldo Lopez is the organization's chief health officer. He says
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Speaker 9: their CHHA diabetes program includes on-site community health workers Zumba classes,
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Speaker 9: and an online support group.
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Speaker 10: Obesity is higher in the Latino community, so diabetes is
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Speaker 10: a real problem. We are told by principals and nurses
20:01
Speaker 10: they are seeing children six, seven years old that have pre-diabetes.
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Speaker 9: The program started last year and has over 100 in-person participants.
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Speaker 9: More than 16% of Hispanics in Texas have been diagnosed
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Speaker 9: with diabetes, which is higher than the national average. Causes
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Speaker 9: can include genetics, lifestyle, and systemic factors. Director of Operations
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Speaker 9: Virginia Cordova says mothers and children are participating in the
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Speaker 9: Zumba classes together. And they're teaching participants how to modify
20:34
Speaker 9: meals to include healthier choices.
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Speaker 6: They are losing weight and they are feeling better. And
20:41
Speaker 6: this is also expanding for their families, for their kids,
20:45
Speaker 6: their husbands. And also they are more healthy because the
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Speaker 6: A1C level is lower.
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Speaker 9: In Texas, diabetes often goes undiagnosed in the Hispanic community,
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Speaker 9: which can lead to other complications such as vision loss
21:01
Speaker 9: and kidney disease. Lopez adds the program is addressing non-medical
21:06
Speaker 9: issues that impact people's health.
21:09
Speaker 10: At least 12 different cancers are related with obesity and
21:13
Speaker 10: lack of exercise. Alzheimer's is related with the same as
21:18
Speaker 10: well as high blood pressure.
21:20
Speaker 9: I'm Freda Ross. Texas News Service. Find our trust indicators
21:24
Speaker 9: at publicnewsservice.org.
21:28
Speaker 1: Public education in Texas has been under attack by Republicans
21:33
Speaker 1: for many, many years. Changes in curriculum and debates over
21:37
Speaker 1: what kids should be learning and when. Gen Up is
21:41
Speaker 1: a California-based student-led organization dedicated to transforming education policy by
21:48
Speaker 1: amplifying the voices of the student. They recently held a
21:52
Speaker 1: forum reimagining the future of schools, and it brought together
21:56
Speaker 1: 34 students and members of the education community. Ryan Park
22:02
Speaker 1: is the chief of partnerships at Gen Up. He spoke
22:05
Speaker 1: on the future of education in California and how it
22:08
Speaker 1: can be applied in Texas.
22:11
Speaker 11: With our recent Empower Forum, our main goal was that,
22:13
Speaker 11: you know, of course, after COVID-19, a lot of the
22:16
Speaker 11: things for education has greatly changed. A lot about the
22:18
Speaker 11: world has greatly changed. Going from AI to going from
22:23
Speaker 11: remote learning to job changes in the job market. So
22:27
Speaker 11: as everything is getting affected after COVID, we also want
22:30
Speaker 11: to focus on education as students. And Gen Up created
22:34
Speaker 11: something called the Student Vision for California Education. And it's
22:38
Speaker 11: so that students can actually get what they want out
22:40
Speaker 11: of education, not just the adults, not just the teachers,
22:43
Speaker 11: not just the people running the board. So at this webinar,
22:47
Speaker 11: we basically had other students who have changed education in
22:51
Speaker 11: the past.
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Speaker 3: We had a high school.
22:52
Speaker 11: Senior named Tanaya, and we had other couple people. We
22:56
Speaker 11: had Leo Corzio-Clark, who was a master's of public policy
23:00
Speaker 11: candidate from UC Berkeley, who has pitched two slates of
23:03
Speaker 11: education bills in California. We also had Aiden Lentistado, who's
23:09
Speaker 11: a UC Berkeley Law candidate, but also when he was
23:12
Speaker 11: in high school, he made some impact as a nonprofit
23:15
Speaker 11: founder and helped to change what California education means to students.
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Speaker 11: So basically we brought a bunch of these student leaders
23:23
Speaker 11: and change makers into our webinar to kind of inspire
23:25
Speaker 11: students to realize that just because of our age and
23:28
Speaker 11: just for the fact that we're students, it doesn't mean
23:31
Speaker 11: that we can't help influence our education today. And from
23:36
Speaker 11: this webinar, students were able to basically listen from these
23:39
Speaker 11: student leaders. And afterwards, they were given the opportunity to
23:43
Speaker 11: talk with peers from across California.
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Speaker 3: So this was a huge webinar.
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Speaker 11: We had around 50 students from across California. And they
23:49
Speaker 11: got the opportunity to talk because, of course, talking from
23:53
Speaker 11: someone from L.A. is vastly different from someone in Northern California,
23:58
Speaker 11: where the education is completely different. The district sizes are
24:01
Speaker 11: completely different. So it gives students the perspectives that they
24:05
Speaker 11: usually wouldn't get. And after having these facilitated conversations, students
24:10
Speaker 11: were given the opportunity to answer a survey. We use
24:14
Speaker 11: a tool called Parsec Reel where students are able to
24:16
Speaker 11: do a 10 minute survey using video, voice, or text.
24:20
Speaker 11: And it allows us to kind of gauge what students
24:22
Speaker 11: are really looking for in their education and how California
24:26
Speaker 11: can better meet their standards and how they believe other
24:29
Speaker 11: schools can meet their standards. So after we get all
24:33
Speaker 11: the results from these students who provide their information to
24:37
Speaker 11: these surveys and.
