tv Ayman MSNBC March 10, 2024 5:00pm-6:00pm PDT
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us says children dying from starvation in gaza is a warning like no other. the president and ceo joins us. let's get started. >> we know that immigration has become one of the top issues of this year's presidential race. according to a recent poll, it has emerged as the most important issue for the first time since 2019. more than half of those surveyed said quote large numbers of immigrants entering the united states illegally is a critical threat to us interests. in other words, there's a general sense of fear around immigrants right now. polls like these show us there is a massive gap between perception and reality. yes, you may feel unsafe, but the truth is very different. that gap is in great part due
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to decades of gop fear mongering. remember, we saw this anti- immigrant rhetoric flareup when donald trump announced his run for the oval office in 2015 where he falsely claimed that mexico was sending drugs and over the border and then in the races of 2022, this type of rhetoric moved from fringe rights to mainstream republican talking points decrying a so- called invasion at the southern border. now, with trump vying for another bid at the white house the rhetoric has only gotten worse in recent months as he has promised the largest deportation in american history and mass deportation camps to scare you, and to scare voters is the point of this rhetoric. but the data shows us something different, that trump's claims against migrants are baseless including when it comes to comments about the so-called migrant crime wave. the nbc news review of crime data where migrants have been flown by texas governor abbott, shows overall crime actually dropping. in fact, immigrant crime
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research over the past 20 years has shown that immigrants commit fewer crimes than nativeborn americans, but despite these facts, rhetoric has become synonymous with the republican party and fear mongering has become the foundation for many of their policies. look at arizona where a bill passed in the state house which would allow citizens to shoot and kill anyone who was trespassing on their land, is being-- right now. one democrat said the bill would allow quote, open season on migrants. but tribalism, xenophobia has always been a part of the dark history of america and our social fabric and anti- immigrant language can sometimes be so pervasive that it can make its way into the back door of progressive liberal spaces. during his state of the union address president biden used the word illegal when describing an undocumented man who allegedly killed a georgia
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nursing student. to be clear, no human being is illegal. biden has since received pushback from some fellow democrats and migrant advocates. yesterday, he attempted to rectify this by apologizing for using the word to describe an undocumented immigrant. during an msnbc exclusive. you may be wondering why does this matter? it's just a word. who cares. language matters. the words we use to describe each other matters and unlike trump, biden understands that words can shape our reality and that they can have real-world and dangerous consequences. joining me to start off is the founder of twin impact which is dedicated to powering campaigns in her organization and is a veteran campaign manager and a former white house senior advisor. thank you so much. i appreciated. >> i appreciate you joining me tonight with this very uplifting topic but let's start with this idea that, donald
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trump is using the very same rhetoric that he was using during 2015, during 2016 but it has been eight years since then. how effective is that today? >> i think what we're seeing is that over and over again for nearly a decade now he has been spreading this racist garbage of a message and it is starting to have an impact on the american public. voters to perceive immigration to be a top issue. but as you've mentioned this has been studied by many people over many years at many institutions, and every single time it shows that crime rates of undocumented populations are lower than crime rates in nativeborn populations. so what is this about? it's about donald trump trying to soften the ground for his rise as an authoritarian leader. when he sits in that interview with sean hannity and says on day one i'm going to be a dictator, he's talking about immigration. because he thinks that he has won the argument in a way that
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will allow us to give him a permission structure to use the military to round people up. but we would be foolish if we were to think he's going to stop on day one and foolish to think that he's going to stop at immigration. so that's why it is so critically important that democrats actually get in the game on this issue and present an alternative vision that is inclusive of the millions of people who are built into the fabric of this nation who need a pathway to citizenship. you can't just meet him where he's at on this issue because it's a cycle of lies. >> you mentioned democrats and that is the question. what can democrats do taking into consideration that this crime, migrant crime wave rhetoric has been very powerful, that this whole conversation has been dominated by fox news, by the gop. what can democrats effectively do to counter that? >> one thing is, we need to remember who donald trump was as president. this is a man who rescinded dac a to try to take down dreamers
