The Doug Stanhope Podcast - Ep. #277: Crazy AND Illegal? Who You Gonna Call?
Episode Date: September 19, 2018Morgan Murphy introduces Doug to Valentina from The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project ([www.FIRRP.org](www.FIRRP.org)) whose mission is to ensure that all immigrants facing removal have acce...ss to counsel, understand their rights under the law, and are treated fairly and humanely. Email your questions for the podcast to stanhopepodcast@gmail.com Recorded Sept. 18th, 2018 at the FunHouse in Bisbee, AZ with Doug Stanhope (@DougStanhope), Valentina of The Florence Project (@FlorenceProject), Morgan Murphy (@morgan_morphy), Mat Becker (@houdini357), and Ggreg Chaille (@gregchaille). Produced & Edited by Chaille. This episode is sponsored by [MyBookie.ag](MyBookie.ag) - Sign up today and MyBookie will match your deposit dollar for dollar. Use promo code STANHOPE when creating your account to claim the bonus. If you’re willing to deposit after 7 p.m. Eastern Time, they’ll give you an additional $25 free play on deposits over $100\. Use SPECIAL Promo Code STANHOPE25 for this exclusive offer. Get on the Mailing List at [www.dougstanhope.com](www.dougstanhope.com). STANHOPE MERCH - NEW COLOR! "Abortion Is Green" T-Shirt now in Banana Cream OR White - [http://www.DougStanhope.com/store](http://www.DougStanhope.com/store) The Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project – [http://www.FIRRP.org](http://www.FIRRP.org) – Email - firrp@firrp.org Support the Innocence Project - [http://www.innocenceproject.org](http://www.innocenceproject.org) Chad Shank Voice Over info at [http://www.AudioShank.com](http://www.AudioShank.com) "Owen" clip from the movie "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" obtained from YouTube - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbgOACJpZg0&t=4s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbgOACJpZg0&t=4s) Closing song from Northern Palomazo. Series "Urban, Rustic and Artisan … and sometimes Casual". Available on YouTube - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-yUgpPObFg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-yUgpPObFg)Support the show: http://www.Patreon.com/stanhopepodcast
Transcript
Discussion (0)
You're listening to the Doug Stanhope Podcast.
Chaley, Becker's chewing in the microphone.
I'm not even chewing in the microphone.
He's chewing towards the microphone.
He's chewing near a microphone.
Jesus Christ.
Not just chewing, chewing bread, which is a, it's not like it's gonna finish fast
it's not as bad as uh apples which chaley likes to chew in the car doritos with those really fancy
flavors because then you lick your fingers well no that gets into an and an Andy Andrus thing is crinkling bags. He hates that.
And I've picked up his, it's not a phobia, but it's a fucking annoyance.
He's got crinkling bags.
So now when I crinkle a bag around people, I think, oh, fuck, someone here hates me as much as Andy Andrus would hate me.
hates me as much as Andy Andrist would hate me.
But I'm a misophonia
guy. Chewing sounds
make me fucking
sickened.
Mouth sounds. Not just
chewing. Well, it's a specific...
Someone smacking their gum. What about those lined up teeth?
NPR. Anything?
That's not smacking.
NPR where Terry
Gross leans in and...
It's just such a hard microphone.
You can hear every piece of...
It sounds like a tadpole going through a dryer.
I love that you hate it so much
you couldn't even do a good example
because you want to gross yourself out.
Because I don't want to gross out other people.
We had an old rule.
When they go into the archives of this podcast,
which history is certain to do,
those were the two things.
No mouth sounds and no chicks on the podcast.
And right now, in this current climate,
it usually means no girlfriends on the podcast.
But we have two chicks on the podcast
because they're fucking fantastic.
Morgan Murphy, everyone knows.
Hello.
Chaley's here.
He's not a chick.
Becker's here. We did Chaley's here. He's not a chick. Becker's here.
We did this podcast last night.
Without, don't worry, that's part of the podcast.
Drink shaking in the background, dogs barking.
Just no smacking.
Valentina, jump a little lighter
senorita come sit by my fire
Valentina
who Morgan Murphy has talked up
Morgan
I mean talked up I think I spoke
accurately about her
background oh you fucking talked
her up which is a good thing
because she lived up finally
to one of your recommendations.
All the
myriad of people I've been bringing
in by your house.
No, you said, oh, you should really
have her on your podcast.
Well, I think I said you want
to meet her. She's willing to
come down, which is even
more
of a glowing example of, she she's gonna drive all the way from
tucson that's like a two-hour drive yeah but i mean i think you were excited to come to bisbee
in general bisbee's amazing yeah doug was uh not part of the equation until you guys met
but you did uh i want you to introduce her based on what you did.
Well, what I did was I found out about this organization
based in Arizona called...
The name of?
Florence Project.
And it was in this sort of peak
of what was being publicized about immigration and stuff.
And obviously I was sitting at home and I was like,
what do I do? I'm my lady.
And I found some, I kind of did a little bit of research,
but I wanted to do something here and I found this group.
And we ended up doing, they ended up sending a lawyer to do radio with me
when I said, hey, can I do a benefit show for you guys in Tucson?
And they sent Valentina.
And we did morning radio with Christine and stuff in town.
Christine Levine.
Yeah, and that was great.
Podcast favorite.
And did the show there.
And then ended up being able to do a show in L.A. and raised a bunch of money.
And then Valentina came out to L.A up being able to do a show in la and raise a bunch of money and and then valentina came out to la with me to do that show and we've just basically became good
buddies and uh we'll get into that but before i forget because i forget everything when you
you say she did the show with you did you actually go on stage no but she's a valentina's an attorney
for the florence project which I should have emphasized.
But when you said
she did the show in L.A.
I just ran out and gave some numbers.
She did the radio show with me in Tucson
and then she came out on stage
at Largo in L.A. and we
basically did a little bit of a Q&A.
So a bunch of comics, really great comics
did the benefit show,
which was amazing.
And then I brought her out and So like a bunch of comics, really great comics, did the benefit show, which was amazing. It was so good.
And then I brought her out and just kind of said, hey, what's happening right now?
All right.
Explain.
Because it's a very niche market for your.
Yes.
The charity is.
Not charity.
It's a nonprofit organization.
Yes.
Of Lawrence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project
We represent both detained
And non-detained men, women, and children
Who face immigration deportation
In Arizona
And we're the only group to do it
Mentally ill
Immigrants being held in cages
So
It's like the Innoc innocence project but if you only did
rape victim rape uh there's a lot of domestic violence there's a lot of survivors of domestic
violence but she's her specialty is is detaining i mean it's defending uh people who are mentally ill but the whole organization
oh okay so that's not the whole organization that's just you represents immigrants who are
in immigration that's your specialty yes special teams well we have yes we have a special team
that represents people who are seriously mentally ill and have been found incompetent to represent
themselves in immigration proceedings.
This right does not exist in all states, but it does exist in Arizona.
So we are appointed by the court and we are then their qualified representative, which is more than just being a lawyer.
It's making sure they get treatment. It's making sure they have housing.
It's supposed to be holistic representation, and it is.
I remember we went through this last night.
Last night we did this podcast, and it was wildly inappropriate that we even tried to do this.
Because you showed up at like 2.30 in the morning because you're an immigrant yourself.
You're like a Colombian or something.
It's true.
She came through the dark of night.
She snuck into Bisbee.
Underground Railroad.
You got into this how?
You're only 28.
