Alex Padilla

- A longtime colleague and friend of Vice President Kamala Harris this week on "Firing Line."

- My question for all of you tonight is this.

This November, who's ready to defend the dream?

(audience cheers) (speaks foreign language) (audience cheers) Kamala Harris will defend the dream.

And between now and election day, each of us must defend the dream, too.

- [Margaret] He holds the Senate seat that belonged to Vice President Kamala Harris.

- Congratulations, Senator Padilla.

- [Margaret] Senator Alex Padilla is the first Latino elected to the United States Senate from California.

The son of Mexican immigrants, he went on to attend MIT and planned to become an aerospace engineer.

But he was inspired to enter politics amid the immigration debates of the mid-1990s.

- It was a wake-up call.

We can either put our head in the ground, wait for political times to shift, or we can get engaged.

- [Margaret] He has known Vice President Harris for decades.

- She's smart, she's strategic, she's tough.

And she's got a big, big heart.

- [Margaret] With less than 11 weeks to go until Election Day, what does Senator Alex Padilla say now?

- [Narrator] "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover" is made possible in part by: Robert Granieri, Vanessa and Henry Cornell, The Fairweather Foundation, and by the following.

Corporate funding is provided by Stephens Inc. - Senator Alex Padilla, welcome to "Firing Line."

- Thank you so much for having me.

- You are the son of Mexican immigrants who met in Los Angeles where you were raised.

- Yes.

- You worked as a janitor to help support your education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.

And you are now here in Chicago as the senior senator of the state of California, introducing another Californian, Vice President Kamala Harris, to the United States as the first woman of color to be nominated by a major party as President of the United States.

Is this an only-in-America moment for you?

- Only in America.

Still kind of sinking in.

And to look at Vice President Kamala Harris, I mean, that in and of itself, but the Democratic nominee for president of the United States, from one child of immigrants to another.

It's pretty special.

It's pretty amazing, and pretty meaningful for the country.

It's one of the main reasons my wife, Angela, and my boys are with me here at the convention, because this is literally history in the making.

- What do you hope America learns from you about Kamala Harris?

- The country is getting to know the Kamala Harris that we've known for many, many years.

When she was attorney general, I was serving in the California State Senate.

We worked together when she was taking on the big banks during the Great Recession.

I was secretary of state when she was serving in the United States Senate.

Fearless, right?

Trump and his cronies were quaking in their boots way back then, watching her lead from that dais in Judiciary Committee.

She's amazing.

She's smart, she's strategic, she's tough, and she's got a big, big heart as you get to know her as a person.

Whether it's... She loves to laugh, she loves to joke, she loves to cook, just all the human elements you would want in a great leader.

And our country is gonna be better off for it.

- You and she are part of a new generation of California Democrats who are both more diverse and more progressive than your previous generation of Democrats.

What did it take for you to get here?

- Yeah, it wasn't easy.

(chuckles) But it's a great thing about California.

Not just the United States, but especially California.

We're home to more immigrants than any state in the nation.

And guess what else?

We're the strongest economy by far of any state in the nation, and those two things are not a coincidence.

You know, the economic strength of California is not despite our diversity and our immigrant population, it's because of it.

And that is really a foundation for policy leadership for the rest of the country.

But to your point, it has not come easy.

You know, I was fresh home from college.

I graduated with my mechanical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at a time when politics in California was very different.

I mean, I literally came home to ads on television, the governor of California at the time saying the economy is going downhill and it's the fault of families like yours and communities like yours, immigrant communities.

- Well, I wanna ask you about that specifically.

- Yeah, please.

- Because you talk about how Prop 187 in California really ignited your passion for politics and got you involved.

In 1994, California voters voted by a wide margin in favor of proposition 187.

This is a bill that would have denied basic services to undocumented immigrants, like education and health care.

Listen to this debate on immigration in 1995 from the original "Firing Line," in which proposition 187 came up.

Take a look.

- Every poll, every poll taken shows 2/3 of the American people in favor of reducing illegal immigration and, indeed, legal immigration.

