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Lots of great stuff coming up for you today.
After the 9 30 break, we are going to be speaking to Miguel Arandas, who is running for the first congressional district seat Congress, US Congress seat in the first district here in Wisconsin.
That's Racine Kenosha and a little bit west of there as well.
We'll talk more about that, why he's running, what got him into the race.
and get to know him a little bit more.
Lots of new people running this year.
It's an election here in Wisconsin.
So Miguel Aranda is coming up after the 9 30 news.
And then in the second hour, uh, after the top of the hour news, we're going to be having Dr. Kristen Lierly back.
We have missed her.
She's, it's been a while and we're going to be talking about all sorts of news coming out of the world of medicine specifically.
focusing on the new vaccine recommendations from the US Department of Health and Human Services, what Wisconsin is doing in turn, as well as what, you know, she is a doctor, she is a practicing doctor, what her thoughts on these new recommendations and what parents should be doing because there's a lot of, there's a lot of questions, there's a lot of maybe fear going on with these new vaccine recommendations, telling parents maybe to slow the schedule down, but we'll be talking more to Dr. Lierly about that.
in the second hour, of course, audio sorbet at 10 35 heartbreaking Packers loss.
You know, what are your thoughts on it?
Love to know.
Maybe talk about the golden gloves that happened last night.
And then finally, this shouldn't be a thing today.
It is the for the dogs edition.
So don't go anywhere.
We had lots of great show ahead of us, but now we're going to turn it to, we have a guest this morning at the top of the show.
As we all know, as we all saw in the news two Saturdays ago, the, the U S government,
I'm actually going to ask our guest this because some say invaded, some say intervention, but we bombed the capital of Venezuela.
Obtained their president and the white and his wife and we brought them to America and to really further talk about this more because I am not an international law expert, but I have one here today Our first guest this morning is a professor at UW law who is an expert in international law and human rights Please welcome to the show Alexander Alexandra Huneis Alexandra.
Thank you so much for being here for today We really appreciate your time.
How are you this morning and real quick?
How was your weekend?
I had a good weekend.
Thank you.
And
thanks
so much for having me on
the show.
So let's, I want to start this off really basic because, you know, two, it's kind of a two-parter right up top.
First of all, tell us about, you know, what you do as an international law expert.
And last week, we saw some pundits giving their thoughts that international law doesn't exist at all.
So tell us about what you do as an international law expert and tell us, does international law actually not exist anymore?
So I teach international law
at
the University of Wisconsin and my work, my research and writing is all about international law.
We've just published an edited volume called Latin American International
Law
in the 21st century that was all written prior to the Trump administration's taking office and focusing and recasting what Latin American international law is.
So that's what I do.
When I teach, I take head on this question of does international law really exist?
Because it really is a theme in the US and a lot of students come into the class and into even law school wondering whether it exists because it is a legal system.
I assert it is a legal system, but it's so different.
from domestic law.
It's so different from how we see law working within the United States, and how we imagine it works in the United States, where you have, if someone commits a crime, you have a police investigation, and then you have a prosecutor, and then the prosecutor issues a warrant, and then the executive carries it out, and this centralized hierarchical...
enforcement system that exists in domestic law doesn't exist in international law.
But that doesn't mean that it's not law, it's just a decentralized system of law that doesn't have this hierarchical authority and this way of enforcing itself that domestic law has.
So it makes it hard that you have to
To really understand initial law, you have to be able in your mind to separate legality from enforcement police.
And that's
really hard for us to do, because whenever we see law domestically.
they go hand in hand.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I think that, you know, when I think of international law, I think of a lot of, a lot, you know, as you said, decentralized, there's a lot of, there's a lot more conversation happening between countries.
And some would say, well, this isn't a crime.
And some will say, this is a crime.
And it's about coming together and having consensus to enforce what you're saying.
Now, with what happened in Venezuela two Saturdays ago, and I know you heard this, I truly don't know how to.
describe what happened because some people say it's an attack, some say it's an intervention.
As far as international law goes, as far as what you saw, what would describe what the US did that Saturday, and are there any new developments we've seen coming out of Venezuela?
We see that Nicolas Maduro and his wife are in New York to stand trial, but what do you see as an expert that we might not be seeing as developments in that country?
