> > This week in the Wheelhouse.

> > In immigration crime rhetoric.

A new age of law enforcement in America.

♪ > > war.

> > Connecticut Public on Frankie Graziano.

This is the Wheelhouse we show that connects politics to the people.

We've got your weekly dose of politics in Connecticut and beyond right here.

And right here in Connecticut, there's been a surge in arrests by federal immigration officials in recent weeks.

White House has stepped up immigration enforcement all over the country and its targeting Connecticut calling it a sanctuary for undocumented migrants.

At the same time, President Donald Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., threatening to do it in Chicago was a well in a crime abatement effort.

Last week I sat down with U.S.

Senator Chris Murphy.

We talked about all that and grabbed his take on the state of our democracy.

Are we start this week's show with that interview?

Here?

It is.

Chris Murphy is a United States senator representing Connecticut in Washington, D.C., thank you for coming on the center.

Thanks for having me.

8.

Some critics have use words like authoritarian or even fascist to describe the Trump administration.

I know you've said that there may be months if not years before American democracy is rendered so damaged that can't be repaired.

That was 2 months after the president's inauguration.

What he's saying?

> > Well, this country looks less unlike less and less like a democracy every single day as we speak.

There are federal troops on the streets of Washington, D.C., you have a president who is on a regular basis, violating the law in order to try to compel loyalty to him from the business community from the higher education community, from the legal community, from governors and from Congress.

We are a nation of laws and the fact of the matter is if we don't stand up to this president is corruption and lawlessness.

We may not be a democracy much longer.

Do it.

I'm not saying we're not going to have an election next November.

We will.

But you look at what Trump is trying to do, threatening to lock up is political trying to Boley college presidents into not allowing protest on campuses.

The this ultimately could have the impact of really really drying up the resources that the opposition party has to litigate in election and he might be it.

33% approval next November.

And we still don't have a true free and fair election.

How are you pushing back?

You're talking about standing up.

How would how are you standing up and how should others?

Yeah, I've essentially stopped raising political money for myself and for my, you know, own re-election, which is still a long way away and I'm raising money instead to support protest a mobilization all around the country.

I created something called the American Mobilization Project.

We've raised about million and a half dollars.

We've probably already made grants of about half a million dollars to grassroots citizen.

Let organizations all across the country that are protesting Trump's corruption is Medicaid cuts.

His nutrition cuts.

I'm also trying to argue for my colleagues to act a little bit more boldly, for instance, we're going to have a debate coming up in September about the coming federal budget.

I don't know how Democrat sign-on vote for a budget that doesn't roll back.

Trump's corruption and his lawlessness.

We're really going give him the votes to fund the DOJ and then he's going to take that money and use it to take over police departments potentially in our state you know, Democrats at some point have to decide that we're not going to be complicit in this creeping totalitarianism.

It's a hard thing for Democrats to do.

But some point we have to see the writing on the wall, this democracy is just not healthy.

And I'm not sure that we can give him, you know, votes to create a kind of bipartisan endorsement for what he's doing.

We're talking about Democrats.

You've been vocal, California Governor Gavin Newsom is taking an aggressive approach.

He's talking about not only challenging the administration but also redistricting and even using some social media trolling as well.

So what do you make of all the sand, how we should be responding.

If you're a Democratic lawmaker.

Well, listen, I support everything.

The governor Newsom is doing both from a policy perspective and a rhetorical perspective from day one.

I've said you have to be contesting this president.

Every single day.

Every time he does something illegal, every time he does something corrupt, you have to push back.

You don't sort of hold back your power.

You don't hold back your fire.

He floods the zone.

We flood the zone and then we have to fight fire with fire.

Was I wish that we weren't talking about.

Redistricting in the middle of the 10 year cycle, but Republicans are going to do it.

The Democrats have to do crushes die when the regime, the party in power operates outside of the box is violating norms and traditions and the opposition party decides to just stay comfortably inside the box.

So yes, what California is doing is necessary.

Listen, I think Connecticut probably is going to have to take a look at what we can do as well.

Now we have 5 Democratic members of the House right now.

But we don't have a bull redistricting law and every Democratic state may have to be in a position to have a bull way to redraw districts.

If this is the road, the Republicans are dragging us down to 6 again or something like, yeah, well, let me listen.

We we could certainly draw airlines differently in Connecticut to have even more secure Democratic districts.

I wish that didn't have to be a conversation we engaged in.

But I think every democracy loving state is going to have to start thinking of the things that we can do to try to contest the Trump regime is lawlessness.

You've implored your Democratic colleagues since the election to adopt a populist message focused on breaking up corporate power and the party has to be one.

I think this is a New Yorker radio hour piece that you did.

> > Word invite people in as long as they agree with the party on the basic economic message and then kind of build the party out that way.

So I think about everybody being under tents or so to speak.

So.

How inclusive of that is somebody that is fighting for their identity if they're trans or somebody that's worried about like an anti dei message.

