October 9, 2024 • 12 mins
After Ohio Senator JD Vance promoted discredited rumors of legal Haitian immigrants in Springfield "eating dogs and cats" on his campaign trail and with former President Trump, who also spread the rumor during the Presidential Debate with Kamala Harris, we check in with Cincinnati's Congressman Greg Landsman. We're talking about how the many immigrants coming to the Tri-State are being treated and discuss what needs to be done to address this important issue.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This week on iHeart Sincy. So don't tell us anymore
what the problem is and who's to blame. Tell us
what you're going to do.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Right Today, we're checking in with Ohio's representative for the
first District in Cincinnati, Greg Landsman.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
He represents us in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And the congressman is talking about what his office is
hearing about the influx of immigrants here in the Tri State.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Now on iHeart Cincy with Sandy Collins.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome to iHeart Sincy. I'm Sandy Collins.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Now on to my call last Friday to US Representative
Greg Landsman. Today we're talking about immigrants and what needs
to be done here in the Tri State and how
he thinks it should be done.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hi is this the Congressman?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah? This is Greg.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Greg, Sandy Collins at seven hundred WLW. Thanks for working
me in today.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Love what you're doing there in Washington.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I wanted to check in with you about all this
immigrant talk that we have. See what you're seeing, what
you're hearing in in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Let's first start with that.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We have a lot of people coming to Cincinnati as
well to you know, start their lives over or maybe
get better jobs or get away from conflict.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
What kind of reception do you think Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Gives these folks, and are you hearing of any problems
at this point?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Cincinnati is a very welcoming city. I mean, I think
southwest Southwest Ohio is a very welcoming community. And I mean,
we helped a group of Afghan families and ultimately had
a few Afghan students living with us after the withdrawal,
(01:47):
and and and so we got to be part of
larger group of folks who helped some of these families
get resettled. And it's it's pretty special considering what they've
gone through. In most cases, they've gone through hell and
and now they're on the other side of it. So
(02:10):
I think this is a this is a very welcoming place,
you know. I think Springfield, you know, sounds like it's
a very welcoming place. And and and for the most part,
they just want to be left alone and and be
able to go back to their lives. The challenge is
that the rhetoric nationally has become so divisive and mean,
(02:32):
and and and that's caused real conflict and pain in
people's lives. But locally on the ground, no I think
it's I think it's mostly kindness and generosity and you know,
folks appreciating that the world has got some really awful places.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I wanted to.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Find out from you what you're hearing about the toning
down of this rhetoric. I know there's still mentioning Springfield
here and there, and the former president is threatening to
go to Springfield and then also to just start to
sending them all back. I mean, do you, uh, who's
(03:13):
who's gonna who's going to be able to to mitigate
this and and and put this to bed?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Do you have any idea what's going to happen?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well? I do know that this is one of those
issues that requires really serious, thoughtful bipartisan leadership. I mean
that there there there is a crisis year at the
upheaval that you're seeing all over the world, and it's
causing nations like ours to have to sort out how
to how to handle this very legitimate issue because on
(03:44):
one hand, you have folks who want to come here
and work, and there should be a pathway for some
of those folks, not all of them, but for some
of them. And then there are folks who are in
desperate need of asylum and uh, and there has to
be a pathway for them. That said, there's got to
be structure and law and order, and the most Americans
(04:07):
want to balance approach here where we are tackling border
security and creating pathways for folks to come here legally
while appreciating the fact that not everyone's going to be
able to come even though we are a nation of
immigrants and this is one of our diversity, is one
of our core strengths. It's just it's a capacity question.
(04:30):
It does require in addition to us pursuing really smart,
thoughtful bipartisan leadership, international leadership, and we're going to have
to build global alliances that tackle this beyond just our
partnership with Mexico for example. I mean, this is a
global issue and there isn't a country in the world
(04:52):
that has sorted this out yet. But it's not one
of those things where you can ignore it. And I
think too many politicians have ignored it for too long,
and it's given, you know, rise to two problems. One
is nothing of real substances getting done, even though we
have this biparson border fix that is ready for a vote.
