Latest / The People's News / Trump Secret Police Murder in Houston; Birthright Citizenship Protected, Texas GOP Attacks It - TPN 7/12/26

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Trump Secret Police Murder in Houston; Birthright Citizenship Protected, Texas GOP Attacks It - TPN 7/12/26 · The People's News

0:03
Speaker 1: It's the week of July twelfth, twenty twenty six, and
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Speaker 1: this is what's on the people's news. Trump's secret police
0:11
Speaker 1: ICE murders a man in cold blood in Houston. The
0:16
Speaker 1: US Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship as ensconced in the
0:21
Speaker 1: Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, and Trump tries to figure
0:24
Speaker 1: out a way around it. The Texas Education Agency jumps
0:29
Speaker 1: over the barrier between church and state, making Christianity the
0:34
Speaker 1: official religion of public schools. All that and more on
0:39
Speaker 1: the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is the People's News,
0:43
Speaker 1: and the People's News starts now. Trump's secret police, also
0:54
Speaker 1: known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE, have murdered
0:59
Speaker 1: yet another innocent man. Fifty two year old Lorenzo Salgado
1:04
Speaker 1: Arajo was shot and killed by ICE agents while he
1:08
Speaker 1: was driving his work van on the East side of Houston.
1:10
Speaker 1: He was a Mexican national that had been in the
1:12
Speaker 1: Houston area for thirty five years and owned a business
1:16
Speaker 1: with three sons, and was working on permanent residency through
1:20
Speaker 1: a family sponsored immigration petition. The ICE Gestapo have stated
1:25
Speaker 1: that during an immigration enforcement stop that Arajo tried to
1:29
Speaker 1: ram his van into officers and they used deadly forced
1:33
Speaker 1: to defend themselves. Witnesses in the van and video evidence
1:38
Speaker 1: have shown that there was no threat to any of
1:40
Speaker 1: the agents. The east side of Houston or Edo has
1:44
Speaker 1: been the site of increased raids by ice in recent months.
1:48
Speaker 1: There is no body camera footage. The agents have not
1:51
Speaker 1: been identified and they were masked and driving in two
1:55
Speaker 1: unmarked vehicles. The community gathered at the side of the
1:58
Speaker 1: shooting for a march in a rally demanding more accountability.
2:03
Speaker 2: She's part of Bluela because you'll not read a statement
2:05
Speaker 2: for the family.
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Speaker 3: Good evening everyone. My name is Gonci Thearees.
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Speaker 4: I'm part of Loulac Council sixty, but also been around
2:13
Speaker 4: here in this area and throughout Houston as your community advocate.
2:17
Speaker 4: I have a message here today from the family on
2:21
Speaker 4: behalf of the Salgada family.
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Speaker 3: We are absolutely thankful for all the.
2:25
Speaker 4: Support and love for my family has been receiving from
2:28
Speaker 4: the community here and at large. Here on Canal Street
2:33
Speaker 4: is where my dad, Lorenzo Salgado Adrojo was shot and
2:36
Speaker 4: bled out before passing away. He lay here in pain
2:40
Speaker 4: and in fear for his life, and with the fear
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Speaker 4: of leaving his family behind.
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Speaker 3: He did not deserve to die.
2:47
Speaker 4: He did not deserve to take his quote workers to
2:50
Speaker 4: the job site finish.
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Speaker 3: Let me read that again.
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Speaker 4: He deserved to take his workers to the job site,
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Speaker 4: finish the houses and go back home to his loving wife.
3:00
Speaker 3: Lorenzo and his family were longtime.
3:02
Speaker 4: East End residents, living in the area for decades. The
3:06
Speaker 4: family would like to express three wishes. There are three wishes,
3:10
Speaker 4: calling for an independent investigation into the events that checkmyer yesterday,
3:17
Speaker 4: calling for reform to change the way ICE operates during
3:20
Speaker 4: away with ambush now tactics and a marked behful And
3:27
Speaker 4: for his wife Maria taken care of. That's his request
3:34
Speaker 4: that she is taken care of now that she is
3:37
Speaker 4: without her partner of forty years and his income. There
3:41
Speaker 4: is a go fundme led by Lulac. It's a national GoFundMe.
3:46
Speaker 4: Has been an amazing help and would ensure that my
3:49
Speaker 4: mother would be taken care of in these difficult months.
3:55
Speaker 4: So I ask of you to pray to stand talls
4:01
Speaker 4: Susan United. Here we were celebrating FIFA internationally. We had
4:06
Speaker 4: everyone from all walks of life visiting Houston, and then
4:11
Speaker 4: we have a bullet piercing the heart of Easton. I've
4:15
Speaker 4: been with the family since ten am yesterday when I
4:18
Speaker 4: saw Ronaldo the son, the oldest son, walking about this.
4:22
Speaker 3: Area, going back and forth from La.
4:24
Speaker 4: Muchakana all the way down, trying to get answers. He
4:29
Speaker 4: was only given certain comments on texts to go to Bintav.
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Speaker 3: They would not even tell him with the status of
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Speaker 3: his dad.
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Speaker 4: Everything he got was through social media and with the
4:41
Speaker 4: hell A Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, we were able.
4:45
Speaker 3: To get through with Bin Tav and the meddical examiner.
4:48
Speaker 4: She was able to push through necessary information so that
4:51
Speaker 4: the families could find peace and answers. At this time,
4:58
Speaker 4: the family is drained them so they asked me to
5:02
Speaker 4: come here to y'all out of respects to y'all, to
5:04
Speaker 4: East End and to the Houston community. It is not
5:10
Speaker 4: an easy journey. They're asking questions that I have no answer,
5:16
Speaker 4: and we are relying our congress people, We are relying
5:21
Speaker 4: on Lulac nationally, we are relying on individuals that are
5:25
Speaker 4: offering their services pro bono, and we are relying on you.
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Speaker 3: So we ask that you be the voice of Houston.
5:37
Speaker 4: And to the Sagado family, and a positive, respectful but
5:43
Speaker 4: just we need justice, we need answers, and we need
5:47
Speaker 4: full transparency.
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Speaker 5: And uh and I want to I want us to
5:56
Speaker 5: send a message back to the family here. I want
6:00
Speaker 5: us to send a message back to them. And I
6:02
Speaker 5: want us to send a video. Okay, and I want
6:06
Speaker 5: everybody so they can hear you. And so mister Lorenzo
6:12
Speaker 5: can hear you from wherever he's at. Tell him you're
6:15
Speaker 5: not alone.
6:17
Speaker 2: You're not alone.
6:24
Speaker 6: Alone alone, said no, no, no, en sooty. Those who's
6:37
Speaker 6: he goes.
6:58
Speaker 1: Local politicians are the demanding oversight. The new congressman from
7:02
Speaker 1: Houston's District eighteen, Christian Menafie, said he is going to
7:06
Speaker 1: fight for a change in policy.
7:08
Speaker 7: Promises.
7:09
Speaker 2: Let's hear it, Mario promises.
7:11
Speaker 8: I'm not spending another I will not vote for a
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Speaker 8: single dollar to Ice. Ice came to Houston and killed
7:23
Speaker 8: one of our own. This is not the first time
7:26
Speaker 8: that this has happened. We saw them with Renee Good,
7:29
Speaker 8: we saw it with Alex Breddy. And every single time
7:32
Speaker 8: they come and they tell us their version of events,
7:34
Speaker 8: but we don't see any evidence. If Ice was not
7:38
Speaker 8: in our streets, Lorenzo would still be alive. Today Congress
7:45
Speaker 8: votes on funding to ICE. And I'm here today to
7:48
Speaker 8: say not another die, not another die, not another.
7:54
Speaker 2: Dime, another Donald Trumps Mattie lives. This agency.
8:01
Speaker 8: They're coming to our streets not to make people more safe,
8:05
Speaker 8: but to terrorize our communities. This man was a father,
8:10
Speaker 8: he was a husband, he was a neighbor. And I
8:12
Speaker 8: want you to look around right now. You see Howsonians,
8:15
Speaker 8: I thing, you know, black, white, Asian, everybody's standing here
8:18
Speaker 8: together because we are one Houston. Right now, Republicans control
8:26
Speaker 8: the White House and Republicans control the House of Representatives.
8:31
Speaker 2: But in November, there's going to be a flip.
