06/05/18 06/05/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> simply put, does the president believe he is above the law? >> certainly, no one is above the law. amy: as president trump claims the power to pardon himself and to dismiss the mueller investigation, is the nation on the path to a constitutional crisis? we will speak to philadelphia daily news columnist will bunch about trump's attempts to go what he calls "full dictator" and about trump's decision to

disinvite the super bowl champions philadelphia eagles from the white house. then we go to the u.s.-mexican border. we will look at how the u.s. government is breaking up families and sending children to detention centers often hundreds of miles from their parents. this is how one judge in brownsville, texas, described the situation. >> what you've done by separating these childrens putting them someplace without their parents. y: treme cul favor of a colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple citing his religious opposition. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. amnesty international says the u.s. airstrikes launched lastt

year during ththe 2017 offsisive to oust isis militants from the syrianan city of rqaqa were in viololatioof intntnationonal law and potentially constitute war crimes. amnesty's s report "warar of annihilation," the group writes -- "on the ground in raqqa we witnessed a level of destrucon comparable to anything we've seen in decades of covering the impact of wars." the e report is based on interviews with more than 100 civilian survivovors, including members of thehe badran family, which lost 39 family members and 10 neighbors in four separate u.s.-led coalition air strikes. this is donatella rovera from amneststy international. >> we're talking about airstrikes which should be precise. so if building after building were destroyed with entire families inside, something must have gone wrong and that somethining must be investigated becaususe the people of raqqa

deserve justice and deserve to knowow what went wrong. but until n now, coalition officials have refused to engage in any meaningful way. amy: "the wall street journal" reports the trump administration is considering providing direct u.s. military support toward the saudi-led offensive to seize dah,rol of yemen's port city n what aid groups are warning could worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian crisis in yemen. "the journal" reports the united arab emirates, which i is part f the saudi-led coalition fighting houthi rebels in yemen, has appealed to the trump administration to provide the direct support, which h would further exexpand the uninited states' role e in the ongoing wr that has killed 15,00 civilians, sparked the world'd's worstt cholera epidemic, and pushed the country to the brink of famine. 80% of the humanitarian aid that is able to reach yemen comes through the port city of hodeidah, meaning if the saudi coalition seizes the city, it could dramatically reduce e foo, water, and medicine in the besieged country.

in gaza, israeli forces have shot and killed the cousin of the 21-year-old palestinian ot ac razan al-najjar, who was killed by an israeli sniper on friday. israeli soldiers shot and killed ramzi al-najjar near the separation fence with israel on monday. the israeli military is claiming he was armed with an ax. the israeli military killed at least 120 palestinians and wounded over 13,000 more amid the palestinians' nonvient great march of return protests in gaza. president trump is continuing to mueller'sbert investigation. on monday, he tweeted -- "the appointment of the special counsel is totally unconstitutional!" trump also tweeted -- "as has been stated by numerous legal scholars, i have the absolute right to pardon myself." in fact, there's only one officialal of scrcrutiny inin ar

a president can pardon himself. the acting head of the justice department's office of legal counsel wrote in a memorandum that it would seem m then presidident richard nixon could not pardon himself. a da later, nixon resigned. this comes as federal prosecutors for special counsel robert mueller have accused president trump's former campaign chair powell manafort of attempting to temper with the witnesses in a federal tax of money laundering case against him. prosecutors say manafort repeatedly tried to contact witnesses by phone and through encrypted messaging. manafort is accused of money laundering -- breaking money dering laws. the supreme court has ruled in favor of a colorado baker who refused to make wedding cake for a gay couple citing his religious opposition. in a narrow seven at two decision, the justices faulted the colorado civil rights commission's handling of the biggerbrought against jack phillips and the commission had showed a hostility to religion. the case pitted claims of religious freedom against the fight for gay rights, but the ruling stopped short of setting

