But its also because, like Robert Kennedy, beto orourke is tough, hard working, and courageous. As attorney general, Robert Kennedy took on the mob. I remember. I was a kid. It was pretty scary stuff. As a third term congressman from texas, Robert Francis beto orourke took on the most disliked and i might add the meanest longterm senator from texas, ted cruz. [applause] who . But also, as third term congressman for texas, Robert Francis beto orourke has taken on the most dishonest, immoral trading out. Start over. Immoral i want to back up in that sentence. [laughter] it turns out that it was just a trial run when he went after ted cruz. Beto orourke decided to take on the most dishonest, immoral, and incompetent president in the history of america, donald trump. Beto is like another strong bipartisan leader. And, another robert. There are a lot of people here that may remember bob ray. I worked with him on a diversity day at my daughters middle school, and we worked pretty hard and checked to see how many kids were from Foreign Countries or their parents were from Foreign Countries. We had 54. We were shocked. We ended up buying flags, and we flew flags, and they still fly in the cafeteria there. We got flags from all the countries. I might add, except for one, tajikistan. There are their two boys made their own flag and carried it into diversity day. It was fantastic. Ray. Man is like bob thats why i support him. Its like i knew him when he was younger. Beto orourke not only cares about himself, he not only respects every americans Constitutional Rights and is loyal to his country, he also cares about the vulnerable and needy, and in particular, the immigrant families that have been separated on the border. To me, that is one of the most offensive and horrific things ive ever seen in this country. I cannot believe it every day. I cannot believe it. But i know that if beto orourke is our president , those children will be reunited with their parents. You can tell i feel strongly about this. Beto orourke represents the best of what america is, the best of what iowans are, and the best of who we are as people. I am very honored to introduce beto orourke. [applause] mr. Orourke joan, thank you. That was incredibly kind and very important to focus on the moral issue of this moment right now, which happens to be very close to home for us in el paso, texas. Im so grateful that, all the way from ames, iowa, you are trying to make sure we Pay Attention to what is happening in our name on the u. S. Mexico border at this moment and not just now at this moment. We met earlier in the campaign and shared contact information. Youve been staying in touch with me and making sure i am focused on that and making sure i bring other americans into this conversation and into an understanding about just what is happening at this moment of truth. Im grateful to you and to dan for opening up your home, making sure all of us could join together today, not for candidate, not for a political party, but for our country. That is what has brought us all out at this moment, so we thank you. I want to thank ross wilburn, who greeted us as we came in. Ross, are you in here . Im down here. [laughter] mr. Orourke theres ross. Please come forward so everyone can see you. Ross is on the ballot august 6 for the statehouse here in iowa. [applause] mr. Orourke you never, ever want to ascribe motive, but you have to ask yourself why kim reynolds set the election date two weeks before students come back into classes at iowa state. If that is an attempt at voter suppression, it is incumbent on all of us to overcome that suppression by not just voting but by making sure we are getting in touch with our classmates, coworkers, friends, family members to make sure we bring them to the polls on august 6. A very decisive election for iowa. The only way that we have the basis to build a majority going into 2020. So grateful that you are running, ross. So grateful for every one of you who is supporting him. Lets make sure we get everyone else out to the polls on august 6. Appreciate it. [applause] mr. Orourke so many friendly people. We just flew in from texas. We went from el paso to houston, from houston to des moines, and in des moines at the airport, we were picked up by mustafa in an rv. [laughter] mr. Orourke first time we have had a chance to travel in an rv in the campaign, and in part, we were in the rv because weve got the entire orourke family. This is my wife amy. Next to her is ulysses, molly, and henry. [applause] 12, 11, and eight years old. The parents here in the room know what this is like. As we were driving, there is this beautiful Lightning Storm and this stuff we are not so familiar with in the Chihuahuan Desert that you call rain is coming down. We make the kids put their electronics down and look outside of this beautiful thing, and they are able to keep it together for about two to three minutes before reaching and itching for the electronics, in other words providing some Birth Control for mustafa. We went across the Paso Del Norte bridge connecting el paso to our sister city. These two communities form the largest binational community in the western hemisphere. 