Look at the results of Proposition 187-- - Let me tell you something about the American people-- - 4 million people and a half voted in favor.

- Since you're an immigrant yourself.

Let me tell you something about the American people in polls.

In 1950, all the polls showed that they were in favor of segregation, too.

Didn't they?

The American people, in terms of what the polls show, is not the way we do business in this country.

- So Prop 187 was declared unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees equal protection regardless of citizenship status.

But why did this awaken, and how did this change the trajectory of your life?

- Yeah, Proposition 187 wasn't a matter of policy.

As you said, it was deemed unconstitutional by the courts.

Never went into effect.

But what it did for immigrant communities, not just the Latino community, but the more broad, diverse immigrant community in California, it was a wake-up call.

We can either put our head in the ground, wait for political times to shift, or we can get engaged.

We can become involved in the process.

And that's what happened.

A lot of people like my parents, who had been living and working in California for years, if not decades with no real desire or urgency to become citizens, finally changed their mind.

Not just, you know, for fear of potential deportation.

My parents were legal residents at the time.

But they knew that they had no political voice if they weren't citizens and couldn't register and couldn't vote.

- So that encouraged them to actually begin the process for citizenship?

- Absolutely.

And my generation of young people seeing our parents and our communities being political targets.

If we wanted to change that, we had to get involved in the political process.

So if you look at the electorate of California today, much more diverse, yes, much more progressive in our thinking, but a far cry from the politics of then, which sadly became a precursor for a lot of the politics we see in other parts of the country today.

When Donald Trump demonizes immigrants, his rhetoric of "poisoning the blood of our country," that's not unfamiliar for us.

But you're seeing these diverse communities throughout the country now also awakening, engaging, and will have a political influence.

Not just this November, but for cycles and decades to come, I believe.

So that was my introduction to politics.

And very similarly, I think, because of the politics of the time, a young Kamala Harris pursuing political involvement and activism and running for office.

And she's had a tremendous trajectory.

- So immigration and the border are top issues in this campaign.

You were one of a handful of senators that voted against a bipartisan border bill.

And it's reported that you also successfully encouraged other senators to go against leadership and not support this bipartisan border bill.

- I urge you to join me today in doing what's right for dreamers, farmworkers, and other long-term undocumented members-- - You gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, saying that history would judge senators who voted for it.

How will history judge those senators who voted for it?

- Well, the good news is, I think we've come back into a better direction since that debate and those votes.

You know, my issues with the package, even though it was negotiated on a bipartisan basis, were twofold.

Number one, it was proposing to make what I believed were unconstitutional changes to our asylum system.

Right?

It's part of our international obligation that people who are fleeing persecution, et cetera, have the opportunity to seek asylum in another country, including the United States.

But second, if the true concern or challenge that people are trying to solve is the number of people coming to the southern border of the United States, you know, you can make the asylum process as hard as you want, it's not gonna stem the flow unless you identify and address root causes.

And so that's what I've seen from the White House since then, and what I've heard from Vice President Harris even more so since then.

Let's talk about the border.

We all agree we need a secure, orderly, safe border.

But we will not stem the tide unless we work with our partners throughout the hemisphere to address the migration challenge.

And we cannot, in this broader conversation about immigration, forget about the millions of people in the United States who have been here for years, if not decades.

Dreamers, farmworkers, others, so many who are working in essential jobs for our nation's security and our economy.

They deserve better than to live in the shadows in fear of deportation.

So we need to be more holistic in our thinking and in our approaches.

- So was your contention or your bone to pick with the bill that it was too narrow and only about the border, that it didn't take a holistic approach?

- Yeah, my issue was it was very narrow.

It was enforcement only, replicating some policies that were proven to fail during the Trump administration.

- Which ones?

- But thankfully, since... You know, just arbitrary closures of the border is not gonna stem the tide.

When people are fleeing abject poverty, authoritarian regimes, violence, et cetera, that's gonna be the case anyway, regardless of our changes to the asylum system.

