Riley's murderer convicted & NC looks to force sheriffs to help ICE (11-20-2024--Hour1)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetecalinarshow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] So some breaking news before the program began. Jose Ibarra, the illegal immigrant and Tren de Aragua gang member, or TDA gang member, accused of viciously murdering a 22-year-old co-ed named Lakin Riley in Georgia, was found guilty on all charges in an Athens courtroom moments ago.

[00:00:55] Judge Patrick Haggard handed down the guilty verdicts on a range of charges, basically every single thing, returning to the bench just 19 minutes after the prosecution and defense presented their closing arguments. This is the live update feed from the New York Post.

[00:01:15] Closing arguments began with defense attorneys representing illegal immigrant and accused killer and gang member Ibarra, who had declined to call him or like really any witnesses.

[00:01:30] The prosecutor, by the prosecutor, by the way, sometimes you just don't have a case.

[00:01:35] And this is, I'll never forget, I used to, as a reporter, I covered, I don't even know how many trials, capital murder trials and, you know, trials, murder trials where there was not a death penalty on the line.

[00:01:53] And I recall, I forget who it was, it was one of the lawyers in their closing arguments and they said, you know, this plan, oh, I know, it was the Ray Carruth capital murder trial.

[00:02:06] They were the former Carolina Panther accused of killing his or orchestrating the murder of his pregnant girlfriend, Sharika Adams.

[00:02:17] And the prosecutor said, you know, this is a bad plan.

[00:02:23] The defense is going to get up here and say, oh, this is a terrible idea.

[00:02:26] This plan doesn't make any sense.

[00:02:28] But it's not our plan.

[00:02:29] It wasn't our plan, prosecutor said.

[00:02:32] We didn't come up with this.

[00:02:34] He did.

[00:02:34] Right.

[00:02:35] So don't blame us for a bad plan that he came up with.

[00:02:39] And that's that's what's going on here.

[00:02:43] Sometimes you just don't have any other evidence, anything else like guys, there's a there's a perfectly reasonable and rational explanation for why all the evidence lines up like this.

[00:02:56] It's because he did it.

[00:03:00] Prosecutor Sheila Ross recounted the facts of the case for about 45 minutes in her closing argument, calling the evidence overwhelming.

[00:03:08] She pointed to his roommates testifying to his guilt.

[00:03:12] Also, Laken Riley's the victim.

[00:03:15] Her DNA was found under the suspect's fingernails.

[00:03:21] His fingerprint was found on her cell phone.

[00:03:27] She scratched him.

[00:03:30] The prosecutor said, quite frankly, she got him.

[00:03:34] She scratched him.

[00:03:38] They had surveillance footage of him disposing of a bloody jacket in a dumpster near the crime scene.

[00:03:46] It had his blood on it.

[00:03:48] It had her blood on it.

[00:03:50] He's on video throwing it in the dumpster.

[00:03:53] The defense tried to pin the killing on his brother, Diego, also a member of Trendyaragua, the gang.

[00:04:04] Saying that he wore a hat with Riley's blood on it.

[00:04:09] The brother did.

[00:04:10] Diego Ibarra positively identified his brother on the surveillance footage during an interrogation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

[00:04:25] They showed the interrogation in the trial.

[00:04:28] The interrogation occurred on February 23rd, a day after Riley's death.

[00:04:34] Diego is shown a video, which investigators say shows Jose disposing of a bloody jacket in a dumpster.

[00:04:43] And that jacket later found to also contain her hair.

[00:04:50] There were hairs of hers on the jacket.

[00:04:53] And Diego says, it looks like he's throwing something in the trash.

[00:04:57] I have seen him in those clothes.

[00:05:01] He also was shown another video filmed at a bus stop on February 22nd near a campus apartment building where Jose was caught on camera peeping through the window of another female student.

[00:05:11] And he said, quote, yeah, that's my brother.

[00:05:14] Of course, that's my brother.

[00:05:15] I recognize my brother.

[00:05:16] That's the jacket he has at home.

[00:05:18] That's my brother.

[00:05:21] So, again, the fact that it only took 19 minutes for the judge to come.

[00:05:26] There was no jury, by the way.

