06/15/18 06/15/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> asylum was never meant to alleviate all problems, even all serious problems, that people face every day all over the world. amy: attorney general jeff sessions has announced domestic violence will no longer be grounds for asylum will stop a far-reaching shift that could affect thousands of women fleeing gender-based violence, particularly from central america.

we will get the latest.t. then we lookok at a stunning new united nations r report abouout poveverty the u united statese. > at thinink the american drm is moving fairly rapidly towowad the americanan illusion because social mobility in t this county is now extremely low by any western standards. if you're born in poverty, that is where you're going to end up. amy: plus, we will speak with the reverend william barber, cochair of the poor people's campaign. lose the wickedness. stop lying and saying america doesn't have enough resources. two dollarsind the trillion tax cuts, you can find the resources for everybody to ave health care and have living wage. amy: thousands have been arrested across the country protesting poverty and racism in the trump administration. all of that in more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. house republican leaders have released a draft of an immigration bill that would vastly increase funding for a heavily militarized u.s.-mexicoo border wall and sharply curtail the number of documented immigrants allowed into the united states, while providing a path to citizenship for young undocumented dreamers. the draft bill would also end the trump administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents. it's an apparent concession to growing outrage over the practice, which has seen immigration and border agents rip children and even babies out of the arms of their mothers. this comes as more than 300 catholic bishops blasted the trump administration's immigration policies, calling for an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents, and condemning attorney general jeff sessions' policy of ending the right of domestic violence survivors to seek

asylum in the united states. >> separating babies from their mothers is not the answer and is immoral. amy: that's monsignor brian bransfield, reading a statement issued by the national conference of catholic bishops, during its spring meeting this weweek in fort lauderdale, florida. >> this decision negates decades of precedent that a provided protection to women fleeing domestic violence. unless overturned, the decision will erode the capacity of asylum to save lives, particularly in cases that involve asylum seekers who are persecuted by private actors. amy: the bishops' statement came after the southern baptist convention voted unanimously tuesday on a resolution that includes a call to keep families together. and reverend franklin graham, a trump supporter and son of the late evangelist billy graham, told the christian broadcasting network it's disgraceful and terrible to see families ripped

apart. responding to the outcry by church leaders, attorney general sessions quoted scripture thursday to justify his department's immigration policies. sessions was speaking to ann invitation-only crowd in fort wayne, indndiana. you to th cite apostle paul a his clear and wise comndnd in mans 13 to obeyhehe lawof t the government becaus god has ordained the government for his purposes. amy: critics see you on the reference to romans 13, noting it was a favorite passage of defenders of the confederacy used to justify slavery. at the white house, press secretary sarah huckabee sanders defended the administration's immigration policies, telling reporters -- "it is very biblical to enforce the law." that prompted this exchange

between sanders and reporter brian karem of sentinel newspapers. >> come on coming you are a parent. do you have any of the for what these people are going through? >> brian, -- >> seriously. >> i'm trying to be serious. >> you're telling us it is a law and that these people have nothing. >> i know you're trying to get more tv time -- >> it is about you as answering the question. these people have nothing. they come with nothingng and you throw children in cages. you are a carrot of young children. that you have any empathy for what they go through? amy: thursday's tense white house press briefing came after cbs news reported that sanders and her dedeputy press secretar, raj shah, are preparing to leave their posts. sanders has denied the rumor. this all comes as new photos have emerged showing the inside

of the former walmart in texas that has been converted into a detention center for 1500 migrant boys. the walls of the jail are lined with murals depicting american history and leaders, including one of president trump with the caption in both english and spanish reading "sometimes s by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war." new yorkrk's attorney general filed suit againinst donald trump's charitable foundation ththursday, accusing the prerest and three of his chihildren ofof using the nonprofit for illegal campaign activity and as a virtual piggy bank for repeated self-dealing. among otheher charges, the lawst alalleges the trump foundation used charitable funds to illelegally cocoordinate with trump's 2016 presidential campaign, to settle lawsuits against trump family businesses, and even to purchase a $10,000 portrait of donald trump hung at one of trump's golf resorts. in another case, the charity paid $32,000 to cover costs

related to par pretty owned by trump. it seeks to bar donald trump from serving on a nonprofit for a decade and to prevent ivanka, eric, and donald trump jr. from similarly serving for one year. the lawsuit also opens the door for irs action against the trump family, including civil penalties and possible criminanl charges. the justice department's top watchdog said in a scathing report released that former fbi thursday director james comey was insubordinate during the campaign whenial he took unilateral actions that could have impacted the outcome of the vote. inspector general michael horowitz said in the 500-page report that comey mishandled the investigation into hillary clinton's emails, making a "serious error in judgment" by telling congress on the eve of the election that he was reopening an investigation into whether clinton illegally circulated classified information on a private email server.

