Maddow: 'Is this how we invade Greenland?!'

Hey, everybody, it's Rachel Maddow here. Forgive me popping into your feed like this, but I wanted to tell you that more than a dozen of us from MSNOW are gonna be in Texas on Saturday, September 26th. I'm gonna be there, Lawrence O'Donnell will be there, so will Jen Psaki and Stephanie Ruhl and Ali Velshi and Chris Hayes and Jacob Soboroff and Simone Sanders-Townsend and, and, and. A whole bunch of us are all gonna be there in Texas. Tickets start at just over 30 bucks each. It's in Arlington, just outside Dallas. There's a ton to do there. If you come, you'll get to meet all of us. You'll also get to meet everybody else there, all these other great people from our great MSNOW community. We'd love to see you. And if you buy a ticket to the Texas event, you will get access to our new MSNOW membership free for a year. We're really excited about it. It launches later this summer. You'll be able to talk with me, talk with some of the other hosts, but tickets for Texas are on sale now. You can learn more at ms.now slash together. Hope to see you in Texas. Really happy to have you here. So a little peek behind the curtain of my job. If you ever have a cable news show like I do, one of the things that you will find that happens to you in the normal course of your job just about every day is that you get pitched by a PR firm. You get pitched somebody's new book or some new album or some dumb new product, or you get pitched a purported expert on some issue that's usually not even in the news. You will very often get pitched the opportunity to interview a purportedly famous person. Someone this PR firm is absolutely sure you A, have heard of, and B, are eager to promote on your cable news show, which is literally, literally never true. And I think every single instance I have been pitched this way, and it is thousands of times now, after all the years I've been doing this, whenever they pitch me something like that, A, I have never heard of you, and B, I am sure I don't want to talk to you. So you get these PR pitches all the time. One of my great pleasures in life is blocking the email domain of all PR firms that pitch me. It's the one way I relax over the course of a workday. But we got a good one recently. And by good, I mean a particularly ridiculous one about eight weeks ago. And it was a totally unsolicited, totally over-the-top PR pitch offering me an embargoed, confidential sneak peek at a new project from Dr. Phil. This is part of the pitch. Dr. Phil is going to Greenland. Might I be interested? Might the Rachel Maddow Show be interested in covering Dr. Phil? Dr. Dr. He's going to be covering Dr. Phil's new TV show about Greenland. His PR firm offered us a sneak peek at footage of the exciting Greenland TV series that was coming from Dr. Phil. And what they offered us, this footage turned out to be footage in Greenland of an American guy talking about his plans to drill for oil in Greenland, which he apparently believed he had a right to do. That's why we're here to reposition the road building equipment. You think it's going to be drilling next year? No, it's for a fact. It's for a fact. Do you know, I guess, it's a lot of built up, it's a lot of. The guy they're explaining this to, yeah, as a fact, we're definitely going to be drilling next year. The guy they're explaining this to appears to say, you know this is unlawful? It's kind of hard to hear, but it sounds like that's what he says. But this is footage, from a PR pitch, an unsolicited PR pitch, sent to me in June, because some PR firm, in its infinite wisdom, believed that I would find it an exciting opportunity to help promote a new Dr. Phil TV show about how exciting it would be to drill for oil in Greenland. Well, let me tell you a little bit about what we've learned since and what has happened since. First of all, you should know that in 2021, Greenland passed a national moratorium, a national ban on all future oil companies. That's a whole exploration. Nevertheless, after Trump got elected to go back and serve a second term as president in the United States, and he started talking about forcibly taking over Greenland for some reason, a new company formed in Texas called Greenland Energy. That's not Greenland, Texas. It's Greenland as in Greenland. And Greenland Energy said they were going to drill for oil in Greenland. In June, a representative from Greenland Energy turned up in Greenland. In the part of the untouched Arctic, no roads, Eastern Greenland, where these guys want to drill. And they announced to the villagers there that this company, this Texas company, had permission. They announced that they have permission. They had secured the legal right to start bringing their equipment, their oil drilling equipment, to this untouched Arctic area of Greenland. After those remarks in Eastern Greenland, the company later apologized, and said, actually, they didn't have permits to do that. They put out a statement sort of correcting the record, saying, quote, our enthusiasm for the project led us to communicate in a way that created confusion. So forget we said that. What really created confusion locally was when this happened. This is a picture of a tugboat bringing in a barge to that area of Eastern Greenland. And the barge appears to contain about 15, 12 or 15, shipping containers worth of stuff. These photos were obtained by a Danish investigative outlet called Danwatch. They show this tugboat and this barge arriving full, totally loaded, on the night of Wednesday, July 29th. Then, the same tugboat and the