04/29/16 04/29/16 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: on the road in tucson, arizona, this is democracy now! [chanting] don't shoot students! don't shoot students! amy: that's the sounds of student protesters at the university of california davis being pepper sprayed in 2011. the video went viral. now it turns out the schools chancellor spent $175,000 to try to scrub the internet of criticism of the school's actions but that move has

, backfired. uc president janet napolitano has placed the chancellor on administrative leave pending an investigation into a number of infractions. we will speak to two student protesters who just finished a five week sit-in. they were calling for her resignation. we will also go to arizona, where we are right now, to speak of student activists at nau, northern arizona university, who were arrested this week calling for the school to divest from fossil fuel. then sunday is may day. >> there are two stories about may day that everyone should know. on this may day in particular. this may day, people all over the united states finally are thinking about what is a political revolution? and they're thinking about, what is socialism? may day can help us. amy: historian peter linebaugh

on, "the incomplete, true, authentic, and wonderful history of may day." the two longtime immigrants right defender isabel garcia and one of her clients who was arrested after being assaulted at a donald trump rally. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. around 20 people we arrested in costa mesa, california, after demonstrators took to the streets to protest a donald trump rally thursday night. protesters blocked traffic, including the on-ramp to the freeway. the demonstrations involved both clashes between trump supporters and protesters, as well as between protesters and the police clad in riot gear. several thousand people attended the trump rally. the california primary is june 7. former house speaker john boehner launched a verbal attack

against republican presidential candidate ted cruz, calling him "lucifer in the flesh" and a "miserable son of a [bleep]." boehner was speaking during a forum at stanford university. the comments were recorded by journalists from the campus paper, the stanford daily. this is john boehner responding to stanford history professor david kennedy, asking what he thinks about ted cruz. >> lucifer in the flesh. [indiscernible] i have never worked with a more miserable son of a [blee[. amy: meanwhile, pro-choice groups are calling on ted cruz to fire anti-choice activist troy newman from his campaign. newman is the head of the militant anti-abortion group operation rescue, which is known for its targeted harassment of abortion clinic workers. newman himself has implied that

abortion providers should be executed, writing the u.s. is "blood-guilty" for its failure to kill "abortionists." newman currently serves as one of the co-chairs of ted cruz's "pro-libbers for cruz" coalition. the u.s. state department has condemned wednesd's airstrike on a doctors without borders-supported hospital in syria. the organization says the airstrike killed at least 50 people, including doctors, sources and patients. , on thursday, state department spokesman john kirby said the airstrike was likely carried out by the syrian regime. finding thisiously attack reprehensible in every possible way. we're looking at dozens, if not several dozens, of casualties in this strike on what was clear it was a medical facility. the details and the

circumstances of the attack are still coming in, but it sure bears all the hallmarks of the kinds of strikes the regime has done in the past on treatment facilities. frankly, on first responders. amy: this comes as the pentagon is slated to release a full report today on its internal investigation into the u.s. military's bombing of a doctors without borders hospital in kunduz, afghanistan, last year. the attack killed 42 people, including patients and staff. the pentagon says 16 people have -- 16 u.s. military members have received some form of administrative discipline, but no one has been court martialed. in response, amnesty international called for an independent investigation, writing -- "these reports demonstrate the need for an independent investigation, outside of the chain of command, to determine what happened in kunduz and to assess potential criminal wrongdoing." in california, the brother of one of the suspected shooters in the san bernardino massacre was arrested thursday, along with his wife and sister-in-law, on charges unrelated to the

december shooting, which killed 14 people. prosecutors say syed raheel farook, tatiana farook, and mariya chernykh have been charged with conspiring to make a false statement to immigration officials while under oath. vice president joe biden made a surprise visit to iraq on where he met with iraqi prime thursday minister haider al-abadi and other top officials. it was biden's first visit to iraq since 2011. this comes as prime minister al-abadi continues to face massive popular protests against his administration. earlier this week, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in baghdad to demand the appointment of new officials to parliament. the obama administration has proposed an unprecedented military aid package to israel that could top $40 billion over 10 years. it is the largest military aid package the u.s. has ever offered to any nation. israeli officials are reportedly demanding even more funding. the u.s. currently gives israel

