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He is the county executive of NASA County in New York, and he's running in a long shot bid for governor as a Republican, for the very pro-ice and anti-immigration agenda, even as the White House realizes they need to recalibrate. Blakeman doesn't think so. He doesn't think he needs to pull back. And actually is questioning the veracity of the video scene around the world of the murder of Alex Predie by ICE agents. Needless to say, I did not let up. Listen, why the rush to judgment? Why don't you just wait till the investigations complete? Because I can see with my own eyes that even the White House is all over the world. So you're the judge and jury. You're the judge and jury on the ICE agent. Listen, if you're going to tell me don't believe my own eyes, like don't believe that's not even the White House. More than one video. After all, this is about facts. I'm curious to hear what you think. Be subscribed or followed to keep this show going. And of course, go to Terra Palm Erie.com to sign up for my newsletter, the red letter. It's where you can get my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox and a way to support my independent journalism. Take a listen. Has the news been getting you down? I'm Megan McCartle and I'm here to help. I'm the host of a news show from Washington Post opinion called reasonably optimistic. And it's an antidote to the pessimism that's riddling America right now. I'm a colonist of the post and I've been writing about economics, technology, and public policy for decades now. So every Wednesday, I'm going to talk to people who see a path or word. I'm going to talk to inventors, entrepreneurs, politicians, and okay, probably some wonky types like me if I'm being totally honest. Congress to me was a very entrepreneurial place. It's like Shark Tank but a lot less glamorous. When nerds get rich and powerful, they can't help but get involved in politics. I want to talk about how we can get unstuck and live up to the country's many promises. It does seem to me that there is some awakening of a desire to act together to solve problems where they are. If we believe in this country, it's worth fighting for. Join me Wednesdays on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. It's in here. County Executive Blakeman, thank you for joining the show. We are in the middle of a lot of news that's breaking past few weeks. But I just want to talk about immigration because it appears that that's something that you're running on in New York for governor as a Republican. You've said in the past that ICE is doing a very good job and there have been very, very few mistakes. But since then, two Americans have been killed by ICE agents. The Trump administration appears to be pulling back, including sideline and Kristi Nome and signaling changes to the use of force policies. What if anything has ICE gotten wrong? How do you justify running on an approach that even Trump seems to now be recalibrating? Yeah, so very simply, in our county, I can't speak from Minneapolis. I don't know about the situation there other than I suspect that there are a lot of people up there that throw bottles and rocks at ICE agents and I think that's wrong. It was a tragedy that two people were killed. We have to wait and see what the investigation determines. But in my county, we've gotten a lot of illegal migrants with criminal records out of our county. We've done it without raids. We don't do raids in Nassau County with ICE. What we do is we have targeted people who are criminals that we remove from our community to make a safer community. So, for instance, just recently, we removed 46 illegal migrants with criminal records ranging from attempted murder and rape to robbery, carjacking and other crimes. And we've made our community safer. We've made the whole metropolitan area safer by doing that. 27 of them were involved in gang activity. Those are people that would recruit kids into gangs to do their dirty work and drug dealing and robbery and other things. So, our relationship with ICE has been a very successful relationship. You used ICE for that, not local enforcement? We use both, but unfortunately, in New York state, we'd cashless bail. If someone commits a crime, in many instances, a judge has no discretion. They have to let them back out. And in situations where we have illegal migrants who committed crimes over and over and over again, it's been a revolving door of criminality. So, basically, it's another tool in our toolbox where we can call ICE and say, hey, you guys have a detention order on this individual. Do you want to pick them up? Otherwise, this person's going to get out without having to post bail and they'll be back doing all of the criminal things that make communities less safe. So, in our county, it's worked extremely well. But that's being said, I've also said, very strongly, that we need a comprehensive immigration policy in our country and in our state. I am for a guess worker program. I am for having people who have been here, let's say, seven to 10 years. They're law abiding. They are gainfully