[applause] he completed the 2012 ironman North Carolina in the 2016 which raised over 20000 for nonprofits. That is amazing. [applause] his first book he will be discussing is america is better than this which tells the inside story of how one senator when no background is immigration activist became a leading advocate for reform of the brutal policies that are creating a humanitarian crisis on the southern u. S. Border. It represents a heartfelt of the concerned americans who believes his country stands for something far bigger and better. Tonight, senator merkley will be joined and conversation with ralph ronald. He is currently the executive producer of Community Engagement of public radio he has worked since 1987 serving previously as news director and Program Director and also serving as the host of the record and awardwinning program the conversation. Among many other programs. Please help me in joining them both. [applause] on there has been so much going n the border just in the last few days, as owners try to catch up on the news i realized it might be useful to begin with what has been happening lately and i wonder if you can update us on what has gone on in the last week or so on the immigration issue. Thank you everybody for coming tonight to talk about this. We are in a very disturbing phase here in the United States of america and to answer your question, i almost have to go back 14 months if you do not mind and that is when i first went down to the border because i read Jeff Sessions speech called zerotolerance and it was six months before the election and not surprising to hear that from a republican. Then i read the details and said this cannot be. It sounds like they are going to tear children away from their parents and that would never happen in the United States of america. So som someone on my team said e way to find out. Go to the border. I thought that is right. So i did. That is when i became the first member of congress to see children who had just been removed from the parents being put in cages and warehouse in an hour later up the road i went up the road because advocates had said the hundreds who have been separated were being warehoused in a walmart. We see something going horribly wrong and there is a lot going horribly wrong but it was just a few weeks later trump held a press conference and he said ive heard it from melania and ivanka. I want to put an end to child separation. The press conference was a complete lie because he wasnt ending child separation, the court just ended it. What was on the table in front of him was an order with three strategies for the imprisonment of children. The strategies were first go to the courts and ask them to reverse the Settlement Agreement that agreement said you have to treat children humanely. That is what it boiled down to you have to provide nutrition and a place to sleep and hygie hygiene. And you cant lock them up in prison for more than three days or 20 days if there is a huge influx. Humane treatment that is what it was. They went to the court, the court threw that out second this legislation that became deeply involved in the imprisonment and thats the regulation that has been introduced. Once theres a regulation to implement it, then however the regulation doesnt implement it. It destroys florez and says there will be no state licensing which is what it calls for, no state inspection window outside groups coming to inspect, which is what they give power to both lawyers and doctors to come in and expect. By the way the requirement that children ought to be locked up in prison if destroyed by the regulation that allows indefinite imprisonment of children. Or perhaps months and years until the adjudication is completed but that is what they are doing. Ive just been reading this week that they are going to deny flu shots to these children in detention. You think about this administration saying we dont want state licensing or inspection because trust us, but th is the president that said im going to block the children from playing soccer because we cant afford to monitor them on a soccer field. I always lock them up without xers eyes. This is the president ial team that said as you pointed out even though three children have died, at least substantially as a result of the flu and there may have been other complicating factors we are not going to supplsupply Data Processing cens customs in touch with centers because we just dont do that in this explanation. And this is an administration that appealed a District Court decision to a Circuit Court because they didnt like the fact that they were required to provide betting in toothpaste and soap. Theres no way we should ever trust any administration to operate without a form of spiritual oversight and there is also talk of perhaps longterm internment camps on the border. The president s team is operating from a premise that has been spoken to the first time in 13 days into the administration following john kelly who was the head of the Department Secretary of the department of Homeland Security and a month later they launched an operation in the san diego sector was an operation done essentially secretly, but the premise that has been throughout from then until now has been if we inflict trauma on refugees including refugee children, we will discourage immigration and they just divided as immorality. I find it utterly evil and dark and unacceptable under any ethical code, religious tradition, moral framework, they justify it by saying that it will deter immigration. It will deter immigration. This is wrong, and its like Lady Libertys torch has been snuffed out. [applause] and i wrote this to say that we have to relight it and restore decency in the United States of america. [applause] working with Jeff Sessions as a senator on the legislation you went and talked to him as the attorney general on the policy and what kind of a reaction did you get . I thought