I think that the short answer,
if why am I an immigration attorney for people who are mentally ill? My parents are
immigrants and I am mentally ill. My parents are Colombian and they came here before I was born
to study computer programming and the United States was good to them and they really prospered
and my brother and I were really, really lucky to grow up here.
And when I was 25, I was diagnosed as bipolar, and it's informed a lot of my life since then. And I realized in working with people who were incarcerated or were in criminal proceedings or were trying to apply for DACA.
I noticed that there was a population that really wasn't getting served,
and it was people who were seriously mentally ill because they're seen as too hard to deal with.
Well, you have the double whammy of,
I'm an illegal immigrant and I'm also mentally ill.
Mm-hmm.
And probably don't speak the language on top of that.
You get tased quite a bit.
I would assume.
Yes,
you're getting tased.
There was a story in today's newser about an 87 year old woman from stealing
dandelions.
She was,
yeah,
she was cutting down dandelions from a field
and they said, you can't be here.
And she's like, what?
She had a kitchen knife to cut dandelions down to eat,
which is the most fucked up part.
That's the worst part.
You eat dandelions?
And they tased her.
Anyway, I forget my point.
It made the dandelions really crisp, though.
That's the preferred way to eat those.
Oh, if you can't afford electricity to cook them.
You'll take these cooked dandelions with my cold, dead hand.
Okay.
Preferred.
But she wasn't mentally ill, even.
She just didn't speak the language.
So do you speak Spanish?
I do.
I do.
It's my first language.
Oh, when did you learn that?
Oh, fuck, Becker.
Don't get me started.
She just said it was her first language, Becker.
She's from Colombia.
Well, no, I know.
I mean, she's from Boston, but...
Go Pats.
Oh, that's right.
Sorry, everyone.
You were actually born here.
Your parents weren't. But I do identify as Colombian, and I appreciate that. But it wouldn't be her first language, then. Oh, that's right. Sorry, everyone. Sorry, you were actually born here. Your parents weren't.
But I do identify as Colombian
and I appreciate that.
But it wouldn't be
her first language
and she could have learned English.
But my parents didn't speak
very good English at the time
and I grew up at the house
and so we mostly spoke Spanish.
I learned English
once I started school
and I was talking to kids in school.
This is so off topic
and we're going to get into this. oh no it's not you when you say
you are you are born here but you identify as colombian i was born here and then when i wrote
my book i found out that my grandmother was born in canada and my great-grandmother was born in Canada and my great-grandmother was born in Scotland. And so can I say,
when say, hey, well, what's your heritage? Well, I'm American Canadian.
Says born here, but my grandmother was born in Canada. No one says that.
I think it really depends on what it is that you take from your culture. So for example,
with being Colombian, I think that I do what I do because I'm Colombian. And I like to think that I
would have done it if I weren't. But the fact of the matter is that I feel like I have this duty
to all of the people who weren't as fortunate as I was. And I missed it by a sliver.
And that all just, you know, feels so left up to chance and unfair.
So you'd do the same thing if you were in Columbia.
You would, like George Young from Blow,
who did a lot of business in Columbia,
you would go, I'm going to fight for his civil rights
to score Blow in Columbia. All right, let's get back to you. go, I'm going to fight for his civil rights to score below Colombia.
All right, let's get back to you.
I'm sorry.
Good law of topic.
I'm sorry.
Yeah.
I told everyone, let's not get off topic, knowing I'd be the first guy to get off topic.
Why are you committing your life to make America not great again by letting mentally ill Colombians into our country?
I think it's an existential crisis.
I think, you know.
Don't you use big words on my fucking podcast.
I think that it has to do with my terror of living.
And I think that's sort of existential.
But no, I think that really, of existential but no I think that really
what else am I here for
and I don't mean that in a self-righteous way
I don't think that everyone should be doing this work
but I feel every day
that I don't know why I'm here
other than to be next to people
alright
sorry
the dog loves to make porn sounds
give us did the dog mouth sounds bother you i was wondering no no they don't that's odd
unless he's licking a sore if he has a hot spot if it when ichabod chews gum uh. Doug can't handle it. Shut up, honker.
Oh, that stuff she was doing today makes me crazy.
I have allergies. I have to understand she's a friend, but Morgan makes old, odd couple sounds.
Can you create?
No, I have allergies.
I know, but can you create that?
I can't create that sound.
Sometimes I get sort of the phlegm situation.
Can you do that for the people?
It's what happens when Judaism meets dander or something.
I don't know, but it's a thing.
It's not my fault.
It's when it's green out here.
I would throw up if I tried to recreate the sounds you make.
All right.
Well.
I can't do it.
I can't do it.
Like the guy in Planes, in planes trains and automobiles that picks up john
candy and i'm to drive you to wichita to catch a train yeah we'd appreciate it train don't run
out of wichita unless you're a hog or cattle
yeah the cab driver yeah you won't be able to hear it when i kill myself after this podcast i was gonna ask you give us an example the listener of your day rather than the mumbo
jumbo of what you do yeah what do you do on a daily basis?
She brings me my keys at the Doubletree to my truck.
With the breakfast sandwich.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sometimes I send her my keys
because I thought she was going to drive my truck to LA.
So first she brings me my keys to the Doubletree
so I can drive my Tacoma to Bisbee
and then go say what you do.
What's the address?
Hey, this is starting to sound like
the Florence Henderson project.
Oh, I thought it was flow from the Alice.
Go ahead.
So seriously.
So that day was pretty typical after I left.
I mean, dealing with people that you deal with.
Someone has been detained.
So I have someone, I have clients in detention and I have clients out of detention.
My clients in detention, I see them and I can visit them.
And that's wonderful.
I also see them in court.
And it's really disgusting because the courthouses are actually within the detention center.
So if you're detained, you don't even leave the facility to go to court.
Let me boil it down even more.
Give us a hypothetical example based on one of your clients,
but now he's hypothetical.
I have a client who...
Why is it a he?
I'll go with that.
I have a client who was incarcerated.
He came to the United States.
From where?
And at the border, he asked to see a doctor.
He said that he needed to see a psychiatrist
and um that he wanted help and he was incarcerated he was incarcerated for about 15 months before he
was released um he's incarcerated meaning prison not one of these no in a detention center without
medication i've been in both and they look like prisons incarcerated without without any medication
or incarcerated well so it depends on the person it really does we're just going with this hypothetical
and this person was not medicated he was hearing voices and he told me that he was uh telling the
doctors what language he speaks spanish um but the detention it's it's so this individual was
not medicated in detention despite the fact that he told me that he was reporting his symptoms.
And then he was released.
And we are lucky enough to be able to represent people not only in court, but once they're released.
And so I went and I got him a bus pass and we went to the treatment center.
We had made an appointment just in case he got out.
He was able to get in front of a doctor. He was able to the treatment center. We had made an appointment just in case he got out. He was able to get in front of a doctor.
He was able to get treatment.
And we got a library card.
Like, these are the, this is what the day looks like.
The day looks like driving to the middle of nowhere
to go to court inside a detention center.
I'm assuming this is Florence.
Florence, Arizona and Eloy, Arizona.
A renowned prison town. It's just it's the worst detention center.
The only thing worse is that one in Louisiana.
I can't remember the name, but you know the one.
But it's fucking horrific.
So you drive into the middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere.
Like, oh, there's a middle or nowhere.
Okay, that's where I work.
And it's hot and filthy and they're cruel and unusual.
And so you go.
I'm going to get off topic again.
Keep going.
I mean, that's what the representation looks like. I mean, we're just
shuttling around from Phoenix to Tucson where our clients are released and we're representing people
who are in other states even. And it's a lot of work, but it's amazing. It just becomes your life.
