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David: An eye-opening experience at the southern border.

Is there still a productive conversation to be had on immigration?

Hey, everybody.

It's "Reporters Roundtable."

I'm David Cruz.

This week's panel is here.

The Senior correspondent for "NJ Spotlight News," a reporter for political NJ, and columnist for "insider NJ."

we start with a discussion about immigration and the current state of this crisis.

Joining us is a member of the New Jersey congressional delegation just back from her tour of ice operations at the southern border.

Have not talked to Millie Poe in a while.

Quick am very happy to be here.

Thank you.

David: I want to talk about your tour of the southern border, but House Republicans this week passed a budget framework that's going to cut support to the poorest people in the country and cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy and increase the deficit.

Is that an accurate assessment of what just happened?

>> it certainly is and I'm very concerned about that, which is why I voted no.

I think we have a great deal of concern in front of us, and a lot to worry about.

Many of our programs -- and very vital programs, all of which we absolutely understand the need and how important it is for our community, our constituents, not only in my district throughout the state and the nation.

The fact that there is a huge f are in terms of the most vital programs that will hit people in the middle class and throughout.

David: The Battle begins over what programs get cut and what tax programs we will see.

>> That's correct.

David: Let us talk about your trip.

Where were you and what did you see?

>> I went to San Diego and the port of entry at San Diego.

Let me say it was an eye-opening experience for me.

It's my first time going to the border in this manner, trying to understand from beginning to end what is the actual process.

One of the reasons why I wanted to go was because I really thought it was important for me to have a close-up view of the border, especially because of my district, my district being so diverse.

David: What was the biggest surprise from your experience?

>> Quite honestly, I think there's so much that I can share with you.

We probably do not have all that time, but let me just say from the very beginning to the end, when I went and saw the actual wall, the extent of the wall, the two players -- because you do not only have one 30-foot wall in front of you, there is a secondary wall as well.

When we were in the agents' vehicle and as they were driving us up the hill and up through the mountain, the view, and the type of journey people would have to take, the fact that they would actually have to not only go through those walls and try to get through that and do it without being captured or seen, and then we had to make sure that we were able to not only do that but the immense work that many of these law enforcement agents have to do -- we have to give them a great deal of credit.

I tell you, the one thing that is so important to me is not only to make sure that we secure the border but that we do it in a humane way as well.

One of the things that we saw was not only the port of entry in terms of where it all starts, we were able to -- I looked to see the number of vehicles that are trying to come in to our country from Mexico, and how they have to patrol that.

From there, we went to the actual detention center where we were able to see how the men and women who are brought into that particular facility, how they are separated, how they are processed, the applications, what they have to do, the men and women and children.

The unaccompanied children.

At that time, there was, like, three of them that I was able to see.

Three unaccompanied children, that is.

The look in their face really speaks volume, to be honest with you.

It is just heartbreaking.

David: It is a trip that all of your colleagues in the House and Senate should take, yet?

>> Without question.

We hear a lot of what it is all about at the border, but it does not really speak to the real thing until you actually witness it for yourself.

You really have to take a look at what is being put in place.

We had the ability to also speak to many of the officials.

We took a Black Hawk helicopter trip that I think you were showing that.

That was an incredible view in terms of the terrain, they terrain of what they have to really go through.

When you see that and you see that people are willing to sacrifice their lives because that is really what we are talking about -- people are willing to put their lives at risk, and that speaks to the devastation and the immense sacrifice that they are willing to take in order to try to get to some level of freedom.

David: Let me switch gears on you right here and just ask if you got a chance to see some of these protests across the country from Democrats and if you got a chance to check out Cory Booker's 25-hour marathon speech and if you feel your party, the Democrats, somehow got their mojo back.

>> I actually went into the Senate chambers just to be able to witness firsthand myself what Cory -- Senator Cory Booker -- was doing.

It was so incredibly motivating and just immense.

His credit, his stamina, his ability to really speak about the importance of what is happening in our country and what needs to be done.

I was there to support him, to give him moral support and be able to just let him know that we were all behind him.

Many of my colleagues did that all throughout the day, so we were very proud of the work and the message that he was really sending to everyone throughout the entire country.

David: Let me ask you, first 100 days coming up, more or less.

How is it going?

Lots to learn, I imagine.

Aside from rules of the floor, where the bathrooms are, and stuff like that.

I'm sure you had a lot of forms to fill out.

How is it going now?

>> let me just tell you, the first couple of days, I was still trying to navigate my way around all the buildings.

I'm still trying to make sure I don't get lost.

It is an immense -- it's just a big effort -- not effort, but big job.

Let me just say, it is wonderful.

I really am so grateful to the people who put me in office.

I am working every single day very hard to make sure that I am speaking and taking action that they have sent me to Washington to do.

We have a lot of work to do.

I'm proud to have a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure committee.

Homeland Security, which was how I was able to tour the U.S.-custom border facilities, and speak to all of those individuals involved in that effort.

