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tv   Democracy Now  LINKTV  July 13, 2018 8:00am-9:00am PDT

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07/13/18 07/13/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy nonow! >> alongsidede thousands ootothr pepeople from a a policy of ford separation uncnconscionablble. hand isisnald trum's an upset -- - >> did youou find it unconscicionable? > yes, i didid. >> where was your protest march when he can -- thahais why -- >> cheout basic facts ouout your eo obama.
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>> he is not my hero, you idiot. amy: protests continue as president from visits britain, with tens of thousands of demonstrators taking to the streets of london today. we'll go to the protests to speak with ash sarkar, the anti-trump coalition organizer who confronted piers morgan during a "good morning britain" interview thursday that went viral. we will speak with gary younge, who writes that "for may, the 'special relationship' means craven compliance." then a judge rules the trump administration may have violated the free speech rights of an asylum-seeking mexican journalist emilio gutierrez-soto , who lived in the u.s. for decades. he has been detained since of timber after he spoke out against u.s. asylum policies. i believe the immigration authorities are in institution based on lies.
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it would appear that i would need to enter the united states with the loopholes on the front and back of my bodies -- bullet holes in the front and back of my body. a mane will speak with fighting for his freedom. then officials say they've reunited just 57 of nearly 3000 migrant children separated from their parents at the border. but some parents who've been released say they've been unable to reunite with their children. >> we can to this country looking for protection and look how we ended up. they have taken our children from us will stop all i am asking for is your impression. and to the president, give me my children back as soon as possible. amy: all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump is facing mass protests in london today, where
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he's meeting with british prime minister theresa may only hours after he criticized her in an explosive interview with the rupert murdoch-owned british tabloid the sun. pres. trump: most likely, because we will be dealing with the european union instead of dealing with the u.k., so it will probably kill the deal. if they do that, the trade to with the u.s. will probably not be made. i did give theresa, whom i like, i did give her my views on what she should do and how she should negotiate. and she did not follow those. i would say she probably went the opposite way. is a trumph supporter. during the interview, trump also praised former foreign secretary boris johnson and criticized the london mayor.
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one of the most prominent muslim politicians in europe. greetingrotests are president trump during his two-day trip to britain, including a 20 foot long giant blimp depicting trump as an angry, orange baby wearing a diaper and clutching a cell phone, ready to tweet. we will go to britain for more on trump's visit in the protests afafter the headlines. his trip to britain comes after a nato summit in brussels after which trump claimed, without evidence, he had convinced other nato countries to dramatically increase their military spending. pres. trump: the people have stepped up today like they have never stepped up before. remember $33 billion more they are paying. you will hear that from the secretary-general in a little while. he thanked me, actually. and everybody in the room thanks to me. there's a great collegial spirit in that room that i don't think
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they have had in many years. amy: french president emmanuel macron said countries had not agreed to increase military spenending beyond the 2% incncre by 2024, a plan that had already been brokered under the obama administration. in immigration news, only 57 of the more than 100 children under the age of five immigration officials separated from their parents have been reunited, despite a tuesday, court-imposed deadline requiring all of these young children to be reunited. on thursday, the trump administration said it could not reunite 46 children because their parents have been accused of c crimes, because the childrn were not related to the people they were separated from, , or,n at least a dozen cases, because u.s. immigration authorities had already deported their parents. in total, about 3000 separated children are detained in facilities across the country. a federal judge has ordered all separated children be reunited with their parents by july 26.
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meanwhile, the trump administration has announced a new asylum policy at the u.s.-mexico border, which instructs immigration officers to immediately reject asylum-seekers who say they are fleeing gangs or domestic violence. it also instructs immigration officers to consider whether asylum-seekers crossed the border outside legal ports of entry and to weigh that against their asylum claims. border patrol agents have been stationed on the mexico side of the bridges at legal ports of entry up and down the border, prohibiting asylum-seekers from entering legally, forcing many to cross at unauthorized entry points. the immigrations and customs enforcement agency, known as ice, says a mexican immigrant named efrain de la rosa has died by suicide while detained in stewart detention center in lumpkin, georgia. the for-profit detention center is owned and operated by corecivic, formerly known as corrections corporation of america. de la rosa is at least the eighth person to die in ice custody so far this year.