> > It was not my my belief is that we have to be in the business of winning elections were trying to save our democracy right now.

And so we can choose to be in India, logically, pure party in which we say there's no room for you in our party if you don't believe exactly what I believe on transgender rights or you believe exactly what I believe on gun control.

But that would relegate us to be a permanent minority party.

And our democracy would be gone in our lifetime.

So what I want us to do is win elections.

And I think that quickest way to win the elections as Democrats is to become a party that has a sort of Twin 10 poll.

We are a party just for an reading our democracy breaking up concentrated corporate power and and we are a party that is for an reading our democracy getting anonymous billionaire corporate money out of our politics.

If your for those 2 things we want you in, even if you don't agree with us on climate or guns or abortion.

party will still be a party.

We where the majority believe is.

Were pro-choice and pro-gay rights and that we want our gun laws changed.

But if we won more elections, we frankly have better.

But you still could come to a still coming to that end.

And if we win, when more elections will have a better chance of you getting all of those policies enacted the the 10 poll policies on economics and democracy reform.

But also the things that as a Democratic Party were still going to have majority support for on cultural and social issues.

And we have time to ask about one or 2 more questions.

So I really want to hone in on what you're kind of talking about earlier with action in Connecticut and people perhaps worried about maybe troops coming into Connecticut or at least National Guard troops because they've seen it happen in DC.

> > Recently, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Boston or she'd be out of Austin has ice.

Boston confirmed that 65 people were apprehended by ice in Connecticut over a four-day span this month.

Boston's ICE Field office director praise this effort and Senate make Connecticut safer is Connecticut indeed safer following this ice action?

No, it's absolutely not safer with this is not a safe country when you have masked man picking up people without any due process.

We absolutely know that there are cases of American citizens being picked up by these masked men.

People who have a legal right to stay in this country.

Many of the people that they are picking up are in this country actively applying for asylum.

And we also know is that this whole narrative that you have something to the year from immigrants to this country has 0 basis.

In fact, it was true.

In fact, whether Republicans want to believe it or not, is that immigrants to this country commit crimes at a rate lower the natural born citizens.

And so the safest neighborhoods in this country, just this is what the statistics tell you are the neighborhoods that have the highest number of immigrants.

And so this is just a set of racist tropes designed to try to make Americans scared of each other, scared of their neighbors in order to distract the country from the real fever in corruption is happening.

Trump is stealing from us every single day and he's trying to distract America from that fever in corruption by making us believe that we have something to fear from.

I'm an immigrant neighbors as we finish up here.

Can we just focus on the rhetoric involving some of this ice action?

The Federal Department of Justice recently identified Connecticut as a sanctuary jurisdiction in a letter to our Attorney General William Tong.

Tom says that's an erroneous designation wise is problematic.

And what does it mean for immigration enforcement here won't even know what they mean when they say the sanctuary city and what are we doing?

Connecticut?

We tell our police officers that you should be focused on the real security threats that you should not be running around your city.

Rounding up peaceful and documented the Americans that we want you to be going after the rapist and the arsonist 70 been and is what I'm saying.

I think does this designation essentially mean, hey, we view you as a sanctuary place.

So we essentially might have carte blanche if we want to on immigration enforcement.

Is that kind of how you see it at which what should we be thinking about on the ground will that maybe with the Trump administration shows?

But that's not what the law allows.

That.

So the law does not allow for federal funds to be withheld from a state simply because of the prioritization that we give to police officers and how they arrest people.

He doesn't get to violate the law and throw people in jail who have pending asylum claims just because of state immigration policies.

So the law is still the law and we can still be a compassionate state to immigrants to migrants and undocumented Americans and the laws on our side when it comes to that decision that we have historically made as a state U.S.

Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat of Connecticut, thank you so much for coming on with us.

Appreciate it.

From Connecticut Public Radio, this is the Wheelhouse on Frankie Graziano.

> > After the break, Harvard professor are con funk.

And Mark Hugo Lopez of the Pew Research Center join us.

Unpack some of what we just heard from Senator Murphy.

Let us know what you thought about Senator Murphy stance on the recent ICE arrests across the state.

It was a call 8, 8, 8, 7 to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, It is 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, Give us a call now.

♪ ♪ ♪ > > This is Connecticut Public Radio.

> > The Warner Theater in Torrington presents elite who on Friday, October 17th to enter to win tickets and for contest rules go to CT Public Dot Org, slash contest entries must be received by end of day Friday.

> > Did you know that a short walk in nature can improve your attention span by 20% and that even fake plan to show to deliver health benefit.

We sit down with the Pioneer of Environmental Bureau science, Marc Berman is out with a new book all about the science behind the benefits of nature.

Nature in the mine next county on ♪ > > coming up this morning at 11 in New England.

The weather is always changing.

Listen for forecast from meteorologist Garrett Rgs during Morning Edition.

