06/19/18 06/19/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! [crying] amy: the voices of immigrant children crying for their parents ends of u.s. customs and border protection facility. this comes as president trump is continuing to defend his administration's policy of

forcibly separating the children from their parents at the border in violation of international human rights law. pres. trump: the united states will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility. it won't be. amy: we will speak to congressman or pramila jayapal and sheila jackson lee. then to nicaragua. looks in nicaragua, antigovernment prorotests over e past two months have led to the killining of at least 178 peopl, almost entirely at the hands of the police forces and by arms program government groups. amy: as a major city in nicaragua declares independence from daniel ortega government, we will speech atop nicaraguan diplomat about the escalating crisis.

all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. presidenent trump p is continuio defend his administration's policy of forcibly separating immigrant children from their parents at the border in violation of iernational human rights law. pres. trump: the united states camp andbe a migrant it will not be a refugee holding facility. it won't be. you look at what is happening in europe and other placeces in a e can'n't allow that to happppen o the united states. not on my watch. amy: during his speech monday, trump also falsely claimed democrats were to blame for the practice. momore than 2000 children have been forcibly separated from their parents since mid-apapril

alone. trump also went on xenenophobic twitter rant monday about migration into europe, tweeting -- "crime in germany is way up. big mistake made all over europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!" in fact, germany recently recorded its lowest crime rate since 1992. trump also tweeted -- "we don't want what is happening with immigration in europe to happen with us!" trump is meeting with republicans today, as the house is slated to hold votes on two separate immigration bills later this week. outrage is continuining to mount over the family separation practice of forcibly taking children away from their parents, which the american association of pediatrics calls government-sanctioned child abuse. the pulitzer-prize winning news outlet propublica released audio from inside a u.s. customs and border protection facility, in

which children estimated to be between the ages of 4 years and 10 years old are heard crying "mama" and "papi" after being separated from their parents. a warning, the audio is disturbing. >> whave an chestra re, right? what we're misissing is a conductor. amy: a border patrol agent is heard joking, in spanish -- "well, we have an orchestra here. what's missing is a conductor."" only m minutes after the audio was released, homelandnd security secretary k kirstjen nielsen began a white house press briefing, duduring whihice repeatedly lied by claiming only congressional action couldtop the practice of family separati.. during the briefing,g, a reportr from new york magazine played the audio of the children weeping out loud, leading one

reporter to ask kirstjen nielsen, how is this not child abuse? meanwhile, the technology company microsoft is facing threats of a boycott over its collaboration with ice, that's the immigration and customs enforcement agency. over the weekend, a blog post from january resurfaced in which microsoft said it is proud to support ice and that microsoft's technology can help the agency "accelerate facial recognition and identification." in response to the online outrage and boycott threats, the company said -- "microsoft is dismayed by the forcible separation of children from their familieies at the border." we'll have more on the mounting outrage over family separation after headlines. we will be speaking with pramama jayapal am a the compass member from washington state, as well as sheila jackson lee. both have visited detention

cents in theheir states. the u.s. and south korea have cananceled joint military exercises on the korean peninsula scheduled for august, a week after president trump vowed to end the united states' provocative war games during his historic summit with north korean leader kim jong-un. kim jong-un is traveling to china to mt with chinese presidenent xi jinpingng in his third tripip to china soso far s yeyear. meanwhile, president trump has threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $200 billion-worth of chinese goods. escalating the threat of trade war between the u.s. and china. in more news on n the pentagon, president trump announced monday that he will direct the military to create a sixth branch of the armed forces aimed at dominating outer space. pres. trump: when it comes to defending america, it is not enough to merely have an

american presence in space. we must have american dominance in space. so important. very importantly, i am hereby directing the department of defense and pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. that is a big statement. we are going to have the air force and we're going to have the space force, separate but equal. amy: that was president trump speaking at a meeting of the national space council monday. the air force currently oversees all outer space-related military activity. in his announcement, trump said the air force and the space force would be separate but equal, parroting a phrase used to describe unconstitutional racicial segregatition in educu. defense secretary james mattis