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doctors without borders says over 600 people veve drowned orr disappearered while attetemptino cross the mediterranean in the last four weeks. this comes after italy's new right-wing government banned rescue boats from docking in italy. in washington, d.c., fbi agent peter strzok faced off with house republican lawmakers thursday during a hearing convened by the house judiciary and oversight committees. peter strzok oversaw the opening of the investigation into russia's alleged interference in the 2016 election. he also briefly served on special counsel robert mueller's team, investigating trump's ties to russia. he was removed from this team after the release of a series of personal text messages he had exchanged with a senior fbi lawyer, lisa page, with whom he was having an affair, in which strzok expressed his personal opposition to trump. this is strzok responding to republican lawmakers questioning him about one of the messages.
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was written late at night, off-the-cuff, and in response to a series of events that included then candidate trump insulting the immigrant family of a fallen war hero. and my presumption, based on that horrible, disgusting behavior of the american population would not elect somebody demonstrating that behavior to be president of the united states. it was in no way, unequivocally, any suggestion that me, the fbi, would take any action whatsoever to improperly impact electoral process. amy: ireland is slated to become the first country in the world to divest from fossil fuels, after the lower house of parliament voted to require the government to divest its $10 billion investment fund from coal, oil, and gas. 350.org co-founder bill mckibben tweeted -- "ireland's decision to divest from fossil fuels staggers me. it's one of the landmark moments in what has become the largest
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campaign of its kind in history. such thanks to all who fought." the justice department has reopened the investigation into the brutal 1955 murder of emmett till, the 14-year-old afrirican-american boy whose killing in money, , mississippi, 63 years ago remains one of the most horrific examples of racial terror in the jim crow south. emmett till was abducted, beaten, and shot after a white female store clerk named carolyn bryant initially claimed till wolf-whistled at her, though she has since recanted this claim. after bryant made the false accusation, till was kidnapped from his uncle's farm on august 28, 1955. his corpse was found three days later in the tallahatchie river with a bullet hole in his head, barbed wire wrapped around his neck, and a cotton-gin fan weighing down his body. till's mother, mamie till , held an open-caskeket funeral for her son in chicago, and the published images of his brutalized body galvanized the civil rights movement.
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store clerk carolyn bryant's husband, roy bryant, and his half-brother, j.w. milam, were tried and acquitted for till's murder by an all-white, all-male jury that fall. the two later confessed to the murder but have since died.. and carlos russell, one of the major figures in the black liberation movement of the 1960's and 1970's, had died here . he was a panamanian-born educator who was one of the co-founders of black solidarity do. he also served as panama's ambassador to the united nations. carlos russell died tuesday night at maimonides hospital here in new york city. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peacace report. i'm amy goododman. we begin our s show in britain, where president trump is meeting with prime minister theresa may today just hours after warning that a soft brexit will kill britain's chances of a future trade deal with the united states. in an explosive e interview with the rupert murdoch-owned british
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tabloid the sun, in which trump claimed their losing culture did immigration, trump such reason may had ignored his advice on brexit negotiations. pres. trump: if they do a deal like that, they will most likely -- because we will be dealing with the european union instead of dealing with the u.k., so it will probably kill the deal -- if they do that, their trade to with the u.s. will probably not be read. i do give theresa, who i like, i do give her my views on what she should do and how she should negotiate. and she did not follow those views. i would say she p probably went the opposite way. amy: trump went on to praise former foreign secretary boris johnson, calling him britain's future p prime ministeter. johnson resigned earlier this week in protest of brexit negotiations, writing in his resignation letter that the "brexit dream was dying," and "we are truly headed for the
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status of a colony." trump also took aim at london mayor sadiq khan in the interview with the sun. pres. trump: tech a look at the terrorism that is taken place. look at what is going on in london. i think he is done a terrible job. i think all of this immigration has really changed the fabric of europe. i speak as an outsider when i say that, but i speak of someone who loves europe. and i think it is too bad. i think he has done a very bad job on terrorism. i think he has done a bad job on crime. you take a look at your hospital in london -- you know what i'm talking about, with all of the horrible things going on there with all of the crime that is being brought in. and i think he has not been hospitable to a government. amy: sadiq khan is london's first-ever muslim mamayor, one f
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the e most prominent muslim politicians in europe. meanwhile, massive p protests he greeted president trump during his two day trip to brbritain -- including a 20-foot-long giaiant baby t trump blimp outsiside parliament. the balloon depicts the president as an angry orange baby, wearing a a diaper and clutching a cell phone, ready to tweet. we're going to go now to the streets of london to speak with ash sarkar, the anti-trump collision of the nicerer. alongside thousandsds of other people who s signed ththe policf forced separaration constatable. holding g nald trumps and is an utteter embarrassmenent. >> did youou find it unconscionable? >> yes. >> where was your protest march when he came -- >> thahais why -- >> cck out se basic cts out yourero obama. >> he is not my hero, you idiot.