employed. They may have kids in school. I don't think it's a great idea to rip them out of communities and to deport them. I think there should be a path to normalizing their situation here in the United States and allowing them to remain here illegally. So, I will be a forceful advocate for legislation to do just that because I think we have to use common sense. I think we have to be practical and I think we have to have compassion in what we're doing. That's why the National Council has a governor. I mean, that's something at the federal level. Yeah, it's at the federal level. But governors have a big say of what goes on in the federal level, especially with a state as large as New York State. So, I would certainly be getting our congressional delegation behind that because if you really care about the immigrant situation here, then you will find a common sense approach to resolving it. Unfortunately, I mean, Republicans have had the chance to do this before. Democrats have had the chance to do it. Nobody's done it. It's just been decades and decades. So, I think, you know, well, that's wrong. You see what happens is you have the far left who want an open border policy, so they won't settle for anything but I don't think. And then you've got the far right who use this as an issue to raise money. And the reality is is that most people are somewhere in the middle. They could be a little right of center. They could be in the center. They could be a little leftist center. But most people are in the middle. And the immigration policy of the United States is being dictated by people who are on the fringes. So, both the Democrats and the Republicans need to get serious about a comprehensive immigration plan. And I think a guesswork or program is the way to go. Okay. You know, you mentioned that there were protesters that were throwing rocks at ICE agents and bottles. Obviously, there have been a lot of aggressive altercations. But do you still think that Alex Prede deserved to die? You know, that's a ridiculous question. You can ask a better question than that. The president just said this. It's not whether or not he deserved to die. The question is, is it right? Is it legal? And is it good for the community and the fabric of the community to have people throw bottles and rocks at federal law enforcement? It wasn't though. He wasn't in that case. Other people were and created a dangerous environment. But he was the founder of the environment of violent confrontation. That's not a good thing. You know, you know, to agree with me, do you not agree with me that that's that's not a situation? He wasn't creating a violent situation. He actually was trying to de-esplay it. You know what he did? You weren't there. We saw the video. You saw the video. We also had two different videos and we're going to wait. Why did the rush to judge the other video? Why did I never mention this? Why the rush to judge the other video? Why don't you just wait till the investigations complete? Because I can see with my own eyes that even the white hell didn't all judge. You're the judge and jury on the ice agent. Listen, if you're going to tell me don't believe my own eyes, like don't believe that's even the white house. More of that more video and investigation and due process, you know, federal agents are entitled to due process as well. Are you aware of that? Yeah, but he's back on the street. He hasn't even been sensitive. There's thousands of people back on the street under cashless bail in New York State. Nobody seems to complain about that. Do you think it's hard to run a subject? Because you and I are not going to agree on this subject. Let's just agree to disagree. Well, listen, do you think an armed law enforcement officer that killed somebody who was disarmed should be back on the street right now without a suspicion? Let me ask you a question. You think there should be thousands of people who came here illegally and are engaged in criminal activity, rape and attempted murder should be here on the streets of America. I am not asked. I am a journalist. I am asking you. You're the one running for office with an opinion. You're some more like an editorial. I am. Okay. I am stating the facts as we have all seen them. I'm just asking you. Do you think that this man deserve to die? And you're telling me my question. Listen to me. I didn't say he deserved to die. But you're saying that federal agents deserve to have rocks and bottles thrown at. I never said that. I said that does that escalate? I said that does that justify that death of another person? Let's agree that you didn't say that throwing rocks and bottles at federal agents is a good thing. No, I said that does that justify it. I said that does that justify it. Law enforcement officers should shoot innocent people. Let's agree on that. Okay. I think we got to an answer on that one. But you also think that this guy, it's okay for him to be back on the street this agent, even though their review hasn't been completed. He's entitled to do process. Yeah, but do process when. Okay. I got the concept of do process. If I killed somebody, I would be in detention