Those are yeah, two very different questions to address the first one.
What is this?
I think yeah, you know, it's an intervention
of
course it is an intervention in another states Domestic affairs you're taking away the head of state And it is an attack it is an armed attack and that particular
wording is very significant in international law, because once you open an armed conflict, an international armed conflict, then the laws of war kick into play.
So I think there's no question here at this point that what happened last Saturday was the beginning of an international armed conflict, whether the
armed conflict is ongoing might be more debatable because there there hasn't been engagement but there is a blockade so likely it is an ongoing international armed conflict therefore the the laws of war apply.
If you're just joining us right now on Mid-Morning's on Civic Media, we are speaking to Alexandra Huneis, who is a professor at UW Law and an expert on international law and human rights with a specific concentration, as you said, in South America, that what your answer tells me, it makes complete sense.
When you add in the fact that we took the leader and his wife and brought them to America, what does that move?
Push this I mean the fact that there hasn't been a declaration of war it feels like because of such a brazen Unexpected attack and then you take the leader away What else does that do to the whole conflict?
I mean I I've my life.
I've never seen this before so I'm really it's it's a new experience as a citizen What does that mean for the whole action as on a whole?
Yeah, and anything this
gets to the second question that you asked what's going on on the ground because you take away the head of state it's not only you know is it arguably a breach of international law because of the intervention in the sovereign affairs of the other state and because of starting an armed conflict which itself is a
breach of the fundamental norms of the international order that you only use force in self-defense.
But it also creates a great risk within Venezuela because now everyone is scrambling to figure out what happens next and who's in charge.
And there's, of course, a potential of some pretty troubling outcomes.
to the next steps as we've seen in other countries when the United States intervenes in order to create regime change.
It's one thing to, you know, topple the person who's in charge and quite another to put in place, you know, a stable and hopefully democratic subsequent order.
So I think in Venezuela so far what's happened is that the vice president
has assumed leadership of the country, which means that the Chavistas, the party led by Maduro, is still in charge.
And there's a real
question as to well what does that mean this whole idea of regime change right like the US is there to create regime change but they've kind of given their blessing for the second in command you know pretty much handpicked by Maduro and a hardcore chavista to assume power so we will see it's unclear yet how how the United States
Seize this playing out.
I think they the United States administration has not shared with us any sort of Planning that they have over what are the next steps, right?
We don't know what what the ideas are they going to call for elections?
What's going to be the role of the opposition, right?
The Trump administration had been working closely with Maria a child
and who was sort of the leader of the opposition, very popular leader within Venezuela, but she was suddenly sidelined, right?
And instead, the vice president, Díchez Rodriguez, was put in power or sort of given the United States blessing to assume power.
So, and so then the question is, how are those two forces going to work together and with the United States?
in order to put Venezuela on track for what will hopefully be a peaceful transition
to
democracy and stabilization of the economy and hopefully creating the conditions for those eight million people have left Venezuela since Chavismo started in a country of only
38 million people.
So, you know, hopefully creating the conditions for an end to one of the world's worst refugee crises.
And that's the thing too, is like the time, you know, that's a whole other conversation is like the history of Venezuela, how Maduro has impacted, but like, I mean, what, that is the information there.
you know, with the, the, the leader of the opposition party, who's a Nobel peace prize winner who thanked Trump in her speed.
Like I said, thank you for the encouragement has been sidelined.
That brings up so many questions.
But one of the things I want to talk about when we're going to take a small break and come back.
And when we come back, I want to talk about the fact that, you know, as you mentioned, this is sort of a new type of quote, regime change plan, if you will, in the U S history, as far as I'm seeing as, and with Venezuela and also want to talk about what
the capture of Maduro means for future.
actions from either the US or other countries as a way of saying, this is precedent.
No, they did this.
We can do it.
So when we come back, we're going to speak more with Alexandra who is a professor at UW law and an expert in international law as well as human rights.
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Welcome.
Welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.
My name is Greg Bach.
I'm your host today.
We are coming to you live from Radio Park in Racine.
If you want to be part of the conversation, eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five, civic.
Leave a comment on that live stream.
We are on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.
We still call Twitter.
