Sen. Andy Kim to youth: Stay engaged, democracy dies with apathy

2nd of Two Parts

By Marivir R. Montebon

Cliffside Park - Senator Andrew Kim (D-NJ) spent an hour of online conversation with members of ethnic community press affiliated with Center for Cooperative Media of the Montclair State University on the stormy Monday of Oct. 13, 2025.

In this 2nd of last part feature, Kim discussed commonly shared issues on immigration, youth anxiety, student loans, public health, NJ infrastructure budget cuts, and some books he is reading to bolster his own spirit. The forum was moderated by Anthony Advincula.

Excerpts:

Immigration Enforcement and ICE Tactics

AA: Senator, let's go to immigration. This is an elephant in the room. The question here says, "Is the Senate doing something to stop ICE continuing to terrorize immigrant communities? Or is it just assumed that you can do nothing to stop the detention of workers and parents and the separation of families?"

A robust online conversation with Sen. Kim with members of the ethnic community media.

SAK: I hope they see what this administration has done and what the Congressional Republicans have done. The Senate Democrats, we are standing up for rights of people in this country, standing up against the lawlessness that we're seeing left and right, whether that's ICE agents out in the street disappearing people. Whether that's the efforts to just overturn TPS status on a whim and potentially put people in harm's way by having them go back to communities and places that are dangerous.

We have been trying to step up and take actions, whether legislatively, oversight or judicial. I'm on the Homeland Security Committee. This is the committee that oversees the immigration process. We have been trying to step up and have transparency about the actions and the tactics of ICE, trying to have a deeper understanding of how we can know where detainees are located, as families have been concerned and making sure that they're getting the legal representation that they need.

And the challenge is, is again, the Republicans have, through the Reconciliation Bill, given billions of dollars to ICE, turned it into one of the largest armed forces in the world. I have a very different view of what the role of Congress should be in terms of being able to protect people. I'm going to continue to push in that direction, and I hope that soon we can have the majorities in Congress to be able to have even greater leverage to do so.

Youth Anxiety and Political Change

AA: We have a cluster of questions from Ben Kapp of WMSC News.

Ben Kapp: Good morning, Senator. My name is Ben Kapp, I'm the news director for WMSC Radio at Montclair State. My first question I wanted to ask is that many students feel anxious about the future, whether it's job security, the economy, or global instability. What would you say to young people who are losing faith in the political system's ability to create real change?

SAK: I would first say to younger people, as I've had this conversation and I hear that anxiety, it doesn't have to be this way. I hope people feel empowered that things can change. I'm a father of an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old, so I worry immensely about what kind of America my kids are going to grow up in, and I don't want to see this chaos and this instability that we see now to just become the new normal in this country.

When I hear from this one college grad saying that he doesn't think he can ever afford to be able to buy a home, because of just how expensive they are and how concerned he is about being able to get a good-paying job, I hear that from a lot of people. I just urge people to please lean in and see that we can try to move things in a different direction.

A lot of them felt like our politics had become this exclusive club for the well-off and the well-connected and that special interest and billionaires are dominating where the government focuses in on. Yes, we need to change things.

The status quo is untenable, both economically and politically in this country. I hope young people stay engaged. I've been saying this line a lot over the last couple years where I say that I believe that the opposite of democracy is apathy. It's when we feel a sense of helplessness.

I understand where people are coming from. It's easy to feel helpless in the face of such significant challenge, but I hope that people channel it into real change, whether that's the governor's race just a couple weeks away, that's a chance for us to make real change here in New Jersey.

Gateway Tunnel Funding

AA: I'm gonna bring you back, Senator, to New Jersey. We have Matt here who wants to ask about Gateway Tunnel.

Matt (M): The cuts to funding for Gateway have been a huge issue here in North Jersey, especially in Montclair, which we cover. What are your thoughts on that? You mentioned it before. And what can either local communities do or what can you do about that?

SAK: Well, look, first and foremost, I hope everyone across New Jersey and New York can jointly come together and condemn this action. I’m very disappointed at some of my Republican colleagues in Congress from New Jersey that have refused to condemn this administration's actions for doing so.

They know how important this is for our state, and we need to stand together and say, "Look, regardless of our differences when it comes to the government funding and the budget, we should not be stopping funds to this vitally important national infrastructure project."

I'm on the Commerce Committee which oversees the Department of Transportation. I had before our committee Secretary Duffy when he was coming up for a confirmation hearing. Secretary Duffy is a constituent of mine. He is from New Jersey. He understands the importance of this, and in fact in the hearing, I asked Secretary Duffy, "Is the Gateway Tunnel Project of national importance?" And he said, "Yes, absolutely. This is a critical infrastructure project, not just for New York and New Jersey but the entire nation."

The fact that they're using it as a political chip for political revenge is irresponsible and reckless. I've gathered support in the US Senate to try to push back on this. We've called for investigations into this type of action through the committees that I'm on.

I've engaged closely with the governor and others in the state to try to look at what actions we can have, including legal actions. I think this is gonna backfire immensely on the Trump administration. People don't like this, especially here in New Jersey.

