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Popcorn Moment: Rokita talks about Immigration enforcement, Birthright Citizenship and Joe Hogsett · Tony Katz | Popcorn Moment

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Popcorn moment. Let's go, let's go, Let's go, Let's go.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: It's the story you need to hear to believe. Then
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: grab your popcorn, because there is more, you know. This
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  Speaker 1: starts with this story from a mirror Indie in The
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  Speaker 1: Indie Star about Mayor Joe hanks Set about ideas of influence,
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  Speaker 1: about how if you donated to his campaign you got
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: maybe opportunity. Quote. Staffers also say they were repeatedly pressured
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: by senior administration officials to volunteer for hawk Set's campaign
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  Speaker 1: in ways they now believe we're n ethical. One expert
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  Speaker 1: said city officials potentially violated Indiana's ghost employment law and
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  Speaker 1: the federal Hatch Act. So not only do we have
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  Speaker 1: people who donated possibly getting favors, that's the part of
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  Speaker 1: the allegation you have this with staffers. When asked about this,
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  Speaker 1: the Mayor Joe hogg Set spoke as follows, let me
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  Speaker 1: tell you something. If you're reporting, which has been extensive,
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  Speaker 1: to say the least, is not sufficient for the people
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  Speaker 1: of Indianapolis to identify and make their own judgments about
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  Speaker 1: whether any wrong wrongdoing occur.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I don't believe any lengthy, expensive further investigation is necessary.
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  Speaker 1: So that's the mayor saying that if the Mirror Indie
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  Speaker 1: Indie Star reporting isn't enough for the people of Indiana,
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  Speaker 1: for the people of Indianapolis, well we don't need any investigations.
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  Speaker 1: The question is Dewey, the Attorney General, joins me. Right now,
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  Speaker 1: Todd Rakeita is on the line, Sir, I want to
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  Speaker 1: get to that, But allow me to start where I start,
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  Speaker 1: which is what's going on with Monroe County where you
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  Speaker 1: have the possible violation of the Indiana Constitution. This regarding
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  Speaker 1: immigration law. There's this constant conversation about whether or not
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  Speaker 1: the cities and municipalities are going to comply with ICE
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  Speaker 1: Immigration Customs Enforcement. Your demands that Merrillville comply with ICE
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  Speaker 1: or face a lawsuit? Can you walk me through what's
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  Speaker 1: going on here?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll probably need a couple more segments, But forget's
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  Speaker 2: out with Monroe. With Monroe County, you know, we have
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  Speaker 2: a sheriff that wants to put legal aliens above his citizens,
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  Speaker 2: as simple as that. So he sued on the Fairness Act.
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  Speaker 2: That's the new law that we have takes effect today.
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  Speaker 2: Gives me enforcement authority to make sure that local officials
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  Speaker 2: are helping cooperating with federal law enforcement partners like ICE,
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  Speaker 2: because as taxpayers we should expect that. We shouldn't expect
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  Speaker 2: locals to fight federals, and federals fight locals that sort
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  Speaker 2: of thing. So it's a good law. You've covered it extensively.
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  Speaker 2: It starts today. The Monroe County Sheriff sued me so
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  Speaker 2: that I couldn't enforce it, saying it violated the Constitution.
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  Speaker 2: It does not. We got a good win in court yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: The court struck down most of his arguments, but said, hey,
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  Speaker 2: you know, let's not let him comply with it. Monroe
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  Speaker 2: County comply with it while the case plays out. So
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  Speaker 2: there's an injunction in place where he doesn't have to
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  Speaker 2: follow the law and he'll continue putting illegal aliens about citizens,
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  Speaker 2: but the rest of the counties do, and we'll eventually
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  Speaker 2: win that case. And then in Maryville, they were going around.
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  Speaker 2: Ice wanted to put a ICE detention facility up in Maryville,
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  Speaker 2: my home county, and they had a real estate broker.
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  Speaker 2: They were going around looking. The Maryville Town Council got
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  Speaker 2: wind of it, put our resolution out saying hey, we're
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  Speaker 2: not going to we don't want to support Ice in
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  Speaker 2: any way basically what it said. And then we have
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  Speaker 2: evidence of the town council members and maybe some of
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  Speaker 2: their employees going around shutting down the real estate between
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  Speaker 2: a private individual and the federal government. You know, put
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  Speaker 2: this attention there. Uh so there was a bullying aspect
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  Speaker 2: to this, and so I recently wrote Maraville letters and hey,
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  Speaker 2: you know that that's a violation of our anti sanctuary
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  Speaker 2: city law in effect, and I'm going to assue you
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  Speaker 2: if you don't stop. And they sort of backed away
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  Speaker 2: already saying, hey, we we didn't do any of that.
