Guests - Richard Mack, Betsy Smith, Josh Jacobs

Former Sheriff Discusses Constitutional Issues and National Security Concerns

Richard Mack on Real ID Act and Federal Overreach

Richard Mack, founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) and former Sheriff of Graham County from 1988 to 1996, expressed concerns about the Real ID Act being implemented under the Trump administration.

"I would have given him an A minus, but now I'm going to kind of a B or B plus because of one little thing. And that is the Real ID Act," Mack stated regarding President Trump's first 100 days in office. "I do not agree with it. I do not like it. And I don't think that he's really looked this thing over."

Mack explained his objections to the Real ID Act, which requires Americans to obtain enhanced identification documents: "It's very intrusive into your personal life. And it keeps track of your DNA and it puts you on so many international lists. It does a retina scan when you take your photo."

He pointed to his own landmark Supreme Court case as evidence that such federal mandates to states are unconstitutional. In that case, Mack successfully challenged federal overreach during the Clinton administration.

"Justice Scalia, writing for the majority, said 'We have held, however, that state legislatures are not subject to federal direction.' Well, if the state legislature is not subject to federal direction, I guarantee you the DMV is not," Mack explained. "The state cannot be compelled or ordered by the federal government to administer a federal regulatory program."

When asked why the administration would pursue Real ID implementation, Mack suggested it might be connected to voter security concerns, but expressed skepticism about its effectiveness: "If they're thinking that this license will not go to illegal aliens... they've allowed illegal aliens to get driver's licenses in Minnesota big time and California. So if they're getting driver's licenses and they already have the other one, that's all they have to do is show that and an address."

Mack noted that Americans can use current passports instead of obtaining Real ID-compliant identification, but worried about the broader implications of federal overreach into state matters.

Concerns About Judicial Activism and Immigration Enforcement

Mack expressed deep concerns about judges who interfere with immigration law enforcement, citing recent cases where judges have actively helped illegal immigrants evade ICE agents.

"For some time in America, the judges have been the destruction and bane of American liberty," Mack stated. "They do not care about justice. Prosecutors do not care about justice. They care about their win/loss records so they can run for governor or attorney general."

He cited the example of a Wisconsin judge who allegedly diverted ICE agents to allow an illegal immigrant to escape, calling such actions "treason and despicable."

"There are 26 laws in America that govern immigration. For any judge to come out and say, 'I do not have to go by those rules. I do not have to go by the law. And I will stand for these poor, innocent immigrants'... some of these poor, innocent immigrants have committed numerous crimes besides just immigration laws," Mack said.

Mack also addressed the recent trend of congressional representatives traveling to other countries to advocate for gang members: "They're playing to the Democrats and so they're playing to their base and I just don't think that's enough."

He pointed out that many Hispanic Americans oppose illegal immigration, noting: "I think I've talked to one who kind of sided with, just a little bit sided with illegal immigration. Every one of them are saying, look, my mom and dad came here and spent all the time and money to come here legally."

The Role of Sheriffs in Constitutional Enforcement

When asked what constitutional sheriffs can do to address judicial overreach, Mack outlined several approaches based on his experience.

"First of all, he can have frank discussions with judges," Mack explained. "And I know some sheriffs that have done that and I did it when I thought a judge was wrong as a sheriff."

He emphasized that sheriffs don't work for the judicial branch: "Sheriffs do not work for the judicial branch and they do not work for the legislative branch. Sometimes we work with them, but we don't work for them."

Mack recounted a personal experience: "I went into the judge's chamber and said, 'Hey, you just blew this one. Don't ask my deputies and me to follow up with you on this because we're not going to violate this person's rights or the Constitution.' And the judge was humble enough to go, 'Oh, you know what? Yeah, I blew that.'"

He advocated for sheriffs to be more proactive in holding judges accountable: "If a judge breaks the law, a sheriff should intervene and investigate it. And we act like judges are above the law. No one is."

Mack also suggested that sheriffs have a responsibility to investigate those responsible for allowing illegal immigration: "I also believe that the sheriff should have been investigating and arresting the people responsible for intentionally bringing illegals into our country."

Voter ID and Election Integrity

The conversation shifted to a recent federal judge's decision to block portions of President Trump's executive order on election integrity, particularly provisions requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Mack criticized this judicial intervention: "That's a joke for a judge to get in the way of that. Judges again kind of take on a God-like self-appointment. They're not the boss of the executive branch. The executive branch is completely separate."

