Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / Florida Lt Gov Jay Collins Talks Illegal Immigration

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Florida Lt Gov Jay Collins Talks Illegal Immigration · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Five minutes past the hour This Morning Show with Preston Scott.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Great to be with you. Third hour of the program.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: It is show five, four hundred and fifty five. That
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: is Jose in Studio one A. I'm here in Studio
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: one B, and I am thrilled to have with me.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: First time i've had Jay Collins on the program. Served
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: as a state senator from District fourteen and then was
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: chosen by Governor Rond de Santas to be Lieutenant Governor
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Jay Collins. Jay, but more than any of that, thank
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you for your service to our country. I appreciate you
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: joining me this morning.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: How are you man, I'm doing good this morning. How
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: are you guys doing well?
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I originally told the staff
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: that you were going to come in studio, and I
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: want to thank you because you had a desired effect.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I've never seen the other side of our building so
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: cleaned and straightened up ever, and so I sent the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: notice out. Sorry he's calling, but thank you for cleaning
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: up anyway. It was brilliant.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Well, I was looking forward to being in studio. I
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: truly was. That's very time. Tell them thank you. I
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: look forward to seeing it next time around, and.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I told him I might just announce that you're coming,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: you know, every other month. It worked out great for me.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I'll be the god behind the shadows.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: That's it. That's exactly right. How big of a difference
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: is it to move from the state Senate to now
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: a position as lieutenant governor.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Well, honestly, more than anything, my focus, I want people
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: to know my focus is the same. It's about giving back,
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: making the biggest difference I can here in the state
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: of Florida. If you're gonna get dressed up and wear
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: a student tie every day, you better get something done right.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: So in terms of job responsibility, you know, I have
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: a great opportunity to touch base with really anything and
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: everything that goes on in the state, to be a
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: part of that, to lead from the front to you know,
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: help influence or move them forward. It's been a blessing.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Now it's certainly busy, but on the other side of that,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: I just have one job. I'm singularly focused on the
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: state of Florida, and honestly, that is an incredible blessing
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: to have that singularity of focus, the one you know,
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  Speaker 2: no spare jobs. I'm taking care of my family, I'm
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: taking care of the state and that is where we're at,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: and I love doing the job. I'm so blessed to
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: be the twenty first Lieutenant Governor of Florida.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Update us on the status of Alligator Alcatraz. We had
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: a judge say for a lot of really silly reasons,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: now that's to shut down. We saw the cooperation with that,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: but then all of a sudden that ruling was basically
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: put on hold. So is Alligator Alcatraz still operating? Is
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: it bringing people back in? Update us on the entire
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: illegal immigration enforcement model here what we're doing in Florida.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, this is the same game, different day. Right.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: The fact is Florida leads from the front. Our two
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: eighty seven g approach at the state level leads the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: way across the name. I think you have to cobble
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: together the next three or four states together get even
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: close to what our output has been. So why is
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: that Governor Santis is an absolute bold conservative as is
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I think I've heard the first lady say, is steely
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: eyed Missilman. Right, he knows what right is. He steps
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: into the breach and he does what does what's right.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: And we're very blessed for that. Alligator Alcatraz is open.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: We knew activist judges were going to attack us. We
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: knew that that would get overturned. Just as sure as
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: the suns are going to come up, activist judges are
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: going to do what they do. That just is the game,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the left tride. They're lost. We're going to move forward.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: There's a complete stay and you know we are open
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: for business at Alligator Alcatraz Deportation Depot is up and
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: moving and does even talk of the Panhandle, Pokey. We
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: are committed to a legal immigration. I want to remind
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: people this isn't a Republican thing. It's not a Democrat thing.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: This is an American thing. People across the nation, and
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: absolutely unequivocally across Florida has said, take care of a
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: legal immigration. This is a problem. It's costing lives, it's
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: costing dollars, and we believe it has to be fixed now.
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  Speaker 2: President Trump listened. Governor de Santis listen. I would love
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: to see other governors step in, step up and do
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: what we do here in Florida.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins with me this morning. He's going
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to join us for a couple more segments more to
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: come here on the Morning Show with Preston Scott bowing
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: you down.
• 4:26
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• 4:29
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  Speaker 3: the traffic sentneri'me Shaye tab.
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: It has been very dry so far this month and
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: we're running about three inches below average and rainfall just
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  Speaker 4: for the month. No sign to rain through Saturday. Just
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  Speaker 4: sunshine ninety two today, ninety two tomorrow. I've use radio
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• 5:24
  Speaker 1: The Morning Show with Preston Scott. Do you understand the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: words that are coming out.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: Of my mouth?