Lots of still lots of great shows still ahead of you, ahead of all of us, including a conversation with Miguel Arandas, who is running for the first district.
U.S.
Congress seat that is up for election this fall, as well as a conversation in the second hour with Dr. Kristen Lierly regarding vaccines, vaccine scheduling, and how Wisconsin's dealing with the new information from the Department of Health and Human Services.
But right now, we are speaking with Alexandra Huneas, who is a professor at UW Law.
She is also an expert in international law and human rights.
We are talking about the armed attack in Venezuela two Saturdays ago, and the capture of Nicolas Maduro as well as his wife.
bringing them back to New York to stand trial, talking about the impacts and also the perception of international law in America and abroad.
And we were talking a little bit between the break and one thing you brought up and I think that's very important to discuss is that this was all done in the guise of illicit drugs.
We were told that it was because of drug trafficking.
And what does that...
When you hear that and what you see as far as Venezuela and what you know about the country What is that?
How does that translate to you as far as a reason given to Americans for doing what they did?
Yeah, it's been it's been so interesting to watch the use of you know drug trafficking in both operation Southern spear, which was the attacks on the boats trafficking in the Caribbean and then operation absolute resolve which is this
direct attack into Venezuelan soil and taking an arresting of Maduro.
In the first, when they're attacking the boats in the Caribbean, Operation Southern Spear, the drug trade was explained to be itself an armed attack on the United States and that the United States was using force in self-defense and using sort of the language of the laws of war.
With Operation Absolute Resolve, it sort of flipped.
And now the use of force was used in order.
to create law enforcement, right?
So this was framed publicly as a law enforcement action aimed at arresting Maduro on drug trafficking and weapons related charges, rather than as a declaration of war or a regime change exercise.
And then, you know, Maduro arrives in the US and is taken to the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
So...
The justification for this operation is the idea that Venezuela is a hub for drug trafficking that poses a threat to the health and security of the United States.
But the interesting things about this, as has been widely reported, is that Venezuela really is not the largest source of cocaine by any means.
That would be neighboring Colombia.
And the real killer here is fentanyl, which comes not from Venezuela, but from through Mexico.
And based on US drug enforcement data, Venezuela is responsible for just this tiny amount of the heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl imported into the US.
So that's, you know, it's just...
it seems not to be the true motivation here.
And then, of course, you have to remember, Trump just pardoned former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Yes.
And not enough can be said about the contrast, you know, of indicting Maduro going into Venezuela, arresting him on drug trafficking, you know, weeks after pardoning someone who had been
found guilty of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and significant amounts.
So it's a pretty striking contrast.
And then the third thing about this that's interesting for me is someone who works on human rights and international criminal law.
is that Maduro has been involved, like the Maduro regime has been involved in well-documented human rights violations that have been investigated, a UN independent fact-fighting force just in December.
found that the officials of Venezuela's National Guard have committed serious human rights violations and that amount to crimes against humanity and repression on political grounds.
And so they cite to arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary detention, sexual and gender-based violence, torture, and other cruel and human-integrating treatment.
So it's not clear to me why the administration has not chosen to pursue these kinds of charges.
They might come later, perhaps they will, but it's interesting.
To me, it's perhaps another indicator of an erosion of the norms that have been built up, especially since World War II in the international legal order that really prioritized
the dignity of the individual human, right?
That's been such a
focal
point.
And in past interventions, the US has always prioritized human rights, even if they've just used it as a pretextual excuse, that's been what they try to focus on.
So before the invasion of Afghanistan, there was a lot of talk of the human rights of women in that country.
Here, we're seeing a shift where that doesn't seem
to be a focal point of the justification that the administration is using, which is an interesting
development.
I mean, honestly, and we have only about a minute left.
I mean, I think it's easier to describe this whole action to make it palatable to certain Americans as literally just screaming out, drugs are bad.
And we're like, great.
And we move on.
It's easier to digest that subject matter than it is the complex and nuanced topics of human rights, human, like, you know, human rights violations are, I'm sorry.
Crimes against humanity is things of that nature, but drugs are bad.
That's easy.
People can take that.
But Alexander Huneis, Alexander Huneis is an expert in international law and human rights.
Also, Professor EW Law, Alexandra, thank you so much for being here today.
