Maddow: Trump 'wobbling' as his agenda falls apart in the face of pressure

Really, really happy to have you here.

All right, I have some stuff to show you guys.

Less than two weeks ago, a week ago Wednesday,

so that was January 21st.

The Department of Homeland Security

wrote to Hanover County, Virginia.

Hanover County, Virginia is just outside Richmond, Virginia.

It's Republican territory.

Trump beat Kamala Harris in Hanover County by 26 points,

just for context in terms of the local politics there.

But on the 21st of January,

Homeland Security sends a letter to Hanover County,

saying, we are going to build a Trump prison camp

in Hanover County, specifically in Ashland, Virginia.

We, Homeland Security, are going to build an ICE prison camp.

Here, just just wanted to let you know.

That letter was sent to the county Wednesday,

a week and a half ago.

People locally learn about that two days later, last Friday,

with reports like this in the local press.

The Trump administration wants to build one of their camps,

wants to build a prison camp for immigrants

in a Hanover County warehouse.

Specifically, they want to build it out

on a site of a former cattle farm in Hanover County,

in total, it's about 15 miles north of Richmond.

Right now, there is a half million square foot warehouse

on that site that ICE wants to use

to convert into a prison camp.

That warehouse was built by a company

owned by a Canadian billionaire guy

based in Vancouver, British Columbia.

His company is apparently going to sell

that warehouse in Virginia to ICE,

so ICE can build a prison camp there.

So that news comes to the county on Wednesday.

The news gets out locally that this is happening

two days later on Friday.

Then over that weekend, the Canadians get going on this.

The head of the Green Party in British Columbia

announces a boycott of that billionaire,

of all the companies owned or operated

by that Canadian billionaire.

If he goes through with selling this warehouse

to become an ICE prison camp in Virginia,

that happens over the weekend.

Then on Monday, the union that represents workers

at one of his grocery stores, they say, basically,

yeah, we're with her.

You better not sell that warehouse for a Trump prison camp

for ICE, by the way, we're your workers

at your grocery store, you better listen to us.

The day after that, Tuesday,

the billionaire's company puts out a kind of milk toast,

everybody calmed down statement

that basically just says, you know, we understand

that this is something people feel really strongly about.

Thanks for your concern,

but basically the upshot of it is we're still moving

ahead with this thing.

That's Tuesday, following day, Wednesday,

a big outdoor advertising company

that does tons of business with that billionaire's company,

advertising company called Point Blank,

they send the billionaire a letter saying, hey, you know,

if you help ICE build a freaking prison camp

in America, in Virginia,

we're never doing any business

with any of your companies ever again.

Well, that night back in Virginia, back in Hanover County,

there's a Board of Supervisors meeting.

When they first got those local news reports

that this prison camp was coming to town

that ICE wanted to build a prison camp there,

those local news reports had mentioned

that the local Board of Supervisors was, quote,

set to consider the proposal and potential next steps

at its next regularly scheduled meeting

on Wednesday, January 28th, weather permitting.

Well, as of Wednesday, January 28th,

weather was not permitting, it was absolutely freezing,

snow everywhere, the roads were completely covered in ice.

Nevertheless, the local Board of Supervisors

in Hanover County, Virginia, met that night Wednesday

and the place was absolutely packed with locals.

The public comment period at the Board of Supervisors meeting

went on and on and on for hours

and nobody was allowed to speak at that public comment period

unless they were from Hanover County.

And again, this is a Trump plus 26 county.

But basically the whole community turned up

on this icy cold snowy, dangerous night

to tell the Board of Supervisors there exactly what they thought.

There were so many people there in the cold in the snow

that once the room was full,

people queued up outside despite the weather.

They knew they wouldn't get in,

they were told they wouldn't get in,

they said they weren't leaving, they were staying,

they had to save their peace, and then this happened.

Hey, they're in the visible Virginia.

We're here outside the Hanover Board of Supervisors meeting.

You can see people turned out.

Usually they are cheering and excited right now

because the rumor is that they just voted it down.