says he is opposed to creating a new space force. in afghanistan, dozens of activists have arrived in the capital kabul after a 435-mile march to demand peace. the march began with a dozen youth activists on may 12 and swelled to over 70 men by the end of the 38-day journey, during which they crisscrossed government and taliban-controlled territory. their arrival inabul comes after the and of a historic three day cease-fire between the afghan military and the taliban. this is zemarai zaland, one of the peace marchers. >> we're calling on both the government and the televangelist find a way for peace and to extend the cease-fire. we are feeling a pain inur hearts and the pain of our people who are suffering from the conflicts. we wanant a cease-fire ande e wt bothth sides to reach lasting peace in the country. amy: kansas secretary of state kris kobach needs more legal education. that's according to a federal judge who struck down kansas's

discriminatory voter i.d. laws and ordered their architect, secretary of state kris kobach, to take six hours of legal classes. u.s. d district judge jujulie robinson ruled kansas's law requiring voters show proof of citizenship prevented tens of thousands of eligible citizens from registering to vote. kobach led the trump administration's so-called voter fraud commission and is a key architect of the gop's voter suppression efforts nationwide. former cia software engineer joshua adam schulte has been indicted on charges of violating the espionage act for allegedly leaking thousandnds of documents last yeaear revealing cia progrs and tools that are capable of hacking into both apple and android cellphones. wikileaks published the documents last march under the name vault 7, calling it the largest leak of secret cia documents in history. schulte is alrlready in federal

custody on child-pornography charges. moveveon, the united states' largest online progressive organization, has broken with house democratic leadership and endorsed alexandria ocasio-cortez, who is challenging new york congress member joe crowley. crowley regularly floated as a potential speaker of the house. but he's facing his f first primary challenge in 14 years . acosta ortez is a 28-year-old community organizer alexandria ocasio-cortez. this clip begins with crowley . >> with his government, separating children from their mothers. is antithetical to everything i believe in and that is what i five for every day. looks if this organization is as fascist as you have called it and you have said it is fascist, then why don't you adopt the

stance to eliminate it? this is a moral problem and your response haseen to apply or paperwork to the situation, to have ice collect more information on immigrants. and that puts our communinitiesn danger and also conveys a profound misunderstanding of how we should be approroaching this problem. amy: that is alexandria ocasio-cortez. 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. outrage continues to grow over the trump administration's continued separation of children from their parents along the u.s.-mexico border. on monday, the news outlet propublica released audio from inside a u.s. customs and border protection facility in which children estimated to be between the ages of 4 4 years and 10 yes

crying after being separated from their parents. a warng, the aio is diurbing. >>crying] amy: an audio, a border patrol agent is heard joking and spanish, "well, we have an ororchestra here. what is missing g is a conducto" video released by the u.s. port patrol monday shows migrant children in concrete-floored chain link cages, in an old warehouse in mcallllen, texas. juan: a new quinnipiac poll shows roughly two-thirds of u.s. voters oppose separating children f from their parents st the border. about 7% of democratic voters susupport the trump polilicy, we 5555% of republicans supportrt . ahead t today's meeting with republblicans to discuss compromise legislation on a

hard-line immigration bill, president trump continued to blame democrats for his policy that has led to the separation of at least 2000 children in recentnt weeks. pres. trump: the united states and not be a migrant camp it will not be a refugee holding facility. it won't be. you look at what is happening in europe. you look at what is happening in other places. we can't allow that to happen to the united states. not a my watch. if the democrats would sit down instead of obstructing, we could have something done very quickly. good for the children, good for the country, good for the world. it could take place quickly. we could have an immigration bill. amy: meanwhile, during a white house press briefingng, homeland securityty secretary kirststjen ninielsen said the adminisistran was only strictltly enforcing immigration law.

