Speaker 1: It's night time with Dan Ray on waz Boston News Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, I want to welcome back to the program
Speaker 2: guest who has joined us several times over the years,
Speaker 2: todd Lyons. Todd is with ICE. He's been with ICE,
Speaker 2: Todd now for how many years.
Speaker 3: Going on almost seventeen years now.
Speaker 2: All right, and you are the National Assistant Director of
Speaker 2: ICE for field operations. Explain to us what that means.
Speaker 3: So how arey I'm I'm talking Dad. I'm the senior
Speaker 3: executive over immigration enforcement and forced to remove operations. So
Speaker 3: in the past, Dan, you've had me on talking about
Speaker 3: what RO does. E RO does is the law enforcement
Speaker 3: enforcement arm of ICE. We handle all this immigration with
Speaker 3: the United States. I currently oversee all twenty five ICE
Speaker 3: field offices in all fifty states, in all the US territories.
Speaker 3: I used to be the field office strict up here
Speaker 3: in Boston, which covered all of New England. So I'm
Speaker 3: still really tied in and familiar with all the issues
Speaker 3: that the Commonwealth and Massachusetts are dealing with now with
Speaker 3: a lot of our sanctuary policies and immigration issues. In
Speaker 3: regards to law enforcement.
Speaker 2: The the the enforcement policies have they changed here in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts with the change of administrations between the Baker administration
Speaker 2: and the Healthy administration.
Speaker 3: In your opinion, yeah, I think they have you know,
Speaker 3: one thing, and you and I have talked about this
Speaker 3: in the past. Immigration enforcement is one of the few
Speaker 3: law federal law enforcement agencies that evan flows with the
Speaker 3: tides of administration. So every four to eight years and
Speaker 3: ICE officer or an agent could be doing their job differently.
Speaker 3: Our priorities that are still the same federally. Our three
Speaker 3: main focuses are national security and terrorism threats, public safety
Speaker 3: threats and egregious crimes, and recent border entrants. In the
Speaker 3: Commonwealth specifically, you know, Massachusetts and Boston, it's become a
Speaker 3: lot harder for ICE specifically ERO officers to do their
Speaker 3: job up here and really focus on public safety threats
Speaker 3: that are out there in the communities.
Speaker 2: Well, recently there was a report released. The Boston Globe
Speaker 2: sought the report, the state Republican Party sought the report,
Speaker 2: and the report was finally released, so three hundred page
Speaker 2: report and the Globe the Herald did the story this morning,
Speaker 2: and the Globe will be doing this this story tomorrow
Speaker 2: because they released a report late this afternoon and basically.
Speaker 2: According to the Globe, the drug arrest, domestic violence rapes,
Speaker 2: more than a thousand serious incidents reported at Massachusetts shelters.
Speaker 2: Now important to say that not everyone at a Massachusetts
Speaker 2: shelter is someone who is here on an immigration or
Speaker 2: legal immigration status, because there are people who stay in
Speaker 2: shelters for which the law was originally written back in
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three, passed and signed by Governor Decacus in
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty three so that women and children in Massachusetts
Speaker 2: would never be unhoused. But that's a lot of serious
Speaker 2: incidents over the last couple of years at Massachusetts shelters,
Speaker 2: and some of them, obviously, I think they're all serious.
Speaker 2: The Globe headline says they're serious, but some are more
Speaker 2: serious than others. Some deal with, you know, a disagreement
Speaker 2: or a fight, a couple of guys you know get
Speaker 2: you know, getting in into a boxing match in the
Speaker 2: lobby of a hotel not particularly pleasant, don't get me wrong.
Speaker 2: But when you compare you know, rapes and rapes of
Speaker 2: minor children, it gets really serious. How are these immigrants
Speaker 2: here who were here and are being accommodated when they
Speaker 2: break the law? I mean, you had the guy down
Speaker 2: in I think it was Rockland who was accused of
Speaker 2: raping a young girl. Are you getting much cooperation here
Speaker 2: from Massachusetts or no?
Speaker 4: No, Dan.
Speaker 3: And actually the reports that you've seen and that the
Speaker 3: Herald and the Global reporting on they obviously have the redacted,
Speaker 3: blacked out versions. Unfortunately, that's what E. Ro O sees.
Speaker 3: We didn't know about. Oh. I would say almost ninety
Speaker 3: percent of all those serious incidents addressed in those reports,
Speaker 3: Ice was never notified about any of them. We don't
Speaker 3: have that cooperation and communication with the state. So for instance,
Speaker 3: the Rockland case that you had referenced, the rape case
Speaker 3: and PbD that was high profile, and now the new
Speaker 3: one with Revere PD and the ar fifteen and the
Speaker 3: five kilos of Fennel. Luckily Revere PD reached out to us.
Speaker 3: You have a great partnership with them. But the other
Speaker 3: ones were all from biometric hits on fingerprints after they
Speaker 3: were arrested, so we weren't even notified by the state.