$3 billion a year in military funding under a deal slated to expire in 2018. meanwhile, israeli police have shot and killed a palestinian woman and her teenage brother near a checkpoint in the israeli-occupied west bank on wednesday. israeli police say the two were armed with knives. palestinian authorities said the victims, 23-year-old maram abu ismail and 16-year-old brother, ibrahim taha, were en route to jerusalem for a doctor's appointment. amnesty international says police in brazil have killed at least 11 people this month in rio de janeiro, where the olympic games are set to begin in less than 100 days. amnesty says the majority of the victims are young black men from the city's poorer neighborhoods, known as favelas. 307 people were killed by police in rio in 2015, which accounted for 1 in every 5 homicides.

atlantic city could become the first new jersey city to go into default since the great depression if it misses a $1.8 million bond payment due sunday. new jersey governor chris christie has proposed taking over the city's operations, a move which would give the state power to sell off city assets and break union contracts. atlantic city mayor don guardian has pushed back against the state plan, calling it "a fascist dictatorship." the verizon workers' strike has entered its second week, with tens of thousands of workers on strike up and down the east coast. it is one of the largest u.s. strikes in years. verizon has sought to cut pensions and ease the outsourcing of work. at a picket line in brooklyn on wednesday, the chief steward of communication workers of america local 1109 spoke out. >> i am a field technician out of verizon wireline. we are fighting for middle-class jobs.

most of us are going to be retiring in a few years. we want to make sure the communities we serve have good middle-class jobs to pass on to the m people coming up. and we think that should be a positive thing for the community and for the government as a whole, because you have good paying jobs, you pay taxes, then more services can be rendered to the community through that process. amy: in washington, d.c., geneva reed-veal, the mother of sandra bland, spoke at the newly formed congressional caucus on black women and girls' first symposium about the death of her daughter, who was found hanged in a texas jail cell three days after she july 2015, was arrested over an alleged traffic violation. reed-veal maintains her daughter did not commit suicide. during her testimony at the library of congress on thursday, she highlighted the high number of women who die in u.s. jails. >> can anybody in the room tell me the other six women who died

in jail july 2015 along with sandra bland? that is a problem. you all are among the walking dead. and i'm so glad i have come out from among you. amy: and yale university has announced it will not rename the residential dorm calhoun college, named after former vice president john c. calhoun, one of the most prominent pro-slavery figures in history. this comes despite a recent wave of student protests demanding the dorm name be changed. yale also announced it will name one of the two new residential dorms after african american alumnus and legal scholar anna pauline murray. it will be the first time a yale dorm bears the name of either an african american or a woman. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman. we are on the road in tucson, arizona, as part of our 100 city 20th anniversary tour. we begin today's show looking at student protests here in arizona and california. earlier this spring students at , the university of california davis occupied the office of school chancellor linda katehi for five weeks calling for her , resignation over her mishandling of students protests and allegations of conflicts of interest. well, this week the students won a victory of sorts as university of california president janet napolitano placed katehi on administrative leave pending an investigation into a number of infractions, including allegations of nepotism and her decision to spend at least $175,000 to try to scrub the internet of criticism following ing of11 pepper spray an

student protesters by campus police. the school made national headlines after this video showed police spraying seated students directly in the face at point-blank range. >> don't shoot students! don't shoot students! don't shoot students! don't shoot students! amy: in 2012, the university of california reached a $1 million settlement with 21 protesters who were pepper-sprayed. earlier this month, the "sacramento bee" reports uc davis paid consultants $175,000 to improve its online image, in part by scrubbing negative search results related to the pepper spray incident. that news came to light while students were occupying the office of linda katehi. well, i was recently on the campus of uc davis and spoke to