>> dhs is not separating families legitimately seeking asylum at ports of entry. if an adult enters at a port of entry and claims asylum, they willll not face prosecucution fr illegal entry. they have not committed a crime by come into the port of entry. havementioned, dhs does responsibility t to protect mins and in that case as well as a we will only separate the family if we cannot determine there is a familiar relationship, if the child may be a risk with apparent or legal guardian, or if the carrot or legal guardian is referred for prosecution. we have a duty to protect the american people and it is one that i take very seriously. amy: for more on the response to the trump administration's new policy of separating children from their parents at the border we are joined in our new york studio by pramila jayapal, democratic congress member from washington state. she has just helped to announce a march on washington and cities

nationwide on june 30 against family separation. she is vice ranking member of the house budget committee and vice chair of the congressional progressive caucus. on june 9 she visited a detention centnter in washington spen washington state and spoke with some of the 200 asylum seekers held at the sea-tac bureau of prison facility. congressman or pramila john holcombe it is great to have you back. talk about the latest explanation. some thought yesterday because possibly of the national international outcry that the president trump would walk this back? but he hasn't. he is dug down. >> he has dug down, double down. i think he is making a bad miscalculation. ,mericans across the country republicans, democrats, independents are outrage. there are so many parents amongst us. as a parent and as a mother i

can say this, you to think about what it means to take a child who is breast-feeding and tear her off the breast of a mother. to take a one-year-old child -- and i heard from the 174 women i met with at the federal prison that being held at a prison because all of the detention centers are filled -- these are 206 individuals who were transferred from texas to a federal prison. some of them, about 40%, had been in detention for over a month. not a single one of the mothers had seen their children. not a single one of them had been able to say goodbye to their children. and only two out of all of the mothers that were there even knew were their children were. trump is making a bad miscalculation. he has said over and over again that he is using this as leverage to get his border wall, to get very y that immigration policies that would cut legal migrgration to this couountry or ththe next many decades, policis that really very few people

support. he continues to use immigration as a piece of red meat that he throws to an increasingly shrinking, in my opinion, base. you can see that by the fact franklin graham, son of billy graham, laura bush, former first lady, have all weighed in to say this is cruel, immoral, and by the way, it also does not work. it is not an effective bittorrent because the women i met with just few of cover these countries over the decades. they are escaping terrible conditions. one of the women told me that she had three children. her oldest child was shot and killed by gangs. i think she was from el salvador. her second child shot and paralyzed by gangs. she left her second child and took her third child to try to bring that child to safety. these are the kinds of stories people are fleeing. in making a possible e choices. separatingng children from their families at the border is illegal. the u.n. human rights

commissioner says it violates the rights of the child. they are asylum seekers. they should be getting what is called a credible fear theory. instead, the trump administration continues to double down and think he is going to somehow be solving a problem here. juan: what is your response to the claims of the president trump and his aides that they are only following the law, that the law had been in place before hand but was not being followed by prior administrations and they feel they now must follow the law? >> it is just hogwash. i could use a lot of words for it, but i'm going to say hogwash. this is the result of the trump administration zero tolerance policy. what they did when they put that into place, and you hear jeff sessions talk about it in february, various people have talked about it. this was done to deter people from coming. which, by the way, is illegal. our courts emerald you cannot use detention as to torrents. -- our courts have ruled that

you cannot use detention as deterrence. toy're saying they're going prosecute everyone he comes across the board, including asylum seekers. the majority of the 174 women i spoke with were asylum-seekers. not one of them had received a credible fear hearing. they were taken into court en masse. 75, 100 people at a time. really, no due process. criminally prosecuted when really what they should have got -- juan: and no way to adjudicate in individuals credible fear of persecution if they are in a group trial. >> that's right. it was a criminal prosecution, not an asylum hearing. they were not evaluated at all. there is a question, by the way, some of these folks have been pleading guilty because -- in fact, all of them have because they hope it will be reunited with their children if they do that. istead, what might happen when you apply for asylum, you're asked if you have been

charged with a crime. this is technically a crime. we don't know yet how this will affect their asylum hearings. the stories are heard were heartbreaking. women who talked about being deceived. they were with their children and turn themselves in. they were then -- excuses were made like you're going to go get a photograph taken or go to court and see a judge. they came back andndheir children were gone. no chance to say goodbye. some of them talked about being in the room right next door to their children so they could hear them screaming for them, crying for them. you showed pictures s of the cas that children were held in. the women described the same thing. they talked about the facilities by an name like the icebox and the dog pound. icebox because the temperatures were so cold. they crossed the rio grande, they are wet. there put into these rigidly mats,acilities with no