[00:05:27] This was a bench trial.

[00:05:29] At the defense's request.

[00:05:32] So.

[00:05:34] He is guilty on all charges.

[00:05:36] I believe that the death penalty not on the table here for him.

[00:05:41] And that's why there was no jury, because if you're going through a death penalty phase, you're going to I think you have to have a jury trial for that.

[00:05:49] So they asked for and they probably got some sort of an agreement like with the prosecution that take the death penalty off the table.

[00:05:58] And we'll just go to a bench trial.

[00:06:00] Which is faster.

[00:06:01] The evidence is obviously overwhelming.

[00:06:04] And so all they were trying to do was to get the best deal they could get, which was guilty on all counts.

[00:06:12] Life in prison.

[00:06:14] That was the best deal they could get if you consider the death penalty to be the alternative.

[00:06:19] That's it.

[00:06:20] And he did not show any emotion whatsoever.

[00:06:25] And of course, this crime could have been completely prevented.

[00:06:29] Lake and Riley could still be alive today had it not been for the immigration policies that have been enacted by our federal government.

[00:06:38] By the way, the North Carolina legislature yesterday.

[00:06:47] In the House voted to override Governor Roy Cooper's veto on House Bill 10.

[00:06:56] House Bill 10 has two main components.

[00:06:59] One is the funding for the Opportunity Scholarship Program.

[00:07:04] To clear out the wait list of parents that are trying to get their kids out of failing schools or trying to get scholarship or voucher money, you know, taxpayer voucher money to help pay for their kids tuition.

[00:07:19] I'm not going to go over all the details of the school voucher program.

[00:07:22] I have spent many, many, many, many shows over the last decade talking about the school voucher idea, the concepts, the different plans, and this one that has been enacted by the General Assembly.

[00:07:36] It was overridden by a vote of 72 to 44.

[00:07:40] So not only does it fund the school voucher program to clear out the wait list, but it also requires sheriffs like our very own Gary Not My Fault McFadden requires him to honor the detainers.

[00:07:58] The request for detaining.

[00:08:02] These detainer requests come from ICE.

[00:08:05] They go to the sheriff's office.

[00:08:06] They say, please don't let that guy walk out of the jail.

[00:08:12] We're going to come pick him up.

[00:08:15] And McFadden ran on a campaign six years ago of refusing to cooperate with ICE.

[00:08:23] Now he's trying to do a little bit of retconning here.

[00:08:29] Retroactive continuity.

[00:08:30] He's trying to go back and make things sound like and seem like they're a little bit different.

[00:08:36] But Gary McFadden ran on a platform of abolishing the 287G program.

[00:08:41] And that 287G program is designed to let the sheriff's office or the jail personnel correctly identify somebody as being in the country illegally, which is the first step that is needed.

[00:08:56] He ran on a promise of abolishing that program.

[00:09:01] This was a wave in 2000.

[00:09:04] What?

[00:09:04] 18, I guess it was.

[00:09:06] Of these progressive sheriffs, these leftists running on a platform of getting rid of any kind of cooperation with ICE because racism.

[00:09:16] Racism.

[00:09:17] Bigotry or whatever the base activists wanted out of their Democrat sheriffs in the urban areas.

[00:09:26] He wasn't the only one that ran on these platforms.

[00:09:29] And all of them won.

[00:09:31] I'm talking Durham County, Mecklenburg County, Buncombe County.

[00:09:36] Maybe Wake County as well.

[00:09:38] Not all of those sheriffs are still in office.

[00:09:40] McFadden still is.

[00:09:43] So HB 10 would require all sheriffs now to comply with voluntary detention requests from ICE.

[00:09:50] Sheriffs would also have to notify ICE if an undocumented person is detained.

[00:09:55] For over a month now, I have been reminding you to preserve your precious photos and slides, films and tapes with creative video based in Mint Hill.

[00:10:04] These family heirlooms hold priceless stories, moments from years past that are irreplaceable.

[00:10:09] If you've thought about saving these memories before they fade away, you are not alone.

[00:10:13] This is creative video's busiest season.

[00:10:16] And with the holidays fast approaching, there's no better time than right now.

[00:10:20] So you need to hurry.