3 million of us joined, not separated, by the rio grande river. It is extraordinary and it is the source of so much of our success, whether you measure it economically or the quality of life that we have come to enjoy in el paso, or the fact that my hometown is one of the safest cities in the United States of america. It has been for 20 years running. Before there was a wall, after there was a wall in fact, a little bit less safe after there was a wall, and we are safe because were a city of immigrants, asylumseekers, and refugees, and because we are joined at the hip literally with mexico and Ciudad Juarez. That is the source of our success, strength, and i would argue our security and safety. What is happening now on that bridge is that when families make this 2000mile journey from honduras or el salvador or guatemala, some of the deadliest places on the planet today, places that are also experiencing historic droughts, what they are trying to grow is not producing anything for those communities. They cannot feed themselves and they are having to leave the area. They are doing what any human being would do in the same set of conditions. They may get all the way here to the United States border where texas meets chihuahua. In an unprecedented move, this administration does not allow them to follow our own asylum laws, to set foot in the United States, to cross the International Boundary line on that bridge and to seek asylum, which, as you may know, does not guarantee them lifelong access to the United States. They are not going to be able to take anyones benefits or place in school or job. It just allows them to lawfully petition for asylum, especially if they can prove they are not able to return to their home country without endangering themselves or their kids. What this administration has done is stop them from being able to set foot in this country and told them to remain in mexico, in the city, which is itself not the safest place in the world today. In fact, within the last nine years, in 2010, 2011, Ciudad Juarez was the deadliest place on the planet bar none. These refugees are penniless, strangers in a strange land speaking neither english or spanish in some cases, many speaking an indigenous language from the northern triangle of central america, are in shelters at best, and in the worst case scenarios, they are on the streets, prey to those who would take adventures of people in their most miserable, their most desperate, their most vulnerable moments. We asked them to remain in place, a policy known as metering. We talked to some of the families at a shelter. We met a 19yearold young woman who came with her family from honduras. All of her family members were able to go forward into california where they are now, but because she is over the age of 18 she is 19 years old she had to stay behind. Imagine when you were 19 years old, being stopped, staying in a shelter, not knowing when or if you will ever join your family again, trying to navigate the u. S. Legal code without the aid of an attorney and without speaking the english language. We met a father, mother, and their fouryearold son who traveled six days through the desert on foot, without their shoes. He talked about the broiling sun on his back, neck, head, and as shoes wore out, the boiling hot sand he was walking on with his fouryearold son on his shoulders. One of the people with whom he was traveling died of thirst, dehydration, exhaustion. Not in a cage, not separated from her family, not deported to another country dead. More than 8000 of our fellow human beings have died making that same crossing just in the last 20 years, and the walls that we built, the militarization of the border, consigns more to greater suffering and greater levels of death, just like that woman with whom that family was traveling. They get to the United States, they kiss the ground upon which they arrive. They turn themselves into, do not try to flee from, a Border Patrol agent who takes them into a freezing icebox of a jail cell in a Border Patrol station. They go from extreme heat to extreme cold, freaked out, do not know what will happen next, spend three days there before they are deported back to Ciudad Juarez, waiting in line. I think they were number 7023 to be processed in the United States, which, to remind everybody, is the wealthiest, the most powerful country on the face of the planet. Almost everyone here is dissented from those who came here as Asylum Seekers or refugees or immigrants or in some cases, brought here in bondage against their will to literally build the wealth of this country, but in every instance, are what made us great and strong, and successful, and powerful in the first place and this is what were doing to those families. We then crossed the river and went to a Border Patrol station in clint, texas. This is where you may have read the reports from the Media Outlets that we are keeping hundreds of children who have been separated from their parents. Happening right now, in this moment, in 2019. Toddlers as young as five months old, teenagers as old as 17 none of them knowing each other. Kids taking care of kids. Not having diapers on for the little kiddos, which means they are pooping in their pants and that poop rolls then onto the floor. That these kids will be sleeping on underneath aluminum blankets. Some are standing on the toilets so they can just get air to breathe, because they are far overcrowded, well beyond capacity those cells can hold. Inextricable, the administration has argued that we dont have to provide diapers or soap or toothpaste or showers to kids who are absolutely defenseless in the face of this cruelty. Kids who may not know when or if they will ever see their parents again, but here is the bright spot in all of this. When we showed up to that Border Patrol