And all things considered support comes from Mystic Seaport, Museum and Kings Town.

Green eco-friendly caskets.

> > I am so thankful to our donors because they make it possible for me to be able to tell one from kind of the stories of what's going on in Connecticut.

> > You make it possible for me to do the thing I love most, which is telling great stories and working with other journalists who really believe the party were to say to you.

> > Are donors and supporters to Connecticut Public make everything we do possible.

> > It now at CT Public Dot Org slash donate.

> > It is the Wheelhouse from Connecticut Public Radio.

I'm Frankie Graziano this hour, we've spoken to the U.S.

Senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy about the state of democracy in President Donald Trump's stance on > > And now we'll unpack some crime.

of what was said by Senator Murphy with professor are Con > > Are con is the Winthrop funk.

Laugh-In.

Mccormick pressure, professor of citizenship and self government at Harvard Kennedy School are kind to talk to you again.

Are you It's great to be on the show again, Frankie, so great to have you, especially in this pivotal moment in American history.

Thank you so much.

Also joined by the director of race and ethnicity.

Research at the Pew Research Center, Mark Hugo Lopez.

Good morning, Mark, good morning.

you.

I'm doing well and even better because you logged on this morning to talk to us.

I really appreciate you coming on.

I hope you folks will enjoy the conversation that we're about to have.

I want to ask you all has the federal immigration crackdown impacted your life?

Your business?

Give us a call.

8, 8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 7 to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, We're standing by for phone calls because we've got some great folks that can help us contextualize what's happening and I'd love to get some of our cars.

Initial reactions to what we just heard in the last segment from Senator Murphy.

Go ahead.

Arca.

> > Yeah, I thought center Murphy's comments were a great I had just > > had to quick thoughts to open up.

One is he called it a creeping authoritarianism.

I think its kind of in same boat speed authoritarianism.

So > > we can talk make me laugh about authoritarianism at dead and 09:20AM, in the morning there with that.

Yeah.

Great passing reference.

There are cut.

> > Yeah, you know, so I was talking to some friends who had been hungry, you know, a few months ago, I remember when Rim a SaaS Turk, the student from got arrested by ICE.

And they were reporting a cafe conversation hungry, of course, has been, you know, a decade into their authoritarian backsliding.

And in the cafe conversation, you were saying, wow, we didn't know the government could just throw people in the back of vans.

So I think it's, you know, may be part of this administration's contribution that Democratic backsliding is that is that kind of activity.

And then the second thought, you know, that the only political entity last popular than Donald Trump now is the down and Democratic Party and so in your conversation with Senator Murphy, I thought you had a great conversation about the size of the tent, but I don't really think that's the issue.

I think what Donald Trump and the MAGA movement has managed to accomplish is being able to say to people in a compelling way.

I hear you.

I'm listening to you for you.

And I think the Democrats by and large, almost all of them have not managed to achieve that level of connection with their supporters and the American electorate.

And I think that's a big problem for the Democrats.

The real concern that he has about the health of democracy in the you obviously shares a concern like that.

> > And end.

Let's let's go into the terminology or I'm I'm glad you brought that up.

Backsliding is something we usually look we usually use when something happens.

Sort of slowly.

Murphy used the term creeping.

You're saying it's more of an EU saying bowl level.

We're basically not even 200 days into a presidency.

So I don't know if you if you're concerned about democracy, backsliding are creeping is a term that you can use.

> > Yeah, I'm very concerned.

Earlier on in your interview, you asked him whether he thought authoritarianism was overblown or that's happening.

I definitely think authoritarianism is the right word to use you know, we should be precise.

What white people calling authoritarianism is that the leader?

Thanks that he or she is the sole source of authority are the main source of authority.

I think we've seen that happen.

Part of being the sole source of authority is you don't like dissent and you're willing to use government power to quash dissent.

I think we've seen that happen.

You don't really like checks and balances because the whole idea of checks and balances, there are other sources of authority.

And so I think we've seen some pressure against checks and balances.

Authoritarian is also usually use force to get their way.

And with the dramatic increase of the ice budget in the big bill.

I don't know what the middle and you can visit the big bill that was just approved.

We see the increase of the capacity of the president to to use force by really beefing up the largest a law enforcement agency or or enforcement agency.

You know, whether it's lawful or not, we can debate enforcement agency that's available to the federal government and most loyal to the president.

And then I think Senator Murphy was exactly right in drawing attention to the importance of the 2026 2028 elections.

He said we will have elections.

I think we will have elections to my mind.

That is a pivotal inflection in the future of American democracy.

How free and fair will they be and will the people who got the most votes, especially for House of Representative seats, actually get seated?

> > It's it's it's an important thing because when you're talking about democracy, you talked about Victor Orban in Hungary that when people openly question elections happening, that's something I hear on NPR nationally in the BBC and I think is something that you're not necessarily getting here in America.