same barge are seen leaving that same place the next morning, except this time, empty. Because all of those shipping containers, all of that equipment that was on the barge heading in, they apparently left all that stuff on land. Now, the government in Greenland had said explicitly that this American oil company didn't have, quote, permission to unload anything at all, to unload anything whatsoever in Greenland. In fact, before the pictures were published showing that tugboat and barge leaving empty after apparently dropping off all that material, the minister in charge of mineral resources from the Greenland government did a local interview in Greenland in which he said he was sure, he was absolutely sure, this American oil company would never break the law and try to start this drilling project without permission. Quote, should that happen, Greenland has the means to stop their actions. He said, quote, this is a society governed by the rule of law. So I have some broad-shouldered men in black uniforms in the first instance who can help me deal with some illegal activities if I ask for them. By which he means, I think, the Greenlandic police. Then he said, quote, ultimately, I'm sure that the Arctic Command will also contribute. By which he means the Danish military, he believes, would also intervene to stop this American oil company from trying to drill for oil in Greenland without any permission to do so. So that's what Greenland's government had to say. It turns out on the day this American company, unbeknownst to them, had just that morning dropped off more than a dozen shipping containers full of equipment to get started on their oil drilling operation in Greenland. The American company said they had permission to move in the equipment. Then they kind of apologized for that and admitted that they didn't have the permission. But then on the same day, the Greenland government said they wouldn't dare. We'll use our police. We'll use the Danish military to stop them if we need to. That same day, they turn out to have unloaded their drilling stuff anyway. They're just going ahead with it, even though the local government says no, which led to headlines like this in Greenland. This is the Google Translate from the original, which I can't pronounce. I'll just give you the English language Google translation. Oil company moves equipment to eastern Greenland without permission. That hullabaloo also led to pledges from local hunters and trappers in the area that they would physically themselves block the oil company from trying to land anything else or anyone else on shore. It led to the Greenland government issuing a formal warning to this oil company over what it's apparently trying to do in contravention of local law. That apparently prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to post this online, showing a giant snarling version of himself looming over and menacing Greenland. Hello, Greenland. A few days ago, this Trump-aligned oil company in Texas sent a cheery, all-smiles letter to its shareholders bragging about how great their talks are going with the Greenland government. Recent high-level meetings between project leadership and Greenlandic regulatory and oversight authorities have been constructive, and we continue to be encouraged by the progress being made toward the remaining approvals required for drilling. Everything's going great. Greenland government really wants us to do this. Our talks are really constructive. Turns out that is not at all how Greenland sees it. Headline in the local news. Greenland Department of Resources to Greenland. controversial U.S. oil company, colon. Forget test drilling this year. Last week, the oil company Greenland Energy Company issued a letter to its shareholders that painted a rosy picture of the future prospects for the project in northeast Greenland. In the letter, the company states that its drilling project is progressing rapidly and its management expects to be able to begin drilling before the end of the year. But if you ask decision makers in this country, such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the head of the Trade and Minerals Department in the Greenlandic government, according to them, there is no earthly chance of that happening. So you put all this together, this Trump-aligned oil company based in Texas saying, we're going to drill for oil in Greenland. Greenland saying, oh, no, you're not. The company going ahead and dropping off their drilling stuff anyway. Local residents saying, we'll fight tooth and nail. Local government saying, we'll use the police. We'll use the Danish military. You put it all together, kind of seems like we're invading Greenland. I mean, this company has somehow horn-schwaggled itself into a partnership with Dr. Phil to make what sure looks like propaganda TV shows about this heroic and exciting oil drilling project, which the government of Greenland says is illegal and they don't have permission to do it. This Trump-adjacent brand new oil company funded in large part by a major Trump billionaire donor. They sometimes admit that they have no permission to be doing what they're doing in Greenland, but they've still gone ahead with it anyway. In addition to the 12 or 15 shipping containers that arrived in the last couple of weeks, that they parked on shore in the last couple of weeks, while the Greenland government was threatening that their police or the Danish military should stop that if they tried it, in addition to those 12 or 15 shipping containers, the same oil company now says it's shipping 300 more