no clean drinking water in some cases front of five days. administration will love to take the focus off the fact that they put the policy in place, they can reverse it today. they would love to have the focus turned to legislation that both sides need to pass, but that is just not true. amy: i want to be clear. you visited? >> a prison i visited a prison. amy: we have seen congress .umber two went en masse your congress member from washington state and you are in washington state. these womemen were flown up frfm the border. their children still presumably in texas? >> all over the place. some of the women were given slips of paper that had their name, their immigration number, and then the names of the children -- their children, supposedly. one woman pointed to the slip of paper and said to me, these are not my children. so there is a real question also about whether these agencies --

because there's the u.s. marshals, cucustoms and border protection, immigration customs enforcement, dhs, office of refugee resettlement. nobody knows and we're not been able to get the answers to whether or not these agencies are coordinated and whether or not they actctually know where these children are. not a single one of these women -- i take it back, two women had none with her children were but had not spoken to them. the rest of them had no idea where they were. amy: kirstjen nielsen insisted -- parents enjoyment, the kids are skiving their parents, talking to them on the phone. they can do that regularly. she boasted about how the migrant children in custody wewe being dealt with. >> it is important to nonote the miners are very well taking care of. dodon't t believe the press. they're very well taking care of. we operate according to some of the highest standards in the country. we provide food, m medical, education, and all needs the

child requests. amy: this was in the same -- at the same time -- well, yesterday and a few days ago when she spoke as she said the separations are not happening. back-and-forth, as has trump. we have it on record this is a policy that has been carefully crafted by stephen miller, put into place by the trump. they are now -- trump himself has said he wants to use this, use the children as leverage to get his border wall and to get his regressive immigration policies. we have been saying over and over again that what they're doing can be undone today by the president. it does not require congressional action. this does not need to be about legislation. i would say the ryan bill that is going to come to the floor of the house this week that they say offers a fix to this is actually making things much worse. it allows for indefinite family detention. it takes away the dude process rights that i do cap need

children would get. it is a terrible bill. anyone who says it is a moderate compromise is really missing the boat. we should vote those hills down. hopefully, they will both fail. at the trurump administrtrationt implement reversal of this policy. we will have a mass demonstratioion anchored by movn and the national domestic lovers alliance june 30, it apart 11:00. hundreds of organizations, unions, faith leaders from all kinds of organizations that are participating because i think people really are o outraged. we should be outraged. these conditions are cruel. juan: you talk about the demonstration, but is it your hope to basically get a reversal of the trump administration policy, or do you feel given the fact that he is double down that there has to be some kind of congressional action to supersede the president in this case? >> i would love to see congressional action, but i don't think they should be able

to try to say that if this policy continues that it is the failure of congress. because he put this into place and he has a habit of doing this. he did this with the dreamers. he said, i'm reversing daca. now it is commerce's fault they ve not passed a permanent solution for the dreamers. by his ownlenged party for a period of time. they have backed down and that is what we're seeing this bad legislation. he creates crises. .e prays on fear even his comments about europe and immigrants in europe that you played earlier on the show are all about creating a crisis hasear that literally people afraid that immigrants are causing these problems. i would like for every american to hear these mothers that i spoke to at the federal prison who are so courageous, have left -- made 70 sacrifices in order to come to the united states seeking asylum.

as much as troubled like to portray people coming across the border as murdererers and rapiss and all of the terrible things he says, animals, these are asylum, seeking security and i think these families need to be reunited. amy: talk about what is happening today. there is astounding poll this is something like 90, 95 percent of democrats are close to what trump is doing but something like 58% of americans are supporting what he is doing right now. he is going, trump is going to capitol hill. what are these two bills that are being put forward and what are you instead proposing? >> there are two bills. one is from bob goodlatte, the chairman of the judiciary committee, which i sat on the committee. that bill is a very conservative come anti-immigrant bill that would cut legal immigration over the next five decades by 25 million. so it eliminates pieces of the family immigration system.