even so, the report did not conclude that comey held a bias that influenced his decisions. the inspector general also found at least five fbi officials assigned to the clinton investigation improperly made anti-trump or pro-clinton statements over text messages or by other means. this is fbi director christopher wray speaking thursday after the report's release. >> this report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper considerations actually impacting the investigation under review. the report does identify errors of judgment, violations of or even disregard for policy, and decisions that at the very least with the benefit of hindsight or not the best choiceses -- were t the best t choices. we are powered he stararted takg the necessary steps to address those issues. amy: president trump immediately seized on the report to justify his decision to fire comey just

six months after election day. trump tweeted -- "comey will now officially go down as the worst leader, by far, in the history of the fbi. i did a great service to the people in firing him. good instincts." in nicaragua, leaders of a protest movement demanding the ouster of president daniel ortega have called a 24-hour nationwide strike. the work stoppage came ass nicaragugua's migration office said it is in an influx of thousands of nicaraguans this forcesntry as ortega's are waging a campaign of violence that has seen at least 137 people killed since widespread protests began in april. the quadrennial world cup kicked off in moscow with home team thursday russia defeating saudi arabia 5-0 in the opening match of the soccer tournament. russian president vladimir putin watched the match in a vip booth with the saudi crown prince, mohammad bin salman, who's military is currently executing

a u.s.-backed assault on yemen's port city of hodeidah. as the world cut got underway, police led veteteran b british t rights campaigner peter tatchell away in handcuffs after he held a sign outside the kremlin reading -- "putin fails to act against chechnya torture of gay people." human rights groups say authorities in the russian-controlled republic of chechnya rounded up more than 100 gay men in grozny last year, detained them without charges and tortured them in what many gay called a gray -- pogrom. argentina's lower house of congress has approved a bill that would decriminalize abortions during the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy. news of the bill's passage sent a cheer through hundreds of pro-choice demonstrators who rallied ououtside the national congress building in buenos aires during thursday's vote. president mauricio macri has promised to sign the legislation if it's passed by the argentine senate. back in the united states, book

publishers reporting that bill clinton's new novel "the president is missing," co-written with james patterson, has sold more copies in its first week than any other fiction book in the past two years. this is despite the fact that on his highly publicized book tour, clinton has repeatedly diminished the #metoo movement, saying that he does not owe monica lewinsky an apology. here is clinton speaking on pbs last week, responding to a question about minnesota senator al franken's resignation after he was accused of sexual harassment. >> i think the real change in terms of what you can do to some of the against their will, how much you can crowd their space command at the miserable. you don't have to physically assault somebody to make them uncomfortable at work or at home or just walking around. amy: the american medical association has voted to take on to the major public health issues -- gun violence and climate change.

during its annual meeting in chicago this week, the ama voted to support nearly a dozen gun control measures, including a ban on the sale and ownership of assault-style weapons. former ama president dr. david o. barbe said in a statement -- "in emergency rooms across the country, the carnage of gun violence has become a too routine experience. it doesn't have to be this way, and we urge lawmakers to act." the ama also voted this week to divest f from companies that get the majority of their income from fossil fuels. climate activist bill mckibben celebrated the news, tweeting -- "the ama is saying to the dirty fuels industry what it said to tobacco a generation ago: you are killing our patients and we will not allow it anymore." i will republican congress member steve king sparked outrage e this week after re-tweeting a racist tweet by british neo-nazi reading --

