Congresswoman Debbie Lesko on Immigration
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Welcome to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. In the studio today with us, Kylie Kipper. I call her the irrepressible Kylie Kipper. Irrepressible. And on the line we have Alex Sawyer of the Washington Times and has done some amazing work lately on everything going on with both HR1 but obviously the big news coming out this week, Democrats planning to pack the Supreme Court.

By just one, by just one, to make it fair. Alex, give us a little bit background on this. Where do you see this going? Is Biden going to hold firm on waiting for a commission report for even goes further on this? Just give us the background.

Yeah. So, you know, there's been calls, of course, from progressives during the 2020 election to get the Democratic candidates to on board with court packing. Joe Biden really didn't embrace that. Kamala Harris did. She was open to it.

But now it looks like as of last Friday, the president has formed a commission to study the pros and cons of adding justices to the court, among some other reforms like studying how the service of the justices, the tenure, that sort of thing.

So, I mean, the possibility of term limits, I guess, is on the table. And then, of course, this week, it looks like the progressive lawmakers are not wanting to wait for that commission report. And they've gone ahead and introduced legislation to add

four seats to the court. So there would be 13 justices. I don't see this going anywhere. Pelosi said that it wouldn't get a vote on the floor. She's supporting the president and waiting for the commission to issue its report. And she says, you know, maybe, maybe they're, they would say to add justice to the court, but she wants to wait until that time with a 50, 50 Senate.

You still have the filibuster in place, so it would take 60 votes to pass legislation like this. And not only that, I don't see 10 Republicans supporting it, but also Joe. I'm sorry, Senator Manchin from West Virginia, a moderate Democrat, has said he is not supportive of court packing. So it kind of looks like that legislative effort is.

not really going to go anywhere. But they've clearly demonstrated what they want to do. I mean, I think they have made this an election issue for the next two or three cycles. Is that correct? Or what are your views on that? Yeah, I do think that that's where the progressive wing of the party is.

It seems like both parties are going further to the right or left. And so I think that you're right to predict that in the future we will continue to hear about this. I think that the court watchers I've talked to think that the commission that Biden has set up is a way to kind of appease the progressive wing, but kind of delay any sort of action.

on this issue and I guess the way it's set up, the commission, it has to issue its report

within 180 days of its first public meeting. And as of right now, we don't have a date for the public meeting. So, you know, this is something that could drag on for months. Alex, one of the things I've told, you know, conservatives around the country for years is watch what the progressive wing is doing, because that will become the Democrat Party policy within a few years. A few years ago, the Democrat Party was not an open borders party, but the progressive policy wing was.

The party has moved over on issue after issue. I think that's happened. I think they're counting on that with this one.

Yeah, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's how, if that's like, you know, like we just mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes a campaign issue if it doesn't successfully happen during the Biden presidency. You know, there's a lot of concerns just from people I've talked to, court watchers, also, of course, Republicans look at this and say, well, you know, if you have Biden add seats to the court, you know,

what's going to stop the next president, say a Republican, from coming in and then adding seats. And what that would end up doing effectively is make the court kind of like a change of administration, right? So it would effectively become part of the executive, you could say, and that would destroy the independence of the judiciary. I don't think it would destroy just the independence of the judiciary, but Chuck, I think it would actually destroy

the Constitution. I mean, the entire system of powers is breaking down with the White House, the executive branch accruing more and more of the authority that Congress should have had. This would essentially be that last barrier. Right, right. Yeah, definitely it presents separation of powers issues. And I will say, you know, of course, there's nothing in the Constitution that says

You know, the court has to be at a certain amount. However, the Constitution does reference that judges can serve as long as they're in good standing. And then, of course, that's been interpreted to mean lifetime appointments and the way to remove a judge is impeachment, that sort of thing. So I kind of thought that aspect of this whole commission and the reform is interesting, too, because.

say, if they decided to put forward some sort of term limit or change the lifetime appointment, my question would be, you know, where would people bring their constitutional challenges? Is it going to go to the Supreme Court to decide their own issue? I mean, that sets up a separation of powers issue and a conflict of itself. That's a very, very good point. We're with Alex Sawyer, legal correspondent for The Washington Times. Alex, let me ask you, so you have H.R. 1, you have the current...