I am really trying very hard to not only learn but also make sure that how I vote is representative of the people that I represent, and I am so truly grateful for that opportunity to be in Congress to do just that.

David: Good to see you.

Thanks for coming on with us.

>> Thank you so much.

David: Panel, good to see all of you.

I was struck by the business of immigration.

I did a piece this week about how a couple of the big private prison companies expect a big windfall now.

$45 billion allocated for ice detention and deportation plans.

Companies like core civic and the GEO group, they contributed millions to the president's campaign, and now they are looking at big profits.

It really is big business, is not it?

>> it sure is.

As you say, they position themselves really well.

We see some local effort to try to stop them.

We see gubernatorial candidate ras baraka case against the Geo group.

I think you are right, they are position to make a whole lot of money from this effort for sure.

David: It is just mind-boggling to me.

If the Democrats where this fire it up in November, they might not be in this mess.

You have been to a few of these town hall demonstrations.

>> Yes, that is a good point.

I think when you were talking to the congresswoman, you asked if she thought the Democrats had gotten their mojo back.

I think to a sort of extent they have.

The events of the last 10 days or so, you had Cory Booker's speech.

You had all the rallies last Saturday and also about 10 days ago, we had a real election in Wisconsin where it was nonpartisan, but the liberal candidate won, so those are the executive Democrat candidates hope.

Cory Booker had a town hall meeting.

He was treated like a returning rockstar with about 1000 people there.

Rock music was playing.

It was kind of a festive atmosphere, but even other Democrats.

A gubernatorial candidate besides the Congresswoman, she had a good crowd at a town hall, but she seemed to be somewhat optimistic about recent events.

David: We will talk about some of those things in a minute.

A few weeks ago, we were talking about Andy Kim being the face of Democrats in New Jersey.

Now it looks like Cory Booker is the face of Democrats across the country.

Ras baraka called Cory Booker's speech awesome.

Is this the start of something for Booker, and is it sustainable?

>> I think it is important to note that Senator Cory Booker has always been one of the more effective communicators in the Democratic Party, one of the more charismatic communicators in the aquatic party, and his historic 25-hour floor speech was really able to capitalize on his strengths as an orator.

I think we saw that speech was able to garner a lot of attention, both in mainstream and conservative media and on social media, where got literally hundreds of millions of likes.

I think Cory Booker has always been someone that has been seeking higher office.

He ran for president in 2020.

He is widely talked about to be a 2028 presidential candidate, and looking at the calendar, I think he has nothing to lose by it.

He is up for reelection in 2026, so why not run in 2028?

At this point, he has nothing to lose.

David: It has been getting busy out there when it comes to the governor's race.

Nine or so campaigns.

Who is doing and saying what and who is scoring points?

>> A lot of people are saying a whole lot right now.

We have been doing some reporting this week on what the difference campaigns, what the different candidates have been promising and with the vision for Jersey is.

Just this week, something that stood out to me is that Republican Bill Spady was at RO University promising to almost ruled by Fiat if he was elected governor.

He said he would ignore the courts and legislature in his first hundred days and try to basically repeal and overturn laws by executive order.

I think that is a little bit of the Trump again -- Trumpian way of going about things, which is not a surprise given that he is trying to align himself as a Trump based -- Trumpist candidate.

I still think that it could be anyone's race.

A lot of voters are still undecided and we have 60 days or so until election day, so anything can happen.

David: Do you have a shovel for all the Sean Spiller political fires, to get them out of the way to get a path to your car to get out of the house?

>> I don't have that shovel.

Spiller, it's interesting to see where his campaign is going right now.

A lot of the messaging seems focused on former Governor Chris Christie.

We are coming off of eight years of Governor Murphy.

I was at the GOP summit a couple of weeks ago in Atlantic City, and there's a whole lot of energy, I would say, in the Republican party.

They believe that this is their chance to reclaim Trenton and reclaim the Capitol building.

Spiller maybe needs to get on message and remember that we are not coming off a Christie two-term here.

David: Anybody else jumping out at you that you are like, oh, they are running still?

>> we have Sweeney and Gottheimer trying to hang on in the wings.

On the Republican side, we see Mary a contract, a late entry -- Mario Krahn check, a late entry into the race.

On the Democratic side, too, we cannot count out Ras Baraka yet, even though it seems the party is really aligning behind Cheryl .

We saw a lot of advocacy groups endorsing this week.

I could envision maybe in the future a Cheryl-Baraka ticket.

We will see where that goes.

David: Wow.

Interesting.

We have both Mario Krahn Jack and Ras Baraka, so thinking -- so thanks for helping me set that up.

Nicely done.

This is an impressive group of candidates.

You have been on the town hall campaign event circuit.

Who is impressing you in which campaigns seem to be may be stuck in neutral?

>> I agree that Mikey would be the front runner, but I have also heard people say she's not very specific on issues.

Steve Fulop polling very specific on issues.

He has much material on his website if you want to read about public transportation and education, what have you.

