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How Florida Avoids Illegal Immigration Chaos · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Thirty five past the hour. It is Monday morning, Ruminators.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us wherever however, we appreciate you sharing time.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Try to make it worth your while with some great guests.
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  Speaker 1: We'll switch from talking to little FSU football to now
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  Speaker 1: talking with the Lieutenant governor or the Sunshine State, the LGJ.
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  Speaker 1: Collins Lieutenant Governor. How are you today?
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing well this morning. How are you doing?
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing pretty good. Licking our wounds as a seminole fan,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: but that's okay. Comes with the territory of following sports. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: tell me something as you're watching what's going on in Portland, Oregon,
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  Speaker 1: in Chicago, in California? What has been happening all across
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  Speaker 1: the country with efforts to try to deal with the illegal immigration.
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  Speaker 1: What are your reflections on it all and how it
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  Speaker 1: might inform us here in Florida.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna take one step back. How was at
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  Speaker 2: the game Saturday? Man? That was a heartbreaker coming back.
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  Speaker 1: Quicker and you had to bring it up, didn't you.
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  Speaker 1: You just had to bring it up.
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  Speaker 2: Brother. Hey, I'm sharing the pain, sharing the pain on
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  Speaker 2: this form. But yeah, let's talk about this man. We
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  Speaker 2: are so blessed to be a law and order state. Right,
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  Speaker 2: it comes from the top. Governor de Santas hasn't played
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  Speaker 2: around one bit on this. We know that we back
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  Speaker 2: our minimum mid law enforcement across the spectrum. That's ICE
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  Speaker 2: all the way down to local state whatever. Right, it
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  Speaker 2: comes from the leadership at the top, and they set
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  Speaker 2: the tone. You know, it breaks my heart that you
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  Speaker 2: saw the police chief or the dispatch or whatever that
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  Speaker 2: person was right putting out something saying that local police
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  Speaker 2: couldn't respond to support ICE. How far has our nation
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  Speaker 2: fallen some of these Northwestern states or the northeastern states.
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  Speaker 2: Do we find ourselves in a place where law enforcement
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  Speaker 2: won't support other law enforcement assets? That's wrong for America.
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  Speaker 1: I'm curious, you know, with your background in the military,
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  Speaker 1: and obviously you're in state governance now is lieutenant governor.
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  Speaker 1: Prior to that is state senator. But that intersection where
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  Speaker 1: you've got a federal agency working within a state jurisdiction,
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  Speaker 1: but the state isn't doing its job and in fact
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  Speaker 1: is hindering federal law enforcement from taking place. So what
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  Speaker 1: options do states have the citizens in those states?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you what. First and foremost, they got
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  Speaker 2: to remember the elections have consequences. You got to elect
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  Speaker 2: people who actually care about your community. I think second,
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  Speaker 2: you're going to ask yourself, why are they so worried
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  Speaker 2: about illegal immigrants and stepping up for them and not
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  Speaker 2: protecting the citizens of our community. That is really incredibly important.
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  Speaker 2: What are the options they have? Well, they have a voice.
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  Speaker 2: There are more of them than they are the bureaucrats
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  Speaker 2: that are putting themselves in harms. Way, get up, use
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  Speaker 2: your voice, Go out there and protest, go out there
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  Speaker 2: and say things, but do it respectfully. You know, Charlie
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  Speaker 2: kirk is to go out there, God rest his soul
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  Speaker 2: and talk about God and love and debate people openly. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: bad things happened, but you know what, look at the
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  Speaker 2: movement he started. Look at the movement across our country
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  Speaker 2: right now, And that started because of somebody doing what's hard,
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  Speaker 2: doing what's right. You got to use their voice, they
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  Speaker 2: got to use the system, and they got to remember
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  Speaker 2: to vote the right way because the lawlessness there is
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  Speaker 2: destroying lives.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a direct reflection of the local elections
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  Speaker 1: in Portland or in Chicago or in these communities. The
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  Speaker 1: government shut down, what if any impact is it having
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  Speaker 1: here in the Sunshine State.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, you're going to see a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of stuff, But in the end, a lot of the
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  Speaker 2: the government shut downs performative. It's not essential things in
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  Speaker 2: the government. You know, I think I heard Governor de
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  Speaker 2: sand has put it pretty succinctly. If they're you know,
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  Speaker 2: not necessary, they're extra pieces of the government. Are we
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  Speaker 2: paying for them? One? Two? You know, I think the
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  Speaker 2: next couple of days that we should watch for. October tenth,
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  Speaker 2: I believe, was the next day the civilian employees of
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  Speaker 2: the federal government get paid, and the October fifteenth is
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  Speaker 2: the next time our military gets paid. Now we'll see
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  Speaker 2: what happens. That's when this starts to get real. But
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  Speaker 2: right now you'll see a little bit of degradation in
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  Speaker 2: federal parks things like that. But it starts to get
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  Speaker 2: really real October tenth, October fifteenth. But again, this is
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  Speaker 2: performative action. It's nonsense that we're doing this one more time.