24:38
Speaker 3: What they would like to see.
24:40
Speaker 11: We'll get all this information as Gen Up and other
24:43
Speaker 11: student organizations, and we'll all gather and kind of assess
24:47
Speaker 11: the information that they provided. And then from there, we're
24:50
Speaker 11: gonna assess how we're gonna be able to tackle these issues,
24:53
Speaker 11: what kind of bills we're gonna make in response to that.
24:56
Speaker 11: And basically having students be the front runners for changing education.
25:02
Speaker 12: Let me ask you this question, How is it that,
25:07
Speaker 12: you say you talk to students when they're in school,
25:10
Speaker 12: but how does the schools differ?
25:13
Speaker 5: Because you might be talking to somebody from an upper
25:17
Speaker 5: to middle class family school versus an inner city school.
25:22
Speaker 5: And the curriculum they have there is vastly different. The
25:25
Speaker 5: education they have there is vastly different from a school
25:27
Speaker 5: in a wealthier neighborhood.
25:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's completely a fair question.
25:32
Speaker 11: And that's something that we were also kind of pondering ourselves.
25:36
Speaker 11: And I think the best solution that we had was
25:38
Speaker 11: first trying to reach out to students all across California.
25:41
Speaker 11: We realized that certain schools or certain students may be
25:44
Speaker 11: more privileged than others, may have a better education system
25:47
Speaker 11: than others. So our main goal was to first conduct outreach,
25:50
Speaker 11: make sure that we're reaching out to students all across
25:52
Speaker 11: California and making sure that we're getting all of their opinions.
25:55
Speaker 11: Because volunteer sampling isn't the best way of getting information.
25:59
Speaker 11: We're trying to make sure that it's representative of students
26:02
Speaker 11: all across California. I think our best approach is first
26:05
Speaker 11: getting the students not just a particular set, and also
26:10
Speaker 11: just reading the data itself.
26:11
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I think that's the best way I
26:14
Speaker 3: could answer.
26:14
Speaker 5: What is a– when we talk about education, we're dealing
26:21
Speaker 5: with California versus Texas, whereas the curriculum has changed so
26:27
Speaker 5: much and so drastically following a conservative platform. we're not
26:33
Speaker 5: using educators as the basis of the curriculum. How does
26:40
Speaker 5: that affect you guys as far as, and how do
26:43
Speaker 5: people in Texas relate to what you guys are putting out?
26:47
Speaker 3: That's a great question.
26:49
Speaker 11: So, although Gen Up is a national education student advocacy group,
26:54
Speaker 11: we're mainly based in California. So, For the current webinar
26:58
Speaker 11: that we're talking about, it was based for students in California,
27:01
Speaker 11: but as we are planning on expanding, I think that
27:05
Speaker 11: other school districts and other states can also learn from
27:08
Speaker 11: the fact that I think our main goal is for
27:10
Speaker 11: students to be in the.
27:11
Speaker 3: Front leading of this.
27:12
Speaker 11: I mean, it's not about how the platforms are run
27:15
Speaker 11: in different states. I think it's more about what students
27:17
Speaker 11: are wanting and what students actually need from the school districts.
27:21
Speaker 11: It shouldn't be based on states, based on politics. We're
27:25
Speaker 11: a nonpartisan nonprofit where our main goal is just to
27:29
Speaker 11: have students be the voices of their own education.
27:33
Speaker 5: But they do have a situation. I know in Texas
27:38
Speaker 5: they go about the same platform, but what do students
27:42
Speaker 5: want and in what framework do they want that to
27:47
Speaker 5: be taught? Do they like the aspect of AI coming
27:50
Speaker 5: into the schools and learning that way? And what about
27:56
Speaker 5: what we have here is homeschooling. I don't know how
27:59
Speaker 5: much homeschooling is in effect in California, but it's a
28:03
Speaker 5: really big deal here.
28:06
Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, Richard, that's exactly the question we want
28:08
Speaker 3: to answer. That's exactly why we're putting.
28:11
Speaker 11: Out these surveys and forums to gauge what students really want,
28:14
Speaker 11: as we don't really have the best idea either. I mean,
28:17
Speaker 11: just once again, students all across California, and of course
28:20
Speaker 11: you have students all across the state of Texas, we're
28:23
Speaker 11: There's so many different opinions.
28:25
Speaker 3: It's just what are students really wanting?
28:27
Speaker 11: And I think that the best part is to make
28:29
Speaker 11: sure that students are answering their surveys, making sure that
28:32
Speaker 11: students are getting their voices out. I know in California,
28:34
Speaker 11: some big issues are environmental sustainability, attendance, school funding, as
28:40
Speaker 11: I know that a lot of the school's fundings have
28:42
Speaker 11: been cut. A lot of schools are consolidating in California.
28:45
Speaker 11: So that's a major issue.
28:46
Speaker 3: Here in our state.
28:47
Speaker 11: But of course, it would change based on the state
28:49
Speaker 11: and what students are looking for from California versus Texas.
28:54
Speaker 11: I would say that for students in Texas, just to
28:57
Speaker 11: get in contact with your student leaders, get in contact
29:00
Speaker 11: with nonprofit organizations in Texas to make sure that their
29:04
Speaker 11: voices are being heard and to ensure that the issues
29:06
Speaker 11: that are correlated directly to your state of Texas is
29:09
Speaker 11: being heard.
