[music] PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Representative Silvia Ortiz-Velez, welcome to Adelante.

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: Thank you for having me here today.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: You introduced the project of law AB 57.

Can you explain the content of this proposal of law?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: Firstly, I want to address what the bill does, and what it does is it says that no law enforcement officers in our state, anybody who can assist ICE in the detention of individuals unless there's a judicial warrant.

So if someone's here based, you know, they're just unlawfully here, you can't then go into certain areas in our state, and these sensitive areas are places like schools, hospitals, daycare facilities, churches, and especially our government buildings, for example, our Milwaukee County complex.

It's not the only place that we deliver services from the state.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: How do you expect other bill, which is AB 24, to impact the trust of the community?

Because this proposal of the Republicans directs against the proposal of AB 57.

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: AB 24 does not protect the residents of our state in these sensitive areas.

It doesn't address them at all.

What it does is it forces sheriffs to take extra steps, which the law does not require.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: How is it going to affect in the financial side this other bill, AB 24, that promotes that there will be consequences SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: Yes.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: if local authorities decide not to participate on helping immigration forces or entities?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: Many people have to prioritize their budgets and they don't have time to take on operations of the federal government.

Many people feel duped.

Many people were told that they were only going to go after criminals, and certainly we want to keep our community safe, but I'm really here to talk about, and this bill really tries to protect the people that do not have criminal records.

So if they have a judicial warrant, again, I can understand that cooperation.

AB 24 goes too far, and it doesn't protect Wisconsinites.

It doesn't put Wisconsin first against an overreaching federal government.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: How would you explain this controversy to those who are in the middle saying, you know, a bill like yours, you know, 57, tries to protect people from being arrested in everywhere when they cannot use local resources, and the other proposal establishes that they are trying to protect the general community against criminals, and they want to have all the support for arresting?

What key points you will explain to those people who are confused and not able to understand the two positions that created these two law proposals?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: Well, what I want people to understand is the Constitution, regardless of immigration status, applies to everybody in our country.

So the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, all of them.

And so people have a right to a due process.

When there's a judicial warrant, there's been a process, and we're saying, fine, that's great.

If you produce that, this bill does not apply to you, but if you don't have a judicial warrant and in lieu of that, then you're not going to be allowed into these places in our state.

And it's certainly well within our purview and well within our state's rights to put these rules in place, and I believe one day that it will become law.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: How long do you think it's going to take for this bill to be on the floor and to be passed this law proposal?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: I believe it's going to take some time because elections take time.

The next opportunity we have to have a better opportunity to get this passed is two years from now.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: When you created this law proposal, did you, were you able to be in contact with community organizations?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: I worked with Senator, my senator, Tim Carpenter, Senator Dora Drake, and Representative Hong, and several organizations like Forward Latino and several attorneys, including staff in Wisconsin State Assembly and members of my caucus, to take a look at what we could do to protect Wisconsinites against an overreaching federal government and to protect against illegal searches and seizures.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Do you know if other states have implemented something like this, is the entire country facing this kind of law proposals?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: So I do know that a few other states have taken a look at these sensitive areas, especially government entity agencies, churches, and schools, but it's been pretty dismal.

I know that some states have actually passed some funding for legal representation, for people facing deportation so that people can get to due process that our Constitution affords them.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: The human rights of people in Wisconsin are more protected than in other places or less?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: I think that we're in better shape and with fair maps passing in our state.

We're definitely in better shape than most states.

I don't really feel like the battle is with Republican, Wisconsin Republicans.

Our battle really is with the federal government, who is quite frankly acting very lawless at this time and has shown that they will not follow court orders, violate people's civil rights.

I want to prevent them from violating Wisconsin's State's Constitution.

So the majority of the people that I represent need to have a voice at the table and need to make sure that they can still access services regardless of their immigration status.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: Two years is too far away.

In the meantime, a lot of families will struggle, and people will struggle with being arrested, but what would you tell the community during these moments?

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: Have a plan, be prepared, know your rights, be careful, be thoughtful about what you do, get legal advice.

If you have an opportunity to correct your status, work on that immediately.

Do everything you can.

Stay hopeful because our state is in a better place than most states.

I think in the end, people are gonna recognize the value that immigrants have brought to this country, and they have before, and that we're gonna get through this together.

PATRICIA ÓMEZ: There is another group of people who are full of anger against these immigrant communities.

What will you tell to them?

Because it seems that there are everyday reactions, extreme reactions coming from people who feel that way.

SILVIA ORTIZ-VELEZ: It's important for all of us to love thy neighbor and that means everybody around us.

We know we wanna keep our communities safe.

Nobody wants to have criminals amongst us.

But really, we also need to recognize that there are people we should be grateful for, quite frankly, that help us every single day to get things that we have no idea the way they contribute to our communities.

They pay taxes, they provide services to people, they make sure that it's cheap for us to be able to go to the grocery store and pick up certain items.

And quite frankly, we have such a labor shortage in our state, we have over 150,000 people that we need and we can't turn good, hardworking people away.

I think we need to make the distinction.

At the end of the day, we need to find a way to secure our borders and to fix our own immigration system.

And I feel like that's getting lost in the conversation, and that's another place that we need to have hope for.

I have hope that people will come to their senses, come together, and realize that we need people -- the good people that wanna work hard, that love our country, that make great neighbors, and are a part of our community.

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