James Talarico Defends Healthcare, Immigration, and Voting Rights Before 25 Undecided Texas Voters

Honestly, I don't think you're going to do anything. We've he agree with you. We need way more investment in our communities here in America. >> It's why I fight how it's why I fight for >> how do we need to invest in those communities? >> Yeah. Uh Barbara Jordan, a great Texan, she said, "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." And so the argument I'm making with this claim is if young people in particular aren't at the table in this election, we will continue to be on the menu in 2027. My name is James Tarico. I'm a Texas state representative, former middle school teacher, and Presbyterian seminarian running for the US Senate to take power back for working people. And I'm surrounded by 25 undecided voters here in the great state of Texas. My first claim is that cuts to health care and food assistance hurt all of us. >> Hi. >> Hi, James. >> Daniel. Yes. >> So nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you as well. >> My faith teaches me to love my neighbor as myself. >> In fact, all the major world religions teach something similar that we should treat others as we want to be treated. The golden rule. I think all of these ancient wisdom traditions are hitting on the same truth, which is that we're interconnected. That what impacts any of us directly impacts all of us indirectly. We are a social species. We rise and fall together. And I think that's particularly true in healthcare and food assistance because the Republicans in DC are trying to raise premiums on some Americans. That will end up raising premiums on all of us. Right now, they're cutting food assistance for hungry kids and working parents. That's going to end up raising grocery prices for all of us. And so, they may think that they're just attacking some Americans, but in fact, they're attacking all Americans. I want to focus on the religious aspect because I agree. Um, have a very Christian background. >> Yeah. >> But if you look at major religions, including Christianity, it is not a focus on a political system. It's a focus on individual responsibility. And when the political system takes away the individual responsibility and says, "Don't worry, the government's going to take care of you," you are absolutely going to catch people who need that and it's a it's a hand up and it helps them. But you're also going to take away from the individual responsibility which is needed to get out of those situations. So when you talk about food stamps and healthcare and helping, how do you balance that? Because I haven't heard a good democratic argument of great let's help people, but how are you pro? There are nasty people. There are there are welfare queens. There are there are nasty people who take advantage of the system and take away from those who earned it, take away from those who need it. So, how are you going to take that into account? How are you going to going to make sure we we cover that risk as well? The biggest welfare queens in this country are the giant corporations that don't pay a penny in federal taxes. The biggest welfare queens are the CEOs who get a tax deduction for flying on a private jet. It's not hungry kids. It's not working parents who work multiple jobs to provide for their families. I agree with you that we need individual responsibility. And I don't want to create a culture of dependency. I want a hand up and not a handout. You know, I I believe that you don't give a man to fish, you teach a man to fish. But if you're going to take your friend out on a boat for the day to teach him how to fish, you want to make sure he had breakfast that morning. You want to make sure he's not sick because that allows him to learn how to fish. Again, I was a public school teacher, so I saw how when kids showed up hungry, they couldn't learn that day. Even my brightest students, even my hardest working students couldn't succeed, couldn't pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they didn't have boots. That's what I'm trying to fix in this country. We don't want dependency. We want to reward hard work. And I think that should apply to those billionaires, not just working people. >> I'm gonna push back. So, I agree with a lot of what you said. >> Yeah. But the issue is >> how do you prevent people from taking advantage of the system? Cuz I'm not going to say that like we would agree that in any kind of welfare system or any kind of age, you have a population of people who need it, who use it to better themselves and better those around you. You also have a population of those who abuse it. And because it's there, it's harmful to them because they're uninspired to live up to their potential. And it's harmful to everyone else because they're a leech on society. And we could I think generally we would disagree on the percentage of how much is this group and how much is that group. That's okay. But how do we prevent this group from taking advantage not only of those of us who are hardworking and make a good amount of money but those that really need the aid who get a bad reputation because of these over here. So this has actually been studied and the fraud rates for SNAP the food assistance program and for Medicaid are shockingly low. And what happens here is the corporate media, they try to pick out some rare case and they blow it up. They sensationalize it because they want to discredit these programs because they don't want tax dollars going to help feed hungry kids. They want tax dollars going to billionaires that own the media so they can get even more wealth. I I wanted to go back to something you said because we're both people of faith, both Christians, it sounds like. I I completely agree with you that everyone has a personal moral responsibility to to do right, to do good, to better themselves. But I'll also just say we also have a responsibility to our neighbors, to our community. And in fact, so much of our tradition comes out of the Jewish tradition, which is all about a covenant, a community of people, not singular individuals, but us as a community, us as a covenant. Jesus didn't tell us to love our our immediate family members. Jesus didn't tell us to love our close friends. Those probably would have been easier commandments to follow. He told us to love our neighbors. And then he specifically went further and define neighbor as someone who's very different from us. And that is an inherently a public thing. Loving your neighbors is is something you do out in public. It's it's why my my faith motivates me to do public service. first as a public school teacher, now as a public official. And so I just want to hold both of those two things together because there's absolutely a a role for individual responsibility and individual choices, but there's also responsibility to others and to the community. Both those things can be true at the same time. >> All right, pause. You've been voted out by the majority. Please. Yeah. So nice to meet you. [applause] [snorts] Hey, Stefan. So nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. >> On its face, what you're saying, cuts to healthcare, cuts to fit assistance hurts all of us, sounds good. But if you look at it at the inverse, increases to healthcare and increases to fit assistance doesn't help all of us. And the reason why is we have a bloated health care system where a lot of the money that goes into it gets acred to the intermediaries. The companies delivering these services the consulting class um a lot of fraud happens. I mean we have a current member of the Senate um and not in Texas but in the US who defrauded millions of people uh out of Medicare benefits and and the like. Um, so one of the things that I worry about is when we're talking about restoring the the money that's been cut is how is it going to be used effectively. Um, so I'm I'm not against having more health care to more people. What I'm against is that money being used inappropriately. And you know, you talk about the wealthy, the top versus uh bottom. This is a system that actually makes more people poor and the fewer that are really