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[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC] - Hey everyone, Steve Adubato We kick off this program with my colleague Jacqui Tricarico, who is the Executive Producer of "Think Tank," Senior Correspondent with "One-on-One," and also the Executive Producer and Co-Anchor of "Remember Them."

Jacqui, people are about to see an in-depth interview I did, a one-on-one interview with United States Senator Andy Kim.

Lots of complex, pressing, important topics came up.

What was most impressionable for you?

- Steve, it was important for us to have the senator on, especially right now, even though we are not a news program, we are looking at big picture issues that are impacting us here in the state.

And right now, there is a lot of news out there about what is happening at Delaney Hall, the ICE facility in Newark.

Tensions are rising, there are clashes between protestors there outside Delaney Hall and the ICE officers.

And Senator Kim was there with some of his colleagues over Memorial Day weekend and a lot of things unfolded, including him getting hit with some pepper spray, a lot of things in the news.

So it was important for him to come on and talk to us about just the state of immigration in New Jersey, what's happening there at Delaney Hall?

And try to understand what we've been hearing in the news.

What do you think, Steve, though, from Senator Kim's perspective was most important for our viewers to understand about what's happening at Delaney Hall?

- To Jacqui's point, I wanna be clear, this interview took place on June 2nd, so it's not gonna be dated, and I'll tell you why.

We're not, as Jacqui said so well, we're not covering day-to-day events.

But I did ask the senator and he was very clear on his view of detention centers.

Detention centers like Delaney Hall, they're countless all across the country.

This isn't just the Delaney Hall issue, it's the whole idea of those who are here illegally, undocumented, who are housed in these detention centers across the country by private entities.

The senator talks very clearly about the cost of it and whether he thinks there's another way to do it.

People could decide for themselves.

But the other thing, Jacqui, we talked about was the senator is part of something called the Dads Caucus, through the Dads Caucus in the Senate.

And he talked about being a dad of two young boys, they're I think 11 and eight, and his dad, who's turning 80, and has Alzheimer's, he called it the sandwich generation.

That's an important conversation.

- Exactly.

The sandwich generation is a term not everyone knows about.

And like the senator said, not even a lot of people realize they're in that generation taking care of their little ones while also taking care of their aging parents, which comes with a lot of obstacles and a lot of issues.

So he's doing some work with the Dads Caucus to address that, and that led into a perfect segue about childcare and something that we are so passionate about, Steve, here on our programming, our Start Strong NJ Initiative that we have in collaboration with the Turrell Fund and the Burke Foundation to really talk about ways that we need to make childcare accessible and affordable here in the state of New Jersey, and the overall impact that has on our economy and the people here living here and wanting to work, the moms and dads also who want to be working while their children are still young.

So really important conversations in this conversation you have with Senator Kim.

- One of the other topics, and there's so many things we talked about, we could have talked about more, but the Senator was on a very pressing schedule.

How about this?

A divided Democratic party.

Ideologically, there are different wings of the party.

The senator made it clear where he stands.

He made it clear that yes, there are very progressive and some Democrats who call themselves socialists, including the mayor of New York, including Bernie Sanders in the US Senate, Senator Kim's colleague, and other mainstream Democrats.

And their policy views are very different including about Israel, Gaza, et cetera, and we also touched on the war in Iran.

Taped on the 2nd of June, United States Senator Andy Kim, he can speak for himself, for Jacqui, myself, and our entire team, we thank you for being with us and check out the conversation with the senator.

Hey everyone, Steve Adubato.

Way more importantly, we are honored to be joined by the Honorable United States Senator Andy Kim.

Senator, good to see you.

- Yeah, thanks for having me on again.

- You got it.

Senator, we're taping on the 2nd of June, things are moving very quickly.

This will be seen later.

If you wanna check out what's going on every day over at Delaney Hall and that situation, check out a whole range of sites where you can find out day-to-day.

This is a bigger picture issue for us.

What do you believe at this point the message is that needs to be shared with the voters of this state and the nation as it relates to what's going on at Delaney Hall?

- Well, what I hope they see is this question of who we are as a state.

What does New Jersey stand for?

What does our country stand for?

You know, we are, you know, I think about how this is a state that gave my immigrant parents a job, an opportunity, gave me a public school education and, you know, just this idea for some reason that this administration keeps pushing as if we can't be thinking about immigration and security as something that's not mutually exclusive.

What I saw at Delaney Hall is unacceptable, you know, and it's unacceptable for anyone in this country.

And also everyone has the right for rule of law to have their day in court.

You know, and that's what this is about.

And it's just getting so caught up and spun out, and politicized by, you know, we just need to make sure that we're focused on, 'cause this is our money.

This is taxpayer dollars, this is your money that's going to this.

And frankly, at a time when everyone's telling me their top concern is about affordability, paying the bills, the outrageous cost of gas, like, that's what we should be focused on.

