Politics and views in the United States

New Hampshire Democratic Senate Candidate Pappas defends voting for the Laken Riley Act. DHS Secretary Mullin refuses to reverse their ankle-monitor policy for Haitian immigrants and new polls show union popularity continues to grow.

Transcript

Welcome to 2026 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

The way they're going about immigration enforcement is just horrific.

The people who have been gunned down in streets from Biddeford, Maine, to Minneapolis, to Texas.

This is not who we should be as a country.

New Hampshire Representative Chris Pappas defends voting for the Lake and Riley Act, but condemns Republicans' immigration agenda.

The law ballooned ISIS funding and made it easier to deport migrants even accused of minor offenses.

Pappas was one of nearly 50 House Democrats who voted for the bill named for a Georgia nursing student murdered by a Venezuelan national.

Opponents say it uses that tragedy to deny due process to migrants.

Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen blames the suicide of Springfield, Ohio, college student Pierre DeMoss Bell on his mental health.

Bell was one of the growing number of Haitian immigrants told by ICE to wear an ankle monitor after the Supreme Court ended their temporary protected status.

His family say it made Bell grow increasingly depressed, but Mullen says he won't reconsider the policy.

No, because you're on probation.

You got paroled.

And we want to make sure we know where you're at so you show back up to your court.

If you understand the court dates, so many people don't show back up for immigration courts.

Illinois Democratic Representative Jonathan Johnson says anti-immigrant sentiment led directly to the death of the 20-year-old prize-winning scholar and athlete.

It began with the campaign to demonize Haitians from the racist lies that our neighbors were eating people's pets in Ohio to unjustly and against the congressional intent of TPS, ending protection for roughly 350,000 Haitians.

Before the midterms, PNS is highlighting some polling.

A new Gallup survey finds almost half of Americans think unions should have more influence.

That's the highest share in a quarter century and confirms rising support for organized labor.

Illinois State construction and maintenance worker Chuck Carver is a longtime AFSCME member who helped lead a historic month-long strike this year.

He says the union worked to earn local support.

We show solidarity every day, picketing on the line.

And when hundreds of students stood up with us and staged a walkout, the faculty unions, alumni, the elected officials, all the other unions throughout the community made us one day stronger, one day longer.

Alaska fishing trawlers may be key in this year's Senate race, and proposed regulation of them could split the coalition of Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola, the first Alaska native in Congress.

Trawlers say it's the most efficient way to catch large schools of fish in bottom dwellers, and it's important to the industry and native communities.

Linda Behnken with the Alaska Long-Line Fishermen's Association says dragging nets along the ocean floor needlessly catches and kills ocean life, damages the ecosystem, and hurts local economies.

Certainly there's a lot of concern right now about bycatch of salmon, giving the state of some of the salmon runs bycatch of crab, because we've had some real crashes in crab stocks.

The Republican in the race has proposed limiting bycatch.

Peltola says she'll address the issue after her election.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.