rich richer because it gives more opportunities for men to be sucked out of the system and acred into fewer hands. So not necessarily serving more people. So that's why I hesitate to agree that necessarily cutting uh healthcare uh cutting food assistance is necessarily hurting all of us. Maybe it's probably hurting the rich more than it is hurting most of us. >> Well, you you are preaching to the choir. I I think we've got to transform this health care system from the bottom up. Um most other countries around the world have figured out how to provide quality health care at lower costs for more people. We're the only rich country that hasn't figured this out because we have giant health insurance companies leeching the life out of our healthcare system. And so I absolutely agree with you. If we're cutting some of those profit margins for these giant healthcare companies, I'm all for it. But that's not what's being being proposed in Washington right now. That big ugly bill is going to kick millions of Texans off their healthcare. Right now, this government shutdown is all about the Republicans trying to raise premiums on working people. Those folks who can no longer afford to pay those higher premiums, they're going to drop their health insurance. Those folks are no longer going to get their screenings. They're no longer going to get their checkups. They're going to wait. Things are going to get worse. They're going to get sicker. And then where will they go? To the emergency room. And who pays for that? Me and you. It's going to raise our property taxes here in Texas for indigent care at the county level. We all pay for that. And it is so much more expensive on the back end than it is on the front end. We end up saving money if we invest in preventative care on the front end. And so that's my point with this claim is that we're all interconnected. What hurts some of us ends up hurting all of us. And when we're all better off, we're all better off. Same with the food assistance cuts. Cutting SNAP benefits for hungry kids and working parents, it disrupts the entire supply chain in our economy from ranchers and farmers here in Texas to distributors and truck drivers to grocery stores like HB. And when supply goes down, prices go up. So because they the Republicans in DC are cutting food assistance for poor folks, it's now going to make grocery store prices even more expensive for everybody. So if we make the decision to invest in our neighbors, to love our neighbors through good public policy, even when we're open to reform and fixing these broken systems, it's actually going to make us all healthier. It's going to make us all safer. It's going to make us all richer. >> I mean, that sounds really good. Uh the only thing that I'm sort sort of hearing coming from your answer is it's an acceptable cost or benefit to uh you know give more money to the intermediaries if it's giving more people healthcare and that's where I continue to sort of hesitate. >> Let me give you a a solution that could that could address this. I'm for a public option. I'm for allowing anyone in the state of Texas, anyone in America to sign up for Medicare to be able to access highquality, lowcost health care. I think when we do that, you're going to see folks who are in terrible health care plans flee and join this public option. It creates competition in the market. It creates choice. It creates uh opportunities for people to decide what's best for themselves and their families. So, I am not satisfied with this health care system. Please do not misunderstand me. We need transformational change when it comes to healthcare in this country because I believe healthcare is a human right and it shouldn't depend on how much money you make or how much money your parents make. We all are entitled to highquality lowcost affordable healthcare. >> Why instead of reform not just completely dismantle and start from scratch? Cuz to me um cutting or reforming has not worked in the last 20, 30, 40 years. There's been incremental changes around the corners and none of that has worked to me. me the solution is a complete reworking of the entire system. So any sort of reform to me does not do the job, does not go far enough. I I'm completely for holistic reform and reworking of the system. Uh as a legislator over four terms in the state capital, I've realized how difficult it is to make change. I've got big dreams for this state and for this country, but I'm also very realistic on what I can promise as a candidate for office. And I don't want to sit here and tell you that I can transform the system overnight. I can't. What I can do is adopt some some actual reforms that'll help provide more healthcare to more people. And you've said that we haven't seen the system get better. I want to push back on that because when the Affordable Care Act was passed, we suddenly saw health insurance companies no longer able to deny Americans coverage for pre-existing conditions. We saw that young people could stay on their parents plan until they're 26. We have seen progress. It's too slow. It's unacceptably slow. The only way that's going to change is if you and the people around this circle take more ownership of this democratic process. Not just voting, but running for office yourselves, supporting candidates, organizing protest. That's how we can speed up the pace of change, which I desperately hope we can do because people are counting on it. >> All right, pause. You've been voted out by the majority. Great job. Turn to your seat. [applause] Hi, Brandon. So nice to meet you. Yeah, >> pleasure. >> So, um I I agree with your sentiment. >> Yeah. Um, however, what I've seen over the last two weeks or so, um, I live in East Texas. Yeah. So, when the SNAP benefits were being cut, um, I made a post on a Facebook group out in our in our area and it received >> more love and support than I've seen through through communities. So, I think that I agree that the benefits being cut is a very, very bad thing. That we should definitely be doing everything we can to help the people who are in need, but it's also shown me that the indomitable spirit of the American >> will come together and rescue uh the people that really need the help, you know, at that time. So, >> I totally agree. >> I totally agree. And in fact, you know, I'm running for US Senate. We have 8,000 people who have signed up to volunteer for the campaign, which is great. As a politician, you always want to have people volunteering. But when these food assistance programs were cut, we decided to channel all of that volunteer energy away from our campaign and into food banks all over the state of Texas. We had a bunch of Team Tallerico volunteers at the San Antonio and Houston food bank helping to make sure that we were taking care of our neighbors. I'm trying to go a little further with this claim and say not only is it the right thing to do, it's also the smart thing to do >> because when we cut these programs that provide a lifeline to our neighbors who are struggling, it ends up allowing them to be more productive. >> It allows them to give their gift. I believe every person is made in the image of God. Every person has something unique to give this world. And when we make sure that everyone has enough to eat, we make sure everybody is healthy, people are able to give that gift and that ends up benefiting all of us. I I really do believe that the next great business idea is trapped in the mind of a kid in poverty on the west side of San Antonio. >> I think the the scary part for me is that what we're witnessing right now is that these these programs that are designed to help people and designed to help further our communities can be used as weapons um as threats that if if this bill doesn't get passed, we're going to cut, you know, we're going to cut healthcare. we're going to cut um you know funding for for food for children. I mean my my problem is is that there's so much partisanship >> in politics now where it feels like the the the politicians that we have in office right now don't necessarily care what the issue is. They just care about the outcome which is my party wins, the other team loses. So what would be your plan to work with the other side? >> I've had to work across the aisle to get stuff done and I have. So I want to tell you a story. When I was running for this seat in the state house, I was 28 years old, healthy guy, and I decided to walk the entire length of my district from Round Rock, Texas to Taylor, Texas. 