Speaker 3: You know, it's with good partners like Revere that actually
Speaker 3: realized with a serious crime and they wanted that individual,
Speaker 3: you know, out of their community that they reached out
Speaker 3: to us.
Speaker 2: Five kilos of fentanyl in the Revere case. I believe
Speaker 2: alo was two point two pounds. If my life, if
Speaker 2: I remember from my high school math classes, that's like
Speaker 2: ten or eleven pounds of fenta.
Speaker 3: Yes, correct, and it's almost a million dollars.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, how much fentonyl how much damage could ten
Speaker 2: point two pounds or ten pounds of fen or eleven
Speaker 2: pounds of fentanyl do in a population of six point
Speaker 2: seven million people, which is the number of people who
Speaker 2: live here in the Cornwalth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: Well, recently fentanyl has been rated as and considered a
Speaker 3: weapon of mass destruction. It could pretty much wipe out
Speaker 3: almost half the population in Massachusetts.
Speaker 5: You know, this is necessarious stuff.
Speaker 2: When we get back, Todd, I'd like to have some
Speaker 2: folks ask your questions, take some phone calls, because your
Speaker 2: job has not been been an easy job. It's going
Speaker 2: to change with the administration, I believe, come January twentieth,
Speaker 2: and I'd like to focus on where you think ICE
Speaker 2: will be focusing. I have SoundBite here before we go
Speaker 2: from former Senator Hillary Clinton, and it just kind of
Speaker 2: shows how over time different politicians have changed their viewpoint.
Speaker 2: In this SoundBite from Hillary Clinton, it only goes about thirty.
Speaker 5: Seconds or so.
Speaker 2: I think she says what most people in America feel,
Speaker 2: particularly as it refers to serious crimes and criminal activity.
Speaker 2: So this is Hillary Clinton. I don't know if Hillary
Speaker 2: Clinton would articulate this today as she articulated a few
Speaker 2: years ago.
Speaker 5: Rob please play this Hillary Clinton SoundBite.
Speaker 6: I think we got to have tough conditions. Tell people
Speaker 6: to come out of the shadows. If they've committed a crime,
Speaker 6: deport them, no questions asked, They're gone.
Speaker 4: If they.
Speaker 6: If they've been working in our law abiding we should say,
Speaker 6: here are the conditions for you. You have to pay
Speaker 6: a stiff fine because you came here illegally. You have
Speaker 6: to pay back taxes, and you have to try to
Speaker 6: learn English, and you have to wait in line.
Speaker 5: I don't know that she'd be saying that today, Todge.
Speaker 2: And it's to me, it's frustrating when a politician stakes
Speaker 2: out a position and then because maybe the leadership in
Speaker 2: her party or his or her party changes that position,
Speaker 2: they change the position. How frustrating is it, you know,
Speaker 2: without criticizing either party here, but how frustrating is it
Speaker 2: to hear a politician one day say that and just
Speaker 2: a few years later, never possibly say that again.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's extremely frustrating for us, especially when we're out
Speaker 3: there every day trying to track down those exact people
Speaker 3: she's talking about in that clip, the ones that are criminals,
Speaker 3: that are committee various crimes. No one will ever argue
Speaker 3: about ICE arresting and deporting and illegal child sex offender.
Speaker 3: And that's what we're doing. And luckily you've given me
Speaker 3: a platform along with some other media outlets, actually champion
Speaker 3: the good work that ICE in Ero have done in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: So I think a lot of people know that's exactly
Speaker 3: what we're doing, is arresting these public safety threats. But
Speaker 3: when the political tide shift, it really makes our job difficult.
Speaker 3: And it's so frustrating for us because it's never good
Speaker 3: to demonize a law enforcement agency, and unfortunately that's what's
Speaker 3: happened to us over the past eight to ten years.
Speaker 3: It's been an uphill battle.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: It was funny back in about two thouy and eleven,
Speaker 2: there was a governor in Arizona. Her name was Jan Brewer.
Speaker 2: She's a Republican, and she tried to pass some laws
Speaker 2: in Arizona which would actually have been tougher than the
Speaker 2: federal laws, and her effort was struck down by the
Speaker 2: Supreme Court in the state in the US versus Arizona decision,
Speaker 2: saying that basically federal law on immigration preempted any possible
Speaker 2: state laws. So now we have quite the opposite. We
Speaker 2: have democratic governors who are trying to preempt the federal
Speaker 2: position on immigration laws. And I suspect that that may
Speaker 2: once again continue a couple of weeks from now when
Speaker 2: the immigration law changes in Massachusetts. So I'll leave that
Speaker 2: question hanging, and I'll invite people to join the conversation
Speaker 2: and if they'd like to call and commend you for
Speaker 2: the work that you've done under some very difficult circumstances.
Speaker 2: I hope some of the folks will take that opportunity.