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Speaker 8: And I will tell you right now, I serve on
8:35
Speaker 8: the House Oversight Committee, and when January comes, I sped
8:39
Speaker 8: a buckle up because we are going to investigate every
8:42
Speaker 8: single thing that agency has done, how they expect their money,
8:45
Speaker 8: and how Trump has put them in our streets.
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Speaker 2: Not another dive, another dime, another job.
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Speaker 1: Congresswoman Slovia Garcia from District twenty nine demanded accountability funding.
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Speaker 9: We keep funding ICE, and it seems like the administration
9:10
Speaker 9: does not want to get into any type of funding
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Speaker 9: issues as far as retraining these officers are going to
9:17
Speaker 9: be on the street.
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Speaker 2: What can he change with this?
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Speaker 10: Well, as you know, as we've clearly stated number one,
9:24
Speaker 10: you know, we're here to support to family and get
9:26
Speaker 10: them through this crisis. It's a tragedy not just for Houston,
9:29
Speaker 10: but it certainly gets tragedy.
9:31
Speaker 2: For the family.
9:31
Speaker 10: So we want to help get the family pass this
9:34
Speaker 10: next couple of days while they're grieving and wrestling.
9:36
Speaker 2: With this horrific, horrific event.
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Speaker 10: After that, we will start looking at making sure we
9:41
Speaker 10: get accountability, that we get justice, and we'll transparency and
9:45
Speaker 10: an investigation that gets to the heart of the problem.
9:48
Speaker 10: We as Democrats, have said that we will not vote
9:51
Speaker 10: for one more penny until there's ICE reforms. We will
9:55
Speaker 10: not give one more penny to ICE. That includes transparency
9:59
Speaker 10: and a acountability. It means taking their mass off. It
10:02
Speaker 10: means training. If they want to be law enforcement, well
10:06
Speaker 10: they need to be trained like law enforcement, act like
10:08
Speaker 10: law enforcement, and behave professionally like law enforcement. And we
10:13
Speaker 10: need to make sure that they have a warrant signed
10:15
Speaker 10: by real judges at the county courthouse. If they want
10:19
Speaker 10: to search someone's home.
10:21
Speaker 11: We've got to make sure they.
10:22
Speaker 10: Wear moto camps. I mean, there is so many things
10:24
Speaker 10: that they don't do. They're essentially a rogue union. So
10:29
Speaker 10: we'll keep continue to work hard because we will not
10:32
Speaker 10: vote for one more penny until.
10:34
Speaker 1: Some realforce will be People at the rally were asking
10:37
Speaker 1: what their local politicians are doing. At a press conference
10:40
Speaker 1: held on Friday, local officials are asking for an independent
10:44
Speaker 1: investigation of the murder.
10:46
Speaker 12: I am Karthik Souro with the Houston Progressive Caucus, and my.
10:49
Speaker 2: Name is Dayden Cervin. I'm a local teacher. What brings
10:52
Speaker 2: you out here?
10:53
Speaker 12: So I was actually the teacher for Ronnie Salgado whose
10:56
Speaker 12: father was murdered, and his wife actually Ronnie's wife, Evelyn Rivera,
11:02
Speaker 12: she was also a former student. She like did my
11:04
Speaker 12: wife and I's engagement photos. So these are people that
11:06
Speaker 12: we know whose family has been affected by ice and
11:09
Speaker 12: it's disgusting to me to see the facts that the
11:13
Speaker 12: Department of Justice is not going to do anything about
11:15
Speaker 12: this that we think could be fair, The Governor's not
11:18
Speaker 12: going to do anything, and the only options we have
11:20
Speaker 12: are local and so we're calling on Sean's here, the
11:23
Speaker 12: District Attorney, and the mayor of Houston to actually have
11:26
Speaker 12: HBD do an impartisan investigation because all options have to
11:30
Speaker 12: be there and we need to have justice for this
11:32
Speaker 12: family in case that Ice actually did end up murdering him.
11:35
Speaker 9: The mayor said he was he asked before he said
11:38
Speaker 9: he didn't want to try to make ways.
11:41
Speaker 2: With the governor.
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Speaker 12: Yeah, I would say that when you look at New
11:45
Speaker 12: York City, this is not happening there because they're on
11:47
Speaker 12: Mondani has moved with strength, and I think that this
11:50
Speaker 12: mayor moves with weakness. And I think that there's a
11:53
Speaker 12: lot of options he has. He acts like he doesn't
11:55
Speaker 12: have any. He could, for example, go to the White
11:57
Speaker 12: House talk with Donald Trump and say, I'm the mayor
11:59
Speaker 12: of the fourth largest city in America and I want
12:02
Speaker 12: to have a special investigator appointed for this. He could
12:04
Speaker 12: talk to Cornyan Cornyn and ask Cornan, who really doesn't actually,
12:07
Speaker 12: I think, agree with some of this stuff, and say,
12:09
Speaker 12: could you put some holds on judicial nominees that the
12:12
Speaker 12: President wants for the state of Texas and then use
12:14
Speaker 12: that leverage to get an impartial investigation. There are a
12:17
Speaker 12: bit there are options available to him that he doesn't
12:19
Speaker 12: want to take. He's just afraid of pissing off Republicans
12:21
Speaker 12: who are his base voters. But he has lost Latinos,
12:24
Speaker 12: he's lost African American voters, he's lost young voters, and
12:26
Speaker 12: he's lost white liberals. He has nothing left. And if
12:29
Speaker 12: he doesn't stand up for the city, he's gonna lose
12:30
Speaker 12: in twenty twenty seven.
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Speaker 13: So I saw what happened online and I thought it
12:35
Speaker 13: was discussing at the black man in America. Watching another
12:37
Speaker 13: brown man be gunned down just reminds me that nobody
12:40
Speaker 13: in this country if truly faith from these people. They're
12:42
Speaker 13: attacking anybody from any group. We thought what happened to
12:44
Speaker 13: Renee Good, there's just another example of a violent, militaristic
12:47
Speaker 13: force cracking down on people.
12:49
Speaker 2: NFM people.
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Speaker 13: This man with an everyday man with the family, he
12:52
Speaker 13: wants a work service community, and they traped him down
12:54
Speaker 13: and shot him.
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Speaker 2: And it's discussing.
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Speaker 13: I think it's important and time flic Fief, we all
12:58
Speaker 13: show up for you toever and that's why I'm out here.
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Speaker 9: One thing they're already seeing is that the officer was attacked.
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Speaker 13: Well, you know, they say that in a lot of instances,
13:06
Speaker 13: a lot of times, especially in protests in the past,
13:09
Speaker 13: they always say the protest is started. They always say,
13:11
Speaker 13: these people, I just went out of the ways to
13:12
Speaker 13: look for our confrontation with this man. These people have
13:15
Speaker 13: been mining their own business, and I think everybody sees this.
13:18
Speaker 2: People see it for what it is. People have seen
13:19
Speaker 2: the video.
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Speaker 14: All right.
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Speaker 1: Yes, the three witnesses and detainees in the van, including
13:32
Speaker 1: a Rajo's brother, reported to being pressured by federal agents
13:36
Speaker 1: to immediately self deport. They have a very different story
13:40
Speaker 1: than the ICE agents about what occurred, as we hear
13:43
Speaker 1: from their lawyer.
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Speaker 15: Foremost, I want to extend my gratitude. Yes, I am
13:49
Speaker 15: the attorney representing Jose. They're currently being detained at the
13:53
Speaker 15: Connoral Detention Center here at the Montgomery Processing Center here
13:57
Speaker 15: in Conorro, Texas.
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Speaker 14: I'm sorry.
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Speaker 15: First of all, I want to my deepest condolences to
14:01
Speaker 15: the family of Lorenzo. I pray that their faith can
14:04
Speaker 15: strengthen them through these difficult times. Secondly, I think Congresswoman
14:08
Speaker 15: Sindegart Saya and for arranging this and all of you
14:11
Speaker 15: guys for joining us here to get this message out.
14:14
Speaker 15: Until now, we only had the statements of the ICE
14:17
Speaker 15: agents as to their versions of what happened, of what
14:20
Speaker 15: transpired that past Tuesday. But yesterday morning I personally went
14:23
Speaker 15: to speak with the three individuals that were with mister
14:27
Speaker 15: Lorenzo on that tragic day this Tuesday. I can tell
14:33
Speaker 15: you that my clients will forever be physically and emotionally
14:37
Speaker 15: scarred by this killer. None of these families will ever
14:41
Speaker 15: be whole again. One man lost a brother, the other
14:46
Speaker 15: two men lost a dear friend. What a devastating tragedy.