Pushed by the progressives to pack the Supreme Court which you know I mean in your lifetime you're young you could probably end up with 30 40 Supreme Court justices based on the back and forth and And you have the they want to make DC and Puerto Rico states as you're out in Washington What do you feel on the progressive side has the most energy passing hr1 packing the Supreme Court or? making DC and Puerto Rico a state a

Well, okay, so let's, I guess just to be, from my reporting, what I've heard from people is, you know, the H.R. 1 is a, basically nationalizes election. It gives the Democratic Party what they're looking for in terms of issues related to campaign finance. It really sets a national standard and impedes on states being able to set

you know what what works for them so i've been told that if the democrats are going to for example get rid of the filibuster right the sixty vote threshold and that it would be to pass h_r_ one right that that would be their ultimate goal because essentially that would help them when elections in the future i think that living here in d_c_ just from a personal uh... observation you can't really go anywhere

I mean, for example, if I go on a run, every few blocks there's some sort of sign talking about D.C. statehood. It's just been something that is huge here. There's definitely a push. I moved here in 2013, and it's increasingly become obvious, right? Like, there was support for it then, but it's now, you know, like I said, you go for a walk and see signs. It's been building and building. Alex, I want to...

As a Republican looking at this, I can make a good argument for why Puerto Rico, if their citizens choose, should be allowed to become the 51st state. I think it is wrong to deny them that opportunity if that's what their residents choose. Washington, D.C., I make a very different argument.

that it is so central, the population there is so tied to the federal government, so much of the money comes from federal government contracting, that it is a state that if it becomes a state or city that if it becomes a state is essentially going to be all about the circle between people, lobbyists getting money out of government for themselves. And that just makes them much more powerful at doing that because now they have actual votes to cast in the House and Senate.

Well, I think history, too, is something to look at. And so the reason that D.C. wasn't made a state and actually, you know, I think Virginia and Maryland had handed over land to create D.C. was the idea that it should belong to all states. Right. It's a federal government. It shouldn't be taken.

one of its own. And on top of that, at the time, of course, the thought was, and still is, that people that live here can physically get to the Capitol or wherever and voice concerns with representatives, whereas the reason you have senators and representatives from other states is because they're sent here by their people, right? Because it's not as easy for voters and constituents to come to the Capitol. So that's another aspect.

So Alex, more of a question about you. You've been at DC since 2013. You're a Texas girl. You went to law school in Florida, journalism school in Missouri, and now you've been at DC since 2013. How has DC changed in the last seven years?

Oh, well, I mean, obviously I mentioned the D.C. statehood push has become more obvious and vocal, but also I think it's just been interesting to see how crime has changed. I'm lucky to live in a safe neighborhood, but I think that, you know, just following the local –

like the Twitter notifications for our police department, it's concerning. It's one of those things where having lived in other states, I'm trying to get my husband to be willing to relocate. I'd love to move back to Florida. Much more flexibility. Just, you know, for a lot of people, I think, growing up in Texas, for example,

owning property, having a house, you would think you'd be able to put a driveway in, right? Well, we're in a situation where my husband's been trying for almost a decade to get a driveway, and the city won't let us do that. It's just little things like living in a big house. What's the reasoning? You can't have a driveway. Oh, there's always a reason. There's just always a reason. Do Sam and I just need to come out there one night in the middle of the night and just put that cement down? What's going on with that? I think that's where my husband's going with it, which I've kind of, you know, the lawyer in me is like, that is not a good idea. Yeah.