- In June, President Biden issued an executive order that suspended the entry of most migrants across the border.

And you said at the time, quote, that you are "beyond disappointed" at the policy and that it was, quote, "unconscionable."

Is it your view or hope that a President Kamala Harris will change that executive order?

- There's certainly some refinements that will probably be in order.

But again, the additional news since President Biden signed that executive order is, he followed that up just a couple weeks later with relief and protections for long-term residents of the United States who happen to be undocumented but who have a United States citizen as a spouse.

You know, a simple change, like being able to apply for a change in status without having to leave the country first.

That leaving the country provides a lot of uncertainty.

So that's now different.

President Biden has restored some of that balanced approach of enforcement with relief as necessary.

And the other thing that's happened, since the first executive order, is additional engagement between not just President Biden and Vice President Harris, but other administration officials with their partners, with their colleagues in Mexico, in Central and South America.

And the result that we've seen, the lowest numbers of people coming to the southern border than at any point during the Biden administration, and even lower than it was at the end of the Trump administration.

So, again, a more thoughtful, more comprehensive approach is what's effective and sustainable.

- What do you make, then, of Julia Chavez Rodriguez, Kamala Harris's campaign manager, suggesting that Biden's border policy will continue?

She said, quote, "I think at this point, "the policies that are having real impact "on ensuring that we have security and order at the border, "they will continue."

- Yeah, they're gonna continue.

They'll continue to be refined and improved, and they're gonna continue to be built upon.

Like I said, it's not just an enforcement only strategy.

- Have your views on that executive order from June changed fundamentally?

- Well, again, there's the executive order, and then there's the context.

There's the more comprehensive policy.

So when it's part of a more comprehensive, more thoughtful, more balanced approach, then yes-- - You're for it.

And when it's not, you're not for it.

- Well, when it as a standalone, in isolation, I didn't believe it was going to be effective.

But it's no longer in isolation.

It's married with the engagement efforts, which have proven to be fruitful.

And now the proposals to provide the protections and the relief for people who have been in the United States for years, if not decades.

- How do you understand now Vice President Harris's touting and running on her support for that bipartisan border bill?

A campaign ad says that she, quote, "backed the toughest border control bill in decades."

- [Narrator] Fixing the border is tough.

So is Kamala Harris.

- How do you view that message?

- Look, I think it's honest, I think it's clear.

Most importantly, because of the campaign itself, it's drawing the contrast.

Because you have Democrats putting forward good ideas.

But we have to ask ourselves, what is Donald Trump doing?

What is Donald Trump promising?

What would we expect from the Republican Party?

That's absolutely clear.

Let's go back to the four years of the Trump administration.

You know, mass detention, separation of children from their families.

You're gonna get nothing but cruelty and chaos under Donald Trump.

- So, Roger Marshall, a senator from Kansas, has called on Congress to say that migration across the southern border constitutes a, quote, "invasion."

- That the governors of the individual states have a constitutional right to repel the dangerous and ongoing invasion across the United States southern border.

- The language of invasion is also something former President Trump uses.

By formally declaring an invasion of border states, could that have major constitutional implications, and why do you think they're using the language of war to describe what's happening at the southern border?

- So I can't help but take this a little personally.

Do I think there's constitutional implications, the use and application of that language?

Possibly.

And I would imagine it's very intentional on their part-- - Some say that it's to lay the groundwork to use the Insurrection Act to deploy the military to deport migrants in the United States.

- Exactly.

- Do you think that's true?

- I wouldn't put anything past Trump and the MAGA Republican Party these days.

But even more so, maybe more urgently, it's that type of rhetoric that incites violence.

And it wasn't that long ago that, because of Donald Trump's rhetoric when he was in office, that there was someone radicalized that lived outside the area of Dallas that brought his assault weapons to El Paso and shot up a Walmart parking lot, a Latino community, as families were going back to school shopping.

I'm proud of my Latino heritage.

I'm the first Latino to represent California in the United States Senate.

My parents are immigrants from Mexico.

We're living the American dream.

