Gov. Brad Little (R-ID) promotes new legislation to work with the Trump Administration to crack down on illegal immigration.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good.
00:02All right, I'm all ears.
00:05Are you ready?
00:06We need a mic.
00:08Okay, well, thanks everyone for joining us today.
00:14I'll just spend a few minutes here with my partners and leaders in law enforcement
00:21to talk about kind of what's taken place as it relates to this piece of legislation, House Bill 83,
00:29that reinforces my executive order, the Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Act.
00:37The Trump administration has been focused on tracking down dangerous criminals in our country illegally.
00:45I reflected back on some of the things that I did with my fellow Republican governors.
00:53In fact, even just as recently as just a year ago about what we recommended for the previous administration to do.
01:02And this bill obviously dovetails with the current federal efforts
01:09because it enables our state and local law enforcement to detain or investigate a person in the country illegally
01:16if they committed an independent crime.
01:19Again, the focus has been and will continue to be on criminals in our country illegally.
01:26In addition, the bill introduces cooperation with the federal authorities and ensures officers can assess information
01:34about the immigration status of criminals and use the federal resources.
01:40It cracks down on anyone who knowingly transports dangerous criminals here illegally.
01:46I want to take a moment to reflect on the dramatic reduction in illegal crossings.
01:54Illegal border crossings have declined to their lowest level ever recorded,
01:58down 94% from February of 2024, down 96% from the all-time high during the Biden administration.
02:09Two years ago, the U.S. Border Patrol encountered 1,500 immigrants every day at just El Paso sector alone.
02:19Now, they're seeing roughly 80 per day amid President Trump's unprecedented effort to secure the homeland.
02:28I printed off and looked at my list of 10 things that we recommended
02:34and a lot of the success is relative to this administration implementing what we recommended at that point in time.
02:43President Trump declared a national emergency at the border and deployed the military to secure the nation.
02:48Department of Homeland Security announced that arrests of criminal illegal immigrants have doubled under the president.
02:55In fact, immigrants are flat out just turning around in droves amid the crackdown.
03:01The list of actions that President Trump has taken to secure the border is so far-reaching,
03:08I would keep you here far too long if I listed all of them.
03:11The historic presidential election can be viewed as a mandate, a mandate for the American people
03:17to reinstate common sense and keep America safe.
03:21Time and time again, Idaho has stepped up and my signature House Bill 83 is just the latest in those efforts to help the president deliver.
03:30First, I'd like to hear a few words from my legislative partners,
03:34and then I'd like to have a hear from Idaho State Lieutenant Colonel Fritz Schweiger
03:40who will talk about the difference that they're seeing working at the border.
03:44Mr. Speaker.
03:47Thank you, Governor.
03:49This is historic, right? We're talking about individuals that are here illegally,
03:53not supposed to be here in the first place, and then they break the law.
03:57This now gives us an opportunity to work more with the feds.
04:00It gives us an opportunity to take the worst of the worst that are in this country illegally
04:03and send them back to where they came from and keep our community safe.
04:06This is a good bill. It's good for Idaho.
04:08And it's a step in the right direction as we continue to kind of keep Idaho safe
04:12and to keep those that are here illegally out of our state.
04:15Lieutenant.
04:16Well, thanks, Governor. We want to thank the governor for signing this bill.
04:19This has been an effort between the houses that has been coming for a long time.
04:24This is something that the Senate has been calling for through Senate joint memorials
04:29for a couple of years now.
04:31We've been calling on the federal government to take action,
04:33and we're really glad to see the federal government starting to take action.
04:38We've been saying for a long time the first thing we need to do is secure the border.
04:43We're finally seeing the federal government start to do that.
04:46We're finally starting to see the government start to take the action.
04:50This bill is really starting to see our own state cooperate with the federal government to do,
04:55and that is to find the people who are here in the country illegally,
04:59particularly those who are committing crime in the state of Idaho,
05:03and find those folks and get them deported out of the state of Idaho.
05:07This bill does something else.
05:09It says to those who are in the state who are committing crime,
05:12not only are you not welcome here, but when you come into the state
05:16and you commit crime in the state of Idaho, there is a severe penalty waiting for you,
05:22and we're going to crack down on crime with the illegals in the state of Idaho.
05:25So we're very pleased to see the governor support this.
05:28We're pleased with the governor's executive action that he's taken,
05:33and we're going to continue to crack down on crime in the state of Idaho with the illegals.
05:37So thank you, Governor.
05:38Senator Kerr.
05:41Good morning.
05:42Yeah, just a few days ago I asked Colonel Gardner, who is the director of the Idaho State Police,
05:46if he had ever met with Homeland Security's leadership in the past.
05:52His answer was the same as mine, that we had never met with their leadership.