two of the students involved in the five-week sit-in. >> a name is teresa, i'm a fourth year uc davis student. i was a part of the 36 day sustained sit-in where the chancellor's office is. we left on friday. i was there because there are serious concerns that not just as, but many students have but never feel empowered to voice on our campus. we pay a hefty tuition to be at this school. we're supposed to be the voices and the faces of the university. it has become an institution of moneymaking. and lack of accountability. and we want our voices to be on the front. it has become -- we are tired. we are tired of wondering why that is not happening and the privatization of the university campaign tired of the

the university runs. >> i am a fifth-year environment all science and management student at uc davis. we're calling for the resignation for katehi and the process to be changed so that students and workers have an active say in who runs the university. we're calling for katehi to resign. recently, there was a moonlighting scandal that came out with her working for devry and a textbook company and a different university. it is not only that, there's a long history of katehi messing up, going back to 2011 in the pepper spray incident. personally, i thought she should have resigned and. since then, i have watched a pattern of administration messing up and not being held accountable, and we wanted to change that and to be involved. amy: can you talk about the latest issue that was uncovered ?y the "sacramento bee"

>> the university had spent $175,000 to try to wipe references to the pepper spray and katehi off the internet. it shows how concerned -- whether concerns are with detecting administration and maintaining good pr and not actually holding anyone accountable for making the changes after that kind of incident. amy: can you explain what happened in november 2011? >> students were peacefully protesting tuition hikes in solidarity with the occupy wall street movement. they were in the quad. the university decided they wanted to remove them, so officer pike pepper spray students at point-blank range. amy: a police officer? what happened to him? >> he received more compensation than the students that were pepper spray for emotional distress from the incident. yeah, i believe he got -- amy: how much did the students

get? >> i think between $11,000 to $20,000 each. got -- andstudents he got $38,000. we had been in the sit in for five weeks and we had reached the point where we thought it was time to do something new. we had done a lot by that point it was like an in depth activist training. everyone who was in there, we created a community in solidarity and learned a lot about how to organize and how to work together. we brought a lot of national attention. i doubt the sacrament of be would have been putting in those record request and finding out that information if there wasn't a sit in to go on to bring in a cut of immediate attention. without it was a good point to try to continue our protest in new ways. we don't see so much as an end by the beginning of a new phase. >> now we need to build our relationship to the rest of the student body. most students do not know what

is happening. amy: how many of you were there? about 100i was students involved in about 40 students who were sleeping the regularly. i'm not great with guessing numbers. >> those are people that showed up physically. but on facebook and social media, there were over 1000 students from davis who were in support of us. amy: the conflict of interests. >> there are three moonlighting events. the first was with devry. she did not get prior approval. on the board of devry university. devry university is also being investigated by the federal government for unethical practices and essentially lying to their students. amy: a for profit university? >> a for profit university. so there was that. making the choice to be involved with that company being

investigated for unethical practices. she broke policy and did not do what she was supposed to do and just did what she wanted to. there was wiley and cents textbook. >> what did she do? >> she was on the board. it is a textbook company, an obvious conflict of interest. uc is one of their biggest customers and prices went up while she worked for them. sons, see john wiley and uc is a biggest client. is ai plus husband professor and they use those textbooks. that is a pretty clear -- there was another university, saudi arabian university that was essentially buying citations. they were paying, university professors to include the on

their paper so they would show up as working there. it went from a university that had never been heard of two ranked above m.i.t. and one year . in ago what did chancellor katehi have to do with that? >> she was on the board. she said to bring diversity to the school but we could not figure out exactly what that meant. amy: that was parisa and kyla two students at uc davis who , took part in a recent 36-day sit-in calling for uc davis chancellor linda katehi to resign. on wednesday, uc president janet napolitano placed her on investigatory administrative leave. in a statement released earlier today, student protesters said -

those again, the words of uc president janet the palatine of, the former governor of arizona. in a statement released earlier today, student protesters said -- "the collective efforts of uc davis students, faculty, staff, and community members are responsible for yielding this result. it is crucial to note that it was not janet napolitano, or university of california office of the president, who led us to this moment of justice, but our un-collapsing spirit and belief in political protest." the letter goes on to say -- "katehi is but a cog in the uc machine. we are aiming to scrap the prototype and create a new system that both works for and