So whether or not you think that this is happening in America is very interesting, at least to hear people openly question that Mark, another thing Murphy says in this interview is that numbers say immigrants don't commit as much crime as natural born citizens.

Is he correct?

Mark?

A lot of research the last couple of decades shows that we that you take a look at immigrants in places where immigrants live in crime rates tend to be lower.

> > If you look at immigrants across time, a lot of research has shown that over the years immigrants are less likely to commit crimes of people born in the United States.

So yes, there evidence to support of the senators point of view.

But it's interesting when you do a public opinion survey asking Americans about what impact will Trump's immigration actions have on crime?

About?

41 1% of Americans say it will have results unless crimes.

37% say don't have no impact, but it's really Republicans who are saying that the president's actions on immigration are going to lead to less crime.

75 1% of them say that in a summer survey that we in June.

> > And thank you for that summer survey.

That's something we're going to tap to tap into it a little Actually a jump back to our con on the integrity of the midterm election.

Something I missed.

It should have asked you a little bit earlier.

If Americans start losing confidence in elections are kind.

What does that do to the legitimacy of government and to our democracy as a whole?

> > I think it's a huge problem.

Many Americans have already lost a lot of confidence in our elections.

I think I don't know what the mark might know.

The most recent surveys.

But, you know, as of a year ago, a few months ago, 4 out of every 10 voters didn't really believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election and elections our Vo Way that we have of settling, you know, who gets to hold office for the next 2 years in the next for years.

And if a Americans lose confidence, if the if > > the winners, the widely acknowledged winners don't get seated.

That's a huge problem for American democracy.

And I think many moves of this administration.

So far > > Removing some confidence > > are.

and create some weakness in the upcoming elections, including, as you mentioned, the gerrymandering and the interview with the Senator Murphy, nothing Murphy expressed alarm and was.

Trump sending troops to Washington, D.C., citing crime.

Npr analysis of crime data shows that the homicide rate, DC has climbed steadily since 2012 when the city hit a historic 50 year low.

But it's not anywhere near what we saw in the early 1990's where it was a particularly rough time in the in the city.

Is that kind of federal intervention in the city, a red flag for democracy is or is that kind of typical in some way?

Well, you know, I was reading couple of weeks ago, Eisenhower, you might think is the president who is most likely to favor the military.

> > Evidently he ordered troops in DC not to wear their uniforms when they're in public because he thought it was unbecoming of a democracy for a military presence at to be so visible in the nation's capital.

So I think it's a huge problem.

I also think that the rationale for law enforcement in cities through the National Guard is a complete red herring.

I mean, the purpose of the Federal Enforcement Agency, I mean, there are a number of purposes one of them is immigration.

Another is may be the constituency just likes to see guys in body armor, an assault, best assault rifles running around.

But it is no way to fight crime in Boston last year.

The total number of homicides I believe was 24 people, which is incredibly low.

And that is a product of a decade or 2 of really hard work between local law enforcement and ministers and community organizations.

And that's what you want to do.

If you take crime and crime fighting and public safety really seriously.

And so what's happening now has very little to do with reducing the rate of crime.

8, 8, 7, to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, with love.

Your phone calls.

Talk to our con market myself.

We also have a good story coming from you that we should be telling you in the next segment, 8, 8, 8, > > 7 to 0, 9, 6, 7, 7, arc on something else.

A facet me is fascinated me in that NPR piece that was invoking was a quote from Thomas AB the founding director of the Center for the Study and Practice of Violence Reduction at the University of Maryland.

He says people say crime is up in DC.

People say it's down that all depends on where you set.

Your goal posts.

Trump is obviously openly disputing the crime data and is directing the Federal Department of Justice to look at the numbers.

What does his actions there say about where we are this moment?

And is he sort of a goalpost mover?

> > I think he's trying to frame the issue around crime law order is a good issue politically for Republicans.

I think it's obviously I not maybe not.

Obviously.

I think it's a mistake for Democrats or anyone else to deny the reality of crime and fear of crime and the debate.

We should be really be having is how to create greater order.

And I believe that what's happening is a creating disorder as Senator Murphy > > Let's dig into Senator said.

Murphy's comments on ICE presents across the country.

Mark, back in June, the Pew Research Center released a survey suggesting one in 4 Americans.

We're worried about themselves or somebody they know being deported.

Tell me where you can find the survey and then a little bit more about it.

Please.

> > So the survey can be found it to research that ordinance.

Pe W Research Dot Org.

And this was a serving that we get to the U.S. adult population asking about a whole range of things around attitudes towards deportations.

One of those things was asking the U.S. public how much they worry that they themselves are some of the know like a family member or friend to be deported.

And as you noted about one in 4 Americans say that that number was up slightly from the start of the Trump administration, notably among Hispanics.

That number was almost half were saying that they worry that they themselves or somebody they know might be reported.

