05/29/18 05/29/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! should have to travel it has brought tears today. amy: in a historic referendum, irish voters have overwhelmingly

repealed one of the world's more restrictive abortion bans. we will go to dublin for the latest. then we look at the killing of claudia gomez gonzalez, a 19-year-old indigenous guatemalan woman. a u.s.s. border p patrol agagent hein t the head in texasas with u.s. bororder. >> a girlfriend was killed. ananmmigrationon a agent shot h. unfortunately, she was shot in the headad and killed immemedia. i am asking, please, for everyoyone who sees s this vide, support me in demamanding justie in bringing to justice the person who did this. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in a historic referendum, irish voters have repealed one of the world's more restrictive abortion bans.

the yes vote one two thirds of the vote in friday's referendum, which deals a blow to ireland's conservative catholic church and repeals the 1983 measure that banned abortion under almost all circumstances. women across ireland celebrated the results of the referendum over the weekend. this is janine fretwell in dublin. ,> for all the women in ireland it is momentous. nobody has to travel anymore. i work in that profession, have for 10 years, but i can't tell -- it is incredible. amy: we will go to dublin after headlines for more on the historic referendum. a top north korean official is heading to new york as the u.s. and north korea are trying to salvage plans for the proposed june 12 summit between president trump and north korean leader kim jong-un. general kim yong chol will be

the most senior north korean official to visit the united states since 2000. his visit comes after president trump revived hopes on saturday night thatat the summit would go foforward, tweeting "it will hahappen" only days after cancnceling it. south korean president moon jae-in and north korean leader kim jong-un also held a surprise meeting on saturday at the demilitarized zone between the two countries. to see our full coverage of the diplomatic efforts between the u.u.s., north korea, and south korea, go to democracynow.org. military jets have bombed gaza after israel claimed dozens of mortars were launched from gaza toward israel. this comes after in israeli tank fired into gaza sunday, killing three palestinians. israel said the tank fire came after israeli troops found a body on the border. palestinian protesters meanwhile have launched two boats from gaza in a bid to break the

israeli imposed blockade. the boats will attempt to carry a group of about 30 people, quitting palestinian protesters when to buy it israeli soldiers during the weeks long nonviolent whichtrations in gaza in the israeli military killed more than 100 palestinians and wounded more than 12,000. in guatemala, family members are demanding justice for claudia gomez gonzalez, a 19 year old indigenous teenager who a u.s. border agent shot in the head and killed by a u.s. border patrol agent last week in texas near the u.s. border. claudia's nickname was princesita, or "little princess." the guatemalan consulate has calleded for an invevestigationo claudia's death. border patrol initially claimed that the shooting occurred after an agent came under attack by multiple subjects using blunt objects. but the agency later changed its story saying the agent was "allegedly assaulted."

this is lidia gonzalez, claudia's mother. >> i will save some money, she said, i will learn money for my studies. but impartially, she was not able to do that. my poor little girl, my little baby, no, no, no, this can't be. she isis gone, my baby. that is how it is. i want justice for my girl because it is not fair for them to do ththis. now if people are able to help me retrieve my baby's body as soon as possible, that is what i want. we can't do anything else now. she is dead. she is dead. amy: we'll have more on claudia gomez gonzalez and killings by border patrol agents later in the broadcast. in north carolina, two journalists died monday while covering the landfall of subtropical storm alberto, which has brought heavy rain and flash flood warnings to swathes of the southeast u.s. news anchor mike mccormick and photojournalist aaron smeltzer of the nbc affiliate wyff died when a tree fell on their news truck.

this comes as parts of maryland are recovering from the second once-in-a-thousand-year flood to hit the region in only two years. more than eight inches of rain inundated ellicott city sunday, sending a wall of water surging down main street. scientists have linked extreme rainfall events to climate change. in colombia, the presidential election is headed to a contentious run-off after voters failed to elect a president outright during sunday's elections. the run-off will pit the right-wing frontrunner ivan duque against the left-wing former mayor of bogota, gustavo petro. the election is expected to determine the future of colombia's historic 2016 peace deal with farc rebels. while gustavo petro, a former guerrilla, supports the peace agreement, ivan duque has vowed to rollback key parts of the deal, including reversing the amnesty for former rebels.