until an investigation was over. Depends what jurisdiction you're in. If you're in New York, you'd probably be out of the street with what kind of cat, with what kind of bail or bond. Like that's crazy. That's not true. If you kill someone in cold blood, you're not back out on the street. Name one person. We don't know whether it was in cold blood. You know whether it was in cold blood. We all saw it. The guy was on his hands and knees. Even the administration admits. We just agreed. Did we just agree to disagree? I mean, listen, I just feel like the facts are the facts. You know, the facts are the facts. So what about what about what about the prosecution of people that throw rocks and bottles at one forestman official? I mean, if they are true, are you are you calling for their immediate arrest? If they I don't listen, it depends on the extent of the crime. We answered my question. Thank you. But here's the question. I didn't answer your question because I'm a journalist. I am asking, I want to ask you though, you said that all this is staged and it's being you said that the the unrest in Minneapolis is being staged and driven by paid professional agitators. Yes, it is. What evidence do you have? You're a journalist. You should know that you're a journalist. What evidence do you have? We have plenty of evidence. We know who these people are. They're the same people that show up at Antifa. They're the same people that show up at all these rallies. Some of them were at pro-Palestinian rallies. Let me ask you a question. How many people are marching to free Iran or free Venezuela? You know anybody that's marching to do that? How come you're not marching? Thousands of people were killed by the eye of the government. In another country, a people are being killed in our country right now. It's obviously proximity issues. Yes, there's people being killed by illegal migrants who are roaming the streets here with criminal records and they shouldn't be roaming the streets. I don't think anyone can just say that if someone is coming to someone, you want to keep criminals in your community? That's fine. No, I don't. I'm never so bad. I'm never so bad. I'm a journalist. I never said that. I'm asking you about the evidence. You told me 4,000 journalists. Yeah, I know. That's why I'm wondering why you're asking me all the questions. You're the one running for office. I'm not. I'll answer the questions. My answers aren't sufficient for you. You're arguing a point of view. No, no. I have to be very in question. You're not settling for my answers. What you're doing is using the name journalism to get your point of view across. You're not taking my answers and moving on and asking your questions. What you're doing is continuing to push your point of view, which is editorialism. It's not journalism. Okay. You don't want to be pressed is what you're saying. But if you're going to be the governor of New York, you're going to have to get your questions. I've got your questions. You just won't take my answers. Listen, I worked at the New York Post. If you think I'm editorializing, wait till you get pressed by the city reporters there. Now, let's keep going. I have been pressed for four years by all the reporters in the metropolitan area. And I believe in journalism. I believe in freedom of the press. And that's why I'm probably the most available politician you'll ever find in the state of New York. And that's why I'm on your show today. Okay. So are you concerned that dismissing public outrage? You are risking alienating voters who are genuinely disturbed by what they're seeing right now. First of all, as I said, I believe that getting criminals out of our communities is a good thing. I do not believe that people who get shot when they're innocent is a good thing. But the difference between you and me is I'm willing to wait. And I think it's appropriate to wait until the investigation is complete. You're not willing to do that. You're the judge, the jury, and the hangman. Okay. Listen, if you this is we all seen the videos. But that's my journalist. And that's a point of view. You should be running for a if I was a witness to something that is actual that happened. And I saw it. That is your outrage. That is your outrage. Can I ask you a question? Where is your outrage at the people that throw bottles of rocks at one forceman agents? I don't think anyone should be attacking law enforcement agents. But I also don't think that law enforcement. Did you show the outrage when the two ice agents were killed? No, I don't think I'm going to kill. But who do you think that creates the environment that's dangerous? And maybe that maybe this ice agent was worried about his life? Okay. Listen, I'm not going to go into these rhetorical questions. I don't think anyone should be harmed. I know the question is great. But here's the question. Would you allow ice to conduct the same type of operation that we are seeing in Minneapolis in Buffalo in Rochester? What what I would tell you is I would work with ice to conduct the same operations that they're doing in my county, which US News and World Report says is the