14:53
Speaker 15: And to what end? He had no criminal record. He
14:56
Speaker 15: had been in here in the United States for over
14:58
Speaker 15: thirty five years, a business, he had US citizen children.
15:02
Speaker 15: His only crime was that he fit the description of
15:05
Speaker 15: another man that they were looking for. The agency's versions
15:09
Speaker 15: of the killings have varied, and I won't get into
15:12
Speaker 15: all those different versions, but I can tell you with
15:14
Speaker 15: conviction that my client's versions of the events are extremely
15:19
Speaker 15: different from what ICE agents are saying or what the
15:22
Speaker 15: agency is saying. I am calling for the immediate release
15:27
Speaker 15: of my clients from Conrod from the Montgomery Processing Center.
15:30
Speaker 15: I believe that, given the magnitude of this case and
15:34
Speaker 15: the implications that it carries, my clients may be pressured
15:38
Speaker 15: into signing documentation to sign for their voluntary departure. I
15:44
Speaker 15: believe that this would be devastating not only to them
15:47
Speaker 15: but to everybody involved, and that we should and it
15:50
Speaker 15: would be devastating not only to them, but to everybody involved.
15:54
Speaker 15: And I think it is extremely important that we preserve
15:57
Speaker 15: the integrity of this investigation that will all be out
16:01
Speaker 15: the window if they are deported. I am also calling,
16:04
Speaker 15: as I mentioned, for a private investigation into the incident.
16:07
Speaker 15: Simply put, we have completely lost faith in the integrity
16:12
Speaker 15: and demanded independent investigation be conducted. The families deserve to
16:16
Speaker 15: know the truth. They deserve justice and dignities all part
16:20
Speaker 15: is involved in. And finally, I am calling for drastic
16:23
Speaker 15: changes to the immigration to the way immigration the ICE
16:27
Speaker 15: conducts their immigration enforcement. It's alarming that under Trump's second administration,
16:33
Speaker 15: nine out of every ten immigrants that are arrested are Latinos.
16:37
Speaker 15: This is not immigration enforcement, this is racial profile. It's
16:42
Speaker 15: very important that they are required to wear body cameras.
16:47
Speaker 15: It's very important that they are required to remove their
16:51
Speaker 15: masks on Earthing that's very alarming is, like the congress
16:54
Speaker 15: woman mentioned, unmarked vehicles. That is extremely dangerous. There have
17:00
Speaker 15: been at least thirty eight shootings by immigration agents since
17:04
Speaker 15: January twenty twenty five, resulting in nine deaths. That is
17:07
Speaker 15: just simply unacceptable. I mean just after speaking with these men.
17:17
Speaker 15: After speaking with these men, I have no doubt that
17:20
Speaker 15: what they're saying is the truth. I know that these agents,
17:24
Speaker 15: the agency is going to try to cover it up.
17:26
Speaker 15: This is not the first time that it happens. This
17:28
Speaker 15: has become a pattern where ICE agents claim that they
17:32
Speaker 15: use their vehicle as a deadly weapon, that they tried
17:35
Speaker 15: to run over the agents, and the agents shot in
17:37
Speaker 15: self defense. But all three of my clients reiterated that
17:41
Speaker 15: at no point was there ever an agent standing in
17:44
Speaker 15: front of the vehicle, nor was an agent ever placed
17:47
Speaker 15: in the line of danger. That is simply false, and
17:50
Speaker 15: I believe my clients are telling the truth. Again, I
17:54
Speaker 15: am going right now. My office is working diligently to
17:58
Speaker 15: get these men released for the integrity of this instigation,
18:00
Speaker 15: because we know that ICE has a pattern as well
18:03
Speaker 15: of deporting immigrants before they can be heard, before they
18:06
Speaker 15: are given their due process. So it's very important that
18:09
Speaker 15: we make sure that they're not deported. And as I mentioned,
18:12
Speaker 15: I'm working with the office. I have other people that
18:14
Speaker 15: I've reached out as well that I'm going to be
18:16
Speaker 15: working with, and in closing, I'm just want to mention
18:19
Speaker 15: a quote that I'm reminded by the late Martin Luther
18:21
Speaker 15: King injustice anywhere is a threat to justice guy.
18:26
Speaker 8: Thank you.
18:26
Speaker 11: Next we'll hear from our district attorney.
18:34
Speaker 14: This is the tallestuff I ever felt.
18:38
Speaker 16: Thank you, Congresswoman. Congressman. I think it's important before I
18:43
Speaker 16: even start to just show everyone that we have literally
18:46
Speaker 16: every layer of government here supporting what we're doing, from
18:50
Speaker 16: our federal partners, to our state Rep. Jean Wu, to
18:54
Speaker 16: our county attorney for the civil aspects of this case.
18:58
Speaker 16: But I am Shawn Tier and I am the District
19:00
Speaker 16: Attorney of Harris County. Since Tuesday, when this incident occurred,
19:06
Speaker 16: we have been conducting our own investigation. We investigate every
19:11
Speaker 16: officer involved shooting in Harris County. When it involves an
19:16
Speaker 16: agency that is not ICE universally, we are invited in
19:21
Speaker 16: that day, we run a parallel investigation where we collaborate
19:25
Speaker 16: with law enforcement, be it federal agencies or our state
19:29
Speaker 16: and local agencies, and at the end of that we
19:32
Speaker 16: all collaborate and decide what the appropriate outcome is almost universally,
19:37
Speaker 16: it is we present the case to a grand jury
19:40
Speaker 16: and let them decide. We were not invited into this
19:45
Speaker 16: scene on Tuesday. My investigators and my Civil Rights Division
19:49
Speaker 16: have been out there from basically the moment the scene
19:53
Speaker 16: was released up until today, looking for surveillance footage, talking
19:59
Speaker 16: to witnesses, doing everything that we can, and we do
20:03
Speaker 16: in every case to ensure that a full, fair investigation
20:07
Speaker 16: is conducted so that we can be transparent with our community. Look,
20:13
Speaker 16: when someone in our community loses their life at the
20:16
Speaker 16: hands of law enforcement, that is the ultimate breach of
20:20
Speaker 16: trust with our community. And if we aren't transparent, if
20:25
Speaker 16: the people don't believe that we are actively investigating and
20:29
Speaker 16: holding ourselves in law enforcement accountable, we will lose that
20:33
Speaker 16: trust so quickly. And that's what you're seeing right now.
20:37
Speaker 16: That is the reason that we have so many cameras here.
20:42
Speaker 16: What I can tell you right now is that I
20:45
Speaker 16: am imploring the community.
20:49
Speaker 17: Anyone that was there that day, anyone that has a
20:52
Speaker 17: snippet of footage from a camera, regardless of whether or
20:57
Speaker 17: not you think that it's even relevant, send it to us.
21:02
Speaker 16: Things that you may not think are important could be
21:05
Speaker 16: the pivotal piece of information for us to finally.
21:08
Speaker 14: Figure out what actually happened. I have the utmost.
21:13
Speaker 16: Hope that the Department of Homeland Security and the Office
21:18
Speaker 16: of Inspector General, who are conducting this investigation, will share
21:22
Speaker 16: evidence with us.
21:25
Speaker 1: Regardless of whether they.
21:27
Speaker 16: Do or not, we will go to the ends of
21:29
Speaker 16: the earth to collect all the evidence so that we
21:32
Speaker 16: can eventually let the public know what happened.
21:37
Speaker 14: I just that.
21:40
Speaker 16: Request for the public extends to all of our media
21:45
Speaker 16: partners as well. Any surveillance footage that you have collected,
21:49
Speaker 16: any witnesses that you've identified, please.
21:53
Speaker 14: Share it with us.
21:54
Speaker 16: We need to be able to tell all five million
21:58
Speaker 16: residents of Harris County, everyone in the state of Texas,
22:02
Speaker 16: and quite frankly everyone in the world, that we are
22:05
Speaker 16: doing everything to uphold all of our oaths. So with that,
22:11
Speaker 16: I'm going to head it back to the Congresswoman. I'll
22:13
Speaker 16: be here to answer any questions you'll have.