in mexico, journalist alicia diaz gonzalez has been killed in the northern city of monterrey, making her at least the fifth journalist to be killed in mexico so far this year. she was a financial reporter for the newspaper el financiero. she was found beaten to death in her home on thursday. in brazil, a nationwide truck drivers' strike has continued into a second week, paralyzing the brazilian economy. the truck drivers are protesting soaring fuel prices. their strike has forced factories, businesses, transportation lines, and schools to shut down. brazilian president michel temer has deployed the federal police and military to break the strike. in pakistan, more than a dozen transgsgender candidates are running in the upcoming general elections, including two candidates running for seats in the national assembly. this comes after pakistan passed historic legislation outlawing discrimination against transgender people and allowing them to choose their gender

identity for official government documents, including passports and driver's licenses. separately, pakistan also passed a constitutional amendment to advance the rights of people living in the tribal areas along the border with afghanistan. the constitutional amendment ends the colonial-era laws that denied people in the tribal areas the right to legal representation and to appeal their detention. the european commission is seeking to ban an array of single-use plastic items, including plastic plates, cutlery, and plastic straws in efforts to cut down on waste and clean up the oceans. the european commission unveiled the draft rules on monday, which will require the approval of the european parliament and all eu member states. the european union estimates the ban would prevent 22 billion euros worth of damage to the environment and prevent 3.4 million tons of carbon emissions.

starbucks will close more than 8000 stores s nationwide for anti-racial bias training today. the training comes after two black men were arrested for being inside a philadelphia starbucks last month, sparking widespread protests and threats of a boycott. the two men settled a lawsuit earlier this month with the coffee chain and the city. rashon nelson and donte robinson will receive a symbolic settlement of one dollar each from philadelphia, along with a promise from starbucks to set up a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs. it is not clear what they will win from starbucks. earlier this month, starbucks also announced a new policy that people could use starbucks bathrooms and sit in its cafes without making a purchase. privacy advocates are sounding the alarm afterer a woman's aman echo device recorded a conversation between her and her husband and then sent it to her husband's employeeee. amazon echo, a voice-activated

device that is always listening and often recording, mistakenly thought the couple said the name "alexa" while they were having a private conversation. the device then misinterpreted the couple's conversation as a series of instructions, sending a recording of the conversation to a name in its contact list. in response, the woman said "i am never plugging that device in again." and in new york city, friends, residents and fellow taxi drivers gathered for a vigil sunday to honor yu mein chow, a taxi driver who died in an apparent suicide. his body was found floating in the east river last after he'd wednesday been missing for weeks. he is believed to be the fifth taxi or livery driver in new york city to commit suicide in five months, as traditional taxi drivers have been pushed out of business by wall street-backed ride-hailing app-based services like uber and lyft.

this is bhairavi desai, co-founder of the new york taxi workers alliance, speaking on democracy now! >> it is a race to the bottom. every day people are going deeperer and deeper r into pove. and this is the reality of the economy.. gig" dederoying what is been a full-te e profeson, , turng it intoart-titime poverty-p w work. lyfyft -- by the waway, it is one thinbusisiness mel -- theuse e tholitical m might. uber spent morere on lobbying than amazon and walmart and ly combinedft. and microsoft as well. wine the political might to deregulation bills. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. "free, safe and legal." that's the slogan for the abortion rights campaign launched by irish women in 2012, that led to a historic, landslide vote friday to liberalize the country's highly restrictive abortion laws. >> vote in favor of the 1,429,081. amy: two-thirds of those who went to the polls voted "yes" on a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment of ireland's constitution, which was added in 1983 and gave equal rights to a woman and her unborn child. many celebrated saturday outside dublin castle. >> so overwhelming, but in the best way possible. we never expected it would be so much of a landslide. it makes it feel so much better because it is the majority of

what the people of ireland want. it is so heartwarming. >> for all women in ireland, it -- momentous. nobody has to travel anymore. yourk in that profession have done for 10 years, but i can tell you -- it brought me to tears today. it is incredible. juan: by voting yes, supporters also backed legislation, which must still be introduced, to allow women to seek an abortion during the first 12 weeks of their pregnancy. ireland is a catholic-majority country. but the moral authority of catholic clergy who oppose abortion has been damaged by sexual abuse scandals and cruel treatment of unmarried, pregnant women. on monday, bishop kevin doran, chairman of the irish bishops conference committee for bioethics, said during an interview on rte radio one with sean o'rourke, that voting "yes" was a sin. knowing andted yes,