29:11
Speaker 5: Does that include the immigrant community? Because a lot of times,
29:16
Speaker 5: especially the kids and the parents are scared to do
29:19
Speaker 5: anything as far as.
29:23
Speaker 5: Talking to or getting their name or giving their address
29:27
Speaker 5: or information for fear of ICE and deportation issues.
29:31
Speaker 3: Can you say that one more time? Which type of community?
29:36
Speaker 5: Well, I'm talking about the immigrant community, immigrants that are
29:40
Speaker 5: in school and being able to fill out a document
29:44
Speaker 5: that they may be scared to fill out because of
29:49
Speaker 5: their immigration status. They might be affected by either ICE
29:56
Speaker 5: or some type of law enforcement. And I'm asking, does
30:02
Speaker 5: it screw your survey that you're putting out?
30:08
Speaker 3: That's also a very great question.
30:10
Speaker 11: And for that, I would have to say that our
30:13
Speaker 11: surveys are completely anonymous. What we really just get from
30:16
Speaker 11: that information is your name, but there's no other revealing information.
30:20
Speaker 11: So students shouldn't feel scared to fill out our surveys.
30:23
Speaker 11: They shouldn't be scared of any other outside information. I guess,
30:29
Speaker 11: factors playing into it. All we really want is your opinions.
30:33
Speaker 11: We don't collect any personal information from students. The main
30:37
Speaker 11: focus is just what they have to say. So our
30:40
Speaker 11: information is completely anonymous. We don't even really take into
30:43
Speaker 11: account their names at all.
30:46
Speaker 3: So all we really want to care about is the
30:48
Speaker 3: student voice.
30:51
Speaker 5: How can people get in touch with you and your organizations?
30:54
Speaker 11: Great question as well. We have an Instagram at genup.us.
30:59
Speaker 11: We also have an email, and we also have a website, generationup.net.
31:05
Speaker 11: So that's how you can get in contact with Gen Up.
31:07
Speaker 11: We also have issues with attendance, and our main goal
31:10
Speaker 11: is to bring students back to schools. And as you mentioned,
31:14
Speaker 11: school governance is becoming a little bit political. I think
31:17
Speaker 11: that our approach is that all students are welcome at schools,
31:20
Speaker 11: all students should feel deserved at schools, and all students
31:23
Speaker 11: deserve education.
31:24
Speaker 3: A good quality education.
31:25
Speaker 11: So nothing political here at Gen Up, and we just
31:28
Speaker 11: want to advocate for our students.
31:31
Speaker 1: That was Ryan Park, Chief of Partnerships at Gen Up.
31:34
Speaker 1: Their organization can be reached at generationup.net. Hi, this is
31:42
Speaker 1: Steve Gallington, producer and host of The People's News. The
31:46
Speaker 1: People's News is people-powered news. We are free to report
31:50
Speaker 1: the unvarnished and unspun truths, and challenge the status quo
31:55
Speaker 1: of corporate propaganda and social media advertising disguised as real news.
32:00
Speaker 1: Shiny new one-hour episodes of The People's News drop each
32:05
Speaker 1: Sunday on The People's News Podcast. Thanks for listening. The
32:11
Speaker 1: 16th Annual Texas Tribune Festival took place in downtown Austin
32:16
Speaker 1: this past weekend. The festival includes discussions about the future
32:20
Speaker 1: of our city, state, country, and the world. We caught
32:25
Speaker 1: up with Christian Menefee, the incoming representative for the 18th
32:28
Speaker 1: Congressional District in Houston. He commented on the passing of
32:32
Speaker 1: former State Representative Garnett Coleman.
32:35
Speaker 3: Incredibly sad.
32:36
Speaker 13: Representative Coleman was my state representative.
32:40
Speaker 3: I was his constituent.
32:41
Speaker 13: There is probably nobody in modern Texas history who did
32:45
Speaker 13: more for the health care system to ensure that people
32:48
Speaker 13: had real access to health care to be able to
32:50
Speaker 13: see a doctor when they need to He was a
32:52
Speaker 13: lion in a lot of spaces, but particularly on the
32:53
Speaker 13: health care front. I mean, the guy just was a juggernaut.
32:57
Speaker 13: And so absolutely my condolences go to his family, to
33:00
Speaker 13: people who knew him so well. I'm just proud to
33:02
Speaker 13: count him as a constituent. We're going to continue his legacy.
33:04
Speaker 13: I'm trying to make sure that every Texan has good
33:07
Speaker 13: quality health care.
33:08
Speaker 5: Also, what's your thoughts on what's going on with ICE?
33:12
Speaker 5: Because I know when you get to Congress, you're going
33:14
Speaker 5: to have to do something about it. We had another killing,
33:17
Speaker 5: another shooting here in Austin.
33:19
Speaker 13: ICE has become a rogue agency. They're shooting and killing
33:23
Speaker 13: people in the streets. They're terrorizing communities. And it's not
33:26
Speaker 13: in the name of actually enforcing immigration policy. It's in
33:30
Speaker 13: the name of terrorizing people, trying to make folks scared,
33:33
Speaker 13: hoping that they'll self-deport. What I'm hoping we do next
33:35
Speaker 13: Congress is rip ICE down to the studs. This country
33:38
Speaker 13: has 70 years with INS. And you do not think
33:41
Speaker 13: of INS and think shooting people in the back, executing
33:44
Speaker 13: people in the middle of the street. It shows that
33:46
Speaker 13: immigration enforcement, border protection can be done in a way
33:49
Speaker 13: that recognizes the humanity of everybody involved, instead of this militarized,
33:53
Speaker 13: radicalized agency we've seen now.