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and their stability and their lives with work authorization and deport them. this is a man who took children out of the arms of their mothers. this is a man who tried to pass policies to send us back to the racial quota laws of the 1920s. one benefit that the democrats have is four years of immigration policy that was remarkably unpopular by donald trump. he lost in the 2018 election pushing on immigration, he lost in 2020. that's why it is important that democrats don't just meet him where he's at on this issue. they need to walk the american public away from their fear of the brown boogie man and into a policy vision for the future, one that is also inclusive of hope and of the people in important states like the state of nevada and arizona as well. >> alida garcia, i have to ask you because we started this show by underlining this idea that language matters. what were your initial thoughts
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when you heard president biden say the word illegal, which of course he has since rectified and apologized? what do you make of that? >> it was hurtful and i think that there are a lot of people who want to make sure that the american process, and their leadership, is one that believes that they should be a part of the process. when we use language like that, you erode a sense of belonging. so i know that for me and my peers we were rooting for the president. he was crushing it. the group chats were all flames but then when that happened it was like, how did this happen? because it was hurtful. i have the privilege of being a united states citizen but i have many friends who are undocumented who are just as equally built into the fabric of the nation who felt like the president was not speaking to them at this moment, and in
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fact was being harmful. so i'm really happy to have seen his interview this weekend because i think he understands that that was a mistake and hopefully we won't experience that again. >> alida garcia, thank you so much for your insights and for joining me. i want to turn to a republican who just won the primary race for texas 34th congressional district along the rio grande valley. florez won during a special election in 2022 becoming the first republican latina to represent the state in congress before losing in december 2 another democrat. they are set for a rematch two years later and joining me now is mayra flores. thank you for being with me tonight. >> thank you. >> so you've made history in the past, you recently just won your republican primary, winning over 80% of the vote, but i am thinking about the viewers listening to you tonight. i think one of the things that many are still sort of wrestling with is this idea of,
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how can a mexican born person, the daughter of immigrants, a young latina from a border state, back a party whose leader has said that immigrants poison the blood of our country? what would you tell our viewers? >> do you believe that only people that are far left, only democrats should come to this country? you don't believe that conservatives should be able to come to this country as well? because i was raised with conservative values, the values that i fight for our values that were fulfilled by my parents and grandparents and just because i came here to the united states does not mean i should forget those values. to me, those values are more important than any political party and in my opinion it's the biden administration values that are poisoning our culture because he does not represent our values of god, family, of hard work. that is just who we are. and i know them has majority of the hispanic community are strong in faith and family values and also very hard-
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working. >> you make an important point which is this idea that yes, there is a large segment that are conservative, that do believe in the principles that you are espousing in your campaign. i was referring to this idea of approximating yourself as a hispanic and latina to trump precisely because of the language that he uses and because he prefers-- refers to undocumented immigrants as poisonous, terrorists, people carrying diseases and as mentally ill people. my question to you again is, do you condemn that type of anti- immigrant rhetoric? >> i condemned the biden administration and what he has done to our community. he has hurt our community tremendously here in south texas. it's because of him that the majority of the american people right now are hurting tremendously living paycheck to paycheck. the majority of americans right now are making serious sacrifices and are not able to spend family time with their children. why? because they have to work. and right now it feels like all we do is work and work and
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work. we are not able to enjoy life. why? because everything is so expensive and we are not able to take that family vacation. that is our top priority. securing the border, strengthening the economy. that's what is hurting our community more than anything. >> i'm asking about the language that donald trump uses and i will ask one more time. >> and i'm talking about the actions. >> i ask you about the language because you once represented a district where over 90% are latino but there are many mixed status families just in the rio grande mixed status families just in the rio grande pl., coming from families were at least one person is undocumented so one more time, do you condemn that type of really dangerous, anti- immigrant rhetoric where people that are in your district are being called poisonous and terrorists? >> no. known as being called that in south texas so do not make up words. absolutely not. no one has called the people of south texas that.
