amy: from papacifica this s is democracy now! >> if you smuggle e illegal aliens across our border, then w we will prosecute you. if you are smuggling a child , then we will prosecute you , and that child may be separated from you as required by law. amy: a month after attorney general jeff sessions introduced a new zero tolerance immigration policy, outrage is growing over the trump

administration separating immigrant families who cross the u.s.-mexico border. at least 600 immigrant children have been removed from their parents over the past month. we go to south texastoto the epicenteof this ro tolence cracown. >> to thinthat our gornment is puttin kids throh this kdd of traumatic experiee. to send a ssssage p peopl wh are feing their countrs not out of their ow choice, but for the own survival. it amounts to torture. amy: plus we look at how the trump administration is reportedly planning to build tent cities on military bases near the u.s.-mexico border to accommodate the increasing numbers of migrant children being held . all that and more coming up.

welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn to the headlines. the white house says it will back either of a a pair of immigration bibills heading towards a possible vote in the congress next week, after house spspeaker paul ryan said he'll allow a debate on immigration. white house senior adviser stephen miller said president trump supports the bills, which would provide a path to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants while spending an additional $25 billion for a border wall with mexico, ending the visa lottery system and sharply limiting the number of these is given to legal immigrants. -- visas given to legal immigrants. an even harsher bill would also require employers to use the federal e-verify program. both measures have been condemned by immigrants' rights groups. christine neumann-ortiz, executive director of voices of the border said quote, "speaker ryan's decision is another disgraceful sign that the republican party is

a party of anti-immigrant hate, waging a war on families. speaker ryan cannot call himself a family man when he is willing to destroy other families in service to white nationalists." 10 members of congress protested wednesday by blocking the entrance to the headquarters of u.s. customs and border protection. after headlines, we will go to south texas, to the epicenter of this crackckdown. canada's foreign minister appealed directly to u u.s. lawmakers wednesday to end a burgeoning trade war, after president trump ordered steep tariffs s on imports of metals from canada and other u.s. trading partners. foreign minister chrystia freeland spoke to reporters after meeting with members of the senate foreign relations committee, including arizona republican jeff flake. >> can you imagine being in

canada, our closest ally on the plalanet, and to be told that they represent a national security threat that the export of steel and aluminum is threatening is now or -- is threatening our national security. announced as reciprocal measure, dollar for dollar response. we have published our retaliatory list. our terrace will come in -- terrorists -- our tariffs will come into effect on july 1. amy: a federal judge ruled wednesday that a lawsuit challenging the u.s. government's secretive "kill list" can proceed. the suit was brought by u.s. freelance journalist bilal abdul kareem, who says he narrowly escaped with his life on several occasions when the u.s. targeted him for airstrikes in syria. kareem says he was targeted for death because he frequently interviewed

militants the u.s. has linked to al qaida. in a decision handed down wednesday, u.s. district judge rosemary c collyer ruled the governrnment cannot deny kareem his constitutional right to due process. a new study finds global warming is accelerating the melting of antarctica's ice sheet, adding about 200 billion tons of water to the planet's oceaeans each year and threatening toto inundate coastal communities s around the globe. ththe findingsgs in the journal nature reveal ththe rate o of anantarctica's ice melt has tripled d over thehe past decade, as the contitinent surpassed greenland as the largest contributor to sea level rise. this comes as two harvard social scientists argued the trump administration's rollback of environmental regulations could cause the deaths of an additional 80,000 people or more per decade. writing in the jouournal of the american medical association, the scientists say the epa's rollback of

clean air rules alone will cause an additional 1 million americans to contract respiratory illness. in yemen, u.s.-backed, saudi-led coalition warplanes are bombing the the port city of hodoydah for a second straight day, as the u.n. warned of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. the u.n. says nearly 8 and a half million yemenis are on the verge of famine, with deaths set to rise as shipments of food and medicine through the port come to a halt. this is khaled al-raradi, a resident of sanaa and father of 10, speaking wednesday. khaled: because of the current circumstances, people are suffering. we cannot buy things for o our kids and cannot financially sustain ourselves. imagine e what it is like on ramadan. i have a household old -- 11 people. the situation is dire. amy: the united nations general assembly voted overwhelmingly wednesday to condemn israel over its massacre of palestinians