There's no way for it not to. I mean, I just got a call from a client and I couldn't not take it
because I know he's in a shelter and i
know that he wanted to talk to me today i mean that's it's all the time and it's beautiful
how much have you ever gotten to a place where you go all right this is too
like personal not uh like where you go i'm too involved and this person is beyond help and now they're
counting on me. I don't think that we can ever consider any of our clients beyond help because
I think that if we classify any of our clients that way, even just subconsciously, we won't be
able to do the work. You have to always think that. All right, then let me rephrase, Your Honor.
Yes, Counsel.
I would, have you ever gotten yourself
where you're too close personally with a client
where he's expecting more than I can give?
I think that's a lot of what we're trained to do and a lot of
the challenges in this work is drawing boundaries. Because when you are giving so much to people,
where to draw the line is really difficult. It's easier, for example, not that this is an easier
job. I respect public defenders tremendously. But with a public defender, in most offices,
not holistic offices, but in most offices, you're representing them in one case that has to do with one incident. In these cases,
the cases are about their entire lives. They're about the story of a country. And we're able to
give them so much outside of detention that figuring out where it stops is, you know,
when you don't want it to stop you don't want to say
no to people um especially when you see how much very little uh gets them um but it's definitely
boundaries are something that we we really work on a lot as a group um because it does get confusing
we do a lot of therapy about this you you and Bingo who bonded miraculously
during this trip.
You talked about that earlier
about... Fuck, no, I lost
my point.
Attachment.
Boundaries in
that... Fuck it.
Go ahead, just keep talking. I lost
my thought. I'm trying to... I can't do three things at once.
I'm trying to tell him one thing.
Don't ever juggle.
I remember.
Becker can juggle.
I don't know if it's like weird to bring up,
but it's so funny.
I was in the middle of doing a lot of nothing
when I was here and sort of found out
about the Florence Project.
And then when I met Valentina, it's like, first of all, I knew I was going to meet someone I respected based on her job or whatever.
But then you talk to someone, you go, oh, this person is almost a decade younger than me and is like saving the world.
And there is an element of, and I don't know if this is something you come across when you meet people but there's an an element of me going oh what do i do like in compared to like actually
saving people but i think morgan's a good example because she saw this and she recognized and this
is what she says when she talks about this is that she realized that she was on the border and that
she couldn't not do anything
about it and morgan's not a lawyer she's not a social worker but she organized yet um but she
organized um multiple events and she introduced me to doug and you know you you you were able to
reach people in different ways and everyone brings whatever they have to it. My only skill is that I know some rich people.
I did a huge bit about this on my last,
one of my last specials about raising awareness.
And that's as a bad thing.
But this is something that, yeah, people don't know about this it's usually when a kid
has cerebral palsy and i'm gonna do a fun run to raise awareness well people know about cerebral
palsy they do not know about people being detained as immigrants with mental illness
yeah that's a that's something you go, hey, this is fucked up.
Maybe we should raise awareness.
Yeah, but I think it's hard to.
I'm sorry.
Right now, because of what's going on
with the political climate,
you guys are stressed really thin
because there's a zero tolerance
that's really pushed things to...
So everyone gets charged.
So you do pro bono?
Is that everything you do?
We are totally...
So you're 100% donations.
Like the Innocence Project, which I have to always plug.
No, but we, meaning we're pro bono, nobody, we don't charge anyone.
All of our clients are.
But you guys run on donations and all of a sudden something happens in the government
and you guys are swamped like never before, right?
So donations go up.
Well, hopefully.
But what happens is this is a time when there might be a certain
amount of awareness but now you guys have a chance to really get it out because what's happening
what is the donations also go up hang on let's do that the florence immigrant and refugee rights
project we're on facebook i hope kind of wordy it's f-i-r- R R P.org,
but I know,
I know that's how my audience will remember it.
I'll help a little bit more.
They are called furbies.
So do with that what you will.
We're on Facebook.
I high five to grow earlier over our common herpes affliction.
I don't know. It's earlier over our common herpes affliction. I don't remember who it was.
No, it's furpy, sir, not herpes.
Whoever laughed dealt it.
Yeah, it's funny because I think the thing that really, like,
obviously triggered my, I don't want to say interest,
but triggered my sort of involvement or whatever,
was obviously everybody was affected by seeing kids and stuff.
And it's interesting because that brings you into a situation and then you end up learning the larger picture,
which is that obviously, I mean, it's still, you can vouch for me,
that there are still separated families and you guys handle
that.
And well,
that's why we're promoting.
But on this podcast,
the thing is most of our people don't give a shit about kids being
separated from their mothers,
but because my fan base for the most part doesn't have kids,
but they're lonely men that barely speak English, even though they're from here.
And they're mentally ill.
So you are the perfect guest to promote this.
And we will promote the shit out of it.
Thank you.
Are we at the 20?
Yeah.
All right.
Please hold.
We have to, at the 20-minute mark, we're always obligated to do...
Cocktails!
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Yeah, that was another parlay bet I laid down,
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Plus, I fucking hate the Steelers.
Fuck the Steelers.
Yeah.
Tampa Bay's getting a point.
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Steelers are at home or they're at home.
Tampa Bay's at home. Tampa Bay's at home.
Tampa Bay's at home, correct?
I fucking love that.
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And we're back with Valentina Restropo.
Montoya, did I fuck up the middle one?
Because the middle one is the one that
Restrepo
How do you spell that?
R-E-S-T-R-E-P-O
Or you already know the very famous Netflix
So actually
That's
The reason that that's him.
I'm sorry.
I stepped on his joke.
No, no.
Move on with life.
Well, then don't fucking flitter around.
I wasn't.
I was like.
What?
Set it all up.
It's over now.
Oh, yeah.
Sorry.
No problem.
No.
Any relation.
That's all I wanted to know.
Restrepo is a very common
surname in colombia uh especially in the maine area and uh the uh i don't know military terms
but the individual who was killed in combat um his last name was ristrepo and that's why they
named to the base in afghanistan that the documentary follows Restrepo.
All right.
Let's get back to Chaley's pertinent questions.
Like it's the only time I've...
You've never ruined a joke for me.
Don't worry about it.
Becker had something planned.
It's all right.
And I also said, don't start with my question.
We were going to do a little backup
and you fucking,
you're the one flopping
around like a fish.
I think it's going great.
Valentina.
Could you defend Doug?
Could you keep him in America?
I quit.
Is there a chance
you could do a half-assed job
and get him deported?
I want to know
what the difference is
between ICE,
which is Immigration...
And Customs Enforcement.
And...
Customs and Border Patrol.
Customs Border.
Because it...
We have Border Patrol everywhere.
We have sheriffs.
We have Highway Patrol.
We got cops.
We got ICE running around.
I don't know what the fuck...
All you got making money is hat cleaners.
The reason that you're seeing CBP customs and border patrol so much is
because you're so close to the border.
Customs and border patrol is in charge of immigration and customs
enforcement at the ports of entry,
both on land and at the airports.
So you've got a number of ports of entry here.
They'll also pull up.
If you get pulled over by the sheriffs on your way from target,
after buying
your first microwave for your first house in bisbee um they'll pull up behind the sheriff
to make sure rental house any trouble i just why do you sound like like like katherine hepburn
i just because i just want people to know that i was just trying to buy a microwave and a mop
and a swiffer and some stuff and then they pulled me over and gave me a ticket for going too fast.
Oh, were you talking too much over our guest?
They'll get you for that too.