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absolutely not. you're making up words. are you saying that the people of south texas are undocumented? we are americans. we stand for god, for family, and hard work. that is who we are here in south texas. -- >> words are important, those are, in fact words that donald trump has used. you mentioned the border. obviously the border is extremely important in your district. it's extremely important issue at the national level. president biden, as you know, has put forward this i partisan border security bill that has been endorsed by the national border patrol council. it has been endorsed by many conservative senate republicans. it's a bill that even amnesty international has called the most extreme anti-immigrant proposal this country has seen in 100 years. why don't you support the bill? >> it still allows over 5000
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people to cross illegally into this country and it is sending billions of dollars to ukraine. that is not border security. we should not be encouraging illegal immigration. there's nothing compassionate about illegal immigration. do you know what happens to these women and to these children that i've personally spoken to? i've spoken to women who were multiple timesand abused through the dangerous journey. i have children that were abused as well in this dangerous journey. we need to stop encouraging illegal immigration which is also funding the cartel at the southern border, which is also hurting people in mexico. millions of mexican americans cannot go to mexico or don't go as often because they are afraid. i can't go visit their loved ones. illegal immigration is funding the mexican cartel. we need to stop encouraging illegal immigration. we need to instead focus on legal immigration.
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known as talking about the millions of people waiting in line right now. what about them? what about the people that have been waiting for five, 10, 15 years that the biden administration promised to do something about? we need to focus on legal immigration and helping those people following the law. these people should not be a top priority. the top priority should be the american people, the people that voted for them to be in that position that they are in. that's a we are supposed to be voting for. >> to be clear the national border patrol council themselves, who represent more than 18,000 agents, they said that the bill that has now been put forward to a vote, they've said that it will drop legal border crossings nationwide and will allow our agents to get back to detecting and apprehending those who want to cross our borders illegally. so again in these conversations, words and facts matter. >>-- are desperate. order patrol agents are desperate right now. >> those are in fact words coming from border patrol agents .
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>> i'm a border patrol wife. i understand. >> thank you for joining me tonight. it's good to have these conversations. >> after the break we will hear from a latina congressional candidate on the other side of the aisle in texas also running in a district right along the rio grande valley. starting a business is never easy, but starting it eight months pregnant... that's a different story. with the chase ink card, we got up and running in no time. earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase with the chase ink business unlimited card. make more of what's yours. when it comes to your wellness routine, the details are the difference.
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seeing another phenomenon, latinos swinging between the far right and the far left within that political spectrum. back in november back in november 2022 the state's 15th congressional district elected the first latino who won in an area that had a deep democratic stronghold. just months earlier michelle vallejo won a runoff and in the last segment we spoke with republican congressional candidate mayra flores who is running for a second time in the 34th congressional district . both the 15th and the 34th districts will sit right along the rio grande valley where the debate over border security has ramped up in recent months. as one reporter put in texas monthly, these dueling victories by far right and left latinas illustrate the complex crosscurrents at work. democratic congressional candidate michelle vallejo joins me now. thank you so much for joining me.
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i want to start with your reactions to the conversation that i just had with republican congressional candidate mayra flores. if you are able to listen to it what was your reaction? >> i'm a small business owner, a daughter of immigrants, in this fight for hard-working families. i am in this fight to make sure that we get access to quality healthcare, to make sure that women have the right to choose. when it comes to their own choices and reproductive care, and also making sure that we get good paying jobs and good paying education. what i heard just right now on your previous interview is more excuses and more blaming of folks instead of taking responsibility for the results and the solutions that our families in south texas very much need. i know that i am bringing that voice especially in this fight and representing south texas already as a democratic nominee
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of the only swing state that we could flip from red to blue which is texas 15. and for me, also, this fight is honoring the mother's legacy. my mom lived with multiple sclerosis for 15 years since i was very, very young and often times we had to travel as a family outside of south texas into mexico to get the care that she desperately needed. so i know that our families are experiencing things that are very, very challenging and the fight for access to health care and the fight for abortion care as well is a fight that i'm hearing from all of our voters and all community members to matter their background and if they are democratic or republican but this is what our families are really thinking about right now here in south texas. >> i think it's also undeniable to acknowledge that people like mayra flores are sort of emerging. people like monica de la cruz who you are now facing a rematch. someone who is a trump