65% of italians under the age of 35 now oppose mass immigration. europe is waking up. the tweet featured an article by breitbart news. he is a known white supremacist who has claimed the porn industry is a secret jewish plot to destroy christian families. despite the outcry, king has that deleted his retweet an effect yesterday, share the same breitbart article again on his twitter page. this is not his first white supremacist comment will stop last year he published a racist tweet in support of far right dutch politician. in 2016, he told msnbc why christians have contributed more to western civilization than any other "subgroup." the u.s. army says it will repatriate the remains of four native american children who died at the government-run carlisle indian industrial school they were forced to attend in pennsylvania a century ago. native american children were sent to the carlisle school and

similar boarding schools across the united states in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to be "americanized." the boarding schools were designed to eliminate native american culture, separating children from their parents and forcing them to speak english, cut their hair and give up traditional clothing. the u.s. army began the exhumations thursday and will return the children's remains to their descendants in wyoming, montana, north dakota, and south dakokota by early july. and legendary civil rights leader dorothy cotton has died, just one day after her 88th birthday. in the 1960's, cotton became a close aide to rev. martin luther king jr., and served as director of the citizenship education program at the southern christian leadership conference. while she participated in many civil rights marches, including several that were menaced by ku klux klansmen or racist police, cotton often said that her most important contribution was registering new voters and educating people about their

citizenship rights, and black history. this is dorothy cotton n speakig at new york city's riverside church in 2008. >> i was really getting very concerned about people remembering dr. king only in the context of a march. people don't even know we had a training program. the citizenship education program. and the administrator and that the money and it was funneled through a current potential does cover additional church to keep this training program going that was started at the folk school. but that story needs to be out there. so folks don't think we just have a march, even on campuses student said, when he went have another march? well, of course, tell them now, what we -- do we need a march? if we need a march, you will have to do it because my legs hurt.

i just had a hip replacement. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show looking at the trump administration's ongoing crackdown against immigrants and asylum-seekers. on monday, attorney general jeff sessions announced that domestic and gang-related violence will generally no longer be grounds for asylum, a far-reaching shift that could affect thousands of people, particularly women from central america fleeing gender-based violence. on monday, sessions chose to reverse the board of immigration appeals' grant of asylum to a salvadoran domestic violence survivor known as a.b., who fled to the u.s. for her life after surviving 15-years of beatings, rate, and -- rape, and death threats from her husband. in ruling against a.b., sessions also overturned a groundbreaking precedent from 2014, in which the immigration appeals court affirmed that t domestic violele survivors are deserving of protection. in that precedent-setting case, the board of immigration appeals

granted asylum to a guatemalan woman named aminta cifuentes, who had fled to the united states after being brutally abused by her husband for years -- raped, beaten, kicked, burned with acid, and punched so hard in the stomach when she was 8 months pregnant that her child was born prematurely and with bruises. as in the case of a.b., the police refused to intervene to stop the abuse aminta cifuentes was suffering. but on monday, attorney general jeff sessions ruled against a.b. and overturned the precedent that had granted cifuentes asylum, ruling "claimsms by alis pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by nongovernmental actors will not qualify for asylum." immigration advocacates and forr immigration judges have denounced session's announcement. a group of 15 former immigration judges called sessions' move an affront to the rule of law, writing -- "for reasons understood only by

himself, the attorney general today erased an important legal development that was universally agreed to be correct." well, for more, we are joined now in berkeley, california, by karen musalo, professor of law and the director of the center for gender & refugee studies at the university of california hastings. she is one of the attornrneys representing ms. a.b. so talk about attorney general jeff sessions' ruling on monday and tell us the story of your clclient a,.b. >> thank you for having me on this morning. i think is important look at this decision both for what it does and does not do and maybe just to say, what it purports to do. the attorney general is trying to signal in very strong terms to decision makers, immigration

judges and a, that these types of claims don't meet the legal requirements. and there is no doubt that that is the intent definedhis decision. and it is very, , very concernig for many reasons. but those of us who have read the decision closelyly have reached the coconclusion that he is stretching ---- so although s you explained, reversed this 2014 precedent arcgg that established the domestic violence survivors could be graded asylum, he reversed that are 38 years there of development of the legal definition of refugee and refugees in u.s. law. under a fair application of the standard, these individuals do qualify for asylum will step the reason i start my remarks with that is that there are many

people who are just going to be bullied by sessions and sessions says these are no longer legitimate cases. as lawyers, we know a couple of things and one thing is that every case is decided by a fair application of the law to the facts of that case. we don't rule by fiat. sessions is not a king. has appointed himself in this posture to decide this particular case and set this precedent, but it is up to decision-makers come immigration judges, asylum officers, the board of immigration appeals to look at each case on the facts of that case. we could go into it more, but there are many reasons why these cases will qualify for asylum under a fair application of the law to the facts. amy: and talk about your client a.b tell us her life story. recounted, she was

for more than 15 years by a man who she met, married, had three children with , and all must immediately after the marriage, he began to abuse her in her thick ways by bashing her head into the wall, threatening her with guns and knives, beating her, raping her, threatening her to hang her by a rope from the ceiling when she was pregnant, waking her up in the middle of the night -- he would come home and wake her up and call her a slut or whore and other degrading, insulting terms, misogynist terms. tell her to get out of bed and cook for him. finally, when it became too much, she separated from him and moved a distance of two or three hours away in el salvador.