That number 2 was up and also as you might expect, immigrants or the U.S. born children of immigrant parents who are now adults are also concerned about the poor patients as somebody they know the survey is important for at least measuring the strictest sense of worry about those.

And there are and peoples personal orbit who might be affected by some sort deportation action.

But it's also going to note that this is not just a survey of people who they themselves might be at risk for deportation.

It's sort of a sense of how people generally worry about that.

That's what makes this important and powerful.

It shows that this is not just about unauthorized immigrants and their family being worried about deportation, but it's something it's affecting more broadly.

The U.S. public one in 4 U.S. adults is a lot of people to think about that.

> > It it's it's about you and somebody else.

But also you did ask folks if they're worried about they themselves being deported and they that number has gone up as well.

> > That number has gone up as well and in fact, resigned that many American's are also engaging in a number of actions to be ready.

Should they be asked to prove their citizenship or prove and others provide papers on the numbers are still relatively low.

About 10% or so depending on the group that you're looking at.

But we have seen an uptick in the share of Americans or doing things too.

may be asked about it, provide a passport or provide a dedication to prove that the U.S. in some sort in the country legally.

> > Our Conor Murphy also criticized ices recent arrests here in Connecticut.

He says the data shows that this type of action does not make our community safer.

When we see these forms of large-scale enforcement actions, what is the ultimate impact on trust in government?

> > I think the ultimate impact on trust in local which I think is most relevant because it's the people living in these communities is to decrease trust.

I think a lot of local police forces of work very hard to earn the trust of immigrant communities and communities of color and this is that that trust, especially when local law enforcement has co-operative agreements with ice.

I think it's really not good.

And again, I think the purpose is not at all community safety.

That is like if are intersted in community safety, you'd be doing the opposite.

I think there's pretty good reporting about Stephen Miller and other administration officials putting a great deal of pressure on ICE administrators that flows down just to simply crank the numbers up.

And I think that's what's happening.

We actually have a caller and I'd love for one of respond > > she has to say, Deborah, to what from Watertown.

Good morning.

Thank you for calling in today.

> > Thank you.

I think we've got way too many people who don't understand how our immigration system currently works.

Many of the people who are here undocumented had the real possibility of coming here legally.

I'm thinking in particular of the woman I met, I know from illiteracy effort who came here from Ecuador.

She want to hear from Ecuador to jungle.

She and her husband.

Let's give to young children behind in their mother-in-law scare.

And because they did that and took that chance, their 2 daughters have graduated from high school.

Now this is a woman who what's not litter.

And when she came here had 0 chance of coming here legally.

We need to understand that the people who come here are the best of the best and single president before this one, you can find saying how much our country has benefited from immigration.

Reagan, Eisenhower going way back and we are just destroying ourselves.

Our health care system are home care system by terrorizing in deporting people.

> > Deborah, thank you so much for that important testimony there is your friend, OK, how's your friend doing at this time?

> > She's okay.

But she and her husband are just, you know, time that stay under the radar, which is very hard when they have to drive from one place to another, to get to work.

> > Deborah, thanks again.

Have a good morning.

I appreciate you calling in.

When I talked to Deborah, just as I did right there, something that came to mind, I think it's important for this conversation is just kind of going back to.

A definition of what immigration is and what you could do.

And I think Mark a jump in on this as well.

It sounds like no matter what.

And I've heard this from the administration and Caroline Leavitt from Trump himself.

Anybody that comes into this country and is seeking asylum.

Is here illegally and therefore a criminal.

But it by very definition, if you are seeking asylum, you have an opportunity at lease at some form of path to citizenship.

You guys help me with that letter of the definition there.

> > Yes, really great question for the end.

So somebody who comes in to us and seeks to claim asylum, they maybe have enter the U.S. without authorization.

They present themselves at the US-Mexico border across the border to wait for a Border Patrol agent to come by.

They've entered the country illegally, but then they ask for asylum.

There's a whole process that happens with that.

And during that process, that person is protected from deportation.

They are going to be as or applications being processed once a decision is made and that could take years, by the way, because we have to go through court cases to be heard.

It could take some time for decision to be made.

But it may be that the court decides that immigrants should be deported.

But while they're waiting, they are protected from deportation.

And there's many other status is, by the way, to protect undocumented or unauthorized immigrants from deportation like the temporary protected status program or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

The dreamers program.

So as are other ones that have protections for immigrants in the country illegally from deportation.

Even given a work permit.

These are all programs that the Trump administration has been talking about, either eliminating or has already done something to change some of those protections for some groups like the program it existed for Cuban Nicaraguan Haitian in minutes.

Well, in a migrant to come to the U.S. in recent years.

Those folks who had been on parole have protections as well.

They did for the country that authorization, but they have a sponsor who agreed to support them.

And yet that program which affected over half a million people has terminated.

The Connecticut Mirror published data recently that shows the number of ICE arrests from the 1st half 2025.