22:17
Speaker 18: Yes, sir, thank you.
22:18
Speaker 11: He's absolutely correct.
22:19
Speaker 18: All of us here and we do have the county Attorney,
22:23
Speaker 18: Abby Kman, and we have represented will with us, all
22:26
Speaker 18: of us at every level. Just express our deep his
22:29
Speaker 18: constellsist to the family and promise them that we will
22:32
Speaker 18: continue to working together to ensure that we do have
22:35
Speaker 18: justice in this case and that the family gets answers.
22:39
Speaker 18: We need to do that for them, just like we
22:42
Speaker 18: would do it if it was one of your family members.
22:44
Speaker 18: And I know many are asking.
22:46
Speaker 11: We've gotten many calls, Who's next?
22:48
Speaker 10: Will I be next?
22:50
Speaker 11: We're fortunate that we've got two members of Congress of
22:53
Speaker 11: two committees of jurisdiction. Christian Menefee is on the Oversight
22:56
Speaker 11: Committee and he will be doing what he can through
22:59
Speaker 11: that committee and with us today is Congressman Green, who
23:02
Speaker 11: sits on the Committee of Department of Homeland Security, which
23:05
Speaker 11: has direct oversight on the Department of Homeline Security, and
23:09
Speaker 11: of course Ice. Congressman.
23:15
Speaker 19: Thank you, Congresswoman Garcia. I'm very proud to be associated
23:20
Speaker 19: with this endeavor, always honored to work with you, and
23:25
Speaker 19: in tandem we've been able to accomplish some things. Before
23:28
Speaker 19: I get to these things, I want to thank the
23:31
Speaker 19: district Attorney.
23:33
Speaker 20: I want to thank you.
23:33
Speaker 7: For not allowing.
23:36
Speaker 19: The FEDS to bully you and convince you that somehow
23:40
Speaker 19: you don't have the authority to investigate Any member of
23:44
Speaker 19: the constabulary can investigate some people confuse investigation with prosecution.
23:53
Speaker 19: Investigation is separate and apart, and it can allow us
23:56
Speaker 19: to have the transparency necessary to understand what happened.
24:01
Speaker 7: I thank you again for investigating.
24:04
Speaker 15: I want to thank our.
24:05
Speaker 19: State representative who's always with us when we are in need,
24:09
Speaker 19: and our county attorney knew on the job but working
24:12
Speaker 19: hard all the time. I thank the lawyer for what
24:15
Speaker 19: he has done, especially what you have done, sir, because
24:18
Speaker 19: what you've done is going to bring light to this
24:20
Speaker 19: that may have been in the shadows for too long already.
24:25
Speaker 19: I am going to make some comments now, and my
24:29
Speaker 19: first is, mister Arajo belongs to us. He belongs to
24:38
Speaker 19: the Constitution of the United States of America. That constitution
24:42
Speaker 19: applies to him just as it applies to me. He
24:46
Speaker 19: should not receive any less attention from the Constitution that
24:52
Speaker 19: I or any of you would receive. He belongs to us,
24:56
Speaker 19: He's in our jurisdiction. We have a duty and a responsibility,
25:00
Speaker 19: in fact, an obligation to bring justice to this cause.
25:07
Speaker 19: Pursuing to this At the prior press conference that we
25:09
Speaker 19: had under the leadership of the Honorable Sylvia Garcia that
25:13
Speaker 19: was on Wednesday of July eighth. I indicated at that
25:16
Speaker 19: time that I would be asking the Homeland Security Committee
25:21
Speaker 19: in Congress to take up this cause.
25:24
Speaker 2: I sent a letter. That letter has been in the
25:29
Speaker 2: hands of members of the committee.
25:31
Speaker 19: I especially talked to Benny Thompson, who is the ranking
25:34
Speaker 19: member on the committee, and he and I have conversed,
25:38
Speaker 19: and he has assured me of two things. One, he's
25:41
Speaker 19: going to do everything that he can to make sure
25:43
Speaker 19: that we investigate. At the federal level. This committee has
25:46
Speaker 19: jurisdiction over Ice. He's going to make sure that he
25:50
Speaker 19: does everything. But he also assured me, and he asked
25:53
Speaker 19: I share this with you, Congresswoman, that if we don't
25:57
Speaker 19: get the results we're looking for, we will have a
25:59
Speaker 19: shoutout hearing right here in Houston, Texas. He will come
26:02
Speaker 19: to Houston, Texas. We will assemble our people. I told
26:07
Speaker 19: you that we would investigate. This is not something that
26:10
Speaker 19: we take lightly.
26:11
Speaker 1: And we don't have to ask.
26:12
Speaker 19: We don't have to beg we don't have to plead,
26:14
Speaker 19: we don't have to beseeched, we don't have to gravel.
26:17
Speaker 2: We can demand.
26:19
Speaker 19: This is what the Constitution allows.
26:21
Speaker 2: So I'm proud to.
26:22
Speaker 19: Tell you now that the Homeland Security Committee has sent
26:27
Speaker 19: a letter or is sending a letter. I just signed
26:30
Speaker 19: on to it today. This is from members of the
26:33
Speaker 19: Committee and this letter is going to Secretary Mullen. I'm
26:37
Speaker 19: gonna read the first paragraph of the letter and then
26:39
Speaker 19: I'll read some of the excerpts. First paragraph reads, as
26:44
Speaker 19: members of the Committee on Homeland Security, with jurisdiction over
26:47
Speaker 19: the Department of Homeland Security DHS, we are investigating something's
26:54
Speaker 19: bear repeating, we are investigating the fatal shooting of Missus
27:00
Speaker 19: Lorenzo Salgado Arajo, as well as the Trump Administration's response
27:06
Speaker 19: to his killing. He belongs to us, The Constitution applies
27:12
Speaker 19: to him.
27:13
Speaker 1: The League of United Latin American Citizens LULAC has set
27:16
Speaker 1: up a go fundme page for the family. Members of
27:19
Speaker 1: the community are planning to attend this week's Houston City
27:22
Speaker 1: Council meeting to pressure the city to do more.
27:26
Speaker 14: HI.
27:27
Speaker 1: This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of The People's News.
27:31
Speaker 1: If you have a story that needs to be told,
27:33
Speaker 1: come to us. We accept fully produced audio, written material,
27:37
Speaker 1: or just give us the idea and we will run
27:39
Speaker 1: with it. Shiny new one hour episodes of The People's
27:42
Speaker 1: News drop each Sunday on the People's News podcast hosted
27:47
Speaker 1: by Sprinker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
27:50
Speaker 1: dot com. Any child born in the United States, regardless
27:54
Speaker 1: of their legal status, is given citizenship in the United States.
27:58
Speaker 1: This is protected in the United States Constitution under the
28:02
Speaker 1: fourteenth Amendment, which was ratified in eighteen sixty eight to
28:06
Speaker 1: address the legal status of former slaves and their descendants.
28:09
Speaker 1: It says plainly that all persons born or naturalized in
28:13
Speaker 1: the US and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.
28:18
Speaker 1: Congress later codified the same language in federal citizenship law,
28:21
Speaker 1: enacted in nineteen forty. This includes babies of unauthorized non
28:26
Speaker 1: citizens and temporary residents such as asylum seekers, international students, tourists,
28:32
Speaker 1: and seasonal workers. In a ruling six to three by
28:36
Speaker 1: the U. S. Supreme Court, the President was banned from
28:39
Speaker 1: using executive orders to end birthright citizenship. To get around this,
28:44
Speaker 1: the convicted felon and adjudicated rapist is asking states to
28:49
Speaker 1: deny birthright citizenship, even though challenges to this bedrock constitutional
28:54
Speaker 1: principle have always failed. In Texas, State Representative Brian Harrison, Republican,
29:00
Speaker 1: called for Governor Greg Abbott to start a special session
29:03
Speaker 1: to stop birth tourism in the state, including not issuing
29:07
Speaker 1: birth certificates to children of people who are not US citizens.
29:11
Speaker 1: We've got to stop doing anything to incentivize birth tourism.