33:57
Speaker 1: Congressman Menefee was part of a panel on the discussion
34:01
Speaker 1: of the future of Texas and what congressional representatives want
34:04
Speaker 1: for Texas. This included Peter Sessions, Representative from Waco, and
34:09
Speaker 1: Lizzie Fletcher from Houston. Republican strategists and former White House
34:15
Speaker 1: Chief of Staff Carl Rove spoke at TribFest on why
34:20
Speaker 1: he was voting for a Democrat for the second time
34:22
Speaker 1: in his life. He is voting against Beau French. He
34:26
Speaker 1: is a Texas Republican politician and businessman and currently the
34:30
Speaker 1: GOP's nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner. He is known for
34:35
Speaker 1: controversial and racially charged social media posts and recently made
34:40
Speaker 1: comments on a University of Texas game that had pictures
34:44
Speaker 1: of people of other races that he says are taking
34:47
Speaker 1: spots from Texans attending the university.
34:50
Speaker 3: Mr.
34:51
Speaker 1: Rove also talked about the Republican Party as it stands
34:55
Speaker 1: and Ken Paxton.
34:56
Speaker 14: Well, first of all, I buried my father-in-law on Thursday,
35:00
Speaker 14: memorialized him on Friday, and Saturday, getting interviewed by Patrick.
35:05
Speaker 15: Thus far, the decline.
35:06
Speaker 14: It's simple. He revealed himself to be a bigot. Beau French,
35:16
Speaker 14: I mean, think about it. You're an undergraduate at UT
35:20
Speaker 14: and you go to that game and you.
35:23
Speaker 15: Endure three quarters of pain.
35:28
Speaker 14: You know, we had a negative five yards in the
35:30
Speaker 14: first quarter and you're sitting there, you know, 43 seconds
35:36
Speaker 14: into it and into the fourth quarter and Manning connects
35:40
Speaker 14: with Wingo and you're back in the game. And that
35:44
Speaker 14: was probably one of the most exciting quarters of football
35:48
Speaker 14: that those 110,000 mostly kids are ever going to experience.
35:52
Speaker 14: And at the end of it, it's victory and the
35:54
Speaker 14: place goes wild. And there's a wonderful picture of a
35:59
Speaker 14: sea of burnt orange clad undergraduates.
36:03
Speaker 15: Screaming their heads off with joy.
36:06
Speaker 14: And this guy takes one look at that photograph and
36:09
Speaker 14: makes a couple of assumptions. First of all, in the
36:11
Speaker 14: front are some Asian, Southeast Asian and Latino, and there
36:15
Speaker 14: are some blacks, and.
36:16
Speaker 15: There are a lot of whites.
36:17
Speaker 14: And he says, oh my God, I heard about this
36:21
Speaker 14: at graduation. It's even worse than I thought. And a
36:23
Speaker 14: reporter calls him and says, what do you mean? He said, well,
36:25
Speaker 14: a lot of foreigners. Now, how did the son decide
36:28
Speaker 14: that those were all foreigners?
36:30
Speaker 6: You know?
36:35
Speaker 14: I teach at UT. I teach at UT. It's an
36:39
Speaker 14: honor to do so. And I see these kids come in.
36:42
Speaker 14: We have got a treasure in the way that UT
36:46
Speaker 14: does admissions. If you're in the top 5% of your class,
36:49
Speaker 14: you get into UT. 90% of the kids at UT
36:51
Speaker 14: are from Texas. About 7% are from elsewhere in the
36:54
Speaker 14: country who want to be Texans, and there are about
36:57
Speaker 14: 2% or 3% that are foreign. And Beau French is so,
37:00
Speaker 14: you know, his mind is so capable and beyond the
37:04
Speaker 14: normal understanding of things that he could just look at
37:06
Speaker 14: a photograph and know who's a foreigner and who's not.
37:09
Speaker 15: Those were Texans, by God. And then I started looking
37:17
Speaker 15: into him.
37:20
Speaker 14: I mean, he sent out a tweet saying, who's worse
37:23
Speaker 14: for America, Jews or Muslims? And his whole history, the
37:29
Speaker 14: more I dug into it, the more I saw that
37:32
Speaker 14: this guy was basically, this is, the game happens on Saturday.
37:35
Speaker 14: I'm doing this, I'm wasting my Saturday and Sunday because
37:38
Speaker 14: it inflamed me so much. And so Monday I happened
37:40
Speaker 14: to be at a lunch at Headliners and, was it Headliners?
37:46
Speaker 15: Anyway, no, yeah.
37:49
Speaker 14: And I got asked by Evan Smith, what did I
37:51
Speaker 14: think about it? And I made the mistake of saying,
37:53
Speaker 14: I'm going to do something I've only done once before
37:55
Speaker 14: in my life, and that is vote for a Democrat.
37:58
Speaker 14: And we were under Chatham House rules, which means you're
38:01
Speaker 14: not supposed to take that conversation. So four people called
38:05
Speaker 14: up members of the press and told them, I'm going
38:07
Speaker 14: to find those. And they're going to learn the term rendition.
38:11
Speaker 15: It got out.