i could have a personal conversation because i knew him, i had worked with him and i have seen how this was unfolding and Jeff Sessions havent really seen it himself even though he was an architect of it. If we deter if we will be helping children when they dont take a difficult journey than they dont face the difficulties of the journey and therefore we help the children so hurting children became helping children in this kind of twisted world. That is a great point. At the premise that people are on the verge of being killed or tortured in a possible war or famine the different policy just doesnt work like that and let me give you an example. There was a woman an in her 50s six day old child limit on the border. Two weeks after my first trip to the border i took a congressional delegation that. On that page two weeks earlier there had bee peo camd out in the heat and bigoted in their seven to ten days because they were allowed but not through the doors of the u. S. Facility. This is utter contravention of the principle of the Refugee Convention and the federal law that says if someone presents themselves on the border asking for refuge, then it is our response ability to provide safe harbor since we were not providing safe harbor we were shoving people back. The Conference Rooms were empty back at the Border Patrol station and the rooms were far fewer people than i ha have seen two weeks earlier. They were at the cross and said when we vote them out so out came gabrielle and her baby in her arms and less than two month old baby. You have no resources or friends or family, you are at the mercy of the gang. I didnt know what to do. I said how did you get here to the american side and her face lit up for a moment because she had beat the cards on the bridge. She said while, i saw there were two bridges, pedestrian and car and there were folks washing windows for tips and somebody had an extra. I went into the road at and watched one close to the United States and one in the United States of america. Those kind of innovating problemsolving in the United States. [applause] you know what happened to her and her baby, did you follow the story . I dont know where she is or what shes doing. She was treated as if she crossed between the points of entry. Where is the opposition to this at this point in the courts or the colleagues in the senate on the republican side who were just concerned about this as your. The courts have been the effective mechanism to stop the administration from doing things time and time again. For example, the administration said we areot going to give an opportunity for an asylum process for anyone who crosses between the ports of entry this is wrong on two premises. People crossing between our crossing between them because they were objects at the ports of entry and they are desperate because they surrender to a Border Patrol officer then to be vulnerable to the gangs and the cities in mexico. The second reason is the u. S. Loss as you cross between ports of entry and you can apply for refugee status. This was a very deliberate part of the law enacted years ago. If they called people sneaking into the u. S. They want to return them rapidly into mexico but new you couldnt do that if they were refugees. It is written right into the law. The president thinks this is a winning policy for him politically. You are in a state with many different people and different views of migration and maybe have encountered them. They might tell you they support this idea of keeping out. What do you say to them . Very few people support the idea of deliberately harming children. Very few. And you asked me about where they stand in the senate. We are deeply divided, and its a result of the pressure of the presidency. He said at a press conference that is what is going to happen, theres going to be legislation so in the senate, there was a senator, two senators that have a bill to allow the unending incarceration of my grandchildren, tillis and cruise and i believe that it was the bill that ha had 40 republican sponsors, essentially 40 republican sponsors giving a thumbsup to reestablishing the system of internment camps in the united gate dates of americ. I couldnt believe that that so many would sign onto the vision. The policy was announced by Jeff Sessions, six months from the last election made immigration like the defining issue for the campaign. And if you think about it, i can characterize it this way. In general, republicans are trusted more on the National Security issues than democrats. They voted for more defense spending and therefore they have a fear factor that will help them in the elections. They looked at the issues from two years earlier. Evil i was no longer feasible because it wasnt scaring anyone anymore. It disappeared entirely reemerged in the remote section. Isis have scared people but thats no longer was a factor because they were mostly out of the territory. The idea of crime didnt really scare people because the crime rates have come way down. The republicans were in charge of all of the branches of government and so what was left . Immigration became the fear factor. This was the conscious strategy of the administration wants to drive that, and therefore it has really disrupted the collaboration. We have democrats and in the Republican Senate in 2013 bit of a comprehensive immigration bill. We had a dreamers bill that was bipartisan and the senate. The first bill that we passed in the senate, the comprehensive immigration went to the house and republicans in the hospital did. This was in 2013. The dreamer bill, the president pulled in democrats and republicans and had all the president s on a tuesday for the cameras rolling over an hour and it was a big bipartisan, bicameral festivity and the president said i will take the heat we will solve the problem to bring me a bipartisan bill and two days later i and the conservative senators, moderate senators