station, there were nearly 300 people outside, holding vigil, testifying to their fellow americans just what was being done in their name, transmitting it through Facebook Live or instagram or other social media channels. Members of the media and the press, not the enemy of the people, but the best defense against tyranny, broadcasting these images out so the rest of america knows what is happening. I guarantee you it is the only way we will force the kind of change we need to see, for those kids, for those families waiting in mexico, for this country, and for our conscience. Imagine my kids, imagine your kids, years down the road, knowing just what was happening here in america in 2019. They are going to want some answers from all of us. How did we account for our behavior, our action or inaction in the face of this injustice . The fact that seven children have died over the last year in u. S. Customs and Border Protection custody that is on all of us in this great democracy. With this great democracy springing into action, people showing up, standing up to be counted in this remote stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert, not easy to get to from ames, iowa, or any other part of the country. In conclusion, let me tell you what it reminds me of on this incredibly important, historic day. Its the fact that in 1964, july second, president Lyndon Johnson signed into law the civil rights act. He did not do it because he was the most enlightened president we have ever had, although we are proud of him from the state of texas. He did not do it because of the enlightened members of congress who voted for it or managed that bill through the house and senate, though we are grateful to them as well. He did it because of people, just like the young people we saw outside the clint Border Patrol station who were willing to stand up when it counted. Sometimes, at the very risk of their lives. I think about the campaign in birmingham, alabama, in april and may of 1963. School kids, the same age as those kids locked up in that Border Patrol station in clint, took to the streets of downtown alabama, on the first day, as young as nine years old, they were arrested. More than 1200 of them in the birmingham county jail, standing up for the full civil rights of every child, every woman, every man in that community, and those protests continued day after day after day. It was the people against bull connor. It was the people against injustice. It was the people against segregation, and racism, and the legacy of slavery. And, the people were hellbent on winning that struggle. Ultimately, they did because they forced president John Fitzgerald kennedy to do the right thing. He is one of my favorite president s. He was a good man. He was an irish catholic, but he did not take on the task of introducing that civil rights legislation on his own. He was forced to do it by people who wanted to demand this country live up to its potential, live up to its promise, and live up to its values. Those freedom riders who preceded the birmingham campaign, the greensboro four, french of nine who risked their lives at the lunch counters, were arrested for being human beings in their own country, are the ones who made that political change possible. Four those of you who wonder for those of you who wonder what we do in the face of this injustice and this torture we are visiting on our fellow human beings at the u. S. Mexico border, just know there is powerful precedent before us of people standing up at these moments of truth to force the hand of this country. That is, in part, why im running right now. I hope that is in part why you are here right now. I want to make sure i can answer my kids, look them in the eye, when they ask what we did in 2019 when this was going on in our country. You look at any challenge we face be on the border in immigration and separated families and kids in cages, whether its the Healthcare System where millions are left to fend for themselves because we do not have the political will to offer them insurance or care, or in an economy where too many are working two and three jobs just to make instant, or the challenge of climate, which perhaps in iowa you understand better than anyone because just this year, both the Missouri River and Mississippi River have the highest level of flooding in all of recorded history. To meet any single one of these challenges, we will need every single one of us to come together in rooms like these, in streets like downtown des moines. We saw protesters came into one of the congressional representatives offices to protest conditions on the border. Its that kind of action that produces the change that allows us to be who we were intended to be in the first place. To all of you who came out here tonight, all of you who will demand justice at the border on any other of these issues, know that we are with you. Im grateful to be running with you, and i came not only to share with you my thoughts but to listen and learn for you from you. Looking forward to your questions, your comments, your ideas. Thank you, joan and dan, and thank you all for what you are doing right now. Gracias. [applause] mr. Orourke cynthia on the right side of the room has a microphone. She will do her best to get that microphone to you. I will do my best to listen to you, answer your question, or just hear your comment or idea. Im actually from independence, where you will be in a couple of days, but half an hour away from here, my brother was working