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I use Radio one hundred point seven Double UFLA Morning
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Show with Preston Scott, Lieutenant Governor j Collins with us.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: We chronicle on this program all of the time the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: crimes that are being committed, the vicious crimes, violent crimes
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: being committed by illegal immigrants that are in this country.
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  Speaker 1: We have we have pointed it out to you and
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Governor, you were asked by the governor to go
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: to California to bring back the truck driver who killed
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: three Floridians on the Florida Turnpike. Did you have an
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: interaction with him?
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  Speaker 2: You know, Preston, thank you for that. You know, we
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: had a very limited interaction in terms of conversation. He's
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: very quiet, kept his head down.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: Really.
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  Speaker 2: The one thing he talked about was Chick fil A
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: when we stopped and we needed to eat, right. That
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: was it. Other than that, again, no signs of concern, remorse,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: nothing whatsoever. But in the end, you know, why do
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: we do that. It's important to lead from the front.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: I think it's absolutely, unequivocally necessary to have your leader
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: step up and be there when things can go sideways,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: to lead from the most difficult place. We didn't know
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: what Gavin was going to do. We had to step up.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: We needed to have somebody there, and I'm grateful that
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: the Governor put his in me to go there, accomplish
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: a mission, and bring him home. And in the end,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: three people will you know, have their killers day in court,
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: and it's heartbreaking. Three lives had to be ended early
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: because this guy couldn't read road signs because he didn't
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: know how to do what he's supposed to do safely,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: and two states failed to take illegal immigration seriously, it's
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: just not going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: I have longed, I have long positive, Lieutenant Governor, that
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: many Democrats that support illegal immigration, they don't care about
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  Speaker 1: the collateral damage. It is a means to an end
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: and they're, you know, sorry it happened, but it's okay
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: in the grander scheme of things. But at the same time,
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: I couldn't help but notice that our Attorney general wanted
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the subpoena the company that had hired this truck driver,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: suggesting why are we employing illegal immigrants? But yet here
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: in Florida. The Republican Party has stood in the way
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: and refuses to close loopholes and everify. Why are we
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: not going after employers of illegal immigrants that are knowingly
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: employing them here in this state.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you, Preston, that's a great question. And
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: the root issue is this, we need to put up.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: It's about deeds, not words. Right, we got to put up.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: We got to shut or, we got to shut up.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: We've got to follow through with our our our what
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: we ran on. Frankly, the governor's left in the front
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: has been very clear on this. I have made my
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: points incredibly clear on where I stand that on legal immigration,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: have been very clear what the expectations are, and now
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: we have to move those things forward. And the fact
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: is this. I am grateful that James Athmeyer, our Attorney General,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: did that that he is holding these people accountable. But
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: we absolutely have to take this serious. We have to
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: understand that Floordans, American people, they want to see this fixed.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: We have to understand that we do need to verify,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: but we also have to make a decision. I believe
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: that our economy will be just fun. The jobs will rework,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: they'll adjust and business will go about it. But we
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: have to be strong and bold in trying to solve
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: this problem. I think that's the next next phase of this.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: We have to keep working together, take this thing seriously,
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  Speaker 2: and take it to the next step.
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  Speaker 1: But do you understand, And I know you do in
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: great regard and respect to you, sir, but it rings
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: a little hollow because the Republicans are the ones that
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: stopped the efforts. It was political because Jason Pizzo was
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: advancing legislation. But Jason Pizzo, when he was a Democrat,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: was only addressing half of the Everify loophole. There are
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: multiple loopholes in e Verify, and employers are using them,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and Republicans did not find it convenient to deal with it,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: nor did they want to talk about it. I want
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: to just give you this little fact that you'll find interesting.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I've done this show for twenty three years. It's the
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: first time in twenty three years a Republican lawmaker would
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: not come on the show because I said I wanted
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: to talk about Everify. No one would come on the show.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: No one.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: I would to come on the show. I didn't know
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: there was an opportunity. Preston but well.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Sadly, and I mean sadly and in all fairness, and
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: I told your staff I was going to bring this
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: up sadly when you were a state senator. I got
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: a call from your team wanting to talk about a
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: farm bill. I said, I'm happy to talk about it.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: I just want to talk about Everify. They would not
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: book you. They refused to have you come on the program,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: and so and I don't believe, and I believe for
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: I completely believe you knew nothing about that. But I'm
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: just telling you that's how deeply seated this protection is
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: by the GOP of Everify.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Well, Preston, I will tell you. I make it a
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: point to dig into my calendar to understand what's going
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: on and to make sure that I'm on the right
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: side of the issues. We'll dig into that, we'll figure
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: out what happened, hoping that and what I expect from
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: my team back there is that they did that calendar