Let them know I got some contacts with the city of Phoenix Public Works. We can we can work on this for you. This is literally the kind of thing that that here in Phoenix, if a resident wants, they can get that permit in one visit to City Hall. It's going to take them about 40 minutes.

Right. Yeah, it's been a years-long battle, and I think we've paid for a driveway maybe twice in legal fees just trying to get one. So it's just kind of crazy. But that's part of living in a city like this. You know, I think a lot of people who grew up in this area don't,

I realize like how it's just a much easier life not living in something in a place that's so condensed or so regulated like the point where it, you know, you can't do something with your own property. I think you're making a great point, Alex, because my folks live back in New York and I go back and visit them a few times a year. And every time I go there, I realize the population of New York are the the frog in the boiling water.

They have been so restricted in so many ways and they just don't notice that it's built up over time. Coming from Arizona, I go back and I'm like, oh, my goodness, you can't walk down the street without having 17 laws to follow.

Yeah, it's pretty wild. And not just, I mean, it's also just the idea of looking for parking is budgeted into your daily time, right? If you can't just run to the grocery store, run to the post office. One of my first impressions when I moved here, it was I wanted to go to the gym. I had like 45 minutes and I spent a whole time looking for parking. So I was like, well, I didn't get my workout in because I couldn't find a parking spot.

Amazing. Every time I talk to someone from D.C., New York, I get more and more thankful that I live in Arizona. This is why Peloton's worth a billion bucks. Absolutely. They work 45 minutes for parking. Alex, thank you so much. Thank you. Y'all have a good one. Thank you. Bye-bye. Broken Pottles, coming right back.

Welcome back to Broken Potholes. I am Chuck Warren with my co-host Sam Stone and the irrepressible Kylie Kipper. We just had with us Alex Sawyer, the legal correspondent for The Washington Times. And you can follow her at, what's the Twitter handle, Kylie? It's asawyer, that's A-S-W-O-Y-E-R. Take a look at that.

Take the time. She's a wonderful reporter. We hope to have her back on. We talked about H.R. 1 with her and the current scheme by progressives to pack the court, which seems like it never has an ending to that if you start doing that. We now have on the line with us Representative Debbie Lesko from CD8 in Arizona. Congresswoman, welcome to Broken Potholes. Thank you for having me. Hope you're doing well. Hope your listeners are doing great. We hope they are, too. We hope they are, too. So,

So how's the mood in D.C. right now before we get talking about immigration and other fun things? What's it like going back there right now? Are people just like in a gunfight? The district demilitarized zone. Yeah, what's going on out there?

Well, I suppose it depends on if you're a Republican or a Democrat. I'm a Republican, so it's kind of depressing being in the minority, I'll tell you that. I mean, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are in charge. All of the committee chairmen are Democrats, so usually Republican bills go in the trash bin, I think, and don't get heard. So...

You know, I'm looking forward to 2022 when Republicans take back the majority in the House and then maybe we can get some stuff done. Congresswoman, does Nancy Pelosi and Democrat leadership even try to pretend or give lip service to listen to anything you guys say or try to bring you in on anything? Or is it just a hammer? That's just a press talking point, isn't it? Yeah.

Well, you know, unlike what President Biden and some of the top Democrats say that they want to work with Republicans on bills, the opposite is true. I mean, they say that, but in real life, it's not true, because you can see that just by their pushing through bills without even going through committee hearings now. I mean, they're not even going through, you know...

Like, let's say they're doing a gun control bill, H.R. 8. It's not even going through Judiciary Committee. It's just going to the floor for a vote, right? So they're just pushing these things through. There's no chance to even talk or debate or anything in committee. Just go to the floor for a vote.