He outlined the constitutional roles of different branches: "The president is in charge of the federal government. He is the CEO of the federal government and he is the one in charge of enforcing the law. The executive branch is also where your sheriffs fall under. We are the executors of the law."

Mack emphasized that judges should focus on enforcing the Constitution as written rather than interpreting it: "I don't need them to interpret 'shall not be infringed.' They need to enforce it. I don't need them to interpret 'Congress shall make no law' from the First Amendment."

Regarding voter identification requirements, Mack noted strong public support across political lines: "84% of U.S. adults were in favor of requiring voters to show identification... 67% of the Democrats, 84% of independents and 98% of Republicans were in favor of mandating voter ID."

On requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration, Mack emphasized: "Is there anyone in a different race that cannot get identification? Even if you're sick, even if you're bedridden, can you still get identification? Yes, you can. Everyone can get it."

He concluded that voting rights must be protected through proper verification: "In order to preserve this republic, we must uphold what it means to be able to vote in a U.S. election."

Major Law Enforcement Actions Across the United States

Colorado Springs Illegal Nightclub Raid

Betsy Smith, spokesperson for the National Police Association, reported on a significant raid in Colorado Springs over the weekend that resulted in more than 100 arrests.

"We had over 100 illegal immigrants arrested in a raid on an underground, they call it a nightclub in Colorado near Colorado Springs," Smith explained. "What it is, is a venue that was rented by a woman and she's been having gatherings there really for quite some time."

The DEA and their state and local partners had been monitoring the location before deciding to conduct the raid. "They arrested over 100 illegal aliens. They took drugs and guns off of people and they found that significant drug prostitution and violent crimes have been occurring in and around this little makeshift nightclub," Smith said.

Perhaps most disturbing, according to Smith, was the discovery that "over a dozen active duty military members" were either providing security for the nightclub or were patrons. "I think we're going to hear from Pete Hegseth later today about what's going to happen with that part of the situation," she added.

The raid yielded concerning intelligence about criminal organization coordination. "Trende Aragua and MS-13 members were meeting with Hell's Angels," Smith noted. "When you have these international terrorist organizations meeting with our own Hell's Angels, nothing but trouble is going to come of that."

Smith praised the effectiveness of the operation: "The federal government released video of the raid and you just see people pouring out of this nightclub trying to run away and the DEA, ICE and again, state and local partners just did a fantastic job containing people. No one was injured and a lot of people in custody and presumably the ones that don't go to prison are going to be deported."

Florida's Coordinated Immigration Enforcement

Smith also highlighted major immigration enforcement operations in Florida, where approximately 800 people were arrested in a cooperative effort between federal and local agencies.

"What's been going on for about the last month is ICE has been working with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement," Smith explained. "They have been working with state, local, and county law enforcement. And basically what they did was sign agreements with the federal government so that every state, local, and county police officer can kind of act as an ICE agent in cooperation with these raids."

The operation was extensive, involving "more than 200 state, county, and municipal law enforcement officers to participate in addition to ICE, DEA, and other federal partners." Smith noted that Governor DeSantis described the operation as "an example of Florida and the Department of Homeland Security partnering to deliver big results on immigration enforcement and deportation."

Among those taken into custody was "a Colombian national who had been convicted of murder in his own country," along with "wanted felons from around our country and from around the world."

Smith contrasted these coordinated enforcement efforts with actions by judges who obstruct immigration enforcement: "Florida is a great example of this cooperation that we need to see as opposed to a judge in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, who is helping an illegal domestic abuser try and flee federal authorities by escorting him and his attorney out through her own chambers."

Rising Violence Against First Responders

Smith shared a disturbing incident involving a young paramedic in Kansas City, Missouri: "We had a 29-year-old firefighter paramedic in Kansas City, Missouri... went to a routine medical call. You know, just a citizen assist kind of a thing and his partner are transporting a woman. He doesn't know it, but she had just the week before tried to kill a cop and she was out on bond."

"And she stabbed him in the heart. He wasn't wearing body armor. A lot of paramedics do, but this young man was not. She killed him and she also injured his partner," Smith continued.

This attack highlights growing concerns about violence against first responders: "This is something that we're seeing around the country... This just a lack of respect for our first responders."