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joins us nowar from parliament square with a second there protests against president trump are underway. welcome to democracy now! why are you in the streets today? >> the reason why i am industries today is because the values that donald trump represents of racism, of misogyny, of spreading hatred and bigotry, are completely out of step with the british public. found that 67% of the british public think donald trump is a poor or terrible president, which is fairly damning, makes for fairly damning reading, as i'm sure you agree with me. once more, this is a tremendous opportunity for the british public to show there is international outcry at trumps policy of border separations,
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separating children from their parents. it is a chance for us to apply pressure to our own government because, i'm not sure if you tooteden, we have been to the fairly embarrassing sight of theresa may clutching onto donald trump sand and kind of he, fromto him while pillar to post, smears her premiership. it is been a really embarrassing week to be british. we got kicked out of the world cup and now this. amy: talk about the trump baby blimp that until just a few minutes ago, was flying over parliament. the mayor of london, who trump attacked for his immigration policies and sadiq khan has made clear they are not his policies, but per minister may's. he is not responsible for immigration in britain, although he says immigration is what makes his country great. this baby blimp of trumpmp, whih
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is clearly so enraged him that --is not coming to london unlike previous presidents. there was massive protest against president bush during the iraq war. he still went to london. .rump is sidestepping london this baby blimp of an orange baby and a diaper of trump holding a cell phone. the significance of this and what this means, reaching the president of the united states through mockery? >> i mean, the thing is that britain has got a great tradition of irreverent political satire. i think this trump baby blimp has been the latest in this long and rich tradition. if trump was truly on the side of free speech, truly on the side of anti-censorship campaign, it would not bother him. you woululd say, well, , i might like this, but this is what you sign u up foror with a healthy d
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liberated democratic culture. instead, a baby blimp, which i think people may see it is satire, baby blimp balloon which should not even register on a presidents list of priororities, especially when he is he ostensibly to broker some kind of trade agreement, when he is here to think about the future of nato. it should not even register. he should not even know about this thing, let alone be taking it so too hard that he is chased away from the capitital city of the nation he has come to visit. in terms of what has been, i think, a bigger threat to him, i think itit is the scale of these protestss. engineered toys 17, with only three days to organize it, we put together a 30,000 strong protest here in westminster. i think the protest today will dwarf even that.
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i think he will longer be able to comfofort himseself with a le is welell-liked by t the britith people. he is despised by the british people. what we know about donald trump is he is got incredibly fragile ego.o. it is all bravado. he has tremendously thin skin. i ththinwere he to be confronted with a load of that -- scale of that loathing, he would be intimidated. that is why he is running around , maybe going to his golf course -- frankly, he is scared of democratic participation. amy: talk about the context of that interview yesterday that has gone viral with piers morgan that you did, were you called him in idiot. amy?ere is the lie, the men is a buffoon. i went on to talk a bit about trumps policy.
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i prepared to talk about the fact that he is not looking after the british interest. i wanted toish -- talk about the fact he cannot be trusted to live up to international agreement, looking at the iran deal, the paris climate accord, looking at his treatment of nato just this week. however, piers morgan, who really does have the bags of a particularly belligerent walrus, would not let me get a word in. instead, kept talking about obama's immigration policy -- which was criticized widely not just by myself, but many other leftists in the u.k. as well as to forgive me for losing my patience a bit and calling him an idiot. i'm also taking them to task for his we interviewing of trump. >> trump was interviewed by the sun, the rupert murdoch-owned paper.