I'm going to see if I can get confirmation

if that is what has actually happened.

People of those chanting,

they just announced proposal rejected, and everyone screamed.

So that is it.

So it says, it's wonderful, patriots have defeated the concentration camp.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

We're not leaving.

You hear the cheers that go up when they hear the result

of what happened inside.

The Board of Supervisors in deep, deep red Hanover County,

Virginia said, no, that night.

With all those people packing the meeting with all those people outside,

they said we do not want a Trump prison camp here.

In the statement that the board put out saying that they oppose

this prison camp being cited in their county,

held on their state representatives in state government.

They called on their federal delegation in Congress to please help them,

to please make this not happen, to tell ICE,

and to tell the Trump administration that they were not going to have

one of these prison camps in their county.

So that was Wednesday night.

Then less than 48 hours later on Friday, this past Friday,

the Canadian billionaire, the guy who owns that half million square foot warehouse,

an Ashland in Hanover County, Virginia,

is company put out a very simple one-line statement.

It says, quote, the transaction to sell our industrial building

in Ashland, Virginia, will not be proceeding.

Will not be proceeding.

Done.

Let's go to another red part of the country.

Let's go to Utah.

We covered over the past couple of weeks,

in Utah, to stop yet another huge warehouse

from being bought by the Trump administration and turned into a huge

immigrant prison camp there.

Local organizers in Utah focused their attention on the real estate company

that was trying to broker the sale of that Salt Lake City warehouse to ICE.

So organizing like this one,

contact the real estate company today.

Let them know what you think of their plan to profit off the suffering

of countless human beings, call their offices, email them,

review them on Google Yelp and Facebook.

There was a big protest at the offices of that local real estate company.

The mayor of Salt Lake County got involved.

She says publicly that the size of this prison camp that Trump wants to put there,

it would hold more people than the entire Utah Department of Corrections.

It would hold more people in that one facility than all Utah state prisons combined.

And that community is not willing to bear that cost.

She said she will use, quote, all available legal and policy avenues,

including land use authority, regulatory review,

and coordination with local partners to oppose this thing.

Then we get the Salt Lake City mayor involved.

She's contacting the local real estate group that's been getting all these calls

and these emails that's having protests at its offices.

It's getting the most pressure and the worst press of its life

over its choice to do business with ICE to put a prison camp in their hometown.

Salt Lake City mayor tells them, do not do it.

And this Saturday, this weekend,

that local real estate company, the one that owns the warehouse,

they put out their own brief to the point statement.

We quote, have no plans to sell or lease the building to ICE

or any other federal government agency.

Done. It's Salt Lake City.

Let's go to another red part of the country.

Let's go to Oklahoma.

We have previously covered how Trump wants to put a prison camp in Durant, Oklahoma.

We covered how the local government there passed a resolution

insisting that they will not allow it.

Now look at Oklahoma City, a 27-acre warehouse facility there

where I say they want to put a Trump prison camp in Oklahoma City.

People in Oklahoma City immediately started organizing against it

when word of that got out.

They packed into an Oklahoma City council meeting on Tuesday

to say no to say they will not abide it in no way.

The public comment period again went on for hours and hours and hours.

Oklahoma City's mayor gets involved.

He directly contacts the owner of that facility,

owner of the warehouse to talk them out of selling it to ICE,

to turn it into a Trump prison camp.

This past Thursday, the mayor of Oklahoma City announces

they are not going to sell.

They are not going to sell that facility to ICE.

There is not going to be a Trump prison camp in Oklahoma City.

Meanwhile, the local press reports that there are almost no other

facilities like that in the Oklahoma City area.

So if that one is out, the one ICE wanted,

then it's not likely that ICE is going to find any place else like that

anywhere near there, besides that one.

In other words, it seems like it's pretty much done there,

no matter how badly they want it.

On Sunday this weekend, there was a planned protest

at the site of that warehouse where ICE was going to put their prison camp in Oklahoma City.