in a liquor store. An alarm went off because he was new to the job. The police were alerted. His boss called the police and told them not to come in because it wasnt an emergency, but the police came in any way, so i black man in the liquor store, and drew a gun on him. He, luckily, was saved by his boss arriving in the nick of time. I want to ask you, do you have any plans to diffuse the tensions between the black community and the police . Mr. Orourke catherine, thank you for asking the question and having the courage to share a very personal, very difficult story. Hopefully, we all agree that no one in this country should have to fear those who are sworn to serve and protect us, who are put in this position of public trust, are carrying a firearm and have the ability to deprive us of our liberty and our life, even. And yet, too many do, and too many do based on their race. A difference that should have no distinction, should not matter in this country, and yet, it does. The Alarming Number of unarmed black men and women who have lost their lives at the hands of Law Enforcement in this country is unconscionable and must be stopped. What do we do as a country . What could i do as president . Number one, we can ensure that our department of justice and the Civil Rights Division investigates and fully prosecutes every use of force that is unwarranted by a local unwarranted against a person of color in this country by a local police force. Two, we could tie federal funds to sheriffs offices and Police Departments to their ability to have full transparency and full reporting on use of force and against whom it is used. Three, we need to make sure theres real accountability, consequences, and justice at the end of the day, or else this will continue to happen year after year to person after person. But, the last thing and this is the hardest among them there are some real bad actors in our Police Departments, and they should be rooted out. The vast majority of them, i hope most of us can acknowledge, are doing a really difficult job under trying circumstances. I want to support them to the best of our ability, make sure they have the training necessary in the situations like the one you just described, to make the right decision, that we support them in this difficult job and that we also hold them accountable, so the entire force is not tarnished by the bad actions of a few, but i think we have to put them in the context of a country that is fundamentally, in almost every single institution, racist in terms of the access and outcomes that we see because its not just in Law Enforcement, and its not just the criminal Justice System where you have 2. 3 Million People behind bars, and they are disproportionately comprised of people of color. I think in iowa, africanamericans comprise about 3 of the population and 25 of the incarcerated population in this state. That does not make sense to me. That is not just. That is not right. But, it is not just in those arenas. In health care, amidst a Maternal Mortality crisis, it is three times as deadly for women of color in this country right now. In education, in a kindergarten classroom, a fiveyearold child is five times as likely to be disciplined or suspended or expelled if he or she is a child of color in this country. In the economy, 10 times the wealth in White America than there is in black america. I see this challenge and this very real threat you describe in Law Enforcement in a larger context of a system that is the legacy of not just slavery, but ongoing segregation and suppression and the effects of jim crow in this country. Until we face that, and fully understand it and tell the full story of america and everyone in america, i dont think we will ever change the fundamentals that are causing these problems. We will never begin the repair that is necessary, and we will never stop visiting this kind of injustice on future generations. I gave you the immediate steps i would take as president , but i think we need a much larger conversation to address the Bigger Picture we see in the United States. Thank you for the question, catherine. I appreciate it. [applause] in a country where the majority of the population struggles to make ends meet, working minimumwage jobs in places like walmart, would a universal basic income help . Mr. Orourke you know, it might. Im not convinced that is the best path forward to address the very real problem you describe. I mentioned, in my comments, that you have so many working two or three jobs. In this state, you have so many School Teachers working two or three jobs when i want them focused on just one child, the child and her lifelong love of learning, which once we unlock it, there is no stopping her and no stopping this country, so paying people a living wage, allowing teachers in iowa the ability to organize and collectively bargain so they can demand better wages and better working conditions and deliver better education to their students is a great place to start. Having a minimum wage in this country, whose floor is set at 15 an hour, so no working american has to work a second job to make ends meet and can spend time with their families, reading to their child before the first day of kindergarten so that kid has a little bit of a better chance to start. Paid family leave, so that if someone in your household is ill, you can take time off to take care of them without losing your job or the income upon which you depend. Pay childcare so it is affordable, so you can