25 miles. It was a long walk. It was all in the Texas heat. >> Halfway through the walk, I started to feel fatigued >> and nauseous. Actually threw up a couple times in the last half of the walk. Somehow I finished it. My family got concerned. They took me to the ER. The nurses tested my blood sugar. I I don't think I'd ever had my blood sugar tested before. They told me that a normal blood sugar is 100 or lower. Mine was 900. I was in a state of diabetic keto acidosis. They told me that I had type 1 diabetes. I didn't even know what type 1 diabetes was to be honest with you. I went to Walgreens to pick up my first 30-day supply of insulin. This new medicine that I now needed to live >> and it cost me $684. It's crazy >> for a 30-day supply. And I >> do you want to buy that same bottle of insulin for your dog? It's $25. Well, and so here in Texas after I got elected, I worked with people with diabetes all over the state. I found out that people were rationing, skipping their doses. Some of them were dying because they couldn't afford it, >> right? >> And I was able to work across the aisle with my Republican colleagues to pass the first ever cap on insulin co-pays in Texas history. So from $684, even with insurance, we capped it at $25. Yeah. >> So now through public policy, we're going to make sure that people with diabetes can live a long and healthy life. This system is broken. This healthare system is broken. Progress is way too slow. But when we come together, when we actually believe progress is possible, we can make people's lives better. And that's the whole purpose of politics. >> Sure. >> All right. Pause. You've been voted out by the majority. >> Great job. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. >> Hi, Maria. So nice to meet you. >> Okay, so I want to go back to kind of what you guys were saying. >> You were saying that um through your faith, charity, and giving is part of what makes us all run. And I think that the issue here is that the charity and the love is important, >> but it's not something that is in government. I think it's something that is moral and civic education, and that's very much needed >> in order for us to live in a just and free society. But government isn't where you put the charity because the thing is I was a former social worker before I became a stay home mom. >> Yeah. Good. >> And I worked with a lot of people, adults and kids. Um, and one of the things that I've seen is like when people are on food assistance for too long. And I think something like 30% of SNAP benefit beneficiaries stay on it long term, it kind of perpetuates and keeps them in poverty rather than helping them out of it. And if we're missing the a big middle class, we're saying we're talking about like the poor kids that obviously should have food, but the there's a big class outside of that that is struggling and doesn't have the food assistance. So I I I don't think it's a >> the government >> I hear you. So I was just talking about a scripture that guides me and that's Matthew 25 about how we're judged and how we're saved. I forgot to add that that judgment is not just on individuals, it's also on the nations. So it is both us as people, it's also us as communities and whether or not our communities, our nations, our governments are caring for the poor and the hungry and the widow and the orphan. So if you look through the entire Bible, particularly the Hebrew scriptures, um there is so much criticism of kingdoms and empires and governments for not doing right by their people. So many of the Hebrew prophets called out the powerful, the people who are in charge. The difference is today we live in a democracy. We don't live in an empire. And so we are making these decisions together. And when we decide as a country through the consent of the governed that we want to pitch in to make sure that the most vulnerable people have what they need to succeed and fulfill their potential. I think it's a beautiful thing. I think it's a very Christian thing to do. There are so many politicians who talk about making this a Christian nation until it comes to feeding the hungry, until it comes to caring for the sick, until it comes to serving the poor. You talked about people being long-term on food assistance. I would say the reason for that is because we haven't raised the minimum wage in this country in 15 years. Here in Texas, it's still a little over $7 an hour. We allow these giant multinational corporations making record profits to pay people poverty level wages. That is what's keeping people in a cycle of dependency. That's what's keeping people in poverty, not because we want to provide some basic healthcare and basic food assistance. >> There is I think it's both. I think I mean the on paper it's $7 but if you go to McDonald's you're you're making $12 which is not good. It's still not good in the richest country in the world. It is it it's more than $7. But I think the when you're trying to put government into I mean charity into policy, you're taking away communities. you're taking away the power in communities rather than and a lot of people >> if they don't have the education and the statistics they kind of just go like you said um they vote based on the what the billionaires kind of like drift down [clears throat] >> but what's needed there is the education piece in keeping policies or putting more money into systems that are keeping people longer into poverty or keeping them there isn't going to work >> we want to lift people out of poverty we we want to end poverty. Uh we want to make sure that everyone can contribute what they have to give to this economy, to this country. That's the goal. And and I think the way we do that is by unrigging the system because working hard no longer pays. It really doesn't. You can work multiple jobs and still not get into the middle class. That's what we have to fix. And you're right, it's not just government. It's also churches and nonprofits and community groups. It's all the above. All of us have to be working to make sure that every single Texan, every single American can fulfill their God-given potential. >> All right, applause. Sorry. Return to your seat. >> Thank you. >> Yay. Good job, everybody. [applause] >> Hey, before we go any further, we want to take a moment to say thanks so much to Straight Arrow News for powering the fact [music] checks in this video. Straight Arrow News is on a mission to raise the bar on journalism in a time of media bias and mistrust. Straight Air News helps you quickly find trusted information you need to understand the news, allowing you to dive deep into the topics that matter to you and the world around you. Their work is trying to break the bias bubble, helping you understand how every side of the political spectrum is reporting on a story so you get a full picture of the news. That's why we're so happy to be partnering with Straight Arrow News. They deliver the facts unbiased, balanced, and designed to make sense of a complex world, getting you the clarity you deserve and news you can trust. Go to s.com/surrounded or click the link in the description to check it out. By clicking that link, you're not just supporting this channel. You also take advantage of a better way to get the news. Welcome back to Trustworthy [music] Journalism. Thanks again to Straight Arrow News for partnering with us on this episode. Now, let's get into it. My next claim is that immigrants make America stronger and richer. >> Hi, Jade. Yes. Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. Let me just lay out what I mean by this because I know it sounds a little controversial. I'm a eighth generation Texan. My family's been here since it was Mexico. My mom actually grew up in Laredo right on the Texas Mexico border. I feel like we Texans understand immigration more than people outside of Texas because we live with it every day. The benefits and the challenges. The more I travel the state, the more I've realized that most Texans are in the same spot on this issue. The metaphor I've used is that our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door. We can both welcome the stranger, welcome immigrants who want to contribute to this economy, who want to live the American dream, who want to make us stronger and richer, and we can keep people out who mean to do us harm. I will say what I think not enough Democrats have been willing to say. Joe Biden failed us on our southern border. I remember talking to my colleagues in the Texas legislature who represent border communities. They told me about the utter chaos on the border. And that failure by Joe Biden paved the way for Donald Trump to come in with masked men in unmarked vehicles, secret police tearing parents from their children, kidnapping people off the street. I think both parties have failed us on this issue. I think we all should come together and finally pass comprehensive immigration reform, more immigration judges, more border patrol, modernize our ports of entry where most of the fentanel gets in, reform our asylum system, relieve the visa backlog. We should finally fix this problem instead of grandstanding on it. >> I completely agree with you on that. Um but what I disagree with is the claim that immigrants as a whole um are making America stronger. I think there is a lot of nuance that is not added to that claim. I think that there are a lot of immigrants and immigrants are needed in this country. A lot of these immigrants are the ones that are driving America forward. I also think that there are a lot of immigrants who America is supposed to be a melting pot. America is supposed to have people from everywhere come together and there's this concept of assimilation where there should be partial assimilation. You don't no one should be forced to completely assimilate and change who they are and change their beliefs to fit in. But at the same time, whenever we have people coming to this country and then going out on the streets yelling that they hate the country, it's counterintuitive and it really does hurt America as a whole. Do you know any undocumented immigrants? >> No, I do not. >> When I was a teacher on the west side of San Antonio, I taught a lot of students who were undocumented. And I don't want to stereotype, but those students tended to be the most patriotic, the hardest working students that I had in the classroom. They understood something about this country that even I, as a nativeorn American, often take for granted. They believed that this was a land of opportunity. and they were ready to do whatever it took to make it in this country. And that's what generations of Italian and and Irish immigrants did in this country. And I think if we welcome folks who want to contribute, who want to be Americans, it's going to make us stronger and richer because it already has. >> All right, pause. You've been voted out by the majority. So nice to meet you. [applause] Hi. >> Hi. How you doing? So, I would argue that as someone who has my dad's side, they come from immigrants and you know, things like that. I'm originally from Florida, so yeah, >> I'm African and black, however you want to put it. Yeah. But I would say I'm I'm in favor of strict of stricter borders mainly because when we have so many immigrants now that are just coming like as a flock and you know from everywhere from India from Japan however you want to put it. I think the thing what's happening now is that like just how um the guy who won for New York, what's his [clears throat] name? Um >> Mandani. >> Mandani. Um, I think that the people when they when there's too many immigrants coming, they think that they know America better than the originators or people that are born here generationally. And um it causes a conflict on government like you know uh Rama Ramazani I don't know how to say his name. Indian guy, >> okay, >> who was born here, right? >> And um now he's a part of the government. And I think that kind of plays a part in religion, >> um government, what we believe in because a lot of them may not be Christian, maybe Buddhist, and they may just have a different ideology and may not like what you see for us, they may not see for us, and they may try to change it. same way how Indians come over and get HB H um H1 H1B uh visas or whatever and they you know bond together make money together and don't want any other race culture working with them as a whole. So that's why I believe overall stricter borders should be put in place and a stricter um citizenship process because it's not the same as what it used to be. It used to be a lot easier, but now it's [clears throat] getting a lot harder, which is a good thing because, you know, >> I agree with we need more secure borders. We're not disagreeing on that. >> What I am saying is that America as a melting pot is what makes us so special as a country, but it's also what makes us u richer and stronger as a country, right? >> Have you ever heard the claim that social security is going to go bankrupt? >> Maybe once or twice. >> Yeah. Do you know why social security isn't bankrupt today? >> Because of immigrants. because of immigrants, undocumented people. >> Pause. So sorry you've been voted out. Please return to your seat. >> So nice to see you. Yeah, great job. >> Hey Malik, so we just got cut off. >> Have you heard the claim that Social Security is going to go bankrupt? Yes. >> And do you know why social security is not bankrupt today? >> No. >> So it's immigrants that are keeping Social Security solvent. undocumented people pay into social security through their IT 10 numbers and they don't take any benefits in return. So they single-handedly as a community in the shadows are keeping this system of ours solvent. 5% of the entire armed forces are immigrants. >> These are people who can't even vote but they are willing to lay down their lives for this country. >> And we have 7 million we have 7 million jobs that still need to be filled, >> right? >> We have more jobs than there are workers in this country. And so my argument here, this claim that I'm making is that by welcoming immigrants who want to contribute, who want to build their own American dream, they actually help benefit all of us and the entire economy. >> I would agree with that, but I think this conversation is going in a extremely dangerous direction, 100%. And I'll tell you why. So it's really easy to identify a problem, but what's the solution? Let's talk about immigration. And I I agree they do make this country better. And I agree that huge welcome doormat and then locking the door. Y but okay what's the process of people actually getting to the door in the first place? What's going to be be deemed fair? What's going to be deemed unfair? That's where the conver that's what's going to cuz any politician can say yes immigrants good poor people should have money. It's like that. Okay, cool. But like what does that process look like? Well, and I I want to talk about the specific solutions, but I do just want to acknowledge that both parties are not actually talking about welcoming immigrants and securing the border. >> So, I think the problem here is we don't have candidates or elected officials who are speaking >> to the giant middle ground where most Texans and most Americans are. Most people are pro-immigrant and pro- security. >> And so am I. To answer your question about >> what would comprehensive reform look like? >> Yes, >> a lot of people say immigrants should come here the right way. I agree. The problem is there's not really a right way anymore. There's not even a a line that moves at any real pace. There are people who have applied to be here who have waited 20, 30 years. Some people have died before they got a response back. That's not a line. If we want a real line, it has to be a fastmoving line. We've got to prioritize people who are going to fill the jobs that need to be filled. Okay? >> And we want to prioritize people who are actually claiming asylum and who need safety. Th those are the groups in my mind that need to be prioritized. But we're never going to be able to process f those folks unless we have enough immigration judges, unless we have enough border patrol, unless we modernize the ports of entry. 