[00:10:21] Imagine the perfect holiday gift.

[00:10:23] Memories from past family events captured forever.

[00:10:26] Creative Video's skilled team will professionally transfer your family's stories onto easy-to-use USB drives or DVDs that won't deteriorate over time like the old photos and tapes are doing right now.

[00:10:39] After it, sitting together after a holiday meal, watching these family favorites, sharing laughs, shedding a few tears, and telling the stories that make your family uniquely yours.

[00:10:49] Get your memories in now and beat the holiday rush.

[00:10:52] Visit createavideo.com to learn more.

[00:10:55] That's createavideo.com.

[00:10:57] All right, so House Bill 10.

[00:11:01] The legislature overrides, I'm sorry, the House overrides the governor's veto of HB 10.

[00:11:09] It was a 72 to 44 vote, and HB 10 would require all sheriffs to comply with the voluntary detention requests from ICE.

[00:11:19] Sheriffs would also have to notify ICE if an undocumented immigrant is detained.

[00:11:26] The bill passed almost completely along party lines, with one Democrat breaking ranks.

[00:11:36] Carla Cunningham of Mecklenburg County joined with the Republicans.

[00:11:43] She said, quote,

[00:11:45] We must adopt a common-sense approach to public safety, ensuring that federal and local agencies work together to safeguard our communities.

[00:11:54] Carla Cunningham, now apparently a racist.

[00:12:02] No, I'm kidding.

[00:12:03] But that's the extent of the criticism, really, that comes in the wake of these types of policies and bills.

[00:12:15] So it's bipartisan.

[00:12:17] This was a bipartisan override of Governor Cooper's veto.

[00:12:22] Let me go back, back in time, to August of 2019.

[00:12:29] In a piece over at WCNC television, WCNC.com,

[00:12:37] there was another effort, House Bill 370, that was created to respond to a handful of dissenting sheriffs that were refusing to cooperate with ICE officials and the detainers that it issues.

[00:12:50] Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary, not my fault, McFadden, was among those sheriffs.

[00:12:55] I added the nickname in there.

[00:12:58] McFadden campaigned on a promise to eliminate the voluntary immigration program which helped ICE keep illegal immigrants detained.

[00:13:10] Quote, 287G is off the table, he said, in June, after federal officials accused him of releasing dangerous criminals.

[00:13:19] He said, you bring me a federal warrant.

[00:13:23] And this was a trick.

[00:13:28] And McFadden knew it.

[00:13:30] Because immigration law is civil.

[00:13:34] There is no judge that is going to be able to write a criminal warrant to detain somebody on immigration.

[00:13:43] And then, of course, you'll recall there was a fellow by the name of Luis Pinera Archeta or Ancheta.

[00:13:49] He was arrested for multiple charges, including kidnapping, strangulation, assault on a female regarding a domestic violence assault.

[00:13:56] On June 1, he paid bond and was released from the jail.

[00:13:59] The next day, he got arrested by ICE.

[00:14:02] But I think they had to go through like an hours-long standoff to get him in.

[00:14:08] And ICE said,

[00:14:50] The sheriff at the time, 2019, so five years ago, said,

[00:14:55] The only way he will keep an illegal immigrant in jail who has met all of his or her release requirements is if ICE gets a federal warrant signed by a judge.

[00:15:06] Here's the problem.

[00:15:07] Legal and constitutional experts agree ICE detainers are, in fact, constitutionally permitted instruments to enforce immigration law and local police can lawfully honor them.

[00:15:22] McFadden claims he can't because he doesn't want to get sued, yet no one else has been sued under this program in North Carolina.

[00:15:30] No other sheriff that there's like 95 of them.

[00:15:33] They all cooperate fully.

[00:15:35] And McFadden keeps claiming that he's trying to avoid a lawsuit.

[00:15:39] Well, now HB 10 just got overridden and they're going to try once again to force him to cooperate fully with ICE.

[00:15:48] And I am accentuating the word fully because he's now trying to be a little too clever by half with the vocabulary surrounding cooperation.

[00:15:59] Dan Way writing at the North State Journal, NSJonline.com.

[00:16:04] Again, this is from several years ago.