go to the workforce or complete your education, and in health care. If we do all that, the millions of jobs we are creating in this country today that we are not filling because we dont have folks who are well enough to work those jobs or educated enough to work those jobs or dont have the skills training necessary to work those jobs or have not been able to join a union or enter an apprenticeship to learn the trades to work those jobs, we can fix those problems. I think we can put more people to work and i think that you have an economy that works for everybody. Thanks for asking the question. Appreciate it. Hello. My name is kate, and thank you for mentioning that we are having really bad rain today. The midwest and a lot of the United States has been affected by flooding and really horrible climate emergencies. What kind of plans and thoughts do you have about the ways Climate Change really threatens farmers and rural americans specifically . America specifically . Mr. Orourke i have learned from listening to farmers here in iowa that we are seeing i think the wettest 12month period in recent history or maybe in history. Those here will know the answer to the question. We have seen the windows close on farmers whose fields are too wet to be able to plant. We are seeing the ability to pass that farm on to the next generation compromise because you are seeing historic low farm incomes. Farmers who are underwater in debt and now farmers who entire fields are lakes. We saw that in the southwest part of the state, outside a Pacific Junction soybean farm. Outside of Pacific Junction, soybean farm. I remember passing bins that had burst because the soybeans had stored up all the water and burst the sides, and the smell was so overpowering, and it was a smell, in some ways, of defeat. I think of all the hours that went into planting and working those fields, and all that is now lost, lost because of the flooding, but also because that grain was stored because it was not in china, because the market was closed down to those farmers, because we started a trade war and tariffs that ensured they would not be able to make a profit necessary to keep that farm going. So, of all of those issues, the most existential for those farmers, for our country, and for this planet is Climate Change. The missouri spilling its banks, the highest level of runoff in the history of that river. We know that is not an anomaly. We know the warming of this planet, caused by you and me, our emissions and in actively, collectively, in the face of the facts, that has caused that storm and runoff and flooding. The fires in california, drought and other parts of the world. How do we combat this . We free ourselves from a dependence on fossil fuels. We fully embrace Renewable Energy technology. We invest in the next generation of wind and solar and Battery Storage technology that allows us to distribute that stored energy at will onto the grid. We put farmers in the driver seat. We ensure they can plant cover crops at a profit to pull more carbon out of the air and sequester more of it in the soil. Regenerative grazing and agriculture, being pioneered right here in iowa, lets pay those farmers and ranchers for the services they are providing, and lets make sure communities like Pacific Junction, which are on the front lines of Climate Change, that we make an investment in them to make sure they are safe when the next storm comes, because we know they will continue to be hit by Climate Change, going forward. If all of us do all we can, the United States can take a Global Leadership role in convincing convening countries to do their part, and there is a chance we keep this country from warming another two degrees celsius. Our plan calls for reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050. We would get halfway there by 2030, a little more than 10 years from now. I know we can do it. This is the challenge of this generation, and im confident we are up to it. Thanks for asking the question. [applause] right here. Same place. Im ethan, and im an aclu rights for all voter. To tie it back to the to put it lightly problems on the border, one of the main tools ice has relied upon is making is ice detainers and making sure that local Law Enforcement had to help them find immigrants in our communities who may or may not well, for the most part, not being a problem. What actions will you excuse me, will you take action to disentangle ice from local Law Enforcement, and importantly, end ice detainers . Mr. Orourke yes, and i will tell you why. When people in a Community FearLaw Enforcement, fear the sheriffs deputy, police officer, because they do not know if they report a crime, they will be investigated for violating immigration laws and deported to another country, we are demonstrably less safe. Fewer people report crimes or serve as witnesses or testify in trials. Its not just me saying it. That is Police Chiefs and alliffs ive listened to over the country, and certainly along the u. S. Mexico border. No reason for these ice raids and roundups the president has threatened and employed under his administration, and we have also seen under the administrations of democrats and republicans alike before him breaking up families, deporting hundreds of thousands of people who are working the toughest jobs here in iowa and in the United States does not make us safer or better. In fact, it diminishes the standing of this country and our security. While i think there will still be some need for internal