went together and figure is the Bipartisan Senate bill and the president threw a tantrum because he had taken heat for two days from breitbart and the conservative side steve miller in his office and he had pulled it so we are deeply divided. We have a democrat in the Senate Holding firm on this. What is to be done quite. I say this because we have to publicize this. We have to have people understand its not just one little piece of information it is a major reason i wrote the book is to take all the visits ive done in these different facilities, all the conversations and try to line up the coherent understandable fashion along with stories of those that are fleeing persecution. So that is what i can do now and that means book groups, conversation, people talking to their neighbors, but in the near future, we are kind of almost there. If deans campaigns because it is through campaigns we can change the incumbent in office and put it Chuck Connell out of control of the u. S. Senate. [applause] they might say when you share concerns about whats happening on the border, we share concerns about migrants coming into the country. What do you say to them . We should work with the countries of north america in the last couple of decades the drug cartels have moved in and the money comes from selling drugs in america and arms come from the United States of america and if those factors coming to think of the gang or drug cartel that has money and guns that means they can ride their way in one strategy and put in your life with another and those are two very powerful instruments and they overwhelmed the traditional institutions of government and justice so if we want things to change for people fleeing death threats, then we are going to have to help the traditional institutions reestablish the control. Thats going to have to be an investment. We should hav have an improved asylum process where there is timely and adjudication in the range of four to six months so that people have enough time with assistance to get the information from their countries to present their case to the asylum judge so that it doesnt go on forever. Democrats and republicans have worked together on making that happen. And when we say what i am arguing for is simply when a person goes to that process we treat them with respect and peace in the way we would want our family to be treated if they were to arrive on the border of refugees, people kind of get it. How Many Americans have ancestors who fled persecution of some form and came here to the United States of america, anand this is something we can really identify with. With. With democratic president ial candidate has the best ideas on this issue . There are some really bad ideas we over here on the audience right, and theres a whole cluster of capable individuals that have very similar ideas. Essentially every senator that is running for office is a member cosponsor of the bill and has the same basic understanding of the issues that is decent treatment of people as they go through. Recognize this. When you go through the asylum process, that isnt a free ticket you have the burden of proof. It means a lot of people are sent home you have to prove a credible fear that you will be tortured or high leve highlevef likelihood that you will be injured or killed. Thats what you have to demonstrate and that is a high test their refugee status. Which one of them do you think has the best stand on immigration issues . There isnt much distinguishing factors right now. You may have seen in the debate and effort to create an argument over one piece which was crossing between the ports of entry. In general, former president s have used the penalty and you get caugh and get a civil penalty and get returned. You solve the debate who proceeded to say there should be no criminal penalty only a civilian penalty, and he put orourke on the defensive on that. You are using drugs across the border. In most cases it is the right way to go. You catch someone and you are returning them across the border so it wasnt a nuanced conversation. Let me put it that way. I dont think a lot of life as a chef on the topic. 19 states have challenged the regulation to destroy florez said they filed with Washington State so thank you very much. There may be a couple more added today so that is the big one. There is another one that is the place to be in flux facilities. We create the centers when theres a lot of people coming up on and we put a ton of children so in december of last year, there wer 2800 in this newly created facility in texas. You may have seen pictures of the desert and the refugee and the children are being marched in single file so there is no comfort going on they have no idea when or if they will see their parents and or get out of the facility. A there was anxiety for children but have no idea what was to become of them. Ahead of the nonprofit he agreed to set up the camp so that they wouldnt be in the holding pens. They are crammed together but he wasnt liking what he was seeing so he started to tell the administration from the inside he wasnt going to sign up for another contract after january. We called for the children already have sponsors and we were told there were 132800 but the administration would not release the children to the sponsors because they wanted to keep them locked up right back to the infected maximum pain inks so they called for those to be released in the shutdown. There is another 2700 from the camps released and they were shut down in january. It had such a Bad Reputation in part because across the country they had weighed in that no other contractor with pickup contract. So, that is a victory. Thank you for the public pressure so many people have added to make that happen. [applause] the administration said we want to increase the size of the forprofit prison in florida called homestead. Basically the same idea that hasnt been applied to the