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rupert murdoch is a supporter of trump. this is what he had to say about what is happening to britain and europe. pres. trump: i think the immigration, allowing the immigration to take place in europe is a shame. i think it changed the fabric of europe. unless you act very quickly, it is never going to be what it was. i don't mean that in a positive way. amy: "and i don't mean that in a positive way," said trump, that immigration is changing the fabric of europea. sh, if you could respond? >> you know what? immigration has tremendously change the fabric of this country. immigration is what built our nhs, when britain invited people from the commonwealth, from nations that had formerly colonized, in order to rebuild this country after the ravages of the second world war. without immigration, we would not have the national health service. we would not have a functioning civil service, social and health
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care service. we would not have teachers. we would not have bus drivers. we would not have lawyers. we would not have all of these people that make this country great. donald trump has greatly misjudged the temperature of this country. yes, we have been telling with an uptick in xenophobia and racism, particularly following the brexit vote, but we've also seen in recent polling that that has made progressives in this country a lot more vocal about articulating the fact that immigration benefits the social and economic fabric of this country. out like just immigration, if f you doesn't le foreign travel to this country, he is free to leave at anytime he wants. we don't want him here. amy: ash sarkar, thank you for being with us, with the anti-trump coalition, standing at the protest site. i want to go to gary younge in studio in london editor-at-large , for the guardian and a columnist at the nation. gary, if you can respond to the visit of president trump and the
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protest forcing him to change his itinerary. he is afraid to be in london right now, or just refusing to be here, visited sandhurst in the morning and now with prime minister theresa may. think there are two things that really explain these protests. the first is domestic, really, which is our utter embarrassment and horror that our government and our prime minister would be the first out of the blocks to run and have invited trump -- she rushed to be the first prime minister, first world leader to have met him. and his visit is an insult to every right minded, right-thinking person. particularly, given his misogynist comments, xenophohobc on,ents, his racism and so
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to the kind of britain that many of us are engaged in in building. every migrant, black person, muslim, and so on. so domestically, for our own sake, we have to say this man is not welcome. britain has a law that people, for example, mr. fara cam, is not allowed to come to britain because it is decided his presesence would not be conducie to the present good. you can banan him, trump. solidarityo get our .o the resistance in america i was the guardian correspondent in america for 12 years. we know that while trump didwin election, he does not represent the vast numbers of americans, literally, most americans, even
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if you just take the numbers who voted for him, and it is important that the world understand that he is not welcome here and that, actually, all of those people who have hit the women'sating, marches, the marches against the border protest, the marches against his racism and so on, that the are with you. we are with you. in most countries in europe, particularly, but beyond, have their own version of a trump. we are all in this together. amy: so this interview that trump did with the sun --this tabloid owned by rupert murdoch ---- in which he praised a foren secretarary boris johnson, who resigned earlier this week. this is what he said. pres. trump: he was leaving government. i hope he goes back in at some
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point because i think he is a very -- i think he is a great representative for your country. i was very surprised and saddened he was getting out of government. and you lost some other very good people. i'm not pitting one against the other, i just say he would be a great prime minister. amy: i don't know if donald trump's presence and his words make you feel any something for the prime minister theresa may, gary irma but this explosive interview where he is basically endorsing the person who will be her competitor, boris johnson? >> yeah, i mean, the chickens coming home to roost. not only is he insulting in thents and muslims london mayor and so forth, but he is actually insulting his hostess, the very person who invited him. and it is as though the term
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"diplomacy" never happened. he comes out of europe come out of the nato summit having pretty much insulted everybody in that said, well, i think that went quite well. now here he is. boris johnson is a buffoon. he is an incredibly -- he is from a very upper class background. he went to eton, the same school that queens kids go to and david primen, the previous minister went to. you don't get much more elite than that. he has gone in print talking about smiling pic enemies with their watermelon smile. he was a terrible foreign secretary. the reason hehe resigned, having been the significant part of the brexit campaign, is really not a point of principle. i'm not sure he has many of those. , that a point of ambition
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they went to checkers, which is the prime minister's residence. she laid out her brexit policy, which is not a great posted because brexit is not a great idea. and johnson said it was like polishing a turd. itn he said he would support anyway. them within about 48 hours, someone else had resigned and he thought, oh, here's my chance, maybe here's my chance, so i should resign, too. this is not a man of principle. he is not a future prime minister. he is the very, very bad joke that has been played on both this country and the rest of the world. amy: i want to ask you about sadiq khan, the mayor of london. it is not only the mayor of london, the home secretary who came into office it just the last few months also his heritage is from pakistan. do you think these were direct hits on the changing complexion
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of british politics? >> well, yeah. i mean, trump is a racist. first of all, his comments are historicalal. barbados, butfrom we're here in britain because you were there." my mother came here is a british citizen that most of these places he is talking about like pakistan were under british rule. and so if you're wondering where this migration comes frorom, we, then, it is right there in your history. at a fundamental misunderstanding -- but a fundamental misunderstanding about what a modern life is. we have changed the fabric. look at most of the football teams. look at the french football team. with the british football team -- or the british football team or the belgian football team.