And that's where our resources should be going to try to help people, try to help families in New Jersey in that way.

- Senator, let me ask you this, 'cause again, as I said, we're taping very early in June, so it's not a day-to-day thing, but there's confusion as to, and again, when this show airs, we don't know what the situation's gonna be, but the date will be up in the corner of the screen.

So who started what, who threw the first punch?

Who is aggressive?

Who's the victims?

From your perspective, from what you've seen to date as of June 2nd, describe the actions of ICE officers, the federal government officials, excuse me, federal law enforcement officials.

The state is there as we speak, local police there as well.

What have you seen from ICE to date?

- Yeah, you're right, there's been a whole series of events.

But if I go back to the core of what started this, you know, I go back to just again the conditions at Delaney Hall, what we have seen from both ICE as well as GEO Group, which is the for-profit company that runs Delaney Hall.

They got a nearly billion dollar contract to run that facility with, again, taxpayer dollars.

Beyond that, in terms of just the chaos in the streets this week, I mean, look, I was there last week, and I'll be honest with you, what I saw was ICE agents outside, a standoff with civilians, and ICE, the agents there did nothing to try to deescalate.

And I think that's what's something that really stuck with me.

You know, I tried to do my best to try to see if we could find a resolution that was not going to end in violence, but it shouldn't be on me or just someone else that just happens to be there.

You know, what is, what are these ICE agents trained to do when it comes to deescalation?

What are they supposed to do?

Because they didn't do anything.

And this is, you know, I think I'm thinking about it because just a week before, I actually tried to push forward an amendment in the Senate that would require mandatory training for ICE and CBP officers when it comes to deescalation- - Are you talking about the border patrol?

- Yeah, so I was trying to push legislation that would require mandatory deescalation training for ICE and CBP for the border patrol and the Republicans rejected it, you know, and like, I just feel like after what we saw in Minnesota, and certainly after what we saw in New Jersey at Delaney Hall this past week, we should be saying like, "Look, there needs to be effort to be able to deescalate."

And these federal agents that are paid for by our taxpayer dollars, they are supposed to be protecting Americans.

They did not do their jobs and we need to reevaluate why.

- Senator, this is where it gets tricky because I don't want to let this go by and we'll deal with a whole range of other issues in a moment.

But there are a whole range of folks who believe they saw video and Governor Sherrill has talked about it, again, as of this date, June 2nd, that we're taping that some of those ICE officers were on the receiving end of aggressive, violent acts on the part of protestors who some believe were there not to protest because of a hunger strike, an alleged hunger strike going on or the conditions at Delaney, but to look for violence and a fight, you say what?

- Well, I say if that's the case, then those should be held accountable too, and when I was there, I was trying to deescalate across the board, I was trying to prevent protestors from throwing water bottles in response.

But again, what I saw, at least for the instance that I was there, is that when they came out with armored vehicle and armed agents, you know, that was something that really set this in a different trajectory.

I mean, before that, yes, there were protests, but there were also kids blowing bubbles.

I mean, it was just like, it was a different environment than what we saw just few minutes later.

And so, but like, look, yeah, I absolutely agree.

Like, you know, we don't want to see a violence.

We need to make sure that there is accountability and that is something that I will always continue to push for.

- The head of Homeland Security, Mr.

Mullin has made it very clear what he thinks is going on there.

He said there are rapists, predators, murderers, and drug dealers at the facility.

Okay, and only a few detainees.

Who the heck is in Delaney Hall?

Why are they there, and why is it that private entities are operating them?

And I'll complicate even more, I always say don't ask multi-part questions, I'm doing it.

Is there another way to do this, Senator?

- Yeah.

So first of all, look, I think there's wide agreement, violent criminals, felons that we don't want them in our community.

They're not the people at least I'm meeting, at least the overwhelming number.

I mean, I spoke to probably well over 100 detainees of about 800.

- You were inside, Senator, to be clear- - I was inside.

Several times over the last, you know, week or so, talked with well over 100 of the detainees, about 800 total that are there.

You know, who I saw was, you know, 18-year-olds, several 18-year-old high school seniors.

Actually, some of them were actually just released because we were shining a light.

And I think that, again, it shows that if they were really violent or dangerous, they wouldn't have released them.

You know, I saw, you know, several women who are pregnant, one that just had a miscarriage.

I saw a man that has stage three lung cancer.

I saw people who worked in restaurants, worked in small businesses.

Like, so, again, like, look, I think there's wide agreement on those that are very much threats to our community and violent, I stand by that, but that's not who I'm seeing.

And like when I'm thinking about how Trump's saying these are the worst of the worst and that this is why we have to lock 'em up, like we are paying through the nose when it comes to this, I mean, it is costing our country billions of dollars to be able to do this.