but he quickly found her whereabouts, sought her out for continued his treatment, including beating and rape. finally she decided to divorce him and immediately after the divorce, he said to her, if you you fromt this frees me, your seven mistaken. you will always be mine. i should add, a couple of other facts in their, the police were repeatedly recalled -- were called. were not responsive. education as they issued protective orders, but they asked her to serve for protection orders on her husband. you can imagine someone being brutalized by a powerful men with weapons and the police say, here is this piece of paper. go serve it on this person telling him that he should leave you alone. it is just absolutely ludicrous. on another occasion, the police said, if you had any dignity,

you just leave him. another important fact showing the government's absolute lack of response or complicity is that her brother-in-law come in other words, the abuser's brother, was a police officer. and he joined in the threats with her husband and then her ex-husband against her, saying on some occasions, it you better be careful. you don't know where the bullets are going to be flying from. and also threat she was going to end up dead, cut up, put in a plastic bag, and thrown in a river. so i think after 15 years, which included repeated attempts to get protection from the government, she made the decision of the only way to save her life was to flee. statese to the united seeking asylum. amy, if you would like, i can also describe the very sort of bizarre and inappropriate way in which her case developed that

ended up with attorney general sessions becoming involved. amy: yes, please, do, professor. the misfortune of appearing in front of an immigration judge, judge stuart couch, who is in charlotte, north carolina, who is notorious for his very high denial rate in asylum cases, close to 86% denial rate -- which is really stratospheric. it is so high. so higigh above the national average. he is also known for his particular hostility to claims based on n mestic vioiolence. he repeatedly denies them using the same boiler point language and had repeatedly been reversed on appeal by the board of immigration appeals. case, he denied her asylum, first claiming she

was not credible, even though she had corroboration of many of the key aspects of her claim. but then sank even if she were to be credible, she did not meet the refugee definition. he went into the distorted understanding and application of the refugee requirements. so she appealed her case to the board of immigration appeals. the board of immigration appeals reversed judge couch. what the board of immigration appeals said was, basically, these reasons for finding her not credible have no basis. they really are absolutely clearly erroneous. and she meets the definition under the precedent of arcg. she meets the refugee definition. the board went further and said, we order you, judge couch, to grant her asylum. we're sending the case back to you so the required security check can be done and a grant of

asylum can be entered. it goes back to judge couch. he refuses to grant. he lets it sit and sit and sit and sit for months. and then there is a decision that comes down in the fourth slick rick court of appeals does circuit court of appeals. it is a case that has nothing to do with domestic violence will stop judge couch says, he seizes upon us and says, this shows that her case is no longer legitimate and no longer meets .he legal requirement and he tries to send it back to the board for the board to reconsider its grant -- which is sort of like a bizarre thing to do. did board ordered him to grant asylum. he tries to send a back to the board but never arrives at the board. a sort of sit in charlotte. and for reasons that have yet to be explained to us, attorney general sessions learns about this case and exercises this

regulatory right that he has to appoint himself -- it is called certifying a case for himself or he can take any decision of the board of immigration appeals, appoint himself as the judge to that case and reach a decision on it. so he reached out and essentially took the board of immigration appeals grant of . a.b. to ms it might've been six weeks ago or eight weeks ago after he took the case and issued his negative decision on monday. and one of the things -- again, if you are your listeners want to hear a little bit more about it, when he issued his denial on monday, it is interesting to know actually what the position of the department of homeland on this.is -- was generally, the department of homeland security argues the

government's position. it might be interesting to say what he did in light of what the government's own position, the dhs' own position was on this issue. amy: yes, please, explain and then tell us what happened specifically to amenta from a few years ago, the case overturned, and a.b., as well as where they are today. >> really quickly, the department of homeland security actually tried to ask attorney general sessions -- not to take this case and reopen the question of whether domestic violence is the basis for asylum and said in its brief that it was generally supportive of this precedent. the government itself, the prosecuting side, was saying we don't think this should be disturbed, this precedent about women survivors being granted asylum. ms. fuentes was granted asylum and it remains. ms. a.b., this has

