Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Is a Guest on SiriusXM’s ‘The Dean Obeidallah Show’

Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Is a Guest on SiriusXM's 'The Dean Obeidallah Show'

Yesterday, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on SiriusXM's "The Dean Obeidallah Show."

AUDIO: The Governor's interview is available in audio form here.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: And welcome back to "The Dean Obeidallah Show." Joining us right now, in studio, the Governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, who was elected first in 2022 and now up for re-election, traveling the whole state. And congratulations, Governor, you're at the highest point of your approval ratings. This is really remarkable.

Governor Hochul: Thank you. I'll take it.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: I think, look, when you look back, you've been there since you ascended in about 2021, I believe. It's five years. On a personal level, are you enjoying it? Is it a good feeling?

Governor Hochul: Oh my God, what a great question. I love it. It is an extraordinary privilege. And I've loved public service since I was a teenager, helping people get elected. Senator Moynihan's first election -

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Wow.

Governor Hochul: Jimmy Carter's race. I was like this nerdy high school intern who was the only girl in the room with all these power broker guys, and I was the youngest by far. There's old guys like Tim Russert, who was right out of college and I was in high school. So I have loved public service because it is the means to use government to help people with their lives and deal with struggles. So I consider it an extreme privilege and an honor. There's not a day that doesn't go by where I don't say, "This is an extraordinary experience," and I love it.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: That's great to hear. And I really think, you know, on my show, we talk about what it means to be a Democrat. Now on some level to me, it's about caring for people that we've never met and will never meet. But trying to use government to help those people. And I think it's the most noble thing that government can do to help people even the playing field, fight against discrimination, provide for the vulnerable a safety net. So these are all vitally important things.

So I want to talk about - and we'll get to the Buffalo Bills, because we have to talk about the Bills.

Governor Hochul: Okay. If you insist.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: I'm a Giants fan. You know how much pain I go through?

Governor Hochul: But you have the brass ring, okay?

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: We've won a couple of Super Bowls.

Governor Hochul: Well you won one against the Buffalo Bills in 1991.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: I shouldn't have brought that up, I'm sorry.

Governor Hochul: And we had "Wide Right." So, okay, bring up the fact that you won the Super Bowl and we didn't. Okay.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: No, I wasn't doing that. I actually cheer - do you know, I cheer - being a New Yorker, I'm from Jersey originally, but being a New Yorker, when the Giants are out I cheer on the Bills.

Governor Hochul: And that's all I ask for. I'm trying to unify the state. And, clearly, I'm from Buffalo. I'm trying to bring Downstate and Upstate together as one big family, and sports can do that.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Sure.

Governor Hochul: So I say to all the Jets and Giants fans, "When the Bills are not on the field, can they be your number one team, or even number two?" That's okay.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Sure.

Governor Hochul: So this - and it's had a profound effect. I see a lot more people walking around the streets with Buffalo Bills caps. I selected the place I live in New York City, my apartment, because there's a Bills bar on the corner. And it's year round, Buffalo Bills. It's a great crowd of people, a lot of expats from Buffalo. So, no, it's fun. Sports is unifying. That's what I love about it.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: It is. I think it's easier to get Giants fans to cheer for the Bills than Jets fans. I think that's going to be an impossibility.

So, let's talk about some things that are - you've been, just yesterday, you met with the family of a refugee who died. He was in custody of Erie County prison, 56-year-old man. He was blind, doesn't speak English. He was released. The Erie County Sheriff, according to reporting, contacted ICE and said, "We have a holder on this guy." So CBP came and picked him up. They realized they don't have a holder. They left him outside of a coffee shop, not in a coffee shop. Now, we learned the coffee shop wasn't open. Five days later, he's discovered on Perry Street near KeyBank Center, just on the ground, dead.

So what can - I know you met, before we started, that you met with the family recently, and you're calling for accountability. What more can you share?

Governor Hochul: Well, first of all, this is deeply personal. He was found blocks from where I live in Buffalo. I have an apartment there, and I ride my bike in that area. I know it so well, and I also know how cold Buffalo can be in February. And it is so inhumane to think that an individual who was in protective, protected custody of the federal government - literally abandons him.

Now this is someone who had just come the year before with his family from Myanmar. He was in search of a better life. He was struggling a lot with his blindness and trying to find means to take care of his family. And for him to be treated like he was a disposable piece of trash, I mean just thrown to the curb and not be concerned about his welfare - that is so abhorrent on countless levels. But when I sat with his widow, she was grieving, I could only see her eyes. She was in full mourning garb, and I sat with her and just hugged her for the longest time. Their 11-year-old son, the cutest little guy, he was just sitting there kind of stunned by the conversation. And I had a translator, and the older brother was there, and I just - I'm a mom, you know? I'm a wife. I can't imagine having my spouse treated like that. And the pain was so real.