a major precedent on whether businesses can deny people businesses because of sexual orientation. we will have more next supreme court ruling later in the broadcast. in afghanistan, at least 14 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a gathering of religious leaders in the capital kabul on monday. during the meeting, the clerics and religious scholars had declared suicide bombing a sin, and the ongoing war in afghanistan illegal un islamic law. shshortly after making these proclamations, the bomber attacked the assembly. isis has claimed responsibility for the attack. in jordan, anti-austerity protests continued into a fifth day, despite monday's resignation of prime minister hani mulki, who had pushed for the income tax increases backed by the international monetary fund. education minister omar razzaz has reportedly been tapped to serve as the next prime minister. he has formerly worked for the world bank. the ongoing protests are the biggest in jordan in years. in guatemala, the death toll from the eruption of the fuego volcano has risen to at least 69 people. the volcanic eruption 25 miles southwest of the capital

guatema city has buried whole villages in lava. the death toll is expected to rise as searchch and rescue efforts continue. back in the united states, voters who did the posted a for .rimaries in several states among the races in montana, democrats will decide who faces off against republican congressmember who physically attacked a guardian reporter in 2017. in california, democratistate senator kevin daly own is trying to unseat dianne feinstein. dozens of people were arrested in civil disobedience protest in cities across the u.s. monday during a national day of action for the new poor people's campaign. thousands of low-wage workers, clergy, and community activists participated in sit-ins, marches and rallies, calling on lawmakers to guarantee health re a healthy environment for all. in washington d.c., 28 people were arrested in the capitol rotunda monday while protesting

the disproportionate impact of disasters, such as hurricane maria, on the poor. rresopeka, kansas, 16 people hey tmanded dicaid expansion at the state capitol building. and in kentucky, 400 activists were denied entry to the state capitol monday while protesting the nation's first work requirements for medicaid. monday's actions are the fourth week of nonviolent direct action from the new poor people's campaign. on monday, president trump ably disvited the philadelphia eagles from visiting the white house today, twitting -- "staying in the locker room for the playing of our national anthem is disrespectful to our country as kneeling. so duringt year's nfl season, no eagles lair took a knee. the owners said they can stay in the locker room.

former president bill clinton is facing criticism after he told nbc's craiaig melvin that he did not owe an apology to former white house intern monica lewiwinsky. >> i asked if you ever apologized in you have. >> i apologize to everybody in the world. itrtans impo to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow i feel is nuine. first and most important, my family. monica lewinsky and her family. >> but you did not apologize to her. >> i have not talked to her. >> do you feel you owe her an apology? >> i have never talked to her, but i did say publicly on more than one occasion i was sorry. that is very different. the apy was public. amy: after widespread outrage about these comments, clinton said he had apologized publicly to monica lewinsky. he was speaking last night in new york.

in the late 1990's, president clinton had a sexual affair with lewinsky, who was at the time a 21-year-old unpaid intern at the white house. in vanity fair essay published earlier this year, lewinsky wrote -- "i now see how problematic it was that the two of us even got to a place where there was a question of consent. instead, the road that led there was littered with inappropriate abuse of authority, station, and privilege." and in parkland, florida, four high school seniors who were killed in the valentine's day massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school, which killed 17 people in total, were honored at the high school's graduation on sunday night. among them, joaquin oliver, whose mother accepted her son's diploma and cap and tassel while wearing a bright-yellow shirt reading "this should be my son." on monday, students who survived the shooting massacre announced plans for a nationwide two-month bus tour this summer, aimed at registering young people to float and to support gun control legislation. this is student cameron kasky.

a lot of peopleo loo voting. i think a lot of people have slowly been less excited about voting because people are tired of the political system pulse of a the is, g can fix the political system. amy: to see our full coverage of the marjory stoneman douglas high school massacre and the student-led march for our lives, go to democracynow.org. 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. monday marked president trump's 500th day in office and many legagal experts warnrn the couny could soon face a constitutional crisis as the president continues to attack special counsel robert mueller's investigation. on monday, trump tweeted -- "the appointment of the special counsel is totally unconstitutional!" he also tweeted -- "as has been stated by numerous legal scholars, i have the