Speaker 2: Those circumstances might change a little bit in a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks, and if anyone has questions as to what's
Speaker 2: going to happen and what the focus and what the
Speaker 2: primary focus of ICE will be after January twentieth, I'd
Speaker 2: like to get that clarified as well. My guest is
Speaker 2: todd Lyons. He has been with ICE now for seventeen
Speaker 2: or eighteen years. He's the National Assistant Director of ICE
Speaker 2: for local Operations and Enforcement, and if you'd like to
Speaker 2: join the conversation six months seven two, five four to
Speaker 2: ten thirty. Six months seven nine, three one ten thirty,
Speaker 2: we'll be right back on Nightside with Todd Lyons, who,
Speaker 2: along with other members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, put
Speaker 2: their lives on the line every day, as most law
Speaker 2: enforcement officers do in this country to keep our community safe.
Speaker 2: And for that we need to be very very thankful
Speaker 2: that there are men like men and women like todd
Speaker 2: Lyons out there willing to step into that breach. Back
Speaker 2: on Nightside, feel free to join the conversation right after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios, News Radio.
Speaker 2: My guess is Todd Lyons. He's the National Assistant Director
Speaker 2: of Field Operations for ICE and a few days from
Speaker 2: now the national leadership of ICE. They will change with
Speaker 2: the change of a new administration. Is your sense, Todd
Speaker 2: that things are going to change or do you feel
Speaker 2: that things will.
Speaker 5: Stay the same.
Speaker 3: No, I think it's going to change.
Speaker 4: Dan.
Speaker 3: We're already seeing the needle move. We've had a lot
Speaker 3: of jurisdictions, a lot of municipalities around the country reach
Speaker 3: out and want to know how they can work with ICE.
Speaker 3: What we've seen, they want to do a lot of
Speaker 3: intelligent sharing. So I do think that the public has
Speaker 3: come to appreciate what we do. I think before there
Speaker 3: was such a satism associated with immigration enforcement and what
Speaker 3: we were doing. I think that by you know yourself,
Speaker 3: if you were one of the first programs that was
Speaker 3: ever on that you invited me on, we had a
Speaker 3: really good conversation about both sides of the immigration issue.
Speaker 3: When people actually hear what we do, I think they
Speaker 3: have a better failing knowing what the new administration is
Speaker 3: going to be doing, because we're going to be focusing
Speaker 3: on those public safety threats, those national security threats. And
Speaker 3: I think that more and more of these stories that
Speaker 3: come out, especially one of them, the agregious and the
Speaker 3: heinous ones, I do think that we are going to
Speaker 3: get more support. But I also know there are there
Speaker 3: are going to be many roblocks ahead too as well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I suspect it is that the battle will continue.
Speaker 2: Let's get some phone calls going here for you. Let
Speaker 2: me go to Jim and East Boston first. Jim, you
Speaker 2: were first tonight with todd Lyons of Ice School.
Speaker 7: Right ahead, Jim, Hey, thank you for having me on
Speaker 7: your show. I'm a first time caller and I listen
Speaker 7: to you all the time. My lifelong Massachusetts resident.
Speaker 2: I got to get you a rounding across as the
Speaker 2: first that call from a vircial studio audience. And congratulations.
Speaker 2: Thanks Jim Garrett. Ahead, I'm sorry, just having a little
Speaker 2: bit of fun.
Speaker 7: I'm very concerned about the influx of all the of
Speaker 7: Massachusetts being you know, hobboring, hobboring, you know, illegals. You know,
Speaker 7: I come from a family that had you know, my
Speaker 7: mother had six brothers, six sisters, and it was you know,
Speaker 7: the wait in line and do it the right way,
Speaker 7: and everybody had to come over the right way. And
Speaker 7: it's hobboring. Just st up hearing Revere just up here
Speaker 7: and Revere in a shelter. They had an illegal immigrant
Speaker 7: undocumented with a kay's and uh, you know, drugs and
Speaker 7: fetanohl and also at the paraphernalia right up and here
Speaker 7: in Revere, in my own backyard. And I'm concerned that
Speaker 7: the governor of this state doesn't understand the situation, and
Speaker 7: it's going to be a bubble effect. It's going to
Speaker 7: you know, the residents of Massachusetts are paying for all
Speaker 7: the all the all the all the all the illegal
Speaker 7: immigrants that that I here. I mean, you go to
Speaker 7: the Reggie Lewis Center, you know, and and a place
Speaker 7: you know in Boston, you know that's supposed to be
Speaker 7: for the inner city youth kids, and it's you know,
Speaker 7: it's a shelter for for illegal immigrants. And it's sad
Speaker 7: because I don't know.
Speaker 5: That the Reggie Lewis Center, Uh, to be honest with
Speaker 5: the Jim.
Speaker 2: If it was, there was a community center which was
Speaker 2: closed for many months and used as a shelter that
Speaker 2: has now been been reopened. Uh and uh, I just
Speaker 2: you know, again, I just want to be accurate. I
Speaker 2: do not believe the Reggie Lewis Center was ever impacted
Speaker 2: by this. But but I understand the points you're making.