[00:16:06] Some disagreement remains about the constitutional particulars among different federal courts.

[00:16:11] And the experts interviewed for this story concur.

[00:16:14] There's plenty of confusion about arrest warrants and detainers.

[00:16:17] A warrant is issued for criminal activity.

[00:16:20] A detainer is specifically for an immigration violation that could lead to removal from the country.

[00:16:26] They have to be executed voluntarily if there is not a state law requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

[00:16:37] Right?

[00:16:38] So, pretty clear.

[00:16:39] It's voluntary.

[00:16:41] And McFadden has voluntarily decided not to.

[00:16:45] That's been his choice.

[00:16:47] He ran on that in 2018.

[00:16:50] He has defended it ever since.

[00:16:53] But now that the tide is apparently turning just ever so much, now all of a sudden it's about the law.

[00:17:01] It's about the law.

[00:17:03] Section 162-62.

[00:17:05] He specifically references.

[00:17:09] C.

[00:17:10] Nothing in this section shall be construed to deny bond to a prisoner or to prevent a prisoner from being released from confinement when that prisoner is otherwise eligible for release.

[00:17:20] That's what he hangs his hat on.

[00:17:25] Ilya Shapiro, director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute, said detainers are unquestionably constitutional.

[00:17:34] No arm of the federal government, though, can force state officials to cooperate on serving them because state and federal governments are dual sovereigns with separate sources of power.

[00:17:44] The same principle surfaced in states that legalized marijuana, refusing to carry out federal laws against the drug.

[00:17:51] So, quote, if the state takes no position and gives no instruction to local law enforcement about whether to cooperate or not to cooperate, then it's whatever the local sheriff or police chief sets as policy.

[00:18:05] And those decisions can be political.

[00:18:08] But states can pass laws that trump the local decisions because local governments are creations of the state.

[00:18:17] So, let us now go to the audio of Sheriff Gary, not my fault, McFadden, who sat down for an interview.

[00:18:25] The first, and as I understand it, the only interview that he has done since all of the audio recordings and all of the latest round of accusations of maladministration came out.

[00:18:34] He sat down with Brett Jensen from WBT.

[00:18:37] Brett played this entire interview on his program, I believe, last night.

[00:18:40] And here's McFadden talking about HB 10 that just got overridden yesterday, the veto overridden yesterday, which will force him to cooperate with ICE.

[00:18:54] And he's going to get picky about what it means when you say cooperate.

[00:18:58] What exactly does that word mean?

[00:19:01] Because he's totally been doing that.

[00:19:03] I am going to follow the law.

[00:19:06] When the law passes, I'm going to follow the law.

[00:19:09] So, imagine this.

[00:19:11] Every time you hear Sheriff Gary McFadden's name in ICE, you will always hear this.

[00:19:17] Sheriff McFadden is not cooperating with ICE.

[00:19:20] Yes.

[00:19:21] That is the biggest lie that ever was produced by the media.

[00:19:25] Okay, no.

[00:19:26] The biggest lie was that Joe Biden is not suffering from cognitive decline.

[00:19:31] That's one of the big ones.

[00:19:32] No, that's not the biggest lie that the media has ever produced.

[00:19:36] In fact, it's not a lie at all.

[00:19:38] You have not cooperated with ICE.

[00:19:41] You did not cooperate with ICE when you first got elected.

[00:19:44] You repealed the 287G program.

[00:19:47] You initially weren't even telling them that people were getting released.

[00:19:50] They had to come in and tell you at a state level, say, you need to be informing us.

[00:19:55] That's what the law is.

[00:19:57] And so now he's using this 162.62 as the excuse for not fully cooperating with ICE.

[00:20:09] That is the biggest lie that was ever produced by people in the general public.

[00:20:13] That's the biggest lie that law enforcement, some entities of law enforcement has produced to the public.

[00:20:20] That's the biggest lie that even FOP said.

[00:20:22] Okay, so let me just stop right here because one thing you need to keep in mind, if you've never heard Sheriff Gary, not my fault, McFadden, he is the hero victim.

[00:20:31] That is his mindset.

[00:20:33] He is the hero victim in every aspect of his life.