absolute right to pardon myself." later on monday, nbc's white house reporter peter alexander questioned white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders. >> does the president believe that he is above the law? >> certainly not. the presidenent has an done anything wrong. >> the question is, does the president believe the framers envisisioned a system where the president can pardon himself? were the president could be above the law? >> the constitution clearly lays out the law and once again, the president has not done anything wrong and we feel comrtable -- >> is that a moment ago it is not that clear. does the president believe he is above the law? >> certainly, no one is above the law. amy: over the weekend, "the new york times" published a 20-page confidential letter written by trump's lawyers to special counsel robert mueller, in which his lawyers claim trump is above

the law and thus cannot have illegally obstructed the mueller investigation. in the january 29 letter they claim -- "it remains our position that the president's actions here, by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself, and that he could, if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired." trump's attorneys also claim the constitutution gives the presidt power to terminate the mueller probe. we go now to philadelphia where we are joined by will bunch. he is a longtime columnist for "the philadelphia daily news." his latest column is headlined "the week trump went full dictator and no one tried t -- tried to stop him." respond to these latest developments and comments of both president trump reinforcing this letter that "the new york times" released this weekend.

>> thank you for having me on. i wrote that column over the thisnd before extraordinary tweet from president trump yesterday in which he claimed he is the ability to pardon himself. you mention it has been 500 days of president trump. it is day by day we have seen him slowly eroding democratic norms, the rule of law. and when he does that, step-by-step he not only euros our democracy, but has taken us on a path from presidency to some kind of dictatorship where said,basically, like you like he said, declaring himself above the law. the 20 page letter from his lawyers to robert mueller was standing in the claims that he can shut down the investigation, he can fire anybody in the justice department who is investigating him at will, and that he is the right to pardon anybody. michael flynn, michael cohen, and himself, perhaps i'm

although that theory is yet to teste so this is clearly a dangerous time for democracy and again we have seen it you wrote step-by-step the fact he gets away with telling an average of 30 lies a day to the american people and goes unchallenged on that. ways, you know, the flipside of that is the founders always thought we would be protected against that because congress, the courts are institutions. the media would step in if somebody was that abusive to our fundamental democracy and take action. we have a congress that is totally cowed. have completely thrown in with trump and the democrats have not really adopted an aggressive strategy on how to counter this. the media is debating whether to call a lie a lie.

he is really strengthening this hold over our reality in ways that are very dangerous. juan: will, talk about calling a lie a lie, for months and months, president trump talk to the special prosecutor.o he was looking forward to it. yet here does letter "the times" released shows back in january, they were already claiming they did not -- he doesn't want to talk to mueller, that they believe mueller has all of the information he needs and that the president basically does not have the time. iswas stunning yet he continued to say he is willing to talk to the special prosecutor. >> it is stunning. something else emerged from that letter, too, which is the fact the official story line out of the white house about their initial explanation of this trump tower meeting with the russian emissaries in 2016, the issue was whether president

trump had been personally involved in drafting ts statement claiming the meeting was only about adoptions and nothing else. that there was in a discussion of dirt about hillary clinton. the white house initially denied trump had made that -- had done that. now in their letter, they admit trump did dictate the statement. sanders does not have a good answer after being pressed upon it yesterday. this is the hallmark of the trump administration. just blatant lying. obviously, donald trump is not the first president to lie. been through lbj in vietnam and watergate and all of these other things, but in this case, the sheer brazenness -- it just gets back to the whole issue of democracy versus dictatorship. what really makes a dictator is the ability to redefine reality, right? and his that trump

aides like sarah and his lawyers can come out and just state and youatant untruths wake up the next day and nothing has changed, you know, the more dangerous our situation becomes. amy: we have been doing a lot of reflecting back 50 years later a 1968. well, not quite 50 years, maybe more like 41 years. but it was after nixon resigned. the e famous interview t hewith david frost. that it is in the best interest t of the nation or something and do sometething illegal? >> when the president does it, that means it is not illegegal. > by definition. >> exactly. amy: that was nixon aftfter he resigned in 1977. can you compare nixon and trump? >> absolutely.