38:11
Speaker 14: So I said, what the hell? In for a penny,
38:13
Speaker 14: in for a pound. So I devoted my Thursday column
38:16
Speaker 14: to it. And you know, announced I was going to
38:20
Speaker 14: do something I haven't done in my life except one
38:22
Speaker 14: time before. I voted for Bob Bullock in 1994. I voted,
38:27
Speaker 14: you know, we had a Democrat state Senate. I hoped
38:31
Speaker 14: Bush was going to be governor. And if the Democrat
38:35
Speaker 14: Senate didn't have a Democrat lieutenant governor presiding over it,
38:37
Speaker 14: it would be hell because they'd all want to go
38:39
Speaker 14: out and take shots at the Republican governor. But I
38:42
Speaker 14: knew Bullock cared about one thing more than anything else
38:45
Speaker 14: in his life, what was best for Texas. And I
38:48
Speaker 14: said to myself, Bush and Bullock can have a love affair,
38:52
Speaker 14: and they can work constructively together, and I'd rather have
38:57
Speaker 14: Bullock as a Democrat lieutenant governor presiding over the Senate
39:00
Speaker 14: than a Republican who had no experience in the Senate.
39:03
Speaker 14: They would have run over him, taken the power away
39:05
Speaker 14: from him, given it to themselves, and it would have
39:07
Speaker 14: been hell to pay. But my party is being infiltrated
39:12
Speaker 14: by people like Beau French. Nick Fuentes goes to Dallas
39:16
Speaker 14: and meets with a bunch of Republican leaders.
39:19
Speaker 15: This guy is a Nazi.
39:21
Speaker 14: You know, we got all these people, you know, now
39:24
Speaker 14: on getting their little podcasts and so forth.
39:27
Speaker 15: We're just asking questions about the Jews.
39:30
Speaker 14: And we got these lunatics who've got, you know, oh,
39:33
Speaker 14: you know, the first lady of France is a man.
39:37
Speaker 14: And this is going to hurt my party.
39:39
Speaker 15: Now, I know where I am. I live in this town.
39:43
Speaker 15: So I know about how about 80% of you are.
39:48
Speaker 14: You got problems in your own party, don't kid yourselves.
39:53
Speaker 14: But I'm not responsible for you. I helped build this party.
39:57
Speaker 14: When I came here in November, December of 1976, we
40:01
Speaker 14: had gone a brief period of time without electing a
40:03
Speaker 14: Republican governor. 109 years. I went to work for the
40:08
Speaker 14: senior Republican in the Texas House.
40:10
Speaker 15: There were 18 out of 150.
40:11
Speaker 14: Different in the state Senate, In one election alone, we
40:16
Speaker 14: had increased our numbers in the 31-member state senate by 50%.
40:20
Speaker 14: In one election, we'd gone from two to three. And
40:26
Speaker 14: the people who followed, whether it was Phil Graham or
40:29
Speaker 14: Rick Perry or Bill Clements or George W. Bush or
40:33
Speaker 14: Kay Bailey Hutchison, these were my clients. And we didn't
40:37
Speaker 14: labor in the wilderness to build a conservative party that
40:41
Speaker 14: was inclusive and welcoming said it didn't matter who you
40:45
Speaker 14: were or where you came from, what mattered was what
40:47
Speaker 14: was in your heart and what you believed. I didn't
40:50
Speaker 14: work for that party and see it taken over by
40:52
Speaker 14: a bunch of bigots. So by God, I'm voting for Rosenthal.
40:58
Speaker 16: So naturally, in the fallout from the announcement that you're
41:02
Speaker 16: voting for a Democrat for the second time in your life,
41:05
Speaker 16: people are looking at the rest of the statewide slate
41:08
Speaker 16: here and wondering, Is Karl Rove supporting the rest of
41:11
Speaker 16: the Republican ticket in Texas? Are you, you know, for example,
41:14
Speaker 16: in the Senate race, do you think you'll be supporting
41:16
Speaker 16: voting for Ken Paxton?
41:18
Speaker 15: Who are you voting for?
41:19
Speaker 16: I told you backstage, I'm no longer a Texas voter.
41:22
Speaker 14: Yeah, well, I told you backstage I wasn't going to
41:24
Speaker 14: give you a damn answer to that. And while I'm
41:28
Speaker 14: at it, I'm going to score one moral upshot on you.
41:32
Speaker 15: I lived in Washington, D.C. for seven years.
41:35
Speaker 14: In order to get a property tax homestead exemption, you
41:38
Speaker 14: had to register in the District of Columbia. And I said,
41:41
Speaker 14: like hell I'm going to register in the District of Columbia.
41:44
Speaker 14: I had a little place up in Kerrville. And I
41:47
Speaker 14: registered there. It cost me $ 3, 500 a year. But by God,
41:51
Speaker 14: I cared about being a Texan. And so I wasn't
41:54
Speaker 14: going to weasel out and register in the District of
41:56
Speaker 14: Columbia in order to get that homestead exemption on that
41:58
Speaker 14: new place you bought on Capitol Hill.
42:01
Speaker 3: Fair enough.
42:03
Speaker 16: I do want to talk about the Senate race, uh,
42:05
Speaker 16: even if we're not getting into your, your private voting decisions. Um,
42:10
Speaker 16: you know, the Senate leadership fund right now is spending
42:12
Speaker 16: well over a hundred million dollars in Texas, trying to
42:14
Speaker 16: make sure that Ken Paxton defeats James Tallarico. Do you
42:17
Speaker 16: think that's a good use of money?