is run by students, faculty, workers, and the community at large. until system-wide change takes place, our demonstrations will continue." well, we turn now to another student protest. this one taking place on the campus of northern arizona university or nau in flagstaff where we broadcasted from on thursday. so far this week, at least eight students have been arrested after they refused to leave a university building at closing time while staging a sit-in to call on the school to divest from fossil fuels. the protest at northern arizona university began earlier this week when some 150 students spent over 12 hours occupying the student and academic services building. the sit-in comes amid a growing national movement on college campuses for fossil fuel divestment. earlier this month at the university of massachusetts, amherst, about three dozen people were arrested after

launching a similar sit-in. and at columbia university, students occupied low library, demanding university president lee bollinger endorse fossil fuel divestment. on thursday here in arizona i , spoke with two coordinators of the fossil free protest at northern arizona university. michaela mujica-steiner, a senior at nau and karina , gonzalez, graduate student in the forestry department. they were among those arrested during the occupation. i started by asking michaela to explain the action. >> so this action is part of a larger national escalation that is happening across campuses to get universities to develop from the top 200 cold, oil, natural gas corporations. specifically, we are taking this action to get our president rita chang to come out with a formal public statement in support of

full fossil fuel divestment. amy: what has the president of nau said from the beginning, and who actually makes the decisions here? >> great question. she actually hasn't said very much on the issue in general. but we had met with her in the past. she hasn't officially yet taken a stand on fossil field investment. amy: in the meetings, what has she said? >> she said she would like more information on the finances of the fossil fuel development, which we have presented to her. one of the bigger issues is the 200 year old mindset that also fuels are a good investment, which is frankly no longer true. amy: can you talk about the company's that you want nau, northern arizona university, to divest from? >> so that information, the specific companies is not public the nauion because

foundation is a private entity. amy: explain. a lot of places don't have university foundation, that you do, the nau foundation. >> yes. the nau foundation is a private investmentsmakes for northern arizona university and it is a private entity. it is a private nonprofit corporation. is so a lot of information not transparent to the public. amy: are you planning to continue this protest, and for how long? >> we plan to continue this protest until we get our demand met that the university president will come out with a support on fossil fuel development -- divestment. we believe that we can be

persistent in this. amy: i want to turn to bill mckibben from 350.org who when we had him on democracy now! recently, described how the fossil fuel divestment movement has grown over the years. >> we started this movement three years ago and we started, it was small the first college was unity college of in maine whose endowment was i think under $10 million, maybe well under $10 million. in the past two weeks, the california state legislature has calsters,calpers and two of the biggest pension funds on earth. yesterday comes the news out of system, yout the uc know, the iconic campuses at berkeley and ucla and santa tobara and davis, beginning divest from coal and tar sands oil. their portfolio is $98 billion. there is a kind of just dramatic

momentum b this people's uprising on climate change. amy: that was bill mckibben talking about the escalation of these protests. >> this movement has seen incredible momentum, not only within the past two years, but the past few months and weeks. in the past three weeks, 62 students across the nation have gotten arrested because of this movement. and this is just a small example of what is happening not only across the nation, but across the world -- which is incredibly exciting to see and also demonstrates how much power students and in people really have. amy: that is forster graduate student karina gonzalez and women and gender studies undergraduate michaela mujica -steiner. they were both arrested this week calling on their school to the vest from fossil fuels. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman. from tucson,sting arizona. when we come back, sunday is may day. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: performing a few may days ago. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. toure on our 100 city arizona, headed to fresno, california, tonight, and then we will be in california and then new orleans as well as houston on may day. that's right, sunday is may day, and organizers and activists across the country are planning celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the massive may day marches of 2006. more than 1.5 million people took to the streets to support workers and immigrants rights. it was one of the largest days of protest in the country's history.