shipping containers. And a whole huge drilling rig. That they plan to get there in the next month. So, honestly, is this how we invade Greenland? With Dr. Phil doing a ride-along like he did with ICE? All because a Trump donor billionaire says he needs to drill this oil and who cares what this little country says? And by the way, wouldn't I like to help promote Dr. Phil's TV show about this? The nearest towns to where this is happening, and in fact, towns all over Greenland, have been protesting ever since it emerged that this is the way this is going to go down. For the closest locals, I kid you not, the local musk ox hunters are saying that they may use their dinghies, their hunting boats, to blockade the fjord. They'll use anything they can get their hands off to fight off this oil company if it really does try to set up on their coast. This weekend in Denmark, which controls Greenland and defends it, residents of Copenhagen formed a kayak flotilla around the city of Copenhagen, all carrying Greenland flags. They're a way of peacefully protesting against the United States of America menacing Greenland in this way. Donald Trump's war in Iran is a disaster. The only. outcome of it thus far, that's measurable, is thousands of people dead. Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz. We're basically out of anti-aircraft and long-range munitions, and to no effect because we've still lost this war. Losing this war handily shows adversaries like Russia and China just how long we can go in a war before we start running out of the munitions we need to be able to sustain combat operations and protect ourselves and our allies. The disaster. is the disastrous war that Trump started with Iran. He started right after he invaded Venezuela and took that country's president, which had the effect of turning Venezuela into effectively an oil colony for. I wouldn't. I would say the United States, but it appears to be an oil colony for the Trump administration, since nobody knows where the oil revenue from Venezuela is going. But it was right after that one that he started the Iran War, which apparently he thought would be easy, but it is six months old now, and we are losing. And it is a disaster with no end in sight. So amid that disaster, heading toward the midterms, and the wild unpopularity of himself personally and his agenda and particularly his war, maybe he thinks starting a new war for a new oil colony might be right on time right about now? Might make us forget about the other war he's losing and can't get out of? So yes, eyes on Greenland, eyes on this Texas-based oil company. Greenland Energy, which appears to be playing the role of the United Fruit Company, or the British East India Company, companies that have gone down in history as providing the predicate and the means for super dumb, wildly destructive imperial wars. Here at home, we've also got eyes on Ohio, as the Trump administration has criminalized thousands of people from Haiti, who have been here, legally, as immigrants, as legal immigrants in this country. For a second straight weekend in Ohio, hundreds of people showed up at the ICE facility in Blue Ash, Ohio, on the outskirts of Cincinnati. That Blue Ash ICE facility is where Haitian immigrants from places like Springfield are being told they must show up to get fitted with ankle monitors as if they are felons. These images are from yesterday morning. Haitians in Ohio were told to turn up at this sort of remote ICE facility outside Cincinnati for mandatory appointments early on Sunday morning. Which is bizarre in terms of its timing. But local residents found out about it and turned up by the hundreds before 7 a.m. yesterday to make sure they were there to show support. To show these Haitian immigrants on the way in that this community was there to support them. To show ICE also that they can't do this secretly. That the people know what they're doing, and that they're watching. Local clergy showed up in force as well, offering communion to the Haitian men and women before they went out. That's Ohio. I also want to show you this from right next door in Indiana. This is a few days ago now. Anti-immigrant right-wing groups planned what they called a mass deportation rally. Save Heritage Indiana, a proud member of the Mass Deportation Coalition, a proud member of the Mass Deportation Coalition, you were hoping. Lots to get to tonight. Stay with us. Republican lawmakers in Kansas have been frustrated for years by their state's Supreme Court. Among other things, their state's Supreme Court has protected the right to abortion in Kansas, and that has made Republicans absolutely crazy. So Republicans this year wrote a constitutional amendment that would change the whole structure of the Supreme Court in their state, including the way its justices are put on the court and how they can be removed. Well, when the people of Kansas got their chance to vote on that proposal last week, they rejected it hugely. They rejected it by 20 points. That same day in red state Missouri, voters there gave their verdict on a Republican proposal that would make it much harder for ordinary citizens to vote to change the state's constitution, even though Republicans in the legislature could still make changes they wanted under the old, easier rules. The people of Missouri rejected that idea full stop. 80% of Missouri voters said no way to that. Another Republican proposal in that same state, a move to a wildly regressive new tax system, which Republicans wanted for Missouri, that fared even worse at the polls. 