it really eradicates the refugee and asylum process will stop it does not provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. it is a bad bill. ryan then crafted, with some folks from different parts of his caucus, another bill that is supposed to be the compromise bill because it does offer some things towards the dreamers -- which he was pushed to do that by the fact that there were almost 218 signatures on a discharge petition that essentially would allow for four bills to come to the floor. one would have been the dream act. one would have been the heard i get our bill. one would have been the goodlettsville. and one would have been ryan's bill. it would have forced his hand. and the bill that would've provided a permanent solution for dreamers, that you would have passed. it would have gotten enough votes to pass. happen.ot want that to

instead he were to compromise with this caucus and impartially couple of the moderates backed down and said, i will bring this other ryan bill to the floor. things tohas a few sort of calm the fears of the moderates that are worried about reelection prospects. but it also does many of the terrible things that we know he would want to do. thats a a lot of the pillars trump wanted. amy: the so-called compromise bill from the republican lawmakers could lift the 20 day limit currently in place for families to be detained and d pe ththe way to unlimited detention of care to the children? i refuse to collelect compromise bill. i collagen anti-immigrant bill along with the goodlettsville. anyone who thinks that bill is fixing the problem that we have at the border has another thing coming. this is a definite attention for children. amy: do both include a wall? >> they both include a wall.

amy: is it about that trump made the stakes so high that people would simply cry uncle and he was a, c, democrats are not supporting a bill that will stop -- stop them children from being separated. >> the crazy thing is, he could've had the wall. chuck schumer, without our knowledge, or some of our knowledge, offered him a wall. he then changed the stakes and said, no, i don't want a wall, i want you to in the family immigration system. i want you to do this and that. goal post get moving. it isn't about the wall anymore. it is he wants immigration to be out there as an issue for his base but i think he is miscalculating this one. very fewhere are americans -- i know what the polls say about 55% of republicans grow supporting the proposal. at that number is going down very quickly. the more we hear these cries of

children and see these images of children in cages, they don't want to allow us in because they don't want people to really see but now people are starting to go in and to see what kinds of conditions we are holding people in. i thought laura bush's article was excellent, her op-ed where she talked about the comparisons to history. juan: in terms of this issue of him wanting immigration to be the issue, some of the stuff he is also said his he is pointing to germany and some of his tweets missing look at germany opened up its borders, let all of these folks in another crime rate is escalating. it turns out fact checking by "the new york times" shows that crime rate in germany has been going down, not up, yet he continues to create this isage immigration associated with greater crime. >> that is what is so offensive to me. and immigrant

myself. i came to this country without 16 your full by myself. and you go from? >> india. this portrayal of immigrants -- by the way, unless your native american, you did -- or ancestors came from somewhere, either on slave ships to build this country under pressure or to escape persecution, became from somewhere else. and for trump to insinuate -- not just insinuate, but claim immigrants are this terrible threat, he is using a time he is formula, but absolutely wrong. it is offensive. crueltyading to some that thought would never be possible in the united states of america and this day and age. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to this discussion. we will be joined by sheila jackson lee from houston. we're talking to congress member pramila jayapal from washington state. on june 9, she visited some of the 200 asylum seekers held at

state.son in her home this is democracy now! we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: "would you harbor me" performed by the labyrinth choir. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: all four living former first ladies have spoken out against family separation at the border. rosalynn carter issued a statement monday saying -- "the practice and policy today of removing children from their parents' care at our border with mexico is disgraceful and a shame to our country." hillary clinton tweeted -- "what's happening to families at the border right now is a humanitarian crisis. every parent who has ever held a child in their arms, every human

being with a sense of compassion and decency, should be outraged." laura bushsh tweeted -- "i live in a border state. i appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. it is immoral. and it breaks my heart." michelle obama retweeted laura bush's remarks saying -- "sometimes truth transcends party." amy: meanwhile, on sunday, first lady melania trump's communications director stephanie grisham issued a statement to cnn on family separation that said -- "mrs. trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform. she believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart." still whether this is pramila jayapal, democratic congressman from washington state. before she came into the congress in 2016, she was