Speaker 7: Well, even still like our hotels, you know, some of
Speaker 7: the hotels right up there on Leena Cass Boulevard, it's
Speaker 7: a drug haven area as it is. And uh, you know,
Speaker 7: for me personally, you know, since since Romney's we had
Speaker 7: we had Democrats running this state. And I believe that
Speaker 7: you know, it's falling a part at the scenes. It
Speaker 7: really is, you know, we we have to we have
Speaker 7: to get back to to to the basics. I mean,
Speaker 7: I believe, you know, everybody has the right for you know, life,
Speaker 7: libery to pursue the happiness. But there's there's a way
Speaker 7: of doing things. And you know they they do these
Speaker 7: Harbern States as a as a place to go to.
Speaker 2: I want you to, you know, just talk to Todd
Speaker 2: Lyons for a second. He's he's been doing this for
Speaker 2: his career. Uh, and he.
Speaker 3: Is naming common Hey, how are you doing?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm very your plate.
Speaker 3: I myself born and raised in South Boston, Massachusetts resident.
Speaker 3: My family's hair like you, We've all had family to
Speaker 3: come the right way, come over here for a better life.
Speaker 3: And that's what we're you know, we we don't want
Speaker 3: to stand by these people, these criminal aliens that take
Speaker 3: advantage of our system, that hide in plain sight, that
Speaker 3: are foreign fugitives that are fleeing justice from their own country.
Speaker 3: They come in here and terrorized not only our communities,
Speaker 3: but the immigrant community as well. That some of these
Speaker 3: migrants that are fleeing persecution or trying to have a
Speaker 3: better life, fleeing these crimes that these want of gang members.
Speaker 7: So so how do we so how do we how
Speaker 7: do we stop stop the hobboring of like Okay, I
Speaker 7: understand you know Trump was going to say, Okay, you know,
Speaker 7: you want to have a uh, you know, illegals, and
Speaker 7: you're not going to get any federal assistance. You know.
Speaker 7: But like at the end of the day, that's punt
Speaker 7: us in you know, Massachusetts residents. Now we all you know,
Speaker 7: you know, the majority of the residents living in Massachusetts,
Speaker 7: you know, they don't want to have a you know, uh,
Speaker 7: you know, they don't want to have a fugitives and
Speaker 7: they don't want to have illegals. We wanted the Queen City.
Speaker 2: Jim, in fairness to todd lyons, we elect politicians in
Speaker 2: this state who then make decisions about policies, and uh
Speaker 2: uh maybe people have to start looking at some of
Speaker 2: these elections.
Speaker 7: Oh yeah, I think the I think the thing is, let.
Speaker 2: Me take your question, Let me take your question, Jim,
Speaker 2: and let me shop in it a little bit.
Speaker 5: Todd When all of a sudden.
Speaker 2: The administrations change and and you folks find out about
Speaker 2: some criminal alien here who has done something horrendous, not
Speaker 2: some criminal alien who was arrested for jaywalking, but for
Speaker 2: some criminal alien who has done something horrendous. Do you
Speaker 2: think that the administration here will will look at it
Speaker 2: a little differently after January twentieth, I'm talking about the
Speaker 2: administration in Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Dan, I do. I honestly think that, you know,
Speaker 3: having the opportunity to explain exactly what we're doing and
Speaker 3: you know what exactly we are looking for. I think
Speaker 3: pulling back that curtain is going to do a lot.
Speaker 3: One of the first things that we are really striving
Speaker 3: for and that I want, what I've been pushing at
Speaker 3: my level, is to really move forward with these open
Speaker 3: lines of communication, because that's one of the hugest problems
Speaker 3: kind of like I mentioned when we were first talking
Speaker 3: at the beginning of this, that report that the Massachusetts
Speaker 3: GOP had to get through a Freedom of Information Act.
Speaker 3: That's the same to for we would see, you know,
Speaker 3: they should, you know, jurisdictions, elected officials, entities should give
Speaker 3: us those reports and work with us so we could
Speaker 3: be that bet at partner. So I think the first
Speaker 3: step has got to be opening up those lines of
Speaker 3: communication and really having those hard conversations about what we
Speaker 3: can do to help each other, all.
Speaker 2: Right, Jim, I think you got to give them a
Speaker 2: chance here and see what happens. I think I'm hoping
Speaker 2: that there is an appreciation of the intent and the purpose.
Speaker 2: The intent on the purpose of ICE is not to
Speaker 2: separate families. It's not to pull little kids out of
Speaker 2: the arms of their parents. Their intent is to get
Speaker 2: rid of the hardcore curve criminals who are here, people
Speaker 2: like who are members of MS thirteen who are living
Speaker 2: in your community. Jim, That's who ICE is going to
Speaker 2: go after. And I and I think Todd has got
Speaker 2: a big job in front of him, and ICE has
Speaker 2: a big job in front of him. But they're not
Speaker 2: looking to go in and and and separate families. They're
Speaker 2: looking to go in and separate hardcore criminals from our society.