And then they do these push through these major, major policies and trillions of dollar bills through reconciliation bills. Well, reconciliation bills are designed to be partisan, meaning you don't need to involve Republicans. And they don't ask Republicans for input either. They're just pushing it all through. Every single liberal bill you can think of. Congresswoman, I was really stunned actually by the ruling of...

of the parliamentarian there, allowing them to do that on a range of bills that had never been allowed to be moved forward through reconciliation in the past? Well, you know, what I have seen, unfortunately, is that the Democrats have the majority in the House

It's split 50-50 in the Senate, but then, of course, Kamala Harris can come in and do the tiebreakers so they have the chairmanships of the Democrat chairmanships in the Senate. And so if they can do it, they're going to do it. And if they have to change a rule, they're going to change a rule. And if they have to change a law to do it, they're going to change a law to do it. And so...

everything that they're pushing from the very radical left that most of america and most of arizona would think is not common sense they're pushing it through and they don't they don't care if they're going to get republican buy-in or not now the good thing is

is that it is so close republicans one a bunch of p uh... in the last election in the u_s_ house of representatives so right now at this very moment the democrats can only afford to lose

Democrat vote. I mean, they can't lose any more than that is what I'm trying to say. And so we stopped them from booting out Marionette Miller Meeks, who is the Republican that won in Iowa. They were trying to boot her out. But 8%

told Pelosi no, that they weren't going to do it. And that's the only reason that Democrats dropped it. God bless them because she was definitely going to use the heavy hand. I mean, when they interviewed her about it, she acted like she was completely just chagrined that they would even question her authority on this issue. And it's remarkable after years

What they went through this past election. It's just it's stunning sometimes what they do. So we so we are on a border state here, which 90 percent of Arizonans know and probably 10 percent don't, which is sad, but probably true. You put together a an immigration package bill that you feel would work.

help solve the crisis. And it's a crisis down there because these are real people trying to come to our country, right? I mean, there's a lot of moms and kids and things. And I think sometimes for those of us who want legal immigration versus illegal, they view us as cruel people. And it's further from the truth. We understand that these are all, you know, our fellow brothers and sisters in the world in a lot of ways. Sometimes preventing people from putting themselves in a bad situation is being compassionate. Yeah.

So we are like you to talk a little bit about your bill. We're going to have a break here in a bit and then come back to it as well. But we want to give you this time to talk about your bill and how you think that will make the situation on the border better and our immigration system better.

Yeah, what President Biden and the Democrats are doing now is actually hurting not only U.S. citizens, but also these immigrants, because it's incentivizing them to travel thousands of miles at the hands of cartels. I mean, these women and girls are getting raped. I mean, you see it. There's little kids.

for goodness sakes, that are coming here on their own. I mean, it's horrendous. And it's all at the feet of President Biden. It's crazy. So my bill would help the situation. And basically what it does is a few things. But the first thing it does is raise the credible fear standard. So right now, all these people are coming here. They're being instructed by the cartels to turn themselves into the Border Patrol and claim asylum.

and the the standard right now the bar is so low that they let them and then they tell him okay show back up to court well the court they're totally bit backlog still could be a year and a half a few years from now they don't show up to court

Wow, what a surprise. And then they were here in our country. So let's raise the standard at the beginning so that, you know, not all these frivolous asylum claims are coming forward because we found out that

The few people that actually do show up to court, most of them aren't granted asylum because their reasons for asylum aren't the merited reasons like they're suffering persecution in their country or something like that. They just wanted to come here for a job. Well, that's not a rational reason for asylum. Chuck, you actually sent me earlier today an article from Salt Lake about a woman who had spent three years in a church there, had come here on an asylum claim.

And the reason for her asylum was she said her boyfriend was abusive. That's a terrible situation. You don't want to see anybody in that situation. But there are plenty of abusive boyfriends here in the United States. I mean, what are you fleeing and what are you fleeing to? That is not a credible claim for asylum. As compassionate, as heartrending as it may be, that's not a reason for asylum. And these claims are ridiculous. Right.