i came of age during watergate. that is kind of what many want to go into journalism as a young man. of o of the lesss s supposededy watergate was that we prove that no one is above the law because nixon had resigned, forced out offofice. the truth isis, we never really resolved that question, unfortunately. whenuddies were wated nin was pardon. he was not sent to jail or punish for h c crime u had a situatiowhwhere ree ars s lar, nixon instead of ining inaill is a free man and makinghihis clm ththathen the prpresent dodo it, it is not illel.l. tnk the vt majori of ericans tay th stateanet we have never really solved that questi. nowe have presidenwho is determed t to sh this the outer limits, d deterned to ow byvery tration, evy norm, every roleand is bically

challengg uto say, at are we goingo do abo this? ishallengi congres chlenging e media, challeing themerican ople. what aree going do abou it, t on our cches andatch on tv ery nightr take i to t streets what a we gointo do ase th is rely the qstion we have tresolve becausef the esident n show his above the law, thust eros the underpnings ofur democcy so many ways. i verrisky time. even the fact that a presidenn someone doesn't mean a crime was not committed. your obviously being pardoned for having broken the law in one way or another. i want to ask about the issue of forbearance you talk about in your column in "the philadelphia news." can you expand on that?

explain your approach on the issue of forbearance. >> absolutely. this is a term in terms of politics that i wasn't familiar with until this really excellent book came out called "how politicaldied" by two scientists from harvard. they talk about how democracy died and what the road to dictatorship looks like. one of the important things is forbearance means, basically, you may have some powers that are not denied to you in the constitution or you theoretically couxercis but forbearance means you don't use all of your powers to the hilt because that puts you over the edge. pardons are perfect example of that. the constitution really doesn't make clear -- gives the president absolute power to pardon, so he can pardon his best friend or michael cohen theoretically under the law, but

fromtional has restrained doing that. what is happening to the last 242 years is we have developed a system, people generally who want pardons to the president make an application that goes to the justice department where there is a lengthy review process. things are taken into consideration like whether that person has redeemed themselves in some way. trump's pardon process is none of this. he is playing a game of celebrity apprentice with the pardon process in terms of people he knows, people who are powerful, people who are political allies by joe arpaio. when i say democracy is eroded over 500 days, go back about halfway through his term when he issued the first pardon to sheriff joe arpaio who had not even been brought to justice yet for violating the rights of immigrants down in arizona. basically, that was the first challenge to say, this pardon process is fully abnormal.

he is that even been sentenced yet, and i'm issuing him a pardon. he was challenging the system, what are you going to do about this? the answer was nothing. joe arpaio is a free man and i think is even running for office down there. this in bolton sam. -- this in bolton's him. he can pardon scooter libby. it just makes it so much easier for him to pardon someone like michael flynn or someone like his own lyer miael cohen. so that is forbearance. going past the guard rose of democracy that all of terms predecessors have followed. amy: so what can people do? for example, congress. why do demococrats in the minory have the power to do and what would happen if they became the majority in november? and what about republicans of the president has absolute power? short-term, november,

and for sure, seems like a long time away in trump years, right? i think it is possible -- the democrats could peel off moderate republicans for certain measures such as legislation fromwould prevent trucks firing robert mueller. i think that could get some republican support, whether the leadership would allow a vote on that is another thing. really the democrats need to make it clear to the people that if they can gain a majority in the november art a full-blown investigation withe trump administration impeachment on the table. i don't think you can run right yes vote on "i am a impeachment" because we have not had a proc yet that we had in 1973 and 1974 of hearings of producing the evidence. the evidence is there to be produced. a democratic congress is going to have subpoena power and more power to gather the information

the public needs. with the trump the ministration abuse is so dramatic, it would not take that much time to develop a case for impeachment. is an argument against impeachment, obviously, which is you will never get enough republican votes in the senate to convict and r remove trump, o what is the point? on the other hand, when you look at anynything traffic c done, hs violatnsns of the emoluments clause, his selling our foreign policy to the highest bidder whether it is russia or saudi arabia or the united arab emirates, and now his obstruction of justice in the mueller case. if donald trump can't be impeached, then why do we even have an impeachment provision in the constitution? juan: i would like to turn to another trump subject that is perhaps closer to y and the people of philadelphia.