And I thought, "How cruel of the federal government to not acknowledge this?" And for Kristi Noem, the head of this agency, who should have stood up and said, "You're fired. Whoever was involved with this, you're fired," and have her own investigation, instead of myself, and the Mayor and everybody else having to call for an investigation to find out how this happened to make sure it never happens again.

So this is what I deal with. I mean, this is one example of a family traumatized by the out of control actions of an agency that doesn't deserve the name to be part of our federal government. It's just - they've embarrassed us. They've disgraced us. And I'm not saying get rid of ICE, because we need to have controls on our borders, and we'll work with them when there are real criminals, like Donald Trump said, we're all going after the "worst of the worst." Remember that?

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Sure.

Governor Hochul: "The baddest of the bad, the rapist, the murderers." Sure. Who wants them? Go. Get out of here, we will help you. But, they need to be retrained. They need to be reorganized. They need to be - the whole concept around them needs to be changed dramatically, because otherwise, they're going to continue unleashing this harm on, whether it's American citizens being shot in the face or in the back in Minneapolis, or leaving someone at the curbside like they have no value, or the stories I heard - this other 11-year-old little boy, Norman, who's from Guatemala. I sat with him and his family the other day, and he was just walking in the streets of Long Island with his father.

They had picked up his father in front of a Home Depot, and he hasn't seen him. Now, his father was raising him and his brother - he has no one to take care of him. And he was sobbing, which makes me cry as well, because how can you not? Because his father always pushed him to do so well and do so well in school. And he says, "I just wanted to tell my dad I made the honor roll, and I couldn't talk to him." So I'm ready to adopt that little 11-year-old, and that little 11-year-old up in Buffalo.

I want to bring all these kids home and tell them they're going to be okay, that this is not the country that your parents brought you to. I don't recognize this country. I don't recognize this country sometimes, and I'm just trying so hard to give people hope again and get through this.

Part of the solution is to win back the House so we can have a firewall. I'm dedicating myself to that effort here in New York. Because we have to stop the insanity and not let people think this is how we are always going to be. This is going to be, hopefully, known as a very sorry chapter in our history. And the fact that we allowed two Trump administrations is pretty inexcusable in my book. But that being said, we have to start letting people see there's a path forward and that starts with the elections this November.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Absolutely, and my dad's an immigrant. And I wonder now, if he was looking to move from the Middle East, would he pick the United States of America in this time with this kind of administration? Where there's a hostility to immigrants, which is why it's all tied together; Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Mr. Shah Alam in Buffalo - the dehumanization of migrants, where you don't even view them as human beings, so you can shoot them or leave them - who leaves someone on the street at night in slippers, as you mentioned to me before we started, in slippers? He's blind, he doesn't speak English, he's got no phone and they don't care - just get out of the car. So it comes from the top down -

Governor Hochul: It sure does.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: And it's trickled down from the boss. It has an impact on the whole culture.

Governor Hochul: Well, what I'm doing in New York State, I have a package of reforms. What I want to do is, first of all, have a private right of action for any individual who's had their Constitutional Rights trampled on by federal immigration agents. So in this case, maybe the family would be able to go to court and have some monetary compensation, or individuals, whether it's people who have had their businesses destroyed because of a raid, like the raid we had up in Upstate New York, where a farm - half of the people were taken away, including a third grader, out of her bed on a Saturday morning. And where was her father at 6 a.m. on a Saturday? Milking the cows, because that's what you do on a farm at 6 a.m.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Right.

Governor Hochul: He wasn't out there committing crimes. He was milking cows. And they took her away with her mother and her brother. They did nothing wrong. And so, that farmer had no one to milk the cows. There's literally a call out around the state for volunteer people to go help milk the cows, because the workers have been taken away. Or the factory that makes power bars in the middle of New York State, they suffered damages.

So I want to address that element of it, but also sensitive locations. You should not be able to go into someone's home, whether it's a college student at Columbia - her dorm, that is her home. And I'm sorry, but if you read the Fourth Amendment, it's pretty clear you cannot do that. But I'm going to put it in state law just to really put the icing on the cake here, and say you cannot go to places of worship, child care centers, hospitals, schools, you name it. We have identified sensitive locations, I want to get that passed as well.