I would like to keep this conversation going for the future, because I think this is something people need to know about, not just Venezuela, but abroad.
Thank you so much.
Have a wonderful day, Alexandra.
Thanks for having me.
It's great talking to
you.
You as well.
When we come back, we'll be speaking with Miguel Aranda, who is running for Congress of the First District here in Wisconsin.
Don't go anywhere.
You are on Civic Media.
Stay
close.
Welcome, welcome back to mid mornings on civic media.
My name is Greg Bach.
I am your host, your buddy, your pal.
And we are here coming to you live from radio park in Racine.
If you want to be part of the conversation, you can always call text eight, five, five, seven, five, two, four, eight, four, two, eight, five, five, seven, five civic.
You can always leave that comment on the live stream as well.
We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and that platform that what?
Yes.
We still call Twitter.
Lots of great shows still ahead.
Uh, we have at the tie with the top of the second hour.
We have Dr. Kristen Lyle, who is going to be here talking about vaccines, talking about food pyramids, talking about all the things that have happened since we've last, well, not all the things, but talking about all the main stories coming out of the world of medicine that really affect all of us here in Wisconsin and beyond.
And then we got this audio sorbet talking packers, packers.
And this shouldn't be a thing today as the for the dogs edition.
But right now we're going to kick it over to an interview that I did last week with a young man who is running for the first
congressional district seat for Congress.
Here in Wisconsin, Miguel Arandas is the guest, and we sat down.
There'll be two segments.
Very much looking forward to you hearing this.
And this is a prerecorded, just want to let you know.
So, yeah, prerecorded interview with Mr. Arandas, talking about his campaign, his story, and why he got involved in this year's election.
So go ahead and listen to that right now.
I am very excited to talk to our next guest.
He is running for Congress, for the U.S.
Congress in the first district here in Wisconsin.
Miguel Ronda is our guest.
Miguel, good morning.
How are you today?
Hey, good morning, Greg.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to be over here, and it's a pleasure.
And I'm just talking a little bit more about myself with all your audience.
Yeah, there you go.
Okay, so you are running for the U.S.
Congress for the first district here in Wisconsin.
Tell us about first of all tell us about the district and tell us a little bit about yourself your story
Yeah, so the congressional district one is a big one So I've already won I asked a couple of friends before I put my name in and they're like what are you sure you want to do it?
I'm especially coming in from a whitewater, Wisconsin So, you know has a population including the college students maybe 15,000
So the region goes pretty much from South Milwaukee, Old Creek, St.
Francis, Franklin, and then, you know, you got your Racine area down to Kenosha.
And then it goes all the way on the west side.
So that's going to be Rock County, so Jamesville, Beloit.
And so I'm coming in from the only candidate, even against Iowa, of Wallworth County.
So Whitewater has parts of Jefferson County, Wallworth County, and Rock County.
And so I was looking into all of that district.
And, you know, I am Latino, I'm a Latino male, 35, just a little bit, so I'll transition a little bit about myself as well.
And so I grew up in Whitewater, so I grew up in that Walworth area, County, you know, the Elkhorn, the Lake Geneva, I have a lot of family who came, immigrated from Mexico, Mexico, and they came around that area.
And so I'm 35.
I am happily married.
We got, my wife and I, we got three children.
They're 10, eight and four.
We're really happy.
You know, the old go public education is a passion of mine.
You know, I work at the university, but all of all three of them, well, two of them attended and then our.
Third one is going to be entering school soon.
Okay.
Yeah, so we've been really busy, you know, and my wife is 33.
And so as a, when we talk about issues about later on about working families, we literally live it.
We talk about it almost every night or finances.
And so, and to add on to that, I am on the school board at Whitewater.
I've been on the second.
Longest-serving board member vice president at the moment, but interestingly I'm also the youngest So a lot of people question me well, you're pretty young and I'll be like yeah Yeah, but I'm also the only one with the history of actual public service And do you want to guess Greg?
How much we get paid being on the white water school board?
Ten million dollars
a year sir.
Is that
a good guess?
Oh, I wish I wish and how much I mean is it?
Oh, it's uh, we're given the opportunity
$15 an hour.
Okay.
But at that point, we just wave it.