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look at our parliament. along, long way from saying we have achieved anything in the realm of equality. at the fact of our prisons is not contested until you start talking to someone like trump who is like, well, what are all of these people doing here? of pakistani origin, is the new home secretary. sadiq khan of pakistan heritage is the london mayor. frankly, for us in l london, for most of usn n london, , that isa fact of life. they tried to smear sadiq khan with accusations that he was kind of, in some way, connected to jihadi -- it did not work. it did not work because for the most part, londoners are over that. they can see past that.
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amy: gary, this is -- britishuturure as both and multiraracial and multicultural. amy: gary, this is your mayor -- >> apart from a guy like trump. and go this is london mayor sadiq khan respondiding to tru's racist rant on "good morning britain." >> my y messagage to president p is, we londoners like your country. we l love americans. there arare americans who contriribute to our r city econc week, socially, and c culturally and we thank them for r what thy do. i hope y you realize w we as a y are really diverse. we have a variety of views that arare held by manyny peopl we are b both londonerers with difffferent views, but we respet each other. the wonderfulhing aboutut our cicity is our didiversity. it is a ststrength, not t a weaknessss. i hope in the next two days, you'll experieiee some of that diversity and realize it is a strength not to be afraid of, but to be cherished. amy: that is the mayor. i wanted to ask you to respond
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to what he is saying and also the effects of britain, of brexit on communities of color, on poorer communities. is there a disparate effect? and what is the brexit that president trump has so attacked that theresa may is putting forward that boris johnson has quit over? first of all, i should say i voted to remain. i voted against brexit. but there were reasonable arguments about why we should leave the european union. it wasn't all one way. but sadly, most of those arguments were not made and certainly did not come to the fore. it primarily came -- became about immigration, sovereignty in a warped way, and a very little england mentality. so then we leave the european union and britain starts to find
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out how small it is. yes, at one stage, the sun never set on a british empire phrase was true. at the empire is gone and we are a small country. and we were better when we were part of a large unit, and we no longer are. theresa may did not support brexit, johnson did. but then once the vote had been taken, the question is, how you leave? it has taken a year and have of the government negotiating with itself before it could come up with a plan. in the plan is not very good. the plane is not very good because what the plan says is we will take most -- we will accept most of the rules of the european union, but we will be outside of it and so we won't have much of a say. or any say, actually. the trouble is, there isn't really a good way for britain to leave the european union and for that to work out well. so when trump says, well, if i
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was doing it, it would have been different. well, it would have almost certainly been worse. the problem in terms of the brexit that has been negotiated is that they are trying to make the best out of a very bad job, and they are making -- and they're also making a hash of it . when it comes to the spinoff of brexit, , there is a thing calld the no racism, which is -- xeno racism. much of the brexit conversation was about the number of polish people, romanians, eastern europeans who have come in with open eu borders and some people argue, wrongly, i think, are pushing wages down. bledthat xenophobia has quite easily, quite effortlessly, and to attacks on
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black and brown people who nobody assumes are coming from romania or poland. the number of attacks of women black peoples are have spiked and continue to be high after brexit. in terms of who is going to be worse affected, honestly, i think the people who are going to be worst affected are many of the people who actually voted for brexit. anyway people in rundown, working-class, northern towns -- most black people voted to remain in the european union. most muslims voted to remain. but many white working class people in particularly northern industrial towns that in manyy ways w were supported by europen union funds, but felt this was a chance to give the establishment a kick in the teeth? they're probably the people who'll bee worse affected, in ththat position. amy: gary younge, thank you for being with us, did her at-large for the guardian and a columnist
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at the nation. his latetest piece is "foror ma, the 'spspecial relationship' mes crcraven compliance." when we come back, a mexican journalist seeking asylum in the united states who is lived here for 10 years was detained. a judge says his free-speech rights may have been violated because he was detained after criticizing the u.s. government. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!,
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democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to a major development in the case of a jailed mexican journalist that democracy now! has followed closely. in el paso, texas, on wednesday, a federal judge issued a 26-page ruling that questioned the trump administration's detention of emilio gutierrez-soto and his son oscar and ordered an august 1 hearing to examine whether he has lived in the u.s. for the past decade. he has since won the national press club's freedom of the press award. speaking to democracy now! in a jailhouse interview last december, emilio gutierrez-soto said deportation would be a death sentence. >> well, if we are deported, that obviously implies death. why? , under the department of homeland security of the united states, by law,