29:15
Speaker 1: Harrison said, there's no requirements the state of Texas must
29:18
Speaker 1: issue birth certificates to non citizens. US Republican Representative Chip
29:23
Speaker 1: Roy of Austin and Republican activists through their support behind
29:27
Speaker 1: Harrison's call. Why is this important? Your birth certificate is
29:31
Speaker 1: used for employment, school, home loans, and voter registration. We
29:36
Speaker 1: talked to Texas Immigration attorney Kate Lincoln Goldfinch about why
29:40
Speaker 1: this is important and some of the myths being thrown
29:43
Speaker 1: around about birthright citizenship.
29:46
Speaker 20: The decision on birthright citizenship was really monumental in that
29:49
Speaker 20: it was the pest of the president's authority to change
29:53
Speaker 20: the Constitution by executive order. And it's a very fundamentally
29:58
Speaker 20: held principle in this nation, our democracy, that the president
30:01
Speaker 20: cannot do that. However, we are living in a time
30:05
Speaker 20: of a presidency in which boundaries are pushed, and Trump
30:08
Speaker 20: of course.
30:09
Speaker 14: Decided to try.
30:10
Speaker 20: And what was surprising was that the Supreme Court even
30:13
Speaker 20: entertained the argument at all, and that the decision wasn't
30:17
Speaker 20: a nine zero decision. But at the end of the day,
30:20
Speaker 20: we can all rest assured that our Constitution and our
30:23
Speaker 20: democracy remain intact after the Supreme Court finding maintaining for
30:28
Speaker 20: a right citizenship as it is written in the Constitution.
30:32
Speaker 14: But you've seen where he's trying to go around this
30:35
Speaker 14: by getting states to put in their own bridge right
30:37
Speaker 14: citizenship staky in Texas.
30:41
Speaker 7: Right.
30:42
Speaker 20: And these are all things, of course that will also
30:43
Speaker 20: be challenged in court. I mean holding. The majority holding
30:47
Speaker 20: of the court five to four was that the fourteen
30:50
Speaker 20: Amendment and the Constitution is clear on this question. The
30:54
Speaker 20: concurring decision from Kavanaugh, which made it also sort of
30:57
Speaker 20: a five four or sixty three decision, depending upon how
31:00
Speaker 20: you look at it, was that Congress could write in
31:04
Speaker 20: essentially more of an explanation of what it means to
31:08
Speaker 20: be subject to the jurisdiction of this country, and so
31:10
Speaker 20: he was paving a pathway for Congress to allow the
31:14
Speaker 20: cancelation of worthright citizenship for the children of immigrants, should
31:17
Speaker 20: they so choose. Now, the majority of courts still didn't
31:21
Speaker 20: agree with Kavanaugh, and Congress can't really get anything done.
31:24
Speaker 20: But I think at the end of the day, if
31:26
Speaker 20: individual states like Texas, you know, try to be renegade
31:29
Speaker 20: and do their own work changing the constitution, that ultimately
31:32
Speaker 20: will be challenged and blocked in the federal courts as well.
31:36
Speaker 20: In the meantime, what can happen It can be really
31:40
Speaker 20: detrimental for individual people because you know, if you think
31:43
Speaker 20: about if it baby is born to immigrant parents and
31:47
Speaker 20: that baby is unable to get documentation of its citizenship,
31:51
Speaker 20: it might not be eligible for medical care should the
31:56
Speaker 20: baby be in the MIKU and need life saving care.
31:59
Speaker 20: So these are potentially life and death consequences and shouldn't
32:03
Speaker 20: be messed around with by the state of Texas.
32:06
Speaker 14: I heard condis Wan West say that this is something
32:08
Speaker 14: that's that's needed because well he feels that people are
32:14
Speaker 14: people are just using this to come across the border
32:16
Speaker 14: and how babies you know, yeah, I mean.
32:21
Speaker 20: The process for me, Well, you hear a lot about
32:24
Speaker 20: you know, the terms which are offensive terms, but anchor
32:27
Speaker 20: babies or birth tourism. And there's this idea that it's
32:32
Speaker 20: tossed about amongst conservatives that very pregnant women are just
32:35
Speaker 20: crossing the border to have babies. I think he was.
32:39
Speaker 20: Even Stephen Miller talked about a shipload of pregnant women
32:43
Speaker 20: brought to the shore. It's like screw gut to gather
32:46
Speaker 20: a shipload of pregnant you know. I mean, it's just
32:50
Speaker 20: an absurdity. And I will say, as an immigration lawyer,
32:54
Speaker 20: in practice, is actually a known thing that very pregnant
32:57
Speaker 20: tourists get denied entry all the time. It's not as
33:02
Speaker 20: if we've had this system in place where super pregnant
33:06
Speaker 20: people come over, have babies and then leave. I mean
33:08
Speaker 20: maybe many many years ago, but certainly not in the
33:10
Speaker 20: last several decades. The babies that are born here to
33:13
Speaker 20: immigrant parents are born to parents who have established lives
33:17
Speaker 20: in the United States and who are caught up in
33:19
Speaker 20: the broken immigration system. So bird tourism or anchor babies,
33:23
Speaker 20: those aren't really a thing, But there are words that
33:26
Speaker 20: get talked about and are used to convince less knowledgeable
33:30
Speaker 20: people there's scary monster out there, which is immigrants who
33:36
Speaker 20: are coming and taking all of our resources. That's not true.
33:39
Speaker 20: It's not born out in the data. But you have
33:42
Speaker 20: to use a little bit of critical thinking and put
33:44
Speaker 20: a little bit of time into actually questioning the things
33:47
Speaker 20: that your so called leaders are telling you in order
33:50
Speaker 20: to come to these conclusions, and a lot of people
33:52
Speaker 20: just don't have the capacity or the ability to do
33:55
Speaker 20: that critical thinking. And that, I think is the part
33:58
Speaker 20: that makes all of this the most scary. It's official
34:00
Speaker 20: whole rather large subsection of our population that believes that
34:05
Speaker 20: birth towards them is a thing, or believes that anchor
34:08
Speaker 20: babies are a thing because they hear, you know, leadership
34:11
Speaker 20: in Washington talk about it, but it's just actually not true.
34:16
Speaker 14: Well yeah, and it's getting momentum. You know, Texas does
34:20
Speaker 14: it in one state and then it kind of it
34:22
Speaker 14: kind of crosses state lines and you know that thing,
34:24
Speaker 14: you know, Louisiana, and it all gets challenged. But you're right,
34:28
Speaker 14: it's still it still affects people that are in the process,
34:32
Speaker 14: they're immigration status, and it's a lot it's given a
34:35
Speaker 14: lot of people what I'm saying.
34:38
Speaker 20: Look, at the end of the day, fear is a
34:40
Speaker 20: really strong motivator and a lot of politicians who are
34:43
Speaker 20: power hungry understand that. And when they talk about an
34:47
Speaker 20: invasion of immigrants, it gets people really riled up. And
34:51
Speaker 20: that is in some way the tale is all as time, uh,
34:55
Speaker 20: and and we are being manipulated by power hungry people.
35:00
Speaker 20: And that is the bottom line. And those of us
35:04
Speaker 20: who are you know, I said before critical thinkers do
35:10
Speaker 20: a little bit of a deeper dive on the information
35:12
Speaker 20: that's soon said to us will come to different conclusions.
35:16
Speaker 20: But you know, I do a lot of social media,
35:18
Speaker 20: a lot of videos. I have a lot of people
35:20
Speaker 20: in my comments, and I have enough exposure to those
35:23
Speaker 20: folks to understand that they are very sets in their
35:29
Speaker 20: beliefs that immigrants are bad, immigrants are dangerous, that they're
35:33
Speaker 20: drain on the system, and that people are trying to
35:36
Speaker 20: manipulate the system just have babies here, and that when
35:39
Speaker 20: somebody has a baby that they get a ton of
35:42
Speaker 20: you know, resources from the government. None of that is true.
35:45
Speaker 20: None of it is even close to true. But people
35:48
Speaker 20: believe that hook line and sinker, and they will fight
35:51
Speaker 20: really hard to support these beliefs, probably.
35:55
Speaker 14: Because it's coming from a white house on down. I'm
35:57
Speaker 14: looking at both French he's running and uh it goes
36:03
Speaker 14: down the line in Texas. Uh, that's right, chibroy say
36:07
Speaker 14: it's the same thing. And either the the area that
36:12
Speaker 14: they're in, they falls the wild secret mind. It there's
36:15
Speaker 14: no reality in any of us. You know, it's how
36:19
Speaker 14: they how are they keeping around the proof because this
36:22
Speaker 14: is going to go in court? How long will it
36:23
Speaker 14: take to go through the court if they passes any
36:26
Speaker 14: type religiously.