enforcement against someone who poses a violent risk to our communities, theres no need to break up families, deporting people who pose no serious violent threat to us. Thats number one. Number two is then rewriting immigration laws so that folks who are here are legalized and can come forward and register with the government. We know who is in our community, and they can contribute even more to their potential and to this countrys greatness, free more than one million dreamers from any fear of deportation by making them u. S. Citizens and ensuring that 9 million legal permanent residents, green card holders, are able to become u. S. Citizens as well as soon as possible. All of that makes this country stronger economically and also makes us safer and more secure, so doing the right thing also makes us safe. Thanks for asking the question. I know its really warm, so this will be our last question. Then, we will go to the front porch. Thank you. My name is laura, and i have been an advocate with the Alzheimers Association for over 25 years since my dad was first diagnosed. This is a huge, huge problem, and obviously, im a little emotional about it, but alzheimers is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Here in iowa, we are the seventh highest state in terms of alzheimers deaths. So, we need a plan, not only for research, but also for more caregiving, more caregiving facilities, more caregiving training, because alzheimers is the only disease in the top 10 causes of death that does not have an effective prevention, treatment, or cure, so what are you gonna do . [laughter] mr. Orourke thanks for being here. Im assuming it is not just this town hall meeting, but your congressional representatives office, your state reps office. I know that, having served in office for six years to make the , case that it is so much more costeffective to invest upfront in the cures to these conditions, given what we are spending on longterm care in this country right now. My kiddos never met their grandmother. She died of alzheimers. We saw the significant deterioration in her quality of life, in her ability to connect with any of us that grew up with her or that she helped to raise. So, from a personal level, i want to make sure we get this right. I dont want other families to have to experience that. In our administration, we will double the investment were making in the National Institutes of health. Its 2. 5 billion per year right now in alzheimers research. We will double that if i billion dollars, but, to the second part of your question, we will double that to 5 billion, but, the secondto part of your question, we will make sure that the longterm care necessary for an improved quality of life, for those americans who every working day of their life contributed to the success of this country, paid in to medicare, social security, medicaid, who made sure we are this great country, we now have a debt to them. We need to ensure that we are there to take care of them as well. Expanding investment in caregiving facilities and making sure that caregivers are paid a living wage, which so often is not the case in this country. That will improve the quality of care, but the longterm goal is to invest enough in nih so that we get the cure. As you said, its one of the few diseases we have in this country where theres no real preventable action we can take or medication that will significantly improve outcomes, so thank you for the question. Really appreciate it. [applause] mr. Orourke cynthia says we will take questions outside on the front porch for those who have been waiting period thank you all for welcoming us. Joan, dan, and for having us. Baby will, wherever he went, thank you for being here. Hope to see you all again soon. Thank you. [applause] [indiscernible] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] i read an article and he mentioned it. [indiscernible] to, yep. Happy i want to make sure we follow up. Yeah. Maybe tomorrow. Whenever. P. M. May yep yep. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Announcer we will join live later today with more road to the white house programming with senator kamala harris, the democrats will host a townhome eating town hall meeting in des moines, iowa. That is at 645 time eastern on cspan. Tomorrow, more with joe biden and his wife dr. Jill biden. They are holding a invent an event and i will beginning at 2 30 p. M. On cspan, online at cspan. Org, or listen live with the free cspan radio app. Daysncer book tv has four a programming this fourth of july weekend. Thursday, at noon, james and er draw me, contribute is contributors, talk about their rankings of president s. John quincy adams is the person that i think a lot of people, he is not an easy person to like. He can be terrifying in his vehemence. Announcer friday at 7 20 eastern, the late historian tony horwich on reports from the south and the lead up to the civil war in his book spying on the south. In the opening episode of my own travels, i describe a woman in a bar in West Virginia who, essentially, sees through me and says i get it. You are yankee boy down here spying on us hillbillies. [laughter] so the title was also kind of a joke on myself. Announcer saturday, at 1 00 p. M. Eastern, in her book after like, Alice Marie Johnson reflects on her life in prison before president trumps commutation of her sentence in 2018. When the new present was built, that was 15 years, you can imagine i was told i would only live prison lee prison as aps