influx facility in the standard. The lead advocate of established when homestead is in a hurricane passedpath, the category with a sixfoot wave right through it. I called up and said ive heard from advocates who have no plans for this. Of course we have plans. While everyone said that wasnt true and they move then moved tn helps with the plaintiff advocacy is to push on every member of congress from washington and every senator to say put a spotlight on this and absolutely insist the contract that expires for this nonprofit might not be renewed and i will tell you the forprofit as they can is a complete because they paid her child and have a huge incentive to keep children locked up and no incentive to get enough caseworkers and field specialists to move them into homes so we cannot have a forprofit child prison system like we have now. [applause] quite far away from your home state, what animates you and why is this issue concerning to you . It is that the soul of every american that doesnt matter where you live if you care about the decent treatment of people, if you care about the treatment of children, you are called to be involved. I have had people walk up to me and say please stay in this battle because nothing has upset me as much as this, the treatment of those kids. [applause] part of my background as an Exchange Student in west africa i was a bluecollar kid and we moved with the timber economy in sixth grade and decided that is the coolest thing in the whole world somebody from our community got to travel halfway around the world i want to sign up for that. I was fortunate to be selected as that person and spend the summer in a poor family. At that time the issues were front stage in Foreign Affairs and when they were planning to spend my life doing the type of work i was saving money to go overseas at the time it was nuclear war so i felt compelled to be 180degree pivot but i never forgot about the fact that people in many parts of the world are struggling under the circumstances we can only begin to imagine. One of the things that surprised me about the book, they turned you away and wouldnt let you gwouldinflict s that they had set up. Are you going back to the border again and do they still keep you out from going to see what is actually happening . They still made it difficult that pushed for the members of congress to see what is going on in the facility i facilities coe got a 48 hour provision for the health and human services, the office of the relocation so we got the provision into the last budget bill but it still doesnt affect those that were run by the department of Homeland Security. So there is more opportunity than are the members of congress. Then other facilities on the border i went to the mexican side, and i went to shelters. The metering was in full force. There is a whole ceremony that happens with the keepers of the book that has come out to the people in a square right on the border and everybody whos name its called is like i get to have a credible fear interview and they go off to the interview on the american side and then other people want to give their name in the book. But can you imagine you sign your name in that boo the book m fleeing persecution. I have no money and you have to survive until your name is called. It took stored really difficult, but those folks want you to see what is going on. So, those can get into readily. We have a microphone over here. Im going to pivot away from this topic to another topic with my final question. You called for the house to begin impeachment proceedings against the president. [applause] what do you think the chances are if they go to the senate that are in for a final disposition that they would actually impeach thesident and the president of . I read the newspaper when there was still the morning or the evening newspaper and basically read the evening newspaper and i read that the Vice President had been convicted of bribery, of taking 100,000 of bribescoming in his penalty was 10,000. I was just infuriated because i had been raised with this idea of equal justice. And im like this is equal justice if you are an ordinary person who steals a loaf of bread you may be in prison for five years but if you take an hundred thousand dollars if you arrich and powerful you get to keep 90 of the proceeds. I guess you could say that is my First Political act. Our institutions are in big trouble, the senate is in huge trouble with the routine use of the super majority that destroyed the Continental Congress into this destroying the u. S. Senate. The backing of the courts is destroying the integrity is of the court, the stolen seat of the supreme court. The oval office is being destroyed by the incumbent destroying the reputation of the United States around the world, but it is not just institutions, it is also the principals at risk and those words are carved into the facade of just opened the doors of the supreme court. If you would have asked me months ago i would say my opinion would wait for the report and see what it says. I lay all of this out and there are four cases for the obstruction of justice. For the preceding you have to have the intent to obstruct and he lays out all three of those points and he explores them on about 12 different areas and four of them iforif the net is l evidence in other words it is textbook evidence for obstruction of justice. For the house of representatives they have an obligation to do so. [applause] you will never get the republican run senate to agree to this inconsequential to the failed impeachment attemp attemh guaranteed four more years of President Trump what do you say to them . Isnt failed unless they voted to impeach. There are so many things the president has done that might be considered high crimes and misdemeanors but there are a few to help us remember become fully familiar with the month then its incumbent upon the American People to speak to their senators