- 6/20/2025
Jasmine Crockett, U.S. Representative from the state of Texas, joined Liz Hernandez inside The Wave studios to talk about communication between the two parties, the ICE raids in Los Angeles, and the community coming together to "protect their own."
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:0194.7 The Wave. Good morning. Buenos dias. I'm Liz Hernandez in studio with us. Can't believe I'm even saying this. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. She is not afraid to speak truth to power. And she is sitting with us right here at The Wave. Good morning, Congresswoman.
00:19Good morning, Liz. It is such a pleasure to have you in studio. Same. It's an honor. Truly. I want to jump right into it because I don't want to waste any time.
00:27One thing that I know about us is that we are a two party country. And for a long time, we've made things work by sitting down and being able to communicate. Yes. And that just doesn't feel possible these days. Yeah. You know, Michelle Obama famously said, when they go low, we go high. And it feels like right now the low has no floor. Correct. Especially when it comes to human first. Yeah.
00:54How do we get back to meeting each other in a middle ground where we can listen and resolve our issues?
01:02Yeah. So you decided that you wanted to put me on your couch this morning. I see. No, listen, I think it's a great point. And it's a great question. First of all, you can't have effective communication if you don't have effective communicators. That's number one. Right.
01:16We know that when we're talking about any relationship and we know that typically we see a breakdown in relationships when there's a breakdown in communication.
01:24So I think that, number one, we've got to figure out what does effective communication look like?
01:29Number two, you know, a lot of things have changed about politics simply because we have these amazing little devices that we carry around everywhere that we go and they record our entire lives.
01:40We get all of our information out of them. And so life in politics has changed.
01:47And I do think that specifically my party has struggled with trying to catch up with the times.
01:54And so there's a couple of levels of communication. You have to, number one, be able to listen as well as communicate back to the people that you represent.
02:02Our congressional districts, at least in the U.S. House, are approximately 766,000 people right now.
02:09What we consistently hear is that we have ineffective communication on my side of the aisle.
02:13That's with our constituency. And then there is the question of how do we then communicate with those that are across the aisle?
02:21Now, some would think that we don't communicate. We do.
02:23They absolutely understand what we're saying. But the thing is, when you are sent to a place like D.C.
02:31and you're elected to represent your districts, the thing is, the people in the districts themselves, they're not communicating with one another effectively.
02:40Right. Like we've gotten to the point that it's like, oh, if your friend or your family member supports one type of politician, you're like, I'm never talking to them again.
02:49Right. Or we've gotten to the point that when you go down and you go to dinner, a lot of times you can look across a restaurant and people aren't talking to one another.
02:59Instead, they are looking at their phones. And so I think it does start with us.
03:02I think the onus starts right there at the grassroots level and people have to start communicating with people and listening and hearing them out.
03:11That is when you'll get to the point that instead of someone voting to hurt somebody else, they would actually think and say, you know what?
03:19I don't want to hurt anybody else. I'm not going to be self-centered because they have this interaction.
03:25They think about their friend or their co-worker or their classmate instead of not thinking about them because they don't have a human connection to them.
03:33Well said. I want to get to a hot topic button of what's happening right here in our own city in Los Angeles when it comes to these raids.
03:41We're going to come back with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in studio right here at 94.7 The Wave.
03:4794.7 The Wave. Good morning. Buenos dias. I'm Liz Hernandez in studio with Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
03:55Whether you are advocating for voting rights, calling out injustice, what I love about you, Jasmine Congresswoman, is that you show up with heart, grit, and purpose.
04:06So I definitely got to ask you about the hot topic of what's happening right here in our beautiful city of Los Angeles with these raids, with ICE.
04:13Because for so much of our community, it feels like the ultimate betrayal, walking into workplaces where we know that the IRS gave information over to Doge.
04:26Doge then gave that to Homeland Security.
04:29And a lot of these hardworking people are being told the message, you know, if you work hard enough and you pay taxes and you're paying money into social programs that don't even benefit you, we're going to come still snatch you up.
04:42Yeah. So first of all, let's go Dodgers. They were phenomenal. And that's what it's about.
04:51I think what we see happening in L.A. is not what this administration wanted to see happen.
04:58What we see is a community that is coming together to protect their own. Right.