05:57Up until recently, about two months ago, we've had multiple meetings with the local leadership here in Idaho,
06:04and also we met with the acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, just a couple weeks ago.
06:10One of the unique, I guess, restrictions that ICE has here is for the arrestees and the detainees.
06:22There's only one federal facility that's located in Idaho for the whole state, and that's over in Jefferson.
06:28It's the Jefferson County Jail over in Rigby.
06:31And the previous presidential administration had so many restrictions that were shared with us
06:37that limited facilities being able to be certified.
06:41And the director had mentioned that even one that stuck out to me
06:45was that you even needed a specific soothing paint color to be certified.
06:52Director Lyons did ensure that him and his staff are looking at eliminating some of those unnecessary restrictions.
07:02And the message is clear here in Idaho that if you're an illegal immigrant or a U.S. citizen,
07:08if you're committing crimes here in Idaho, the state police will work with our federal law enforcement partners
07:14along with local police departments, local sheriff's offices, the United States Attorney's Office,
07:20and local prosecutors to ensure that we are conducting thorough investigations
07:26and there's a swift prosecution and possibly deportation in some of those cases.
07:30So thank you.
07:31Thanks, Lieutenant Colonel.
07:39You may be aware that this has already been signed.
07:43Since they asked for a signing ceremony, I'm giving them a signing ceremony.
07:48All right. Questions?
07:58Lauren.
08:02So all of you in your remarks just now mentioned that your focus wants to be on those who have committed crimes.
08:08Can you talk about how the bill also includes people suspected of crimes
08:14and the concerns that were brought up in the lawsuit or in testimony about people getting unfairly targeted or profiled or things like that?
08:24Well, I can speak to that really quickly.
08:27There's nobody going to be unfairly targeted or profiled because the only time this really triggers is when they've already been arrested.
08:33So when this really goes into effect is when somebody has already been picked up, already arrested,
08:42already been brought in because they have been alleged to have committed a crime.
08:47So there's nobody going to be stopped on the street or profiled because of that.
08:52And already profiling is illegal.
08:54So there's nothing in the bill that encourages profiling.
08:57There's nothing in the bill that will, you know, reward profiling.
09:02Profiling is wrong.
09:04We don't want profiling in Idaho.
09:06Nothing in this bill has anything to do with advancing profiling.
09:13Yes?
09:14So the Cume County Sheriff's Office deputies are communicating with ICE about the status of people who were not investigated for crimes
09:27and they've been arrested and ordered for deportation.
09:31Is that something that you want to happen here?
09:33I don't think that comports with this law.
09:35Do you have other...it seemed like with negotiations between the House and the Senate,
09:46there seemed like there was an effort to try and kind of make sure this was in the constitutional bounds of what's federal authority, what's state authority.
09:55But again, it's already...the lawsuit was pretty much immediately filed.
10:00Do you think that you struck that balance?
10:04Do you have concerns about the cost of litigation moving forward?
10:09Things haven't really been settled in courts elsewhere.
10:13So I'm trying to...
10:15Anybody can file a lawsuit.
10:17I'll let you talk about it.
10:19Go ahead, Mr. Chairman.
10:21The governor's correct.
10:22Anyone can file a lawsuit.
10:23This does not...because the lawsuit was filed and it's adjoined for 14 days or held for 14 days,
10:28it doesn't mean we lose the lawsuit.
10:30I think we have a good attorney general to fight this one.
10:33It's a good and fair law, and I think we're going to be fine in the end,
10:37but we might have to go through a couple of appeals.
10:39I think we're going to get there.
10:40We're going to protect the citizens of Idaho, keep the cities, streets, and county places safe from Trump.
10:46That's the goal of this.
10:48I would add that we're just dealing with a big mess.
10:53There were so many people...
10:55As a matter of fact, I was looking through my notes from one of my multiple trips down there,
11:01and DPS director, who would be the head of the state police equivalent down there,
11:10said what they have down there is mass surrender and release.
11:17There were so many people.
11:18They had so little capacity.
11:21They had so few judges.
11:23Somebody that went across the border last November and asked for asylum,
11:29the date that they were given that they'd ever, ever, ever even be adjudicated in front of a judge was 2033,
11:38and there's a huge backlog out there.
11:41And so the federal government, the state governments were all trying to deal with this,
11:46but the most important thing is the incredible messages sent,
11:51the multiple different things that I indicated the administration did.
11:56It sent the message to where now we're not making the problem worse.
12:01We're trying to address the issues that are here, and that's going to take money.
12:06That's going to take manpower, and it's darn sure going to take coordination with the states from a law enforcement standpoint.
12:13I have a follow-up.
12:14Sorry.
12:15Do you support local law enforcement communicating about individuals who are here illegally
12:23if they haven't been arrested or are on suspicion of a crime?