Were double the amount over the same time period.

> > In 2024 Mark, are you seeing that outside of Connecticut?

Is that kind of similar to what's happening across the nation it seems to me it back to our look at some of the most recent data available.

I want to.

> > Francis says preliminary data from the federal government shows that the U.S. immigrant population has declined since January.

And in January, we reached a historic peak of over 53 million immigrants living in the country.

Then about 15.8% of the U.S. population.

But through June into July, we've seen a decline in the population of immigrants about a million plus, we're not sure exactly how many, but that may be for number of reasons, including fewer people coming at the US-Mexico border, increased deportations, but also people and the natural flow of things to sing to leave the country where maybe already can do so or maybe have also chosen to self deport.

We just don't know what all those different numbers are, but it does look like the population of immigrants is declining.

> > Just in the last minute or so.

I have you both are kind of want to get your final thoughts.

What role can ordinary Americans play in protecting democratic institutions.

Is this up 2 Murphy in the Democratic Party or is this up to Americans?

I guess.

> > It is not.

It is up to ordinary Americans.

And I think all of us all 300 million of us have to recommit to elections and be vigilant about that.

There have been demonstrations in favor of democracy in thousands of communities all around the United States.

I think we all have to watch what's happening in and take action and support each other.

And I just want to say encourage Deborah to keep speaking out because her intervention was a part of that conversation about what kind of country we want to have do we want to have super hybrid barriers where people from other places can't come in at all.

And when you're trying to go through your process in court, you get taken in the court waiting room and deported or do we want to have some compassion and sympathy and invitation 2 people from other places and that's a debate that this show is all about.

And Deborah's personal story was just a beautiful one.

And we need to be talking about it at the people level rather than capital are versus Capital D level.

That's our con fun.

Winthrop Laflin McCormick professor of citizenship in self-government at the Harvard Kennedy School.

> > Our kind so great to have you on the show.

Thank you for coming by today.

Thanks so much, Frank.

And Mark Hugo Lopez, dazzling debut on the Wheelhouse.

Thank you so much for coming by.

The director of race and ethnicity.

Research at the Pew Research Center.

Thank you so much for coming on.

March.

thank you for a guy after the break.

A look at special immigration status reserved were abused.

Migrant youth in Connecticut.

This is something want to hear.

The story that we're working on here in Connecticut Public, and how the status is being rolled back.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ > > Support comes from the Stowe Center for literary activism in Hartford, celebrating that 2025.

Stow prize for literary activism.

Winter Percival, Everett for his novel.

James September, 17th with a free public program visit Stowe Center Dot Org.

> > Students are using AI to do homework for them, too, right?

> > says it's so easy to tell that they don't know what they're saying or what they're typing or even what is on the screen.

Parts of their brain are really not talking.

Just like most kids today do not learn 19th century skills in school anymore.

In the age of AI, what should schools be teaching now for the 21st century?

That's on the next on point.

Listen this morning at 10.

> > This is Captain Jean host of Where We Live.

Whether you're having coffee or tea with us, start your day.

Streaming the show driving down.

I-95 are walking along the trails Where We Live.

Is your companion to global news, local stories and intriguing happenings across our state.

Join us for an inside view of the topics you can't miss this end Monday Tuesday and Thursday at 09:00AM on the public.

Well, wherever you listen to podcast.

> > Support comes from Prohealth physicians.

Part of Optum care with primary care doctors and care teams and communities throughout Connecticut.

More about a career with a clinician lead medical group at PROHEALTH MD DOT com Slash careers.

> > This is the Wheelhouse from Connecticut Public Radio.

I'm Frankie Graziano.

President Donald Trump recently rolled back protections for abused and neglected migrant youth.

There's a special status given to these people.

Joining me now are 2 of my Connecticut Public colleagues who are reporting on how this legislative action is impacting migrants in Connecticut.

Daniela down cell Latino communities.

Reporter for Connecticut Public.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Thank you for having thank you for coming on.

I appreciate and thank you for doing this story.

It's something we've been talking about for months basically and also joining us may soon.

Con investigative reporter Connecticut Public.

We did a phenomenal job helping Daniela put this story together.

Thank you for being here today.

Thank you so much.

So excited to be here and thank you for going through all the data and all the documents.

I appreciate that as always.

Danny here, investigation centered around a program known for as site J S a special juvenile immigration program.

Can you tell us about it and who this program is for?

> > Yeah, absolutely.

So special juvenile immigration status or Sha S is a type of immigration cause suffocation and it's granted to eligible migrants under the age of 21 who have been neglected, abused or abandoned by one or both parents in their home country have now find themselves living in the United States.

It was created back in the 1990's as a step as a way to give these children a step towards getting their green card or permanent legal residency.

> > And they're generally in a pretty bad situation.

I would imagine if they're given that > > No, absolutely.

They are.

status.