93% of the fentanyl that comes into this country comes through the ports of entry. It doesn't come over the Rio Grand. >> It comes through the ports. >> And we don't have the technology or the manpower to detect that fentanyl. And so those are things we have to do real quickly because like I said, this this is where it gets really dangerous because that's we can blow over Okay, we've identified the problem. The problem is there's not a quote unquote right process, but at that same time, there's there needs to be some process. Yeah. >> So, with the line, what does that process look like? Knowing that there's a a right and a quote, right? Like what? Okay. So, what's the line going to be? >> And a lot of and a lot of the problem is manpower, right? We don't have enough folks in this system who are doing this work. The current administration has grown the size of ICE, immigration and customs enforcement. Except it's not people doing immigration and customs enforcement. It is a secret police force that is terrorizing communities. In North Texas, there was a mom and dad, the Vargases. They own a dry cleaners here in Dallas. They're beloved by their customers, by their neighbors. They were dropping their daughter off at Texas Tech University, one of the best universities in the state of Texas. They were on their way back from dropping her off at school. I stopped them, detained them. They are still in a detention center. I do not want my law enforcement or my immigration enforcement officials focused on the Vargases. I want them focused on murderers and rapists and gang members, people who mean to do us harm. When we devote law enforcement resources to going after the Vargases, it makes us all less safe. So, I'm just asking for sanity in the system. >> All right, pause. You've been voted out by the majority. Great job. Yeah. [applause] >> Hi, Tyler. Good to see you. Yeah. >> All right. Okay. So, um you told a really horrible story. That's a very sad story. >> Um but also they're undocumented. So, this isn't just legal people who are here that came from another thing. It's a definitely emotional story. It makes me feel horrible for those people that know. I think there needs to be some some better processes here. Um but it's it's they're still illegal, right? They're not supposed to be here. It's wrong by government standards, right? I think borders are very biblical. We see Nehemiah, the first thing he did for his country when he returned to Israel, he built a wall, right? He built a wall to keep those that wanted to harm them out. And you know, I'm not saying that >> everyone coming here wants wants to harm people, but I'm just saying that like biblically this this reinforces it. Um, and so yeah, I feel like >> I agree. I I believe in borders. Um, and I don't believe in amnesty. Um, let's take the Vargases. We were talking about how they are sympathetic, um, hardworking small business owners in our community. They've been here for decades. There needs to be a path to citizenship. That is not the same thing as amnesty because you're right. >> Is there not already a path to citizenship? >> No. And that's the problem. We've got millions of people who are living here in the shadows and there is no path for them to actually come into compliance, which I want them to do. I'm I'm a law and order Democrat. I believe that laws matter and there should be consequences for breaking the law. But here's what I will say, Tyler. We do recognize in our legal system that there are different punishments for different kinds of offenses. There are civil offenses like being here without documentation. There are criminal offenses like murdering, raping someone, and those things are treated differently. And so for in my mind, and again I'm open to to negotiating how the details work, but there needs to be in broad strokes a pathway to citizenship where they pay a fine for being here without documentation or crossing the border legally. There should be some penalty for that. I'm not disagreeing. They should also have to pay back taxes. Again, immigrants, undocumented immigrants in uh in particular, pay a lot of taxes and don't get benefits in return, but they may be missing some of those taxes because they weren't citizens. They need to pay those back taxes and they need to go through the citizenship process. They got to take the test. They got to learn about our government. They got to learn about our culture. All that is so important. If they do all those things and they've been here a long time and they've been contributing, I think they should be brought into you. >> Just said they go through the they need to go through the immigration process. But then you just told me a minute ago that there is no immigration process that they can't become. >> I'm talking about creating one. I'm talking that's what I mean when I say comprehensive immigration reform. It is building a process to where we can bring these millions of people living in the shadows into compliance because there's not a process right now. And what you're asking is the process on the front end, how they got in here. And I hear so many people say they should come in the right way. We should create a process where there is a right way, where there's a line and it's a fastmoving line. I mean, I think you would agree, Tyler, that someone shouldn't wait 20 years to hear back on their application. That's not a process at all. And that encourages that encourages people to come here the wrong way. So I'm saying this is a systemic problem. >> You've been voted out. Please return. >> Great job. Yeah. >> Hi. >> Hi, >> Chenise. So nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you, too. >> So I hear everything you're saying. I take disagreement with you saying like the Democrats nor the Republicans actually did a good job on border policy because as an immigration attorney, >> it started under the Obama administration and continued under the Biden administration where they were deporting people for having crimes of moral turpitude. You would get these notice of deportation um notices in the mail. So this idea or this notion that there was just this open border plan and nothing was being done is like not true. And in terms of them not hiring people, even the Trump administration spent a lot of time creating different courts in El Paso and trying to force people to stay out of the border and make Mexico create different courts. And even the Trump administration today is still hiring judges, immigration, immigration judges and fasttracking people out of the country. So I don't understand what exactly you're saying in ter especially when you say public safety >> because if we look at what's happening we are talking about we have mass shootings that happen because of US citizens and so this com like conflating of illegal immigration and public safety I just think is like a misinformation and as a politician for me I expect you to come up with an argument that makes sense like you said Okay, we want to create pathways to citizenship. Well, how do you do that for people who were illegal? We had DAPA. We had DACA that created work visas, but that wasn't a way to a pathway to citizenship. And that's not fair to the people who have H-1B visas. That's not fair to people who have K visas for um their fiance. So, I'm just a little confused as to why we would fasttrack people who are here undocumented and ignore people who have been waiting in the visa process line for a long time. >> Well, first, thank you for your work on this topic. I want to just clarify a few things. I never said that we had an open border policy. Um, I also don't think we should fasttrack anybody. What I'm trying to do is create a system that works. And when I speak about the failures of both political parties, including my own, it is the failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform, and