Yeah, there's many of these claims that are very frivolous. So that's another thing my bill does. It says if the Customs and Border Protection and DHS determine that their frivolous claims are made by the immigrants, then they can't

reapply again for asylum the next time around. The other thing it does is it basically reinstates the Mexico policy. Well, we're going to take a quick break, Congresswoman Lesko, and we will be right back. This is Broken Potholes with Sam Stone, Chuck Warren. You can find us at brokenpotholes.vote, and you can also find this interview on Spotify and Apple. We'll be back.

Welcome back to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. In the studio with us today, the irrepressible Kylie Kipper. And on the line, Congressional District 6 Congresswoman Debbie Lesko. It's 8. CD8. Don't put her in the wrong district. Goodness gracious. No, I'm sorry. Put her in the wrong district. Congressional District 8, Debbie Lesko, has a fantastic bill up that would solve some of these problems that are being created by the Biden administration on our border.

And, you know, these things are really having a terrible impact on these folks who are coming up here that had gone away under Trump. The Remain in Mexico program had encouraged people to apply from their home countries, do it legally. It had reduced suffering. Now what we're hearing is I read a report the other day that said as many as 60 percent of the women coming up are I mean, first, they're all being mulled here by the cartels and 60 percent of the women are being raped or sexually abused.

That is a humanitarian crisis, and it is being created by Joe Biden and his policies. Congresswoman, what are you hearing about this stuff? Well, I totally agree with you. I mean, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize when President Biden announces to the whole world that he's going to give citizenship to all of the illegal immigrants that are here, free health care. They're giving them the $1,400 stipend.

stimulus checks. I mean, everybody and their brother is going to come over and claim asylum, right? I mean, the cartels are telling them what to do. Cartels are making money not only off of each person that they do human trafficking on, but they also then use these people in massive amounts to divert

the Customs and Border Patrol officers to help them while their drug mules are going across in other places. And so it's a whole racket. The cartels are making millions of dollars every day on this stuff, and they don't give a darn about these people. And so Biden is causing this problem. I mean, seriously, these people were not coming here. It was slowing down under the Trump administration because Trump knew that they were gaming the system.

It was incredible. He actually solved the problem that no one else had solved.

And then they throw it away. He slowed it down. And then the Biden administration did the exact opposite. Now, I'm hearing from people that, you know, voted for Biden and they didn't realize it was going to be like this. Well, they didn't listen to Biden. I mean, elections have consequences. And so even if, you know, somebody doesn't like the other candidate in this case, they didn't like President Trump personally for tweets and that type of thing.

there's only another one of their alternative than that other alternative look what's happening now are border is that that not only for u_s_ citizen and legal resident a drug trafficking is going up

but these poor immigrants, how about these poor kids? I feel bad for them. They're all like laying on top of each other with these, you know, aluminum foil blankets and they have COVID, you know. Several of my Congress members told me that on their plane flight,

to Washington, D.C., when they connected, there were illegal immigrants on their plane being paid for with taxpayer dollars with these big envelopes that read, you know, their itinerary on there. He asked them in Spanish, do you have an I.D.? They don't have an I.D. They didn't need a negative covid test to get on the plane.

He said one of them had a big 32-ounce flurpee on the plane. Now, where the heck do you get a 32-ounce flurpee in the airport? I'm not allowed to get a 32-ounce flurpee in the airport. All you can do is buy those bottled waters and stuff, right? That does sound good, though. American citizens have to follow the laws, but what is going on here in our country? This is outrageous.

This is insane because Arizona and Governor Ducey have spent the last year being beat to death over COVID. Right now, the positivity rate on COVID tests in our state is about one and a half, two percent. Those people who are going in and getting tested because mostly they're feeling sick. The people they're testing at the border, what I heard was 10 percent are testing positive right now for COVID in these incoming groups. And they're not even testing most of them. This is a health crisis.