But the organizers instead turned it into a celebration

of the fact that local residents turned that around,

and it's not going to happen.

People's voices are important.

Oklahoma City residents celebrate victory over proposed ICE facility.

A planned site visit for contractors to eyeball a site in San Antonio.

That could be a Trump prison camp.

That site visit was canceled when the date rolled around

and the site was filled with protesters,

just waiting for ICE and the proposed contractors to arrive.

In Merrimack, New Hampshire, 1200 people showed up

at a planning meeting in their town to tell their local government

no way they will not allow a prison camp there either.

Social Circle Georgia, we talked about this last week.

Social Circle Georgia has a population of 5,000 people.

Trump wants to put a prison camp there that would hold 10,000 people,

twice the size of the town.

The town is protesting, their local government has told the press

and the Trump administration that their sewer and water capacity

is maxed out already in town.

And so not only is one of these prison camps not wanted,

it is literally impossible to cite it there.

And that matters because even if the federal government can legally

try to force a local community into accepting a federal facility,

it can't force them to build new sewers or water sources or roads

to handle that kind of facility.

That same kind of argument is now operative in Roxbury, New Jersey,

where as we have reported in previous weeks,

the all Republican local government in Roxbury passed a resolution

saying no, do not put one of your Trump prison camps here.

Local residents are worried that that resolution isn't enough,

that the Trump administration will still try to put a prison camp

in Roxbury, New Jersey anyway.

They are still fighting tooth and nail to stop it.

Even as the local government says that just in terms of things

like sewer and water, it is not possible for it to be there.

In Kansas City, Missouri, we're gonna talk with the mayor

of Kansas City tonight here on this show.

In Kansas City, they passed a five year moratorium

on any non-municipal detention facility of any kind

being built in Kansas City.

That moratorium is designed specifically to stop Trump

from putting a prison camp in Kansas City.

They say they're ready to defend that in court.

And meanwhile, the local real estate company in Kansas City

that has reportedly been working with ICE

to try to cite this prison camp in Kansas City.

Well, the local port district in Kansas City

is considering cutting off all business with that company

in response to their work with ICE.

I should also say that local company is just getting dragged

through it in the local press.

Headlined the Kansas City star quote,

the brothers behind platform ventures

could choose not to sell out Kansas City ties.

From that op-ed quote, drop the deal.

Eat the embarrassment. Find another buyer.

Make a clean break and say plainly

that you don't want your legacy tied to masked men

hauling people out of their homes

and into warehouses on the edge of town.

The alternative is a lifetime of being whispered

about behind your backs everywhere

from church fundraisers to the crown seats at the royals game.

People remember, you aren't breaking the law.

But you also could choose not to be the villain in this story.

You could decide not to treat this moment

as just another business transaction.

People would remember that too.

That's Kansas City.

Again, the mayor will be here in just a moment tonight.

Surprise Arizona.

ICE has already bought a warehouse in Surprise Arizona

to develop apparently into a huge prison camp there.

But more than 1,000 people turned out in Surprise Arizona

this weekend to say, don't do it.

We don't want it here.

In Tucson, Arizona, the local press says 6,000 people

packed the downtown protesting against ICE this weekend.

But hey, Tucson, just a half hour outside Tucson

in Marana, Arizona, M-A-R-A-N-A,

just northwest of Tucson.

Locals there are protesting.

This is Pima County.

There's a group that's formed there

against a planned prison camp in Marana, Arizona.

It's called Price for Pima Resists Ice.

They've got a petition going.

They can to try to stop a Trump prison camp

from going in there as well.

Again, that's just a half an hour from Tucson.

Near Hagerstown, Maryland,

in a place called Williamsport,

ICE has already bought the warehouse there

that they want to turn into a huge Trump prison camp.

We have seen US Senators and members of Congress

and locals protesting to try to stop that,

just outside Hagerstown, Maryland.

But it's not the only place in Maryland.

An hour and a half away from there

in Howard County, Maryland,

a place called Elk Ridge,

ICE apparently wants to build another Trump prison camp there.