intending that abortion would be the outcome, then you should consider coming to confession where you would be received with compassion. bishopdoran,ying , the people who voted yes knowing it could be leading to abortion, could not be leading trading desk to anything else, it would be an abortion? >> yes, i believe so. amy: but other church leaders interviewed on rte radio one, ireland's public radio, had a different response to friday's vote. this is father brian d'arcy, one of ireland's best-known priests, speaking monday. >> i would not like to attribute sin in this matter at all. think it is the wrong language for this because this isn't an issue about church law at all. how thean issue about state is attempting to treat all

way,eople in an american and emerging world, ever-changing world. many values have to be looked at, and which ethics have been changed and looked at differently. in each of us has to struggle. that is exactly what a christian conscience has to do, to struggle to find a way of accepting what is right for yourself while also allowing what you could know of yourself to the love for others that and ethics and morality in a different way. amy: views on abortion in ireland also changed after the high-profile death of indian dentist, savita halappanavar, who suffered a miscarriage in an irish hospital in 2012. doctors refused heher repeated requests for an n abortion becae they could detect t a fetal heat beat, and she ntntracted a fatal ininfection. meanwhile, friday's vote will

not change abortion access in british-ruled northern ireland, where 19th century laws barring the procedure remain in place. for more, we go to dublin, ireland, where we are joined by grainne griffin, together for yes co-director and abortion rights campaign co-founder;. annie hoey is the canvassing coordinator for together for yes and former union of students in ireland president. we welcome you both to democracy now! grainne griffin, , let's begin with you. explain exactly what took place this weekend and how this stork it was -- historic it was. >> i think i friday the country went to the polls and what we saw when the votes were counted on saturday was ireland revealed itself as very much a changed country to the world. it was about much more in the end and abortion rights and

access to safe and reproductive health care. it was about women stepping forward, particularly younger women, and being seen as equals in our society. for so many who worked for decades in the weeks in the months coming up to this, this really was a validation of the place of women in our society and a sense they have been excited -- accepted in overwhelmingly accepted by everyone w who voted on friday. ofn: annie hoey, in terms the young people, did you or any of the advocates of removing this amendment to the constitution expect such a landslide vote, especially could you talk about the role of young people? >> young people have been involved in the issue of reproductive justice in ireland for a really long time. students unions were taken to court. the late 1980's, we were the only ones giving information

about access to abortion in the u.k. young people have been involved in this for decades now. i think when we saw 87% of 18 to 25 euros voted yes, 90% of women aged 18 to 25 voted yes, i think that shows a real validation that young people want to take control over their own futures. they saw the change that was possible. they saw the path of what -- passive what ireland was like an we did not want that for ourselves, for our futures. we wanted a better future for ourselves, were caring compassion was embroidered into the fabric of our society. young people stepped up to the plate. while i think a lot of people were surprised maybe at the huge been workingve with young people for a long time. we have been passionate about this issue. we've seen across the country referendums on campuses, young people get involved in setting up local together for yes groups and working with some of the

stalwarts from the 1983 referendum. i think this became a really exciting time for young people to be involved in a political movement. i hope we see thahat going foforward. amy: i want to turn to the irish prime minister speaking saturday. >> today is a historic day for ireland. a quiet revolution has taken place anand today is a great act of democracy. 100 years since women gained the right to vote, today we as a people have spoken and we say that we trust women and respect women to make their own decisions and their own choices. for me it is also a day when we say no more. no more to doctors telling their patients that there is nothing that can be done for them in their own country. no more lonely journrneys across the irish sea. as the veil of secrecy is lifted. no more isolation as the burdenn of shame is gone. amy: grainne g griffin, talk abt the significance of his statement and also exactly how

you organized, how long has this been going on? who introduced the referendum and how did you campaign? think in terms of the breaking down of the stigma and the silence and all of those pieces, that was incredibly significant in terms of what we saw on saturday. in terms of his words about it being a quiet revolution, i think a lot of women would say it has not been that quiet, that people have been out loud and vocal on this for quite a number of years. what we discovered in the results on saturday was that people have been listening. there are many, many women and organizations who have been campaigning on this issue going back over the decades, back as far as the 1983 referendum and before that. what we saw in the lead up to this particular referendum was since 2012 and the really tragic e saw a reallya, w