Speaker 2: Yes or no, Todd, Jim, I'll give you a fine
Speaker 2: a word, go ahead, Jim.
Speaker 7: Well, I want to say, how do they how are
Speaker 7: they venting the people that are here now, I mean,
Speaker 7: just recently, an undocumented you know, in a in a shelter,
Speaker 7: mind you, for that reason of being homeless, undocumented. I mean,
Speaker 7: how how are we you know, vetting vetting these people
Speaker 7: that that's up.
Speaker 2: That is not uh Todd's responsibility. That's what the state does.
Speaker 7: Uh No, I understand it. But you got you got,
Speaker 7: you got, you know, Governor Healy.
Speaker 2: And you know, here's the thing, Jim, Jim, We've gone
Speaker 2: seven or eight minutes here. I'm well into my news break.
Speaker 2: I got to take my news break. Some of the
Speaker 2: other callers are going to back you up here. Todd
Speaker 2: Lyons is not your enemy. Todd Lyons is your friend
Speaker 2: on this one. So trust me on that, okay, and
Speaker 2: keep listening to night Side. Thank you, Tom, thank you
Speaker 2: very much.
Speaker 7: To thank you, Thank you very much, Ben, thank you.
Speaker 5: You're welcome. Thank Tod. Stay right there.
Speaker 2: I want to get some more phone calls six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four to ten thirty six one, seven, nine thirty. If
Speaker 2: you understand what we're talking about, I would employ you
Speaker 2: to join the conversation. We'll be back up Nightside with
Speaker 2: todd Lyons of ICE's been with them for a long time.
Speaker 2: Uh And I think a lot of the restrictions that
Speaker 2: have been placed on him here in Massachusetts will be
Speaker 2: come January twentieth and beyond. Back on Nightside right after.
Speaker 1: This side with Dan ray On WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: My guess is todd Lyons. Todd has been with ICE
Speaker 2: now for eighteen years, local guy, and he he now
Speaker 2: is the assistant the National Assistant Director of ICE for
Speaker 2: field operations, which means he is moving up the chain
Speaker 2: of command. And I think that you will be appreciative
Speaker 2: of how he conducts himself as he moves up the
Speaker 2: chain of command. Let's go next to Tom in West Virginia. Tom,
Speaker 2: you're next on nightside with todd Lyons. Go righthead, Tom.
Speaker 8: Yeah, No, I have no argument with what ICE does.
Speaker 8: The problem is is that it comes down from the
Speaker 8: the administration, and we have governors like our wonder like
Speaker 8: the I don't vote messed, but the wonderful governor Mara
Speaker 8: Heey that ask people like me, if you have a
Speaker 8: spare bedroom, perhaps you could put up a migrant one family,
Speaker 8: one family in Brookline on a migrant family.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 8: So, I just don't want to hear it from people
Speaker 8: like Maura Heey.
Speaker 2: Well, I want to focus on where you think I
Speaker 2: should go in the next few weeks and a few months,
Speaker 2: because the leadership financial leadership is going to change.
Speaker 8: Yeah, obviously, get rid of these illegals that have committed
Speaker 8: crimes that disobey our laws. I mean, this is ridiculous.
Speaker 8: I would not even consider going to New York City
Speaker 8: and riding the subway train from what I see. No,
Speaker 8: not at all. And for this this attitude of that,
Speaker 8: well crime is down, actually, and immigrants create less crime
Speaker 8: than native born Americans. I don't know if that's true.
Speaker 8: That's an NPR narrative. And as far as I'm concerned, well,
Speaker 8: you know something, if we didn't have illegal immigrants that
Speaker 8: were here that were committing crimes, there would be lower crime.
Speaker 8: That's not you don't have to be George Carlin to
Speaker 8: figure that out.
Speaker 5: No, yeah, absolutely true.
Speaker 2: And look, you have people like Raleigh Laken, the the
Speaker 2: Georgia College student who would be alive today if that
Speaker 2: individual who allegedly killed her never was allowed back into
Speaker 2: the country. And that's that's a situation that it's totally irreversible.
Speaker 8: Of course. And I'll tell you something to Dan that
Speaker 8: I've noticed. I still own a house in Brockton. I
Speaker 8: go back and forth from Brocken, Virginia, Philippine.
Speaker 1: You know that.
Speaker 8: But the point being is that I've noticed over the
Speaker 8: last year that just you know, for me, just observing,
Speaker 8: I've seen three people the last time I was in
Speaker 8: Brockton blatantly run red lights twice, blatantly run stop signs.
Speaker 8: I don't know if they're immigrants or not. I just
Speaker 8: don't know. But I've owned that house since twenty eleven.
Speaker 8: I never saw that before, and it's like, what's going
Speaker 8: on here?
Speaker 5: Well again, if you have a question for Tod Lyons
Speaker 5: or a word.
