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Hello everybody, I'm Jacob
with NJBallot.

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I'm here with Analilia Mejia
from CD11.

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How are you today?

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I am well, I'm so glad
to join you today.

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Yes, thank you for
taking time out of your

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busy schedule to take
some of these questions.

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So, I just wanted to start off
this event with Latina Civic.

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You mentioned at the event

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that you feel
absolutely starstruck.

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That before, you didn't have

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really any sort of history
of elected office.

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And then just overnight,

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within a year, it just
completely changed.

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You go from not having
an elected office,

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now you're in CD11. Tell me,

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how quick did
that change feel?

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And how did it feel overall?

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Okay, so I will say

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that for 25 years I worked
behind the scenes.

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In fact, there are
many Latina leaders,

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young leaders,
emerging leaders,

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who behind the scenes
are making things happen.

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Helping get people elected,
helping shape policy,

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helping navigate
political moments.

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And while I didn't

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have elected experience,
that experience as

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an organizer taught me how
to connect with community.

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So when I finally ran
for office, I was able

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to really pull from the
experiences as an organizer,

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as a community leader,
as a policymaker.

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Well,

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Other thing I want to go over,

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some of the issues
in New Jersey.

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Everybody from
Republicans, Democrats,

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Independents have
talked all sorts about

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the solutions regarding
the question of data centers.

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A lot of the data centers
have been big talks,

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especially the last few years.

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And the last couple
of years, we've had two

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governors who were
Democrats, right?

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So how would you,
and let's say the rest

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of the Democratic
Party in New Jersey,

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how would you guys, what
sort of solutions would you

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come up with in dealing
with these data centers,

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when in the last couple
of years or so we've mostly

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had Democratic leadership?

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Okay, so here's

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what I'm going to say
actually on data centers.

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Actually any advent,

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any new technology,
any new industry,

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first and foremost we
need to center people.

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We need to make sure
that whatever it is that we're

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allowing to flourish is
going to benefit us,

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not only in the momentary,

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in the moment, but
in the long run.

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So while we are not Luddites

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and we believe in
developing technology,

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we believe in creating
opportunities

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and creating new things,

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it is important that we ensure

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that there are guardrails
and that there's

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oversight that again
protects people,

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protects our children,
protects water sources,

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and protects humanity.

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So when you look
at data centers,

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there has to be a way
in which we lean into

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technology without
destroying ourselves.

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That's what I'm about. That's
what I believe many of our

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elected officials
should really focus on.

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I'm a big history guy,

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so I love the reference
with the Luddites.

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I would always talk about
that in my job in education.

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Awesome.

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Just one last question
involving immigration.

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You have talked a lot about
the idea of abolishing ICE,

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and if that were to ever
happen in the future,

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what would be
the alternative,

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or what would be
something that

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would replace
something like ICE?

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So what I talk about is

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abolishing and
replacing ICE.

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So here's the sad reality.

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First of all, ICE has only

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been in existence
for about 20 years.

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So before then,

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we had a separation on how
we dealt both with criminal

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activity and our
immigration enforcement.

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What we have right now
is a rogue agency that is

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only beholden to one
despotic president,

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and this is dangerous,
and not just to immigrants,

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but it is dangerous
to the American people

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because they are denying
people due process,

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equal protection, they're
using racial profiling,

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and that could
come for us all.

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It is our duty and our

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responsibility to uphold
the Constitution.

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The Constitution offers

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protections to everyone
on American soil,

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and so if you are
a patriot, if you

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support our Constitution, if
you believe in the rule of law,

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then you have to
stand in opposition

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of an entity that
is breaking it,

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and that ultimately is
putting us all at risk.

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Thank you. I appreciate it.

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No problem. Thank you
so much for joining us.