safest county in America. We are people in my county of every race, religion, ethnic group, people of all lifestyles and abilities get along incredibly well. Yeah. You know, I know you said that I'm the judge and jury in this case, but actually in the case of Alex. Okay. Okay. But in the case of Alex, Freddie, it's actually the DHS that is the judge, the jury. New York state issues that you are running on immigration. So you know what I talk about. You know what I'm talking about the fact that we're the highest tax state in the United States that we're the most over-regulated state in the United States that hundreds of thousands of people have left our state under Kathy Ockles lack of leadership. We won. That we're not affordable. Okay. Sixty-one percent of the workers. Listen, 61% of New Yorkers actually oppose massed ice agents. Okay. And they're arrest. That's according to a Sianna poll back in November before the deaths of two Americans by ice agents. Are you concerned about that? Do you think your voters are wrong? Do I think the voters are? I've been looked at the poll and certainly- Without any members. Sianna, I am not one that believes every poll is accurate because as we've seen over the last few years, polls are all over the place. So I don't know where you're getting your information from, but I can tell you this much. I just won re-election in a landslide. So I think people I'm doing- Your county, your district is very conservative. It says- Nobody's in that poll state. No, you don't know anything about my county. My county is a new image. Can I finish- Can I finish answering the question? My county is a mirror image of New York state. Our demographics are almost the same in every category as the state of New York. And there's 110,000 more Democrats in my county. And I won in a landslide by over 36,000 votes. And you're telling me that my policies are wrong and that my county is conservative. You don't know anything about my county. First of all, if you say that, you're nothing about my county. You're having a conversation with yourself right now. Do you think that there should be masked agents in your county and in New York? And obviously- You obviously obsessed by this issue. What I did was- What did I do? I took the masks off the criminals. I took the masks off the criminals in my county. I took the masks off of people that were committing crimes and committing acts of anti-Semitism and harassment and hate crimes wearing masks. I took the masks off of those people. But I would not take the masks off of any law enforcement agent who thought that their life might be in danger by performing their duties. Okay. So in the case of DHS being the judge and jury in Hangman, as you like to say, in the case of Alex Preddie, do you feel comfortable with the fact that they're conducting the investigation into what happened to him? The same people that were involved in his- I believe that- I believe that there are parallel investigations. There's not only the DHS investigation. There's the Department of Justice investigation. Which is in the same administration and it doesn't involve state and local- That's very unfair. You know, that's very unfair to the people in the Department of Justice who are sworn to carry out the law. Now you're making a disparaging remark on all the people that work in the Department of Justice that they're not going to be honest in the investigation of this case- Ultimately, whatever- That's uncomfortable. You should really be ashamed of yourself for saying that. Okay, but what about the fact that they- Ultimately, they are led by the Attorney General who reports the President of the United States. There's no independence in this investigation. There's no outside count- There's no independent investigation. Well, listen, hopefully- It's such a counsel- Do you think there should be a special counsel? Hopefully, there's an independent free press that's independent that doesn't rush to judgment, make decisions, basically convict federal officials without an investigation, without evidence. Basically, what you're accusing of them is exactly what you are doing. I don't have the power to convict anyone. I'm just asking you questions. That's all I have- You go go out of power as a journalist. Well, you know what? You have a lot of power if you- And if you want to run and become- If you become the governor of New York- Right, but come to governor as well. So in the meantime, I represent the people- When I become the governor of- You want to answer questions, you can keep going- When I become governor, I will make the people in New York state happy again because they're miserable under Kathy Oacle by making it more affordable, by making it safer, by lowering their energy bills, by cutting their taxes, and putting more money in their pocket, so they don't have to live paycheck to paycheck. Okay, let's talk about your chances of becoming governor. Kathy Hokel is in incumbent- In incumbents have not lost in New York state since 1994. Granted, Lee Zeldin, a Republican came very close, been five points in the last election. She has roughly 20 million dollars in