that's a failure from George W. Bush to Barack Obama to Donald Trump the first time, Joe Biden and Donald Trump the second time. What I'm saying is we should be going after the cartels, not our communities. We should be hunting down human traffickers, not moms and babies. We should be deporting gang members, not not small business owners. >> But we did that. So, >> and I and I think that was great to have a prioritization in terms of deportation much better than what we have now. >> But when you deported crime or people that were part of cartels when we were doing that in like the '9s, the early 2000s, you happened to destabilize Central America which caused an influx of immigration that we've never seen before. So, this idea of like let's knock down doors and do uh come after the cartel, I agree with, but I'm confu. You also said we had to do something about people who had been here undocumented. That's right. My question is, what is your actual comprehensive policy look like for those people who have been waiting in line because we do have a pathway to citizenship through visas? >> Yeah. I like I said, I want for those that are living in the shadows. I want them to have a pathway. I'm not saying they should jump in front of anybody else. What I'm saying is we have to bring them out of the shadows because it makes us all safer and it makes us more prosperous. But I would love I mean you tell me this is a conversation. You're much more of an expert in immigration law than I am. So tell me what you think that policy should look like. >> I think if you do what was attempted to do for DACA and DAPA, if you've been here for 10 years or you were brought as a child and you were enrolled in school, you should have a pathway to citizenship. I do understand the fundamental policy of not breaking up families, but I don't understand how we allow their children to stay illegally. like do you let them stay, get pathways to citizenships and then turn around allow their family to do the family visas and make people return back to their original country because we have to remember if we do that part of it people go to jail when they go back we have like laws in place with different countries especially in the Caribbean where if you were in America illegally you go to jail to come back so when you go back so there is no to me I don't think we should fasttrack undocumented workers okay or I think we should probably give people work visas, but I don't agree with you necessarily getting citizenship because what other path why would other people take the better route, which is not to be undocumented and actually apply for a visa. >> So, tell me, here's where I get hung up. Tell me what we do with kids, cuz I I was telling you how I, as a public school teacher, taught a lot of students who were undocumented. Many of them were saved by DACA. What do we do for those kids who were brought here through no fault of their own, without their consent, they now live here in America? This is the country they know. They know no other country. >> What are we doing about their parents? >> And you mentioned DAPA being an opportunity for parents. So >> if we kept work visas for their family, their parents, and allowed them to stay and they find a pathway to citizenship, if you cross the border before you were like six and we can prove you were here, then I agree. But I think after that age, it gets too murky with trying to, you know, cuz people will falsify documents. They'll falsify pictures. And so you start, it gets harder and harder to do. I mean, this is the beauty of public policy, right? When we step out of the algorithms and the news networks, people can sit down, even if they're maybe coming at it from a different point of view and be able to hammer out a solution that actually works. And I always try to listen to the experts. Um, because as a politician, there's no way you can be an expert in everything. And so, I think you and I, some of the solutions we've just talked about, that's exactly what we need to be focused on if we're going to fix the system. I think secret police is not the answer. And we have got to find a better path forward on immigration. >> All right, pause. You've been voted out. Please return to your >> Great job. Nice to meet you. >> Yeah. [applause] >> Hi, Terrence. >> Nice to meet you. >> I'm I'm kind of tough. I'm not soft. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. >> So, the border I think it it needs to be like closed for a while. >> You said that uh you know, immigrants are some of the most patriarch patriotic in my students. >> Your students. Your students. I think that it is black people and foundational black Americans that are the most patriotic in America. Why are we not closing the border and using the drugs that are coming in, the money that's coming in from these drugs? Why are we spending money on private schools and letting these private companies fund these private schools uh and not putting money into the black neighborhoods and brown neighborhoods that were here for so long in America and actually built what a lot of immigrants enjoy today? >> Yeah. >> And what are you going to do to kind of Yeah. >> lend a hand in that way? >> Yeah. I don't think we're disagreeing that we need way more investment in our communities, particularly black neighborhoods all over Texas. Um, but I would say that this discussion about immigration also applies to black people. Um, because we have black immigrants. Not all immigrants that that come to this country are from >> Well, let me stop. Let me stop. Let's let's let's cut out the black immigrants for now. >> I'm talking about foundational black Americans and foundational white Americans. So, I'm native of Texas and a descendant of slavery, right? So why are we not focusing on that instead of like closing the I mean these people I'm we're not it's not America's job right to take care of someone's child and mother from another country that's that country's job okay if they want to put America as a dumping ground and then we have to now spend money to put these immigrants somewhere else that's unfair to me and other foundational white Americans. >> So here's where I agree with you. We need way more investment in our communities here in America. It's why I fight. It's why I fight for >> how do we need to invest in those communities. >> Yeah. It's why I fight for public education in the Texas legislature. Uh it's why I have fought to lower housing costs and provide more funding for affordable housing. Let's take uh education just to drill down. As you know, I was a public school teacher, so I know the system from the inside out. By the time kids show up to kindergarten, the first grade, kids who grew up in poverty are already behind their peers, right? Their affluent peers who have enrichment opportunities, have summer camps, who hear a lot more words because they have stay-at-home parent or a parent who can stay at home versus kids who grow up in poverty. I think the way to fix that, and this is what I've worked on legislature, is highquality, universal early childhood education for every child, no matter their zip code, no matter their race, no matter how much money their parents make. Because those first thousand days of a child's life, those first three years are the most important in terms of brain development. And if they aren't catching up in kindergarten, you know, that's just going to get worse the longer they're in the public education system. And so, we're setting up these students for failure. And I agree with you. These students are they're children of promise. Again, they are made in the image of God. They have something to contribute. Our job is to create a system that allows them to do that. Early child education is a key part of it. >> Are you willing to take away the money that we're putting toward um bringing other immigrants in because most immigrants take away from the jobs. A lot of people can't find jobs after they graduate. agree with you. It takes a long time for them to do that because most of the even the idea has to be sped up in order to get that job because an