thrown her into great anguish. you can imagine the roller coaster of emotions from first being denied by judge couch and being subject to his abuse in the courtroom, then prevailing at the board of immigration appeals, hearing the judge sessions certitify the case toto himself and then just learning on monday about his decision trying to deny her asylum. the battle is not over. i think ultimately we will .revail on this issue sessions is trying to drag as back to the dark ages of human rights and women's rights and refugee rights. but it is a battle we should not have to fight in the year 2018. amam very quickly, calling domestic violence "private violence," and how this fits into the picture of what sessions is also doing two migrant mothers and fathers, ripping their children away. and these children piling up in detention centers along the

border as their mothers are sent as far away as to prisons in washington state. these are people who have not been convicted of any crime. the children, as young as infants, children, teenagers. >> amy, there are no words to describe the kind of cruelty -- the kind of cruelty that is exhibited by this administration and its policies, that are just horrific and beyond what one could conceptualize that any decent feeling human being could even think about. it is unimaginable what is being done, the trauma to these women and children. to go to the point that you asked about characterization of domestic violence is just a private crime. this is what, to what i said earlier he is trying to drag us back to the dark ages of human rights and women's rights, refugee rights.

there used to be this division of what happened in sort of the public arena by the government with the human rights violation. but what happened in the -- privacy oracy was not a matter of human rights. under the banner of women's rights, we erased that artificial distinction. whether a person is tortured in the public square were in the home, it is torture. whether she is persecuted in the public sphere or the home, it is persecution and she qualifies for asylum. he is try to drag us back to a time period when women's rights were children's rights, lgbtq writes, were not recognized. in individuals who were victims and survivors of egregious forms were not protected. this is what we have to fight against. i think he is going against the tide of history and we will prevail. i hope people don't lose heart. we have seen a lot of people standing up in very strong ways, really -- sort of joining with

horrificgainst this policy of family separation. i think we just need to keep the movement going and keep the aposition and the resistance strong and ultimately we will be able to turn back these policies. amy: karen musalo, thank you for being with us, professor of law and the director of the center for r gender & refugeeee studiet the university of california hastings college of the law. she is of the attorneys in the case of ms. a.b. this is democracy now! when we come back, we look at a report on extreme poverty in the united states and the movement that is growing around the country, and hurting the legacy of dust and hurting the legacy of dr. martin luther king, the poor people's campaign that is sent thousands of people arrested over the last weeks, all over the united states, led by the guest we will have on today, reverend william barber,

who was arrested this past monday and led as well by reverend liz theoharis, who was also arrested in front of the supreme court. we will be speaking with philip alston as well. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "men explain things to me" by tacocat. a group of top democrats are demanding the trump administration present a plan to congress to address mounting levels of poverty in the united states following an excoriating report by the united nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty. in the letter sent to u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley on tuesday, vermont senator bernie sanders, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren, new jersey senator corey booker, and other top lawmakers write -- "we believe the massive levels of deprivation outlined in the report -- as well as the intense levels of suffering this deprivation causes -- are an affront to any notion of the inalienable rights to live, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

this comes after united nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty, phillip alston, slammed the trump administration's policies for worsening the state of poverty in the united states. the report states -- "the policies pursued over the past year seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship." the report details how 40 million americans live in poverty and 18.5 million americans live in extreme poverty. it also details how the united states has the highest rate of income inequality among western -- among western countries,, and one e of the lowest rates of inter-generational social mobility. joining us here in new york is philip alston, the u.n. special rapporteur on extreme poverty. he will be presenting his report next week in geneva. democracy now! welcome todemocracy now!