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  Speaker 2: But I have the evidence of my file and uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Ice gave it to me, and so we'll
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  Speaker 2: we'll we'll continue probably to dig into that unless Maryville
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  Speaker 2: rescinds its resolution and apologizes to these landowners who who
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  Speaker 2: were trying to do a legal valor real estate deal.
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  Speaker 1: Let me let me go back a moment, sir, because
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  Speaker 1: that was a lot you just unloaded. But I want
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  Speaker 1: to go back to this fair line touched me well,
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  Speaker 1: I asked, because I wanted to know, but I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to make sure I hit them in there in their pieces.
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  Speaker 1: I know why I asked, I do this for a
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  Speaker 1: living sir. Uh. The Fairness Act, which yes, goes into
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  Speaker 1: a today, and if we take a look at it,
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  Speaker 1: if bars employers in Indiana from knowingly or intentionally recruiting, hiring,
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  Speaker 1: or continuing to employ undocumented immigrants. Now, the enforcement being
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  Speaker 1: handled by your office, that certainly does make it different.
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  Speaker 1: But what is different between that and what we would
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  Speaker 1: normally expect to be done regarding things like everify in
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  Speaker 1: not hiring these people. Is this Is this a law
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  Speaker 1: on top of something that's already law.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's an addition. This is the first time. And
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  Speaker 2: that's a great question that the Attorney General has been in. Really,
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  Speaker 2: states have been more active partners with helping their federal
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  Speaker 2: partners clean up illegal immigration. You know, there's that argument, oh,
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  Speaker 2: that's just a federal issue. You know, I got that
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  Speaker 2: a lot as I was going around the state and
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  Speaker 2: for trying to get illegal aliens out of here. And
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  Speaker 2: we still do it, and the left still argues that, well, no,
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  Speaker 2: taxpayers should expect a holistic approach to this, and they're
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  Speaker 2: going to get that with the f I expect it
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  Speaker 2: to be a model to be followed by other states.
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  Speaker 2: So what I'm doing now is not only making sure
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  Speaker 2: local law enforcement local government follows, it helps our federal partners,
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  Speaker 2: like I just explained to my last answer with Merraville
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  Speaker 2: in Monroe County, and we also got lawsuits with at
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  Speaker 2: least two other county sheriffs who just don't want to again,
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  Speaker 2: who don't want to put their citizens above illegal aliens.
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  Speaker 2: But now I'll be able to look at businesses. Now
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  Speaker 2: there's a safe harbor with e Verify. If a business
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  Speaker 2: uses the verify and you verify was wrong, that's okay,
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  Speaker 2: they're not liable. But if a business knowingly and intentionally
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  Speaker 2: hires I llegal aliens, they're going to be sued by me.
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  Speaker 2: And we're going to be taking information from the public.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to be taking information perhaps from competitors if
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  Speaker 2: it's good faith and valid. I have union partners involved,
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  Speaker 2: I have non union partners involved. I just did. I
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  Speaker 2: was just up in Mishawauka yesterday with Associated Builders and Contractors.
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  Speaker 2: They're a non union shop and they've pledged their support
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  Speaker 2: because they use their to your question, and you know
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  Speaker 2: then I was at in Signey Hotel a couple of
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  Speaker 2: weeks ago with our union partners and they pledged to
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  Speaker 2: do things the right way and help alert me to
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  Speaker 2: people that aren't businesses that aren't.
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  Speaker 1: Talking to the Attorney General of Indiana, Todd Rokita. A
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  Speaker 1: lot of this plays into the birthright citizenship decision from
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  Speaker 1: the Supreme Court five to four decision upholding this, saying
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  Speaker 1: that the fourteenth Amendment is a plane reading of the text.
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  Speaker 1: If you're born in the United States, you are a
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  Speaker 1: United States citizen. Your commentary is quote, this Constitution is
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  Speaker 1: not a suicide pack. It has never required the US
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  Speaker 1: to recognize birthright citizenship. Scotus got this seriously wrong, and
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  Speaker 1: its decision we'll have damaging consequences before we get into
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  Speaker 1: the Mayor of Indianapolis. How do you think this gets
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  Speaker 1: pushed back on? Are there other lawsuits to bring in
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  Speaker 1: to a different court.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be very difficult. I mean, I
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  Speaker 2: think you're looking at different judges eventually coming on the
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  Speaker 2: court that might be uh more reasonable with with the
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  Speaker 2: plan language of the Constitution, your your guests before. I
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  Speaker 2: was listening a little bit, and he's exactly right. You know,
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  Speaker 2: where every word in the Constitution has a meaning, or
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  Speaker 2: our founders wouldn't have put it there. You know, there
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  Speaker 2: wasn't time for throwaway lines and jurisdiction thereof is the
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  Speaker 2: key and uh and the majority simply ignored it. And
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  Speaker 2: it's been it's going to be a setback. Uh you know,
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  Speaker 2: well to your to your other guests. Yeah, it's not
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  Speaker 2: a set bout what happened. What was yesterday is now today.