protesting nonviolently against israel's occupation. the vote was 120 to 8, with only israel, the u.s., australia, and five u.s.-dependent pacific island nations voting against the resolution. the israeli military has killed at least 124 palestinians and wounded 14,000 more since the palestinians' nonviolent great march of return protests began in gaza on march 30. this is riyad mansour, palestinian ambassador to the u.n., speaking at wednesday's general assembly. riyad: we cannot remain silent in the face of the most violent crimes and human rights violations being systematically perpetrated against our people. nobody would remain silent and not only that, we will continue to do everything possible in order to protect our people. this is the right to all

people in the palestinian people should not be in the exception -- should not be the exception. amy: in the west bank city of ramallah, palestinian security f forces used batons and tear gas wednesday to clear hundreds of protesters calling on palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas to end financial sanctions on the gaza strip. the sanctions are aimed at abbas' rival political party, hamas. protesters say the policy has exacerbated the already disastrous effects of israel's siege. in mexico, a congressional candidate who's promised to crack down on organized crime was shot in the head and killed just minutes after leaving a debate last friday. fernando puron was the 112th politician murdered in mexico since last september, and the first federal candidate to be assassinated. in la paz, bolivia, police fired tear gas and water cannons wednesday at university students and professors who are calling for more funding for public education. wednesday's protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations that followed

the death of a student killed by police last month during a similar protest. in argentina, lawmakers are set to vote today on a bill that would decriminalize abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. as members of argentina's lower house debated the measure in buenos aires wednesday, protesters squared off in competing rallies outside the palace of the argentine national congress. this is abortion rights campaigner fernanda gonzalez. fernanda: 70% of society today is in favor of the legalization of abortion and there is also a social mobilization supporting it. that does not necessarily correlate with our house of representatives the we believe it is in momoments lilike this that the deputies must look to the public and not in word -- not inward or religiously. amy: if the bill passes argentina's lower house today, it will move to the more-conservative senate where it faces an uncertain fate. argentina currently allows abortion only with the

permission of a judge in cases of rape or a risk to a pregnant w woman's life. . in south korea, president moon jae-in's ruling party swept local elections across the country wednesday, as voters showed their approval for moon's rapprochement with north korea. the elections cacame as u.s. -- as president trump declared north korea no longer poses a nuclear threat to the united states following his unprecedented summit with kim jong-un earlier this week. trump was also questioned over north korea's abysmal human rights record with fox news. >> he is a very smart guy, a great negotiator. i think we understand each otheher. >> he has still done some really bad things. >> so have a lot of other people. i could go through a lot of nations where bad things were done. amy: his comments came as leading democrats are blasting trump's decision to suspend u.s. wargames in the

korean peninsula while the north takes steps towards denuclearization. this is senate minority leader chuck schumer speaking from the senate floor wednesday. sen. schumer: president trump agreed to freeze joint military exercises without -- with south korea and he called them provocations, right of the north korean propaganda playbook. without the knowledge of south korea or our own military, i guarantee our military men and women were squirming when president trump called our joint military exercises provocation. amy: to see our interview the california congresswoman -- congressman, you can go to democracynow.org. massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against sixteen top executives of purdue pharma, the maker of the popular drug oxycontin, claiming they misled doctors, patients and the public about the dangers posed by

the opioid-based painkiller. this is massachusetts attorney general maura healey. att gen. healey: the strategy was simple. the more drugs they sold, the more money they made. the more people died. are engaged in a multibillion-dollar enterprise to mislead us about their drugs. --y pushed some prescribers to give higher doses to keep patients on drugs for longer periods of time without regard to the increased risk of addiction, overdose and death. amy: drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death for americans under the age of 50, with opiods as the number-one driver.r. to see our interview with the pulitzer prize-winning former new york times journalist on his book oxycontin, about and purdue pharma, you can go to democracynow.org.