Sen. Andy Kim during the presser with Center for Cooperative Media of the Montclair State University.

Student Loan Debt and Financial Aid

AA: Senator, let's focus on education. What is your plan to address student loan debt relief, especially for graduates in New Jersey? And how will you support federal actions in terms of financial aid for low-income students in the state?

SAK: For me, education is paramount. Education is literally what brought my family to the United States. It's so important that we give people that chance, but it's difficult. I was a Pell Grant kid. My family got support through the Pell Grant. I was also work-study.

This administration has been gutting that, has been gutting Pell Grant, has been gutting work-study support. I've tried to put forward legislation that would actually dramatically increase the number of Pell Grants that we give as a country, as well as raise the amount that one can get per grant because that's remained stagnant for so many years. I've also supported efforts to try to dramatically reduce, for instance, the interest rates on student loans.

I supported the efforts that would have the student loan repayment tied to the income that somebody has so that they're not having to choose between paying back their student loans and being able to buy food or pay their rent. This administration has been, again, gutting that.

This effort is gonna dramatically make it difficult for people to be able to afford education. And that's gonna just, not only affect them individually, but it's gonna give us a much weaker workforce as a country.

Healthcare and NJ Family Care

AA: Let's move on to healthcare. If the Trump administration doesn't improve the healthcare budget, what plans are there specifically for New Jersey to ensure that the more than 350,000 New Jersey Family Care enrollees who would potentially lose their services are not left without health coverage? Is there any alternative on your part or through collaborative efforts with the state to prevent this from happening?

SAK: Look, the first and foremost thing we need to do is be able to elect a governor that actually wants to protect our healthcare, protect Medicaid in our state. We have challenges in the state of New Jersey in terms of our budget, in terms of our resources. We cannot offset all of the cuts that the federal government has made when it comes to Medicaid.

Whoever is the next governor will play a critical role in trying to figure out how we can mitigate the harm and the damage to as many as humanly possible. This is also why I am fighting so hard when it comes to continuing the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act marketplace. A lot of people who are losing their healthcare through other means are gonna have to turn to the marketplace as well as those that are on the marketplace.

I've been going to federally qualified health centers, to hospitals and others, trying to figure out what needs do they have to be able to continue to operate. Everyone's really scrounging right now, trying to be creative to come up with solutions. I'll try to help them every way I can.

Support for Ethnic and Independent Media

AA: We have a question here. I'm going to ask Diego Maya to ask his question.

Diego Maya (DM): Good day, Senator. My name is Diego Maya, Latino Spirit Media in US Latino affairs. Given that 22% of New Jersey is Latino and our past effort was the only Spanish broadcast of the governor COVID-19 briefings reaching over 1.7 million views, we now are looking to get more bilingual communication to the state, to inner city pockets. Senator, how can you establish federal policies that mandate state and county government institutions to grant independent media direct access to ensure this essential service, including advertisement?

SAK: Look, I'm a big supporter of having more diverse media out there and be able to communicate. I represent 9.3 million people right now, I am fully aware and have seen the challenges of getting communication out to them about essential services. I'd be very supportive of continuing federal support and potentially even increasing it in the right ways to be able to promote.

This is something that's under attack right now, not just in terms of ethnic and community media, but we see this administration has cut billions of dollars to PBS and public media. I don't think we can take steps that would require or mandate the state or local communities to get engaged but we can certainly try to find opportunities to provide funding so that they can work with local media and figure out how best to be able to promote that type of communication.

I want to get to know you all better, I wanna make sure that we have the kind of connection. If there are things that I can do to help lift up the work you're doing, you know, let's continue to push that.

Books and Contextualizing Current Political Reality

AA: Senator, there is a beautifully grafted question here which is really interesting. What books have you read or are you reading lately that have helped you contextualize and approach the current political reality?

SAK: Yeah, that is a great question. I've been reading, as I told you, I have an eight-year-old and a ten-year-old, I have two little boys. I approach this question a lot as not just a senator but as a parent. I’ve been making my way through a very powerful book called The Anxious Generation that very much lays out the concerns that are happening to young people in our country when it comes to the just overabundance of access to social media, to smartphones.

I've also been reading...my father's health is declining rapidly, and I've been really struggling with that. I've been trying to take some solace in books that can help me understand how to try to support him, as well as just understand steps that we should be taking as a family to be able to afford this kind of challenge when it comes to healthcare and better provide the support to him and to the rest of my family. And also, how to deal with it mentally too, because I'll be honest, it's overwhelming.

I am part of the sandwich generation. It helps me kind of recognize how many Americans are struggling with this right now, how much of an eldercare problem we have right now, how much of a retirement crisis we have right now.

I'm one of the youngest members in the US Senate. I think it's important to have the voices of parents of young kids in the US Senate that can talk about this firsthand and be able to share. I’m right now writing legislation that would try to fundamentally reshape for the better long-term care in this country.

I'm trying to push for more federal funding to do medical research for Alzheimer's, dementia, and other types of challenges that people are facing. Those are the things I'm trying to work on.#