strong movement of younger women coming together and getting involved in very strategic and tactical grassroots organizing all over the country, but a real aim to speak openly and honestly t the reaeally of reproductive health services in ireland looks like. what we found is there is been such a huge silence on this issue over the years. in fact, when we named ourselves the abortion rights campaign, it was quite a controversial decision because abortion was not a word that people like saying in public. it was a difficult word. i think if you look how far we have come since 2012 to today, you can really see how much this has opened up and entered into a dialogue on this issue. wasink at the core of it regional the local organizing for setting up things like speak out where people told their stories of accessing abortion care a board, traditional

advocacy, parliamementary advocacy, and a broad range of efforts and tactics there were all leadading to a veryy coordinated and a very clearar centerer, which was to repeal te eighth amendment and to bring in legislation that allowed for abortion access without the need to give a clear reason. it was incredibly important when we saw this change -- and we firmly believed we would see the change -- that it would be for everybody. and this would not be to smaller, particularly vulnerable groups who need reproductive rights services like in the case of r rape, but something that needed to provide for all women who needed to seek care for whatever reason and to recognize that every reason is valid. juan: could you talk about the role of the catholic church? clearly, in opposition to the movement. and with the pope visiting ireland in a couple of months, your sense of the grip of the catholic church on the irish consciousness?

i think probably the most striking thing about the referendum debate and the role of the catholic church was the fact we were not speaking to them. our campaign spoke firmly to the people about the kind of irish society we wanted to see. while the majority of the hours people do identify as catholic and many are mass going, what we saw was people did not turn to the catholic church for their moral authority on this issue. they looked to themselves in the kind of values and integrity and dignity and compassion they wanted to show to the women of ireland. while i'm sure the church has their position in the same is hours people have their own moral compass on issues like contraception and divivorce in e past, we found they took the same path you're on saturday. amy: in the sexual abuse scandal by p priestsch? do think that played a role in here? >> i think over the last number

of decades, and particularly, we're seen the weakening of the moral authority of the catholic church. absolutely. i think anybody watching from any perspective be it global or locally, will have seen that. and the abuse scandals that have come out has certainly played a role in that. in addition to the news of just how clearly and how badly the church has treated women over i mean, the list has gone on. certainly, the catholic church as not seem to be in a position where it can speak to anybody as how to care for a treat for the most vulnerable and women in our society. the catholic church do still play a very strong role in terms of our position on school boards and hospital boards and they are very involved in social care in our society and i think that is something that everybody will be keeping a close eye on now as we look to the implementation of this legislation in irish hospitals that it is indeed everything the hours people

voted for. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion and talk about what this means now that the referendum has passed, repealing the 1983 law. grainne griffin is with together for yes, abortion rights campaign, and annie hoey together for yes, former union of students in ireland president. this is democracy now! we will be back with them in dublin in a moment. ♪ [music break]

amy: wyvern lingo, "out of my hands." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. it was certainly in their hands this weekend, historic vote on abortion in ireland. our guest is our grainne griffin

, together for yes abortion rights campaigner and annie hoey also with acrid and former president of the union a students. annie, i want to ask if you can discuss more than grassroots door-to-door campaign you launched in this digital age, you really decided to go door-to-door to try to convince the irish voters, especially in terms of personal stories of women who would be affected by the change in the constitution. could you talk about that? >> yes, one of the hugely parts of together for yes was -- one of the core tenets was we wanted to ensure women's stories, the real-life experiences were front and center. so when people were going door-to-door and whenever i was doing any kind of concentrating, i would say, make sure you have a story to tell. it doesn't have to be your

story. no one has to walk up and tell the personal story, but have a story that may be resonated with you or maybe the reason why you're involved in this campaign, and tell that story. we are a nation of storytellers. we talked about this a couple of months ago, how it was going to be the stories that won this. the exit polls came e out on fridayay one of the number one reasons people decided to vote yes was because of the stories. didink at together for yes, a good job of ensuring the women's voices and their experiences were front and center. that was something that was carried out across the country. we had some groups that had hundreds of people showing up and were almost too big to manage, and really amazing areas,out of more rural small core group of canvassers who just managed to cover everywhere in their town or in the local area and were so dedicated a getting that message of care and compassion.