But my kids look like me, and it could easily have been my family.

And so there's no place in this country or anywhere for political violence.

And the rhetoric that breeds that violence has to be condemned.

Democrats condemn it.

Republicans don't.

And let's be mindful of it when we hear that type of language.

- Analysts say that Vice President Harris needs to win 64% of the Latino vote in order to win the presidency.

But when you look at states like Arizona and Nevada, and when you look at some softening in the numbers, at least previously on the Democratic side, and this indication that perhaps Trump was running stronger with Latino men in some of these border states, what do you think she needs to do in order to ensure that she wins a sufficient number of Latino men and women in Arizona and Nevada?

_ So, well, it starts with just her being herself.

Because, again, I've known her.

I've seen her reach out, build relationships, build coalitions.

And so that's why it's not a surprise to me that, when we shifted from President Biden seeking reelection to now Vice President Harris being the nominee, that her first investments were in the Latino community.

Digital advertising, broadcast advertising, but then also physically campaigning in Nevada, in Arizona, deploying her campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, granddaughter of Cesar Chavez, to the Southwest to shore up the support in those Latino communities.

Now, the chatter about Latinos leaving the Democratic Party, migrating to Trump and Republicans, was a concern in 2020, did not really materialize, was a concern in 2022-- - But it did a little-- - Did not really materialize-- - On the margins it did.

But on the margins it did.

I mean, Trump did better than most Republicans prior to him with Hispanic men.

Why?

- Maybe a little, but here's the great thing about this November: a record 17 1/2 million Latinos are expected to vote this November.

At least one in five, maybe more, will be voting for the first time.

We skew younger.

And so that's really where the game is.

And so those on-the-ground outreach efforts, the digital strategies, the advertising strategies, all taken together with the solid encouraging message, I believe is gonna be successful.

Because at the end of the day, if you wanna talk about just Latino men, we wanna take care of our families.

And we know what the path is.

Under Trump, risk, danger.

Under Vice President Harris, hope, optimism and opportunity.

- So that's a great message, but how do you actually understand the substance of that softening for Trump?

- Look, I think for us, it's just to continue to build on what the last four years have been like.

Under the Biden-Harris administration, what have we seen?

More Latino families' access to health care.

Latinos who are disproportionately impacted by diabetes, at least seniors, now only paying $35 for insulin as opposed to a lot more.

Record number of Latino small businesses being established.

I mean, the record goes on and on and on-- - But then why was Trump picking them up in the numbers?

- I just didn't see it translate, as people feared in 2020 and 2022.

But that being said, like any voter, nobody should be taken for granted.

And the Latino electorate as a whole is also not a monolith.

All politics is local.

And the Harris-Walz campaign is campaigning accordingly.

- Let me ask you about the economy.

Vice President Harris's signature economic proposal, based on her recent speech, talked about a proposal for a federal ban on price gouging in supermarkets.

We all know grocery prices have gone up.

- As a father of three, I know it very well.

(chuckles) - They rose 21% in the last few years under the Biden-Harris administration.

Explain how the plan that she proposed would actually lower prices at the grocery store.

- I love the question, because when she announced it, you immediately saw Donald Trump and Republicans thrashing, you know, and coming up with false accusations.

Price gouging is wrong.

And there's state after state after state law against price gouging.

And both Democratic and Republican attorney generals cracked down on price gouging to the extent of their ability, given those state powers.

What she's called for is the ability to use the weight of federal law to crack down on price gouging.

Because as there has been a rise in prices, it is a legitimate question, particularly in industries, whether it's a consolidation, maybe not a monopoly, but too few companies in those spaces.

Are the prices that we're paying at the grocery store the fair price for consumers?

Maybe, maybe not.

Kamala Harris is looking out for working families.

That's what she's proposing to do.

- How is she gonna do that, though?

Because economists from across the political spectrum have criticized the proposal as an attempt at price controls that rarely work.

They lead to shortages, black markets, higher prices.

This is why top economist Jason Furman said there's no upside.

He said that he hopes that, quote, "winds up being a lot of rhetoric and not a reality."