lay out your findings. >> i was looking at two different aspects in a way. one is what you describe now, in other words, the economics to just six, the extent to which customers of people are left living without enough to get by on, the 40 million living in poverty. the figure of 5.3 million, which has been estimated of people who live in "third world conditions" in this country. and you have got a trend which policiesed in terms of being adopted and put forward by the current the administration, to -- feeling amy: you called and aggressively regressive. >> basically, they're singling out all of the major benefit programs and seeking to attach very harsh work requirements to it. we're in favor of people having to work, but in the vast majority of cases, people are already working and they cannot survive. but that is not t going to stop

had backed in food stamps and housing subsidies and various other programs. the other thing that my report looks at, which is equally important come the threat to democracy, of course, that if you consistently make life less manageable for those are living in poverty, if you start to cut back on those who are able to vote, if you start making it more difficult -- the latest supreme court decision in related to ohio am a making a feasible for the states to eliminate lots of voters, all of these affect overwhelmingly those who are not wealthy and that presents -- that means the assault in economic terms represents a major threat to democrcracy. my report focuses on the implications of this for what we call civil and political rights in the united states. amy: worded you go? >> i went to california, alabama

, was virginia, puerto rico, and atlanta as well as washington, d.c.. the lifepoint out expectancy in the united states in what many considered the most industrialized country of the world, the life expectancy rates are falling. >> yes. the world health organization brought out new statistics just a week or so ago, which showed -- and this is a complex figure. it showed the healthy life expectancy -- in other words, the number of years that a newborn can expect to live in health -- is now lower i in the united states than it is in china. this is a pretty shocking development because life expectancy is the classic, overall indicator of the well-being of society. it brings together a lot of

different factors. what people live long, why they die early, and so on. so what you have in the united states, despite the massive spending on health care, etc., is the worst level of health care in the western world, the highest levels of child poverty, and so on. and they'll manifest themselves -- they all manifest themselves in reducing life expectancy. amy: the u.s. is the only country in the world not to have ratified the u.n. convention on the rights of the child? >> yes, the only one. amy: the only country in the world. and how does that relate t to extreme poverty in the united dates -- states? >> children are central part of the 40 million americans living in care -- poverty. 30 million of those are children. we saw earlier this year in congress a big battle over the child health insurance program,

which -- amy: chip. > yes. it gives medicaid and otheher assistanance to children. if that had been eliminated, it would have resulted in millions of children being made far worse off. so the fact the united states says we're not going to acknowledge thatat childldren he rights, we are not going to of knowledge the universally accepted list of human rights, then makes it much easier not to single out children, not to try to guarantee minimum levels of well-being to those children. so i think it is deeply problematic and i think it w wod be veryy good if the united states were to look at itself and say, why is is that we are the only country in the entire world that does not accept the notion that children have human rights? migrant children being ripped from the arms of their parents, how does that fit into the story? >> that is a violation of the 'rights because there is

a right for her family to remain unified. that right has been upheld across the world and in all sorts of courts and jurisdictions. at the other element is the child also has a whole set of rights that are being violated by this sort of conduct. amy: so you are going to the u.n. human rights council in geneva to present your report. you sent it already to the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley. as she responded? has trump responded? what is going to be your main point in geneva? >> right. the u.n. human rights council looks at a whole range of countries around the world in relation to different human rights. the united dates itself weighs in very heavily in a lot of those debates. it will say what is happening in china is terrible, what is happening in yemen is terrible. whatever the country is that the u.s. once you criticize, it will be actively involved. the presentation of my report

means there's a whole range of other countries that will then unitedreflect on the states own r record. of course, that puts the u.s. in a difficult position. it wants to be able to speak out about human rights. he wants to be the champion of dignityty,humanity, and so one. and so one. but if it then has to defend itself based on an analysis that aows pretty d dire situation of large percentage of the american population, it is not so easy. the united states will have the opportunity to respond to my report. so far they've chosen not to say anything. maybe that is legitimate and maybe they are holding their fire, as it were, until next thursday when i present to the human rights council. but i think it is extremely important in the u.s. itself would say this in relation to other countries, that there is a response, that there is a context in the u.n. around his issues. one, hownt to ask you,

puerto rico fits into this picture. and, two, about taxation. be theto rico would poorest state in the union if it were a state. doesn't, of course, having a vote in congress. and so what we see is it then enjoys all of the rights that someone who doesn't have a vote has -- none. so consistently, the administration has adopted an approach to puerto rico which has made their struggle against extreme poverty almost impossible. you have currently got a sa,uation where the prome that is been appointed to oversee the bankruptcy, is in power to take all sorts of decisions, has to particular caught justice of what we call social protection issues. and so puerto rico is uniquely, badly off and the overall u.s.