and to say the house has done its constitutional responsibility. You took an oath to the constitution. Are you going to have the trial as it is envisioned in the constitution that perhaps maybe the senate will rise to the challenge question as in short concise question. To impose the war in vietnam, i am so glad you are going his whole existence. Thank you for that. I helped to resettle refugees from vietnam in 1975 and those people were refugees because of the declared war into these people are refugees, i mean i just cannot get my mind around how a refugee is a refugee how can we get this thing changed because it is so devastating. It can come from many places and in addition, there are protected groups and the administrations have made Different Cases about which groups are protected. Those that are victims of systemic violence or Gang Violence and basically weve been completely vulnerable have also been considered protected groups until said no more the president is beginning or the cartel and so it means a huge number of people have a weak case that the refugee courts as long as it stands. The number that have proven to be the asylum dropped in half. First i just want to say thanks for coming it has been an interesting talk that you have had a what we have at the border right now isnt something that is working or being efficient so during the president ial debates we heard the candidates with a solution would bthesolution woum and like you said, there are ones that were pretty good ideas and there are some that were not so good and my question is if you were in charge and have the power to change this, what would your ideal solution be to the crisis at the border right now . I could invite everybody to be the last chapter in my book because i lay it out in some way that one is action in Central America. Second is no border blockade that leaves people stranded in mexico had heard his quick facilitation of children into state license facility and into homes from the Legal Assistance and from the day a child crosses the border one out there is referred to as not escape that catch and release, they see catch and release employing people dont show up to their hearings. Family Case Management program had to Inspector General reports from the Trump Administration and both of them found 99 of the families show up when they have a case manager. 99 of the people show up. The notice never gets to them and they changed the location and number of times. It would make sense if i could report tonight they say this solves the problem so we expanded this program but instead i am reporting tonight because it didnt solve the problem the administration set it down and canceled the program which i think shows you the fact they are not really trying to address the issue is much more about politics. And its the politics of the lowest kind. We heard the president and his campaighiscampaign and try to de americans attack on haitian americans and africanamericans and latino americans and americans with disabilities and Muslim Americans and immigrants that the easiest group to target, immigrants and we see them double down on the politics of racism and hate and bigotry. Lets have a love of life in this policy to drive it out. [applause] im interested in volunteering my time and energy to help migrants. What organizations around here or anywhere could i help with . A lot of families have come up and said can we sponsor someone and the answer is they will not let you because they are only letting family members sponsor which leaves more kids stranded in that system of incarceration or detention facilities. What you can do is use your voice to highlight the issue. You can help direct resources towards the groups that work with immigration groups right here and i dont know the groups in seattle, but im sure that a quick search would find them. There are in each border city or is a nonprofit that has become a Respite Center where refugees that are on the street help them get us tickets and healthcare and phone calls to relatives and they do beautiful work and they need volunteers. If you have looking skills or medical skills, then that is triple. They dont get the board believed the border blockade we were speaking to earlier and i will tell you a story about that. I got a call. They had been blockaded at the border just lik what i was describing earlier, not allowed to use across the line. They called me and i said it linked me to their telephone. I said let me talk to the guard. They said we are not talking to any senator we will talk to the president of the United States. They held up the speaker phone and they assured me they are policy was to facilitate the passage as if they were their own children. I heard a lot of grumbling and they disappeared and came back and let them across. Another very valuable thing helping with refugees to get settled in and assisted and gets the kids to school and all that, going down to the porters, whether it is just basic queuing. Work, legal work and then donating to these groups with Refugees International which advocates for policies in dc like the Refugee Assistance Program that i ran in new york city that is organizing across the country to help find the appearance where the parents were deported and reconnect them with the childrens of those are the type of things going on. Thank you again for being here tonight. One of the areas youve been mentioning cartels and gangs. How about july was the hottest in the recordkeeping of the climate refugee. I know right now there is farmers that cannot grow food. The actual soil is depleted and they dont have money or the adult and all the other things. So if you can comment on things in the book it seems like that now needs to be a possibility that we talked about with climate. I mentioned there have been rough seasons the last three years and the result is a devastating impact on the butchers growing corn. Malnutrition