Speaker 8: Of eva, No, I don't have the question. Todd, you
Speaker 8: will do fine. And you know something, just get rid
Speaker 8: of the criminals. Continue what you're doing, and hopefully we'll
Speaker 8: have a government that will unshackle the things that need
Speaker 8: to be done to make this a safer country. And
Speaker 8: God bless you for looking out for the public interest.
Speaker 8: You know, guys like you are the heroes.
Speaker 3: No, Tom, I really appreciate that. And kind of to
Speaker 3: your point, you know, we actually really don't know the
Speaker 3: percentages when it comes to uh, you know, non citizens
Speaker 3: committing crimes. But we have enough American born, orn and
Speaker 3: raised criminals we don't need anymore. If we have the
Speaker 3: opportunity to get rid of these bad actors, I think
Speaker 3: that's a thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's exactly what I believe they're gonna do.
Speaker 5: And and Tom, I hope that.
Speaker 2: Whoever's you know, you're superiors at ICE and whatever position
Speaker 2: you have, if you were running ICE, I know what
Speaker 2: would happen.
Speaker 5: I just hope that no one makes the mistake.
Speaker 2: Of saying, well, we're gonna we're gonna pick the low
Speaker 2: hanging fruit and we're gonna go get a mom and
Speaker 2: her two kids, you know, who are here illegally. Let's
Speaker 2: get Let's get the bad guys out first. And I
Speaker 2: think that there'll be a lot more support for the
Speaker 2: efforts as a consequence. Tom has always I appreciate you
Speaker 2: calls joining us from West Virginia.
Speaker 4: Take the guys, thanks very much.
Speaker 2: I want to go to got to go to Florida.
Speaker 2: Marty is in Saint Augustine, Florida. Marty, you were next
Speaker 2: on Nightside with a fellow member of law enforcement, Todd Lions.
Speaker 9: Go right ahead, Marty, all right, Hey Todd a former
Speaker 9: law enforcement twenty year New York City housing police. I
Speaker 9: wanted to say that the thing about what he called
Speaker 9: the sanctuaries, I want to refer to Nassau and Suffolk
Speaker 9: County on Long Island before Donald Trump made his first election.
Speaker 9: They were both sanctuary counties and there was a lot
Speaker 9: of activity with MS thirteen Riya Sanchez, which comes from Salvador.
Speaker 9: You you had dealings with them, right.
Speaker 3: Todd, yep yepent You were correctly right.
Speaker 9: So anyway, what happened was coincidence or whatever. They both
Speaker 9: became unsanctuary. Now I'm going to say this and don't
Speaker 9: take offense, but the saving grace about MS thirteen was
Speaker 9: it was an Internissan thing. They were killing their own members. Whatever,
Speaker 9: They didn't do too much damage to the locals anyway.
Speaker 9: Now I'm going to refer you to the country of
Speaker 9: El Salvador.
Speaker 2: Up here money they were impacting non members of em
Speaker 2: as AT thirteen. If you get out of line and
Speaker 2: you remember of MS AT thirteen, you had a problem.
Speaker 2: But they were making money off of robbing other people.
Speaker 2: Believe me, they were not coming here and living monastic
Speaker 2: existences in monasteries, only interacting with their fellow members.
Speaker 5: Trust me on that. I think Todd helped me up
Speaker 5: on that one.
Speaker 9: The interesting thing now is in the country is El Salvador.
Speaker 9: The president supposedly locked up all of the gang members.
Speaker 9: According to what I see on YouTube, and they've transformed
Speaker 9: El Salvador, which has about three million people, into one
Speaker 9: of the safest places on earth. And I think it's
Speaker 9: a shame that my home city of New York is
Speaker 9: just playing games. Can I ask you a question.
Speaker 8: Dan or Todd?
Speaker 5: Todd?
Speaker 9: How do how do they how do they designate a
Speaker 9: city or whatever as a sanctuary state? How did they
Speaker 9: go about doing a sanctuary city? How did he go about?
Speaker 2: It's done by the local officials. Money, that's that's the
Speaker 2: local officials that do it. That's what they they've done.
Speaker 2: Wherever they've done this, they call themselves welcoming cities, called
Speaker 2: themselves sanctuary cities that they have. Some places here in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts where they have welcome they call them newcomers. It's
Speaker 2: all euphemisms. You know, let's let us welcome our newcomers.
Speaker 2: They don't call anymore.
Speaker 8: Well, what they've done.
Speaker 9: I used to live in San Francisco for two months
Speaker 9: when I was in the Army. Can't go there anymore.
Speaker 9: I was in New York about two weeks ago. Out
Speaker 9: in the island. I can't stand New York and I
Speaker 9: can't stand the people of New York who are probably
Speaker 9: going to elect either Adams or Cuomo. Now Curtis Sliwa
Speaker 9: is crude, but he would make a good mayor. But anyway,
Speaker 9: I wanted good luck with that.
Speaker 5: Good luck with that anyway.
Speaker 2: Hey, Marty, I got to keep running here because I'm
Speaker 2: way past my break. I got you before the break.