in l los angeles, prprosecutors are reviewing a sexual assault alallegation against actor sylvester stallone.. stallone's attorney said in december that a woman had filed a police report against the actor alleging that he raped her in the 1990s. stallone denies the claims. in texas, a black woman sentenced to five years s in prison for voter fraud has lost her bid for a new trial. crystal mason was convicted of illegal voting in march, after she cast a provisional ballot in the 2016 presidential election despite having a past felony conviction for tax evasion that prevented her from voting. mason says she did not know that she wasn't allowed to vote in texas due to her criminal record. according to a 2016 report by the sentencing project, policies restricting the voting rights of convicted felons disenfranchises more than 6 million people. crystal mason's supporters are demanding charges be dropped, arguing t that her conviction was racially biased. this follows a voter fraud conviction in iowa, where

terri lynn rote, a white woman, was convicted of the same crime, after she tried to vote for president trump twice. rote was sentenced to two years probation and fined $750.. in medianews, thehe associate editor of the indypendent newspaper was arrested wednesday inin jersey city after interrupting a city council meeting to protest mayor steve fulop's decision to remove newspaper boxes from the city's streets. three other staff members of the monthly progressive newspaper were also removed by police from the city council chambers for protesting. at least 240 news boxes were removed from their jersey city locations with no advance notice earlier this month, according to the indypendent. including 90 boxes used by the spanish-language weekly. this is associate editor peter rugh being led away from the city council meeting in handcuffs.

[chanting freedom of speech] amy: and those are some e of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: we begin today's show with the growing outrage over the trump administration's policy of separating immigrant families who cross the u.s.-mexico o border. many are fleeing dangerous conditions and seeking asylum. at least 600 immigrant children were removed from their parents last month, after attorney general jeff sessions announced the new rurule. >> i have put in place a zero-tolerance policy y for illegal entry on our southwesest border. ifif you cross t b border unlawfwfully, then we will prosecute you. it is that simplple.

if you smuggle illegal aliens across our bororder, then w we will prosecucute you. if you are smuggling a child , then we will prosecute youou , and that child may be separated from you as required by law. nermeen: on wednesday, ten members of congress protested by blocking the entrance to the headquarters of u.s. customs and border protection, the agency tasked with carrying out the forced removal of children from their parents. more protests in at least 60 cities are planned today by the group "families belong together", which formed in response to the new policy. meanwhile in the border state of new mexico, republican governor susana martinez told the albuquerque journal, people shouldn't be allowed to break the law quote, "simply because they have children." earlier this month oregon democratic senator, jeff merkley, was barred from entering a detention center for immigrant children in brownsville, texas after traveling to the center, housed inside an old walmart. i haven't been asked what

-- i haven't been asked to leave the property but i guess that is about to happen. >> can i have your name? >> senator jeff merkley.. >> and your date of birtrth? >> november 24, 1956. >> and you said you are a senator? >> a u.s. senator. are you familiar with this policy? >> this is not something that we specifically deal with. >> we won't takeke up their time anymore b but i think it is important for you to be the children n who were previously kept with their families under a newew policy just implemented by the attorney generalal are being separated d from their

families and warehouse here. -- warehoused here. amy: thatt was senator jeff merkley, unable to get into that walmart. well for more we go now to the epicenter of this zero tolerance crackdown. the rio grande valley in south texas is where more than half of all migrant families and children have been apprehended by border patrol agents since mid-may. we begin in mcallen, where democracy now! correspondent renee feltz went this past weekend to spepeak with residents who are taking action in response to the widely condemned practice of separating famililies. among those she met with was sister norma pimentel, who in may received the laetare medal, the oldest and most prestigious honor given to american cathocscs. dirirector for e catholic church inhehe rio grgran vley,y, rht at t e bordrderithh mico.

i am at a humanitarian spspite center. help the many mimigranfamimili and fugeeseshat are coming to ouboborder more than 50ofof theeoplple thatatome our children. th comome th thehe parents , anmomotherrr father. they are a family unit. we welcome them here from the s ststatn whererthey are dropped off and we give emem an opportunity to reorore thr huhuma dignity. ree:e: just as it has since to me -- since 2014, the center connunues tassisist as m my as 200 families and children per day, released after ining deineded b cucuoms and border patrol. there are the foununate onones the release of paren w with smsmalchildrdr used to be common practice but under ththe nezeroro-terancece policy, it has become e