elected, she was the head of one america, a large immigrant organization in washington state. and now has gone to the prison in washington state to see some of the hundreds of asylum seekers held at the seatac euro prisons who were brought up from the border. she us in just a moment, will be speaking to us from statuary hall, will be sheila jackson lee, who is running over to take her position. at that issue of all of these women, very interesting, the role the women are taking also that trump is trying to make women the face of his policy. kiersten nilsson, the department of homeland security reportedly even with kelly, the chief of staff, not wanting to hold a news conference, she owned it yesterday. of course, sarah huckabee sanders, who has been standing with the president on family

separation each they as she is in front of the podium. >> yes. i have read mixed things about kirstjen nielsen. i heard that she did not like this policy, but she is clearly standing up for it now after having tonight it existed just a -- having denied it existed just a few days ago. i think the former first ladies of both parties speaking out is an indication that all americans must be feeling this deep sense of cruelty and outrage. i took over judiciciary committe hearing last week that was about other bills when n we should hae been having a hearing on this. i s said, we are outraged. i have to believe there are good people on the other side. mothers and fathers who if they don't say something today, are going to have to go back to their children and explain why they did nothing as we put ls and t tore kenne

them away from their mothers. it is outrageous. juan: you have alluded to the issue many of f the republblican moderates fearful how this is going to affect their reelection efforts. in youour conversations s in the halls of congress, what they might say to you privately? >> the frustrating thing is, many of them, not just on this issue, but even other issues, removal of coverage for pre-existing conditions the trump administration has done -- people say to me, yes, this is terrible. this is going to be very bad for us. this is that for the country. they will say things like that, but they are terrified of taking on the bully that has the bully pulpit of the white house. amy: we're just joined by commerce member sheila jackson-lee, democrat of texas. she has represented the 18th congressional district since 1995, which includes most of central houston. she is just back from the texas border with mexico where she joined a delegation of lawmakers who visited a processing center in mcallen and the southwest key programs' casa padre, which

houses 1500 children in brownsville. what did you see? what are you demanding now that you're in congress right now where you are standing? >> good morning to you. ofis clear there are acts indecency. this is in a decent policy, dated by us in the person, that is the president of the united states. i saw people huddled in groups in cages. i saw children who certainly needed to be with their parents. little baby roger that i held in my hands was nine months old. wasle leah who one-year-old, both taken from a grandmother and a sister. those who loved them and brought them and would have protected them. clearly, these persons who are

working at the border are working at the behest of the president of the united states. i think it is very important -- this is a nonpartisan issue. i don't even want to call a bipartisan. but it is clear that if we go back as far as 2010 when the gang of eight, democrats and republicans, proposed a comprehensive immigration reform, it was republicans who stopped it. it is a republican president today that refuses

they come with a bunch. they do not come with a nine-month-old in one 19-year-old sister. they do not come with a one year old in one grandmother. that is not a smuggler. and to make folly of the work of cartels and smuggling large groups of people is ludicrous.

our border patrol agents would tell you they are well informed to know the difference. maybe they should call the to let him know. the other thing to take note of, the facts of why these people are fleeing are things that many of us could never imagine. you are a pregnant young woman. you borrowed money. your family borrowed money from a private bank. owned supported, funded, by the cartel. when you did not pay, the cartel says do you, as soon as you have your baby, i am going to kill you. usually eight happens pregnant. you did not want to fully eight and a half months pregnant, but your baby would be left without a mother. and you gave birth on your way and you are sitting in a station where you have had no medical care. the baby is 45 days old and see no medical official. let me just say, and a load to take note of thihis, i asked one

of the border patrol persons to have this person provided with medical care. i wawant to say publicly that person indicated they would, that they would take him to a hospital for both the baby and the mother. that was one incident where one member of congress was there along with others. there are constant indecent acts . ladies and children are not able to be hugugged -- babies and children are not able to be hugged. withd, what do you do it, traumatitized children?n? when children are traumatized, they begin to have circumstances. the answer was attending to be responsive, but it was, we will give them the clothing they need. that is not what they need. if you are thahan what are comig are traumatized and you need t e love of the parents -- on amy: you're back from the border in washington, d.c.. trump is going out today to the capital. what are you demanding apco trump is saying it is your