on monday evening, donald trump abruptly called off today's planned visit by super bowl winning phililadelphia eagles after it became clear that most of the team had opted out of the event. in a statement announcing the decision, trump said -- "the philadelphia eagles are unable to come to the white house with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow. they disagree with their president because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country." he also tweeted lalast night saying -- i'm going up or shut them only a small number of players decided to come and d we canceled th event. staying in the locker room for the playing of our national anthem is a disrespectful to our country as kneneeling. sorry." what interesting, is not a single ingles player knelt during the national anthem in the 2017 season, compared to seattle seahawks, which it was i think something like 100 10 times. several members of the philadelphia eagles announced in

february they would not visit the white house for the traditional super bowl victory celebration as a protest against president trump. among them are malcolm jenkins and torrey smith, as well as chris long. long also refused to visit the use whear when he playedor the new england patriots, who won the super bowl then. they're partnering to commit at leleast $90 million to programs, adding social inequality. in a poor, person wins announced he would match up to half $1 million in donations to raise money to build a sports complexx in haiti. eagles defensive end chris long donated his entire 2017 base salary worth $1 million to charity. philadelphia mayor released a statement monday night responding to the eagles' cancelled white house visit, saying -- "disinviting them from the white house only proves that our president is not a true patriot, but a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing a party to which no one wants to

attend." will bunch, your comments? >> i could not really said any better than jim kenney just that it. that basically sums it up. donald trump has done something that people of philadelphia have an excess us will he join a different -- unsssfull tried to do for decades, bringing the city together. people in philadelphia are outraged. they are angered and disgusted by the smallmindedness that trump has displayed here. i'm so glad you mentioned all of the things the eagles have done over the last year inhumanity efforts and social justice because, you know, the eagles are such a classy organization. say what you will about the nfl, but individual players on the eagles, many of them are fighting for social justice, many are giving back to the community, raising money, doing things for charity. donald trump could have learned so much from these people. instead, he turned them away because -- he is a very small

man. he is like what jimmy brn said about giuliliani, small man in search of a balcony. donald p of exp ted by this. just one thing i will say politically, people have not thought much about this, trump in 2016 bylvania about 69,000 votes. he got a decent number of votes in the suburbs outside of philadelphia where the eagles are worshiped. on top of everything else that is dumb about this, it is a me politically. people in philadelphia, he was not popular in elphad to begin with, but he is ministry illinois people even more with this pminded move of his. amy: you wrote a book with humidity of malcolm tickets and chris long brought me back." you might easily see them walking the halls of the state

legislature lobbying around issues of criminal justice and isonpreform. will bunch, out of the queue -- >> they are great guys. amy: i want to thank you for being with us. will bunch is a longtime columnist for "the philadelphia daily news." his latest column is headlined "the week trwent fl dictator and no one tried to stop him." when we e come back, we go to te border. some rare video in i'acourtroom. what isappeni to children? hundreds of them? thousands of them? taken away from their parents by the trump administration? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "mista president" by souljazz orchestra. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we turn now to the u.s.-mexico border, where a reporter obtd a rerding of immigrant parents who have been separated from their children. the audio is from a a mass trial of dozens of immigrants in a courtroom in brownsville, texas. standing shoulder to shoulder, men anwomen in shackles plead guilty to the crime of "illegal entry" during a mass trial. if you listen closely, you can hear the clinking of their

chains as federal magistrate judge ronald morgan asks a man if he would like to say anything before he is sentenced. >> anything else before sentencing? ok. >> also bring my child with me.