These are children that have found their way here by some form or another because they could not stay in their home.

Country was not in their best interest to stay.

> > Former President Joe Biden made a change in this program can help us understand sort of what that change entailed.

> > Yes, so the wait time to actually apply for a green card is years long.

Right now the wait time is about 4 years or more.

So back in 2022, the Biden administration created what's called a Deferred action policy.

So this policy essentially states that recipients of us, a J S are protected from deportation while they wait to be able to apply for that green card.

The policy also gave them an opportunity to apply for legal work authorization so that they could work legally while they waited as well.

> > And then Trump and the new administration.

They've tweak the > > yeah.

So in June the Trump administration rolled back the policy so U.S. EAS the United States citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it would no longer automatically consider granting deferred action to new Sha S recipients.

So essentially what that means is new recipients from June onwards are no longer going to be able to get that work authorization and are now at risk of being deported.

> > Mason, the story that you and Danny tell here is a young woman, Regina, who's at the center of the investigation and a little warning to the listeners here.

We want to make sure that, you know, we're going to be discussing abuse and neglect during the remainder of the show.

It.

So I just want to make sure that we make that clear to you all may soon.

Can you tell me about Regina who she is and where she grew up?

> > Yeah, Regina is a 19 year-old girl.

She loves pink.

She's in school right now.

Part-time in college.

She really wants to be a lawyer.

She's a big sister and she was very well articulated.

And she just could tell her story in a very compelling way, which stood out to both of Why we want to go forward with interviewing her for this.

And and the one thing about Regina is obviously she's applying for Sha S and she endured a lot of neglect and abuse and her home country, Mexico.

She lived there with her mom and she described being being daily.

We reviewed DCF reports which is kind of part like the precursor to applying for Sha you need a state court order.

Part of that is DCF goes in in the interview.

Her or her family.

in those reports, it describes her being being daily hinged going days without food, not adequate shelter and things like that.

And how would you describe it was it was lot of fending for yourself and so that's kind of her story that we were very, you know.

Fortunate to hear from her very proud of her for sharing that with the public as well.

But yeah, that's kind of a little bit about or so.

How the heck did she get to the United States?

You know anything about that?

> > Yeah, she's so her father lives in the United States.

So while she lived with her mother in Mexico during her childhood, > > she would visit her dad on, you know, summer things like that.

And so I think there is just one summer a few years ago where she was crying and she said, I don't want to go back.

I don't want to go back.

The abuse is getting too much.

She just did not want to go back in.

Her dad kept are here.

He said we're going to find a way to keep you here permanently and And, you know, I think they're both happy that they're finally getting to that point.

Danny, are there many options for neglected or abused youth like Regina?

> > not really at least Virgina's experience.

She went across different immigration attorneys with her father and were turned away at every point basically time that they didn't have any good options and it got to a point with Regina, her father that thing coming.

We're losing hope that is until Regina met Aaron.

Aaron O'Neill is an immigration attorney based out of East Hartford.

And Aaron, when we spoke with her told us that when she heard urging a story, she automatically just knew that Regina was eligible for a side JS and it was a moment that really brought a lot of emotion out of urging them to her father because given their previous experience, they didn't think it was going to happen.

Let's hear from Regina about.

> > When she found out about status in the opportunity to apply for it.

> > She asked to see my dad so we both went there and on our way back on Monday, he started crying my dad started crying and he's like.

We've been we've been told no so many times like I never thought that we would be this would be happening right now in the Mike.

> > I know me.

Neither and I started crying.

And it was just it was it was crazy.

It was to create.

We're still we're so happy.

We feel very blessed.

> > This is just about hearing about the program, not even getting into that long line that it is to to 2 to apply and then actually get the status.

But this was just momentous for them.

Hearing about it.

> > No, absolutely.

And that's something that was so unexpected and it gave them hope.

The hope that they were kind of losing already because of the fact that they were turned away so many > > Where does the application times.

go first when you're applying for S a G S and then kind of I don't know if there's necessarily timetable, but kind of what happens from that point on.

Yeah.

So he mentioned earlier before you can even apply for a site.

Jsu need a state court order and to get that you need to have an investigation into the alleged abuse here in Connecticut that's typically done through DCF.

The Department of Children and families.

And that can include a social worker or some form of state child welfare agent looking into testimony from the family members, the parents, the child as well as something like a home visit to make sure that the new home that the child is in is adequate.

And those findings are then taken to a hearing with a probate judge here that is a state appointed probate judge and that judge listens to all the findings and makes a declaration.

If all goes well, the wrist, the applicant of us, a J S will then get to decrease one that grants sole guardianship to the adult that's taken care of them here in the U.S. in Virginia's case that was her father.

The other decree is the judge essentially saving and declaring that they are eligible to apply for a site J S. So all of that is then taken in with the application for us to join us and sent off to I asked.

> > May soon, we mentioned you parsing through a lot of data during this investigation.