This is a humanitarian crisis, and it's a national security crisis. You know, they're catching people that are on the terrorist watch list, for goodness sake. They're not coming just from Mexico and Central America. They're coming from all over the world. I mean, it's not too hard to figure out that if you're just going to open up the border to everybody that, hey, why not come over? It's an easy way to get in.

Well, sure. And almost anybody's going to take that offer. I mean, that's the I mean, that is the point. No one wants to be honest about this, but everybody would most people would take that offer. I mean, you want to go to the land of opportunity. You're going to take that offer. You're taking that offer, whether you're coming for good or for evil. Yeah, you're going to take it. Congresswoman, we're going to have a break here shortly, but I want to talk about your bill also has in it ways to reduce the backlog on immigration courts.

and make it easier to remove criminal aliens from this country. So when we come back from our quick break, if we can talk about those two things, that'd be fantastic. This is Broken Potholes with Sam Stone, Kylie Kipper, and Congressman Debbie Lesko, who has been kind to take time to visit with us today. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Broken Potholes. I am Chuck Warren with Sam Stone and Kylie Kipper. Today we have from Congressional District 8 in Arizona,

Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, and we are talking about immigration. She has spent some time to put together a bill, which she feels and probably would help us alleviate the crisis at the border, and it is a crisis. A couple points you have in your bill are about bed space and basically kicking off criminal elements that have gone in the country, and how would your bill do that?

Well, my bill has six different factions. The first one we already talked about, raise the credible fear standards so all these asylum seekers don't get in our country and then get booted out by the courts because they don't reach the standard. The second one actually allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate a safe

third country as a place where the asylum seekers can wait while they're waiting for their court date. The third thing it does is it actually gives more resources to ICE and custom enforcement so that they

actually have more bed space to detain people instead of letting them out into our country all over the place. Another thing it does is add more immigration court judges because there's a huge backlog now and all these people are out in our country for years, don't show back up to court. And then another thing it does is it detains dangerous illegal immigrants, believe it or not,

There's a loophole in the law, so even if somebody's a criminal, we can't detain them. And all of these factions I actually got from Department of Homeland Security. I asked them, well, it was under the Trump administration, what legislation do you need to help solve the border crisis? And these were the six things they told me were the most important things, so I put them all in one bill. How many more immigration judges do you think we need?

Do they know? Yeah, it's hard to know, but I added in my bill another 100 immigration judges. I don't know if that's enough or not, but at the time, under the Trump administration, they gave me that number. And that would probably allow those judges, each one, to see another 10 to a dozen cases a day? Is that what it would be, probably? Or do we know? No.

I do not know the answer. I just know that I went right to the source, the people on the ground, and said, okay, what do you need? What legislation do you need in order to help solve the border crisis? They gave me six items that they thought were the highest priority items to solve the border crisis. And this was, of course, when Trump was still, you know, the president. And they gave me these. I put them in a bill.

I introduced them last year and then again this year, and they were both assigned to Judiciary Committee both times. And Chairman Jerry Nadler, who's a Democrat, did not hear him last time. He probably won't hear him this time because the Democrats want open borders. You know, one of the most important lessons in this that I've been watching these last few years is while Democrats have the press that will echo any message, right?

The truth is people need to be listening very carefully to what they're saying because what they're saying is what they're going to do no matter how radical and crazy it is and no matter how much the press covers up for it. And we're seeing the impact of that on the border. We're seeing it with H.R. 1. We're seeing it in the way they operate in the House and Senate.

It is a very, very dictatorial party. And if you're someone like Congressman Lesko, you're put in a very difficult position to forward your ideas, no matter how good they are.

Yeah, elections have consequences. And I think it's important that you and everyone else educate the public how it works. Most people do not know that if there's more Democrats elected in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate than Republicans, that the top person is a Democrat. All the chairmen of all the committees are Democrats. They set the agenda. They don't let any conservative bills through. Your ideas aren't even heard.