And to the kind of rhetoric that will divide people
(05:15):
because they're frustrated with the lack of solutions and work
on this. And so I get it, like I understand
why there's real frustration. And I'm one of those who's
very frustrated because I was helpful in getting the by
Parson border fix ready to be voted on, and then
you know, they took it away from us. We were
(05:37):
you know, the president former president didn't want it voted on,
and so they caved. And but you know, after the election,
they could put it on the floor and we could
pass it immediately and you know, get busy solving this problem,
which will help in addition to encouraging all politicians to
(05:58):
tone down the rhetoric andocus on solving the problem. So
don't tell us anymore what the problem is and who's
to blame. Tell us what you're going to do and
how you're going to work with folks to fix it.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, that's the issue as well, is that the issue
at the border from all stances and from all agencies
that we're seeing has drastically improved because of the measures
that President and Biden put into play after the bipartisan
deal was squashed, and so the border crossings are way
(06:31):
down and things are improving, but that message doesn't seem
to get out. And that's what we do in the
newsroom is we see these numbers, but yet we see
people not realizing or recognizing when things do improve.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
So where do you think we are now?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
If you're going to categorize what's happening right now, how
would you characterize it?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I hope that we're getting closer to a bipartisan fix.
I mean, obviously we put one together last year, and
it's a good bill. It dramatically increases the number of
border security officers, and they desperately need the staffing down there.
I went to the border and saw firsthand just how
(07:16):
significant the need is. And we have folks from Cincinnati,
from southwest Ohio who had to go down there custom
and border folks that you know sometimes in some instances
were down there for months away from their families. And
so we need those additional border patrol officers. Number Two,
we need the additional judges and and the here's complicated,
(07:40):
but not really. Folks will come to the southern border
to apply for asylum now if they know they're going
to get an asylum judge and their case is going
to be resolved in a couple of months. They will
apply from home or not apply at all if they
know like they do now, it's going to take six
or seven years before they see judge because Congress is
(08:01):
not paid for invested in judges. Then they will come
and they will get their little notice about hearing, and
they'll go to New York or Chicago or wherever, and
they will work for six seven years under the table.
And that is a problem. Democrats and Republicans have to
come together and appreciate that as a problem. The third
(08:24):
is the asylum rule has to be changed because right
now the credible threat does allow people who aren't as
you know, who aren't really seeking to get out of
some horribly dangerous situation. Though that exists for people like
folks coming out of Haiti and other war torn places,
(08:45):
but the threshold should be higher. I do believe the
administration is much more aggressive than they were when I
first got there eighteen twenty months ago. I was one
of the Democrats who criticized administration for not doing more,
and I still believe there's more that can be done.
(09:06):
My hope is that one the good news is that
everyone's now paying attention to this, the chances of this
getting solved go up. And I do believe that the
vast majority of Americans want to bipartisan solutions. So that's good.
And when we get on the other side of the selection,
and I don't mean January, February, March, I'm talking November,
when we're back there in November, that the Speaker has
(09:30):
the courage to put the Bipartson border fix on the
floor and we pass it, and you go from there.
That's not the end of the road. You keep working
the problem until we're the country in the world that
has solved this, because every country, most developed countries, are
dealing with this too.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Well, let me ask you.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I'm talking with Greg Lansman, he's our congressman from the
Cincinnati area. And Greg, we hear about the investment in
what it's going to cost, and yet Americans have been
seeing billions upon billions upon billions of dollars handed out
for war areas in our allied relationships. We're also wondering
(10:09):
why can't we have billions of dollars to fix our
own issue. Can you explain from your desk there in Washington,
what's holding up the congressional delegation from actually putting some
money towards this that would make a real difference. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
So, and I don't mean to be political, it's just
it's the reality. We negotiated a biparson border fix. It
was thousands of new border patrol agents, thousands of judges,
changing the asylum rules, a whole host of other things,
and I honestly thought we were going to pass it
(10:46):
within the week. And then Trump said kill the bill,
and the Speaker killed the bill. Now that doesn't mean
that the bill is actually dead. The bill could be
resurrected or at least the put back on the table
and voted. And I am convinced. I feel like I do,
even in my first term, have a sentence to how
(11:07):
these things would play out. I think there are three
hundred and forty three hundred and fifty House members that
will vote for it, and probably eighty to nineties and
US senators. So that's a bill that passes and becomes law.
But for you know, Trump, who wanted this to be
an issue, now after the election, you know it's the
(11:28):
politics no longer is relevant. So hopefully we get a past.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Congressman Greg Lansman, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I want to talk to you another time about actually
getting to Washington and how you've perceived it and how
you've done. But right now I just want to thank
you about this immigrants question. It is on the minds
of just about everybody.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Thank you, Sandy. I appreciate it. This is one of
those things where you can take it seriously and work
to solve it while also being kind and decent. Like
you don't have to pick one, you can do both.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Thank you, Greg. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Take care.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
That's going to do it for the show this week.