fault, pramila jayapal's fault, the democrats fault this is happening. what are you going to do? >> and virtually, the president had no express with government and no involvement with the shockingior to election in 2016. and no interest in government except, as to undermine president obama. he was not here in 2010 with a gang of eight presented the bipartisan, that time, immigration reform bill, and it was imploded hereby the house, by the republican-controlled house. lookingion, i will be to republicans of good will. i woullike to call this nonpartisan, not even bipartisan, to push back on the president when he comes to speak . and to say clearly jam, your holding nine-month-old roger that is now separated from his

family. amy: will you support a bill that also includes $25 billion for the wall? >> at me say this. i have always been against the wall. what i do believe we should do is a straight of the bike commerce meant adler yelled have introduced that deals with not separating children from parents. by the way, we don't need a law. the president can do it now. i would prefer a bill that have been worked on by democrats and republicans as has been worked on by fellow texans of which i i was a cosponsor and out with daca or comprehensive bill that have been worked on by democrats and republicans. the bill that had the daca language in it, protections that was bipartisan, had in fact resources for security at the border. it was supported in the past by democrats or republicans by homeland security bill. there are many options. what this discussion will be will be similarly what the president wants. the ending of legal immigration,

the ending of diversity visas and people want to see that as a kind of horror the president is representing. amy: we have to leave it there. to say this.t the president needs to stay in the white house, pick up the phone, and reverse this policy. he does not need to be on the hill. it is on him that this is happening to children. he would love nothing more than for the discussion of turn to legislation and then be able to blame democrats. amy: are you for the abolishing of ice? >> as you might know, i did report in 2008 on the abuses within the ice dettion center. i have a bill to reform it overall. i would love to see ice go. amy: we cover this everyday. commerce member pramila jayapal speaking to us here in new york from washington state and sheila jackson lee, congress member from houston speaking to us from statuary hall in congress. this is democracy now!

when we come back, we go to nicaragua. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: the political crisis in nicaragua is intensifying. more than 178 people have been killed since widespread demonstrations to oust nicaraguan president daniel ortega began in mid-april, when his government announced plans to overhaul and slash social security. amnesty international has accused the nicaraguan government of using "pro-government armed groups to carry out attacks, incite violence, increase their capacity for repression and operate outside the law."

on monday, the u.n. high commissioner for human rights zeid ra'ad al hussein condemned the recent outbreak of violence in nicaragua. >> in nicaragua, antigovernment protest over the past two months have led to the killing of at least 178 people, almost entirely at the hand of the police forces and by armed pro-government groups. but the ortega government has blamed part of the violence on armed members of the opposition who are trying to overthrow the democratically elected president ortega. much of nicaragua is at a standstill as opposition groups have set up barricades along key roads, many guarded by masked men armed with homemade mortars. on monday, opposition groups in nicaragua's third largest city, masaya, declared independence from ortega's government. according to "the washington post," the opposition formed a five-member junta of national salvation to run the city which was once seen as a sandinista stronghold.

amy: efforts to hold a national dialogue between the government and civil society appears to be falling apart. on monday, key parts of the opposition, including leaders of the student protests, pulled out of the talks, at least temporarily. meanwhile, some of the student groups have sought assistance from the trump administration. ortega served as presisident of nicacaragua since 2007. in the late 1970's as the leader of the sandinista national liberation front, he helped overerthrow the u.s.-b-backed nicaraguguan dictator anastataso somoza. we're j joined here in new yorky paul oquist. he is a senior minister for national policy in the nicaraguan government. can you -- we had a previous show where we had a number of ,eople, former sandinistas deeply concerned about what happened, the killing of over 100 protesters in nicaragua. your thoughts? nicaragua is a polarized society. there has been violence in the last two months on both sides. what we have field lately is a

wave of violence never seen before in nicaragua. kidnappings, state institutions destroyed, mayors offices burned down, torture, intimidation, persecution. and there has been a tremendous slant in the news because this is a media war also. it is a social media war. it is straight out of gene sharp's handbook of how to destabilize governments that has been used several times. i'm not the only one saying this. gene sharp's handbook has been recommended by leaders of this movement. you can find that on the internet. news, black propaganda is part of the game. and there is no balance in this. it is all one sided. so the media here, in europe, and elsewhere, picked up verbatim the statements that