36:28
Speaker 20: I mean court. You know, losses get filed pretty quickly
36:31
Speaker 20: and junctions can happen pretty quickly. The problem we've got
36:35
Speaker 20: in Texas is that we sit in the fi Circuit
36:38
Speaker 20: Court of Appeals, which is a very conservative anti immigrant court.
36:43
Speaker 20: And so you know, should something have to go up
36:46
Speaker 20: to the Supreme Court, you know that obviously could take longer.
36:49
Speaker 20: So you know who knows on litigation and how quickly
36:53
Speaker 20: it can protect us. And that is the reality of
36:56
Speaker 20: the world that we live in. We live in a
36:58
Speaker 20: world in which the president is out of control, Congress's impotence,
37:04
Speaker 20: and the courts are kind of our only hope in
37:06
Speaker 20: many ways, and it's a slow and dangerous and difficult
37:12
Speaker 20: process for democracy exactly.
37:15
Speaker 14: And I have to ask you the case you were
37:18
Speaker 14: working on as far as the immigrant that was in
37:22
Speaker 14: the passenger seat and he was charged, he was charged,
37:26
Speaker 14: he was charged with you know.
37:28
Speaker 20: They were trying to deport him, that the US citizen, right, Yeah,
37:33
Speaker 20: I mean that case is equally frustrating. You know, this
37:35
Speaker 20: is a man who was born in a hospital in Denver, Colorado.
37:39
Speaker 20: He's a US citizen, and he was pulled over in
37:42
Speaker 20: a work truck as a passenger and detained and deported
37:45
Speaker 20: to Mexico. And he is still in Mexico. I when
37:48
Speaker 20: we are in active litigation to try to bring him back,
37:52
Speaker 20: and we're being asked to provide more and more evidence,
37:55
Speaker 20: like fingerprints of him in infancy, you know, things that
37:58
Speaker 20: really should not be required of a US citizen because
38:04
Speaker 20: if you think about it, if this is the procedure
38:08
Speaker 20: that is allowed in one case, it will be allowed
38:12
Speaker 20: in other cases. And imagine a world. Imagine living in
38:15
Speaker 20: a world where everybody who's a dual citizen of two nations,
38:20
Speaker 20: including the US, can be detained and deported from the
38:22
Speaker 20: United States to the other nation, and in order to
38:24
Speaker 20: get back they have to provide fingerprint or biometric evidence
38:27
Speaker 20: of their citizenship. Who has that? I don't know. Do
38:30
Speaker 20: you have fingerprints of your infancy? Maybe some of us
38:33
Speaker 20: do if they did that little you know, footprint, baby
38:35
Speaker 20: footprint at the hospital and you can get your hands
38:37
Speaker 20: on it. But requiring everybody to have that in order
38:43
Speaker 20: to not be detained or deported. It is dracronian and dystopian,
38:50
Speaker 20: and I hope that we're not headed in that direction.
38:53
Speaker 14: Thing as have enough money to try to skid around
38:57
Speaker 14: all this or is it just mostly people that don't
39:00
Speaker 14: have the money to fight this these type of cases.
39:05
Speaker 20: Well, all litigation is expensive and so and you know,
39:10
Speaker 20: people who have money have more access generally in systems
39:14
Speaker 20: of power, and so definitely people who have power and
39:18
Speaker 20: influence tend to fare better in matters of immigration.
39:22
Speaker 14: Certainly, you were saying that it's illegal for a person
39:27
Speaker 14: walking down the street to be an ID excellently identification
39:31
Speaker 14: that might correct on that.
39:33
Speaker 20: That is correct. No one is require US citizen is
39:36
Speaker 20: not required to identify themselves unless they are being detained
39:41
Speaker 20: and questioned for a crime with probable cause, or if
39:45
Speaker 20: they're driving a car. But if you're a passenger in
39:47
Speaker 20: a car or you're walking down the street, there is
39:49
Speaker 20: no law that says you have to have your identity
39:52
Speaker 20: documents on you.
39:54
Speaker 14: Even if there if a suspected crime has happening in
39:57
Speaker 14: a certain area and they're just asking questions.
40:01
Speaker 20: Of you, that's right, I mean, unless you know your
40:04
Speaker 20: description match is that of a suspect or something like that,
40:06
Speaker 20: that would equal probable cost. But if they're just stopping
40:10
Speaker 20: everybody on the street, No, they can't require US citizens
40:13
Speaker 20: to identify themselves. That's a violation of the Fourth Amendment
40:16
Speaker 20: of the Constitution.
40:18
Speaker 1: The attack on birthright citizenship has been stopped on the
40:22
Speaker 1: national level by the Supreme Court, but what is happening locally?
40:26
Speaker 1: Texas Republicans have moved to limit organizations from receiving grant
40:30
Speaker 1: money from the state if they use it for immigrants.
40:33
Speaker 1: The Galveston Houston Immigration Representation Project is one of the
40:37
Speaker 1: groups that has been impacted. On Friday, June twenty sixth,
40:41
Speaker 1: the Texas Supreme Court ordered Harris County to immediately cease
40:45
Speaker 1: payments to providers under the Immigrant Legal Services Fund. While
40:49
Speaker 1: the temporary injunction is in place, it causes significant harm
40:53
Speaker 1: to GHIRP services and the clients who depend upon them.
40:57
Speaker 1: The ILSF is a valuable county program that supports representation
41:02
Speaker 1: for detained immigrants who are Harris County residents and cannot
41:06
Speaker 1: afford a private attorney. Liz Hoffer, ghirp's managing attorney, spoke
41:11
Speaker 1: with the People's news about the injunction and attacks on immigrants.
41:16
Speaker 21: This decision from the Supreme Court on birth right citizenship
41:19
Speaker 21: basically affirms what the Constitution has said all along that
41:22
Speaker 21: if you are born in the United States, you are
41:24
Speaker 21: a US citizen. We are happy to have this decision
41:28
Speaker 21: affirming this right as the Trump administration has continually tried
41:32
Speaker 21: to deport and otherwise limit the rights to immogrants.
41:37
Speaker 14: And locally, how is this immigration of crad down that
41:41
Speaker 14: the trub administration has been setting. How does that affecting
41:45
Speaker 14: your organization, especially in tetons where they're trying to cut
41:47
Speaker 14: funding for organizations that work with immigrants.
41:52
Speaker 21: The current attacks both on immigrants and on funding for
41:55
Speaker 21: legal programs like ours, have had a significant impact on
41:58
Speaker 21: both our organizations and organizations trying to provide these services
42:02
Speaker 21: to immigrants across the country. In particular, the recent decision
42:06
Speaker 21: from the Texas Supreme Court causing funding for the Immigrant
42:09
Speaker 21: Legal Services Fund has significantly impacted our ability to continue
42:14
Speaker 21: to accept new cases for individuals who are in detention.
42:17
Speaker 21: Those are Harris County residents who deserve an opportunity to
42:19
Speaker 21: have an attorney with them. They defend their right to
42:21
Speaker 21: remain in this country.
42:23
Speaker 14: And you know, we will always think that him of
42:25
Speaker 14: this just grown people, but as sept a lot of
42:27
Speaker 14: other people too, you know. And does the organization primarily
42:32
Speaker 14: works with in the Latino community or does it spread
42:35
Speaker 14: out on all places of fastic of the community that
42:39
Speaker 14: are immigrants.
42:41
Speaker 21: As you know, Houston is a very immigrant community. One
42:46
Speaker 21: and few children in Houston have at least one immigrant parent.
42:50
Speaker 21: And those are people from all across the world who
42:53
Speaker 21: come to Houston for work, for safety, for all sorts
42:57
Speaker 21: of things. So we represent anyone who is through this
43:01
Speaker 21: program that was recently the funding was ceased. We represent
43:05
Speaker 21: anyone in detention who is a Harris County resident on
43:08
Speaker 21: a first come for surve basis, and that means that
43:13
Speaker 21: and this service is what has been cut by the
43:16
Speaker 21: recent Texas Supreme Court decision.