They're not usually heard at all, unless it's something really, you know, that you can agree on, which is great if you can agree on it. But these liberal bills, we don't agree on at all. Now, you know, the other thing that people need to realize, I always hear people saying, well, I want to vote for the, you know, I'm an independent thinker. I just want to vote for the person, not the party. But the thing is, it all comes down to math over here.

You know, if you got more Republicans in office than Democrats, then Republican policies set the agenda. If it's the other way, then you get what you're getting now, a bunch of radical agenda, and there's no compromise, there's no nothing. Congresswoman, maybe that's a good campaign TV ad for you, just saying voting's a math problem. Who's in charge determines what you see in your life. You know, we're going to wrap up here.

Tell our listeners why they should get involved in politics and if they have the inkling why they should run. You've been in this for a while. It's a brutal business. I always said nobody should ever run against now Congresswoman Lesko because she's everywhere. She's the hardest working woman in Arizona. In show business. I have never been to a political event here that I didn't see you at, Congresswoman, unless you were in session in D.C. So why should they get involved?

Well, it's very important for people to get involved. I got involved about over, I think, over 20 years ago, just wondering to know who these people were on the ballot that I was voting for. Every legislative district throughout the state of Arizona and nationwide, quite frankly, has both Republican and Democrat monthly meetings.

I'm a Republican. I went to the Republican monthly meetings. You get to meet your elected officials right there. They come to these meetings, and they're not very big meetings, so you can talk to them. You can shake their hands, find out what they believe in, these type of things. It's so important because every aspect of our life is governed by laws.

And it is the state legislators and the federal legislators that set those laws. Every person that has a child in school is affected by the school board members, which are elected. They determine how much teachers are getting paid. They determine what education your child's going to get.

This is so important. It affects every single part of our life. And so if nothing more, just go to these meetings. Get to learn who these people are that you're voting for, and it's very easy to do. It takes usually one, two hours, once a month, and you'll be informed.

Congresswoman, as we wrap up here and we appreciate your time greatly today, how can people find you? How can they, is websites, what's the best way to contact your office? Well,

Well, thank you. My website is lesko.house.gov. My local number is 623-776-7911. Sign up for my weekly newsletter there.

And dear friends, if you're listening to this, either write something constructive or nice, or don't bother contacting her. This is Broken Potholes, and we thank the Congresswoman for joining us today. Have a great weekend, Congresswoman. Thank you. You too. Yes, indeed. Thank you. You know, Chuck, I've got to correct you on one thing, because we do, obviously, out of our office, a ton of constituent service work.

Folks, if you've got a problem, contact Debbie Lesko's office because her office is fantastic about constituent services. They're responsive. They get the job done. And that, I think, is one of the most important things in politics and one that a lot of folks forget to do when they get to D.C. Well, it's one thing people here never understood about why John McCain was reelected over and over and over. He understood constituent service. How's Stanton on constituent service, by the way? Does he have a constituent service office? No.

I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. Well, see, that's the problem is because by all appearances, he does not actually engage in constituent services. Now, he didn't do this at the city of Phoenix either, unless you were one of his friends. He's terrible at it. Mark Kelly, terrible at it. Kirsten Sinema is fantastic at it, which is why she scares me. She is the most the toughest Democrat in the state of Arizona.

Because she actually cares. I think she's crazy, but she cares. Well, I actually heard a story. After she was elected, there was a retired judge here, a large family. He was having his 80th birthday party. And the family's all there, and all of a sudden they get a call. It's Senator Sinema. And she talks to this man for 15 minutes, and you don't think every grandkid and grandchild and son and daughter thought,

That is just wonderful. And she has her vote for life, probably. Absolutely. She does. I mean, you know, giving a darn about people matters. As you know, Chuck, I'm a conservative. My father, pretty liberal for most of his life. He's kind of become an independent in recent years. But years ago, 20 years ago, when we moved to the state, he reached out to Senator McCain over an issue they were having. The senator's office knocked it out in about a week.