in most countries, it is an official government holiday with masterman stations, rallies, marches all being held to express labor solidarity and celebrate workers' rights. but here in the united states, may day is not a government-sanctioned holiday, even though the commemoration originated here over a century ago. today we look at "the incomplete, true, authentic, and wonderful history of may day." that's the name of a new book by historian peter linebaugh. he is the author of many books, including "the many-headed hydra" and "the magna carta manifesto." historian robin d.g. kelley said of linebaugh -- "there is not a more important historian living today. period." i sat down with peter linebaugh earlier this month to discuss his new book. i began by asking him how may day was established, and how it came to be established in the united states. never has yet been established by the establishment , that is, the government does not want to look at may day, but

it has always been contested holiday and contested in the united states. in a way, there is manufactured ignorance that prevents us from knowing about may day. the rest of the world celebrates it, but you're the center where may day was created as a workers iniday, as -- we are ignorance. this ignorance has been caused. instead we have labor day in september and then they changed the medium of may day and called it "law day." eisenhower did that. cleveland did labor day. may day is much older. there are two stories about may day that everyone should know. on this may day in particular. because this may day, people all over the united states, finally, our thinking about, what is a political revolution? and there thinking about, what is socialism?

may day can help us. it is a day, first of all, of no work. it is a day of celebration. a day to dance around the may pole. my mother-in-law used to say, "hoorah, hoorah, the first of may, outdoor loving begins today." there is a green story and a red story. the green story begins first. that goes back to agriculture. because back to the sun. because this is springtime. this is the beginning -- the earth has turned in its relationship to solar energy. the green story is the story of fertility. winter is over, summer is upon us. it is a time of fruition and dancing and happiness will stop it is a time to dance around the may pole. the first maypole in north america was in 1627. it was in marymount, massachusetts, which is boston day.

, with runawayton servants, some former slaves, and indigenous people, danced around the maypole. they're the first poetry ever in english in north america. this was 1627. it was a multicultural, anti-hierarchy, anticolonial assembly. and the puritans in boston came down heavy against it. they came down yelling, "god scarcity, be quiet, shut up." scott messer and william bradford, they put an end to it. at this green story persisted. not as an established holiday, but as a custom of people on both sides of the atlantic am a north and south america. that is the green story.

now, it comes to an end with a mechanization of agriculture, with the reaper, the mechanical reaper, which is made in chicago. i'm coming to the red story now. after the american civil war, people, women, disabled felt empowered and thrilled at the victories -- i am quoting from a recent book. the author shows a direct link between his huge freedom struggle and the ancient made a story. they said, they began the eight-hour movement. that is the movement of eight hours work, eight hours rest, and eight hours play. that was the slogan. the mccormick reaper that is going to shave the great plains

was produced in chicago by skilled workers, iron molders. they took the lead on the first of may 1886, but mccormick and the police shot four of them dead. in response to this police violence, a meeting was called in haymarket square in chicago a few days later on the fourth of may. and at that time, a stick of dynamite was thrown. there were 200 policemen there to put an end to this meeting. the dynamite retailer among both the demonstrators -- retired demonstrators and police. amy: does anyone know who through the dynamite? >> to this day, it is a matter of contested and controversy. no one knows. no one knows. the police claim that it was demonstrators and demonstrators claim it was a police

prosecutor. know.istorians do not ofl, this caused a spasm reactionary violence all across the united states. a trade union movement in city after city was betrayed and attacked a police forces. in chicago itself, eight people were charged in a kangaroo court with murder and found guilty. four were hanged and they were hanged on the 11th of november, 1887. saying "thens, he international" as he swung at the gallows. , "a day willaid come when our silence will be

more powerful than the voices you throttle today. then he was choked and swung. the result was throughout the world, especially in mexico, but in england and ireland and france and italy, the eight-hour movement became an international movement of workers all over. that is the origin of the red side. because later, the socialist movement, the anarchist and any communist parties, they took it -- they were forced to take it by workers all over your demanding an eight hour day. men and women, black and white, ,sian and european -- all over celebrate that day. and the chicago ideal for the chicago ideal was again eight hours work, eight hours rest, eight hours for what you will.