12:27Well, this law specifically talks about the magnitude of the problem,
12:34and I've heard senior-level administrators talk about the magnitude of the problem
12:42is the criminal element that they're talking about here.
12:46And what was happening was a lot of the nefarious people, cartels were using,
12:54and literally innocent people, whether they be from Venezuela, anywhere in South America,
13:01well, literally anywhere all over the world,
13:03they were using it as cover for bad people and trafficking and illegal drug running to happen.
13:12So you had to stop that to where you could get your arms around it
13:15because my legislative partners up here, we've spent a lot of resources on what we can do,
13:22particularly in the fed law area, and we've been very successful.
13:25But we've been doing a lot of work on that,
13:29but you can't do it with the constant increase in numbers that were there
13:34and the fact that we've terminated the increase of the plan.
13:39Now what we're doing is trying to manage the plan,
13:42and this piece of legislation specifically talks, as the pro tem did,
13:46about people that are committed to crime and how we cooperate.
13:50But, you know, cooperation between all levels of government,
13:53we encourage it here between our chiefs, our sheriffs, our state police, and then our federal partners.
14:01And even in the last administration, we tried to cooperate with them.
14:05As Lieutenant Colonel stated, they weren't very excited about it.
14:14Can I get another shot at the sign, Bill?
14:16Sure.
14:19Sure you can.
14:28I have a question for Lieutenant Colonel Zweigert.
14:31You spoke about the changes in the access to leadership
14:34within the federal immigration enforcement agencies.
14:37Can you talk a little bit about what the boots on the ground law enforcement officers are seeing
14:42as far as, you know, for local police departments, ISP,
14:46what are they seeing as a change between this administration and the last one?
14:50Come over here to these microphones and I'll hide behind you.
14:55That's a great question.
14:58So it starts with just information sharing, and that's what we see, that we've seen results.
15:04In fact, just as I walked into this press conference,
15:07the colonel advised me that we have a current operation going on with our federal partners
15:12that we've arrested three individuals.
15:15And that starts with, again, just information sharing.
15:18With us working with the locals and the federals and all being in the same room
15:23and being able to share that information and build those cases
15:26has been a traumatic difference than not sharing information at all.
15:31When you spoke about the restrictions that the previous administration put into place,
15:36you mentioned something about a soothing painkiller.
15:38Are there other examples that you can provide about just the difference
15:43between what the previous administration prioritized and the Trump administration?
15:48That was the one that stood out to me.
15:51He said there were several.
15:52The director said there were several restrictions that they are looking at
15:56to eliminate those unnecessary restrictions just to allow more certified, you know, facilities
16:04to be able to, especially in a state like Idaho.
16:06If you make an arrest up in Port Wayne or even in Boise,
16:09you have to have the resources to transport them over to Jefferson County
16:14and then from there I think they go to Vegas from Idaho.
16:18But, yeah, the main thing that the director focused on was he was going to eliminate
16:25those unnecessary restrictions.
16:27So does that mean we're trying to certify more facilities here?
16:32What?
16:33Where are we at with that process?
16:38Yes.
16:39So the way he told us was that there were so many requirements and restrictions
16:46that it was almost impossible for facilities to abide by those,
16:50so they weren't able to be certified.
16:52So they're looking at reducing some of those unnecessary restrictions
16:56so that we will have more facilities throughout the state.
17:01Are there any facilities that we are looking at
17:05that if those restrictions kind of get taken away,
17:11what facilities are we trying to do that?
17:14They would be working with the local county jails,
17:17and that could be anywhere from the north side of the state
17:21to the east side of the state.
17:29In the governor's executive order, he mentioned wanting to expand entities
17:34using the 287G program.
17:36Is that something that ISP is planning to go through the process of expanding?
17:43So that has been a topic of discussion when we've met with our federal partners.
17:48The next thing, so that we would sign into a written agreement
17:53to work with immigration authority.
17:57And right now we're working so well with our federal partners
18:00that we don't necessarily need to sign into a written agreement.
18:03But we have looked at the options of the task force model under the 287G
18:08that we are definitely exploring the options of doing that here in the state.
18:16So one of the concerns about this bill is that it would disincentivize
18:20or disencourage unauthorized immigrants from reporting crimes
18:23either they've witnessed or they've experienced themselves,
18:26such as domestic violence.
18:28So I'm just curious, is that something you would say that this bill does?
18:34What's your response to that?
18:36My response would be that any citizen or visitor that's living here in the state
18:42expects safety, they expect a safe community.
18:46And those folks, kind of as the governor said,
18:49this bill is focused on more of the criminal aspect.
18:53These are folks that are involved in criminal activity.
18:56To report a crime, we are going to focus on that crime that's reported,
19:00not necessarily the person that's reporting the crime,
19:03unless they're, of course, involved in the criminal activity.