cash on hand. You have about 1.2 million. Much of it was transferred from your NASA County executive account. What do you think about this limited enthusiasm for your candidacy? How realistic is this? Well, Kathy Hokel's been the governor for four years. The misery factor in this state is the highest it's ever been. Hundreds of thousands of people are leaving. You don't dispute that, right? I think some people are unhappy. I don't just- Is this businesses are leaving our state? Are energy costs or some of the highest in the country because 30% of your energy bill are taxes on taxes? So I believe that the people are not very happy with Kathy Hokel. I will raise the money and I will win this race just as I won against the popular incumbent four years ago. When everybody said I didn't have a chance, I was 24 points behind. When I talked about issues, I talked about families in our county just as I'm going to talk about families throughout the state. How they're suffering and they're miserable. And I want to make them happy again by putting New Yorkers first and not spending five billion on illegal migrants who've been here for 15 minutes and haven't earned the thing. That's tax pay or money. That couldn't have been spent on hospitals, on schools, on infrastructure, or on cutting taxes. That's what Kathy Hokel's done. It's a breach of her fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers of this state. So I am very confident by running on the issues that I will be the next governor of the state of New York. Would you allow for ICE to enter New York City and to conduct raids like in Minneapolis? You are ICE obsessed. You don't want to talk about how this is not illegal immigrants. You know, this is your issue. Well, do you think it's you think it's appropriate to spend five billion dollars of taxpayer money on people who just arrived here giving them a free phone, free lodging, free food, free transportation. Do you think that's fair to the taxpayers? The hard working people in this state. Do you think that's fair to them? Do you think it's fair to the immigrants that came here illegally who got nothing and had to work for everything that they got? I don't know if that question is for me like I thought I'm a journalist. So I guess that's your statement. Would you want Donald Trump campaigning with you potentially another kind of Madison Square Garden style rally? First of all, President Trump has endorsed me. He supports my campaign and I welcome his support. But I'm running for governor. I'm not running for president and Kathy Hockles running for governor, not president. And she can talk about Donald Trump while she wants. But I'm going to talk about her record of failure and I'm going to match it against my record in a county that's larger than eight to 10 states with 110,000 more Democrats. How I have made the people in this county happy by instituting very common sense policies, putting their interests first, not the interests of other people. And that's what I'll do in New York State. I'll put New Yorkers first. They'll have a governor that cares about them. And my job is to make New Yorkers happy again. Okay. Well, thank you for that. Appreciate your time. This was fun. I appreciate it. He'll help me back soon. Yeah. I mean, I might. And I hope you I hope I then the judge and jury of the DHS will have a verdict that you feel is, uh, it's sufficient. So I think a lot of other Americans have already decided. Well, I'm glad that we agree to disagree because that's the respectful way to have a debate. So well, yeah, my honor to be on. It's not a debate, though. This is just me asking you questions. You got to, you know, I came from a New York press corps. This is how it works. Yeah, I know. I know how it works. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thanks so much. That was another episode of the Tara Paul Mary show. It was a feisty one. He kept pushing and saying I was a biased journalist, but I think I was I had a bias towards the facts. Curious to hear what you have to think. Of course, subscribe, follow, share this show with all your friends. That's how you keep me working and in business for you. You can go to Tara Paul Mary.com and sign up for my newsletter, the red letter. And that's how you get my exclusive reporting straight to your inbox by becoming a paid subscriber. You can also it's also a way to support my independent journalism. I want to thank my producer, Eric Oppenate, I want to thank Danelle Garcia for the booking. I want to thank Abby Baker on my social media and research. We're going to thank Adam Stewart on the thumbnails and Dan Rose and my manager. As you can hear, the team is growing and it is all the things year of the horse charging into 2026. See you again soon. Hi, I'm Tamsen Fidel, journalist and author of How to Menopause and host of the Tamsen show, a weekly podcast with your roadmap to midlife and beyond. We covered all from dating to divorce, aging to ADHD, sleep to sex, brain health to body fat, and even how Perry menopause can affect your relationships and trust me, it can. 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