but really that message of their was someone here, sosomeone on e street, someone you know that has been affected by the eighth amendment. i think that resonated with people because for a very long time in ireland, we had not talked about this. 170 thousand women have traveled since 1983. of course someone knows someone. when we start talking about that,, people tuned into that ad went, oh, my gosh, i could know someone or i do know someone or someone in my family has traveled. i think that ignited in the hours people the injustice of the eight the mimicked, that it wasn't just may be a one-off person in their family the wedding maybe we had thought about it over the last couple of years, that it only happened in one family and the when it else experienced it. -- and no one else expressed up. if people realized this is happening up and down ireland every day. three women a week, three couples get a diagnosis and have to worry about whether they're going to stay and continue with the pregnancy in ireland or go

to the u.k. where there is a suite of the shamrock suite because so many women have to access health care there that they cannot get here. what we really try to do with our canvassing and our stories, with our interviews was to make sure those stories played a key role. i think we saw friday that really paid off because people really resonated with the fact this is something that has hit the core of irish society that has affected women, has affected families, and i think that really made people stand up and go, we're not having this anymore, we care too much about people, care too much about how we look after people in ireland. i think people were ready to take that care home. amy: speaking of going to england, that is exactly what women inin northern ireland have to do. last year democracy now! travel to northern ireland. we spoke to emma campbell, and abortion rights activist with the alliance for choice and a photographer with the x-ile

project. highlighting the portraits of an estimated 170,000 women who have had to travel abroad to access abortion oututside of ireland ad northern irereland. >> in 1967 when the u.k. government introduced the 1 1967 ababortion act, whwhich allowed women -- amy: d doctors, wastwo nenever extended to northernrn ireland. its own ireland had parliament and never introduced the act. since then, there are been many occasions when northern ireland hasn't had a devolved government and has been directly ruled by u.k., westminster. and in that long period of time, the act was never extended d to northern ireland, never introduced. on a number of occasions when there was an attempt to extend

itit to northernrn ireland, isiticians in the dep, which the democratic unionist party, but regardless of the name, they're not very democratic, but ruruled with the uninited kingd. they''re very conservative witha small "c" come from a kind of protestant loyalist background. they were extremely opposed to any extension of the act. did a number of deals with u.k. government to vote for some measures for interment and so forth with the u.k. g government inin order to o stop abortion hahappening in nororthern irela. we have been on this kind of path, the struggle for abortion rights since then. there's been a lot of activism amongst women in northern ireland from thehe 1960's and 1970's, especially the trarade unions were amongst the first to adopt pro-life policies and try

to campaign around the idea of toting abortion extended northern ireland. amy: that is photographer and -- emma campbell. i asser to expand with the project is. >> it was envisioned as a way of showing solidarity, a way of removing the stigma and silencee and secrecy around abortrtion. honestly, that plays a huge part in movoving the ideas forward. women have had to travel over, quite pretend they're going for a different reason, that they're visiting family or going on a x-iless trip and the project wanted something to show there are lots of women just like you and me who have had to access abortions. so these are women who are willing to put their face forward and say, "i've had an abortion." it is the first time really anything like this has happened

in ireland. it has been quite amazing. the response has been overwhelming. amy: explain what you're doing. >> we photograph women who have had abortions. we do not ask them their story or explain anything, we just take their first name and their face. amy: portrait. >> portrait. we always publish the portraits as a group, rather than as individuals to get it is about talking about how many women have had to o go through this alone. amy: this is a gallery of women who've had abortrtns. >> thahat's right.t. a a lot of them have found consequently as to the project has been one of the faces in the gallery, a lot of them have found their way to being more active in the fight for abortion rirights. certainly, for many of them, the sky did not fall in. it is been a very empowering project for the women involved. amy: that is emma campbell of project.

the bbc is reporting today labor has challenged bruce prime miminister theresa may to show e really is a feminist i backing reform of northern ireland strict abortion law. the shadow attorney general said women in northern ireland have been let down by privileged women and men for too long. she said the pm was a self-denying feminist and the test a feminist is whether they stick up for all women. ask grainne griffin about the situation of women in northern ireland. i think the situation with women in ireland and northern ireland as emma so powerfully put it, women of the north have been left there very much isolated and alone. and without a great deal of public awareness of what the situation there is. one of the positive things i think we will see coming out of