I should have brought you to traffic court.
That would have been the best.
Sorry.
Continue.
We are seven miles from the border.
Valentina, back to you. Law enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol is in charge of law enforcement within 100 miles of the border. Valentina, back to you. So law enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol is
in charge of law enforcement within 100 miles
of the border. When you hear
about people being caught in the desert, that's
Customs and Border Patrol. They
run short-term custody, so
that's where people are detained
with CBP before they're
transferred to ICE facilities,
ICE contract facilities like Florence
and Eloy.
ICE is internal immigration enforcement, so home raids, workplace raids, courthouse arrests.
And they run and contract the long-term detention centers like Florence and Eloy and are in charge of deports generally, except for expedited removals,
which happened at the border.
So ice is like in that's enforcement in the middle of the country. Like CDP is not rolling around Iowa.
No.
Okay.
But then ice can be here at the,
at our border.
Yes.
Fuck.
I don't know.
It,
it,
that was very concise.
Thank you.
But it seems like there's a lot of overlap there.
Yeah. Let me be the dick's a lot of overlap there.
Let me be the dick.
I'm easy at this.
When it comes to immigration itself, if we had complete open borders, because I've been an open libertarian, but I don't know what it means.
Where they go, yeah, we should have complete open borders.
Yeah.
How fucked would this country be?
I can't speak to what open borders
would do. I think that
militarizing the border
is not the way to go.
No, no.
If you think about it, open borders make
sense in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
Half our retirees want to go somewhere warm.
They'll go to Mexico.
Half the workers want to go work somewhere.
They can work in America, in the Northwest and steel industry.
And all the white-collar workers go to Canada, which they're already at.
So I don't understand why we haven't already done this.
It's the Mall of Americas.
I don't understand why we haven't already done this.
It's the Mall of Americas.
This is why Becker's going to be the next mayor of Bisbee in 2020.
Fuck.
That's a dumb question for the end of this.
We haven't gone into like, you did last night about when you were so young and when you wanted to know you and me, all that kind of shit.
Well, you went to Harvard.
I remember that.
No, no, no, I went to Berkeley.
Berkeley.
She would never go to Harvard.
Mom went to Harvard.
Mom went to Harvard.
Hey, wait, wait.
This morning when you were explaining football to me,
you did the classic old comedy bit where every time she gave me a history,
I go, I don't get, I'm hungover.
I go, I don't get soccer.
We're watching Premier League.
And I go, yeah, I'm rooting for Arsenal.
I hope you're not rooting for Chelsea.
I wasn't.
And you were right.
You hate Chelsea, Man U, and Man C in that order.
And Madrid because that was the whole thing.
Well, Real Madrid is not Premier League.
Yeah, but that was why she got into all the politics was that she's.
I know, but I know Premier League just enough to know about how many teams are in it.
But I love that when you asked about...
And she went into fucking Francisco Franco and the thing.
Johan Cruyff.
And the Castellana and the Cattalulu.
Yeah.
But she did the classic weather person.
Why Barcelona is a team for the people.
Do the weather person thing.
The weather person joke?
Yeah, the 80s evening at the improv oh where people hey folks uh you know
why you ever want to turn on the news there at night and uh you know i love the news there but
uh it was like uh hi there i'm uh valentino restrepo mantoya and welcome to this i didn't
do the name right yeah that sounded right you had it where they just say spanish words in spanish
yeah we're just trying to fuck with you.
Yeah, and you did.
And I took my fucking coffee cup as you went into this long dissertation of fucking Generalissimo Francisco Franco.
And Barcelona Stadium is the only place that they could practice their art.
And then I just walked out as you were talking. I go, yeah, I'm interested. Go ahead. And then I just walked out as you were talking.
I go, yeah, I'm interested.
Go ahead.
And then I just left.
I remember the whole thing.
But you do that.
I thought it was fascinating.
I was going to say, can you just do...
Fuck.
God damn it.
I lost my thought again.
This is getting to be an epidemic.
It's crazy because the whole time he's got a pen and paper in front of him.
He's not writing anything down.
No, this is what happened with Kurt Cobain.
After three years.
I was going to say to you that you should do...
Never mind.
Did you want to know about my family?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. should do the never mind did you want to know about my family yeah yeah yeah say hello to my little friend yeah your mother went to harvard um the reason i say that oh that's what it was
i was gonna say can you can you just say havid no see that was the just dumb joke I had when it comes to
doing Massachusetts accents
can you do it the same way you do Barcelona
accents and go
and my mother went to
HAVEN
I had one fucking dumb joke
go ahead I'll never talk for the rest of this
podcast
go ahead
ask her a question god damn it she was talking about her family
she said do you want to know about my family your family sounds fascinating she asked her a question
how did you get started in this and your family is from money in columbia which are like eight
people the reason i wanted to know if you wanted to know about my family was because we had been talking about the sort of setup that my parents have going on.
My parents are divorced, very happily divorced, and live in an RV motor home together and travel the United States and Canada in said RV with each other with no other home base.
That's insane.
I swear to God.
That is insane.
Don't let him stop in Vegas.
How big is the RV?
Is it one of those like extra with the pop-out walls or is it just communal?
Can't you free your mom from this situation?
Are you not that good?
Yeah, that's beyond me.
Wow.
So, now Tina, they're known as full timers yeah full time exactly
exactly that's the lingo how long um two years now wow yeah they love it and they've been everywhere
and they have favorite parks and they know how to do the whole and they and everyone is just really
young because everyone's dealing you see people who seem like they wouldn't be able to lift whatever or start
whatever and they're doing everything with the rv go ahead i'm gonna i'm gonna put a prediction
class a with two slide outs one slide up class a i don't know is it over 35 feet
yeah yeah it's classic i want to know if your divorced RV parents are, like, immensely proud of you.
I think so.
I think so.
And, I mean, this is how it happens, right?
My mom taught me to see people as people wherever we went,
and my dad taught me to not let people push me around.
So I kind of became an immigrant defense attorney.
There's a common myth, I guess,
that naturalized legal immigrants
are against illegal immigrants
as much as Trumps and MAGAs and fucking other people like where yeah no i i
got here legally fuck that guy send him back do you find that to be true you mean with trump and
no no i'm just saying general oh you mean the man on the street legal immigrants like legal
mexicans it is actually a thing it's a thing it's not the same as somebody
i'm asking her i know but we're not the guests i'm sorry well you could still read a book once
in a while she's a sober person christ i read the news every day you act like it's only been
mentally ill for three years you read it once two years ago is this what it's like in the rv
yeah this is triggering do you find you're aware of this, though, that some immigrants that did it legally
are against letting just everybody in.
Oh, thanks.
Most of California.
Thanks for asking that.
Well, no, it's on NPR.
If you'd listen to it, because they smack their lips, you'd know it.
I believe you.
I don't know.
Okay, yeah, no, it's not a huge group, but it is some.
That's exactly what I was asking you earlier.
She knows as much about it as you do.
This is blank cursory evidence.
There's a word I can't find.
That's an allegory.
It's where people say that...
Hearsay.
Hearsay.
Oh, my God.
Sorry, we were looking for that earlier.