Smith noted the young paramedic "was working an overtime shift because the fire department in Kansas City, Missouri is short staffed as well as the police department." She emphasized the troubling pattern of "first responders sacrificing their physical well-being, sacrificing their mental health" while facing increasing dangers.

Smith connected this to broader criminal justice issues, pointing out that the woman who killed the paramedic "had just been arrested for an assault on a police officer and they let her out on bond." She expressed frustration at a system that fails to keep dangerous offenders incarcerated: "So now obviously they increased her bond after she murdered someone."

Tackling Tucson's Crime Crisis

Sobering Statistics and Real-World Impacts

Josh Jacobs, founder of Tucson Crime Free, joined the conversation to discuss the growing crime concerns in Tucson, Arizona.

"We all know that we've got a pretty significant issue with very visible crimes in Tucson right now," Jacobson explained. He cited recent high-profile incidents, including "Jacob Couch being brutally murdered with a hatchet at the bus stop" and another case that "has not gotten as much exposure" involving "a 24-year-old mentally disabled woman that was raped at a bus stop right around the same time."

Jacobs distinguished between these "visible" crimes that attract attention and "less visible crimes" such as property crimes and unreported assaults that are pervasive but receive less attention.

The statistics paint a troubling picture. Tucson has a crime index of 6 (where 100 is the safest), compared to Arizona's statewide crime rate of 4.09. In Tucson, one in 171 people becomes a victim of crime, versus one in 245 statewide. The city experienced 3,205 violent crimes in the previous year.

Jacobs emphasized that these statistics represent only reported crimes: "We have business owners that send us footage. They send us reports of what it is that's happening on their businesses. And if you go and you do an online report for TPD, it goes into the ether... There's no follow up when there's no follow up. There's no police report made. There's no number assigned to it. There's no real crime."

The impact on businesses is particularly severe, with Tucson's property crime rate at nearly 30%, compared to the state average of 18%. "If you're in business in Tucson you have a 30% chance of being a victim of crime," Jacobs noted.

Legislative Solutions and Treatment Approaches

Jacobs discussed a key legislative initiative aimed at addressing substance abuse issues that contribute to crime. "We're running a bill up at the state legislature right now. It's a bipartisan bill. We've got Senator Vince Leach that sponsored it. It's SB 1257," he explained.

The bill addresses a crucial gap in the current system. Currently, when individuals suffering from substance use disorder are picked up by law enforcement and taken to the crisis response center, "if it is deemed that they are there because they are under the influence of an illegal narcotic, they are released within 24 hours."

The proposed legislation would "create a mechanism where by using due process and making sure that people's civil liberties stay intact, if it is determined that somebody is there because they have substance use disorder, that there could be a five-day stabilization period."

This approach builds on a successful program at the transition center, where "in a 30-day recidivism rate, recidivism has gone from 27 percent to 11 percent when people take services. And it has saved taxpayers over a million dollars."

Jacobs advocated for expanding this model: "There's a 50,000 square foot building. It's the old jail annex... That building can handle up to 350 individuals that are stuck in the substance use disorder cycle. We get them detoxed and then we start getting them connected to services so we can get them back on their feet. We can change lives and we can save money in the process for the taxpayers."

Addressing Tucson's Broader Challenges

Jacobs pointed to Tucson's endemic poverty as a factor that compounds its crime problems: "Tucson has nearly a 20% poverty rate. We've got low levels of education here, low levels of educational attainment. We cannot afford to lose any sort of economic development."

This creates a vicious cycle, as crime drives away businesses and economic opportunities. "We are losing opportunities for businesses to relocate here," Jacobs noted. "We have businesses that have left Tucson, they've left the city limits because they think that it's better in the surrounding jurisdictions."

Jacobs sees potential for progress through engagement with local government, noting that "we are starting to see some interesting language coming out of specifically the mayor when she's talking about these issues at city council meetings."

Looking ahead to upcoming elections, Jacobs observed that with national issues like abortion access settled for now, local concerns are gaining prominence: "What we're hearing from a lot of Democrats on the streets is they are starting to get sick of the crime, they are starting to get sick of being victimized."

He anticipates this shift will impact local politics: "If you have Democrat candidates that are just saying the status quo and you've got candidates that are talking about local issues and how they can actually improve Tucson, I think that's going to cause some interesting conversations that we're going to see during this election cycle."