the referendum here in the south is that there are -- our eyes and minds and solidarity very much turns down to northern ireland with a really is no excuse now for delay. there is a need for clear and comprehensive abortion access to be implemented. i think what is particularly going to be interesting is the role played in delivering the referendum here are the last number of weeks, the leadership spoke out saying clearly on the need for this referendum to pass. saying in the north, to see if they will lead in the same movement building and the same clear demand in the north. juan: annie hoey, what happens here? they voted to repeal the eighth the memo, but legislation will still -- must still be passed. what are the next steps? >> the next steps is to try to get that legislation passed quite quickly. in such a rush way there -- not in a way that there are mistakes, but incredibly clear

mandate from the hours people they want this to happen. what we have to remember is every day that we delay on this, there are nine women traveling to the u.k., three women at home waiting to see if customs have their safe and legal abortion pills. with such an astounding mandate last week, the pressure is on the government to step up and get this legislation through quite quickly by the end of the year if there needs to be summer sitting, then so be it. there the indication from political parties they are willing to do that because they recognize the magnitude of this vote, recognize the sides of the will of the hours people to get this done. that weink we recognize really cannot wait much longer for this. amy: finally, can you talk about the role of the abortion pill in this campaign? win the abortion pill -- one

discussion of this, they recognize they say it was "a can of worms have been open on this." that people were ordering the pill online, getting it through customs, getting it over the border. that was one of the reasons around the 12 weeks and why they push for that because -- currently, if you take an abortion pill in ireland on irish soil, it is a 14 year prison sentence. technicallyis illegal to do so. it is important while this legislation goes through, that the abortion pill is decriminalized. one of the necessary medicines. we just recognizing that people are currently taking in ireland in unsafe situations, loan without medical supervision will stop i think it is really important that stops quite quickly as well. amy: your final comment on this?

>> i think just, finally, we would like to of knowledge and take all of the international support and solidarity we have received over the years. whoicularly to organizers provided the means and the access for women in ireland to be able to access safe abortion services. i know our eyes turn in our support and solidarity trips to countries all over the world who need the same reproductive rights and to countries like argentina and brazil and el salvador, and we are looking very much to see how we can support the stand of those women as they try to achieve the same type of change. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. grainne griffin, together for yes co-director and abortion rights campaign co-founder annie hoey, together for yes spokesperson and canvassing coordinator, and former union of students in ireland president. small correction, the british shadow attorney general called

theresa may a self identifying feminist and said the test a feminist is whether they stick up for all women. this is democracy now! when we come back, what happened to a 19-year-old guatemalan teenager when she came over the border into the united states. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: claudia gomez gonzalez. that is the name of the 19-year-old indigenous guatemalan woman who u.s. border patrol agents shot her in the head last week in texas near the u.s. border. claudia's nickname was princesita, or "little princess."

the guatemalan consulate in the real, texas, has called for an investigation into her debt while criticizing the violence and excessive use of force by the border patrol. a border patrol initially claimed the shooting occurred after an agent "came under attack by multiple subjects using blunt objects." the original statement described claudia is one of the assailants, but later the agency changed its story saying the agent opened fire after "the group ignored the verbal commands and instead rushed." amy: a resident who lives near the shooting said she never heard the agent yell anything. at the time of her death, claudia was headed to virginia where her boyfriend yosimar morales lives. yosimar morales posted this emotional video message online. first off, good evening. i want to thank the people who live in tetexas at the border. thank yoyou for ththe suppt t yu

giving me. anand as social media, , they qe for the support to cocontinue to move forward. i knknow losing a family members a papainful thing. losing a lovoved one. despite all of the plans o one s to see each other again, a forcefully, hehe did not happepn like that. my girlfriend wass killed or coursing the border. -- will crossing the border. and forcefullyly, she was shot n the head and killed immediately. i'm asasking, please, forr evere whwho sees t this video, suppore in demanding justice, and bringing to justice ththe person who o did this.s. losing a family member is painful. this t tragic. losing a loved one. i'm asking for your help in demanding justice. thank you. juan: claudia gomez gonzalez quest for yes family said shshe was attempting to come to the u.s. to further her education. this is her mother. save some money, she said. i'll earn money for my studies, she said.