Yeah, it's not even worth the paperwork at this point.
It's for serving the community.
That's what you're in for.
I don't know anybody who serves on a school board because they want the big bucks.
Now, what you just described for me, Miguel, is somebody who is rooted in a community, rooted in Whitewater with family, and you have a wife and children, and you serve on the school board.
So you have interest in your community.
You have interest in your district, your state.
So tell me,
What was the catalyst to go from school board to say, I'm going to run for the first congressional district?
When did you decide to run?
When did you announce and what are the things that pushed you towards this journey?
No, I really appreciate that question so much.
And I definitely want to bring in a big different perspective to the race.
I have been a volunteer within the Democrat Party for 15 years.
You know, I stick it out through the wins and through the losses.
And I've always shared my opinion.
It's not always a popular one.
But one of the biggest things that I have, because I've also been in whitewater in our economic development committee, right?
And there's just a lot of frustrations that I saw that at the federal level that we could alleviate of what local
There's so much that local government can do, and there's so much red tape that we just can't do it.
And then being on the school board, you just see the defunding of education.
I'm going to blast them out, you know, Republicans with the state surplus, and then our teachers, their salaries, their health benefits.
and just all this accumulation of frustrations and then within our Latino population.
And then just talking to other families with children who maybe don't attend your regular Democrat meetings, their voices are not heard or they don't have that opportunity.
And, you know, I am unapologetic.
I, you know, I've told you all you should change your messaging, maybe focus a little bit more on health care, this and that.
I'm not saying I'm against healthcare or farming or all that, I still support it 100%.
But the big reason is affordable and accessible childcare.
100%.
Especially in rural areas.
And that's the other frustration is I'm bringing in an at rural viewpoint that you might not hear from someone coming in from the more metropolitan areas, you know, you know, Jamesville, Beloit and Racine.
So they're childcare deserts.
It's really hard to find staff.
You know, the salary is another one.
They wages.
For me, I'm privileged.
I'm done.
I don't need the childcare.
You know, I have the privilege of having family around the area.
You know, grandma, she wanted grandchildren.
got really lucky
But I see a lot of my peers, you know, 30s or even younger.
They want to have kids and they'll have good jobs.
They'll be an accountant for the state, the plumber and the trade.
But then it gets to the point, where's that level of accessibility?
Like, oh, now I have to drive an hour to go to that daycare because that's the only one available to us that has those certain hours or not on the wait list.
And I think you bring up something that's very important there is that I feel like when you when people speak about democratic politics, there's a certain belief that the rural area of the community are going to be not represented.
And that's not true at all.
You are bringing that recognition and that need for services to that area that we've talked about on this show for years now, that the that policies that come out from Washington and from Madison, regardless of the size, can really impact the rural community.
Yes, absolutely.
And then just being a vocal point and a megaphone, that way bringing attention, like being a board member, you hear a lot of
Concerns is the the positive way I'm gonna put it But you know for our teachers a lack of support and you just see the surplus at the state level You know and then now what's going on with the Department of Education?
Special education like Republicans, you know, they promised the 45 reimbursement rate and now they're giving that 32 and so it's
Extremely frustrated and this has really put a focal point on this and and you know and I totally when I saw Senator Sanders put the proposal for a minimum of 60,000 for teachers
100% on that commitment.
Yeah.
Well, on that, you know, as far as you're talking about affordability, that's something we talk about a lot here in the state and on the shows and whatnot.
What are the other points of your campaign that you want people to know about?
There are real concerns for you that you are going to be working towards and informing people as you are running over the next, you know, eight to 11 months, depending on the outcomes.
Yeah.
So the message is very simple.
Um, I know sometimes it doesn't click with certain, uh,
folks that I've been connecting with.
I would say very simple, that way people can remember it.
It's a good home and a good job, preferably a union one.
But just so those who are union members in Walworth County, there really isn't any unions
there,
sadly.
And so that's what I've been trying to help with is the increase of union membership
there
as well through the campaign.
But being on the Economic Development Committee for the city for a little bit,
We try to be careful, but you know, housing, there's a lack of housing.
When you say affordable, then right away, just working with Republicans and say, oh, I don't want to use my taxpayer money for people that can't afford a house.