Yeah, that works. It's not what i was looking
for is it it's hearsay that a lot of legal immigrants are against illegal immigrants
it's a percentage and if you inflate that percentage for your own benefit then yeah
you're right it's a much larger number than is realistic but there is a certain percent
and one guy in california is matt becker i'm asking her i understand but you open a certain percent and one guy in California. Hey my guest is Matt Becker I'm asking her. I understand
but you open a can of worms and then you go
let's stop fishing
She's the only fisherman at the table
Becker
could you explain how
Jeff Sessions has affected
the new
Bond
Go ahead finish your sentence what's happening finish your
sentence i don't know he's uh we have a guest here i was getting into jeff sessions and his
involvement in all of this which i know our friend valentina has more to say about oh good
hey valentina hello um quit clogging the mic, lady. Until recently, people who were immigrants in detention had the right to what was called a Rodriguez bond.
That meant that every six months the government had to prove or they had the opportunity to go into a hearing where the government would have to prove that they were still either a danger to the community or a flight risk and should therefore not be released.
Jeff Sessions successfully did away with that case and that right.
And so now if you are in immigration detention and you don't have a bond hearing scheduled,
you might you don't know when you're getting out and you don't know when someone's going
to hear about why you should get out again.
For some of the cunts out there listening that don't know anything you yourself
have been locked up for four days which
i get arrested as a kid for two hours i i didn't live in hell so prison or anything i i just want to bear yeah yeah no it was a mental illness thing but anyone
i've seen where bingo was locked up in a mental institution which should be a health care
facility it's not it's a buck in prison so when people hear six months is nothing. Yeah, that's because you've never spent the one hour of being processed and finger-fucked and spread your ass cheeks,
which would be rape beyond any Me Too situation.
Oh, he wanted me to jerk off.
Watch him jerk off.
Being illegally locked up, just spread your cheeks and cough.
If that happened to you or your wife, yeah, that's fucking rape.
And that happens way more than Harvey Weinstein.
I want to depart.
Sorry.
No, but we're living in a time when people are dismissive of, oh, it's only six months, you know?
And then you go, yeah, but if their plane is 15 minutes late,
they lose their fucking minds.
Good point.
You've got to be kidding me.
You're going to be getting on an air-conditioned plane.
How about if I put you in the baggage?
And people are locked up indefinitely.
It's not just for six months.
I mean, at this point, if you don't have a hearing,
you don't know when you're going to have a hearing again.
You don't have the right to another hearing unless you're seriously mentally ill. And no one can contact you? It's very, very difficult to contact the facilities,
to get into the facilities. You have a very niche market in illegal immigrants with mental illness but like he was just pointing at the book i'm just started this
book insane by alicia alisa roth america's criminal treatment of mental illness where
we just warehouse mentally ill in in prisons and yes it's our i think our prisons are the number one health care provider um in the
country and uh they're not providing health care from what i've seen from what i saw in california
from what i saw in alabama from what i'm seeing in arizona um the our our most mentally ill
population winds up detained because when you're seriously mentally ill, it's very easy to catch a charge.
What can I can I just because I mean, obviously, I know, but what what were you doing in Alabama
specifically? So first, we were involved in a lawsuit against the Alabama Department of
Corrections, ADOC, because they were providing constitutionally inadequate medical care and mental health care,
and they weren't complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
After that, I was briefly a public defender in Birmingham, Alabama.
So do you just go into a courtroom and you're like,
oh, I'm going against people who, like a lawyer for a prison is who you're competing with.
Someone who, yeah, I mean, in the case in Alabama,
the people that you were in the room with were people who were representing both the prisons,
the commissioner, and the contractors.
So they contracted with-
So I'm guessing they're paid a little more than you.
Oh, they make so much money.
We talked about this last night,
where when it comes to public defender versus prosecutor,
it's all about wins.
And we talked about this, which is really important.
If you've never watched the documentary The Staircase,
it is one of the most influential documentaries i've
ever watched that queered me to become the bitter alcoholic that i am where when you see it's weird
because it came out 40 years after you became an alcoholic no no it came out in 2005 when I was at my best alcoholic. 20 years after.
That's when I was peaking.
But for some reason, they allowed the documentary to focus on both the prosecution and the defense.
And you see the games that they're playing.
Let's make this guy look like a freak.
He's bisexual.
We found this out.
They don't care if he's guilty or innocent.
They just want to win.
And that's how you grow in the system,
just like an NFL team.
It's wins and losses.
Well, and at least there are checks on that system.
The check being there's a jury there, right?
Someone's watching and someone gets to make a decision.
In immigration courtrooms, it's no bigger than a regular room with a couple benches
in the back that no one sits in and then you've got two tables that sit not many feet in front of
a more raised table which is where the bench is and there's no one else in there so it it's just
a totally different vibe with totally different parameters.
That's what I look for in health care.
A small room?
Yeah, with a clean table and everything's good.
Who are you going to get?
The Department of Homeland Security.
Okay, so is there another lawyer who's like, here's my opinion on why you're wrong?
Yes.
Here's my opinion on why your client is a
danger to society or they are a flight risk they're not going to come back to their next
hearing and that's why they should continue to be incarcerated or this is why you should stop there
they might go back to their own country before we can deport them yeah Yeah. That's one of the, like, just in criminal law,
where they go,
oh, he might leave.
You can't leave this state, criminal.
All right.
You got convicted.
You can't leave our state.
You came from another one.
Then why would you want the fucking criminal?
The police can legally shoot you in this country.
If you try to commit suicide,
they can shoot you to prevent you from committing suicide but if you're just committing a crime where they
could shoot you in the leg they'll just shoot you in the head it's illegal so they can stop you in
the process of a crime knife beats gun not so much this is one of those things where America has the best judicial system in the world.
And my old joke was like, that's like being the prettiest Denny's waitress.
It doesn't work.
No, no, it does not.
It's fucking failed.
I think there's always going to be flaws.
The question is, and this is what all boys got to do, are we trying to fix it?
No.
No.
Everyone loves to see someone lose. they ever oh yeah fuck him like they hate their
boss they hate the guy that stole their car stereo fuck that guy he should die he should rot in prison
and have you any idea what the prison system is like? It's fucking disgusting. Oh, I watched Oz.
One of the things that like, kind of like,
I don't know if this is like relevant at all,
but that made me go, oh, it's like everything's a bureaucracy,
is when you were talking about, because I was like,
well, why is it so hard to like reunite kids and families and stuff?
And you were saying something about like,
that they're operated by different organizations. They're the office of refuge so the kids are are the kids
and the parents adults and kids are are two different groups are in charge under ice and
the other ones under the office of refugee resettlement and there's not like one main
registry of like where everybody is not that we know of fascinating i was i was
one of the questions i threw my pen down because i forgot was uh the bureaucracy and when you said
you just just taking someone out to do this and that like how much work is that like you have
some mentally ill guy and you're gonna take them take him to, I forget what you were saying.
To treatment centers and to get bus passes.
Bus pass, that's what it was.
Like, how much fucking work is that?
I brought this up last night.
We have a friend now that was, I don't want to give too much detail, but he, in a psychotic episode, he did the worst possible thing and murdered somebody.
And now he just called me today, and he got his first release where he ate an outlaw steak.
And I go, what does that mean?
Because I've only talked to him on the phone twice. He's like he got his first release from, what do you call it,
Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity.
And he's a kid that was a stand-up comic fledgling.
I'll say fledgling.
I saw a tape.
I'm not going to get an oversell.
And today was his first release and it almost seems like if if you murder someone
he has so much freedom compared to just bingo being in a small term lockup for her own benefit where she was a hardcore prisoner
just to get in to see her.
And she's wearing prison scrubs.
And this guy's like,
yeah, I can only use the internet for so long.
She couldn't even have a phone or anything.
And she's-
Shoe laces.