42:19
Speaker 14: No, but they're going to have to do it. And then,
42:22
Speaker 14: and that's just the start. That's, that's enough through the
42:24
Speaker 14: end of September. Um, if John Cornyn were the nominee,
42:28
Speaker 14: this race would be over. But, um, You know, when
42:32
Speaker 14: you've got a guy who's got multiple girlfriends and $ 200, 000
42:36
Speaker 14: worth of improvements in his house from a corrupt business
42:39
Speaker 14: guy for whom he does favors. I mean, my personal
42:41
Speaker 14: favorite is the Uber account in the name of David P.
42:45
Speaker 14: Since he drives around in a car that has SO4
42:47
Speaker 14: license plates, it made it a little difficult to have
42:50
Speaker 14: assignations with one of his mistresses. So the corrupt business
42:53
Speaker 14: guy gives him the fake Uber account, and the records
42:56
Speaker 14: of that are now in his impeachment proceedings. So we
42:58
Speaker 14: know how often he went to have sex with Laura Olson.
43:01
Speaker 14: I mean, where can you, can you make?
43:02
Speaker 16: Like you said, these are all allegations that came up
43:06
Speaker 16: at his House impeachment or Senate impeachment trial in 2023.
43:09
Speaker 16: He was ultimately acquitted by the Republican.
43:13
Speaker 14: He was acquitted in the Republican Senate, found guilty in
43:15
Speaker 14: the Republican House, and now it's in the court of
43:17
Speaker 14: public opinion.
43:18
Speaker 15: And that's why this is a race.
43:21
Speaker 14: If it were not out there, if this were the
43:23
Speaker 14: normal Republican versus Democrat.
43:25
Speaker 15: This would not be a race. But it is a race.
43:28
Speaker 14: And, you know, look, I left him at home, but,
43:31
Speaker 14: I mean, in the last 48 hours, Theodore Cruz has
43:34
Speaker 14: reached out to me and says we're losing. Ken Paxton
43:37
Speaker 14: has sent me several emails saying I'm losing, I need
43:39
Speaker 14: your help. I mean, you know, even the Republicans are
43:42
Speaker 14: admitting that they're behind.
43:44
Speaker 1: That was former White House Chief of Staff and top
43:47
Speaker 1: Republican strategist Karl Rove at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
43:52
Speaker 1: He sat down with moderator, CNN reporter Patrick Svidek. One
43:58
Speaker 1: of the hot topics of discussion at the festival was
44:01
Speaker 1: immigration and the ICE shooting at Austin last Sunday. In
44:06
Speaker 1: a group panel discussing conditions inside ICE detention centers, U.S.
44:12
Speaker 1: Representative Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, Rochelle Garza, President of
44:17
Speaker 1: Texas Civil Rights Project, and Sigrid Gonzalez, Program Coordinator with
44:23
Speaker 1: Encuentro Project, they broke down what is happening with ICE
44:28
Speaker 1: and their unchecked power.
44:31
Speaker 17: Yeah, well, again, also, as Rochelle said, it's an honor
44:34
Speaker 17: to be here, and thank you, everybody, who came for
44:36
Speaker 17: this discussion on ICE and everything going on with immigrant detention. Yeah,
44:42
Speaker 17: I was in New York for a few days because
44:44
Speaker 17: I'm on the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee, so I
44:47
Speaker 17: was in New York for UN Week and was supposed
44:50
Speaker 17: to join Greg on that visit to see Wilbur, but
44:54
Speaker 17: got delayed six or seven hours in the Newark airport
44:58
Speaker 17: So I'll go visit him this coming week. But most
45:01
Speaker 17: of all, I want to say this. I believe the
45:03
Speaker 17: way they treated, ICE treated Wilbur, especially early on, amounted
45:06
Speaker 17: to torture. And I say that fully understanding what that means.
45:12
Speaker 17: They shot him in the back. The bullet was still
45:18
Speaker 17: inside him. They took him to the hospital and let
45:22
Speaker 17: him stay there only a few hours before they forced
45:24
Speaker 17: him out of the hospital. And as I understand, took
45:27
Speaker 17: him to a detention center where at times he was
45:31
Speaker 17: made to lie on the floor and was handcuffed. He
45:34
Speaker 17: was not allowed to speak to his family. He was
45:38
Speaker 17: in excruciating pain and let the ICE folks know that.
45:43
Speaker 17: And they did nothing about it. And it got so
45:45
Speaker 17: bad that they had to take him back to the
45:48
Speaker 17: hospital in San Antonio this time, I believe. But again,
45:53
Speaker 17: let him stay only a few hours there. before they
45:55
Speaker 17: took him to what is known as STPSI, or the
45:59
Speaker 17: South Texas Ice Processing Center in Pearsall, Texas. And he
46:03
Speaker 17: remained in pain. I think right before, about an hour
46:07
Speaker 17: before Greg got there is when they administered him a stronger,
46:15
Speaker 17: basically pain medicine to relieve some of that pain. And
46:19
Speaker 17: so to me, that amounts to torture, that you are
46:23
Speaker 17: torturing somebody. And remember, this is somebody without a criminal record,
46:28
Speaker 17: somebody who initially at least was allowed into the country,
46:31
Speaker 17: I think, through the CBP One app. So he had
46:33
Speaker 17: legal permission to come into the country. And now you'll
46:38
Speaker 17: hear a lot of folks decry the CBP One app
46:41
Speaker 17: because they don't like it, because it's become unpopular. But
46:44
Speaker 17: the reason that that system was developed is because you
46:48
Speaker 17: remember folks were clamoring for an orderly and efficient way
46:52
Speaker 17: to allow people to apply from afar for orderly entry
46:57
Speaker 17: into the United States. And so the Biden administration set
47:01
Speaker 17: up that way to allow people to do that. And
47:04
Speaker 17: Wilbur was one of the many people, including one of
47:06
Speaker 17: the many people who are sitting in detention centers right now,
47:09
Speaker 17: who came in through that orderly process.