juan: that audio of federal magistrate judge ronald morgan's courtroom in brownsville, texas, is from a report for the intercept by debbie nathan headlined, "hidden horrors of 'zero tolerance' -- mass trials and children taken from their parents." the story also features a rare photograph from inside a federal courthouse in pecos, texas, that shows dozens of immigrants in orange jumpsuits spread across a courtroom and filling up a jury box as they are tried all at once. amy: mass trials for crossing

the border, and scattered cases of family separations, have taken place since "operation streamline" was first introduced in 2005.last jeffessions announced the federal government will now prosecute "100% of illegal southwest border crossings." >> i put in place a zero tolerance policy for illegal on our southwest border. ifif you cross t b borde ununlawfully, , then we will prosecute you. it is that simple. if you s smuggle illegal aliens acroross our border, t then we l prprosecute yoyou. if you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you. and d that child may be separatd from you by law. amy: well, for more on this new policy and how it is unfolding, we go to austin, texas, where we are joined by debbie nathan, independent journalist, usually based in brownsville, texas, on the mexico border. her new report for the intercept

"hidden horrors of "zero tolerance" -- mass trials and children taken from their parents." she has been on the ground reporting on what she calls zero tolerance factories. describe what you saw. >> i have been to several of these trials. i have been in brownsville, laredo, and el paso. what you see is somewhere beeen 20nd 40 something ,eople from all triple shackled not to each other but individually, their hands in handcuffs chained to the waste and their feet shackled. they clunk and clang into court. there is this clanging sound of chains. they go through these mass processes in less than an hour come usually. answer innstructed to groups or answer enmass. so you'llll ask -- you will hear

40 people asked a question and they will say si all at once or they will say no. it is uncanny. it is shocking. it does not feel like to process. e ononr one tewith only one lawyer they plead guilty. it is just -- it just feels like something -- i mean, the photo itself added to the sounds really makes you think of something like of a great except it is completely legal in this country now to do this. it is quite shocking to see. very few people go to see it, which i think is another reason why it is happening on the border and with so little oversight. i've had trouble getting into courtrooms. i go to get in the federal building and i am told, no, the judge said the court room is too crowded. nobody can go and accept border patrol agents and lawyers. i've had to argue to get income even after i said i was the reporter. people don't see these

proceedings. people are afraid to argue, actually. so the fact the photo was taken is actually very remarkable. the defense bar spokeh in that area, the westeisof texas k it was the marshall who took it. somebody inside the court secretly took it, probably. my experience hanging around these courtrooms and talking to people and even having a little bit of whistleblower effect is that there are a lot of people inside these courtrooms or inside these courthouses who are not comfortable with what is going on. in fact, if we were able to continue to listen to the judge in that tape, he even starts to feel real inside it, expresses anxiety about the fact maybe it is not true that people are being reunited -- john juan: if we can, let's --

>> goes on to say to the assistant u.s. attorney, if this is not true, if you're not reuniting these children, then we canan imagine the hell that s being trtraded. their summmmit of not comfortabe with what g going on. juan: if we can, let's go to the audio recording you obtained from the brownsville, texas, courtroom of the federal magistrate judge ronald morgan as he is presiding over the mass trials of these folks who are apprehended at the border. this was in late april and this begins with the judge morgan offering another defendant the chance to address him before she was sentenced. te judrgangeon that was federalt

speaking in his brownsville, texas, courtroom in late april, in audio obtained by debbie nathan and featured in her port f the intercept. debbie, this whole issue of lawyers, one lawyer representing 30, 40, 50 people? obviously, they cannot have much in terms of iid information about the --ortunity for the particular person? >> the gettinbetween seve 10 minutes of counsel rubber for the proceedings. i talked to public defenders who tried very, very har informatthld b sayful -- i was going to client, but to the defendant. for example, make an effort to find out whether they crossed with their children and whether the have a claim of -- credible

fear claim that would allow them later in the process to claim yl it int. s i was in court in el paso last week and there were 60 defendants and they were split into three groups of 20. so each group of 20 had a lawyer. i interviewed one lawyer who told me of his 20, not one of them had been separated from a child and not one of them had been asylum claim or credible fear claim. so then another group, i was able to interview the attorney who spoke spanish, unlike the first one, and seemed very concerned about the immigration issues will stuff you told me of the 20 that i saw him representing, 10 of them had ofn separated from a total 15 children, including one woman who separated from three children. he obtained that information i just really speg with these people. you get the feeling thahat thehe legagal representation, as short