05:02Because I think that when it came down to immigration, there was a lot of fear mongering and there was this idea that, you know, bad guys somehow are the ones that are causing the crime.
05:13And these bad guys and bad women are immigrants. Right.
05:17And so everyone, whether you're an immigrant or a citizen, is like, yo, like, I don't want the bad guys on the streets. Right.
05:23Like everyone, except for the con in chief, you know, like absolutely believes in law and order.
05:30Everyone wants to be safe. But when you do have to go to the IRS, when people are ignorant and do not realize that even if you're undocumented, that you're paying taxes.
05:41In fact, we estimate that typically there is a contribution somewhere around one hundred billion dollars from undocumented folk.
05:51Then that really starts to kind of skew this fear mongering story of, no, these people are just here to hurt us and they did things wrong.
06:00Like it actually starts to skew it. And I also want to be clear about something else, which is that just because the systems have always been broken and people may have entered and not entered, quote unquote, the right way, which it is very difficult to figure out, quote unquote, what the right way is, because it depends administration to administration.
06:23The one thing that we know is that the system itself has never been fixed.
06:28We do know that immigration is flawed. But the thing is, like I just argued the other week and committee, I said, is it a flaw or is it more so a function of what they want it to do?
06:43Like they don't want to fix it. Right. Like it is a feature, not a flaw. And it is so that they can campaign on it.
06:51It is so that they can fear monger. It is so that there is something other than people saying, you know what?
06:59These are hardworking people. This is truly what actually makes our country great.
07:03We are a country of immigrants, because if we look at it, there's only two group of people that really, theoretically, if we're not going to talk about immigration, should be here.
07:12It's the Native Americans. And well, I'm not going to say black folks should be here, but we definitely did not come over here willingly.
07:18So, you know, I think that it is important that we get back to the facts and we start to show some respect.
07:24And I think L.A. has been the best place that has said, listen, these are our friends.
07:30These are people that are helping our communities. They are not hurting our communities.
07:34When you talk about social programs, specifically Social Security, you do not draw down on Social Security.
07:40We know that they keep arguing that Social Security is insolvent.
07:43And so we are talking about people that are not only contributing to our economy and a lot of times doing jobs that a lot of other people that were born and raised here do not want to do.
07:53But we're also talking about them paying into a system like Social Security and never being able to pull down on it.
07:59Yes. Thank you. If we can just stop othering each other, because that is the thing that just makes my blood boil.
08:06Well, I got here the right way. Yeah.
08:08There is no pathway to the right way.
08:10Correct. Yeah.
08:12Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, speaking truth to power.
08:15We're coming back with more right here on 94.7 The Wave.
08:18Can't say thank you enough.
08:2094.7 The Wave.
08:21Happy Grateful Friday.
08:24And I am deeply grateful to tell you Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is in studio with us.
08:30Anywhere this woman goes, she shows up with grit, with heart, with purpose.
08:34And we got to get into it.
08:35I want to talk to you about where we are as a generation.
08:39We're either completely checked out when it comes to politics or like, oh, that's somebody else's responsibility or we're completely civically engaged, which a lot of us are right now.
08:49And I think that's so important that we pay attention.
08:52And one of the things, you know, we kind of hear this in background noise, the big, beautiful bill.
08:58Can you explain that to people?
09:00Because I don't I don't think we understand how much we will be impacted by this.
09:06Yeah.
09:07I like the way that you frame that, because I tell people all the time that you may not be politically engaged, but you will be politically impacted.
09:14And so here's the deal.
09:16You know, there's a reason that the bill is written the way that it is.
09:21There's a reason that it's really big.
09:23They want to make sure that people that are focused on making sure they can keep a roof over their head, making sure they can keep food on the table, making sure that they can take care of their kids, that they literally do not have the luxury and time to sit down and go through this bill.
09:38So let me just give you some top lines, because it is hundreds of pages.
09:43Top lines are that basically the way that I describe it is we have two big kind of budgetary things that we do.
09:52We have a mandatory budget and then we have a discretionary budget.
09:55Discretionary is every single time they're saying, oh, you know, the government is about to shut down.
10:00That comes September 30th at the end of the fiscal year.
10:02And then you have this reconciliation package that we're dealing with now.