47:11
Speaker 18: And I'm actually going to have Sigrid explain CBP1 really quick.
47:15
Speaker 18: But before we do that, the Department of Homeland Security
47:19
Speaker 18: did issue kind of what they call correct the record requirements.
47:23
Speaker 18: debunking what they call false narratives about the shooting here
47:27
Speaker 18: in Austin. And in it, they say, right, that it
47:30
Speaker 18: was not up to ICE whether he was released from
47:32
Speaker 18: the hospital or not or whether the bullet was left
47:35
Speaker 18: in him. They say that he did not sleep on
47:38
Speaker 18: the floor, that he was receiving pain medication. What do
47:41
Speaker 18: you respond to the administration's claims that, you know, the
47:45
Speaker 18: information that's coming out and many of us have reported is.
47:49
Speaker 17: Yeah, I mean, well, generally, you think about who we're
47:52
Speaker 17: dealing with These are folks that lied about the shooting
47:55
Speaker 17: of Rene Good and Alex Preddy. And we know that
48:00
Speaker 17: he told his family that when he was in the hospital,
48:04
Speaker 17: the main doctor was not talking to him. The doctor
48:08
Speaker 17: was talking to the ICE officers. So they weren't even
48:12
Speaker 17: really dealing with their patient. And, you know, there are
48:15
Speaker 17: a lot of issues here. One of them is why
48:18
Speaker 17: DoorDash hasn't said anything this whole time. But another is
48:23
Speaker 17: the protocols. I think he was at Dell. Why Dell
48:27
Speaker 17: allowed him to be, if somebody got shot in the back,
48:30
Speaker 17: why you would let them go a few hours later?
48:32
Speaker 17: And the same thing in San Antonio, probably a university hospital,
48:35
Speaker 17: why they would allow for that. But no, ICE has
48:39
Speaker 17: very strict controls over the people.
48:42
Speaker 3: In their custody.
48:45
Speaker 19: I mean, I just want to point out that this
48:48
Speaker 19: is a hospital, right? Hospitals are supposed to be places
48:54
Speaker 19: of sanctuary for health, for stabilization, for taking care of
48:59
Speaker 19: an individual that has gone through something extremely traumatic physically, emotionally,
49:03
Speaker 19: whatever it may be. And the fact that ICE could
49:07
Speaker 19: book him into custody in a hospital should shock the
49:10
Speaker 19: conscience of every Texan and every American. That is something
49:16
Speaker 19: that is horrific to see happen. It actually turns my stomach.
49:20
Speaker 19: But this is an agency that has lied about so
49:24
Speaker 19: many shootings. And Wilbur's case actually reminds me of Marimar
49:28
Speaker 19: Martinez in Chicago, a Montessori school teacher who was just
49:34
Speaker 19: warning her neighbors, hey, migras out here, you guys be careful.
49:39
Speaker 19: And what did they do? They shot her five times.
49:41
Speaker 19: And then the officers bragged about it. And then they
49:44
Speaker 19: slapped her with criminal charges. They lied about what happened there.
49:49
Speaker 19: They've lied about other shootings. And they're going to continue
49:53
Speaker 19: to lie. So I don't believe anything that they've said
49:55
Speaker 19: regarding Wilbur's case.
49:57
Speaker 18: And Sita, I mean, you had been part of, you know,
50:00
Speaker 18: before your current work on CBP, and you were involved
50:04
Speaker 18: with the Biden administration when, you know, with with CBP-1
50:07
Speaker 18: and what the Congressman's referencing. And I think it's important
50:09
Speaker 18: to go a little bit into CBP-1 because a lot
50:12
Speaker 18: of the people that we're seeing in detention are people
50:14
Speaker 18: precisely who came in through CBP-1 and under the current administration,
50:19
Speaker 18: they're saying they did not enter lawfully. And there are
50:23
Speaker 18: things that CBP-1 did and did not do. Can you,
50:25
Speaker 18: just for those who are not as familiar, walk us
50:29
Speaker 18: just quickly as to what it is and what it
50:32
Speaker 18: isn't and why we're seeing it come back now?
50:35
Speaker 2: Of course.
50:36
Speaker 7: CVP-1 is an application.
50:38
Speaker 20: A lot of people did mistake it for actually as
50:42
Speaker 20: soon as you got a CVP-1 appointment, they thought they
50:44
Speaker 20: got asylum, right? But no, it is just an application
50:47
Speaker 20: that gave you an appointment in order for you to
50:49
Speaker 20: present at eight different ports of entry where 1,450 people were.
50:56
Speaker 7: Processed every single day.
50:58
Speaker 20: This was developed in January 2021.
51:04
Speaker 7: Four, I believe, or 23.