context. amy: and taxation? how that fits into this issue of extreme poverty? >> what is interesting in the overall debate is that in the lbj, anddays, fdr, many since, there were lots of public discussions about what the united states should do about people living in poverty. bet is the policy going to in terms of the great society and someone. today, there is a must no debate , certainly within this administration, about those issues. and as that come all of the focus moves over to tax policy. tax policy is arcane and very hard to understand, even for those of us who study it carefully. but tax policy is being used as a way to shift massive resources to the wealthy, to the best off corporations, and a way from the it.le who really need

and of course the tax cuts are being paid for in part by some of these savings that the administration has consistently predicted will come from less people on food stamps, less people getting housing subsidies, and so on. of: finally, on the power the movement. we're about to speak with reverend barber who was arrested once again. there have been over 2000 arrests around the country in the past few weeks and part of the moral revival. likeffects of movements occupy, black lives matter, poor people's campaign? >> it is the only way forward. when governments are not interested in the plight of many millions of people -- an unfortunate, i keep talking about extreme poverty, but 40 peoplee whole are are average working-g-class peoe nonot able to live decent lives. the only way that is going to change is through a mass movement.

amy: philip alston, thank you for being with us, u.n. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. he has been researching extreme poverty and human rights in the u.s. and will be reporting his findings next week to the u.n. human rights council in geneva. when we come back from the reverend barber himself just recently arrested once again. you will join us to talk about this last week of the beginning of the launch of the poor people's movement, leading to a major march in washington on june 23. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "all these governors" by the evens. the release of the u.n. report comes amid a nationwide weeks-long direct action campaign known as the new pooror people's campaign, aimed at fighting poverty and racism in the united states. nearly 2000 people have been arrested across the country

since the campaign began in march. this comes since 50 years after rev. martin luther king, jr. launched the first poor people's campaign. organizers say the poor peoples campaign is the most expansive wave of nonviolent direct action in the u.s. this century. well, democracy now! was in the streets of washington, d.c., with the new poor people's campaign on monday as over 100 people were arrested in d.c. alone. this is union organizer joshua -- this is reverend william barber's "for he was arrested. >> we have to ship the narrative. people have to put their lives in the bodies on the line. yet preachers and poor people and infected people who are in these lines. and we are willing now to engage in an active moral civil disobedience to drive home what is going on. we believe in justice is happening in the halls of congress and in the halls of

state capitals around this country. amy: just after he said this, reverend barber was taken into custody, was arrested along with 100 other people just after they were detained across the street of the supreme court, is cochair of the poor people's campaign, , withnd liz theoharis eight other religious leaders and activists, or standing on the steps of the supreme court. they, too, were arrested. they were held overnight in cartridge infested -- cockroach others. cells by many when it were brought before the judge the next day, they were in angle irons. joining us from chicago is dr. william barber as he campaigns against poverty and racism across the country. reverend barber, it is great to see you again. talk about what happened monday and where you're headed now is we bring out this latest report on extreme poverty. you expand that to poverty them all poor people in this country.

>> indeed. thank you for having us on this morning and on behalf of my cochair liz theoharis and the activists in over 40 states around this country. there were actions last monday in over 40 states simultaneously at 2:00. the numbers have gone up to over 2000 persons have engaged in nonviolent marches. and thousands have committed an been witnesses in planning to come on june 23 to d.c. when we have those people arrested in washington, it happened -- it was happening across this country. we have done a study called the souls of poor folk, auditing people after the first poor people's campaign. the audit says there are 140 million poor and low wealth people in this country.

73% of them are women and children. that is 43.5% of all of the people in this country are poor. upwards of 250,000 people die every year from poverty. it is the longer true that if you work, you're coming out of poverty. in some places, you would have to work 99 hours at a minimum wage job just to get a basic apartment. we have an impoverished democracy. it did not just start with trump, but it is certainly being exacerbated by trump. two often we've seen a political dialogue, narrative for the last 40 years that is literally moved poverty from anything of our political discussions. politicians talk about the middle class and military not about poverty. on top of that, we have the systemic racism, particularly around -- not the words of racism like roseanne barr, but