exception. >> thipolicy of zero tolerance is inhumane. it is used as a deterrent to sesend a message. it is wrong. renee: the children i meet at theenenter ay c clo to eir momoers and fathers as rerents it to meet with ththe volunteers. relay's e-lace withhildren's shoes donated shoelas.s. to learn more abtt how chilenen andamilies e beg s sepated, , met with -- >> we arin downtown mcallen about seven miles from t mexico rder, right ne to the deral courthou. --is thmcallen sk mcallen vision othe uthern dtrict ofexas. every morni, pele who

have beeapprehend by border patrol anare being processed with t c chargof illell entry, ny of them arfirst-time crossers and manyf f themre asum-seeke but d dpite that, they are bngng iminally chaed with illega crossing under a federal statute. how we became invoeded in the fact relating to that many of tsese peoe wereraraveli witithhihildre aneveveryo whoho i trtreling with a child is being liliberaly separated fr t thosehildldreby rder patrol. every morning, we step into the courthouse and before the crimin h hearis begin, we interview the parents rene as i intervwed outside ee courthouse, a pride -- a pritete prin trsporort s backck up behind us. >> many of these are

immigrants, childrenho ha h had tir paren takaken awayayrom them, brought to a different --roroughto aa detentntn facility. many of those pele were sepated d th mornini before they me to crt and a are l too believe that wn they rururn tohe deteioion facility, their children are n g goingo be ere.e. the gornment is separating them. we have heard three different scenars as far as t sepeparion happs. es the parent and e chd d are separat soon after eyey are detained. the border patroagagents wiwillrrest t em in the brush nearhehe r rer and then they e e driv to o th prpressing station and rig theranand then, they have their photogra taken and fiererprind and at that point, some e e sepated d ththe ildren a prpressed serately. in other cases in this tds to be the case f the youngest childn, they are parated the morng g of t pare hasas tcome to urt.

-- that the pare h has t co the cou. the third scenar i is somemeti in bebeeen. i have heard fropaparent thathehey we separated and the chd wawas one cel ananthe papant was i another cell but the child s cryingo o muchecausese they we not t th their momo that they were ouought toto t mom i ithe middle of the night so they wou s stop crying and then serated again. th is the uelty were seei from th governmt. its appling. renee: some ri grande sidents e volunteering. >> reason want to do cour watcngng is if we are not involved, if we e e not awaware,tandingp or wha we belie, whelse is going ? ree: on saturday, outside the courthous what he witnsesed. >> it was ght after meririal d weeeeke. there waa a backg.g. they had about 130 defendants.

70 in the morning,0 0 in t afternoon. they meet u u at t dr and ey tell u there isand u cannotook in. nd you is no sce cannot look in. be privatened to cucurityontrtracrs there. he ske to us while we were waiting and he told us a story of wt t he ieeing, which was that ty y suppt thbordrder patroand they do a the transport f them and they e heading outoto the field whenever thboborderatrol ge a call. one of the storieshahat stucuck th me e s he ntioned that the separati of moth and ild and hisords were, you don't understd the trauau until you have ard the scre o of a therer a chchd being sepepared.

hey hahaoned tt to p p the immigrants ne t to ke an exple ofof some ofhem. heays setimimeshey wiwi take them outside the transporbus a, i d't know if was slapped tmm oundnd obe a little physal with tm. whateeds to happen you need public tcry fro the whole country. more than 1000 ntntal healalth officials signeaa tterer cdemnininthe actions. >> the fact that kids ee ing g foibly separated from their parents has so much to do th therauma th they are experncncing anand at wililhave auge effe on their b behior in the immiateteuture anthe ar futurand the long-tm.m.

ree: she ia a profsor r of coununseng at t e university texas r grande lley ch -- cpus. e counse unaccomnied minors from central ameraa o arare detnedn shelte thatmploy ma of her formertudents. >> to inink ougovevernnt isuttingidids throughhihis kindndf traumatic, d it is traumati experieee, , to nd a mesge to people who are flining thr countri,, noout of tir own choice, ,ut for their own survival it amotsts to torre. the kidsho trave unacmpanied,hey know more or le what th joury y is gng t to like.e. these kids and tir families don't know ttt til l th get h he. e e worday b be readinin now tt t theyre f forbly removed.