51:09
Speaker 20: And this was because the amount of people that were
51:13
Speaker 20: at the border was just tremendous, right? And we needed
51:16
Speaker 20: to give a pathway in order for them not to
51:19
Speaker 20: go irregularly between the ports of entry. And so this
51:24
Speaker 20: was developed with the White House and DHS to give
51:31
Speaker 20: the opportunity to relieve the border in the beginning. This
51:35
Speaker 20: was only allowed to, you were only able to apply
51:39
Speaker 20: for a CVP-1 appointment from Mexico City north.
51:44
Speaker 7: And again, this was to alleviate the border, right?
51:47
Speaker 20: Afterwards, it was expanded to Chiapas and Villahermosa area. So
51:54
Speaker 20: in order, since they were deportations and flights that were
51:58
Speaker 20: done to southern Mexico.
52:00
Speaker 7: So to give opportunity to the.
52:01
Speaker 20: People that had gone irregularly were turned back to Mexico
52:06
Speaker 20: in order for them to have a shot at an appointment.
52:10
Speaker 20: And again, this was 1450, 1,400 people. and 50 appointments
52:15
Speaker 20: every single day. And this was very extremely helpful because
52:21
Speaker 20: every single port of entry got ready, right, with the
52:24
Speaker 20: amount of officers to be able to process the people
52:28
Speaker 20: and even NGOs and hospitality sites in general, local governments included,
52:34
Speaker 20: to prepare themselves as to how many people were potentially
52:37
Speaker 20: going to be released every day.
52:39
Speaker 7: Like in El Paso, it was 222 people.
52:42
Speaker 20: In El Paso, 222 people showed up at different stages.
52:48
Speaker 7: One group was in the morning, one was in the afternoon,
52:51
Speaker 7: and they were processed.
52:52
Speaker 20: There were enough officers at the ports of entry for
52:56
Speaker 20: them to process them.
52:57
Speaker 7: If there was no background....
53:02
Speaker 20: On the individual, they were able to be processed and
53:07
Speaker 20: released into an NGO or a hospitality size where then
53:11
Speaker 20: even the hospitality sites were able to be prepared to
53:15
Speaker 20: have 222 sandwiches, enough volunteers, etc.
53:18
Speaker 7: But a key thing.
53:20
Speaker 20: About CBP-1 is that it gave parole for two years.
53:25
Speaker 20: and that was very important, and this is why we're
53:28
Speaker 20: seeing a lot of people that did have a work authorization, right?
53:32
Speaker 20: So we also partner up with USCIS in order for
53:35
Speaker 20: there to be an expedited process for a lot of
53:38
Speaker 20: the work authorizations for whoever got a CVP-1 appointment.
53:43
Speaker 1: That was some of the panel discussion on the situation
53:46
Speaker 1: with ICE. We caught up with the congressman after the
53:50
Speaker 1: discussion for an update on the Dilley Detention Center and
53:54
Speaker 1: also the Austin shooting.
53:56
Speaker 17: No, I mean, what happened in Austin was another tragic
53:59
Speaker 17: example of ICE shooting first and asking questions later. And
54:03
Speaker 17: the way they treated Wilbur, especially in those first few days,
54:05
Speaker 17: I think amounts to torture. And so, you know, that's
54:11
Speaker 17: why we need to change the system.
54:13
Speaker 5: And Dilley, how close are we for trying to close
54:16
Speaker 5: the facility?
54:17
Speaker 17: Dilley, you know, we need to end child detention. And
54:20
Speaker 17: that starts with the Dilley Detention Center. And, you know,
54:23
Speaker 17: it's a work in progress, and I hope people will
54:25
Speaker 17: keep speaking up. But I know that it's possible because
54:28
Speaker 17: it was shut down before in 2024, and I think
54:32
Speaker 17: we can get it shut down again.
54:33
Speaker 5: Some people in Houston are talking about these facilities being
54:35
Speaker 5: used for house homeless people after, you know, after it's
54:39
Speaker 5: all said and done. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. Prison's
54:43
Speaker 5: a private prison.
54:44
Speaker 17: Yeah, you know, I don't know. I'm sure there'll be
54:47
Speaker 17: plenty of discussion about how facilities will be used eventually,
54:50
Speaker 17: including in Dilley. Right now, I've been focusing on trying
54:54
Speaker 17: to get a lot of these families out of there
54:55
Speaker 17: because they've been languishing for months. People who committed no crime,
54:59
Speaker 17: who haven't hurt anybody. And so, you know, we're going
55:02
Speaker 17: to keep.
55:03
Speaker 2: Pushing on that.
55:05
Speaker 3: That was U.S.
55:05
Speaker 1: Representative Joaquin Castro of San Antonio. In Houston professional soccer,
55:13
Speaker 1: the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League was
55:16
Speaker 1: on the road and played Portland Thorn FC to a
55:20
Speaker 1: 1-1 draw. breaking a two-game losing streak. They play next
55:25
Speaker 1: week in Houston on Sunday, October the 4th at Shell
55:29
Speaker 1: Stadium against the Washington Spirit, which will be pups at
55:33
Speaker 1: the pitch, where you can bring your dog to the match.
55:37
Speaker 1: The Houston Dynamo playing at home against the Sporting KC
55:41
Speaker 1: during this international men's break. They were down to 10
55:44
Speaker 1: men and were not able to overcome, as they lost 2-0.
55:49
Speaker 1: They go on the road playing Minnesota United FC on
55:52
Speaker 1: October 10th and San Diego on the 14th. Hi, this
55:57
Speaker 1: is Steve Gallington, producer and host for the People's News.
56:02
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56:07
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56:12
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56:16
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56:21
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56:25
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56:29
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56:33
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