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republican, who won her race based on a pretty anti- immigrant campaign. those type of profiles are also very much present where you are right now. what do you think voters saw in someone like monica de la cruz in 2022? >> unfortunately what happens in elections when people don't have access to the ballot box, which a lot of people in texas have to overcome, we see far extreme politicians come into office and my opponent, monica de la cruz very much represents that far right extremism. one point, for example, is this fight for women's reproductive freedoms. our right to bodily autonomy and to make our own healthcare ourselves with our doctors. i will have to highlight that texas is the battleground. for example what just happened recently with the mom of two out of dallas who was begging
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for a chance to continue growing her family when she was facing a very complicated and dangerous pregnancy. she got forced to leave the state of texas to get the abortion care that she needed and it was extreme politicians like monica de la cruz who were applauding the very draconian laws that were and are putting our families and women in danger here in texas. that's what we get when people don't have access to the ballot box and that's what my fight is. it is engaging our community members, connecting with people who have been ignored and neglected especially here in south texas and in our latino community so i'm excited and we haven't stopped working every step of the way. >> you mentioned reproductive justice. there seems to be this sort of myth that latinas in south texas are conservative, that they don't want to hear the word, they don't want anything to do with that. but how do you see reproductive
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justice and abortion right now in your race? >> i myself, the very first conversation that i had for jumping and putting my name on the ballot was a conversation with my own people. in my home people were uncomfortable to even talk about healthcare. but what we have really come to agree with is the fact that women and doctors should be the only ones making their health care decisions. this is something that we are fighting for. and i do want to say, i want to invite everyone to our fight. i want to invite everyone to find is online because we are in this fight not just for south texas but our entire country. >> michelle vallejo, thank you for joining me. wine a new rule at the rnc is a story to keep watching. ry. because there are places you'd rather be.
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donald trump has scored another big win in his effort to stack every single political institution with royalist loyalists. the republican national convention voted to install his daughter-in-law as chair despite having absolutely no political experience. she will now be tasked with helping-- here she is on fox news explaining how she plans to use her influence. >> we can never allow what happened in 2020 and the questions surrounding that election to ever happen again. to anyone out there who is thinking about cheating in an election, we will go after you, you will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. >> does that sound familiar? tim miller is now back with me. now that she is cochairing the rnc, what do you see next with
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a trump family? maybe don junior getting a job at the white house? >> baron trump is looking very tall so i don't know what that actually means for him but i'm sure they will find a spot for him somewhere. i just have to do a quick fact check before i get to the truck family. on tuesday, mark harris, the republicans nominated somebody for congress whose campaign was caught doing voter fraud and that's why he ended up losing. it's not as if the government is not out there searching for fraud. they have been and often times they have caught republicans in certain cases that are guilty of this. what she is doing is demagogy about nonsense because there were tons of resources put toward finding voter fraud and we all know that was false. that has been made up, but she's going to keep saying this
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because that's what keeps her father-in-law happy. i used to work at the rnc. it's preposterous to think you would have a family member spy, as the cochair, ensuring that everyone is fully loyal, that money can go into their legal offers, and the whole thing has a small democratic feel and feels kind of like an authoritarian country where you are installing family members into key positions. >> it does feel like this authoritarian move where you are installing these family members so what do you think is going through the minds of these down ballot republicans that are actually trying to win this year? what's in it for them? >> well, a lot of them are kind of cultists at this point. a lot of people that would have been upset about this have sort of self step offstage on their own which you saw in the most recent congress. guys like mike gallagher, kathy morris rogers. they are from the pre-trump
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party and were relatively normal and a lot of them are saying it's not worth the trouble. so the people up in to run our happy for the rnc to be totally in service to donald trump because they are totally in service to donald trump. i think there are concerns and should be concerns that president biden's campaign launched a big ad-- at campaign this weekend, seven or eight figure campaign. trump doesn't have that money right now because a lot of the resources are being diverted to the legal side of things. i think there are legitimate concerns that remaining republican strategists not totally loyal to trump have about a move like this. >> how do you think that is playing out? this idea that the rnc does not have that much money and that the money it has is see, being reverted toward lofty legal bills? if you are a republican voter
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and aware of that, what type of impact does that have? >> you would think it would have a bigger impact at this point. it's pretty disappointing. there's been a lot of research and a lot of reporting on the types of regular joe republican voters who have really gotten scammed by this and gotten scammed by a small dollar donation that they thought was going to one thing and ends up going to donald trump's legal bills. i think there could be some backlash but at this point we are so deep into this that a lot of people who have spoken out about it are no longer playing key roles or in prominent positions, and the folks that are still there have learned to be quiet. that, again, is what happens in authoritarian countries where people are scared to criticize the headman and i think that's what you're going to be seeing here, unfortunately, for those republicans. >> tim miller. thank you again for sticking with me tonight. kids are paying the price