it is not sometnge did befo, , so ty hahad rereon to expect it. the was no way for the parentto t talto t the kikidsnd sayayhen we get there, ts is what is goi to hpepen. they d't have time to have thatononversion n wi theirir children and so as adults, they c c cognivelyly understand that theyilill be rereuned attomome pot and even tt is questionable, whher theyeeeel sere abt ththat but they are mature enough to hope that they are goingo o be reunited with thr children. e kids he no idea what going on. renee: she alscounsels childr who appr before jue in immration crts alone, without their

pares,s, a guardian or a lawy. >> i is one of the hdedest inings 'vever hahato watch in my life. i sit hihind them d they stan uand theyre so sced and ty are so respectful. reaks yo heart bause ey are ting so hard to do what the dgdge was them isdo and the judge readinsome prey harsh things tthem. i have never seen a judge aggrsive or dede or mean, but they areeading a script that is areressiv and harsh. renee: some children eventual f find gall aid. rosemary gonzales worked untilalast wk k and e spe toto mlast s surday. >> i have seen childn n as younung two y yrs old to as old as 17 and a half.

-- can and asst t withhe imgratatioproceeeeng. usually at the childss over the age of 14, t j judge will psent thehildld wh eir rights, review the overall proceedings and ask the child r respo to o th nonoce to appear and algagationthatat mht bee listed. in my positi as a stf attorney with the childr'' prreress -roject, i do see casehere the child --uested voluntarily voluntary dertrture caususe theieiparents were already poported by the time the childr could get to themmmmigraon po foror tir firir hearing, tir parents were alrey deported, so t chil f feari thehey uld t haveve caretaker in the --d stateoror fearing

chose to face their fr r of retuturng to t tir home countrtoto be unititedith thr parent the threcases i saw were childrenetetweenhe a ageof and 15. renee: reporting from th rio anande valley on the u.s. mexico border, democracy now! nermeen: well for more, renee joins us in studio, just back from south texas. long reported on the criminalization of immigrants, family detention, and the business of detention. it is great to have you back. talk about what you saw. renee: i am just back from the militarized southern border of the united states with mexico, down in the rio grande valley. the very southern tip of texas. i went down there to report on a topic i have looked at before. underas happened other administrations. i wanted to see what it looks like right now and

talk to people who are doing something about this issue of separating children from their families. forink it is important reporters to go down there because there are a lot of concerns. i was down in the same area about a year and a half ago to war the end of the obama administration. i went to this humanitarian respite center. some of the changes i noticed were last time, the children were very friendly and playful and this time, all the children i saw were basically sort of afraid of me a and they clung very closely to their parents and their behavior was different. the parents i interacted with, immigration is complicated but from what i understand, a lot of the people i saw, the parents have been apprehended in the days time -- prior by the customs and border patrol, processed and in many cases charged with a criminal offense and then given time served and reunited with their young children and a release to this respite center.

what happened before, people crossed very quickly and were not criminally charged. nermeen:n: they were charged with a civil offense and not a criminal offense. renee: exactly. that is what has changed under the zero-tolerance policy announced by a attorney general jeff sesessions. the attorneyeys i spoke with --organization is one of the main groups that is talking to the parents that are separated from their children, when they appear in federal court to face these charges. after they pled guilty for crossing the river on a raft try to before, they tell the judge or the public that i want to ask about my child that was separated. the texas civil rights project goes and takes notes

of your name so maybe you can help find your child later because the government is not providing that service. they are the ones that reported in the past couple of days that a mother told them in the federal courthouse that her baby was taken from her while breast-feeding. the same organization told me that two mothers were told while they were with their children that they were -- that the children were going to go receive a bath and then those mothers never saw their children again. with thelitigation texas civil rights project before the commission on human rights which is an international law body. there is also litigation through the american civil liberties union. a judge in southern california ruled that a class-action suit on behalf of these separated parents and older and can go forward. the judge said the separation of families is

toe is brutal and fails comply with notions of fair play and decency. i went to see a mass trial of about 40 people and at that trial, i heard people tell the publilic defender that they had been separated from their six-year-old son, their 12-year-old son, their five-year-old daughter, their nine-year-old son, nine-year-old daughter and another nine-year-old son, all in one trial. that is repeated daily in multiple courts along the border. when people ask me if it is bad, the answer is yes. i was inspired to go down there by debbie mason. one other main thing i wanted to mention while i was down there and that relates to an area i covered before to the business of immigration detention. we have heard about the company minors, children separated from the parents. they are held in mass

shelters like the one that senator jeff merkley tried to visit. that shelter holds 1500 children. it is not full yet. it holds more than 1000 children. nermeen: i think the washington post said more than 1400. renee: that facility is a nonprofit run by southwest key. in 2015, southwest key received from the federal government $227 million that year. of that, almost $194,000 was towards their unaccompanied alien children program. this year in 2000 -- 2018, millioneived $300 in three installments. mentioned i just was granted on may 10, shortly after jeff sessions made his announcement about separating children.