unfortunately, she was not able to do that. my poor little girl. my little baby. no, no, no, t this can't be. she is gonone, my baby. that is how it is. i want justice for my girl because it is not t fair for thm to do this. now if people are able to help me retrieve my babies audie as soon as possiblele, that is whai want. we can't do anything else now. she is dead. she e is dead. amamy: the shoototing death of claudia gomez gonzales is not an isolated incident. a recent i investigation b by te guarardian newspaper revealed te u.s. government has s paid ovevr $60 million over the past decade to settle claims against border patrol. this includes at least 20 wrongful death claims filed against cbp. that is customs and border patrol. to talk more about these stories we are joined by two guests. astrid dominguez is the director of the aclu border rights center. sarah macaraeg is an award-winning investigative jojournalist and contributor to the guardian.

earlier this month, she wrote a three-part investigation on border patrol violence. we're going to begin with astrid dominguez. talk a about exactly what u know happen to claudia. >> good morning. we know last week on wednesday, may 23, according to border theol, claudia crossed border with a group of immigrants. border patrol arrived to the scene after someone reported the activity and encountered the group. we know border patrol states the group attacked the agent with blununt objects to calling claua one of the assailants and shot her in the head. on friday, border patrol retracted and doesn't call her an assailant anymore, but a member of the group that was crossing. and the agency states that the

agent was no longer attacked by a blunt -- wasn't attacked by blunt t object, but the group rushed to the agent in ththe grp didn't follow any commands. the we also know is from neighbor who recorded this incident right after it had happened. there is the reason why border patrol should be wearing bodody cameras. this wouldld give us more clariy as to what happened to claudia and what led the agent to shoot claudia. which theyt video in screenshot the agents. juan: astrid, you been working on this for quite a while. could you talk about customs and border patrol and their tactics as they attempt to stem the flow of migrants coming across the border? >> sure.

we have several concerns abouout this particular case. what happened to the three immigrants that crcrossed with claudia, what is going to happen of them? will they be deported? they should not be deported. they should have to represesentation. we need to know what happened to claudia. witnesses should be telling their story without fear of being intimidated. this agency has a track record of violence. this isn't the first case, sadly, where immigrants are killed at the hands of border patrol. there has been in the past eight years around 50 people that have been killed by the hands of border patrol. very bady also has a track record in terms of accountability and oversight. we're talking about an agency that has a record.

the officers, when they violate policy, are not accountable for their actions. which is an example, the 2020 video that probably you have seen of the teenage boy krusemark as. use a teenager crossing the san diego border. he was sususpected of carrying liquid meth. the agents asked t the boaoard o drink the liquid meteth right there, against policy. the child died right after that. the agents a are still on the jb and there is no discipline or the rest of action taken as far as we know. there is a lot of reform this agenency needs. and amamong them, , we're talkig about the use of force and their policy as well. amy: i want to turn to claudia's aunt.

>> this isn't the first person who is died in this country. they're treatining us like animals. this isn't the way it should be. i'm asking the authorities and institutions, impose some discipline or call upon the u.u. government to stop treating us in this way, like animals. any code that is claudia's aunt. i want to bring sarah macaraeg into this conversation. she says she is not the only person who is been killed. talk about your investigation. >> thank you for having me on. i'm glad to be here to talk about this. what i found when i looked at fatal encounters with border patrol agents over the last 15 years, not including just fatal shootings but all manners of encounters, i found counting claudia step, 19 incidents in the last 15 years. that includes shootings and shootings in which incidents like what happened to claudia,

there are a pattern among those fatal encounters. at the fatal encounters also include a whole another litany of violence. as astrid mentioned, there are been fatal encounters that have happened as a result of malice and neglilince, in addition to the incident that happened with the teenager attempting to cross, there been people who have drowned. there have been people who have died from supposedly nonlethal force, people who o died after being pepper sprayed and tased and beaten. i found throuou looking at civil suits, the agency has paid out over the last dozen or so years i loed at fatatal encotersrs because what i started seeing in all of t the civil suiuit somasr a number of wrongful death claims. i felt that probably only hinted . the number was so small. i had heard of 70 of incidents, i felt the number of claims that have settled out only hinted at what was a broader pattern of violence.