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: is just in line for whatever we were trying to do.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: But if there was something more, well we'll come to
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: grips with that. But the bottom line is this, We've
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: got to fix the problem. Yeah, and this isn't about politics.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: It is about people. It's about solving these problems, absolutely
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: about moving forward, and it's about safety, security and our
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: economy and making sure this works. And no, I appreciate
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: you bringing.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: That up, though, Preston, all right, little miscommunication with the staff.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: He had another interview book that started two minutes ago,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: and I respect that they had reached out to me
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: yesterday and said, look, the calendar got pretty jammed. That's
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: why he's not going to be able to come in.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: No problem, listens, he he is not afraid of the issue.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I am of the opinion that and I'm getting a
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: lot of response from people about him kind of sort
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: of not answering my question. He was blindsided. Now. I
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: warned his staff that I was going to bring up everify,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: and they said, hey, no problem. Cool. But I also
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: am aware that staffs, and I just know this, sometimes
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: a staff does not want to expose a sitting elected
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: member of the legislature to a question or an uncomfortable topic.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: So when he was a state senator and they called
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and asked about a farm bill, I was all in
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: on the farm bill. He headed up the Agriculture Committee.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: In fact, specifically, when he was a state senator, he
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: was the chairman of the Agriculture and Transportation committees. Happy
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: to advance, I said, I simply want to make sure
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: we carve out time to talk about Everify. At that point,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: the request to have him on the show ended. Unlest
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: anybody think, well it could have been a scheduling thing. Yeah,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: it could have been, and it could have been for
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: what every lawmaker in the state of Florida because none
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: of them would touch the issue, none of them. This
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: is a problem for the Florida Republicans and a problem
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: for the Florida Chamber of Commerce because they will not
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: publicly deal with the loopholes and you Verify. Look, there's
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: only so much you can do as an employer, but
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: you have to do what you can do. And the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: only way you fix this problem is by holding employers accountable.
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Well that's fine, Preston, but you don't know. Prices will
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: go up. Yeah, okay, why are they down because you're
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: paying under the table, because you're paying them less than
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: you would pay somebody else to do that job. Because
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: you know you've got them in a corner. They're here
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: legally and you know it. Now, there's another side of this,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the other side of This is the assumption that everybody
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: that you see that is uh Hispanic is here illegally.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: That's just not true. They're not. Are there people here
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: legally that have refused to learn the language, Yes, shame
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: on them. They're living in the greatest country in the
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: world and they are hindering themselves. But we can't afford
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: to throw that blanket on everybody and say, oh, they're
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: they're they're not speaking the language, and there they look
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: like they're from Honduras or or they look like they're
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: from Guatemala, or they look like they're they're here from
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Venezuela or Mexico. They must be here illegally. No, they
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: must not be. They might be, you could even say
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: likely could be, but we cannot say u a ah
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: unless we know. I know, and so do you know
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: that there are certain trades that employ illegal immigrants. And
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: I told you when this happened, I was not letting
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: go of this. I was not letting go of this issue.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: Why because every dog one week I'm reading about illegal
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: immigrants killing people, and they have to be sustained somehow.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: How are they being sustained. They're being sustained by people
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: employing them I am not letting go of this. My
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: wife will tell you if I grab hold of something,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I do not let go. This is deeply personal to me.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: I apologize to no one. I hope the awareness of
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the situation now and the fact that it has been
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: run from by the legislature and a key organization that
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I love and respect dearly, but is just wrong on
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: this issue. They are wrong. They need to be calling
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: for their members, they need to be calling for change. Well,
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: you don't understand the complexity. Oh cry a river to
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: somebody else. Tell that to Lake and Riley's family. Tell
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: that to the family of the people that died on
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: that turnpike. Tell that to the family of the people
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: that are being murdered and raped in Florida. Yeah, the complainton, Yeah,
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: tell that to them. Spare me. I'm grateful Jay Collins
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: came on the program. He is a hero. I'm not
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: going to hold it against him. I don't know that
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: he knew anything about being being asked to come on
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: this show, no idea. I just know I've been doing
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: this for a while and I didn't have any state
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: lawmakers this year because I wanted to talk about eve Verify.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: Now you tell me what that means. He offered on
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the break to come back every week if I wanted him.
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I don't need him to come on the show every week,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: but i'd love to have him once a month. Absolutely,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: he'd be welcome. You know why, because he's a hero,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: and I believe he cares. I believe he cares about
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: this state. And I think he's actually liberated a little
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: bit being a lieutenant governor versus a member of the
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: state Senate. I think he's in a better position. That's
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: what I think. Twenty eight minutes after the hour, Sorry
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: about that. No, I'm not. I'm not sorry about it.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry about that.