Voluntary lockup just for like,
hey, I'm switching meds you know when when when you're
coming to go be stabilized you need to be monitored because going off them and coming back on them
it's all very complicated and dangerous with side effects yeah but if if you behead someone
i'm it's not that complicated he didn't behead anyone i'm just i'm i don't want to
i don't want i don't want to give too much away i don't want someone finding this guy
uh yeah he has all the freedom in the world which you should have it's like a scandinavian prison
where they try to actually rehabilitate you where here you just make them worse and you
have to deal with that shit yeah because there's no treatment inside and we could rehabilitate
people we hold them long enough to rehabilitate them we just don't put any funding into programming
we don't care to send them out into the world with real skills i remember my question is just to get a guy a bus pass.
How much work is that?
Well, so the library card, actually, the bus pass, you go up and, you know, you buy the tickets.
But the library card, he his ID is a parole ID.
So it's not you know, it's a piece of paper with a picture on it.
And it's, you know, a lot of it's from ice, but it doesn't look like a real ID.
And I, you know, he's not technically a resident.
He's not.
Is it like kind of in the old days of video stores where if you wanted to get porn, you could only go to certain.
I found the nicest looking woman at the counter and hoped that she would
be as nice as she seemed
is there like an option like I'm just
because I'm very fascinated by
like the whole deinstitutionalization
the 80s and Reagan stuff
like do are we
is the goal to have
mental more mental institutions
but better ones I mean is that
I'm not speaking for the Florence Project.
I'm speaking totally as myself.
I think that the answer, and I say that with too much confidence,
but I believe that it might be to build actual treatment facilities
across the country and then phase out prisons
because most of the people who are in our prisons
outside of marijuana and petty crimes
are people who are seriously mentally ill, and we eradicate them it doesn't work so are those like versions i guess
essentially of what we used to have as far as psychiatric hospitals but humane humane right
right treatment right no no i i i you think that's possible i have a small idea that I would like to make possible when the time is right.
Well, you're a woman.
You can't have grand ideas like Lincoln.
Of course.
But I have a
sort of clinic where the people who are doing their residency, who are getting their education,
who are becoming doctors and nurses go in and treat the, the detainees because then they get
real treatment. These doctors and nurses will be informed about it for the rest of their lives.
Um, and, and, and we have a little bit more transparency. Maybe everyone starts acting right.
Do you believe that
yeah we don't consider ourselves smart people so do you think there's really enough smart people
that could do this on a national level. There's enough smart
people. But don't you then have to
change the motivation
for becoming a psychiatrist,
for becoming a therapist?
Don't you have to change that from being
financially motivated
to feeling like, I am doing a
service industry job, I am helping
people, I am a fireman, I am a police officer,
I am etc. Just because I feel like that's happening in all medical professions.
They don't have to do it forever. I'm talking about like a peace corps,
right for America type program. Just get people in there. They don't burn out, you know,
and just let them see what it is and let detainees benefit from the treatment. I, I just,
detainees benefit from the treatment i i just i i it it's it's a small idea but i it's a small idea but i find myself going oh no any rational human being but i have built a small enough
social circle where i think that's humanity the people in this room that's humanity it's not
people in humanity vote for fucking Trump
and they're fucking racist and Nazis
because their work got fucking shut down
and they're fuck you and they blame a president.
Doug Becker's right here.
The thing about doing this work,
and I mean doing it in Arizona,
doing it in California, doing it in Alabama,
wherever you're doing it,
is that you're going to have such a stark contrast.'re going to have defense attorneys in front let me stop you
right there when you were in alabama doing this work how much did you hang out with locals
this is actually no i'm going to tell you the god honest truth actually um i we we were at a public
i left alabama because i was at a public defender's office that became extremely harassing.
And it was a man who was a good old boy from Alabama.
And there were a number of us women there who were from out of town.
We had gone to schools outside of the state.
We wanted to come and help.
And he tried to run us out and he successfully ran me out.
And that that's what you're up against in Alabama, and that's on the defense side.
You know, I mean, that's supposed to be where—
I'm talking about after work, when you're at a bar in Alabama, talking to the actual locals, townies, where you go, oh, shit, these are the people that vote.
I'm a little bit afraid to be here, and they're everywhere.
It's more driving around, because Birmingham and Montgomery,
they have their sort of liberal bent to them.
There are civil rights orgs there.
Birmingham is more cosmopolitan than people think.
I won't defend it.
But in the middle of nowhere, if I'm an ADOC.
In the city you live in, you live in a hipster part of it.
But have you ever gone to an outside-of-town suburb bar where you go,
Ooh, fuck.
I mean, with the Alabama Department of Corrections,
prisons and detention centers are in the middle of nowhere for a reason.
It's not an accident.
It's so that family members can't get there.
It's so that it's harder for them to get legal representation.
So these facilities are all over Alabama in the middle alabama for a private fucking telephone call i won't comment on how
much it costs but it's it's a problem deep um but i mean that's where you see the people and
that's especially where you see the signs i think what's really interesting is driving around
anywhere you are and seeing the lawn signs seeing the bumper stickers
seeing the flags out front and that's the part of alabama that really gets i want you to look up how
many people voted for president in the last last election like how many people voted speaking of
being in different towns though can i just say this while he's looking it up? I took Valentina into Old Bisbee today,
and within five minutes,
she was like the queen of the Spanish-speaking lesbian block.
I'm going to repeat my joke for the fourth time.
We went in for five...
Never repeat a joke, but I'm going to repeat it.
No, we just went in for five minutes,
and all of a sudden, she's like everyone's best friend.
She's like, I just was like, I just this like straight English speaker.
And she's just like fucking lingo in Spanish and making organs.
Very good at introducing.
Then I'm going to get to that.
But the joke I did when she told me this earlier this morning about that.
And I go, she ain't no lesbian lesbian she's never just been made love to
improperly by a woman that's why i switched to dicks and i thought that was very funny i know
you thought it was funny five times today i know i was still thinking hey you know what this podcast
isn't about us it's about the listeners but that's what what I was going to ask you. Because for the listeners, since we still don't have video and hopefully never will, but we're going to have to.
You're a very attractive woman.
Oh, thank you.
And I wanted to ask you how many times a client fell in love with you, quote, marks.
My clients are extremely mentally ill.
That'll help.
So they don't know you're hot?
I think that I will answer this question seriously.
I think that this is one thing that does come up in representation a lot.
A lot of the people in this field are women,
and a lot of the people that we represent are men.
And this comes up a lot
also because there are cultural differences.
We're representing people from
different cultures, machista culture.
I'm sorry that I just did that. I know it offends you.
I'm offended by everything.
But
I forgot what I was saying. It's alright.
I say horchata a lot and Doug gets
furious.
That's the only way you say horchata. Horchata. Horchata a lot and Doug gets furious. That's the only way you say horchata.
Horchata.
Horchata. I love horchata.
They're more machismo culture.
They're interested in you based on the different cultures.
Oh yeah.
I'll tell you my story.
Okay.
Oh, now I remember.
I had a pen pal
on death row and I was arguing.
I did nothing but be a pen pal.
It was kind of a joke thing that ran for three years, and I visited him in Stark, Florida, on death row several times.
But I also became engaged with his caseworker, who was a cute girl like you, and then I pooned her.
My friends are going to kill me for me just sitting here and letting you say this to me.
What?
We had a love affair until she realized I sucked in bed, and then she didn't want anything to do with me.