Well, today, look at this.

The Howard County Maryland County Executive,

his name is Calvin Ball.

Tonight, he announced that as of this evening,

he is revoking the building permit

for the facility where they were doing the build out

to try to form a Trump prison camp there as well.

Watch.

As we continue to witness the devastating consequences

of federal enforcement actions across our nation,

including loss of life and civil unrest,

it is more important than ever

that local government acts with clarity,

restraint, and compassion.

And it is our responsibility as local leaders to act

before harm occurs and not after.

Today, my director of inspections, licenses,

and permits revoked the building permit

for this detention center.

Together, we will stand united,

work collaboratively together,

and safeguard our community and stand up for dignity.

That concludes my remarks.

That concludes my remarks.

That is the County Executive of Howard County, Maryland.

His name is Calvin Ball.

Announcing tonight that the county government

is revoking the building permit for Trump's prison camp

that they were trying to build in Elk Ridge, Maryland.

If they build them, they will fill them.

And there's different forms of leverage available

for various facilities of these kinds, right?

If they want to build them on military bases

or in other facilities they've already got federal control of,

there's little leverage to be able to stop them

from building those facilities.

Once they've built them or they got those facilities open,

people absolutely can still show up

and protest the heck out of those facilities,

which you have seen, even just over the last few days.

For example, at the gates of the prison camp in Dilly, Texas.

In Dilly, Texas, they're holding men, women, and children there.

Dilly, Texas is where the prisoners themselves revolted

inside the facility in peaceful protests last week.

Reportedly, when they heard about the protests nationwide

over what had happened in Minneapolis,

Dilly, Texas is where five-year-old Liam Ramos was sent from Minneapolis.

Before a judge this weekend ordered him and his father freed and sent home,

but Dilly is where hundreds of other kids are still being held.

And where there is now, the government admits,

a measles outbreak, oh good.

People have been protesting regularly at the gates of Dilly now in Texas.

People have also been protesting regularly,

at Fort Bliss, at Camp East Montana,

where at least three people have died in just the past two months,

including one man whose death has been ruled a homicide by the local medical examiner.

I mean, in the existing prison camps they've got,

Trump is already holding more than 73,000 people right now,

which is a record.

They want to build 16 new processing facilities

and seven new huge warehouse facility camps.

If they build those, if they can build those 23 new facilities

that they've said they want to build in these communities

that I've been describing all over the country,

if they can build those 23 new facilities,

that'll give them the space to more than double the number of people

they're holding in the camps.

The biggest one they've got right now holds about 3,000 people.

That's the one at Fort Bliss, where three people have died in the past eight weeks.

Again, about 3,000 people are there now.

There's already people regularly dying there.

3,000 people there now.

They want their new prison camps to be closer to 10,000 people.

How do you think those facilities are going to be run?

If they build them, they will fill them up.

And yes, maybe they will use them for immigration detention.

Now, whatever that is, they're prison camps.

But if history tells us anything,

it tells us that once facilities like this are built

and these kinds of numbers,

once you get an archipelago of facilities like this built in numbers like this,

yeah, they may start as immigration detention,

but they're available to them indefinitely

for whatever they want to do with those camps.

And so you see something that has been mostly flying under the radar

of the national media,

but may absolutely be key to our destiny as a nation.

Everywhere they are trying to build these things,

including in the redest states in the country.

Everywhere people are pulling out all the stops

to prevent these camps from being built.

And I have to tell you,

if the country stops them from building them,

they will never again have this kind of momentum

to try to build a constellation of prison camps

this large outside the reach of the law.

I mean, why would we give this government that kind of power,

that kind of tool to use indefinitely?

We are seeing continued rolling,

huge anti-ice protests everywhere now.

And it's not just old folks,

and it's not just young folks,

it's old folks and young folks

and everybody in between.

I mean, just in Los Angeles,

three straight days of three really big days of anti-ice,

anti-Trump protests in that city,

also outside the sheriff's office in Lafayette, Louisiana,

also Indianapolis, Indiana, in the snow,

and Westerville, Ohio, in the snow.