[00:20:39] Never the villain.

[00:20:41] Okay?

[00:20:41] Never the perpetrator.

[00:20:43] Never the bad guy.

[00:20:45] He is the hero victim.

[00:20:46] Everything gets turned into this kind of a narrative.

[00:20:51] See, so he is merely the victim of all these lies that he won't cooperate with ICE, even though he's releasing illegal immigrants into the community that are violent offenders because they bond out.

[00:21:04] And, oh, well, you know, I just can't hold on to him, even though I have this detainer request from ICE.

[00:21:08] Just can't do it because I could get sued.

[00:21:10] Again, even though nobody has been sued.

[00:21:12] We're going by what ICE requires.

[00:21:15] When somebody is arrested and they're coming inside the detention center, we have a list of questions that we ask them.

[00:21:24] Every single person.

[00:21:25] Three of those questions talks about citizenship.

[00:21:29] If we find a person from another country and not a citizen here, we notify ICE at that moment.

[00:21:36] That is called cooperation.

[00:21:38] We call ICE and says, this person is here.

[00:21:41] You need to do whatever you need to do.

[00:21:44] But I'm notifying you.

[00:21:46] That is what the North Carolina general statute.

[00:21:50] One sixty two point sixty two requires.

[00:21:55] A.

[00:21:56] B.

[00:21:58] We contact ICE.

[00:21:59] C.

[00:22:00] Is what everybody is afraid to talk about.

[00:22:02] C.

[00:22:03] Says.

[00:22:04] There is no reason that I should hold a person in custody after they have met all the requirements to be released.

[00:22:14] So I have a judge saying, release this man or woman who have met all the criterias of ICE.

[00:22:22] No.

[00:22:23] All the criteria for the criminal charge that they are facing, that they got picked up on.

[00:22:29] And that's what the judge is doing.

[00:22:31] The ICE detainer is a separate tag on.

[00:22:35] Once you've notified them, which again, remember, he initially scrapped the 287G program so he could just completely avoid cooperation because that's what he promised the activist base in the Democrat primary.

[00:22:46] Because that's what animates the activist base in the Democrat Party.

[00:22:53] ICE comes along and then says, hey, hold on to them.

[00:22:56] We're going to come pick them up after they have been adjudicated to be released on the criminal charges.

[00:23:02] ICE now says, hold them.

[00:23:04] We're going to come get them.

[00:23:05] And he says, no.

[00:23:08] I have to turn them loose because this thing says, oh, I can't.

[00:23:13] I can't hold them.

[00:23:15] Not true.

[00:23:16] Not true.

[00:23:17] You can.

[00:23:18] It's voluntary.

[00:23:19] It's on.

[00:23:21] It's completely on you to decide.

[00:23:24] And he has decided no.

[00:23:26] Own the freaking decision, man.

[00:23:27] Just own it.

[00:23:29] Say, no, I don't.

[00:23:30] I don't think I should be cooperating with ICE and holding these people in detention.

[00:23:34] So now the state has come in and said, you know what?

[00:23:37] 95, 96 other sheriffs, they do this.

[00:23:40] We're going to make sure that the three or four that do not now must.

[00:23:44] And Democrats are very, very angry about all of this.

[00:23:47] They held a vigil outside of the General Assembly.

[00:23:50] All right.

[00:23:50] Hey, real quick.

[00:23:51] If you would like to get your product or service in front of about 10,000 people multiple times a day,

[00:23:57] send me an email at Pete at the Pete Calendar show dot com and ask me about advertising.

[00:24:02] It's super affordable.

[00:24:03] It's baked into this podcast forever.

[00:24:05] And podcasts have a higher conversion rate than other social media platforms, making it the best bang for your buck.

[00:24:11] Send me a message.

[00:24:12] Pete at the Pete Calendar show dot com.

[00:24:14] And I can show you how it works.

[00:24:16] Run the numbers with you.

[00:24:17] Again, that's Pete at the Pete Calendar show dot com.

[00:24:20] So here's the second part of McFadden's answer on whether or not he'll cooperate with ICE.

[00:24:27] And this is where he starts getting into splitting hairs about what the word cooperate actually means.

[00:24:32] Judge.