as it is, as few minutes as it is, also depends on whether the lawyers even care to find out what is going on. amy: also where you are, were usually work in brownsville, oregon democratic senator jeff merkley was barred from entering deten cent, which was an old walmart. a detention center for immigrant children, just on a, after traveling to the center to see firsthand the trump administration's practice of separating immigrant children from their parents. he tweeted -- "i was barred entry after repeatedly asking to speak to a supervisor. he came out and said he could not tell us anything. police were called on us. children should never be ripped from their families." federal authority is reportedly separating at least 600 immigrantheir parents las month, sparking widespread outrage and international condemnation. even a u.s. senator is being esed away by police, not

allowed to go into the old walmart where children are being held. that we're paying for, debbie. >> i wasn't surprised. it was sort of the same experience, only in spades, of what i've had when i try to go into court. it seems like everybody is being treated like some bum that knocks on the door. like, what are you doing here? we're going to call the cops on you. in a way it was shocking to see him treated that way. but it wasn't surprising to me. nobody can get in there. juan: i want to tur you ted with migrants you met in mexico just across the border from el paso. this clip from a video you posted on twitter this weekend begins with you asking the migrants if they tried to cross the bridge to the united states at that port of entry. >> did you try to cross the

bridge? >> yes, but they do not allow us. >> what happened when you tried to cross? >> we wanted to seek help to enter the u.s. >> what is your name? >> chico. we wanted to enter the united stateses because we wawant to fa job. we owe a lot because we are far from our country. >> what will happen to you -- do you fear violence there? >> yes, of course. if we do not pay our debts, the money we owe, they will threaten or kill us. juan: these are the was agents crossing -- are they crossing into mexico before even the border crossings point that the migrants who try to get through? >> traditionally, you go to the port of entry -- which is this big building at the bottom, in

brownsville, it is a curved bridge. you go to the bottom of the bridge to the u.s. side, to the port of entry. to tell the agency want reasyl. that is your legal right. you're in the united statetes at that pointnt and request asylum. what has been happening up and down the border -- and this is probably been going on for at least a year and a half that i'm aware of, anyway. they're putting agents of at the top of the bridge. there is sort of an invisible line often marked with a plaque. there's a line dividing the united states and mexico. what the government wants at this point is for people not to be able to step into the u.s. at that invisible line because then they can't apply for asylum. so they have these agents at the top of the bridge and there standi there. they're asking everybody who their suspiciousbout -- suspicious of, you know, maybe they're going to apply for asylum, but asking people for the documents. then a walk thate go peoplnto the united states. ---- then they won't let peopleo

into the united states. they are technically in mexico, but they are like six inches from the united states. that is illegal. that is what is happening up and down the border. that is what i observed when i was in el paso last week. that i interviewed those people who been turned back -- they had are ready been turned back about three times until, oh, come back at 10:00 tonightr comeack at 6:00 in the morning, we don't have room for you now. so they were camped out in front of a bathroom at the bottom of the bridge, which is the mexico side, and, again, incredibly upsetting to see them really looking hungry and looking exhausted and weeng and telling me that they have multiple times tried to get in to getet past these agents and they were not able to. amy: debbie nathan, you have a new report out for the intercept headlined, "border patrol continues to exaggerate danger to agents to justify violence against immigrants." i want to ask you about this,

and how it relates to the border patrol officer who shot 19-year old indigenous guatemalan woman claudia gomez in the head last week, killing her, in rio bravo, vide the aftermath of the killing shows border patrol agents sealing off the scene and detaining at least two people. the agents first claimed the officer fired in self-defense after officers were attacked by blunt objects. the family of claudia gomez said she set off for a better life in the united states despite what they had heard about tougher policies toward undocumented immigrants under donald trump. this is gomez's mother, lidia gonzalez. >> i am going to achieve something, she said. i will earn money for my studies, she said. unfortunate, she wasn't able to do that. immigratation killed my little girl. my little baby. she did not go toto steal.