83% of Missouri voters said they absolutely rejected it. The rest of Missouri voted against it and rejected that as well. All over the country this primary election season, in states red, blue, and purple, things have not been going Republicans' way. But I want to point out something going on specifically about Black political power that I think Republicans did not expect. Because Republicans all over the country this year have taken the Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court's dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, and they have used it to start a radical, radical effort to constrict Black voting power in the United States of America. In state after state, Republicans have been engaged in redrawing congressional districts, not just to entrench themselves in power, but specifically to take power away from minority voters and Black voters in particular. Well, in response to that, we are now seeing in state after state that people have something to say about that too. Take South Carolina. Earlier this year, legislators in South Carolina, they were steaming ahead with a plan to dissolve the state's only majority Black district, the seat held by the state's only Black congressman, James Clyburn. That effort to box out James Clyburn drew protests, but it also drew voters in numbers that alarmed South Carolina Republicans. The first day of early voting in the South Carolina primary saw record-breaking turnout, nearly five times more Democrats than Republicans cast ballots. Many of them said they were out at the polls to send a message specifically to try to stop the redistricting plan to take away Clyburn's seat. And guess what happened next? That very same day, that first day of early voting, South Carolina Republicans got scared and scrapped their plan. The Republican state Senate leader warned his colleagues, quote, people will vote when they're angry, and I think we've made some people mad. South Carolina. Also take a look at Georgia. Republicans in Georgia tried the same thing, tried drawing up new congressional districts to entrench themselves and to dilute and thereby deny black political power in the state of Georgia. As soon as the U.S. Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, Georgia's governor called a special legislative session to redraw the state's maps. Well, when lawmakers arrived at the Capitol for that special session, this is what they were greeted with. The state Capitol packed to the gills with protests. Who let the lawmakers know just what the people of Georgia thought about this plan. Georgia Republicans looked up at the balcony, looked up at the gallery, looked around them, looked at the fury they were about to unleash and said, OK, never mind. On second thought, maybe we will not try to redraw our maps to make our congressional delegation whiter and more permanent. Seems like that might be wildly unpopular. Now look at Tennessee. Tennessee is one of the southern states in the United States. It's one of the southern states where Republicans did carry out their plan to dilute black political power. They broke up the state's single majority black district around Memphis, spreading black voters out into more rural, more conservative, whiter districts that stretch hundreds of miles from the city. And after the Republicans did that, then they decided, well, then they then they realized they were going to have to learn what the people of Tennessee thought about it. Black leaders in Memphis in particular got to work. Pastors and organizers and activists and civic groups and unions held voter registration drives, organized rallies, worked the phones, knocked on doors, all in an effort to channel their neighbors' indignation and anger into action. In Memphis, the Reverend Earl Fisher of the Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church said, quote, I think in a lot of ways this awoke a sleeping giant. I don't think Republicans have anticipated or accounted for a mass mobilization effort. Well, sure enough, when Tennessee, held its primary a few days ago on Thursday, Democratic voter turnout in Memphis's majority black Shelby County surged to the highest level in a decade. More than twice, more than double the turnout percentage for similar contests that were held just two years ago. The next day, Reverend Fisher told The Washington Post, quote, a night like this, excuse me, a night like last night lets you know it's not all in vain. He said he's not not taking a victory lap. Tennessee Democrats will be up against long odds in November, these newly drawn congressional districts. But last week's turnout is a big first step and one that is rattling Republicans in Tennessee. Joining us now is the Reverend Earl Fisher, pastor at Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis. Reverend Fisher, it's a real honor to have you with us tonight. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. What did you and your colleagues, your fellow Tennessee residents, do to push back? What did you do to push voter turnout to those remarkable heights last week? Well, I think it was a few things and you mentioned most of them. I think the anger that people felt was palpable because they knew what the racist redistricting did was unjust. And so people wanted to respond to that. There's also some admiration. I think we have a candidate like Justin J. Pearson, who has shown that he can appeal to people across a whole lot of different demographics from age to race to gender. And I think. People were motivated by him and then also the activism of a lot of organizations who just decided we would try to target those low turnout precincts. And we were crunching numbers and, you know, gathering people in rallies and trying to stay up to the wee hours of the night and trying to figure out how we can make up the margins. It's going to be a an uphill battle in November for Mr. Pearson, although you just described some of what I think he's known for it even nationally in terms of how energizing his. Candidacy has been to his supporters and how talented he is as a politician and as a leader. But that's going to be a, you know, plus 20 district or something. They've really gerrymandered that district to try to make it impenetrable to any Democratic candidate, let alone a black Democratic candidate. How do you feel like these efforts that you've shown so much effectiveness with thus far, how do you feel like they sustain over time or build over time? What kind of goals are you setting for yourself? What are your goals for yourselves and and your fellow parishioners and residents? Well, as you said, you know, I think this is an opportunity to clap your hands, but not run a victory lap. There is a longer runway now because we were responding to the immediacy of the moment when it first happened a couple of months ago. And now after this structure test that we could call a primary, you see where there may be some weak spots and you want to try to lean in and put a little bit more elbow grease in those spaces. But we still have a short window of time when you look at November. And so hopefully those candidates who were running in the primary who didn't win can throw their weight behind the candidate who did win. And those of us who have networks and congregations and community members can do all we can to make sure that we are educating our people on the issues, empowering them so that they feel strong when they come out and then doing all we can to translate registration and education into voter turnout. So, Reverend Fisher, I want to ask you just sort of a bigger question about this. I feel like it's sort of a moral cornerstone of this country when we talk about who we are and what kind of a journey we've been through in this country. We talk about not just the civil rights movement broadly, but the Voting Rights Act in particular and what it took to get the Voting Rights Act. And as the conservative dominated Supreme Court essentially washed away the legislative protections, the legal protections of the Voting Rights Act, and as Republicans respond instantly to try to eliminate black political power everywhere they could, particularly all over the South. I feel like it was greeted with a lot of, you know, consternation and worry, but not much work, especially on the part of the National Democratic Party, white liberal Democrats. I feel like people are sort of worried and sad about it, but not doing much to try to fix it, whereas what you and your colleagues are doing is the work. What could be done, if anything? nationwide, and for people watching this across the country right now, to support more practical work to try to save Black political power of the kind you and your colleagues are doing? Well, the last thing people should do is just surrender. And I think that's what you saw us do after the verdict was in, whether it was the Calais verdict or whether it was what they did at the statehouse when they cracked the district. So instead of just throwing up your hands and surrendering, the first thing I started to do was just look at what some opportunities were. And one of the things I found out, Richard, is that even in the state of Tennessee, 48 percent of voters would vote in patterns that are consistent with independent voters. Only 33 percent of voters would identify properly as Republican. So that means that there was some opportunity there. Then you look at some of these counties where a lot of people just hadn't been out and done a lot of organizing. So that was another opportunity there. So I don't think that they calculated. The moral force of Black leadership and our capacity to motivate our people and to allow them to see a vision of what's possible, even when the odds are stacked against them. I know a little something about history. And then there have been situations that have been similar to this where we came out on top. And I think this could very well be one of them. I'm not lost on the magnitude or the enormity of the task right here. It is a big thing. And, you know, if we do lose, it won't be. It's a big thing because I or my colleagues pulled any punches. We'll do all we can all across the state. And I believe people all across the country can support. And sometimes that means sending your people this way. Sometimes it means sending money. Sometimes it means raising your voice. Everybody can make a phone call. Everybody can send a text message or share a social media post or something like that. So the more like light that we shine on the darkness here, I think the better our opportunity come November. I couldn't put it better myself. Beautifully put. The antidote to despair is not worry. The antidote to despair is action, is organizing. Reverend Earl Fisher, pastor at the Abyssinian Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis. Reverend Fisher, it's a real pleasure to have you. Thank you so much for your time. Good luck to you, sir. Thank you so much. All right. More news ahead tonight. Stay with us. We have some breaking election news tonight from North Carolina. Tonight, North Carolina Republicans have decided. Who they are going to choose to fill the anxious void