We saw bike rides to honor Alex Pretti,

who was killed by Trump's agents in the streets of Minneapolis.

Bike rides for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis,

and in New York City, and in Austin,

and in Boise, and in Denver,

and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and many, many, many more.

Protests inside the target stores in Minneapolis.

Target is headquartered in Minneapolis.

Locals there want that company

to keep ice out of its stores

and out of its parking lots.

They want target to use its influence as a corporation

to push back against Trump.

On what Trump's agents are trying to do to people

and are doing to people in Target's home city.

You see ongoing protests in Mount Kisco, New York,

and Portland, Oregon, and New York City,

and Belleville, Illinois,

and on the beach in Ocean Beach, California,

we have eyes, no more lies, abolish ice.

High schools all over the country,

walked out on Friday, abolish ice.

Rolling anti-ice protests everywhere now.

And the national media has now caught up to the fact

that this is happening,

and this is very much the temperature of the country right now.

The national media has now caught up to the fact

that Americans everywhere are fiercely resolute

and dedicated in their opposition to what Trump is doing

and their willingness to show it.

The next big nationwide

No Kings Day protest is planned for March 28th.

You may want to put that on your calendar now.

March 28th, which is a Saturday.

At the earlier No Kings Day protests,

literally millions of Americans protested.

There were some of the largest protest days in American history.

This next one, given what we're seeing in the streets right now,

could end up being a very big deal.

March 28th.

But, I mean, just speaking strategically,

I think anybody who studies movements like this in any country,

anywhere in the modern world will tell you that keeping the pressure

on a would-be authoritarian state

is never more important than when they're wobbling,

when they're on the defensive,

when they're losing their will,

when they're falling apart,

which right now they are.

I mean, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Nome announcing tonight

that, as of now, immediately,

Homeland Security agents will start wearing body cameras.

They say, starting in Minneapolis and then everywhere, okay?

We shall see.

Federal Judge today brushing Kristi Nome back and saying,

your new policy is illegal and unconstitutional

and actually members of Congress have every right

to inspect immigration prisons.

The Trump prison camps, whenever they want to,

and you cannot keep them out.

They have been trying to keep members of Congress

out of these prison camps.

They cannot do so.

Another federal judge, just tonight,

brushing Kristi Nome back and saying that the plan

to revoke legal status from 330,000 people

at midnight tomorrow, people from Haiti,

instantly rendering them all subject to arrest and deportation,

that is not going to happen.

It is a blistering ruling.

It's just come out tonight.

We're going to have more on that in just a moment.

Trump's bizarre weaponization guy at DOJ, Ed Martin,

who calls himself Eagle Ed.

Okay.

He's the guy who's been in the lead

on freeing all the January 6 prisoners

and bringing these doomed hair-brained cases

against people like Tish James and James Comey.

Today, Ed Martin got stripped of his job titles

and they moved his office out of main justice.

You like your new broom closet?

Eagle Ed?

With that Texas special election this weekend,

a place Trump won by 17 points instead going

to the Democrat by more than 14 points,

a swing of over 30 points in the Democrat's direction in Texas.

With Americans now telling pollsters by a two-to-one margin

that Trump being back in office has made their life worse,

not better, Trump has today told a right-wing podcaster

a guy he previously installed at the FBI for some reason

but who's now back to podcasting, Trump today told him

that he wants Republicans to, quote, take over elections,

meaning literally seizing the elections infrastructure

all over the country.

Okay.

And his bizarre world seizure of ballots

from Fulton County, Georgia may be about to get nuked in court

as Fulton County today sued to stop him

from doing anything with what they took.

The Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office tonight

is reportedly shutting another eight federal prosecutors

who are walking because they apparently cannot abide

what the Trump administration is telling them to do in that city

with these bizarre and untenable attempts

to investigate and prosecute the people Trump's agents

killed there and their families and protesters there

and journalists there.