- I just fundamentally disagree.

It may be a new idea to some of them at the federal level.

We're not talking about price controls, we're talking about cracking down on price gouging.

I think working men and women, especially those of us who go to the grocery store on a very regular basis, can appreciate that and will feel that.

- You also are an advocate for climate.

When Kamala Harris ran as a progressive in 2020, she backed Medicare for all, she backed the Green New Deal, but her campaign seems to be pivoting away from that past support.

How do you understand her shift to the center in the context of the general election?

- Well, I don't think she's shifted as much as you might think.

First of all, clear contrast between the two campaigns.

Kamala Harris believes climate change is real.

California, in many ways, is an exhibit A that climate change is not an idea, a risk in the future.

It's happening now.

Donald Trump Republicans deny climate change is happening, despite record hurricanes, record tornadoes ravaging states represented by Republicans.

So one of the things I'm looking forward to in a Harris administration is bringing our collective experience dealing with wildfires, dealing with floods and atmospheric rivers in California to better inform federal policy, not just in terms of preparedness and response, but to reverse climate change.

You know, California's been a leader, for example, on the growth of renewable energy.

In addition to energy efficiency and conservation, we're tackling emissions in the transportation sector.

You know, not just electric vehicles, but electrifying the public transit system.

And now we're looking at locomotives and heavy-duty trucks.

We have one planet.

We gotta protect it.

California's leading the way, and it's a foundation for successful policy at the federal level and beyond.

- One year ago, in 2023, Kamala Harris said, on the risk of climate change, quote, "It's clear that the clock is not only ticking, "it's banging.

"We must act."

She has a strong environmental record from her years as attorney general in California, and yet she has not addressed climate change yet on the trail.

And many voters who say climate change is their number-one priority are also young voters.

Isn't it gonna be important for the Harris-Walz ticket to discuss it?

- They are.

I mean, they were talking about a lot of issues.

Reproductive rights is first and foremost on some people's minds-- - They haven't done climate yet.

- Let me get to that.

Talking about voting rights, talking about a number of issues.

Look, when it comes to climate, let's be real on how we're tackling it.

The Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest investment to tackle climate in not just our nation's history, but anywhere in the world.

- Shouldn't she be running on that?

- She cast the deciding vote.

Would not have happened without her vote as vice president.

So she is taking ownership of that.

And we'll be campaigning on that.

And I hope we'll continue what President Biden has done and call out Republicans who voted against it, but are trying to show up at all these ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings for all these projects across the country.

- There are 70-some days left in this campaign.

The country's divided.

I know you like baseball.

- (chuckles) That's an understatement.

- Can baseball bring the country together?

- Well, I think sports in general, and baseball in particular, can.

Because, look, the annual congressional baseball game is one that brings Republicans and Democrats together, raises money for charities.

You know, I wouldn't suggest it's a highlight reel, it's more of a blooper reel.

But we come together in good fun for a good cause.

So, yes, I think there's a lot of potential for baseball diplomacy.

- Last question, how are you gonna spend the next 70-plus days?

- I'm gonna be making a lot of phone calls and be knocking at a lot of doors.

The stakes are just too high.

I mean, the future of our...

I thought the 2020 election was high stakes.

It was at the time, the most consequential election of our lifetime.

But think about what's happened since.

January 6th happened since.

34 not indictments, but convictions of Donald Trump have happened since.

The Dobbs decision, undoing the protections of Roe v. Wade have happened since.

The Supreme Court granting immunity to the president for whatever he or she may want to do has happened since.

The stakes continue to get higher.

It's important for anybody who's eligible to register, make sure they cast their ballot this November.

- Senator Padilla, I really appreciate your time here on "Firing Line."

- Thank you.

- [Narrator] "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover" is made possible in part by: Robert Granieri, Vanessa and Henry Cornell, The Fairweather Foundation, and by the following.

Corporate funding is provided by Stephens Inc. (upbeat music) (bright music) (gentle music) - [Announcer] You're watching PBS.