left behind when Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards abruptly announced last week that he will not seek reelection. Congressman Edwards announced his sudden retirement after the House Ethics Committee found that he had inappropriately and relentlessly pursued personal relationships with two young women in his office. One of these young women was just 19 years old when she started working for him. Congressman Chuck Edwards is the only woman in the House Ethics Committee. He's the only woman in the House Ethics Committee. Lawyers for Congressman Edwards say he looks forward to clearing his name in this matter. But meanwhile, he has cleared himself off the ballot. And so tonight was the deadline for North Carolina Republicans to choose someone not named Chuck Edwards to run for his seat, which represents Western North Carolina, including Asheville. Well, tonight, just within the last hour, North Carolina Republicans have made their pick. They've chosen a state lawmaker, state representative named Jennifer Balcom, who's going to be the new, Republican nominee for North Carolina's 11th congressional district. It's a little bit weird, but she's handpicked by her party to run for that seat because of the scandal that forced out the incumbent Chuck Edwards. That's North Carolina. In Ohio today, there was also a deadline. It was the very last day for Republican Congressman Max Miller to step down and get off the ballot and let his party replace him on the ballot for November. Congressman Max Miller is facing a slew of candidates. He's going to be the first to be elected. He's going to of horrific domestic violence allegations, all of which he denies. To the discomfort of many in his own Republican Party, Congressman Max Miller is insisting that he will stay in the race, that he will stay on the ballot, and that turns an otherwise likely safe seat for the Republicans into a possible pickup opportunity for Democrats as Ohio Democrat Brian Poindexter continues to out-poll Mr. Miller in Ohio surveys. Then there's Montana, and this one's a little different. On the Democratic side for U.S. Senate, the nominee, the Democratic Party's nominee, is named Alani Bankhead. She has faced pressure to drop out of this race, the Senate race in Montana, not because of any scandal, but for strategic reasons. Twenty-two members of the Montana legislature asked her to quit the race and instead support the independent Senate candidate because they think. that he has a much better chance of winning that Senate race than she does. Well, Alani Bankhead announced tonight that she is staying in the race. She will not be dropping out. Tonight was the deadline, but she will not get out. She will not be following the example of Democratic Senate candidates in Nebraska and South Dakota and Idaho who have all dropped out in the hopes of clearing a path for an independent candidate to take on the Republican in a very red state. If that independent Senate candidacy gambit succeeds in the race, she will not be dropping out. In any of those races, again, Nebraska, Idaho, or South Dakota, that would have huge implications for which party controls the U.S. Senate next year, but it looks like Montana will not be following along those same lines. All that news breaking tonight. Watch this space. This whole thing is just getting started. This man is in a federal immigration prison in Adelanto, California, which is just northeast of Los Angeles. This is from a video call. You see him holding up this bottle of water here. What he's showing them is that there appears to be something swimming around in that water. He says this is the drinking water that he and all the other detainees are given at this ICE prison in California. What it is that's swimming around in there, in the water, I honestly don't know. It looks like worms or some kind of larva. The GEO group runs this facility. They did not respond to requests for comment. The Department of Homeland Security told us today that this ICE facility gets its water from the city of Adelanto, California. Okay. And does it come to you from the city through pipes and plumbing fixtures inside this facility? I don't exactly know how it makes it better that it comes from the city, but that's their explanation. This is the Adelanto Immigration Prison in Southern California. This is the immigration prison in Newark, New Jersey. Delaney Hall, where a second prisoner in just the past few months has died while in custody there. The man who died, his mother says that her son needed to take medicine for diabetes and high blood pressure and seizures, but she believes he wasn't given any of those medications during the six weeks that he was locked up at Delaney Hall. He had reportedly complained of dizziness and fatigue before he collapsed inside that prison. According to Congressman Rob Menendez, whose district includes Delaney Hall, he was locked up at Delaney Hall. He was locked up at Delaney Hall. He says the prison staff did call 911, but that it took emergency responders about 37 minutes to arrive after the call to get in and actually attend to this young man. It's not like Delaney Hall is out in the boondocks somewhere. It's in Newark, New Jersey, in a super urban, densely populated part of the state. What is it about Delaney Hall that makes it so it takes emergency responders 37 minutes to get inside to be able to access a prisoner having an active medical emergency? I mean, if other people have already died in this facility, and it's still taking 37 minutes after you call 911 to get anybody in there to