Georgia Fort, one of the twin cities journalists

who they are trying to prosecute there,

is going to join us here live tonight in just a moment.

Tonight the Trump administration has reportedly stood down

the Alaska and North Carolina active duty troops

they had previously told to prepare to deploy to Minnesota.

Tonight the New York Times reports

that the Trump administration has even backed down

on its demand to make Harvard University pay them millions of dollars.

Just take a look around at where we are one year into this.

Are they going to be able to build a huge permanent archipelago

of camps, of lawless prison camps?

There's pushback everywhere,

including in red states, red counties and red cities that says no.

Are they going to be able to keep up their military style invasion

of U.S. cities?

Minneapolis says no.

And the whole country says no with them.

Are they going to be able to arrest their way through their enemies

and through the journalists they single out?

No, they're not. They're going to try, but no, they're not.

But it is the pushback against them right now

that is going to prove all of that out.

What we do right now determines the fate of this country.

Georgia Fort is here next. Stay with us.

She grew up in St. Paul.

She went to college there at the University of St. Thomas.

Since then, she's had a long and accomplished an interesting career as a journalist.

She's been a radio morning show host, a TV news anchor.

Over the last several years, she's built up a really large online following

and a formidable reputation as an independent reporter in Minnesota.

She covered the protests following the murder of George Floyd.

She was in the courtroom when that former Minneapolis police officer

was sentenced for Floyd's murder.

She founded the nonprofit Center for Broadcast Journalism

to train up the next generation of Minnesota journalists.

And she's done something that, trust me, I can tell you,

is almost impossible to pull off.

She launched her own independent TV news program in the Twin Cities.

She got grants and donations to fund it.

She got the local airtime to put it on TV.

Her name is Georgia Fort.

And in less than three years, she and her show,

here's the truth with Georgia Fort, have won three Emmy awards

and were nominated for 11 other Emmy awards.

And then a few days ago,

federal agents descended on her home in the middle of the night and they arrested her.

Attorney General Pam Bondi bragged that she personally ordered Georgia Fort to be arrested.

She alleged that Ms. Fort's reporting on an anti-ice protest last month

at a St. Paul Church was an attack that she somehow participated in by reporting on it.

Eight other people, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon,

have also been arrested for participating in that protest

or, indeed, for covering it as journalists.

When a judge ordered Ms. Fort released from custody,

a crowd gathered at the federal courthouse in Minneapolis

to greet her upon her release.

Her lawyer calls the charges, quote,

a transparent and unconstitutional attempt by our federal government

to intimidate journalists and chill their protected speech.

The legal reporter, Quinta Jurassic, wrote about the case this way

in the Atlantic, wrote about the indictment in this case this way.

She said, quote, the indictment itself makes for a strange read.

No attorneys other than the political appointees appear on the filing,

a hint that career justice department employees might not have wanted to be involved.

The government treats Lemon and Fort as co-conspirators of the protesters

without acknowledging any protections afforded by their role as journalists.

Quinta, on the basis of the record available so far,

the case against them appears factually weak, legally shoddy,

and marred by a baffling series of procedural irregularities

that raised serious questions about the Justice Department's ability to win in court.

Jurassic says, this prosecution is best understood not as law enforcement,

but as propaganda, as junk, intended purely to get attention.

But, quote, that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous.

Dangerous in a broad sense to journalism and democracy?

Yes, dangerous very specifically to journalists Georgia Fort,

who now will have to fight off these charges as plainly bogus

as they appear to everyone who has looked at them.

Georgia Fort is going to join us here live next day with us.

I'm talking to my attorney and I'm being advised to go with them.

I guess down to Whipple.

And my children are here, they are impacted by this.

This is all stemming from the fact that I filmed a protest as a member of the media.

Trump's Justice Department has brought criminal charges against nine people

after an anti-ice protest at a St. Paul Church last month.

People charged, included former CNN anchor Don Lemon

and longtime multiple Emmy award-winning Minnesota journalist,

Georgia Fort. Both Lemon and Fort were just there covering the protest.