Last reform I want to have in New York says that we will no longer allow those local agreements with police officers like they have in other counties, where they've now basically deputized local police as ICE agents. And they should be helping when it's running down criminals, helping solve crimes, helping stop crimes, of course. But the way I look at it? I funded law enforcement to the tune of $3 billion. I want that spent fighting local crimes.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Right.

Governor Hochul: You work on keeping the crime rate down, the murder rate, keep our subway state, deal with a car accident or a fire. I don't want police becoming part of a rogue agency. And so we're going to ban that as well. So this is what I'm trying to get through the Legislature right now.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: And that's the "Local Cops, Local Crimes Act."

Governor Hochul: Yes, it is.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: So how is it - the "New York for All Act," I know there are other people who are pushing that. I had someone on the show talking about that. Is it something where elements of that could come into your legislation?

Governor Hochul: And some of these elements are part of that. Let's talk about masks as well, although courts have recently struck it down, I think in the Ninth Circuit in California, struck down masks.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Yes.

Governor Hochul: But I'm all about just give it a try and we'll find a different judge that says it's ok.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: I know.

Governor Hochul: So I am willing to do a lot of it. I just have to make sure that we're being smart when it comes to criminal cases, okay? I think - I know we need to make sure that there is cooperation when it comes to people who are committing crimes.

Now, the vast, vast, vast majority of individuals here who are searching for a better life are not criminals, as Donald Trump seems to think they are. But we have to know, make sure we're also protecting other members of the immigrant community from criminals, as well as the community here. So those are the conversations we'll have. I'm not negotiating in public at all, but I'm just going to say we can get to a place where New Yorkers are proud of what we've done and how we've stood up.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: And it's important. I think New York can be the shining example for the nation, and that the compassion of your Administration, the Democrats control the State Legislature, you can do things. And more than just talk about -

Governor Hochul: And the Statue of Liberty is in our harbor.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: It is, and it's a beautiful -

Governor Hochul: I know you're from New Jersey, but it's in my harbor.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: I live in New York City now. I love it here, but it does face Jersey, doesn't it? I don't want to get into it.

Governor Hochul: I don't remember where she's looking, I know where she's standing. We'll get back to that.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: We're going back to the Bills any second -

Governor Hochul: We'll get back to that but that means something to me. That statue means something to me.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: It does mean something to me too.

Governor Hochul: Like when I welcome my very impoverished Irish grandparents. My grandfather was a migrant farm worker because he couldn't - because they wouldn't hire the Irish. So he was a migrant farm worker. Then they worked in factories. My dad worked in the factory, and so that's how we started. That's the American experience for immigrants, always has been, and it needs to get back to that.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Yeah, my dad is an immigrant. My grandparents on my mom's side are from Sicily, and they landed in New York. That was their first place - they lived here in New York. And the old New York that you see from like the 1880s, 1890s was their world. And then they moved over to Jersey for whatever reason. So that's how my mom and dad met.

I want to talk about tariffs. It's such a big issue.

Governor Hochul: Oh my God.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: The Supreme Court has struck it down. It's illegal. I know that you just had a roundtable just, I believe, yesterday, with farmers in Western New York to hear about - can you share how the real world impact of these tariffs are on people like the farmers so people get an understanding of this?

Governor Hochul: It wasn't just farmers as well. I went to Buffalo because it's part of the 430 mile border we have with Canada. I mean, Canada's not another country. It is just the neighbors across the bridge for much of New York State. And so first of all, the hospitality and the entertainment and the tourism industries are being crushed by this. It's the extra costs involved. It is the fact that Donald Trump declared war on Canada, our best friends in the whole world, most reliable friends, and he declared war on them. So they're angry. They're not coming over. Canadian visits are down about 300 - I think it was 3.4 million fewer people have come over. I mean, that's stunning if you're a small business relying on Canadian tourists.

The farmers - Jim, who's an apple farmer up in Niagara County, I visit his farm many times, and he says, "I need to know what I want to do four years from now. I need to plant now for four years, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to afford the cost of the fertilizer."

The ingredients for the fertilizer that all the farmers use are from two countries: Canada and Ukraine. Okay? So we're having high tariffs from Canada, and it adds an additional cost - he says, "I'm not sure I can stay in business. My family's been here for decades." Generational. Farmers are not able to survive.

The cost of building a house in New York State - you know where we get most of our lumber from? Canada. Now there's tariffs. Now they don't want to sell to us.

So I cannot tell you, there's - I'm going to do more roundtables around the state, because the manufacturers, the farmers, people in hospitality - they're all getting slammed. Plus, the typical family has now been - out of their pockets - had to spend $1,751 more because of tariffs. Equates to $13.5 billion in one year. And I'm telling the Trump administration, "You owe me that." So I've demanded that money.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: I think that's great, and I will tell you where the check can go for me, because I would like to get this money. We deserve this money. By the way, it's not just New York. Obviously, as you know. I have Representative Becca Balint on my show often from Vermont. They've been hurt so badly.