familyreported on detention centers which are run by private prison companies, corrections corporations of america and run familynies attend -- detention centers in former prisons. in those facilities, there is a federal ruling that mandates that children in those facilities with their parents have to be processed with 20 -- within 20 days. in the child detention facilities like southwest key, there is no limit. from several people i talked to, the children have been held there for six months, sometimes a year, including the counselor i spoke with from the university of texas. one other point i want to make about this business of detention. saw for the first acts of the attorney general jeff sessions come into office to rescind the memo that the obama administration had made under the bureau u of reasonons to stop working with private prisons because they

were not safe and expensive. he rescinded that memo and now we see them working very closely with private prisons and we see that these prisons have reorganized as tax-free investment trusts. they no longer pay corporate tax rates. their investors got a huge tax break under the trunk republican tax plan and in conclusion, people are concerned that at this business of private prisons is positive for investors, they will build more facilities, and if you build them, they will fill them. we now hear about maximum full facilities at the border. nermeen: we're going to break and then come back to this discussion. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

nermeen: u under president trp'p's nenew zero tololerance policy, attorney general jeff sessions has called for people seeking asylum toto follow the law, anand go to official ports of entry to request help. but asylum seekers at international bridges across the rio grande valley in south texas have been blocked by border patrol agents who say they are unable to process them. in same cases, asylum seekers, including women and young children, have been told to wait for days and even weeks on international bridges over the border, often in extreme heat. amy: residents on both sides of the border have responded by bringing food and water and clothing to people as they wait to be processed. democracy now! producer renee feltz followed them as they dropped off donations sunday at one of the busiest ports of entry in the rio grande valy.y. >> were on the bridge that connects mexico to t u.s. we a are right in the ddddle poinint the bridge, right overhe river

behind me are three border patr agents, asking for individuals' documentation. they are not scanning emem anything. they are just checkingoo e that tyy havthee documents. border patrol agents do tt rmalallytand a athat int. i have lived in the s.s. st o of life.e. i first heard about the indiduals stndeded o susuay. the main rson is i just saw it, imagine if i were there, standing on a bridge, day dd night with very few resources, just whatever i brghght on me. on wednesday, we were gettg g readto headutut. we had been on the bdgdge for r anour anana half

distbuting what some peop m might need. werere out toto head t and one of the ladss who , go talkut told us to ttt woman tt is standing she was about six yards ay fromhe main ououp of asylum-seekers. she was stanng there with a little girl. she looked sad and confused and lost. we asked her, are u hehere toto sk asylum because th are t t lettg pepeop cross. we wanted to explain iwawas stst to gjoin thether group and she was not respsisive. she was just loongng at like i d't want to talk to u. i had d ver seen such a terrifielook on meone. it w w like she was defenseless a aerririfi anand she s holdinonon to heher d. the kid looked about six, maybe seven. she was lookin around.

she did not knowf f she cocoultrustts. i told her, you lo tired, you must be tid.d. all in spanish of course i told her i don' know what you must have been thugugh, but t yocan rere here. we have food andatater a clothes, come join thgrgroup ununtiit is s ur tutu. we will explain whatasas be h happeng.. it took a wild. i -- itook a whi. i ntly put my arm ound her. she started letting he guard down a little bit -- she started llllowin me, shstarted cing. like she finally let her guar down and i feel like w was relief. group got hero the d d one thehe oer vonteersrshat was there, she started taining toer the woman just stteted