He was using to his advantage or trying to use to his advantage the fact that Mikey is the candidate of the establishment and he is the guy who cares about issues.

I think he may be more of a bona fide candidate.

He may do better than some people think, but I heard mentioned earlier that Bill Spady at another event said that that same thing.

He's going to govern by fiat.

He almost frames it in a way as who cares what the legislature does?

I'm just going to give executive orders and that is it.

It's debatable how effective or legal that will be.

David: Nobody likes the establishment anymore.

>> That is true.

David: We got some endorsements.

Joanna just made reference.

Cheryl got Tom Malinowski.

Baraka got 32 BJ, working families.

Which of these is a bigger get back on I guess it depends on what you want from an endorsement, right?

You can get money from an endorsement or you can get foot soldiers from an endorsement.

>> Yet, it is hard to say which one at this point is better.

You can take away the party line, but there is still the party effort and it is still happening behind closed doors.

There are a lot of meetings where a lot of money is getting locked up, so I do think at the end of the day, it will come down to where the money is, where the money flows, but getting those foot soldiers on the ground and powerful unions in New Jersey is significant.

I would say those two right now are doing at the work to lock in those endorsements, and I think they are both in a strong position at this point.

David: That is a big country -- a big cadre of the nonprofit industrial complex and the unions.

Really, a lot of foot soldiers.

They are active electoral participants.

The party base, really, no?

>> yeah, they really are.

If you look at some of the groups that endorsed Ras Baraka, 32 BJ, and large and influential union, you have make the road New Jersey, which is one of the larger pro-immigrant advocacy groups, working family parties of New Jersey, which is also a part of the progressive establishment -- these are really the groups that he would want in his corner so he can make the case of, yes, I and the regressive candidate, I am the one who has a line of all these values -- who is in line with all these values.

On the campaign trail, some of the issues he talks about, his constituencies.

This is someone who, as mentioned earlier in the show, is trying to fight the Trump Administration to make sure their new ice facility does not open and is very much in favor of immigrants and immigrant rights.

On the Tom Malinowski endorsement, I think it is important to note that he also chairs Democrats which endorsed Cheryl a couple of months ago.

I guess in that sense, it is not a huge surprise.

David: Do people outside of politics even know who Tom Malinowski is?

>> That's a pretty scary question.

Like a lot of reporters, I have been shocked even when I should not be talking to average people who know very little about politics, and to answer your question, a lot of people may not know who he is, but a greater question is -- I don't know, how many people who are undecided are going to vote for Mikey just because Tom Malinowski endorsed him?

I don't know how many.

That may mean Mikey has one more vote.

David: On Baraka, union support could be great, but he could end up paying for that come contract negotiation time, correct?

>> Oh, absolutely.

David: Budget season, department heads soon enough.

What is the tone of this budget process so far?

The chair of the Senate Budget Committee was saying that some of those Murphy tax cuts are dead on arrival.

>> Yet, and I believe you are referring to tax increases.

David: I am sorry, yes.

>> the governor has proposed around $1.2 billion in new taxes .

The Senate budget Chairman said recently that he expects some of the smaller taxes, syntaxes -- sin taxes, taxes on alcohol or participatory sports, to not be included in the final budget.

I think that partially does not come as a surprise because the entire state assembly is up for election this year and it could be viewed as unpopular to tax laser tag, bowling, or goose, but I think the important context here is of the $1.2 billion in new taxes on $700 million of that will come from online gaming for increasing the so-called mention tax -- mention -- mansion tax.

David: You had a piece on NJ transit with the homeless initiative they are starting.

You want to give me 30 seconds on that?

>> this is really an interesting initiative because it is a public/private partnership.

There were a lot of private dollars from hospital systems, insurance companies working with local organizations on the ground.

This is really spearheaded by NJ transit and Chris Kohler who said that he saw this as an important effort.

You do not usually see these types of groups coming around and coalescing on an issue like homelessness, but they are going to put some state dollars behind it as well as those private dollars to create top-in centers and try to commit folks to permanent housing to get them out of these transit hubs and get them into some kind of temporary and then permanent housing.

>> Larry Weinstein has run for mayor three times against Nick Sacco, and he has basically got in creamed all three times, but now all of a sudden, he is running for the state assembly in that same district, and of course, he is being promoted by Nick Sacco's enemy.

That is a great Hutton County story.

A guy loses three times for mayor and I will probably become an assembly meant -- assemblyman.

David: That is it for this week.

Good to see you all.

Thank you.

Thanks also to Nellie Poe for joining us.

We are off Easter next week so we will see you the week after.

We are on blueguy now.

-- we are on bluesky now.

Follow me.

And subscribe to the NJ Spotlight News newsfeed channel.

Thank you for watching.

We will see you in a couple of weeks.

>> Major funding for "Reporters Roundtable" with David Cruz is brought to you by RWJ Barnabas health.

Let's be healthy together.

Rowan University, transforming New Jersey's future.

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