43:19
Speaker 14: And people do understand how expensive of trying. A lot
43:24
Speaker 14: of people say that, well, you know, want to to
43:26
Speaker 14: just be just get to go the right way and
43:28
Speaker 14: get relationship the right way. People understand how expensive it
43:32
Speaker 14: can be for people try trying to get legal residency
43:37
Speaker 14: in the United States.
43:39
Speaker 21: Yeah, and this is a matter of fairness in the
43:41
Speaker 21: criminal system. As we all know from television. You have
43:45
Speaker 21: the right to a free attorney if you can't afford one,
43:47
Speaker 21: and that's a right that's en trying in our constitution
43:50
Speaker 21: in order to help people who to have a fair
43:54
Speaker 21: opportunity to present their taste and a fair opportunity to
43:56
Speaker 21: argue why they shouldn't be in jail. However, in the
43:59
Speaker 21: city immigration system, there is no such right. Civil detention
44:04
Speaker 21: is not considered to be the same as a criminal consequence,
44:07
Speaker 21: and for that reason, many immigrants are stuck in detention,
44:11
Speaker 21: often for months or even years at a time, without
44:14
Speaker 21: the opportunity to have an attorney by their side. And
44:16
Speaker 21: that attorney is essential so that they can have the
44:18
Speaker 21: due process that they should have and the opportunity to
44:21
Speaker 21: show why they shouldn't be deported or why they should
44:24
Speaker 21: be able to stay here in this country.
44:26
Speaker 14: Because people that you serve, how are they feeling because
44:30
Speaker 14: it's you know, slipping mouth with the recent shooting of
44:34
Speaker 14: one ICE agent, how is the community feelings for SKI
44:39
Speaker 14: being scued or being intimidated?
44:42
Speaker 21: This community is under attack. In addition, as we all
44:46
Speaker 21: saw the yesterday with this ICE shooting, ICE has input
44:52
Speaker 21: increasingly reckless, increasingly dangerous enforcement tactics in order to up
44:58
Speaker 21: their numbers of immigrants who are being placed in the
45:01
Speaker 21: tension and ultimately deported from this country, and that is
45:03
Speaker 21: causing a lot of fear in the community. Our clients
45:06
Speaker 21: are afraid, the community that we serve as afraid, and
45:10
Speaker 21: you know, unfortunately we don't have a lot of protection
45:15
Speaker 21: to offer them. However, it is our goal and our
45:18
Speaker 21: mission to make sure that our clients and our community
45:21
Speaker 21: have the right to try to defend their deportation in
45:24
Speaker 21: court and to have a fair opportunity to argue why
45:26
Speaker 21: they should be able to stay in this country.
45:29
Speaker 14: Are they turn clients talk, you know, those of the
45:31
Speaker 14: business that really targeting immigrants and and try to raise
45:35
Speaker 14: those numbers. All given given a green light for the
45:39
Speaker 14: Department of Homeland Security to even increase the looquiss Abandon.
45:45
Speaker 21: I recently read an article that showed that in Texas
45:49
Speaker 21: in particular, most of the numbers of people that they
45:52
Speaker 21: are arresting who have no criminal history has significantly increased.
45:57
Speaker 21: As I strive to meet with the federal governments the
46:00
Speaker 21: chance to increase arrests and deportations for immigrants. So these
46:05
Speaker 21: are not people who are dangerous. Many of These are
46:07
Speaker 21: people who are currently in a lawful process trying to
46:10
Speaker 21: obtain status, and they get caught up with immigration enforcement
46:13
Speaker 21: and end up in detention. And that's why funds like
46:16
Speaker 21: the one that was recently paused by the Texas Supreme
46:18
Speaker 21: Court are so important. They allow those people who are
46:21
Speaker 21: our neighbors, who are caregivers, breadwinners, to have an opportunity
46:25
Speaker 21: to get out of detention and fight their cases and
46:28
Speaker 21: reunite with their families.
46:30
Speaker 14: I was told. I was told there are things that
46:32
Speaker 14: people families should should, should understand, or should do, and
46:37
Speaker 14: that was planned for a gift in case one of
46:40
Speaker 14: their family members that is arrested by ice or arrested
46:43
Speaker 14: by use of police, or or just some certain type
46:47
Speaker 14: of planning that they can do. Just can't take them
46:49
Speaker 14: like this happens, you're picked up.
46:53
Speaker 21: Yes, we very strongly encourage that anyone who is worried
46:56
Speaker 21: about their immigration status and getting arrested by ice have
46:59
Speaker 21: a plan in place and one resource that we can offer.
47:02
Speaker 21: We have monthly walk in days where you can get
47:05
Speaker 21: a complication with an attorney who can basically explain what
47:08
Speaker 21: your options are for your legal immigration status and also
47:12
Speaker 21: what precautions you.
47:13
Speaker 7: Should be taking.
47:13
Speaker 21: When you have an interaction with the police er, with
47:15
Speaker 21: an ice officer, can.
47:18
Speaker 14: You give the information on how to get in touched
47:20
Speaker 14: with your organization if they if they if they're in prices,
47:23
Speaker 14: or if they want to know somebody it needs some information.
47:27
Speaker 21: Yes, all our information is on our website. It's g
47:29
Speaker 21: h I r P dot org. And they can also
47:34
Speaker 21: just call our office and get information about all our services.
47:37
Speaker 21: That number is seven one three five six one three
47:40
Speaker 21: zero five nine.
47:42
Speaker 14: All right, Hey, thank you so much for talking to
47:44
Speaker 14: me and I it's just a pleasure to talk to
47:47
Speaker 14: you about this because this is something that's affecting a
47:49
Speaker 14: lot of people and it's going to get worse in
47:51
Speaker 14: my in my opinion.
47:54
Speaker 21: Yeah, it's really tough for everybody right now in the
47:58
Speaker 21: Houston area.
47:58
Speaker 14: For sure. Are you guys are going to be involved
48:01
Speaker 14: with the well, they have a protest and information session
48:05
Speaker 14: on to now Street tonight. Oh, are you guys going
48:08
Speaker 14: to be there with information or what did you know
48:11
Speaker 14: about it? Is that the gale that they're having.
48:14
Speaker 21: I did hear about it. You know, we're a nonprofit
48:17
Speaker 21: organization and so we tend to like we don't participate
48:22
Speaker 21: officially as an organization in events like that. However, it
48:25
Speaker 21: is an issue that we're following closely. We're about to
48:28
Speaker 21: issue a statement on that as well. And uh, you know,
48:33
Speaker 21: in my own individual capacity, I'm hoping to be able
48:35
Speaker 21: to go and support my neighbors in my community.
48:39
Speaker 1: That was Liz Hoffer, g h I rp's managing attorney.
48:43
Speaker 1: If you want information about their organization, you can go
48:45
Speaker 1: to g h I RP dot org. The People's News
48:50
Speaker 1: reported last week on the changes in Texas education curriculum.
48:55
Speaker 1: In social studies, Texas becomes the first state in the
48:59
Speaker 1: nation to require Bible reading in schools across the state.
49:03
Speaker 1: In classes elementary through middle school, Bible texts and passages
49:07
Speaker 1: will be required. This not only serves one religion, but
49:12
Speaker 1: blurs the separation of church and state. It recognizes Christianity,
49:17
Speaker 1: but excludes other religions or non religious groups. Well Judy
49:21
Speaker 1: is the state director of American Atheists. He spoke on
49:24
Speaker 1: what this means for all of us.
49:27
Speaker 22: It's absolutely unconstitutional. I keep saying this, and people know it.
49:32
Speaker 22: But people in charge, they have the power to impose
49:36
Speaker 22: this upon the constituents, and in this case it's constituencies,
49:42
Speaker 22: children in public schools. So my thoughts are again unconstitutional, regressive, oppressive.
49:49
Speaker 23: And.
49:51
Speaker 22: There is just very little of no appetite for any
49:55
Speaker 22: of this. The problem is the leadership in Texas does
49:59
Speaker 22: not reflect the wishes of pisans.
50:02
Speaker 14: Or is it is it possible that your organization or
50:05
Speaker 14: someone else will take this to court?