That's why I admire you so much because scary part of reporting is is going through a data requests and filing for is and then getting the data and then actually having to read copious amounts of information some of the data you pulled showed special immigrant juvenile status petitions by fiscal What patterns did you notice while digging through that data?

> > Yeah, I think the biggest thing we noticed, the one that was most stark was that Connecticut is part of the national broader national trend.

So nationally we're seeing a huge influx in cases ever since fiscal year 2022.

And that was the same thing for Connecticut and so just so people have an idea in fiscal year 2016 there, only 162 petitions for Sha S and that fiscal year.

24, it was jumped to 1730 on the national level.

It's on the 10's of thousands.

But that's kind of what we noticed.

We also noticed that the cases almost doubled from 2022 to 2023 and there's so many reasons that could be, but that's kind of what the data told us.

And thankfully wasn't that hard to parse through.

So I was very glad that was kind of the easiest part about the story.

And I think that's kind of what we're going to get into next is the reasons that people are kind of using as to why this is spiking.

> > Some critics of the program say that people are misusing the system for their advantage.

You spoke with East Hartford Immigration attorney Erin O'Neill about that.

Let's listen to what she told you.

> > You might hear that there's some abuse being done by people taking advantage of humanitarian, you know, systems that lead to just the > > But in these cases, you status.

have an impartial.

Connecticut state court probate judge who has heard the testimony was read the evidence.

Who's a look at the affidavits and he's determined the credibility and eligibility for these cases.

So it's not in a vacuum.

It's not something that's Ford's.

That's not something that's made up.

You have an independent judge making this determination.

> > He tell me more about the criticisms of the program and why Attorney O'Neill would kind of bat those away.

> > Yeah.

So the criticisms around the programs primarily surround the alleged abuses of the program.

Us EAS last month put out a report that highlighted the drastic increase that may soon highlighted in her own findings.

That in petitions since the Biden era policy within those findings, they had concerns of false claims of parental maltreatment as well as applicants with identity fraud in their applications and also identified hundreds of aside.

I recipients who were, quote, known or suspected gang members.

And it also pointed out that more than half of the applicants are over the age of 18.

The program is set up for migrants under the age of 21.

So really what the report is trying to imply that since more of them are over the age of 18, it's really not helping the migrant youth that it's trying to target here.

But immigration attorneys like Erin O'Neill are saying that is why this vetting process is in place through an independent investigation through a judge to ensure that this program and the status is given to the people that need it most.

And that's a particularly tough thing for Regina.

If she weren't able to somehow get the status, is that.

> > You're telling us that she had to fend for herself when she was younger and it's easy to say that people that are older, 1920, 21 over.

21 can fend for themselves.

But that's just a tough thing to tell somebody that had to fend for themselves.

Their whole life may soon.

The Trump administration, they facing any legal challenges over these changes?

> > Yeah, we currently have a pending federal lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of New York where attorneys representing my grandchildren are asking for a judge to restore the protections from deportation.

Time will only tell how that turns out.

I wouldn't be surprised if we see more and more of these types of lawsuits popping up.

> > And then Danny, help us finish of the show by understanding what's next for Regina and her father and maybe a little bit more on how she's doing.

> > Regina is doing well.

And right now she is currently in the waiting process.

She has applied for a site JS and he's waiting to hear back.

So she's going to be in that four-year waiting period for a while.

But in the meantime, she is studying.

She is taking her college courses.

She is hoping to focus her studies on immigration law.

Something that my son and I were both taken aback by was just how much she cared about the people that were impacted by this, especially the young children that are impacted by this right?

She is one who yes is at risk of deportation.

But when we spoke with her, she always spoke more about the other people who have experience worse than her and what they are going through.

And I think that's going to translate a lot into the work that she moves forward in her > > Phenomenal reporting by career.

both of my colleagues here, Daniella Dot sell, who is the Latino community's reporter for Connecticut Public.

Thank you so much for joining us on the show.

Thank you so much and it's been great to see this story come together and watch it really appreciative of the time you took to tell it and also what you've been able to afford to Regina, to keep your identity safe as well.

Thank you.

I really appreciate you highlighting the story may soon.

Terrific reporting.

going through the data and then helping U.S. advance the story forward and helping us understand sort of what's next.

Investigative reporter for Connecticut Public Mason, great to have you back on the show.

Thanks so much.

Today show produced by Chloe Win and it was a fantastic show.

Thank you.

Chloe was edited by Patrick Scahill.

Our technical producer is dealing race, a special thanks to test terrible Meagan Fitzgerald, Connecticut Public's, Outstanding visuals team and our operations team, including Megan Boone, Joe costs, Andy Patterson and the rest of the folks helping us out and Sam Hockaday making those graphics, download the Wheelhouse.

Time on your favorite podcast app.

I'm frankly Graziano.

This is the Wheelhouse.

Thank you so much for listening ♪