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children in gaza protesting earlier today along the egypt and gaza border demanding an immediate and to the israel hamas war ahead of ramadan tomorrow. yes, children marching in the streets calling on the world for help. according to defense for children, more than 12,000 kids have been killed since october 7 and now five months later they are not only being killed by bombs, but also by starvation and disease. the gaza health ministry reports at least six hunt-- 16 children have died since last week as a result of starvation -- malnutrition and dehydration. many are orphans. omar, whose parents and sisters were killed by an israeli airstrike. he lost his arm and that strike but luckily has been able to come to the united states to receive treatment things to the efforts of his family and strangers. unicef estimates that at least 17,000 children are unaccompanied or separated from their parents in the gaza strip
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which the un agency has declared the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. joining me now is the president and ceo of save the children us. thank you so much for joining me tonight. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> i want to start by playing you a quick soundbite of one of the tens of thousands of children that are in gaza right now. gaza right now. >> this is just a child who wants to live a normal life, who wants to be like any other child around the world. we know that the situation worsens by the day, by the hour, but what is your staff telling you on the ground right now? >> exactly that, it's an
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absolute catastrophe and i've said for many months ago i couldn't get any words and clearly it is still much, much worse. we see less aid going in, even that i saw in january when i was at the border at the crossing. we've seen many more children die, we are now seeing first reports of people dying from starvation which we argued and warned against, again, many months ago when we saw the absolute inadequacy of supplies coming in. >> i know you mentioned you were at the rafah crossing and you were able to observe how difficult it was to access such important resources and i also know that you've said that the us air drops are theatrics. you've called it ineffective. explain that to us. >> look. parachutes with-- broken down,
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it is incredibly expensive to do it in that way and it is also nigh impossible to exactly target who gets that aid and how it is distributed afterwards. where it lands, even. are the most-- going to get it in this way? is it even going to be adequate? is it going to be damaged when it lands? it's one of the worst ways to drop aid. we applaud everybody thinking creatively that we don't have to be that creative in order to get more aid into gaza. we need to open more crossings, more trucks need to be let in, the process needs to be simplified, and we can get more aid into gaza. there are hundreds of trucks waiting in egypt, we can get in through jordan, so as i've said it is a photo opportunity. we think it is an effective, inefficient, and a distraction of aid getting in, in the best
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possible way. >> janti, as we are having these discussions i think it's also important for us to point out that children have been bearing the brunt of these assaults for decades. the escalation of violence is horrific but this is not necessarily new. older children who have now lived through six wars since 2008 and 500,000 children have already been identified as needing mental health or some sort of psychological support before october 7. my question to you is, understanding that reality, understanding the staggering numbers, where do organizations like yours even begin to think about the different types of means that are needed to address a situation? >> in every crisis we see similar things happening to children and particularly conflicts. so that's what we planned for. we planned for immediate lifesaving support, water and
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food and shelter, malnutrition treatment now and particularly relevant to the situation in gaza today, healthcare interventions, pediatric healthcare interventions, particularly we are going to see so many children impacted by loss and injuries by the shelling of the bombing. that will be the first lifesaving response that we are also trying to today, inadequate though it is, and then as the months go on and it is assumed there will be an end to the violence and stuff can get in, of course we would love to start going back to forms of education, mental health, social support, counseling, trauma processing as we would do and have done in other conflicts. >> you just said that you assume, not thinking about the future, you assume there may be an end to violence. save the children have called for a definitive cease-fire but what would be your message to president biden and hit it his
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administration who have yet to call for a permanent cease- fire? what would you tell them? >> we've been telling the government for many months now that what the government has been doing, good intentions aside, that the results are just not there. too many children, too many civilians have lost their lives and getting more vulnerable by the day, by the hour. use more leverage points. speak out more forcefully, publicly, about the need for a cease-fire. about the need to release hostages. about the need to get aid inside, and open more crossings. not more air drops, more crossings open, more trucks in, in order to provide lifesaving aid and allowing humanitarian workers to do their job. >> janti soeripto, thank you so much for joining me and for everything that you are doing. i really appreciate it. >> next we want you to meet
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before the fall of roe versus wade less than 1% of the us population lived more than 200 miles from an abortion provider and now it is a whopping 14% with the average american living 86 miles from a provider. detailing the arduous journey that some women are undertaking to access reproductive care in post roe america and taking to the skies. elevated access, a network of over 1000 volunteer pilots flying people across the country to reach the basic services that they need. as one of the pilots put it, access to women's healthcare is going to require an overground real road and that's what general aviation affords us. no one can touch us up there.