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  Speaker 2: How about we stop doing crs and just pass a
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  Speaker 2: real budget for once. That'd be fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: Back with Jay Collins, Lieutenant Governor for the Sunshine State,
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  Speaker 1: I think a lot of people listening to us right now,
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Governor would agree with the statement that you made
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  Speaker 1: on behalf of the governor and I'm sure yourself as
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  Speaker 1: it relates to this government shutdown kind of exposing the
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  Speaker 1: areas of large esse in our federal bureaucracy. I'm curious though,
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  Speaker 1: should Florida play any role in helping the men and
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  Speaker 1: women serving in our military, serving ice making sure their
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  Speaker 1: paychecks are good until this gets settled.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, we played many roles in supporting and
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  Speaker 2: standing by them. You know that we take it incredibly
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  Speaker 2: serious in how we support them, what we do. We
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  Speaker 2: have a lot of programs here. But can we have
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  Speaker 2: a role in that? Yeah, we can use our voice,
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  Speaker 2: we can talk to people, we can help push the
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  Speaker 2: bubble on this. But in the end, it's a federal budget, right,
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  Speaker 2: The federal government pays those folks. That's where this comes
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  Speaker 2: into play. But you know, I do want to take
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  Speaker 2: one step back and I want to address one thing
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  Speaker 2: that I think is important. Look at what the left
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  Speaker 2: is talking about and what they want to get from
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  Speaker 2: a government shut down. We know it's not serious. We
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  Speaker 2: know they're talking about what it's free healthcare for legal immigrants.
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  Speaker 2: They want people on medicaid to not have verification of income,
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  Speaker 2: so medicaid for all they know that's not going to
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  Speaker 2: float again, performative action. They're doing this just to play politics,
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  Speaker 2: not being serious about policy. But I think it's important
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  Speaker 2: to say that and then look at Florida, guys, we're
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  Speaker 2: doing just the opposite. So much of what goes right
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  Speaker 2: in our state and in our country happens at the
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  Speaker 2: state level. These local, county and state elections have so
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  Speaker 2: many consequences. We are so blessed to have our state
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  Speaker 2: move in the right direction and focused on actually making
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  Speaker 2: the difference in people's lives. There's still work to do,
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  Speaker 2: but again, leadership comes from the top.
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  Speaker 1: I was just curious, it's just kind of spitballing in
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  Speaker 1: my own brain here of whether the men and women
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  Speaker 1: serving on military bases inside our state, serving inside Florida,
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  Speaker 1: if there was a way that we could help them
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  Speaker 1: out until the Fed's got this straightened out, just to
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  Speaker 1: I guess, send the message. This is what happens when
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  Speaker 1: you keep your financial house in order. This is what
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  Speaker 1: happens when you got the back of your military and
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  Speaker 1: your people putting their lives on the line.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Preston, I'm not sure it's not been brought up.
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  Speaker 2: Is something to look into, but ultimately we'll sniff around
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  Speaker 2: that a little bit. But largely I would be shocked
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  Speaker 2: if this thing continues on past October fifteenth, that next
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  Speaker 2: pay period. But who knows. I mean, it's such a
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  Speaker 2: mess up there, it really is.
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  Speaker 1: You were last in the State Senate. Of course, from
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  Speaker 1: your chair. What's unfinished business that you think the Senate
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  Speaker 1: and the House need to address first and foremost in
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  Speaker 1: the next legislative session.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think there's always more we can do to
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  Speaker 2: go back and reduce regulation. I think there's always more
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  Speaker 2: we can do to codify laws that maybe you need
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  Speaker 2: refreshing to be a little bit more straightforward, and help
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  Speaker 2: aid women in law enforcement to do their job more efficiently.
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  Speaker 2: But property tax is the biggest thing, man. That is
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  Speaker 2: the number one thing. When I'm in the grocery store
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  Speaker 2: at a gas station and people want to talk, that's
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  Speaker 2: what they want to talk about right here, right now.
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  Speaker 2: That is number one. We've got to get this straight.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to put it on there. And outside of that, man,
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  Speaker 2: you never go wrong with things that support our minimum
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  Speaker 2: in law enforcement. To your point earlier, and you know,
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  Speaker 2: continuing to push to make sure that our school choice
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  Speaker 2: works as well as humanly possible, and then we provide
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  Speaker 2: the most opportunity and the best education to our kids,
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  Speaker 2: I mean economy, education, safety, and security in the community. Man,
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  Speaker 2: that is the sweet spot for most things.
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  Speaker 1: What do you think is the single most important issue
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  Speaker 1: for the GOP to keep the momentum inside the state.
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  Speaker 2: Here inside the state right now? It would be a
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  Speaker 2: tie probably between immigration and property tax. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: only level we can pull to put money right back
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  Speaker 2: in the pockets of our citizens is that property tax level,
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  Speaker 2: a lever. Everything else has so much federal implication, whether
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  Speaker 2: it's insurance, you know, your taxes. Obviously we can't help
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  Speaker 2: with the federal government. We're doing all we can here
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  Speaker 2: and every other facet, even our utilities and our energy policy,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of that's driven largely by the federal government.
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  Speaker 2: So you know, property taxes it. Man, We're still paying
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  Speaker 2: the price for inflation year over year over year. And
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  Speaker 2: things are going well under President Trump. We're head of
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  Speaker 2: the right direction so many ways. But man, people are
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  Speaker 2: hurting right now. They need more money in their pocketbooks.
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  Speaker 2: And that's one level we can pull you know, I
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  Speaker 2: remind people I grew up on food stamps, I grew
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  Speaker 2: up without a whole lot, so I know what it's
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  Speaker 2: like to make choices. I know what it's like to
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  Speaker 2: give up something. So I'm very attuned to find their
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  Speaker 2: ways to help those men and women who have had
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  Speaker 2: very little find ways to have just a little bit
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  Speaker 2: more and provide more opportunity for them in their families.
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  Speaker 1: D LG. Lieutenant Governor J. Collins. Jay, thanks for the
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  Speaker 1: time this morning. I appreciate We'll talk again soon.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate you, preciate the opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Sir, Jay Collins with us this morning here
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  Speaker 1: on The Morning Show with Preston Scott