As I said, you know, GEO Group getting nearly a billion dollars just for Delaney Hall.

GEO Group has 20 sites around this country and there are many other companies.

- Is there another way to, sorry to interrupt, Senator, is there another better way to do it?

- Well, look, I mean, certainly, they could do ankle monitors, they could do other types of actions that don't require locking them up for an indefinite amount of time.

I mean, some of the people that have been there eight months, 10 months, 12 months, and still they have no certainty of when they're gonna have their time in court.

I mean, one thing I think we could hopefully all agree on is we'd need to have this process on the judiciary side speed up, you know, so this administration, they're spending all their efforts to ramp up and supercharge hiring when it comes to ICE.

But what about judges?

What about immigration judges?

We already have over three million cases backlogged that would take a decade to get through.

I've been calling for years now.

You can go back through my past statement saying like, we need to increase and surge when it comes to the judiciary.

We should be able to adjudicate these cases in days and weeks rather than years, if not decades.

And, you know, again, we are paying for it.

It's enormously expensive for us to lock people up.

And we should be making decisions that if it's an 18-year-old high school senior, that that is not worth us putting millions of dollars just for that one person to be locked up.

And that is what we're trying to shine a light on.

- Senator, let's shift gears.

And by the way, so much more to talk about, the situation will evolve, one more time, we are taping early in June.

Senator, you held a hearing on the quote, unquote, "sandwich generation."

You've talked very candidly about caring for your dad, right?

Who's dealing with Alzheimer's, right?

And also being sandwiched 'cause we'll talk about childcare in a second.

What was that hearing about?

And why is it so impactful?

Because you are also part of the Dads Caucus, the Dad Caucus in the Senate.

Help us make sense of that, Senator.

- Yeah, well, look, you know, I try to do my best to be able to lift up the voices of those that are often feeling like they're drowning, feeling like they're overwhelmed.

And, you know, in particular, I hear a lot from people who are just, they're like, they're too busy to show up to town halls or to be able to get engaged in politics 'cause they're just trying to tread water, people who often have their loved ones, parents that they're taking care of as well as kids.

You know, I got an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old, two little boys growing up, still troublemakers.

They're still a handful.

And in this crazy time, I'm worried about what kind of America they're growing up in, what their future's gonna be like.

And then I have a nearly 80-year-old father who has now Alzheimer's and also physically can't walk, so he has both a physical and a cognitive decline.

You know, I just yesterday got an emergency call because he fell and I'm trying to figure out whether I need to take him to the hospital, like, that is not just my life, that is a lot of people's lives.

You know, at least 16 million people in this country are part of the sandwich generation.

They may not even know the term sandwich generation.

They just try to live their life.

They're just trying to get through each day, one day at a time.

And it's not only physically, and difficult, and coordinating difficult, it's also financially catastrophic for many of these families.

So that's what I'm trying to shine a light on.

And it's something that hasn't often gotten looked at.

There's lots of efforts on what we can do for our seniors and rightfully so, that's important.

There is also a tension on what we can do for childcare.

- Senator, sorry for interrupting, can we be a little more specific?

We have a series that we've been doing called Start Strong NJ in cooperation with the folks at Start Strong NJ, accessible, affordable childcare.

I am sorry for interrupting.

Can you give us one concrete specific policy recommendation on the federal side?

We've talked to Governor Sherrill about this.

We've also talked to Senator Booker.

Check out those interviews, we'll see them.

Senator Kim, one policy change that wouldn't fix but would improve the situation for parents looking for affordable, quality, accessible childcare, Senator.

- Yeah.

Well, right now, like, when we're looking at childcare, when we're looking at healthcare, we're large, for instance, I'm trying to push legislation that would give every child in this country healthcare, free healthcare, basically a Medicare kind of equivalent for kids, and that's gonna be something that bleeds into childcare.

You know, be able to make sure we have this seamless transition, understand the importance of early childhood development, and try to make sure, there's another effort that's trying to make sure that we can cap the amount of out-of-pocket costs when it comes to childcare.

When we're hearing from people sometimes paying 15, 20% of their income towards childcare, it's keeping people out of the workforce.

So are there things that we can do to try to alleviate that?

So those are some tangible things, things that I'm pushing when it comes to, again, healthcare as well as broader support at a time when things are just out of control crazy when it comes to childcare.

- Senator, you have been identified, and again, I'm not gonna play the label game with you, you're too smart.

And it's also, frankly, anti-intellectual to put labels on people.

But if we were to play that game, you're a more progressive Democrat.

There are some of your colleagues who are socialist Democrats.

Do you still believe that there is one, and I asked Senator Booker and people should check out that interview.

Do you believe that it's no longer one Democratic party?

I know about the big tent, I get all that, but that there are those including the mayor of New York, including AOC, including Bernie Sanders, and others who are very far left, and some use the term socialist, and then there are really mainstream, middle of the road Democrats and they're fighting each other.

