Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Ice Detention Center and Aurora, operated by private prison
company Geogroup, is the only such facility in our state,
and despite federal law guaranteeing members of Congress the right
to enter the facilities for purposes of conducting oversight, Colorado
Congressman Jason Crow was recently denied access. Now.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Congressman Crow one of a dozen Democratic House members, including
Congressman Jonah Goose, that are suing the Trump administration over
its policy of requiring advanced notice for oversight visits. Joining
us now in the koa common Spirit Health hotline is
Congressman Jason Crow. Congressman, good morning. Before we get into
the lawsuit, what was ICE's region in rationale for denying
you access when we went to visit a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hi, good morning to both of you there. Rationale was
the administration has put in place in new policy that
requires seven day notice. The problem with that, of course,
is that it's Congress who makes the laws, not any
presidential administration. In the law in this instance is very
clear that members of Congress, as you said just now,
have the right under law to conduct an unannounced visit
(01:00):
it for purposes of oversight.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So did you provide that notice, or did you show
up that day in order to see if you could
get access.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, I did one of my unannounced visits, which I've
done before. You know, sometimes I do unannounced visits. Sometimes
I provide notice. Rarely ever have we done seven days notice.
Usually in the past, if we're going to do it
a noticed visit, it's a couple of days in advance.
But one of the reasons why we put in the
law years ago, and I was a big part of
actually helping create and pass that law several years ago,
(01:31):
was we realized, and you're doing oversight, and when a
member of Congress announces they're coming in advance, things get
cleaned up, they get changed, and this is natural. Actually
this happens and we're visiting a military basis, we're visiting
VA hospitals, so we're visiting detention centers. It's just natural
that if someone knows a VIP or somebody's coming, that
they're going to clean things up and they give them
(01:52):
the dog and pony show. And we put in the
law that we want to den announced visits because we
really want a sense for what's happening day to day.
We want a real look at what's going on these facilities,
so we can actually do our oversight.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So if I understand correctly, Congressman, you all write the
laws to do this, you should be able to have
access when you decide you want to have access, and
not the seven day barriers. So I'm assuming lawsuit is
about saying the Trump administration is not going by the
rules of the law and they should be. Congress makes
those decisions about access.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, that's exactly right that in this instance Congress makes
the laws about access, not every instance. But we passed
this law because it was really important for us to
be able to have access to these facilities, and there's
a history of us being denied that access. You know,
this law actually came about after twenty nineteen, and I
was denied access to this facility previously, and that's when
(02:45):
there were disease outbreaks, there was a death evin inmate
at the facility. There's been a history of problems at
this particular facility. So I work with others to pass
this law and to fix that so I could actually
have that access and show up and do these inspections
and try to get things fixed.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Have you tried to re enter the facility since you
returned away.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I personally have not. My staff continues to do it.
Sometimes I go, sometimes my staff goes, sometimes other members go.
So it's a kind of a variation of different oversight
that we conduct.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And there was a statement from the DHS Secretary Christy
Mome saying that you all, Congress is not above law
and all members and staff need to comply with facility rules,
procedures and instructions from ICE personnel on site for their
own safety and the safety of detainees and the safety
of ICE employees. Again, were you breaking any rules or
laws for as we understand them about getting access to
(03:36):
the facility?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
No, a Secretary Nome actually has it wrong. It has
it the reverse here. It's Congress. You know, this is
kind of a civis one on one, a government one
on one lesson. Unfortunately, you know, it's Congress who passes
the law. Then it's administration that enforces it and has
to follow. It's not the other way around. You know,
no administration, regardless of the politics of that administration, Republican Democrat, resident,
(04:00):
can just say I don't want to follow a law
created by Congress. They can't issue an executive order, they
can't issue an opinion. They can't just you know, decide
they want to do it differently. That's just not how
government works.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So tell us about what you hope to accomplish with
this lawsuit and where it stands as of now.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You know, it's very simple. We followed this lawsuit and
all we want to do is get that seven day
requirement booted and get access to these facilities. You know,
we have no other agenda other than wanting to perform
our obligation as members of Congress, and that is the
due oversight of federal facilities in our districts, in our communities,
(04:39):
and to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being used wisely,
to make sure the laws are being followed, to make
sure that people are given due process rights and access
to legal counsel. You know, all the things that we
do when we do these oversight visits that we just
simply cannot do if we're being forced to work with
a rule that is frankly unlawful.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
While we have you on, want i ask you about
some other things in the news cycle. What's your reaction
into the president firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Well, you know when someone gets on the scale, and
if they don't like what the numbers show, they usually
just don't take the scale and throw it out the window.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
You change, you change the underlying problem. That's unfortunately what's
happening here is he didn't like the number, so instead
of addressing the joblessness numbers and the slowing, sluggish economy,
he decided to fire the person that created the numbers
and does the research. Pretty disturbing stuff. You know, if
(05:34):
you're a business owner and you actually need good data
and good information to know whether or not it's a
good time to hire, whether it's a good time to
invest in your business, you need this information. And unfortunately
the administration has just decided once again, and this has
happened before, to fire the people that are producing the
reports and the information instead of doing the hard work
(05:55):
of trying to fix the underlying problem.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And final question, I know how Speaker Mike Johnson worse
to recess the stoppage of what you all do because
there was going to be a vote to release the
Epstein files. So I want to get your thoughts on that.