Governor Hochul: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Canadians used to come down and populate and spend money there, and they view each other as brothers and sisters, in a way, and family have known each other for years. And they're not coming at all.

Governor Hochul: Sure.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: It's a sense of pride. And I imagine if we had a Canadian leader demonize us, we wouldn't go there either.

Governor Hochul: That's right. Hell no.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: We're New Yorkers. We're not going up to your state. So I want to touch on one or two last things before I let you go. One is: I know that you work with the New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, about child care. What's going to now expand to two year olds in New York City. And also you're going to do it statewide for four year olds. Why is it so important? Why is this an investment in families, and in our state and, in turn, our country really?

Governor Hochul: Because, first of all, it is such a huge expense for families. As we try to make New York State, New York City, more affordable, more desirable - the quality of life is extraordinary, our educational institutions are strong and important - but if you can't afford a house or child care, it doesn't work. The reason you need child care is to go to a job, right?

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Right.

Governor Hochul: And I, as New York's first Mom Governor, had this experience when I was a young staffer working for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the job I wanted, my dream job as a young attorney. And we started our family, and I could not find child care. I couldn't afford what was out there. It was not available. And so I literally left the job that I always dreamed of, and I turned out okay, obviously, I got back on the career path, but at the time you don't know it.

And my husband was working for the government, we cut our income down to half. And I know that struggle that still exists today, because the babies I had then are now having their own babies, and it's still a problem. So I want to show that New Yorkers believe in supporting families. And it also helps the businesses.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Yeah.

Governor Hochul: I mean, you're going to your job to help local businesses. It helps the economy. It helps society overall. And so, we can provide this. We talk about what Democrats do best: We take care of people. When you're down, we lift you up. And I've never lost that sense of, "That's our responsibility." And this has become such a huge cost for families. If we can work together, I will work with the Mayor on anything that deals with affordability, always have, always will. And so we're going to team up on this. We made a great announcement today, and I'm going to be spreading the word all across the state that we will have universal child care in New York State in a matter of years.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: And it really is an incentive for people to - for companies to have branches here or open up new offices in the state. And, I interviewed governors in the past who've had this, and they said it's such an investment. And they go through the data - it's remarkable. We should have it on a national level. And we almost did it with Build Back Better.

Governor Hochul: That's right, that's right.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: They were talking about it, and it didn't happen. Last thing, there's a - you mentioned affordability. I saw a recent poll: 86 percent of New Yorkers say the cost of living for the average family right now is not affordable. It's not unique to New York. We're seeing it everywhere. Child care is one thing. Is housing - I mean, I know you have the housing idea to get rid of some regulations to build housing quicker - is that part of it? I know there's no simple antidote, but this is the big issue. So I always ask people who are elected officials, what can you really do? What's a prescription that can have an effect in real life?

Governor Hochul: Well, for an immediate effect, we worked on this last year, and this year we have a $1,000 tax credit going to every family with a child under the age of four knowing how expensive young families are. I issued an inflation rebate up to $400 last year because we collected more money in sales tax. That went into people's pockets. We picked up the full cost of breakfast and lunches for families across the state - $1,600 back people's pockets every year. The largest middle class tax rate cut in 70 years. You add up all this, it's about almost $5,000 back in people's pockets as a result. So that's more direct. Indirect? I'm coming after the high cost of car insurance - that's a big fight.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Yeah.

Governor Hochul: But New Yorkers pay the highest in the nation. There's no reason why. My drivers are not worse than anybody else's, so I'm going to defend them. So that's another area. As well as housing, and building more housing is essential. But the biggest costs are truly child care, your housing costs, whether it's a mortgage payment or your rental, but also utility costs. And I'm trying to expand an all of the above approach, which is hard to do, but I have to have a more plentiful supply so, ultimately, we can drive down costs - whether it's housing, whether it's energy, I just have to build more, and I'm excited about it.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: I think it's great. And I really appreciate the detailed proposals because I speak to so many elected officials and they'll talk about the buzz words, and there's no policies there. So I appreciate it. Well, Governor, I want to thank you for coming on.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: It was great seeing you in person at SiriusXM studio, and I hope you'll come back. We'd love to chat with you again.

Governor Hochul: Happy to do it.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Thank you, my friend.

Governor Hochul: Go Bills.

Dean Obeidallah, SiriusXM: Go Giants.

Contact the Governor's Press Office