Is the Democratic party in disarray and divided, Senator?

- Well, our politics right now are in disarray.

- In the country.

- Across the entire political spectrum, across this entire country.

I mean, I see, you know, the Republicans, I see my colleagues, you know, some of my Republican colleagues in the Senate are telling me that they just can't continue on.

They're retiring and moving forward because they just can't stand the toxicity here within their own party, whether that's a conflict between MAGA and others.

You know, on the Democrat side, like, look, yes, there are some real disagreements.

You know, I'm someone that had done, you know, I'm not someone that's actually a real political person.

I came at this from more of a public service background.

I very much ascribe to what we were warned by George Washington in his farewell dress that political parties could very well be very toxic to this country.

And I think we see that pulling out.

Like, I think the main thing is we can't be in this kind of tribalism where we are seeing our role as Democrats or Republicans above our role and identity as being Americans.

And that's what I really see happening, which I think is so detrimental.

And so, like, I respect the diversity of opinions, but that doesn't mean that any one single person knows all of the answers and everybody else besides them and those that believe in what they believe in are on the wrong side of history.

I think we are too quick to judge these days.

And that anger is fueling so much of that toxicity across the board.

- Before I let you go, Senator, a few more minutes, and I know Senator is on a ridiculously busy schedule, loading schedule, doing other things, but I wanna get this in.

Again, the war on Iran, whether the people call it, the President calls it a war, no, it's a conflict, an excursion.

I'm not sure what it's being called, but as we speak on June 2nd, it's real.

We don't know how it's gonna end.

We don't know if it's gonna end.

Can you gimme a minute on that, Senator, as to the impact on Americans, particularly in New Jersey?

- We are nearing 100 days since this war began.

- As we're doing this program.

- As we're doing this, you know, this week we're nearing that.

Just to give people a sense, three months in and counting.

As someone who worked in Afghanistan and Iraq as a civilian embedded with the military, I mean, I've never seen anything like this that we did not have the American people's approval for this, and it's costing us a fortune.

I mean, beyond just the military costs, right now, an estimated over $52 billion more that American families have paid in gas and diesel since the beginning of this war.

You know, this is something that is just adding so much to the affordability crisis that people are facing.

There's really no end in sight.

And as someone who's worked in diplomacy before, including in the Middle East, I don't see any resolution in this that's going to be anything resembling a victory and sure, you know, there might be some effort to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which was already open before this war.

Some effort, maybe they would try to restrict some of the nuclear ambitions of Iran, but that was something that was achieved through diplomatic means over a decade ago.

So, you know, this is something that I just find to be just so devastating.

It's such a strategic failure for this country.

- Yeah, it's June 2nd.

We hope the Senator is wrong on every count of what he just described.

We don't know what the case will be.

Senator, finally, President Trump and the future of our country, what impact has he had on the future of our republic and our democracy?

And I know you have to leave, but just before you go, please.

- Well, he has, President Trump has enormous impact on the future of our country, for better or worse.

And in my opinion, there's a lot of damage that's being done.

And unfortunately, some of that damage is irreversible, whether that's our standing in the world, I just talked with leaders from other countries who were telling me just today how much damage has been done.

One said that they are already talking about a post-America world, that America world without America as a global leader, you know, I look at just the damages that's being done to affordability.

You know, it has never been this bad in terms of just the amount of outrage that I'm hearing from Americans.

We are at a time when 60% of Americans can't handle $1,000 emergency.

40% of Americans can't handle a $400 emergency.

And that's not theoretical, as I told you, you know, Americans are facing that right now with the crisis when it comes to gas and fuel, energy costs, other things like that.

So this is dire, you know, it's such a dangerous time for Americans and they don't feel like the government's working for them.

In fact, they think that it's working against them.

And in many ways, what they're seeing is just, again, that the tariffs, the war, all of this is just making life so much more expensive for so many.

- Senator Andy Kim, United States Senator Andy Kim.

Senator, we wanna thank you for your time.

Wish you and your family all the best.

Thank you.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- I'm Steve Adubato, that is Senator Kim.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Holy Name.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

The Burke Foundation Rowan University.

New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program.

Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

New Brunswick Development Corporation.

The Fund for New Jersey.

United Airlines.

Johnson & Johnson.

And by these public spirited organizations, individuals and associations committed to informing New Jersey citizens about the important issues facing the Garden State.

Promotional support provided by NJ.Com.

And by New Jersey Globe.

- (Narration) Healing is never just about medicine and technology.

It has to go further than that.

It has to combine science with humanity.

It has to be our best medicine, combined with large doses of empathy, kindness, dignity and respect.

It has to be delivered by people who love what they do and who they do it for.

Holy Name.

Great medicine, soul purpose.