And also I know you asked this on Bill Maher
in real time, but why didn't President Biden release the
files then, because were you were releasing them under the
Biden administration.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, I thought they should have been released under the
prior administration. You know, I'm somebody that's a lot for transparency.
I put this in the same bucket as the Ice
Detention Center. I believe in good government, and I think
the foundation of good government in efficiency and reform is
making sure that you disclose information. You know, as long
as something isn't classified or has some type of sensitive
(06:40):
law enforcement information, which in this case I don't believe
it does, we should have disclose it to the public.
And it's just so disturbing that this Congress literally ended early.
We were supposed to be voting for a couple more days,
and Speaker Jonathan sent Congress home and shut the doors
early when we should have been debating, should have been voting,
been doing the work we are obligated to do in Washington,
(07:03):
instead of taking a vote, which actually would have been
a bipartisan vote passing a bill to release the files
because there were Republicans who are going to join us
for that, they shut the doors and send us home
to avoid taking that vote. It just tells me there's
something that people really want to hide here, and the
President really doesn't want the release of these files, which
(07:24):
makes me all that more eager to want to release
the files.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Representing Colorado's sixth congressional district, it's Congressman Jason Crow.
The Ice Detention Center and Aurora, operated by private prison
company Geogroup, is the only such facility in our state,
and despite federal law guaranteeing members of Congress the right
to enter the facilities for purposes of conducting oversight, Colorado
Congressman Jason Crow was recently denied access. Now.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Congressman Crow one of a dozen Democratic House members, including
Congressman Jonah Goose, that are suing the Trump administration over
its policy of requiring advanced notice for oversight visits. Joining
us now in the koa common Spirit Health hotline is
Congressman Jason Crow. Congressman, good morning. Before we get into
the lawsuit, what was ICE's region in rationale for denying
you access when we went to visit a couple weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hi, good morning to both of you there. Rationale was
the administration has put in place in new policy that
requires seven day notice. The problem with that, of course,
is that it's Congress who makes the laws, not any
presidential administration. In the law in this instance is very
clear that members of Congress, as you said just now,
have the right under law to conduct an unannounced visit
(01:00):
it for purposes of oversight.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So did you provide that notice, or did you show
up that day in order to see if you could
get access.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah, I did one of my unannounced visits, which I've
done before. You know, sometimes I do unannounced visits. Sometimes
I provide notice. Rarely ever have we done seven days notice.
Usually in the past, if we're going to do it
a noticed visit, it's a couple of days in advance.
But one of the reasons why we put in the
law years ago, and I was a big part of
actually helping create and pass that law several years ago,
(01:31):
was we realized, and you're doing oversight, and when a
member of Congress announces they're coming in advance, things get
cleaned up, they get changed, and this is natural. Actually
this happens and we're visiting a military basis, we're visiting
VA hospitals, so we're visiting detention centers. It's just natural
that if someone knows a VIP or somebody's coming, that
they're going to clean things up and they give them
(01:52):
the dog and pony show. And we put in the
law that we want to den announced visits because we
really want a sense for what's happening day to day.