crying like all oucrcrying it was relf that s stteted fling tha finay, i am t by myself. maybe also a little tt scededhat why wasn't it that easfofor meo gogo i and k for asum? notprobably was expecting that. nermeen: that was nayelly barrios at the port of entry or international bridge that connects reynosa, mexico, where she was born, to mcallen, texas, where she lives nearby as a u.s. citizen. now we are to turn to another person renee interviewed. jennifer harbury, a human rights lawyer who has lived in the rio grande valley for over 40 years. her husband, efrain bamaca velasquez, was a mayan comandante and guerrilla who was disappeared after he was captured by the guatemalan army in the 1980s. she later found there was u.s. involvement in a cover-up abobout h husban's muerer andorture. >> i am a human ritsts attorney and a human rigss

activist. i ink mostf you knoi wainvolvedn guatema dung the dty warsnd during the genocid campgn in th80'and lo myusband. i ay very ose to fries all acrossentralmerica and i unrstand w they are fleeg northwd. it ivery clearnd tragic. to see pple turn away here or punhed for king for asylum eaks my heart. theyer was 11 when soughtsylum, feieing hitltle's. do not want to think of whwhat wldld've have ppened those cldren we turn a away. they we terrified, the were alonetotally dependent onheheirarents. it is an ugly chapter u.s. history. a three-pronged attacknn refugees, not c carte pele. cartel people haveillions of dlarsrs.

if they want to geininto t uned statas, they n buy passport, they can buaa lice officer, theyan buy a boatr r an airpl - -- airplane. they don't ne t to se teified refugees in the rivetoto neay drown to do ththeir rty wk. they don'neneed tdo t tha the war that whahave declared is on the victims of t cartels. the moms with babie t the 15-year-ds rununng froro trafficking, the boy that ululd wo witith e cartrts or die and his parents wee kieded in taliliatn when he flele those kds of people. we are supposetoto be helping the under u.s. law, you are permitted to come to the u.s. port of entry and say i am in danger in my home country and i need to apply for political asylum. thenid and gets you get sent for a review to make sure that story is reasonable, and if it is, you get sent to detention to await your trial on your asylum process.

until recently, anybody in that category if they had lotsf f u.s.itizen .d.alatis and plty of i and stuff, ty would released on pale. it was nmal and is in the polilicy. they have to obey that. as of last year, first they started off by trying to push everyone away from the border which is totally illegal. the legal way to apply for asylum is to go to the border. then they tried to break their spirit by keeping them in prison-like conditions for two and a half years. those conditions in the detention centers are horrific. what started more recently is if people decide i don't want to go that route, i will swim the river, it is extremely dangero. you have to paa a huge fee to thearartelsor c croing e riveve if they don't like you or thininyou coulbebe a gd trafckcking rsonon, u go wn.

children drown all the time, trying to ososs th r river none -- if none ofhahat happppen they'y're going to geget cahtht. what y have been seein in the paper isapappeni, ththey takeke yr chililenway, prosecute you for trying to save your kid's life and send you home without your kid. now they are telling them to sit on the bridge. it is 100 degrees out. there was a 15-year-old girl who was seven months pregnant out there for three days in three nights. many sma children are on the bridge or up to0 0 days atat a time. we did not rlize peoee re t the. they hadeen out ere for 16 days in 100 degree heat, campin out and there was a ththree nth ololbaby the whwas bebeming ill. a kindly nurse h c come forward to assist the child.

keepg thesespeople alive on the bdges allf f us. n ththeyse theheathroom or eat d dinneor s sle in aa motel? no. immigran a are t number on target for cartels. comingdeported or nort i if th see you coming back roross t brge wititbabies, you will be kidnapped. they have figured t t that it is greaeat oming business to grab anyone ining se back and th reason is th know that they will veve somne u up north o carereabout them. they may be totally destitute, but they willoo find the $10,000. they make them sit on the bridge in the pepes th theyill l ju voluntarily b back t ththe st few days, the ephrata teining people, you are noallowed on t briridgat a -- they started teining people, you are no allowedn the bridget all. it is a violation of u.s. law and it has been r r many

years. we are breakinththe law, igring the cartels and we aree punishi the victims how at makess great, cann tellou. rmeen: tt was jeifer haury, a han right wyer whoas livedn the rio ande valy for ov 40 yrs. when we me back,e will look at the tru admistrationlans to build te cities miliry bas near t u.s.exico boer to accommode the increang numbers migranthildren ing held ♪ [mic break

nermeen: the trump administration is reportedly planning to build tent cities on military bases near the u.s.-mexico border to accommodate the increasing numbers of migrant children being held in detention centers. according to a mcclatchy exclusive, department of health and human services officials are due to visit fort bliss, an army base near el paso, texas, in the coming weeks to look at the land where they're considering building a tent city. hhs detention shelters are 95% full and hold more than 10,000 children.