this is why we celebrate it. amy: and why don't we celebrated in the united states as an official holiday? day, yet called law there is a labor day in september? >> it is a contest, amy. it is a confrontation. the rulers of the united states, rats, thehe slave-o-c billionaires, and the police forces behind them -- this is at the end of the 19th century. together in order to separate may day and that workers struggle from the rest of the world. and grover cleveland in 1894 said, was forced by labor again and wanted their vote, he said, ok, you can have a labor day, he will be the first of september. what you're supposed to do on the first of september is not march, but go shopping. go get some sales at the new

department stores. that is labor day. ,nd what they did with may day this is during the height of the in 1958, eisenhower said, we will call may day law day. and to this day, law schools all over the u.s. celebrate may day by declaring it is all about law. but in fact, if you go back to the very origins of may day in north america, that is the green story, you will see that thomas morton and the others, they decisionsat moral belonged in the conscience of the collective, rather than in the loss of the puritans -- laws of the puritans. they were called a theological

term in opposition to strict law. amy: in your book, which is a about maye, you write day in light of waco and l.a. toyeah, i do, because i want go into the roots. squared. there was x we had a red and green story. the x squared -- this is back in a time when kids were wearing caps that had an x on them, and that is from malcolm x. he chose the x because he did not know his african name. part of slavery was taking their name away so that x was a constant reminder. and i explained the x with two words -- expropriation. you're being taken away from the means of life, taken away from

the earth. and exportation, or being forced to labor by those who have the means and materials of work. so that is the origin of that x squared. it was after waco and after the l.a. riots, back in 1992, that ofbegan to see again people different ethnicities, people of different so-called races, or trying to join together -- workers trying to join together once again, and huge violence was set upon them. i take that story back to the ghost stance, back to the may day right at the beginning of capitalism in europe and 1517. and then the great ghost dance at the same time that the lands were being robbed from the native americans on the great plains and in the west, that

ghost stance just scared the life out of the 1%, out of the gilded people. to this day, i don't understand it, amy, how just dancing one inch at a time could so frightened the powers that be. and it led to the great massacre of wounded knee. so these are the themes i tried to tie together and that particular chapter. amy: and there is may day of 2006, at least may 1, 2006. >> the great mobilization of hispanic speaking, which is the largest, especially in chicago and l.a. that is a tradition we need -- that helped us remember what may day reallyis -- may is. how it began it haymarket. it was spanish workers in mexico, spanish workers in the plantations and mines and

factories who maintain the story , when we ands north america have forgotten that. workers around the world, we need your help. we cannot remember everything. we need to be reminded. and that 2006 mobilization helped to do it. the other great mobilizations were in south africa on may day that led to the collapse of apartheid. amy: explained that event. >> i can't extend much further other than trade unions, political parties would come out into the streets -- which is what we must do again in 2016. on this day, may day this weekend, we must come outside and celebrate our lives, our future, our dreams, and do it with one another and start talking with one another. amy: your title "the incomplete,

, true, authentic, and wonderful history of may day." explain. >> it is incomplete because the job is not finished. it is true for the two stories i told you, the green story and the red story. it is authentic because this book, this knowledge belongs to working people slaving at the kitchen sink, doing night shifts, doing flex time, doing precarious work. and it is authentic because the mexican people, the spanish people remind us of it. it is not part of institutions, of universities. and it is wonderful because if you go out on may day and start dancing around the may pole, all kinds of things will happen. amy: historian peter linebaugh, author of, "the incomplete, true, authentic, and wonderful history of may day." may day is sunday.

and on this 100 city tour on sunday, we will be an houston in the afternoon and we will be in new orleans in the evening. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, new laws being pushed here in arizona and we will talk to a protester who was assaulted at a donald trump rally and then arrested. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "this land is your land." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we're on the road in tucson, arizona. we turn now to how anti-immigrant rhetoric in the 2016 presidential race could be -- and how it could be impacting state policy here in arizona. >> when mexico since its people, they're not sending their best.