Hope you enjoyed the show.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
If you have any questions or comments, or if you'd
like to find out more, just email me Iheartsincy at
iHeartMedia dot com. That's iheartsincyat iHeartMedia dot com until next week.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
iHeart Cincy is a production of iHeartMedia, Cincinnati.
This week on iHeart Sincy. So don't tell us anymore
what the problem is and who's to blame. Tell us
what you're going to do.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Right Today, we're checking in with Ohio's representative for the
first District in Cincinnati, Greg Landsman.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
He represents us in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And the congressman is talking about what his office is
hearing about the influx of immigrants here in the Tri State.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Now on iHeart Cincy with Sandy Collins.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Welcome to iHeart Sincy. I'm Sandy Collins.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Now on to my call last Friday to US Representative
Greg Landsman. Today we're talking about immigrants and what needs
to be done here in the Tri State and how
he thinks it should be done.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hi is this the Congressman?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah? This is Greg.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Greg, Sandy Collins at seven hundred WLW. Thanks for working
me in today.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Love what you're doing there in Washington.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
I wanted to check in with you about all this
immigrant talk that we have. See what you're seeing, what
you're hearing in in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Let's first start with that.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
We have a lot of people coming to Cincinnati as
well to you know, start their lives over or maybe
get better jobs or get away from conflict.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
What kind of reception do you think Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Gives these folks, and are you hearing of any problems
at this point?
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Cincinnati is a very welcoming city. I mean, I think
southwest Southwest Ohio is a very welcoming community. And I mean,
we helped a group of Afghan families and ultimately had
a few Afghan students living with us after the withdrawal,
(01:47):
and and and so we got to be part of
larger group of folks who helped some of these families
get resettled. And it's it's pretty special considering what they've
gone through. In most cases, they've gone through hell and
and now they're on the other side of it. So
(02:10):
I think this is a this is a very welcoming place,
you know. I think Springfield, you know, sounds like it's
a very welcoming place. And and and for the most part,
they just want to be left alone and and be
able to go back to their lives. The challenge is
that the rhetoric nationally has become so divisive and mean,
(02:32):
and and and that's caused real conflict and pain in
people's lives. But locally on the ground, no I think
it's I think it's mostly kindness and generosity and you know,
folks appreciating that the world has got some really awful places.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I wanted to.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Find out from you what you're hearing about the toning
down of this rhetoric. I know there's still mentioning Springfield
here and there, and the former president is threatening to
go to Springfield and then also to just start to
sending them all back. I mean, do you, uh, who's
(03:13):
who's gonna who's going to be able to to mitigate
this and and and put this to bed?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Do you have any idea what's going to happen?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Well? I do know that this is one of those
issues that requires really serious, thoughtful bipartisan leadership. I mean
that there there there is a crisis year at the
upheaval that you're seeing all over the world, and it's
causing nations like ours to have to sort out how
to how to handle this very legitimate issue because on
(03:44):
one hand, you have folks who want to come here
and work, and there should be a pathway for some
of those folks, not all of them, but for some
of them. And then there are folks who are in
desperate need of asylum and uh, and there has to
be a pathway for them. That said, there's got to
be structure and law and order, and the most Americans
(04:07):
want to balance approach here where we are tackling border
security and creating pathways for folks to come here legally
while appreciating the fact that not everyone's going to be
able to come even though we are a nation of
immigrants and this is one of our diversity, is one
of our core strengths. It's just it's a capacity question.
(04:30):
It does require in addition to us pursuing really smart,
thoughtful bipartisan leadership, international leadership, and we're going to have
to build global alliances that tackle this beyond just our
partnership with Mexico for example. I mean, this is a
global issue and there isn't a country in the world
(04:52):
that has sorted this out yet. But it's not one
of those things where you can ignore it. And I
think too many politicians have ignored it for too long,
and it's given, you know, rise to two problems. One
is nothing of real substances getting done, even though we
have this biparson border fix that is ready for a vote.
And to the kind of rhetoric that will divide people
(05:15):
because they're frustrated with the lack of solutions and work
on this. And so I get it, like I understand
why there's real frustration. And I'm one of those who's
very frustrated because I was helpful in getting the by
Parson border fix ready to be voted on, and then
you know, they took it away from us. We were
(05:37):
you know, the president former president didn't want it voted on,
and so they caved. And but you know, after the election,
they could put it on the floor and we could
pass it immediately and you know, get busy solving this problem,
which will help in addition to encouraging all politicians to
(05:58):
tone down the rhetoric andocus on solving the problem. So
don't tell us anymore what the problem is and who's
to blame. Tell us what you're going to do and
how you're going to work with folks to fix it.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, that's the issue as well, is that the issue
at the border from all stances and from all agencies
that we're seeing has drastically improved because of the measures
that President and Biden put into play after the bipartisan
deal was squashed, and so the border crossings are way
(06:31):
down and things are improving, but that message doesn't seem
to get out. And that's what we do in the
newsroom is we see these numbers, but yet we see
people not realizing or recognizing when things do improve.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
So where do you think we are now?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
If you're going to categorize what's happening right now, how
would you characterize it?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I hope that we're getting closer to a bipartisan fix.