Ms. Fort joins us live now.

Ms. Fort, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time.

Good evening. Thank you so much for having me.

I was struck by those videos that you filmed during the course of your arrest

as agents came to your home and the sort of very serious calm

with which you told your viewers on Facebook live that your kids were in the house when that happened.

I just want to ask how you're doing and how your kids are doing.

We're recovering.

It was extremely traumatic to have nearly two dozen agents come to our home.

My 17-year-old daughter, you could hear crying in the background.

She woke up after she heard the knocking on the door.

My younger two daughters who are seven and eight years old, they slept through most of it.

However, I did find out at some point my eight-year-old woke up but she was so terrified.

She just laid in the bed and cried.

Now what we're seeing from them, they're afraid to be alone.

They're having issues going through their normal routines.

And so we're just we're trying to recover from this.

In terms of the legal process here, I know you have a good lawyer.

Do you have any help with your legal fees?

One of the things that I think I was sort of zoomed around the journalistic community, particularly,

particularly as soon as we heard about your arrest, was about how those of us who work at big companies

think about our legal defense very differently than somebody who's been an independent operator the way you have,

even with your very successful show and journalistic career in Minnesota.

Are you bearing these costs on your own or do you have help?

My legal team has been extremely supportive and the community has also been supportive.

Folks have been going to my website and making contributions there, but not just to the legal fund.

Folks are wanting to support my ability to continue telling the stories.

This is something I think that definitely would probably silence a lot of journalists.

And I'm committed to continuing to tell the story.

So I'm grateful that there has been an outpouring of support directly to my website and not just for legal fees,

but just for my continued work as an independent journalist.

A lot of legal observers have said that the indictment kind of reads like it was written in Comic Sans.

Forgive me, that it doesn't seem like it's very well thought out,

and that it doesn't actually seem like it's even designed to survive much testing in the courts.

That doesn't mean that it's any less traumatic what's happened to you or how difficult it is to bear these charges.

But given the flimsiness and novelty of the charges that have been laid against you,

do you have any sense, any understanding, or even any theories as to why you've been singled out in this way?

Well, I would say that it's not new in America to see attack on black journalists.

I think in the last few years we've seen an exodus of not just black journalists, but journalists in general from mainstream media.

There's been a series of things that have happened, right?

Like the Pentagon reporters who were not going to comply with the new policies that were put in place.

Kimmel being pulled off air, the segment on 60 minutes, not running when it was supposed to,

and probably only running because of the outcry from the public, right?

And so there's been a strategic attack on the free press for quite some time.

But recently it is intensifying, and I would say that the arrest of myself and Don Lemon is a new level

to threaten taking someone's freedom away for them simply doing their job to try and criminalize journalism.

Journalism is not a crime.

And for me, when I think about the attack that we're currently seeing on the press,

I really want American people to understand attacking the press is not simply just attacking journalists.

It's attacking the public's right to know.

So often there are things that have happened with government agencies, people in power, big institutions,

and they sometimes may cover up their misdeeds.

It is the act of journalists and journalism that oftentimes reveals those truths.

And so if we are going to attack this pillar of our democracy, I'm concerned that the information war that we've been experiencing

is going to escalate to another level, and the last thing I'll say is to just kind of expound on that.

We saw AI images being published by the White House that mispertrade the reaction of one of the protesters being arrested.

The only way that we knew it was fake was because someone was there to document what really happened.

And so we're entering a time where I do believe that this isn't information war.

And so the people who are standing up for truth, the people who are not afraid to document what's happening,

I think that we're going to continue to be attacked.

And that attack for democracy defending itself has to be met with not just an equal size,

an equally aggressive defense of journalism and journalists, but one that is a defense effort that I think is larger than the attack that engendered it in the first place.

Georgia Fort, I am a fan of your work. The Twin Cities is lucky to have you now and forever.

Emmy Award winning independent journalist in Minnesota. I know you're going through a lot right now. Please stay in touch.