they're not sending you. they're not sending you. there's sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems with us. they're bringing drugs. they're bringing crime. they are rapists. and some, i assume, are good people. amy: that's republican presidential frontrunner donald trump speaking last june. is his rhetoric now becoming policy? here in arizona, a number of anti-immigrant bills are making their way through the state legislature. on thursday, house lawmakers gave initial approval to a measure that would require undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes to serve maximum prison terms without the possibility of probation or early release. the bill has already passed the arizona state senate. other bills under consideration here would withhold money from sanctuary cities and bar state funds from being used to resettle refugees. on march 30, arizona governor doug ducey signed another measure that requires undocumented people convicted of

crimes to serve a longer portion of their prison sentences before they are turned over to immigration authorities for deportation. back in 2010, arizona faced boycotts and national condemnation for its sweeping anti-immigrant law, sb 1070. but advocates say the state saw a lull in immigration bills -- until trump's rhetoric helped re-ignite the issue. to talk more about the landscape here in arizona we are joined by isabel garcia, co-chair of coalicion de derechos humanos, or coalition for human rights, based here in tucson. she just retired from her post as pima county legal defender last july after more than 22 years. great to have you with us, isabel. and unlike bill o'reilly a number of years ago when you went on, we will not shut off your mic as you speak. talk about what is happening here in arizona. >> if you recall, i was with you in new york city a week before 1070 was signed act in 2010. and here we are again, the state

of course has been the leader in anti-human measures to be applied immigrants and there was a lull after the boycotts. we're got to be very clear that the only reason that this legislature stopped in 2011 was because of the boycotts. amy: explained who was pushing them. >> the boycotts were being organized by the communities all over arizona. .n phoenix, lots of organizing here in tucson, lots of organizing. there were even politicians that called for a boycott of arizona because of the repressive measures that were included within 1070. amy: did corporations joined in? >> corporations were on the outside's until 2011. 2010 is when it was signed. in 2011, they had another bill that was about to pass.

the night before casting, 60 ceos of the top corporations in arizona authored a letter and had it delivered to the legislature that morning telling them to stop it, that the boycotts had caused lots of damage here in arizona, that they understood the issues, you know, caused problems, but it was time to stop. yes, the 60 top companies in arizona but a stop to it after the fact. i would like to say they join in our humanitarian concerns. they were not involved in that. they were involved with a bottom dollar. amy: explain what these laws are now that have passed part of the legislature. >> the one that is closest to being passed right now is the one that violate equal protection. in other words, saying undocumented immigrants would face totally different range -- the same range of penalties, but serve the to

maximum. would not be allowed to be released in any kind of form and would have to serve the maximum allowable. if it is a misdemeanor, you know, punishable by six months, you get the six months. punishable by five years, you would get the maximum. i don't see how that can pass constitution -- amy: let's go with what the governor said. on march 30, arizona governor doug ducey signed hb 2451, which requires undocumented people convicted of crimes to serve a longer portion of their prison sentences before they are turned over to immigration authorities for deportation. in a statement, governor ducey said in part -- "public safety is the number one role of government, and in light of reports that criminals released early without serving their full sentence are committing crimes in our communities, we must stand for the rule of law." this is a different law. >> that is a different one and that has been signed. this law permits undocumented people to be considered for release after serving half of their term if they have a final

order of deportation. so nobody is staying in the community. -- werse, we cut through cut parole for other people to 85%. so already, we are causing mass incarceration and now we had an opportunity with mexicans to be deported after serving half their time. now this new legislation is for people who are being charged right now. they would be convicted -- if they're convicted, they would have to serve the maximum allowable. they would not be allowed, you know, consideration for either probation or any kind of early release. or let's say the judge wants to give your minimum sentence, they would have to give them the maximum. amy: talk about the killings by border patrol here in arizona and how legislation sb 1070 plays a role. >> it plays a role in the fact that people are deported. once people are was the way.