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andrea stanley joins me now. thank you so much and thank you for writing such a beautiful an incredible piece. it really was a joy to read it. >> thank you so much for having me. >> of course. talk about how the fall of roe created a need for elevated access to arise? >> what we saw unsurprisingly post dobbs was an increase in restricting access for people to get the reproductive health care that they need according to a white house briefing. in january, that number is roughly 27 million people which means one out of every three women of reproductive age are now living in a state with an abortion ban. what that means is people have to travel to get there reproductive health care that they need. it's not always easy to do. some people have to travel as far as a state away or two
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states away or as far as 1000 miles. this creates a big issue in access to those clinics. there are many hurdles that women have to cross to get the health care that they need. sometimes this means finding childcare, finding reliable transportation. and it's not always easy to do. so elevated access was created so that people did not have to get into a car and travel 1000 miles, take days out of their schedule to get the health care that they need. it could now be done in hours and could be done in a very discreet and private way. >> one of the things you write about is, the way that some of these women are feeling really scared and nervous before they get into the airplanes but then you also write about the way that the pilots are texting them, calling them to make them feel better. they are telling
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them how proud they are to be flying them. you also share the story of one woman who, after she did the elevated access flight, she gets out of the plane and says, i feel like beyonci. that is of course likely due to the way that these pilots are injecting basic humanity and dignity into these conversations, i am assuming. while you were observing all of this, how important was that level of compassion that pilots have to have with the women? >> absolutely. what we know with this legislation that is making women feel very ashamed, feel very embarrassed about the need to access healthcare and it flattens them into not a whole person. so the pilots that i met really went out of their way to make these women feel heard and appreciated and whole. i will
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not say the quote, as beautiful and eloquent as the pilot robin that i spoke to in the piece so you will have to read it, but she is eventually-- she essentially calls up the passenger and says i'm really proud to fly you. i'm happy to take you to get the health care that you need and i think that's really powerful. we know that the physical side of this is very tough but there's a mental side of this as well and i think the pilots do an amazing job at making these people feel whole and appreciated in their quest to get very basic healthcare. >> are the pilots are just the network itself fearing any type of potential legal repercussions? i'm thinking about these so- called abortion trafficking laws
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which you are aware of, this idea that not just people that are seeking the services are being targeted but also those that are helping them. particularly those that are trying to help them cross state lines. what conversations are they having in the face of these potential policies? >> absolutely. these laws are unfortunate but a lot of the legal and policy experts that i spoke to for this piece definitely question how enforceable some of these laws could be. i think anybody who works in the abortion space and is committed to this kind of work is used you, unfortunately, the risk that comes along with it. the pilots that i spoke to were very much undeterred. they want to do more of this kind of work. they are very committed to this work, so that was the-- i imagine that they will continue
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in this space, although the laws are very unfortunate, that we are seeing. >> that is what history has also shown us. in the face of all these barriers, there's always a way around. thank you so much for all of your reporting from the skies. i appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. i appreciate it. >> thank you at home for watching me tonight. be sure to catch trenton every saturday and sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern and follow the show on x and instagram. until we meet again, i hope you have a great night. have a great night.
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