We'd love to have you back as this moves forward.

Thank you so much, Rachel.

All right. Much more news ahead tonight. Stay with us.

The warehouse was built originally as an Amazon distribution center.

But then a couple of weeks ago on a Thursday morning, people spotted what appeared to be ICE agents at that facility.

Local news outlets got footage of these agents roaming around the vacant building.

A county legislator confronted them about what they were doing there.

Eventually it became clear that the reason ICE agents were there is because their agency was planning to buy that former Amazon warehouse to turn it into a Trump prison camp for immigrants.

By that afternoon, just hours later, the city's mayor had asked the city council to vote on a new ordinance that would effectively ban any such ICE facility that would ban any facility like that in that city for five years, a five year moratorium.

The ordinance passed that same day overwhelmingly, it passed 12 to one.

Like any of the cities or counties around the country right now that are trying to rain in ICE, Kansas City, Missouri will likely need to defend to this new ordinance in court.

They will need to make it stick, but I'll tell you, Casey sounds ready for this fight.

The mayor of Kansas City in particular has been vocal in his opposition to this proposed prison camp. He says, quote,

Kansas City made it clear we do not want a human being detention warehouse slash camp holding between five and 10,000 people.

We will proudly enforce our moratorium ordinance. We believe we are on solid legal ground joining us now is Kansas City mayor Quentin Lucas, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much for being here. It's nice to see you again.

It's good to be back with you.

We are monitoring all over the country. There's a few dozen places that are fighting off ice detention facilities, ice prison camps, ice processing facilities that they want to build often in former warehouse facilities like this.

Let me just ask you about how you came to understand that this sort of threat was coming to your city and how you how you decided what your options were for confronting it.

You know, no matter the person you talk to, it's always somewhat astonishing how we learn about these things now.

It is usually a mix of rumors somebody who actually just saw something and then occasionally you're mentioned in a newspaper piece somewhere on the other side of the country.

And so for us, we started hearing these rumors in some ways we didn't actually believe it. We thought why would they pick us? Why would they even pick a distribution facility to put humans in a jail?

There's actually a lot that goes into jails. And so we thought it wasn't something that was real until it became all too real. You looked at lists and federal records.

We talked to some of our federal delegation folks and we saw that it was necessary for us to act.

In terms of the local press coverage about what's been happening, one of the things I've been interested in is the pressure on a local real estate company that seems to have been involved in potentially brokering this sale.

Do you have any information about how far along that sale process might be? Is there pressure on that local company? Is that likely to make a difference in terms of whether or not this comes to pass?

Well, you know, if you look at what's happening around the country, there are other deals that have collapsed. You've heard about it in Oklahoma City. You've seen it in other parts of the country.

I think that is a big part of the pressure campaign that you're getting on this local firm and it actually is local owners who were involved in it.

I think what has been clear from Kansas City is just this. This is inhumane. It is not right. It's the sort of thing that we don't want more of.

10,000 people, I mean, let's just think about that. 10,000 people in a gigantic warehouse that has cages inside next to the train tracks. And I keep mentioning that because I think it conjures up terrible imagery and historical president.

That is the sort of thing that I think a lot of people have said whether it's through the legal process, whether it's through pressure campaigns, it is vital that we stand up for the sense of this community.

And I think all decent Americans and doing that. So you're seeing that in the press and you're certainly seeing that in everyday conversations in Kansas City as well.

Okay, as a city mayor, Quinton Lucas, sir, it's been really interesting to watch your city respond as you learned about this to build yourself a menu of options and start taking them whenever you can.

I'd love to stay in touch with you as this fight goes on. I know that a lot of cities around the country are watching you right now to see what they can do to build up their own resistance to something like this. Thank you, sir.

Hey, thank you. Keep fighting the good fight, everyone.

All right, we'll be right back. Stay with us.

All right. That's gonna do it for me tonight tonight. Tonight tonight tonight. Tonight tonight. Tonight tonight. Tonight tonight. Tonight tonight.