immigrant can get that job and can get that job for way less. >> So, we've talked about where we agree, which is investment in all kinds of neighborhoods, but investment for Americans. Um, where we disagree, I think, is this idea that immigrants as a whole are a drain on this country. That's where I strongly disagree >> because these immigrants are doing jobs that native born Americans won't do. And here's here I'll give you an example. Let me just give you an example. >> I disagree. How do you how do you know that? Let me I'll give you an example. Who did you ask? Let me give you an example. >> Who did you ask that they want that job? >> I talked to an avocado farmer in California who's been running this farm for 20 years. >> He said he has never had a native born American apply to work for one of his jobs. >> Let me ask you a question. Let me ask you a question real quick. Okay. How many black people are in California? >> In Los Angeles or >> in California in total? >> I I don't know. I don't know much about California. >> It's under 7% now. He doesn't have enough people to that need jobs in California for you to make that statement toward Texas. Texas. More black people stay in Texas. More foundational white Americans stay in Texas. >> Let's just talk holistically. There are 7 million jobs. >> Holistically doesn't work for everyone. >> No, no, but I'm talking globally about the economy. There are 7 million jobs that are unfilled in this country. We have more jobs than we do workers in America right now. And these are, as you know, some of the toughest jobs, right? Picking our fruit, um taking care of our children and our elders, um paving our highways. These are jobs that are difficult. And the research shows that undocumented immigrants are really just competing against other recent immigrants. They're not competing with native born Americans who in many cases, whether it's that avocado farm or whether it's other industries across the country. Nativeorn Americans will not sign up to mow our lawns. And so if we go after these immigrants, we're not just hurting them and their families and their ability to live the American dream. We're hurting the entire economy. We're hurting ourselves. And then I'll go one step further. Those immigrants go on often times to create jobs. Half of all Fortune 500 CEOs are immigrants. A quarter of all entrepreneurs are immigrants. The research shows that immigrants and their children have a higher economic mobility rate than native born Americans. So these are stvers. They're dreamers. They're doers. Unlike what some politicians say, in the vast majority of cases, these countries are sending their best. And they do make us stronger and richer through their military service and through the doing the jobs that need to be done in this economy. >> All right, pause. That's time. Please return to your seat. >> Great job, TR. Nice to meet you. [applause] My next claim is that your vote matters in 2026. >> Hi, what's your name? >> Michaela. >> Michaela. >> Nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. Since this is a new claim, let me just kind of tell you what I'm thinking and then I would love to open this up. >> Of course. When I first ran for office, I was 28-year-old public school teacher and I was running in a Republican district as a Democrat. And so, I had to knock on literally every door in order to get elected. And I was trying to talk to my fellow young people. I'm a millennial. I was also trying to talk to Gen Z. And I kept hearing this refrain, I'm not interested in politics. And at some point, I was just honest with them. I said, "You may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you. You may not care about politics, but your boss at work cares about politics. Your landlord cares about politics. Your insurance company cares about politics. And until you care about politics, they're going to keep using the political system to screw you over. Uh Barbara Jordan, a great Texan, had this quote where she said, "If you're not at the table, you're on the menu." And so the argument I'm making with this claim is if young people in particular aren't at the table in this election, we will continue to be on the menu in 2027. >> Okay. So, I agree that the younger generations are essentially our future. >> Um, I'm completely like undecided. I have no idea which route I want to go specifically because like >> I am a younger generation that wasn't necessarily educated on it. You know what I mean? And >> I don't entirely feel like I strongly just don't feel that like my voice matters. You know, I'm a content creator myself. There on election day I made a joke like, "Oh my god, I didn't even realize it was election day." And my whole fan base was like, "Your vote matters." Like you were supposed to use that vote. But for someone who's undecided, if I'm not confident in an answer, like why would it why would my voice voice matter? You know what I mean? >> I Yeah, I hear that. And your first point about how we don't teach young people about the system of government and and how to vote and what it means. >> We're doing them a disservice and we are actively disenfranchising them by not empowering them with that knowledge. in my first term in the legislature actually got a bipartisan bill through the state house. It ended up dying in the state senate for comprehensive civics education. It's been a long time since we've had real civics education in this country that teach young people how to take ownership of the democratic process. And I think that's absolutely necessary if we're going to give people the tools and the resources to remake this broken political system in their own image. Cuz cuz politics is corrupt. I will tell you that as someone who's in politics, >> yeah, >> the system is corrupt from top to bottom. The only way that's going to change is if people like you, people around the circle, people all over the state decide to take that power back and transform this broken system. So, I'm not disagreeing that it's rigged. I'm not disagreeing that it's stacked. >> That's all true. I think where we may be disagreeing is that we're powerless to change it. I don't believe that. I have faith. Maybe not evidence. >> Yeah. But I have faith that when we come together across all of our divisions that are put in place by billionaires, when we do that, we can change this country for the better. It may not go fast, but it'll happen. >> You've been voted out. Please return to your seat. >> Great job. Yeah. Thank you. [applause] >> Hey. All right. I'm going to come at you hard on this. Okay. Three points. One is it's contradictory to what you said earlier. You said billionaires and billionaires control it. They're all bad guys. We hate them. We know how that happens, right? Advertisements. And so, um, one, that's that's contradictory. Uh, you're saying it matters. You're also saying it doesn't matter because of millionaires and billionaires. Two, politicians contribute. Politicians are half of the problem. Things like we put R&D on the uh voting card. Why? If if you don't know who you're voting for, why would we put that there? If you're too uneducated and stupid, why are we giving you the worst shortcut ever? And that's a political system. And then we do things like, "Get out and vote." I'll tell you this, at a bar and I see this giant sign over the stage in a bar. Get out and vote. >> That's idiotic cuz the only person that's going to influence is the person and said, "I'm not going to vote." But you know what? I was at a bar and drinking. I saw a sign. I'm going to be an informed, educated voter. No, we don't want those people voting. And then lastly, honestly, James, I don't think you're going to do anything. We've heard it before. you know, drain the swamp, eat the rich until they get voted and then they're just rich people swimming in the swamp. >> What What are you going to actually do that changes that system that you're talking about? >> Yeah. Well, one, I agree you shouldn't drink and vote. You got to keep those two things separate. >> We probably get better voters, honestly. >> Two, uh you're not going to hear me defend this