Speaker 2: Thanks Marty, appreciate it. Yeah, Todd, you know, everybody has
Speaker 2: a different view of how they should handle it. I
Speaker 2: mean MS MS thirteen was carousing huge problems here in
Speaker 2: uh In, in northeastern Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you're right, Dn, And but right now they've
Speaker 3: been if you can believe it, they're being overshadowed by
Speaker 3: Trenda Ragua oh yeah, which is now now the new
Speaker 3: public Oh yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: It's it's like it's like watching Worldwide Wrestling, you know,
Speaker 2: one year it's Killer Kowalski, and then it's Hulk Hogan,
Speaker 2: and then it's some other guy who's the toughest guy
Speaker 2: in the block. I mean that that group out of
Speaker 2: Venzuela and what they're doing in Colorado is just incredible.
Speaker 2: I just think that there's there's a lot of targets
Speaker 2: that that ICE is going to be able to take
Speaker 2: out and significantly make America a safer place, and I
Speaker 2: think you're going to be applauded. And I think that,
Speaker 2: you know, kind of like that dog that used to
Speaker 2: always kind of be in the corner of the room
Speaker 2: because at some point whenever people would walk in the room,
Speaker 2: that kick the dog.
Speaker 5: You guys, I.
Speaker 2: Think are going to be received much more positively in
Speaker 2: the weeks and months ahead than you can actually imagine.
Speaker 5: I really believe that it'll.
Speaker 2: Be interesting to see how the media covers the bus too.
Speaker 2: By the way, as I'm sure.
Speaker 3: You know, Yeah, I totally agree with you, Dan, and
Speaker 3: I definitely think we have enough criminal aliens in Massachusetts
Speaker 3: that'll keep us busy for a very long time. And
Speaker 3: that's a sad fact, but it sounds like a talking point.
Speaker 3: But every day and the Boston Field off as those
Speaker 3: men and women have to make the decision are they
Speaker 3: going to arrest the fentanyl dealer or the sex because
Speaker 3: there's not enough resource up here to get both.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's take a quick break, doub will take a
Speaker 2: quick break, got a couple more phone calls, we'll wrap
Speaker 2: it up on the other side of this break. A
Speaker 2: couple of minutes back with todd lyons of Ice, eighteen
Speaker 2: year vegan of ICE, and he is I think destined
Speaker 2: for some leadership post. He's currently right now the National
Speaker 2: Assistant director of ICE for field operations across the country.
Speaker 2: Back on Nightside with Todd Lyons back after this.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Todd Lions is my guess, Luciano, we're a little tight
Speaker 2: on time. You're next on Nightside Luciana with Pennsylvania. Go ahead, Luciano, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 4: You for taking my car.
Speaker 9: Oh that como start.
Speaker 10: I'm glad that my family lives in Arlington, Texas.
Speaker 8: I'm here in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 10: I'm glad that the Democratic Party is being shocked by
Speaker 10: Latinos throughout California, throughout the country. Latinos are abandoning, finally,
Speaker 10: the Democratic. They do not support real Americans like Mexican
Speaker 10: American Chicanos, Puerto Ricans and Cubans and Dominicans. We've abandoning
Speaker 10: the Democratic on please buy that we need to stripped
Speaker 10: all these sank.
Speaker 2: O, Katie Lucian and we're not doing a Democratic Republican
Speaker 2: thing here tonight. But I appreciate your point of view.
Speaker 2: Nonetheless as always appreciate your call. Let's keep going, gonna
Speaker 2: go to gonna go to Lou and West Roxbury. Lou,
Speaker 2: you gotta wrap it up for us.
Speaker 4: Go ahead, Lou Bank Todd, congratulations for being part of
Speaker 4: the new Trump administration and all the work. And we
Speaker 4: always loved having you in West Roxbury.
Speaker 3: Thank you. I might love that you gave me that Pam,
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 4: Uh. I want to make a plug for ICE to
Speaker 4: do more investigation on OPT students. You know, we have
Speaker 4: twenty eight thousand, almost thirty thousand OPT students that come
Speaker 4: from China and they're they're in our schools in Greater Boston.
Speaker 4: We have no idea of the security clearance of these
Speaker 4: Chinese nationals. And I think the OPT program has got
Speaker 4: a lot of fraud. Is their plans?
Speaker 2: Explain the uh, Lou, do me a favorite. Explain what
Speaker 2: OPT programmed, audience, because I'm unfamiliar with it, and I
Speaker 2: suspect there might be some in my audience who are
Speaker 2: unfamiliar with the acronym.
Speaker 5: Go ahead.
Speaker 4: OPT is optional practical training. Students from foreign countries can
Speaker 4: come into the United States, get a slot in an
Speaker 4: American college, then they get hired when they graduate, they
Speaker 4: can get hired by American corporations, and those corporations get
Speaker 4: a tax break for hiring those kids over American kids.
Speaker 4: They don't have to pay Social Security taxes and other taxes.
Speaker 4: It's crazy that we would put foreign students ahead of
Speaker 4: our own ship. And Northeastern is one of the biggest
Speaker 4: in the country. Harvard's one of the biggest in the country.