We want a real look at what's going on these facilities,
so we can actually do our oversight.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So if I understand correctly, Congressman, you all write the
laws to do this, you should be able to have
access when you decide you want to have access, and
not the seven day barriers. So I'm assuming lawsuit is
about saying the Trump administration is not going by the
rules of the law and they should be. Congress makes
those decisions about access.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, that's exactly right that in this instance Congress makes
the laws about access, not every instance. But we passed
this law because it was really important for us to
be able to have access to these facilities, and there's
a history of us being denied that access. You know,
this law actually came about after twenty nineteen, and I
was denied access to this facility previously, and that's when
(02:45):
there were disease outbreaks, there was a death evin inmate
at the facility. There's been a history of problems at
this particular facility. So I work with others to pass
this law and to fix that so I could actually
have that access and show up and do these inspections
and try to get things fixed.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
Have you tried to re enter the facility since you
returned away.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
I personally have not. My staff continues to do it.
Sometimes I go, sometimes my staff goes, sometimes other members go.
So it's a kind of a variation of different oversight
that we conduct.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And there was a statement from the DHS Secretary Christy
Mome saying that you all, Congress is not above law
and all members and staff need to comply with facility rules,
procedures and instructions from ICE personnel on site for their
own safety and the safety of detainees and the safety
of ICE employees. Again, were you breaking any rules or
laws for as we understand them about getting access to
(03:36):
the facility?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
No, a Secretary Nome actually has it wrong. It has
it the reverse here. It's Congress. You know, this is
kind of a civis one on one, a government one
on one lesson. Unfortunately, you know, it's Congress who passes
the law. Then it's administration that enforces it and has
to follow. It's not the other way around. You know,
no administration, regardless of the politics of that administration, Republican Democrat, resident,
(04:00):
can just say I don't want to follow a law
created by Congress. They can't issue an executive order, they
can't issue an opinion. They can't just you know, decide
they want to do it differently. That's just not how
government works.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
So tell us about what you hope to accomplish with
this lawsuit and where it stands as of now.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You know, it's very simple. We followed this lawsuit and
all we want to do is get that seven day
requirement booted and get access to these facilities. You know,
we have no other agenda other than wanting to perform
our obligation as members of Congress, and that is the
due oversight of federal facilities in our districts, in our communities,
(04:39):
and to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being used wisely,
to make sure the laws are being followed, to make
sure that people are given due process rights and access
to legal counsel. You know, all the things that we
do when we do these oversight visits that we just
simply cannot do if we're being forced to work with
a rule that is frankly unlawful.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
While we have you on, want i ask you about
some other things in the news cycle. What's your reaction
into the president firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Well, you know when someone gets on the scale, and
if they don't like what the numbers show, they usually
just don't take the scale and throw it out the window.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
You change, you change the underlying problem. That's unfortunately what's
happening here is he didn't like the number, so instead
of addressing the joblessness numbers and the slowing, sluggish economy,
he decided to fire the person that created the numbers
and does the research. Pretty disturbing stuff. You know, if
(05:34):
you're a business owner and you actually need good data
and good information to know whether or not it's a
good time to hire, whether it's a good time to
invest in your business, you need this information. And unfortunately
the administration has just decided once again, and this has
happened before, to fire the people that are producing the
reports and the information instead of doing the hard work
(05:55):
of trying to fix the underlying problem.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And final question, I know how Speaker Mike Johnson worse
to recess the stoppage of what you all do because
there was going to be a vote to release the
Epstein files. So I want to get your thoughts on that.
And also I know you asked this on Bill Maher
in real time, but why didn't President Biden release the
files then, because were you were releasing them under the
Biden administration.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, I thought they should have been released under the
prior administration. You know, I'm somebody that's a lot for transparency.
I put this in the same bucket as the Ice
Detention Center. I believe in good government, and I think
the foundation of good government in efficiency and reform is
making sure that you disclose information. You know, as long
as something isn't classified or has some type of sensitive
(06:40):
law enforcement information, which in this case I don't believe
it does, we should have disclose it to the public.
And it's just so disturbing that this Congress literally ended early.
We were supposed to be voting for a couple more days,
and Speaker Jonathan sent Congress home and shut the doors
early when we should have been debating, should have been voting,
been doing the work we are obligated to do in Washington,
(07:03):
instead of taking a vote, which actually would have been
a bipartisan vote passing a bill to release the files
because there were Republicans who are going to join us
for that, they shut the doors and send us home
to avoid taking that vote. It just tells me there's
something that people really want to hide here, and the
President really doesn't want the release of these files, which
(07:24):
makes me all that more eager to want to release
the files.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Representing Colorado's sixth congressional district, it's Congressman Jason Crow.
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