is rampant. Children in guatemala that are 6 inches shorter than those for nine years of age in the United States, that is the stunting that is occurring on a massive scale. By the way another way to volunteers to help groups in Central America working with School Food Programs or other Library Teaching programs in those areas and groups like habitat for humanity, etc. , that are working down there. So, you are absolutely right. I dont know that those bad season as can be definitively set Climate Chaos but i can tell you it is a strong correlation over the world but is getting a lot hotter. We have effects in Washington State and oregon. Ive been doing a little exercise in front of every group i am in front o of you and i havent done it with you all yet so im going to take this moment and bear with me im going to ask you to hold your breath for 32nd. I dont count with my fingers and weevil exhaled together. Breathe in. Exhale. That is different than the air that i was born. Devastating consequences why is that, because the seawater facilitated. The blue sea urchin is destroying it and they are in environment for hundreds of species. We have to artificially buffered the seawater for those in washington stat state and oregon state because the carbon dioxide, forest fires, the impact of forest fires, enormo enormous. Its bad for irrigation and for the streams. So anyway, yes. The facts on the ground in Central America it is getting harder and its causing a lot of trouble. We do not actually really have a climate refugee law. It is credible if you return violence to you and the economic refugees or the climate refugees do not fall into that clas the d maybe that is a conversation we should have for helping some climate refugees around the world but we also have to do everything we can to transition off of carbon so that we save the planet and get the renewable energy. [applause] thank you for being here. My question is how to counter this hateful narrative that we just had a shooting in el paso and people just have been radicalized in many ways. We have an audience that is progressive so how do we approach those that dont listen listen . [applause] i very much believe the Leadership Matters and what we have now is inculcating hate, hate speech, racism and it produces violent acts so that is extremely troubling. We need to change our leadership, that is part of it. But right now if you hear an elected official or any Community Leader attacking any group in the community, the muslims were africanamericans or hispanics or refugees, consciously reach out to those in your community and have been over we believe in the diversity that comes here that is going to Work Together to build a more beautiful, or successful, more phenomenal nation for all. Direct action reach out and connect. My parents were refugees from east germany and hiked here across the country. Anybody that hikes the distance from south america to the border for a better life has reasons to flee their home if they had a good home and they would be fleeing that distance for the fun of it. Why are we in the country not finding out what we can do to help them in their home country to make the situation better for them . Why are we not investigating what is going on at what we can do to help . The former Vice President was tasked by president obama to develop a program for Central America. Its called the u. S. Strategy for Central America it is called the alliance for prosperity and it invests in three different factors which are the economy, the governmental Justice System and kind of the human rights sector. I went down to those two interview all kinds of people without those programs. The u. S. Strategy and alliance for prosperityhow little money we are actually investing and i found out the rich diversity of programs and asked the question had we evaluated to find which of the programs, we have been doing them for several years are working the best and the answer is that this kind of hard to compare these programs and spend money on the programs. We need to understand what is making the difference. The only one who answered was the president or alice in guatemala. He is out now. He is leaving. Theres a bunch of stuff that he has done that really isnt cool. But on this, he answered the question and said the single most effective thing the United States could help with school lunches. I said tell us more and he said the big problem was malnutrition in their country. Kids need a solid meal a day. We need something that gets kids into school, stay in school and a school lunch does not. Plus they learn something about nutrition and that is helpful to the village as well. They said we are not sure, so i think we need to evaluate these programs and we need to have a bipartisan push to do a really significant investment to help restore the institution. It is going to be very hard. When i talked about the power of the cartels, they have money on the one hand, weapons and they threat of death on the other i ask is there any village that has managed to resist the games and the answer is in one village i tell about it in my book. It is a case where a mayor says im going to do something. Something. He put on a bulletproof vest, got the machine done dot cheat and came a vigilante and his community. He never fired a gun but when he started going up and down the street, people got in the jeep with him and they created a network of communication so that any member that came into the village they instantly knew about it and drove them out. That took a courageous man. Im not sure that it is a model that can be replicated but it tells you that there is one example of how the community resisted those games. Is there a way we can help other villages drive them out and create a secure environment . [applause] civic center will be over here signing books. Help us give him a hand. [applause]
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