Speaker 4: Be used, one of the biggest in the country.
Speaker 2: So one of the benefits, it sounds to me, lou like,
Speaker 2: one of the benefits is that the employer can hire
Speaker 2: the individual who's a foreign student, and that foreign student
Speaker 2: doesn't have to pay Social Security taxes, and therefore the
Speaker 2: employer does not have to pay the matching so security
Speaker 2: tax Is that correct?
Speaker 3: Correct?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 2: That, let me tell you that's something I was unaware of,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to look into that more, Todd. That
Speaker 2: is kind of outside of Todd's Baileywick I think, but boy,
Speaker 2: that's it.
Speaker 5: That's that seems to me like.
Speaker 4: An a no, no, there's there's fraud in the program
Speaker 4: that ICES has targeted before.
Speaker 2: Okay, let me get Todd to respond, Hold on, go ahead, Todd, Yeah.
Speaker 3: No, data lude that you're correct, and one of the
Speaker 3: main things now that we are going to focus on
Speaker 3: is like I said earlier when I was talking about
Speaker 3: those public and national security threats, and what we're really
Speaker 3: focused on when it come to these programs, especially with
Speaker 3: our F one student programs, is really focusing on those
Speaker 3: inside of threats when it comes to for national stealing
Speaker 3: and tout elegance, trade right spionage. So there will definitely
Speaker 3: be a crackedout, especially with the betting with what we
Speaker 3: can do to bet national secrets, which a lot of
Speaker 3: the technology schools here in Massachusets focus on and have
Speaker 3: contracts with. So will you will see a heavier enforcement
Speaker 3: hand when it comes down to our student population as well,
Speaker 3: really focusing on those national security threats. I'm so glad
Speaker 3: to hear it, Quinn.
Speaker 4: Last thing, Bostonians against sanctuary Cities would love to have
Speaker 4: you and Tom home and come and speak in Boston
Speaker 4: and give more Healy and mayor Wu the what for
Speaker 4: from a local stage, So come on back home.
Speaker 3: We appreciate it. Yeah, we appreciate it, Low And I'm
Speaker 3: happy you brought that up because the thank Cray policies,
Speaker 3: especially one like the Trust Act in Boston that's really
Speaker 3: really disheartening for us. We were really it was really
Speaker 3: on a sour note to start the year to see,
Speaker 3: you know, a local law enforcement agency take a victory
Speaker 3: lap about publicly praising that they didn't work with Ice
Speaker 3: and he's talk you're talking.
Speaker 5: About the Boston Police Department taking that victory lap.
Speaker 3: Correct, Yeah, right, And.
Speaker 4: It must have been heartbreaking for you, because it was
Speaker 4: heartbreaking for everybody in the city, including Latinos and Hispanics
Speaker 4: like that other caller, to see that every single Boston
Speaker 4: City councilor voted to endorse.
Speaker 3: The Trust Act again. Well, and one thing, Lou you
Speaker 3: got to see is we actually did appress lead tonight.
Speaker 3: That will come out here and it's out right now.
Speaker 3: You'll see that in actuality. The Boston Police Department not
Speaker 3: only did they honor not honor, fifteen detainers, but it
Speaker 3: was actually one hundred and ninety eight.
Speaker 5: Wow.
Speaker 3: So we did the secretise with them in twenty thirteen. Yeah,
Speaker 3: so there was way more than it was. It was
Speaker 3: crimes that ranged all the way from attempted murder, assault
Speaker 3: and a law enforcement officer trafficking heroin sexual assault.
Speaker 2: Well, as President Obama once said, one said elections have consequences,
Speaker 2: and that's the consequence. By the way, Massachusetts, I believe
Speaker 2: the governor is correct, technically is not a sanctuary state.
Speaker 2: But Boston with the Trust Act, is a sanctuary city,
Speaker 2: no question about that.
Speaker 4: Lou.
Speaker 5: Thank you for your call up to your alliance.
Speaker 2: Thank you for your work, thank you for your commitment
Speaker 2: to keeping this country a lot safer. Really appreciate you
Speaker 2: coming on tonight, and we will talk soon, my friend,
Speaker 2: and hopefully talk frequently. Okay, and best of luck as
Speaker 2: the as the days come off the calendar.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Dan, thank you so much. You've been a great partner.
Speaker 3: Really appreciate you. Let me champion the women amount of vice.
Speaker 3: We really appreciate you, so thank you.
Speaker 2: You're welcome anytime. We'll have you back soon. Thanks Tom,
Speaker 2: talk to soon, Thanks very very much. When we get back,
Speaker 2: we're going to talk to our Canadian listeners about Justin
Speaker 2: Trudeau's decision to step down as the leader of the
Speaker 2: Liberal Party and eventually to step aside as the Prime minister.
Speaker 2: He's kind of doing in a different way, but with
Speaker 2: Joe Biden back on nightside after the eleven o'clock News