come from the movement. and contrary information somehow is filtered out. 16, the men on june working to remove barricades,, areese barricicades -- these not civic, peaceful events. they are coerced. they are violently enforced. he and another gentleman were killed. body of who was shot and on the streets -- you can find the video on the internet also -- was burned. they threw gasoline on him and burned his body. then they put a sandinista flag on it and they were joking about it. really, not respecting h his corpse at all. they were having a little party around his corpse. so these things are not reported. there is no balance. with the government is looking for now is to get out of this

cycle of violence. to get back to peace. ninicaragua lived in peace for 1 years. the government of national reconciliation and national by overcominged the conflicts of the 1980's, which was the inclusion of the andstance in the government also part of the armed movement supported by the cia in the 1980's. now we need to get out of the cycle of violence. and by the same way, through negotiations, through dialogue. that is what happened in the 1980's. the government met with the contra and the peace agreement started to be hammered out. the process led to the elections of 1990. nicaragua is a polarized society. you will not get peace by having one side trying to impose on t e other sidede.

the violent overthrow the government position has a a gern this flaw. -- tremendous flaw. the violence will continue. -- : i want to ask you >> we need a negotiated settlement and the government is try to promote that. juan: when you say society is polarized, who is the opposition from your perspective? obviously, there are ex- sandinistas who are critical of ortega for basically removing anyone who might be critical of him and who have joined the opposition. so who is leading the opposition? >> that group is very exaggerated in the media. it is a small minority. the opinion polls poll 1%, the mrs. as a matter fact, that is an obstacacle. you have people on this very show saying they want the violent overthrow the government and they want it now. there is a plan already in place to get elections next year.

the oas s in nicaragua has signd a plan which will lead -- and there's a calendar for a that is being executed as we speak -- to a reform of the national electoral council and the electoral law and the electoral rolls by january of next year. but that can't happen unless there is peace. as a matter of fact, we are seeing the dialogue is free violence,with this the barricades in putting the free movement of people and goods which are making life very difficult. farmers cannot get their crops to market. they are losing money. the people who can't get to work. the people who work and earn a salary every day are in very bad straits. the tourism industry has been brought to a halt. and all of the tourist workers, great many of them -- amy: i want to play a clip of

monica lopez baltodadano. >> what we have been seeing for the past 45 days is the rise up of very strong popular rebellion against the violence of gender ortega's government. -- daniel ortega's government. it is been led by youth in the universities, but it has also become a rebellion of all nicaraguan popopulation. we havave seen massive prorotesn the streets s and also importan, actions of protest that are happening, for i instance,e, moe than 70% of the roads in nicaragua arare blocked by population that is requesting two basically's -- jujustice for thmomore than 127 people that haveve been murdered by ortega's regime so far and more than 1000 people injured and also the

decision of nicaragua population that would take it and his wife leave power -- washington week power, because monica lopez baltodano says it? there's a thing called democratic process. what we're looking for is a democratic process. --re looking for peace peaceful condition secondly to democratic outcomes. it is not -- advocate a coup, a violent coup in a polarized society does not end the violence. the violence would continue. we need institutions. we need democracy now. amy: whited the ortega government opened fire on the protesters, more than 100 have been killed? >> that is a very gross exaggegeration. amy: what would you say? what do you say? >> i say the government has agreed the forensic people are

the inter-american commission of human rights a company the nicaraguan prosecutors and a loose dating everyone of those places without gross generalizations, one hears every day, try to put the 10 policemen who have been killed on the account of the government, the government burned down its own mayors offices in various on the that the x houses of the sandinistas. amy: we have to leave it there. we will do a post show. what are you calling for? >> there is bias in the media. taking the black propaganda representing it as fact. there is no balanance. what we need is balance. what we need is dialogue to get to a peace process which can lead to elections and then a broken people decide. monica la paz baltodano.

amy: we will leave it there and put it online at democracynow.org. senior minister for , national policy in president ortega's government. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to