[00:24:33] Judge.

[00:24:34] So I'm going to release that person.

[00:24:35] But a ICE agent believes that sending me a detainer should override what a judge is telling me.

[00:24:43] Because if we go to federal court, the federal judge is going to say, who authorized you to hold this person?

[00:24:52] And I'm going to say agent so and so from the vice.

[00:24:56] Is that a legal signed document by a judicial official?

[00:24:59] Absolutely not.

[00:25:01] So that's why that's the part of ICE.

[00:25:03] So we notify them.

[00:25:05] That means we cooperate.

[00:25:07] But what we have done for the last six years is make it seem like I am releasing people by just let them go.

[00:25:15] I am following the law that is given to me by North Carolina general statute 162.62.

[00:25:23] Once again, he is empowered, just as virtually every other sheriff in the state of North Carolina is, to honor the detainer requests.

[00:25:34] But because he has refused, citing this, oh, if we got a federal judge that comes along and says something.

[00:25:40] No federal judge has done that.

[00:25:43] Why hasn't anybody else sued any of the federal judges?

[00:25:47] It's because it is, in fact, allowed.

[00:25:51] Because it's a federal offense at a civil level.

[00:25:57] And so when the agents send you that detainer request, you can honor it.

[00:26:03] But he says, oh, it has to be a judicial official.

[00:26:07] I assumed up to this point that he was aware that no federal judge writes these types of warrants unless there are criminal charges.

[00:26:17] That's not how the process works.

[00:26:19] I assume that he knows that.

[00:26:22] But he might not.

[00:26:23] I mean, that's possible.

[00:26:24] He may not know.

[00:26:27] Chris, welcome to the program.

[00:26:28] Hello, Chris.

[00:26:30] Hey, Skinny Pete.

[00:26:31] Can you hear me?

[00:26:32] Yes, sir.

[00:26:32] I sure can.

[00:26:34] Great.

[00:26:34] Yeah, McFadden and I got some history.

[00:26:36] I was just on the news a couple nights ago where he come and grabbed my gun rights.

[00:26:39] I was able to fight back and win against him.

[00:26:42] The dude's corrupt as hell.

[00:26:44] And he, remember, I'm old enough to remember what he ran on.

[00:26:47] Mm-hmm.

[00:26:47] To get elected.

[00:26:50] He said he'd remove the 287G program.

[00:26:53] And he did exactly that.

[00:26:54] I mean, that's just what the guy's all about.

[00:26:56] And for him to say it's a lie, he campaigned on it.

[00:26:59] Right.

[00:27:00] Right.

[00:27:00] That was his unique value proposition at the time.

[00:27:04] He promised to do away with 287G.

[00:27:07] That's why he wanted to get elected.

[00:27:09] And that's why people in the Democrat primary voted for him.

[00:27:12] Amen.

[00:27:13] I just wanted to make that point.

[00:27:14] Yeah.

[00:27:14] You're kicking butt like usual.

[00:27:16] All right, buddy.

[00:27:16] I appreciate it.

[00:27:17] Thanks, Chris.

[00:27:17] Yeah.

[00:27:18] Like, do not gaslight me.

[00:27:20] All right?

[00:27:21] Do not gaslight me.

[00:27:23] I remember the campaign.

[00:27:25] I remember what you promised.

[00:27:27] I, look, I was here when 287G started.

[00:27:30] And I remember the activist crowd and the Democrat Party officials that were, that were against

[00:27:36] it at the time.

[00:27:37] I remember that.

[00:27:39] And it built and it built and it built.

[00:27:42] And then a whole bunch of sheriffs across the state all swept into office.

[00:27:47] At the time I was in Asheville, we got one too.

[00:27:50] Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller.

[00:27:53] At the same time McFadden came in.

[00:27:58] So don't whiz on my boot and tell me that it's raining.

[00:28:03] All right.

[00:28:03] That'll do it for this episode.

[00:28:05] Thank you so much for listening.

[00:28:06] I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise

[00:28:10] on the podcast.

[00:28:11] So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here.

[00:28:15] You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepcalendorshow.com.

[00:28:20] Again, thank you so much for listening and don't break anything while I'm gone.