the works of racism. voters suppression of hurts the poor, gerrymandering that hurts the poor, and allows people to get elected who use racialized voters suppression to get elected. once they are elelected, they ps popolicies that hurt mostly the poor. that have states racialized voter suppression since 2010 have elected statehouses and congress people and senators that are against funding for the poor, against living wages, have tried to block health care, that have passed tax cuts that are devastating to the programs that help the poor. so we have an impoverished democracy, which is why we have to have massive nonviolent moral fusion disobedience, massive voter mobibilization among thehe poor, and massive power dealing among the poor if we are going to turn the station around. amy: your talked about a basic guaranteed income, which dr. king also spoke about. ,he mayor stockton, california is planning a public project

which would give e $500 to some residents a guaranteed income. why is this so important to you? >> first of all, for me, as a person of faith and a person of deep religigious values, and evn my constitutional values, there are some things that we're supposed to be about. untocriptures say, woe those who rob the poor of the right to make women and children their prey. it also says we're supposed to care for the least of these. our constitution says we're supposed to provide for the general welfare. we leave in a country now -- we live in a cocountry know where e are treating corporations like people and people like things. we say banks are too big to fail that we let human beings fail. we cannot deal with poverty if we do not deal with wages. it is as though we give corporate welfare to corporations. we make sure everything else survives, but when it comes to poor people, it is almost as if

we can write them off. they are hurting people. there are disabled people. i think about pamela rush who was tricked by predatory lenders and made by 120 -- spin $120,000 for a one-roroom trailer that is now falling a apart, mold-infested, her daughter is on a cpap machine. she is raw sewage coming up in the back of her yard. she should have a guaranteed basic income. she should have a basic income to survive because the system did so much to her to cause her life to be so miserable and there are many, many more people. just like health care should be guaranteed as a human right, it should not just be for those who can afford it or some who deserve it. we have 37 million people in this country without health care . die in theeople

wealthiest country in the nation , and the e country with the mot advanced health. one of the 25 wealthiest countries in where the only one that does not provide some form of guaranteed universal health care. these things are immoral. stigler said, not only are they immoral, we have to look at the cost of inequality. it is costing us people. it is costing us our moral fiber. ours doing great injury to democracy. amy: i want to get your comment on the separating of children from their parents, the imprisoning of migrant children. more than 300 catholic bishops have blasted the trump administration emigres some dish , condemningpolicies attorney general jeff sessions policy of ending the right of domestic violence survivors to seek asylum in the u.s.. on thursday, sessions over the the trumpustify administraration policies.

he w speaking to an invitation-only crowinin for wae, indndna. cite you to the astle pau and s s cleaand d wi commama in romans 13 to open a the laws of t government bause the law h for thethe vernment amy: criti noted ias a vorite psage of fenders the coederacy ed to juify avery. revend barbe your thghts? >> thats anothereason w we he got to get i the streets. we hav thave thimassive nonviont moralivil dibedienceclergy a others have tcome ot our sanctuars. pele afteroming tohe stets becse this adnistrati seems t be be a ministtion ofeanness it dided to be the administtion of lies and w it is ing the adminiration o tolological heresy. i don'tust lameessions,

blamthe congss peoplthat e not chlenging m. thextreme so-lled chrtian tionalis thawill be ite on this that probably sent him that scripture. let me say this. first of all, he is misinterpreting the text. paul ackley was arrested by the government because christians challenged the government. that is one of the reasons all ends up getting killed. that is the first thing. second of all, the bible is clear from the old testament to the new testament that one of god's primary concerns is that wewe care for the ststranger. oft we do not rob children their rights and mothers of their children, that we welcomee the ststranger and make sure the duckger, the an minute immigrant is treated like a brother or sister. you cannot find in the bible anything like session said. his operating from a playbook. that is the same kind of heresy that was used to support the genocide of native americans. is this an, biblical heresy that

was used to support slavery and support jim crow. it is the law. and that is why movements broke it. as dr. king said, any law that is against god's law in the law justice, we have a responsibility to challenge the law. america has a long history of laws that do not line up with the mororal demands of f our constitution. amy: we have to wrap up p the shshow. junene 23, what is happening n w go you have 10 seconds >> on the was set of the capital on n the lawn, 10:00 am a massive call to action. the final launch of the 40 days of this campaigngn. we will c continue just bring everybody you know. people will be speaking. we will be talking about what we do going forward. we will not turn around people hurting. amy: reverend dr. william barber, thank you for being with us. breaking news, the trump administration reportedly withdrawing the u.s. from the un's human rights council. or it is reports the decision is

imminent. that does it for the broadcast. we want to thank dr. reverend william barber, coach of the poor people's campaign democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org orzñ]