10:07And this is our mandatory.
10:09So it's the same difference of, you know, am I going to pay my rent?
10:12Am I going to pay my lights?
10:14Am I going to pay my water?
10:16Like those are mandatory items.
10:18Right.
10:18And then you have your discretionary stuff.
10:21This is like, am I going to be able to take their trip to Vegas?
10:23Right.
10:23Like those are the two different kind of ways that we go through it.
10:27So our mandatory spending is what we're dealing with.
10:29This is going to deal with our Medicaid.
10:31This is going to deal with SNAP benefits.
10:33And this is also going to deal with our income, our mandatory income.
10:38So what we have is we have an administration that says, listen, I had this hundred thousand dollar job and I was making my hundred thousand dollars and I created bills around making a hundred thousand dollars.
10:51So my apartment, it cost me, you know, say twenty five hundred dollars a month because I was making a hundred thousand dollars a year.
11:00Now I'm saying, you know what?
11:02I want to go ahead and reduce my income.
11:04I'm going to reduce it down to fifty thousand.
11:06Now, don't go with my percentages because I'm just giving you a demonstration.
11:10Right.
11:10So now I'm going to reduce my income down to fifty thousand dollars.
11:13Well, what does that mean?
11:13I don't know that I can still afford my apartment for twenty five hundred along with the car that I'm driving, all that kind of stuff.
11:20So I got to make some adjustments.
11:21Right.
11:22So here it is.
11:23We're making adjustments.
11:23So now it's like, you know what?
11:25Let's kick 14 million people.
11:28Approximately.
11:28That's the highest estimate that we've had from the Congressional Budget Office, which is a nonpartisan organization.
11:35Let's kick 14 million people off of their health care because maybe now we can rein it in.
11:40We need a smaller crib.
11:41Right.
11:42Let's kick millions of people off of SNAP benefits when they're only getting six dollars a day to eat so that we can go ahead and deal with the fact that we reduce our income.
11:52And you say, well, why would you go ahead and take a job where you're only making fifty thousand?
11:55You were making one hundred thousand.
11:57Well, that's just what they decided to do for the rich folk.
12:00They decided, you know what?
12:01We don't want your income.
12:02You go ahead and keep that money.
12:04That's basically what it boils down to.
12:06But here is the trick.
12:07Right.
12:07They say, you know, usually when money gets tight, what do we do?
12:10That's a lot of times when we run our credit card.
12:13So why some of the people on the super far right are pissed and saying, listen, we are not siding with this bill because they're like, you still want to run up the credit card.
12:21So here it is.
12:23We're cutting all these people out of their health care.
12:25We're cutting all these people out of their ability to potentially be able to eat.
12:29And guess what?
12:30We still got to run the credit card.
12:33So they're saying we got to raise the debt ceiling.
12:34So the amount of money that they have decided that they are going to give back to people who do not need it, like there's no question they are going to give so much money back that after the cuts, it's still not enough to cover how much they are giving back to them.
12:53We still will go into further debt.
12:55So we have nothing to show for going into this extreme debt except for cruelty.
13:00And that's before we get to some of the other insidious things, making it more difficult to say, hold this administration in contempt because they're saying, listen, you got to put down bond money, all kinds of things that historically have not been there.
13:13They are trying to tie the hands of our judiciary because it is the only check on this administration that has not failed just yet.
13:22How do we get involved to say that?
13:26No, absolutely not.
13:28Yeah.
13:28So here's the deal.
13:29Like, you know, we have members that obviously believe that they are kings or queens.
13:34The reality is that elections are our checks on people like this.
13:38And so you shouldn't sit around and say, well, I've always been a Democrat or I've always been a Republican.
13:42What you always should be is for you and your family.
13:46That's what you should be about.
13:47OK, and this is coming from a Democrat.
13:49Right.
13:49Like, I'm not telling you to be partisan because right now it's about right versus wrong.
13:54And so you should look and say, listen, like I've always agreed on, say, whatever issue was your big issue, whether it was abortion or not abortion, whatever it is.
14:03Right.
14:04But you should say at the end of the day, whether you agree with trans folk or not, whether you agree with abortion or not, whether you agree with immigrants,
14:12immigration and how it's been going or not, you should say, is this impacting me?