Well, the thing is, talking to a lot of younger voters, they just can't find that good job.
And so that's a good okay, so if we can guarantee them a good job then we don't really have to subsidize a lot of the you know housing for them Yeah, but then the construction costs and the labor costs keep increasing and so It's just this like circle that affects all these factors with one another and then also the other thing So a lot of our Earl towns
I'm going to say they're dying.
I'm a member of the League of Women Voters, a member of Kiwanis Group, and a lot of my friends are retirees, and I get asked a lot, how can we get more young people?
And so it's not just like a political party trying to recruit or anything like that, but how can we get more young people in service and volunteer?
And when I talk to my peers, they are exhausted.
They they go work, you know if they have overtime Trend maybe two three jobs.
They're exhausted.
They can't you know volunteer service is something they are not even thinking about and so if we offered them just hey, maybe just one job Yes, you know not and my dad had that privilege and he's comfortable now, but that one job, you know
Eight hour shift if they want to do overtime that's great, right, but you know they should be
within those needs, that job, get a mortgage, a working car too, preferably, and you don't avoid all those car issues.
And then that's when you can start talking about getting more people involved in their communities.
And for the housing too, a big platform of mine is, and this kind of relates a lot to the Latino constituency, I know it's going to be immigration reform.
And I know sometimes there's polling and this is what concerns me and why I put my name in the race as well.
is, oh, well, immigration is usually four or fifth, right, when you see some of the polling.
But I know a lot of the... And when I look at some of those numbers, I look at how they did the polling.
So I'm looking, did you speak to Spanish speakers, right?
Did you maybe make that effort?
Do you have someone in your crew that speaks Spanish and asks those questions?
Because I have door knocked of Canvas in Spanish and I am collecting different information.
And immigration tends to be one of the top priorities within our Latino constituency.
And they, you know, they do all the, the everything that needs to be done.
They follow the rules.
Um, they try to, but a lot of people don't know the difficulties.
I've been through it.
I grew up in a mixed status family household.
I've, uh, I've had family members go with the process.
And so I know the level of difficulty there.
So there is no line.
Don't go anywhere, folks.
We've got more with our interview with Miguel Aranda, who is a candidate for Wisconsin's first congressional district.
When we come back, we're going to be talking about his work with it, more discussion about his work within the Latino population, as well as the day that we did this interview.
the shootings in Minneapolis happened between an ICE agent and Renee Good.
So don't go anywhere.
We're gonna have more with Miguel coming up at the other side of the break.
Don't go anywhere.
You're listening to Mid-Morning on Civic Media.
My name is Greg Bach.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,
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candidate Miguel Aranda, who is running for the congressional district number one here in Wisconsin for the US Congress.
And we've been talking about his story, his background, why he is running, what he is running for in the first congressional district and how his experiences connect to all of us who live in that area.
And Miguel, something you brought up earlier that I want to touch on again is your deep commitment and love for your Latino community.
Yes.
in 2024 in the election there was talk and I'm from of a movement of the Latino vote to the right
now
I think media is media and they want to get headlines and they love to be able to put that up there I want to know one your thoughts on that alone but also when the big machine of politics regardless of party wants to approach the Latino community what do they get wrong how can they do better and what are the myths that they think that make up
your community where they treat you almost as a monolith.
Yeah.
Oh, I was so frustrated when I heard that.
That is
just my personal opinion, and that's a big reason, you know, being a Latino male.
One of many reasons I put my name, because just to show other Latinos that, hey...
it's still important to get involved in politics.
But when I heard, oh, the Latino males are all moving conservative and the Republicans, you know, even though George Bush back in like 2004 got pretty good margins too, that they're all moving right.
And I got so frustrated because the reason I got frustrated is what I was listening to is I already saw like Trump having a good chance of winning.
From what I was hearing and again going to you know, like inflation Not good jobs that comes down to those kitchen table issues Yes, you know your utilities and that's a big reason what where my messaging comes in is we what I'm hearing is people are not being heard.
Yes, and and then when I heard that I was like that Don't say that and
Obviously, I don't have that level of influence going on and MSNBC, Ryder Fox
News
to say any of that.
But one thing I'm also now warning Democrats too, because you know, with the big wins in New Jersey and Virginia, they're saying, oh, we got all the Latinos back, right?
