Republican Rep. McKenzie talks about Trump’s economic and immigration policies

Jeff Bennett:

The partial government shutdown that halted funding for the Department of Homeland Security entered its sixth day with no signs of a settlement between Congress and the White House.

The shutdown began last week after Democrats in Congress pushed for reforms to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

We have more from Lisa Desjardins on the funding battle.

Lisa Desjardins:

Both the House and Senate will be out of town this week, but what they hear from voters inside will matter when they return on Monday.

One of the key swing votes belongs to new Republican nominee Ryan McKenzie. He represents the 7th District of Pennsylvania bordering New Jersey. It includes the Lehigh Valley and the city of Allentown, and he’s joining me now.

Congressman, ICE is a major issue in your district. I know of at least one county that has said it will not cooperate with ICE. There is an upcoming detention center in the next county outside your area. But I want to start with you. How do you see this crackdown on immigration? Do you support that?

Rep. Ryan McKenzie (R-Pennsylvania):

Well, after four years of open borders during the Biden administration, we have been seeing and feeling the effects of the influx of illegal immigration here in our local community.

If you go to the Department of Homeland Security website, you can see some of the violent offenders who have been arrested, who have been arrested in our cities, who are absolutely heinous individuals who should have been taken off the street. And when we have these people in custody, we want ICE to be able to pick them up appropriately.

As I mentioned, Northampton County, unfortunately, has a sanctuary policy in place that does not allow them to directly release these individuals into ICE custody. This leaves our community vulnerable and less safe than it should be. So I strongly oppose those policies.

And I think we need to make sure that we appropriately take people off the street who shouldn’t be here committing these violent crimes. At the same time, we are open and I am certainly open to reforms and the way in which we can actually improve these processes at the federal government level.

It’s something that I think in every case, when you see cases like we saw in Minneapolis, which are very unfortunate and tragic situations involving American citizens, we want to look at what are the possible fixes, the way we can improve the way everything is done in law enforcement.

And so I’ve been open to and part of those discussions as a member of the Homeland Security Committee recently, where I asked Director Lyons directly what we need to do to improve processes for and engagement of American citizens.

Lisa Desjardins:

Well, let’s talk about those major reforms because that’s under discussion now. That’s why DHS has no funding, which is what Democrats hope for.

They say they want a list of 10 people, but I want to ask you about some of the key items. Tell me if you support or oppose any of these ideas, like banning face masks, requiring identification for ICE officers, and whether there should be some type of increased arrest requirements for entering homes. Where do you stand on these ideas?

Rep. Ryan McKenzie:

Well, I think we also have to strike a balance in how Democrats approach this. They’ve been very public about it. People like Sen. Chris Murphy have said they want to tie ICE’s hands and actually want to limit the way they can conduct operations.

This is not something we want to do. We want to make sure they can fully enforce federal law and get these violent criminals off the streets. Now, at the same time, when you talk about ways in which we can appropriately identify our clients, there needs to be identification of those individuals. Maybe that’s not a name.

Maybe it’s a badge number, but somehow if it’s an officer involved in a case, an officer-related shooting or something else, he can be identified if he’s wearing a mask. And so I think the argument around masks is that we want these individuals to be able to show their faces.

At the same time, this was not a choice they made lightly. They didn’t do it because they wanted to cover their faces or — but because they really needed to. I mean, we’ve seen cases where these individuals have been investigated, their families have been harassed.

So, if you want to remove the elements of invisibility from these individuals, and I would be open to having a discussion on that front, we also have to make sure that we have adequate and good enforcement around the harassment and investigation of these federal law enforcement agents.

So, there’s a proper balance that I think can be achieved there. The Senate and the White House are taking the lead in these negotiations. So we would like to see some reforms, a reasonable reform package that can get bipartisan support, come back to us in the House.

Lisa Desjardins:

At the same time, I don’t have to tell you that the most important issue for Americans is the economy, and this includes prices.

I took a look at the largest grocery store in your area, which I believe is the Giant Store in Allentown, and checked their prices. A honey crisp apple — now, given that it’s a fancier apple, I suppose — even for sale, that’s 12 percent higher, the cost today, than it was a year ago, at the national average.

Chicken Breast – I’m a mom, and I use chicken breasts all the time. This price is up 9 percent at your local grocery store compared to last year. President Trump promised that grocery prices would fall. How do you respond to someone who looks at you and says that Republicans have failed?

Rep. Ryan McKenzie:

Yes, I think the economy is still a major issue for people here in our local community. It includes everything from food, fuel, housing and health care. All of these different elements are things we’re working on.

When it comes to grocery prices in particular, it’s definitely a challenge to make sure that we’re helping people with those necessary basic items that you’re talking about. So one of the things we can offer to mitigate taxes on the other side, not just on the cost category, but also on the income side, is to provide a significant tax break to every American.

By increasing the standard deduction, we save that. And then, in certain categories, this is an expansion of no tax on tips or overtime, and an increased deduction for seniors. So, in all of these ways, people will see and feel more money back in their pockets this tax season.

This is very useful when you are trying to make ends meet in your family budget.

Lisa Desjardins:

Congressman Ryan McKenzie, thank you so much for joining us.

Rep. Ryan McKenzie:

Thank you.