the number of migrant children in custody has recently surged by over 20% and a tent city could temporarily accommodate an additional 1,000 to 5,000. amy: to talk more about this exclusive, we go to washington, d.c. to talk to the reporter who broke the story, franco ordoñez, white house correspondent for the mcclatchy washington bureau. his latest exclusive is headlined trump looking to erect tent cities to house unaccompanied children. welcome back to democracy now! .alk about what you found -- to house as many

as 1000 to 5000 children. they can increase the capacity to another 20,000 people to service these individuals. the administration says this is a site visit. they are not guaranteeing that they will build it, but according to my sources, this is pretty far along if they are talking about the number of new staff that they will need to bring in, to take care of this. nermeen: what is the logic of building these tent cities? -- tent cities on military bases? franco: they are running out of space. as you pointed out about the zero tolerance policy, there are so many children being separated and their parents, a 20% increase in just the last month from april to may that these facilities were children are held has

reached near capacity. they need more space to put children. the tent cities are just for unaccompanied children, but there is no room to put them in other child shelters. prudent,this is that they will be safe and protected but they need every facilities that they can put up and put down, depending on the rate of migration trends. migration trends change over the year. they rise in the spring and in the summer, they go down in the fall and winter. describe fort bliss, the military base where they are going to have one of these tent cities and talk about who is behind this. did you hear my question?

we are talking to franco ordonez. renee, your thoughts on coming from the border? renee: fort bliss is the other end of texas and it goes to show how many places they are detaining so many children that they need to build a new tent city all the way in el paso. the other thing i would say, to build on what franco is saying is that these facilities were they hold arecompanied children full, but they are full because the children arere being held longeger instead of being released and their being held longer while their sponsors are vetted becauseer in part as we pointed ouout, they have to represent themselves in immigration court. amy: let's go back to that

issue of fort bliss where one of the tent cities would be built. who is behind these orders and what is that -- what is the house involvement? tent citiese are still being considered, thiset's remember that is not setting some new precedent. these happened under president obama. they did erect some tent cities on military bases. wastent city that erected was in homestead, in florida. what was there was these massive white tents. they had food, clothes, recreational facilities. i was told there were some zumba-like classes. children were able to play soccer. those of the kinds of facilities that would likely

be in fort bliss. who is behind it? the department of health and homeland services is the one that is responsible for taking care of these kids. right now, there are about 11,200 kids without parents who are now held in custody. it is health and human services and the offices of refugee and resettlement who will be taking care of these kids at these facilities. nermeen: you said people have been detained under the obama administration as well and previous administrations. what has the trumpet administration done on this issue that previous administrations had not? franco: the obama administration did a lot of the same things that the from administration did. target --amilies, put children on military bases, put national guard on the border.

what the obama administration stopped short of, which is so critical now is separating families. jeh johnson this week, the former homeland security secretary said that he would not -- he just could not separate -- amy: we actually have jeh johnson saying just that. >> i have the responsibility of enfnforcing our immigrationon laws and on my watch, we deported or return or repatriated about one million people to enforce border security. one of the things that i could not do is separate a child from his or her mother and literally pull a child from its mother's arms. johnson -- jeh johnson was obama's homeland security secretary. franco: as you pointed out, he said they would not separate the families. they did raise that

possibility under his administration at the family detention centers when they were fighting to keep the parents and children together. it is a step that the obama administration did not take that the trump administration has. i covered a lot of the family detention issues. i have spoken just this week with some of the lawyers who represented those families and while they were very concerned about obama, they were a lot more concerned about trump. in your latest piece, outlining lobbies and proposals, we have 20 seconds. what a lobbyist and why do they know what the american people don't? franco: i believe the question was to me. a lot of the lobbyists are the detention centers, groups like cca, groups that will be behind these tent

cities that will be hired to man them. the health service organizations that will be there. they will -- they are the ones who will profit from these organizations. amy: thank you for being with us. çç