i saw 20 wrongful death claims over a dozen or so years the digging digger, looking at fatal encounters, some of which have been dismissed in court, some of which have n never made it to court because another important are inhat astrid shared many instances, some of the eyewitnesses are migrants themselves. without those eyewitness accounts, it is rumored to bring a complaint. ast it is difficult to bring complaint. shared features that came up in the shooting of claudia gomez gonzalez, and the only reason we know about some of these other cases is because of the persistence of family members in demanding justice and because of solidarity of border communities and supporting family members in those claims. this is not the first shooting by far in which we have seen agents allege, you know, that people were throwing objects at them. most probably, that has been rocks. there have been a number of

cross-border shooting incidents were alleged rockthrowing has come out, but they're also been shootings inside the united states. one of which was settled under the current department of justice in which a man was alleged to have thrown what an agent called basketball sized rocks at him from above. that agent was back at work within six days. local news media reported. but the lawyer in the case told me the current department of justice settled out that case for $500,000, tommy the medical examiner's report was at odds with the agent's account because the man died from two downward trajectory bullet wounds and was a very slight stature to be throwing festival sized rocks. rockthrowing and the throwing of objects allegedly has come up so ofoften in use of deadly force among border patrol agents, that it even from today change of policy in 2014 which stated that

after looking at many incidents -- and this came from the current chief of the border patrol at the time -- what a study of those incidents found was that agents could, in many instances, simplply move o out f harms way, that deadly force was not necessary. that prompted a change in policy regarding thrown objects in 2014. the shooting of claudia gomez gonzalez is one that has taken places then that seems to be, from what we can tell, although the facts are obscured, which is another common occurrence in many of these fatal shooting incidents, but frfrom what we cn tell this shooting that was and to be in violation of that policy regarding their initial claim, which they have already walked back. , you mention you started out many of these cases through looking through civil suits. many of these deaths got very little publicity. this certainly, the customs and border patrol knows exactly who dies in interactions with them. what is your sense of the accountability within the agency

in terms of the agents involved in these cases? >> i think when people say this agency, that there's a culture of impunity in this agency would people say this agency acts as if it is about the law, i think that is absolutely a fair statement. what i found does anything i could find regarding accountability and oversight for some of these incidents, there is a shooting that was not just similar from that of claudia toez gonzalez that goes back 2007 come although, i found fatal incidents before that and fatal shootings before that. the one that occurred in 2007 is notable. it was a young man from a proximally 20 years old, had recently crossed the border. he was with siblings. the border patrol agent that showed up showed up as a result of a national guard alert. soon afterwards, the unmanned was shot and killed, and the

wars of the complaint, execution style. the government went on to settle that civil suit for $750,000. in a very, very rare instance, the agent in that shooting was actually criminally charged. and twice he walked away free after a hung jury. having brought charges against him is very rare, a conviction is even rarer. we're just seen another border patrol agent found not guilty of murder, although he will be retried -- will face a retrial agaiain this fall, the shooting death, cross-border shooting death, of 18 who allegedly threw rocks. those are two rare instances in which criminal charges were brought, but in which there were no convictions. the agency's own internal reviews, they set up a national use of force review board. but if you look at any public report, in a report that review

board has made public, they have innd all of the incidents accordance with standing policy at the time, although, some of have actuallys compelled agency stephen change the policy regarding firing at shooting v vehicles and regardig allegedldly thrown objects. there is very little accountability that we can tell has tataken place. amy: i want to bring astrid bakken of the conversation. astrid dominguez could talk about the new aclu report about an income need immigrant children detained by border agents during the obama administration, the easier you uncovering documents detetailing verbal, physical, excellent be some of her children, the denial of clean drinking water, so you to provide this is very medical care, unsanitary and freezing conditions.

can you talk about what further you found and what you're demanding? >> this report was published last week. thee are documents that agency provided a go from 200009 22014. the agencycy prorovided over 300 pages of internal documents of complaints that have been placed against cbp from children abuses. appalling. are there are stories from kids claiming the agents s not only beat them, but also psychologically mistreated them, calling them dogs, threatening , they were going to let them die. kidsds were refused basic necessities like water, food. a girl was sexually assaulted as

an agent opened up her legs and touched her so hard that she screamed. this documents are on our website at the aclu. amy: we only have 30 seconds, but what you're calling for in those cases and in the case of claudia? all, it is an investigation. we need to know that these tytys ofof visas are n not happepening anymore, even though this was during the obama administration, we ought to make sure that cbpbp has changed and that these abuses are not currently happening. oversightall, the agagencies, cbp, which is the officece of his specter gegener, the civil rights liberty's office, the internal affairs should also have greaterr powows toto make sure agents are held accountable for their actions

and that these abuses the longer happen to kids who are in border patrol custody. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, astrid dominguez and sarah macaraeg. zñvpx]

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