somebody who's in distress, it just seems like something's very wrong there. There were protests, renewed protests, outside Delaney Hall this weekend, including a live band calling themselves Brass Uprising, protesting the conditions inside Delaney Hall, protesting the at least two deaths that have happened to Delaney Hall. I mean, it's not like Delaney Hall is out in the boondocks, in recent months. Protesters were pepper sprayed by the prison staff, reportedly for touching the gate in front of the entrance. In New Jersey tomorrow, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and other members of Congress are going to hold a press conference to talk about what they call the Trump administration's cruel and dehumanizing conditions inside immigration prisons, including Delaney Hall. They're going to follow that press conference with a roundtable discussion with former Delaney Hall prisoners and the families of prisoners who have died while in custody there. Delaney Hall is a particular point of interest for congressional Democrats, given that one of their own, Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, was indicted on federal charges after she attended a protest at Delaney Hall last year. LaMonica McIver has called those charges politically motivated. Still today, more than a year later, she is fighting that indictment. Joining us now is Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, Democrat of New Jersey. Congresswoman, it's a real pleasure to have you with us tonight. Thank you for taking the time. Well, I can't hear you. Let's see. You're not on mute, are you? Hi, Rachel. It's good to see you. There you are. That's great. So we know from ICE's own accounts that two people have died at Delaney Hall in custody in the last few months. Just in the last few days, we learned that a third person had a medical incident at the prison, who was taken to a hospital and died. What do you make of these recent reports? I mean, they're devastating. They are so disheartening and sad to hear, especially for the families that we speak to. But Rachel, it's not surprising. It's something that I've been talking about since last May. um, before I was even charged by this administration. And we continue to see the cruelness and the chaos happening at Delaney Hall underneath the Trump administration. And it's, it's extremely horrible. I know that you and other members of Congress have continued to do oversight visits to Delaney Hall. You and lots of other people have pushed for closure of the facility. Do you feel like any of the activism around this, um, the, the furore over your arrest and them charging you for having, uh, been there at the, having been present during a protest at that facility? Do you feel like any of this has made any progress either to try to get conditions improved there, or at least to push more oversight, um, into what is happening there and, and what kind of conditions the people held in prison there are facing? Yeah, I think, look, it's not, I would love to see Delaney Hall closed. I mean, that's what I've been calling for since day one. I think what it has done is definitely continue to keep what is happening at this facility in the light, right? Because the, the Trump administration is so adamant about making sure that they keep things in the dark. I think that they have stepped up their increase on trying to stop oversight. I mean, I've been to Delaney Hall multiple times, Rachel, and each time there's a new rule, there's a, a new, oh, I can't speak to this person. I can't do this. Um, because they know every time that we go there and we speak to detainees and we see the conditions of this facility, um, we continue to report out and bring it to light, bring it to public eye. And I think that ICE is extremely, you know, scared of that. The GEO group especially, um, is scared of that, but people continue to rise up. They continue to use their voices to talk about what is happening at this facility. And we have to continue to do that. I mean, I'm facing federal, uh, charges, uh, for doing my job, but it hasn't stopped me from continuing to show up and hold this administration accountable. I know that there are limits as to what you can say about the status of that case right now, because it is still a live case and you're in the middle of fighting it. But can you give us, uh, and our viewers an update on what's happening with the, this case when they, this case in which they brought these federal charges against you? Absolutely. So we are currently waiting for an opinion from the third circuit court of appeals. We were there. Uh, this past June, uh, basically arguing for these charges to be dismissed, uh, because of my legislative immunity and my ability to do my job and the executive branch should not be able to, you know, bring up false charges to stop me from doing so. And so we are waiting for, um, that opinion to come down from that panel of judges. And that's where we're, that's where we are right now. We're in the second stretch of this fight. Um, and it's been over a year of fighting it, and it's been very costly and very stressful, but we're still pushing. I'm still pushing and still showing up doing my job. Most, most importantly. Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, uh, Democrat from New Jersey. Uh, thank you so much for talking to us. I'd love to have you back anytime to talk about your case, to talk about Delaney Hall, uh, as all of these fights continue. Thank you. Thank you, Rachel. All right. We'll be right back. Stay with us. That does it for me tonight.