you go to school, to leave your child, and all of a sudden you don't come back to stop two hours later, you're in mexico. we have cases where people try to come back die in the desert. have being here 15 years died crossing back to be with their children. the racism that has been engendered with 1070 -- amy: 1070 is? >> the bill we call "show me your papers." the supreme court was wise enough to really reject other portions, but they did not reject section 2b which says if a police officer has reasonable suspicion that you are in the country in violation of federal immigration laws, he or she can detain you. the supreme court said they could not detain you longer than

it takes to give your tickets, but we have many cases where they detain them 40 minutes, 50 minutes, waiting for the police -- and other words, it is legalized racial profiling. amy: i want to go to a slightly different subject. at a trump rally in tucson last month, one of trump's supporter was caught on video sucker-punching an anti-trump protester as he was being led away. tony pettway was arrested for misdemeanor assault and released. the protester, bryan sanders, was kicked out of the rally after chanting "liar" and holding a sign that read "trump , is bad for america." this is bryan sanders speaking after the rally. >> donald trump is perfectly welcome to go ahead and run for president. what he is not welcome to do is to suggest that everybody who opposes him should be violently attacked, that he should be handed the presidency outside of the rules of his own party. i mean, this is sounding like 1933 of in here. and then you saw allell broke loose.

this and that and he is stopping me. incredible things. i understand that people support donald trump, but do they support this kind of thing? really? donald trump is associating himself with violent extremist people who are willing to go to any lengths, apparently. amy: that was bryan sanders who was secretary at the trump rally. -- sucker punched at the trump rally. but there was another assault at that rally that you may not have heard about. lena rothman says she was assaulted by a trump supporter and when she reported the , assault to the police at the trump event she herself was , arrested. >> march 19, i was on a staircase with other organizers and protesters. this man came barreling down the staircase, pushing and punching people. after a while, he made his way back up. i was in his way. i could not move over because

there was a railing. i got knocked down by him and i hit my back on a post. i decided after he got of the staircase -- i decided i wanted to take out a complaint. went looking for the police. i went up to the balcony. i spoke to an officer and i told him what happened and he said he could not file a complaint, he was busy, could not leave his post. in and ir officer came spoke to him and i ended up speaking to six or seven different policeman to file a complaint and they all said, no, they could not leave their post or they ignored me. finally they steered me over to the supervisor. said i to him and i wanted to identify the guy

because people were leaving by this time. when i identified him, i went running over when i saw him come out. in the supervisor came in back of me, but he was really taking his time. so i was afraid the guy that had assaulted me was going to leave. so i kind of ran up to him. i'm looking back to mean i'm saying, this is him, this is the guy. and i ended up being arrested. amy: interesting, isabel garcia, you sent a photograph of the 20 police officers posing with donald trump outside his rally? >> correct. i was outraged. i was at the protest. and they had lena in handcuffs when another guy had assaulted a ucla student who had a concussion -- nobody was concerned, but they were arrested. we wanted to know whether these police officers were involved in

these incidents. obviously, if they are trump supporters and posing while on official duty with trump, i think that is a real problem for our city and a real problem to the criminal justice system. amy: your representing lena rothman? >> yes. amy: what are you calling for? >> a complete dismissal of these charges. amy: how do you think donald trump's regulator -- rhetoric affects the legislation? >> it wasn't until trump came in to raise the ire of the right wing and maricopa county that these bills began to get some traction again. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. it is certainly a discussion we will continue to have in this presidential election year with republican front runner donald trump. isabel garcia, cochair of the coalition for human rights, and lena rothman, arrested at a trump rally in tucson after she went to police to complain about

being assaulted by a trump supporter. that does it for the show. we are on a 100 city tour marking democracy now!'s 20 then anniversary. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. you can check our website at democracynow.org to follow the tour to find out if we're coming to a city near you. we have job openings hiring for our video news production fellowship and our internship program. more information at democracy now.org. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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