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must have a report to the immigration authorities in mexico and a consulate. an immigration officials in mexico have no credibility. it is impossible to trust in them. to the contrary, many of those officials, many of the personnel at the c consulate, or immigratn service, are caught up with organized crime. amy: that is emilio gutierrez-soto interviviewed on democracy now! from jail. he is been detained since we spoke to him in december. mexico is s one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, with at least media workers killed so far this seven year alone. for more on whwhat this neww hearing could mean for emilio and his son oscar, , are joined by three guests. oscar has also been jailed since here in new york, penny venetis december. is a rurutgers university law professor who filed the first amendment challenge in gutierrez-soto's case. in el paso, texas, eduardo
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beckett is gutierrez-soto's lawyer. and in washington, d.c., bill mccarren is the executive director of the national press club, which has demanded emilio be set free. we welcome you all to democracy now! we begin with penny venetis. talk about the significance of this judge's ruling and what it was that you applied for relief for. >> well i'm a we filed a petition for habeas corpus, which literally means in latin "we have the body." we argued emilio was detained because he had made statements that are critical to the u.s. immigration policy and to the trump administration. and the timing of his detention is really what the judge focused on. we showed weeks after emilio accepted a very prestigious award from the national press club and criticized u.s.
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immigration policy, he was detained. he had been living freely for 10 years in the united states, established himself in las cruces, new mexico posted a very vibrant community. he was an integral part of that. he met every zynga requirement that immigration -- single requirement that immigration is placed on him. it was uncanny that after he became public and talked about u.s. immigration policy, that he was detained. we argued that his detention by ice was based solely on his statements and his criticism of use immigratation policy, and we were able to back that up. we were able to show that a million was on a hit list, basically, -- in mill was on a hit list, basically, that was put out right after trump took office that showed he was on a though hisested even immigration case had not been decided, even of his asylum case had not been adjudicated.
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he was already on the list o o 2500 people who were targeted for arrest. and the court found immigration's desk the u.s. government statements that he was detained solely because he lost his asylum claim was pretextual because we reveal the z mills and we also made a strong case that his arrest coincided very, very strongly with political statement you made. amy: were did you get this list of 2500 people? >> or a freedom of information act request the national press club did. name is just one of 2500. it was put out run after the inauguration of president trump. amy: in the judge's ruling, he wrote -- "mr. gutierrez-soto criticized ice in a very public manner while accepting a prestigious award from the national press club. his arrest occurred only a couple of months later. william mccarren, the executive
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director of the national press club affirms under oath that an ice official told him to 'tone it down' during a meeting regarding mr. gutierrez-soto, and he interpreted the comment in the context of the conversation to mean that the media should stop attracting attention to petitioners' cause." that is the judges statement. judge guaderrama ruled this evidence supported your claim that ice "retaliated against them for asserting their free speech rights." bill mccarren, is that right, joining us from d.c. explain what happened, how you felt threatened. >> in the meeting that is referred to in the judge's decision, we were there several days before christmas asking for emilio's release. we knew they had problems with space in the facility and we got
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there was a chance around christmastime something might happen. person andty calm the meeting was cordial for a while, but i became very demonstrative in the meeting and at some point, the lead counsel for ice said we should tone it -- itnd that we should was in regard to the presentation that we were making at that time to ask for his release. i was there representing media, media interest in the national press club. and thatatay we were headed for ages conference at 1:00. i want to return to that in the second because i think that is important. but this message that we should tone it down before our 1:00 news conference -- it was clear to me that they were trying to fire a shot across the bough > that this would not be good for emilio gutierrez-soto legally --
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and other words, keep this all quiet and calm interna down or your guy may have trouble processing through our system, right? or he may have some kind of other trouble. it was in an attempt at intimidation. this was the lead counsel for ice in the el pasoso district. amy: so talk about, bill, why you gave emilio gutierrez-soto this major award from the national press club. talk about the significance of this and his statement before the press club. >> sure. we give an award every year for press freedom. there is been a terrible problem in mexico, violence against journalists. without the writing that emilio have proroduced was a a great -e thought the writing that emilio s bravery.y. use calling out military officials, shaking down people