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  Speaker 2: But we really had a chance to get this right
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  Speaker 2: and again put us citizens above others, which our constitution
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  Speaker 2: focuses on, as supposed account focused on.
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  Speaker 1: We're not going to have that now.
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  Speaker 2: Uh So we're the only way around this is different justices.
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  Speaker 1: William Jacobs saying, Cornell Law professor, Legal Insurrection dot com.
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  Speaker 1: I have those videos up in that interview up at
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  Speaker 1: WIBC dot com. But now let's bring it over to
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  Speaker 1: this reporting from Mirror Indie and The Indie Star. This
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  Speaker 1: regard a arding the Mayor of Indianapolis, Joe hog Set.
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  Speaker 1: The headline Hogseet vowed to fight insiders his campaign advanced
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  Speaker 1: their interests behind closed doors. Mayor hog Set himself saying
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  Speaker 1: if the reporting isn't enough for Indianapolis, it's so extensive,
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what an investigation will bring. This is reporting.
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  Speaker 1: The question is does this kind of reporting make its
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  Speaker 1: way to your desk? And is this the kind of
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  Speaker 1: thing that the Attorney General's office could be investigating the
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: idea of quid pro quo.
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  Speaker 2: Short answer, No, it's not allowed by the General Assembly,
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  Speaker 2: and really they need to fix this. And quite honestly, Tony,
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  Speaker 2: it's not just Indianapolis. This is a problem in a
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  Speaker 2: lot of counties, maybe all of our counties. None of
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  Speaker 2: the counties have a code of ethics, maybe some do.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know of any. There's no enforcement mechanism at
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  Speaker 2: the state level, you know, it's all under that home
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  Speaker 2: rule and separately elected officials. Many to this as the
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: next election and that's it. And as a result, you
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  Speaker 2: see stuff like this. The only way I'm allowed under
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  Speaker 2: the law to get involved the Attorney General's office is
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  Speaker 2: if the State Board of Accounts goes in with their jurisdiction,
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  Speaker 2: does an audit in the normal course of business, and
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: in the audit findings they come up with all these
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  Speaker 2: findings like mirror indian and did, and there's a financial
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  Speaker 2: component to it, then I would go collect the money.
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  Speaker 2: That's the only jurisdiction here. My Senator Mike Young, a
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  Speaker 2: friend put in a great piece of legislation. As a start,
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  Speaker 2: he said, you know what, let's at least do the
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  Speaker 2: Miles Square of Indianapolis. You know, there's so many state
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  Speaker 2: assets there, just like there's a lot of federal government
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  Speaker 2: assets in Washington, d C. And the federal government has
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  Speaker 2: say over Washington, d C. Let's do the same in
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  Speaker 2: the capital city. Let's have the attorney general be the
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  Speaker 2: prosecutor of the Miles Square area downtown. And I don't
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  Speaker 2: think that went anywhere. It should have gone somewhere. It
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  Speaker 2: would have been a good basis to address a lot
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  Speaker 2: of your questions. Or you can do what a lot
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  Speaker 2: of other states do, and that is give the attorney
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  Speaker 2: general concurrent criminal jurisdiction over everywhere in the state. But
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  Speaker 2: the prosecutors. Prosecutors religiously guard their ability to file criminal
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  Speaker 2: charges so that it's exclusive to them. I mean, they
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  Speaker 2: will not give an inch on that. They fight that
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  Speaker 2: they fought it for years. It's not anything personal to me.
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  Speaker 2: They fought Attorney's General before they fight the General Assembly.
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  Speaker 2: They water it down. So it's interesting that some of
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  Speaker 2: these local officials, mayors, and prosecutors are complaining about mirrors. Now.
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  Speaker 1: One way to correct.
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  Speaker 2: That is to do what other states do and give
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  Speaker 2: the attorney general a concurrent criminals jurisdiction because you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'll honey badge of that.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you know I'll get on it. I'll get
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  Speaker 1: on it.
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  Speaker 2: But they want to protect their exclusive discretion whether or
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  Speaker 2: not to file criminal charges.
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General Todd Rokeita, Attorney General of Indiana. I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: you taking the time time to be with us. Have
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: a very good Independence Day. We'll get to traffic in
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  Speaker 1: a few minutes. Tony Katz at ninety three WIBC, Good morning,