I mean, obviously we put one together last year, and
it's a good bill. It dramatically increases the number of
border security officers, and they desperately need the staffing down there.
I went to the border and saw firsthand just how
(07:16):
significant the need is. And we have folks from Cincinnati,
from southwest Ohio who had to go down there custom
and border folks that you know sometimes in some instances
were down there for months away from their families. And
so we need those additional border patrol officers. Number Two,
we need the additional judges and and the here's complicated,
(07:40):
but not really. Folks will come to the southern border
to apply for asylum now if they know they're going
to get an asylum judge and their case is going
to be resolved in a couple of months. They will
apply from home or not apply at all if they
know like they do now, it's going to take six
or seven years before they see judge because Congress is
(08:01):
not paid for invested in judges. Then they will come
and they will get their little notice about hearing, and
they'll go to New York or Chicago or wherever, and
they will work for six seven years under the table.
And that is a problem. Democrats and Republicans have to
come together and appreciate that as a problem. The third
(08:24):
is the asylum rule has to be changed because right
now the credible threat does allow people who aren't as
you know, who aren't really seeking to get out of
some horribly dangerous situation. Though that exists for people like
folks coming out of Haiti and other war torn places,
(08:45):
but the threshold should be higher. I do believe the
administration is much more aggressive than they were when I
first got there eighteen twenty months ago. I was one
of the Democrats who criticized administration for not doing more,
and I still believe there's more that can be done.
(09:06):
My hope is that one the good news is that
everyone's now paying attention to this, the chances of this
getting solved go up. And I do believe that the
vast majority of Americans want to bipartisan solutions. So that's good.
And when we get on the other side of the selection,
and I don't mean January, February, March, I'm talking November,
when we're back there in November, that the Speaker has
(09:30):
the courage to put the Bipartson border fix on the
floor and we pass it, and you go from there.
That's not the end of the road. You keep working
the problem until we're the country in the world that
has solved this, because every country, most developed countries, are
dealing with this too.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Well, let me ask you.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I'm talking with Greg Lansman, he's our congressman from the
Cincinnati area. And Greg, we hear about the investment in
what it's going to cost, and yet Americans have been
seeing billions upon billions upon billions of dollars handed out
for war areas in our allied relationships. We're also wondering
(10:09):
why can't we have billions of dollars to fix our
own issue. Can you explain from your desk there in Washington,
what's holding up the congressional delegation from actually putting some
money towards this that would make a real difference. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
So, and I don't mean to be political, it's just
it's the reality. We negotiated a biparson border fix. It
was thousands of new border patrol agents, thousands of judges,
changing the asylum rules, a whole host of other things,
and I honestly thought we were going to pass it
(10:46):
within the week. And then Trump said kill the bill,
and the Speaker killed the bill. Now that doesn't mean
that the bill is actually dead. The bill could be
resurrected or at least the put back on the table
and voted. And I am convinced. I feel like I do,
even in my first term, have a sentence to how
(11:07):
these things would play out. I think there are three
hundred and forty three hundred and fifty House members that
will vote for it, and probably eighty to nineties and
US senators. So that's a bill that passes and becomes law.
But for you know, Trump, who wanted this to be
an issue, now after the election, you know it's the
(11:28):
politics no longer is relevant. So hopefully we get a past.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Congressman Greg Lansman, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
I want to talk to you another time about actually
getting to Washington and how you've perceived it and how
you've done. But right now I just want to thank
you about this immigrants question. It is on the minds
of just about everybody.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Thank you, Sandy. I appreciate it. This is one of
those things where you can take it seriously and work
to solve it while also being kind and decent. Like
you don't have to pick one, you can do both.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Thank you, Greg. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Take care.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
That's going to do it for the show this week.
Hope you enjoyed the show.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
If you have any questions or comments, or if you'd
like to find out more, just email me Iheartsincy at
iHeartMedia dot com. That's iheartsincyat iHeartMedia dot com until next week.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
iHeart Cincy is a production of iHeartMedia, Cincinnati.
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