14:18Am I going to be able to eat?
14:20Am I going to live?
14:21Because we know for sure that people are going to die without this health care.
14:27And you should say, listen, I may have always thought that I was a R or I or D or whatever.
14:32But right now I got to do what's right for me.
14:35And so that's the only letter people should be looking for is the M.
14:39All right.
14:39And so it's time to vote people out.
14:42Stop voting against yourself, because right now these people have decided that they will ignore you.
14:49I have brought out how many people in some of their districts are going to lose their health care, children and everything.
14:55And they don't care.
14:57And so you shouldn't care when you hit the ballot box.
14:59That's what you said it right there.
15:01Vote for the M.
15:02Yeah.
15:03For me.
15:03How is it impacting you?
15:04We're coming back with more Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett right here at 94.7 The Wave.
15:0994.7 The Wave.
15:11Good morning.
15:12Buenos dias.
15:12I'm Liz Hernandez.
15:14In studio with us is Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
15:17You represent Texas's 30th District.
15:21Yes.
15:21Yes.
15:22And she brings her background as a public defender and civil rights attorney to the halls of Congress.
15:27And for that, we are so deeply grateful.
15:30I want to talk about the narrative that we have going on, especially with what's happening with this administration, that immigrants are criminals.
15:39And if we're not being painted as criminals, then they're saying, well, you know, there are fruit pickers and our hotel workers.
15:45And what about just we're human beings that deserve dignity and safety?
15:49Yeah.
15:50I don't think this administration cares.
15:53I mean, that's what it's about.
15:55You know, the idea is that, you know, I remember going down to the border in Texas.
16:01I was asked to campaign for a candidate that a lot of people know.
16:05But anyway, I went down there.
16:07This is some years ago.
16:08And I was like, yo, what's happening at the border?
16:11Like, why are people into Trump?
16:13And like, what's going on?
16:15And the response was, is the machismo.
16:18That was the response.
16:19And so what I consistently hear on the ground is whether we're talking about immigration or anything else, this administration does is they say, well, the Democrats have been weak, but he is strong.
16:30And we may not agree with everything that he does, but at least he's doing something right.
16:35And so they're like, mistakes are going to happen.
16:39And so that's how they look at this.
16:40They're like, well, it's fine because he's really going after the bad guys.
16:45And if he gets even a few U.S. citizens, that's OK.
16:50Right.
16:50And it's like, no, it's not.
16:51Like, we got a whole constitution.
16:53Like, first of all, you can't get rid of somebody that is a U.S. citizen.
16:58But that's how bad.
16:59First of all, this tells you how bad they are at their jobs.
17:02Well, not only that, but people don't realize until it happens to them.
17:06They cannot practice empathy and compassion.
17:08It's like, what if someone came knocking at your door and took your family dog?
17:12Because they were like, you know what?
17:13We got the records on your dog.
17:14Yeah.
17:14You're actually dogs not from this country.
17:16So we're just going to rip them from your family home.
17:17Yeah.
17:18Yeah.
17:18People put up in arms.
17:19No, no, it is crazy.
17:20And also, just overall, just the amount of people that have really gotten to this point
17:27that they don't care unless it is about them, which is why earlier I said, listen, just vote
17:33for me, like vote for the M, right?
17:36Because a lot of people aren't even paying attention to how these things will impact them.
17:42Yeah.
17:42If you remove the immigrants, what do you think?
17:45What's going to happen to the prices of your groceries?
17:47Exactly.
17:48What's already been happening to the prices of your groceries?
17:50But again, if you understand who we are in this country, if you understand the constitution,
17:56then you are not for this, regardless of your political affiliation.
18:00The fact that he thought that he could get rid of citizenship, birthright citizenship with
18:05the swipe of a pin, and he got shut down by every single judge, no matter if they were
18:10appointed by Democrats or Republicans.
18:11He was shut down on every single level.
18:14The fact that they're debating who has a right to due process when it is clear in the fifth
18:20amendment that if you are on this soil, you have a right to due process.
18:25Like if you really love this country, if you believe in the freedoms that are espoused in
18:30the constitution, then you are not for this.
18:33You are anti him.
18:34It doesn't make you anti Republican.