she isis gone. my baby.

so when you multiply a multiply multiply, you get 126 assault. that would be counted as six assault.

remember, the spokesperson did not respond and i asked if any of the agents had been hurt. what i found out is i continued andd did the second report was that injuries are down. the methods you can look at. that shehis relates is case, at a mile from a guatemalan who looks to me like a teenager, -- the same with a woman -- melle t that ensued. and it wason trial explained to me by the public defenders in the southern

district that there are some shame was that the jury just looked at the size difference between these two people. the agent was this big burly guy like a loo little pencil. i mean, he was a tiny, frail or probably w weighed 100 pououndsn the agent probably wait at least 160. ear just figured -- his was all banged up. he was acquitted. , it was interestio me will go into statistics as an assault. what is very telling to me, if you listen to the border patrol talking to itself, the border patrol council which is their union, has a podcast which is sponsored by breitbart where the hosts sit there and talk about -- they're very anti-immigrant

and sort of feeling sorry for themselves. this one particular podcast that anyone can listen to what they say, we just had enough of these assaults and we should be allowed to respond. we should be allowed t useore force. allowed to be people up. amamy: debbie n than, withfor bes and fofor all of your work on the border as you work for brownsville, texas. we will link to your report in the intercept e headlined "hidden horrors of "zero tolerance" -- mass trials and children taken from their parents" as well as your piece you just did "border patrol continues to exaggerate danger to agents to justify violence against immigrants." when we come back from the supreme court ruling for colorado baker refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. stay with us. amy: "el helio" performing "la

santa cecilia" here in our democracy now! studios. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the supreme court ruled monday in favor of a colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, citing his religious opposition. in a narrow 7-2 decision, the

justices faulted the colorado civil rights commission's handling of the claims brought against baker jack phillips, saying the commission had showed a hostility to religion. the case went its way to the supreme court after a colorado court of appeals decision affirmed the commission's earlier decision that masterpiece cakeshop in lakewood, colorado, and its owner, jack phillips, violated the colorado anti-discrimination act when he declined to make a cake for charlie craig and david mullins' wedding reception in 2012. amy: though the case pitted claims of religious freedom against the fight for gay rights, the ruling stopped short of setting a major precedent on whether businesses can deny people services because of their sexual orientation. for more, we're joined by ria tabacco mar, a senior staff attorney with the aclu's lgbt and hiv project and counsel of record for charlie craig and david mullins in masterpiece cakeshop v. colorado civil rights commission. how significant is this ruling?

neil gorsuch comes from colorado. the experience ended up being very different. e facts aren't likely to be repeated anytime soon. act too can and should prevent -- including when it comes to lgbt people. ofn: is that perhaps why two the liberal justices of the court voted with the majority on this case? do you have any sense on this particular justices? >> justice kagan and justice breyer join kennedy's majority coopt. jue kagawrote separately

to as some clever vacation but it is good majority of the court thought that what happened here is a mission, was to kill youru. they were not happened -- happy but they all agreed this issues were specific to the fact this case, there's no need to reach the broader questions. remember, the baker was asking for constitutional right to discriminate based only on freedom of religion and freedom t e court di that claim at all. amy: explain what happened that day when the family went into order a case for the same-sex wedding and just in clearly, some soda mayor and ginsburg -- dave and charlie were planning their wedding.

ceremony inanning a massachusetts. this moments planning to be in town so thheeyaito the the sooner they walked in the door, they were turned away, told, we won't do cakes. that is devastating. the family left in tears harms ie the very real think. -- as peopleruling feared. >> the freedom of religion or , thereedom of speech antidiscrimination act.

the court said it had concerns it underedrimition laws. the majority understood the significance -- participate freely in the marketplace. amy: i want to thank you so much for being with us. ria tabacco mar is a senior staff attorney with the aclu' bt and h pject and counsel of rd for charlie craig and david mullins in masterpiece cakeshop v. colorado civil rights commission. tune in wednesday, tamara, for with -- democracy now! is accepting

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