Yes.
And I'm like,
we're fine.
The work's done.
Yeah, yeah, we're done.
I'm like, and
I'm still raising the flag.
No,
we are
not.
I will 100%, I will bet that if we don't show them, allow our Latino constituency, Spanish speaking folks, that we can do the work as Democrats, I can promise you they will vote Republican again.
Yes.
Now, I had other questions I want to ask, but I would be remiss if I didn't bring up that when this interview is being done, we have found out just a few hours before that ICE agents had killed a person, a woman in Minnesota.
Miguel.
I know this is, I'm sorry, we don't have a lot of time to talk about it, but I do know that after this interview, you going up to Milwaukee for a protest, what was your thoughts when you heard this?
Oh, I'm, yeah, I was, I'm pissed.
I'm going to Milwaukee right now.
I don't know what the situation.
I don't know the full story.
I usually wait
on the
story, but.
the level of recklessness and lack of training that ICE agents have.
From what I've been reading is just a disaster.
It's a disgrace.
And so it ended up happening, right?
I'm not sure.
I believe there was a protester.
They just didn't stop.
And one of the ICE agents shot her through the window.
They could have gotten, at least from what I've talked to, local law enforcement, to avoid a more dangerous scene.
they could have just taken the license plate and find that individual later.
They did not have to do that and it's violence that's unnecessary and that should not be happening at all.
I'd like to say I'm sure everyone agreed, but no, we're already seeing reports from various quote unquote, illuminaries from the GOP who are automatically placing blame everywhere, but where it belongs in my opinion, that is my opinion.
But I wanted to get your quick thought on that.
And I know because it's.
It is still very fresh story.
There's still information coming out as we know more.
And I'm sure you're going to have these conversations on the campaign trail.
And I want to bring it now back to the campaign.
What, you know, in 2026, you've announced there is a primary happening in August.
What are you going to do to bring light to yourself that's going to separate yourself from the other candidates in the democratic field as we wrap up this interview with Miguel Aranda?
Yeah.
So just running against dial.
So if I were the candidate, I've looked through the past.
I've looked at the numbers every Democrat candidate loses by double digits.
Yes, so double margins and with style and What I will bring to the table is not only I would be the only one coming in from Walworth County or that you know that Earl feel I have I actually you have to work with Republicans and get stuff done And then our Latino constituency and so for example
um southeast uh wisconsin is very particular right and so we always want to look for candidates who fit that profile or their demographic and being latino we haven't again haven't been heard um we're not always in those certain circles that maybe have that level of influence and so
you know, again, I put my name in there so they can see that representation.
I've already got a lot of people have door knocked and they've been motivated and they're ready to go to vote, even if they might not be able to volunteer, but they got it on their calendar.
And so with Southeast Wisconsin, that's something that has been missing.
And that has been one of my frustrations within the party.
It's like, guys, we have such a huge potential right here.
And so one example, one story that I've shared
is when
I ran for school board twice,
I always try to bring other Democrat candidates with me, right?
So up and down the ballots.
A lot of my Latino constituency will say, well, I only want your sign, right?
I don't want other Democrats.
And another story that just recently I went to a college.
uh, university and to Latino college students and asked them, do you all, I did the whole spiel, right?
Um, you know, what my, what I'm fighting for.
And then I kind of saw blank faces and then I said, well, let me go back and like, do you all know who your current representative is?
And do you want to guess the level of percentage, Greg?
What
was it?
Uh, zero percent.
And if you want to know who your representative is, you can go to myvote.wi.gov.
We want to make sure you know who represents you and who are your leaders in your communities, myvote.wi.gov.
For more information on Miguel, go to Arandaforwisconsin.com.
I'm sure we'll be talking to him more throughout the campaign season.
Want to thank him for his time.
Don't go anywhere.
When we come back after the news, we've got Dr. Kristen Lierly talking about all things medicine, including
vaccine schedules, the food pyramid, and just, you know, anything else she's seeing as a practicing doctor.
She is also the host of the Dr. Kristen Lyreley show, of course, but don't go anywhere.
Stay tuned.
Stay close.
This is Mid-Morning's on Civic Media.
My name is Greg Bach.
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