I sucked in bed and then she didn't want anything to do with me
but I
but he was like oh
she's really hot and I like oh yeah
I met her like oh yeah I
I have a girlfriend I shouldn't
talk about this but
there's a attorney death
row inmate
privilege like attorney
client I think it's also by the way I can
I can I say like again as as
having been the most boring person in a couple of uh mental institutions i can say that flesh that
out well no i just talking about this this morning right i've only been in a minute yeah but more
like depression and anxiety and like it's just like i have no fun stories and i used you know
it's like but you got right but i say you don't, you know, it's like, but you got, right, but I say,
you don't,
yeah,
but like,
I used to do a,
not even a joke,
but I used to say like,
you can't,
Morgan,
for the listener,
yeah,
you had,
have spent time
in a mental institution.
Yes.
That's what they're missing.
Sorry.
This is what I have to do
with Andy.
No,
that's all right.
But now I forgot
where I was going
with my story.
You had the most boring stories in group. Yeah. Where i'm just here for depression but i was saying that like in
in all of those situations in any situation that's heightened i feel like you're more inclined to be
like oh i think i'm in love with this person that you're not in love with you're just sort of trauma
bonding with them and like i remember this guy would
always want to go to lunch because it was really embarrassing because he was a sex addict and he
felt safe with me which i was like that's that's a that's a that's an insult i think and uh and uh
i know but then like oh after a while i was like i think i it wasn't a doctor patient thing or a
lawyer patient thing it was a patient patient thing but i was like oh i'm definitely in love with this um you know
mentally ill coke and sex addict uh because we go hand in hand yeah but also because we went to
lunch every day and like because our the subject of conversation wasn't what's the weather blah
blah blah it was oh remember like oh it's not that bad
i only wanted to kill myself five days ago i only want to kill myself six days ago like it was very
bonding and traumatic and awful and great and i knew i'm not in love with this guy but i am so
affected by the emotion of the situation that maybe i am and maybe there's like a bond that just in heavy
situations you know
it's like why people fuck their
you know comatose husband's
wife or whatever like that kind
of shit like when things are heavy
emotions get all twisted
up like in a Dyson
I think Morgan's absolutely right
yes and I think trauma bonding is a
really good way to put it I don't know if that's an actual term or if you coined it but it's brilliant I think Morgan's absolutely right. Yes. And I think trauma bonding is a really good way to put it. I don't know if that's an actual term or if you coined it, but it's brilliant.
I think someone yelled that at me once, so that's what we were doing.
Hey, killer termites and listeners of all effects,
hashtag, when you talk about this podcast, hashtag trauma bonding.
Trauma bonding.
And give us an example on Twitter and hashtag it trauma bonding. Trauma bonding. And give us an example on Twitter.
Yeah.
And hashtag it trauma bonding.
One time that you go, oh, fuck.
Well, this is this kid I can't talk about,
but we have a similar story.
This kid that's not guilty by reason of insanity.
We have a similar story.
And that's what led me to him it's trauma
bonding i do think that on top of the except i was i was just drunk and she needed to die but
i think on top of the trauma bonding um our clients have no one when you're seriously mentally ill
um it's it's not because it's not fault, but people will lose their patience after a certain amount of time, however much they love you.
And so I think when you come and you're able to talk to people, visit them in detention, and help them find a place to live when they get out, it's immediately—I'm not going to lie.
I call one of my clients' brother.
And he called me sister once, and his family is very much not with us.
And so I'm not going to tell him, no, I'm not your sister.
You know, no, you can't call me that.
Is he Colombian?
He's not.
Oh, okay.
Just checking.
Have you played favorites?
I have a folder in my email of crazies, which are legitimate crazy people, where they fucking irritate the shit out of me, most of them.
And a lot of times I'll be like, will you just stop fucking emailing me?
why a lot of times I'll be,
will you just stop fucking emailing me?
And then I go,
why did I do that? Because I might be the outlet.
You,
I need to be reminded of that,
but I'm not reminded of it.
So that's part of the service that I can give someone.
If I come to detention and you ever,
you,
the,
no one's treating you.
The food is terrible.
You can't sleep and you can't say
anything back to the guards the nurses won't listen to you if i show up and you can yell at me
that's part of my service to you that's part of my representation because you can't yell at anyone
and and if that is therapeutic for you and a lot of us do this these are these are not locked up people these are free range crazies
as i said that's the problem that you publicize your email address their mom doesn't that's why
they email you but i just like hardcore where you go like i i got my own problems i'm not mentally ill i'm a drunk i try to be mentally ill through alcohol either way
i wake up and i'm like i can't deal with this shit janice joplin from the uk listen you annoy
the fuck out of me i have no idea what you're saying she's number four on my top crazies list i just met one of my top crazies
and he's fucking crazy and but meeting him made it so much different because i like are you just
a fuck with but uh no you're mentally ill and meeting him made it okay and i i put him on
shaley i go email that's what you're talking about oh is he talking
about my crazy because i think you're and then there's other ways now i mean don't number one
is some fucking russian woman who lives in london that her she all she does is talk about your
You're disgusting, transvestite blue.
Bingo.
And she'll never refer to her in a female pronoun.
It's always, he is disgust.
How do you fuck that?
She's an old woman.
We found her on Twitter. I want to be clear that bingo is very attractive.
Well, not to this Russian.
And I can't even tell if she must be crazy but i
don't know if the language barrier but like i feel bad when i i shit on people because i wake up
angry and i i like sometimes go fuck off will you stop emailing me uh a lot i've've figured out how to block just so I don't
yell at them.
But that's like, I feel like
everybody with, I have a lot
of friendships with people who are, you know,
have their own issues with mental illness
and obviously I have my own shit
and... But it's boring.
It's so boring. Well, it's
boring and then when I really
do need people, I tend to not ask for
people so i end up isolating a lot in my own shit so it's sad and boring and i don't bring other
people into it usually um but i have friendships where it's sort of like i take care of you you
take care of me and that's like a really beautiful thing i have friends who get depressed and i get
depressed and if we're lucky we get depressed at different times.
So the other person can take care of the other person.
But then there are circumstances where you see somebody sort of cycling through their own shit over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
That's the best.
Even if it's just a friend, even if it's not a fan or whatever, I think it just becomes exhausting for everybody, right?
Like the case of like, oh, well, at some point you have to have some awareness about your shit or some plan for healing or resolution or whatever it is.
But I think that's like a smaller example of like, oh, dude, I can't handle it anymore.
And that's why I'm so amazed by people who work with people who are mentally ill,
because you don't have the option of going, I am fucking out.
I'm tapping out of this.
When I first got together with Bingo,
she was at her worst of just out of an institution.
And I thought it was funny for a while.
And I get to a point where I go, I don't know if I can deal with this because this is serious.
Like when it went bad, when it was funny, it was funny.
And she's cute and talking on a banana.
That's funny.
But then when she's cutting her head open, i i i i i brought this in i like having a kid like it is a lot like
having a kid and and not in an infantilizing way i mean you're i i find this with release clients
a lot you're seeing everything for the first time through their eyes and and it's it's just
unbelievable you're showing them drive-thrus and iced coffee.
And I'm sorry.
No, no, no.
You're the guest. It just feels very – my mom always talks about how hard it is to have a kid, and I can definitely not do that.
But it does feel very terrifying because you can only be with them for so much, and you are responsible in a lot of ways.
be with them for so much and you are responsible in a lot of ways even if you're
not actually responsible you're morally
responsible on your own level because you
know things about them that other people don't
know and so you feel like maybe
I'm the only one that can make sure that
they're okay but you can't be with them all the time
but you definitely introduce them to iced coffee
not cold brew right because cold brew is a
actual iced coffee
it's a prank
against white people.