18:38It makes you anti wrong.
18:40If that would have went through, I would have been deported.
18:42Yeah.
18:42I'm first generation.
18:43Yeah.
18:43That is wild.
18:44Yeah.
18:45It's just, I mean, people just don't understand again with the voting system.
18:49It's not, if you stand up for something, it doesn't mean I'm against you.
18:53Yeah.
18:53It just means I'm voting for what is right and protecting myself and the people that
18:57I love.
18:57Exactly.
18:58We're coming back with more Congressman Jasmine Crockett in studio with us right here at 94.7
19:03The Wave.
19:0494.7 The Wave.
19:06Man, on this Grateful Friday, I just want to express my deepest gratitude to Congresswoman
19:11Jasmine Crockett for being in studio with us.
19:15The pleasure has been mine.
19:16Always speaking truth to power.
19:18We need you more than ever right now.
19:20And I just want to give you the platform to any final thoughts, whatever's in your heart,
19:26what we need to do in this generation to step up, to not be afraid.
19:31You know, I always say there's a lot of vulnerability in speaking what's in your heart and what's
19:35truth and listening to your moral compass.
19:37Yeah.
19:37But we need to.
19:39We have to.
19:40Yeah.
19:41Yeah.
19:41So what I would say is, listen, I know that if you're listening, chances are you've had
19:47that moment where you felt powerless.
19:49And I want to make sure that you understand with all certainty that the power belongs to
19:55the people.
19:56Do not ever cede your power.
19:59And it's one of the most beautiful things about the No Kings rallies that took place
20:03across the country.
20:04It's one of the most beautiful things that we've seen right here in L.A.
20:07is that the people are harnessing their power.
20:11We live in a democracy.
20:12And while I know that they want to change it into something else, it can only be changed
20:17if we sit back and we cede our power.
20:19Our power is our voice.
20:21Our power is in our vote.
20:22And it is time.
20:24If you haven't done anything before, this is your time.
20:28Don't wait on somebody to come and save you because baby ain't nobody coming.
20:32The person that's going to save you, you need to go ahead and check yourself and look in
20:37the mirror.
20:37So just use your power and we will make it through.
20:41We have done it before.
20:43We will do it.
20:44I know it's different.
20:45But as they say, every single generation has to fight for their freedom.
20:51And this is our generational fight.
20:53Absolutely.
20:54They want us shaking in the corner.
20:56That's why they're rolling tanks through Compton.
20:58And we can't fall victim to the fear.
21:01We got to stand up with courage and fight for what is right.
21:04Congresswoman, man, I just salute you because you're doing the work for a lot of us.
21:12And I don't want to let you down.
21:13I want to stand behind you.
21:14I want to use my voice.
21:15I want to stand up for what is right.
21:17And again, on this Grateful Friday, I just want to say-
21:19We don't want to let each other down.
21:20This is about us.
21:22We're in this together.
21:23So we're partners.
21:24Locking arms.
21:25Yeah.
21:25Thank you so much.
21:27Absolutely.
21:27I know it's early in the morning.
21:28It is.
21:30Dina LaPole, thank you so much.
21:33We love you.
21:34Happy birthday.
21:35Happy birthday, Dina.
21:3794.7 The Wave.
21:38We are in this together.
21:4194.7 The Wave.
21:4495.7 The Wave.
21:4595.7 The Wave.
21:4595.7 The Wave.
21:4595.7 The Wave.
21:4695.7 The Wave.
21:4695.7 The Wave.
21:4695.7 The Wave.
21:4695.7 The Wave.
21:4795.7 The Wave.
21:4795.7 The Wave.
21:4895.7 The Wave.
21:4895.7 The Wave.
21:4895.7 The Wave.
21:4995.7 The Wave.
21:4995.7 The Wave.
21:5095.7 The Wave.
21:5095.7 The Wave.
21:5095.7 The Wave.
21:5195.7 The Wave.
21:5195.7 The Wave.
21:5295.7 The Wave.
21:5395.7 The Wave.
21:5495.7 The Wave.
21:5495.7 The Wave.
21:5595.7 The Wave.
21:5695.7 The Wave.
21:5795.7 The Wave.
Recommended
5:24
15:44