two-party system. Um I actually think it's corrosive in our politics. It's hard to break out of, but I would be very interested in supporting policies that allow for multiple parties because a lot of other countries have way more than two parties, and I think it allows for more collaboration, more interest to be represented, more issues to be heard. So, I'm I'm very dissatisfied with a two-party system. Big money is powerful, don't get me wrong, but it is nothing compared to people power. We we may not have the money, but we have the majority. >> What are you going to do? How are you? >> So, let's talk about that one. Let me be very honest with you. >> Specific. I don't want the general. I want specific. >> Let me be honest with you. Let me be honest with you. I alone am not going to change this. I know there are some politicians who say I alone can fix it. I'm not one of them because I don't want to promise you something I can't deliver. My goal with this campaign is to be a catalyst for people all over the state to come together and organize so that we can start again, not finish, but start our way toward a more representative form of government. So specifically, we talked earlier about comprehensive immigration reform. I think we also need comprehensive political reform. I hope my first vote if I'm elected as US senator would be the for the people act, which is something that's already been introduced. I'm sure it'll change the details of it. But a few things that it does is it gets big money out of politics. It ends Citizens United, which may be the most disastrous policy for our democracy in modern American history. And then it goes further and it bans things like gerrymandering because gerrymandering is when politicians redraw political lines to benefit themselves. Democrats do it and Republicans do it. Not always the same amount, but they both do it because it's not an issue of party. It's an issue of power. People in power want to stay in power. That's the most predictable thing in history. I've actually been a victim of this. I told you I first ran as a Democrat in a Republican seat and I won that seat um because I brought people together across partisan divides and then my Republican colleagues in the legislature in 2020 decided to draw me out of that district. They basically broke my district in half so that they could guarantee the outcome they wanted. Thankfully, I survived because I was able to move a couple miles down the road and run in the district I grew up in. But I saw firsthand how gerrymandering, how this corrupt redistricting process silences the voices of the people. Again, >> I need specifics. Like I I would love for if you don't have >> before the people act. Yeah. >> Before you get before you get my vote, I need a specific plan. Publish it on your website and say this is the law. This is how we're covering unintended consequences cuz >> I hope you're right. I've heard it all before and it's I feel like I've been hearing it for 20 years. Well, and and I would say I I also feel tempted by hopelessness. I really do. There are some days when I'm on the floor of the Texas House and I'm fighting for a policy I believe in on healthcare, on education, on housing, on stopping fentanyl overdoses and I lose that fight. >> I'm not hopeless, I'm disengaged. >> I'm just telling you how I feel sometimes. And it's hopeless because I'll walk off the floor after that long fight when I've lost. I'll walk out to my truck. I'll drive home and I'll just feel totally and utterly defeated. And so I can't imagine how someone on the outside must feel when they look at this political system. The only thing I'm trying to convince you of. The only way out of it is through you and through the people around the circle, not me. It's actually not through politicians. Politicians will not save us. It will be the people of this state and this country that save us because it's the only thing that ever has. >> All right, pause. You've been voted out. Please return to your job. [applause] Hello. >> Hi. Hi. What's Lat? It's nice to meet you. >> Nice to meet you. >> So, I disagree in the fact that my vote matters because >> not only things that I've historically seen, but let's just talk about the last, let's just say the four years. >> Yeah. >> While I was in law school, I had an internship Capitol Capitol Hill. Oh, >> okay. And I actually at the time, you know, Democrat because I was going with my family, how I was raised, but there were a lot of things that I saw. It was actually something that you had touched on earlier about the corporations, their involvement, them paying money [snorts] to different politicians and it was on both sides and I realized that they all laid in the same bed there. There is no different. I changed. I went when I got back to Texas, I took that off and I'm like, put me down as an undecided independent voter. like you are very charismatic. I like a lot of the things that you said. However, >> I'm still the how and how is it going to be done. Yeah. >> So, the germandering obviously that's been an issue. >> So, if you have politicians involved in that pretty much you're already saying that my vote doesn't matter that it's about what the politician wants or the particular party. >> Also, something else that I don't I don't like that the Democrats do or even really on both sides, you don't make sure that the communities are informed. of what you've done or what you're going to do. Even down to us just voting for the propositions. The language was written in a way to where people didn't understand it. Also, again, both parties weren't out there trying to inform the people to make sure that they understood what each proposition was saying. And so, to me, it just seems like it's it's pretty much all controlled. And it's not about what I want. It's not about the needs of the people. and that it's it's already a fixed race and it's already decided. So my thing is what are you going to do to not only inform the voters, >> but what are you going to do to even because we've talked a lot about the system. >> Yeah. >> You know, but this is a hundred years of a system that's not looking like it's going to be shaken. >> All right, pause. You've been voted out. Please return to your seat. Thank you. [laughter] >> That's so much I wanted to say. >> Hi How's it going, >> James? Great name. >> Yeah, I know, right? Both our parents had good naming conventions. >> That's right. Yeah. Yeah. >> Why do I feel like my vote doesn't matter? Because as somebody who is a working class uh attached to the queer community and a non-Christian, >> there is nobody in our legislature that speaks to the things that I care about. Christian policy uh typically works kind of in the same vein of my belief system, but there are certain ways that it doesn't. Um, as far as like the queer community, especially here in Texas, who's speaking out for them, who's talking about them besides, you know, trans people are ruining sports, >> which not going to get into that. [clears throat] The final and to me what feels like the biggest crux of all of this is no matter how informed I am, no matter how much I research my stuff, all of us in this room research everything. That's 25 of us. >> Means 25 people out of let's say just this block, this the where where we're at right now. There's 500 people in this block. 25 people are informed. 475 probably aren't. and they're more than likely going to vote with the gerrymandered people who are already in power. So when you say that my vote matters, all of my stuff plus the fact of that I've been gerrymandered into hell, >> why? So based on my personal experience, when I was running for the legislature eight years ago, >> I was running in a jerrymander district that was built to vote for Republicans and I was running as a Democrat. >> The deck was stacked against me. >> The deck was stacked against a lot of people in my community. >> Yeah. >> But we organized. We didn't just vote. Voting is the bare minimum in a democracy. >> We organized. We went block by block. We talked voterto voter. And we ended up winning that district with 51% of the vote. I say that