To close this up,
you've been doing this for how long?
Working with mentally ill
immigration detainees?
Since January.
Eight months.
How long do you think
you can keep doing this before you go back to crazy?
How defeating is it?
That's what I'm getting at.
It depends on the day.
And sometimes I think that I went to a visit and that I held it together.
And you always hold it together because you're holding it
together for your client. It's about your client. It's not about you. And but you think, okay,
I didn't feel anything. It's fine. And then later that day, you're just sobbing and you don't know
why and tears are just coming down your face. And I think that there are different approaches. I
think that, you know, you can really put all of yourself into this work and burn out but know that
you did a couple of years where you gave all of yourself.
And then there are, you know, all of, I mean, there are, there are companies that are based
off of trying to figure out how to make the stuff sustainable, how to make it so that people can do
this work for 10 or 15 years. What's a burnout rate that you've heard of since starting?
It's high. It's high. And I've seen it. So what's like two years?
I would say that that's accurate.
I would say that that's not far from the truth.
And I want to do this for the rest of my life.
And this is a lot of what I work on on a personal level.
And my office is unbelievable and very open.
It's a bunch of women.
It's so, so great.
Everyone takes care of each other.
No, it costs half as much. Oh, that's so women. It's so, so great. Everyone takes care of each other. No, it costs half as much.
Oh, that's so good.
It hurts.
But we work a lot around,
and this goes back to the boundaries thing,
around what are the boundaries
and how do you practice self-care?
How do you take care of someone
without making it about you
and without making it so that you
cannot take care of another person the next day? How much do you making it about you and without making it so that you cannot take care of
another person the next day how much do you make it about you thank you how much of it a lot all
of it i see everything in my clients i see everything i see the manic episodes and i know
what they are and i see the depression and i know what it is and i see the schizophrenia and i didn't
go through it but i've had clients and seen the many forms
that schizophrenia can take
and the many, you know,
lives that it will lead you to.
It's all very, very emotional
because it's people.
This work is about people
and this work is about lives
and I don't think
that you can do it
and separate yourself from it.
I don't think that you can.
I'm interested.
Yeah, do you use
your personal story?
Completely, and it depends on the person.
Again, it really depends on the person.
My clients don't know I'm gay.
A lot of them are Latino.
I'm not going to tell them that.
But I had a client in Alabama.
They don't ask you about the Patriots tattoo?
I try and wear my blazer,
and then it becomes an issue once they're out of it.
And the New England Patriots screensaver on your cell phone.
Before, listener, before you decide whether to donate to, please plug this.
The Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project.
Just go to FIRRP.org.
It's all there.
And you have a huge staff.
I was just looking down here.
You guys, that's a mountain of workers.
We're in Phoenix, Tucson, and Florence.
It looks like a mountain of workers, but we're serving all of Arizona.
Okay.
Men, women, and children.
Before you blow this off, understand that...
Nailed it.
I did it, Chinese.
I think.
Yeah, before...
I might donate.
I might not.
Remember, she has Pat the Patriot.
Oh, guys, please don't hold it against me.
No, that's the best...
Are you kidding me?
Second best football logo ever the old new england patriots logo of pat
the patriot hiking a football second best to the tampa bay buccaneers old i can't remember his name
something the buck i don't know uh yeah she has that tattooed on the back of her bicep. I mean, chick bicep, to put it in perspective.
Hey, Doug, you asked me to locate the turnout for the 2016 presidential election?
Yeah.
55%.
Okay.
No, no, the number of people.
This is what I was getting to.
You got it.
I got it.
No.
The number of voters eligible yeah is over 250 million
turnout was 138 million 135.5 percent if if if you were to there's how many people locked up in
american prisons valentina i don't know but i believe about two million at least 75 it's around two million yeah it's growing every day yes if you started a ticket
that just affected the families and friends of people in prisons so let let's say, well, they're mostly minorities,
so they have the most relatives.
But the problem is...
If you could motivate those people to vote for any ticket,
you would have a shitload of voters
just on the get these fucking people out of prison ticket the problem and that and that's
amazing in terms of don't look at the problem look at the solution go ahead of course sorry
um i love to yell at you felons can't vote exactly exactly is that no the families yeah
they're also felons and they're felons and their kids are felons.
And the other half
have been deported.
Then have more kids
and make them vote
when they're five.
You've just gotten down
to what Hillary got.
The population is 2.4 million,
but they think that the number
should actually reflect
the number of people
that are through the system.
That could be as much as 12 billion.
They're constantly going incarcerated
in that vicious cycle that never ends.
I think a final thought by Becker
is what this podcast needs.
No, we're going to let her close,
but then we'll let him just tag on.
You like what you've heard?
Well, here's why it's wrong.
It's on you.
No, I mean, we've gone round and round on this.
We don't know what to do.
And quite frankly, you know, we all speak different languages.
We all do different jobs.
And quite frankly, if you want to deport somebody, deport them.
But you're sending them back to where they came from, American jobs.
He's saying that American jobs are outsourced to places where...
I got it.
Yeah, I got it.
That was the old joke.
Yeah, they're sneaking our country to get our jobs.
They go, they had your job.
They came back to get some other job.
FERP.org.
Thanks, some people. Barry Sheck, the innocence project yeah very very unbelievable um i i just
wanted to thank the listeners if you haven't turned this off yet um for caring um and for
listening about our clients they're people and i think that that gets lost in all of this
um it gets lost because they're immigrants that that gets lost in all of this.
It gets lost because they're immigrants,
and it gets lost because they're mentally ill,
and it gets lost because they're adults,
and it gets lost because they're male,
and those aren't the populations that people want to donate to or represent,
but they need people,
and really I thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I thank you, Doug, for having me on,
and I thank you, Morgan, for introducing me to everyone that I've met.
And I just thank everyone.
This is a really unbelievable experience.
Oh, and I'll be at the comedy store on Wednesday.
She made you not cry.
I do enough crying in court.
Ooh, if I catch your tears, can I sell them online?
Oh, it's a Republican thing
Yeah, yeah
Okay
Finally someone gets a Becker joke
What's a good song to close on?
He'll edit the pauses, but
Tammy Wynette
No, just some immigrant.
No, crazy.
I told you, because of copyright,
the only thing I do now is I put in Mexican accordion music.
Perfect.
Completely legal.
Un narco corrido.
Thank you. Escribí una carta y no me contestaste Ya buscarte ya cambiaste dirección
Como tengo unas cosas que reclamarte
Mi obligación es que te cante esta canción
Te guía a mi casa por vivir feliz contigo
Y me pagaste como algunos pagan más
Por tu culpa estoy viviendo ahora vivo
a esta vida no me puedo acostumbrar A veces lloro muy cerca de las botellas
lloro muy cerca de las botellas,
especialmente cuando me acuerdo de ti,
si amanece no se miran las estrellas,
si oscurece nunca brillan para mí Una radiola y dos amigas me acompañan
Y canta nueva muy distinta a las demás Tiene un letrero de color en la vidriera
Y una cualquiera en la que ocupa tu lugar Are we at the 20?
Yep.
All right.
Please hold.
We have to, at the 20-minute mark,
we're always obligated to do
Cocktails! We'll work on it
I think we got that
I was gonna say
I was gonna say
something like
you might want to
warn your fans
no no no
but it would have been
for that
you might want to
warn your fans
that they donate
to mentally ill adults
some of the money
might go to kids
that's what I said
don't say it
say it when we come back god damn it i had a fucking point
i know that's the worst