And he went on to vote for him in every single election he had. It matters. This is a guy who was one of the leaders of the California Democratic Party. I mean, this is the effect it has. So today we're going to let Sam do the sunshine moment. He has some good news about the Phoenix police. Police officers, they have a very difficult job and they often get a lot of criticism, as we've seen this past week, with some police officers just doing dumb things, you know? Yep. But...

a super majority of them are doing the right thing. It's a dangerous job. And we have some good news with the Phoenix police have done this week. Absolutely. So we had a fantastic, uh, bust happen here in our own mountain view neighborhood precinct, which is, you know, Arcadia area in Phoenix. Um,

Our neighborhood enforcement team, NET team, which is what we call our drug teams, they located and busted, pulled off a bust where they seized 50,000 fentanyl pills, 25 pounds of methamphetamine, a half pound of cocaine. I have to assume that was for the people transporting the rest of it to keep them awake the whole time. And about $71,000 in cash.

And, you know, this actually touches on what we were just talking about with Senator Lesko. Everything except the cash that they seized originated in Mexico or came through Mexico. It might not have been made there, but it was transported by the cartels across the border here in southern Arizona. The number one smuggling routes in the entire country. When you talk about border issues, if you are not here and you're not aware of what goes on,

And I've been down to the border in the Douglas area and throughout, you know, eastern Arizona where those ranchers have to, frankly, they can't walk outside at night. They can't leave their house at night. If they come home, they have to be, I mean, they really have to be careful going from their vehicle to their house because there are armed smugglers who, if they're seen, will shoot to kill. And, you know, another guy who puts out, fills a cooler with water and snacks and all these things says,

which they come and eat and drink on their way north. And that's how he basically bribes them off to leave him alone. These are the everyday people that are being impacted by this crisis and by our failure to

to address the border and immigration in a way that actually makes sense. Well, the Congresswoman made a great point about getting involved, right? Yes. And you and I have talked about, and Kylie as well, about a poll recently came across that 80% of voters just really don't follow politics. They just show up and vote. And last night, Kylie and I had an opportunity to go to a legislative district meeting through Republican Party outside Maricopa County. I'm telling you, if I brought one of those 80% there, that would have been their last meeting.

These folks work hard. They care. But there is nothing there to engage someone who wants to get involved and say, I'm going to make a difference. And our party has to start being more receptive to the concept that they're not only there to take care of business or

Talk about whatever little issue they have. They're there to build the party, which means they need to bring new people in, which means we need a bunch of people who are 20, 30, 40 in there and not a bunch of people 60 and over who are complaining about issues that are off topic. Well, you know, Chuck, I've gone to a lot of these meetings over the years. Sorry. And the takeaway...

The takeaway, you know, I actually have enjoyed quite a lot of them because you get to know the folks. They're good folks. And they're great. They're hardworking folks. And I think what you're alluding to is essentially that they're activists. If you're going to that meeting, you're an activist and you're as such like you, me, Kylie, everyone. We're different. We're engaged on a level other people aren't. You're engaged on issues other people aren't.

And the Democrats do a much better job of siloing their efforts. So you have activists gathering with activists to have those types of conversations like you saw last night.

But then they have organizations that are dedicated to that broader outreach to help people engage with their community, engage in nonprofit activities. Focus on the topic on hand and not like, how much did I make at the dinner last night? And build people up. And, you know, I mean, the rigmarole of being a real party activist isn't something the average citizen is going to take on. That's all there is to it. No, it never will be. Kylie, what did you think about last night? I...

I always tell my friends that when they're voting and they're not completely educated on every single topic, pick one that's affecting your life right now and vote on that. Because don't just vote blindly. That is great advice. Kylie Kipper, thank you very much. The wisdom of Kylie Kipper. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko and Alex, I just blanked on her last name. Alex Sawyer. Washington Times legal correspondent. Thanks for joining us, folks. Have a great week.