50:09
Speaker 22: Yeah, that's been on day one when the Ten Commandments
50:13
Speaker 22: Bill is passed or voucher bill, and there's a myriad
50:17
Speaker 22: of bills that are are worth of pushing back on
50:22
Speaker 22: and including including this one. So yes, to answer your question,
50:26
Speaker 22: there are plenty of groups that see this coming down
50:31
Speaker 22: the pipe, and as soon as they are able, as
50:34
Speaker 22: soon as on day one, really, they start to push
50:38
Speaker 22: back in the court system, ACLU Americans, United American Atheists,
50:43
Speaker 22: Freedom of Religion Foundation, they all have legal teams that
50:45
Speaker 22: are ready to push back, and they often often ask
50:50
Speaker 22: people because they need people to sign up for the
50:53
Speaker 22: lawsuit plaintiffs, people that have standing. Hey, if you have
50:56
Speaker 22: kids in school, if you are personally affected by this,
51:00
Speaker 22: we need to hear, we need to talk to you,
51:02
Speaker 22: because then the conversations get started, and that's how that's
51:06
Speaker 22: how they can push back in the course is to
51:07
Speaker 22: have a plaintiff, to have someone that that is harmed
51:11
Speaker 22: by these uh by these builds and laws.
51:14
Speaker 14: The reason why they're saying is that needs to be
51:18
Speaker 14: the Bible needs to be part in the school because
51:20
Speaker 14: this is a Judeo Christian country and kids need to
51:25
Speaker 14: learn about that.
51:27
Speaker 7: Yep, yep.
51:28
Speaker 22: They wrapped this in morality. In their version of morality,
51:31
Speaker 22: they say Judeo Christian. But the Judeo is just it's
51:35
Speaker 22: just aig, it's a fig leaf, it's it's decoration. They
51:38
Speaker 22: don't care about the Judeo part. It's it's it's straight
51:41
Speaker 22: up imposing Christianity on Texans and Texan children.
51:50
Speaker 14: Yeah, the the aspect of the aspect of this is Muslims, Atheists, Jewish,
51:58
Speaker 14: Jewish people. Everybody is going to be a about this.
52:00
Speaker 14: And what are kids to do if they're in the
52:03
Speaker 14: same classroom listening to these Bible versus.
52:09
Speaker 7: That's right, they don't care.
52:11
Speaker 22: They only hear about one specific sect of Christianity and
52:14
Speaker 22: it's the one that they.
52:15
Speaker 7: Want to impose, and that's it.
52:18
Speaker 22: And they they have they skirt the constitution and laws
52:21
Speaker 22: in some way by saying this is history and tradition
52:24
Speaker 22: America is a Christian nation. Our laws are based on
52:27
Speaker 22: Judeo Christian values. I'm doing air quotes right now. That's
52:31
Speaker 22: the way they kind of they wrap this in some
52:34
Speaker 22: kind of palatable patina. But it's just Evie, don't have
52:39
Speaker 22: to scratch very far to see the ick that's underneath
52:42
Speaker 22: all of that. So, yeah, they don't say we're teaching
52:46
Speaker 22: religion to kids. They say it's history and tradition and
52:50
Speaker 22: the Supreme Court, at least in the numbers there are
52:53
Speaker 22: now they love to hear that.
52:54
Speaker 7: And that's that's kind of what's been set up. This
52:56
Speaker 7: is a this is a long game. This has been
52:57
Speaker 7: going on for a decade, is not longer.
53:00
Speaker 14: What do you do about what fact? We also say
53:03
Speaker 14: that that kids need to learn about the history of
53:08
Speaker 14: this country.
53:09
Speaker 23: This is what our country has been chrounded on it
53:12
Speaker 23: even though it was prounded on the freedom of religion,
53:16
Speaker 23: and how do you separate church and state with all this, because.
53:19
Speaker 14: That's part that is as part of our structure of
53:23
Speaker 14: the country.
53:25
Speaker 22: Since the founding the founding fathers that they got a
53:27
Speaker 22: lot of things wrong, but they did get this right
53:30
Speaker 22: as far as subverting church and state. When when they
53:32
Speaker 22: were making our constitution back in seventeen eighty seven. They
53:35
Speaker 22: didn't have to look too far back to know what
53:37
Speaker 22: happens when a state caught is in charge of religion. Bloodshed, oppression,
53:43
Speaker 22: all the bad stuff. They wanted no part of that.
53:44
Speaker 22: So America was actually the personation to codify the separation
53:48
Speaker 22: of church and state. We have the establishment Clause, and
53:51
Speaker 22: the Constitution is kind of intentionally vague, just willer rooms
53:55
Speaker 22: or blah blah blah, this and that. But I mean
53:56
Speaker 22: there are words in there that the no tests, no
54:01
Speaker 22: religious tests for office. That's pretty that is, there's no
54:05
Speaker 22: wiggle room for that. They wanted to put a stamp
54:07
Speaker 22: on that. And that's just one example. There's plenty of examples.
54:10
Speaker 22: If they wanted this country to be a christiannation, they
54:12
Speaker 22: would have been Jesus and God all over the constitution.
54:16
Speaker 22: But ins said, it starts off with we the people,
54:19
Speaker 22: not God or the Almighty, We the people.
54:21
Speaker 7: And that's as secular as you can get.
54:24
Speaker 14: You say, you say, lawsuits will be fouled, But in
54:28
Speaker 14: the meantime, this is going on as plans. It starts
54:32
Speaker 14: in twenty thirty and the steam roles the steam role
54:37
Speaker 14: to go into effect the high school age kids have
54:40
Speaker 14: not it's not finalized yet. Are you going to look
54:44
Speaker 14: to speak at the in front of the tea about this?
54:51
Speaker 22: Yeah, listen, I'll do what I can. Personally, my mindset
54:54
Speaker 22: is to be more proactive than reactive. So to speak
54:58
Speaker 22: in front of the tea. If it's that act with
55:00
Speaker 22: Christian nationalists, Uh, if the Texas legislature is stacked with
55:04
Speaker 22: Christian nationalists nationalists, there's only so much that can do.
55:08
Speaker 22: And personally, this is just me that my appetite is
55:10
Speaker 22: more of I want to get better people elected to
55:14
Speaker 22: the State Board of Education, to the Texas legislature. That
55:17
Speaker 22: way they can stop this stuff or blunt it seriously
55:21
Speaker 22: from their positions of power. They make those decisions behind
55:25
Speaker 22: that wall. So again, all of this is important.
55:29
Speaker 7: It's it's that and.
55:32
Speaker 22: But yeah, in the meantime, I support these groups that
55:36
Speaker 22: are fighting in the courts, and I try to get
55:40
Speaker 22: the word out so that it's not not just me,
55:41
Speaker 22: but other parents. Other people are writing the state Board
55:44
Speaker 22: of Education or tea, even governor, everyone in between. Uh,
55:49
Speaker 22: to share their discontent.
55:51
Speaker 14: As an athey, as you find yourself to rely have
55:54
Speaker 14: align yourself with other other religious groups listen.
55:58
Speaker 7: I love it. I love it.
55:59
Speaker 22: I love the coalitions that we have formed with with
56:03
Speaker 22: religious individuals and groups that are repulsed by this. Every month,
56:09
Speaker 22: every year, I see the numbers growing of people there
56:13
Speaker 22: are disgusted by Christian nationalism generally and specific examples like
56:18
Speaker 22: the bubonic curriculum specifically. And they don't just post things
56:22
Speaker 22: on the internet. They don't just grumble. They actually do
56:25
Speaker 22: things in the real world to push back, and they
56:28
Speaker 22: do it as forcefully, if not more effectively, than we do.
56:32
Speaker 22: And I'm proud of the coalitions we have with these
56:35
Speaker 22: faith groups.
56:37
Speaker 14: How can people find out more mature organization?
56:41
Speaker 22: American Atheist has a great website. I'm also on the
56:44
Speaker 22: on the board of advisors for Center for Free Thought
56:47
Speaker 22: Equality and American Humanist Association, and there's plenty of groups
56:52
Speaker 22: that here in Houston. I formed a group called Secular
56:54
Speaker 22: Houston and we try to get candidates elected through the
56:57
Speaker 22: prism of church date separation, which is a perfect sage way.
57:00
Speaker 7: Is it exactly what we're talking about?
57:03
Speaker 1: That was Will Judy, State director with American Atheist. The
57:08
Speaker 1: People's News is a production of Steve Gallington and Richard
57:11
Speaker 1: Hannah and is protected by copyright laws. All the information
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57:54
Speaker 1: atgallington dot com. Thank you,