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in his town. he knew this was dangerous. he took the risk. at some point the risk was so high that he fled. some we one case will know there were many cases like this in mexico were journalists were in danger. was a greatmilio example to put a spotlight on this problem. emilio is a very articulate, outspoken person. he was in the pressss club. i think he was moved to give free rein to his thoughts. very interesting preresentatioin where he spoke about ice and our policies, spoke quite a bit about mexico. it is uncommon -- i don't think his comments are, they are similar to comments he made in las cruces or other areas. he is an outspoken person. in this case, i think the ice policy of locking emilio is try
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to silence them. i think that is part of what the judge saw as well. we were glad to have him. he's such a wonderful person. no one was concerned about him having a full set of cutlery. this is not a dangerous person. we were delighted to have him at our black-tie event. so when i saw him in december in what essentially is a prison, where everything is controlled and all objects are kept from him, it is really startling. he has got an important contribution to make to our society as we are trying to solve these very complicated problems at the border. mexicant of view, journalist point of view on these matters, is very important. and for it to be suppressed in this way is not helpful to solving in of our problems, and it is cruel and unfair to emilio . amy: this is emilio gutierrez-soto and his son in texas. he first sought asylum in the united states in 2000 eight
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after receiving the death threats for reporting on alleged corruption in the mexican military, detained after his asylum appeal was denied. i want to go to a clip of what he said to us, speaking through a translator from the for-profit west texas detention center. this is a clip of him spepeaking at the national press club. please do notase, forget us. publish thet to pain, terrifying situation that i am in, and the terrifying haver in which journalists to work in mexico. amy: that was emilio speaking to the national press club. in fact, he was detained at the time, is that right, bill mccarren? >> at the time he was speaking
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of the press club, he was not detained. amy: he spoke twice to the press club. once in persrson and o once from joe. >> oh, yes, i'm sorry. we did have him come in via audio, and that is the clip you are playing there. jail. calling from his attorney patched them through. it was a very moving event. we're many journalists in the room that were there to cover our presentation. we did not know w we were goingo on the toto get emilio phone. so just a few days after he had been picked up. and on his way to being deported.. lookut outstanding her little work by beckett, emilio would have been deported. he an oscar. it was only an emergency stay that was able to solve this for
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the moment. and then seven months now he has been in jail, a man with no criminal record being held in what is in our maturity attention. amy: i want to go to eduardo beckett, emilio's lawyer. what is the status of his casese right now? his immigration case has been reinstated? >> yes. they every is stated his asylum claim and we have a hearing coming up on august 16 at 10:30 a.m. here in el paso, texas, going before the judge and going to have a status conference and basically talk about how to proceed forward and what kind of evidence the judge will consider. the judge must consider his entire asylum claim and all of the experts and expert opinions and country conditions. so that is what will happen august 16. amy: before that, explain the significance of this free-speech ruling that just came down.
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>> it is a great win for emilio ever journalists and for the first amendment. basically, we are fighting to death cases. one it -- fighting to cases. one is an asylum claim before a judge and the other is before a federal district court, hideous, to get emilio out. the significance is on august 1, if the district court judge is committed that the government retaliated against emilio on his first a memorize, he shall be released so he can present his asylum case outside a detention center. it is been seven months of torture, pain and suffering. his 55then -- spent birthday behind a joke. 25th workso spent his they behind a jail cell. it is pure torture and pain for a father to be in jail with his
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young son who should be out going to school, having fun, and not in a jail setting just for seeking asylum. amy: penny venetis, the significance of this case for all journalists in the united states? >> it is critical for all journalists but also asylum seekers. right now we're all focused on asylum being separated from their families. this ruling says asylum-seekers have constitutional rights, and those rights include the right to free speech and the right to criticize the u.s. government from which the asylum-seekers are seeking asylum. it really has very, very broad and close occasions -- obligations. anis a victory for emilio oscar in journalists, but more important, for asylum-seekers. it says even though you are being detained in the united states, you still have the ability to criticize that. and those,'s cannot be used against you in your asylum proceedings -- comments cannot
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be used against you in your cell in proceedings. amy: i want to thank you all for being with us, penny venetis, law professor at rutgers university. eduardo beckett, lawyer for emilio gutierrez-soto. of thecarren, head national press club, speaking to us from washington, d.c. in 30 seconds, we will review what has happened so far in the family separation cases. whwhat has happened to the children, scores of them under five who are still languishing in jails around the country. and then what about the 3000 children who are supposed to be reunited by july 26? stay with us. ♪ [music break]
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amy: performing here in our studios. to see the full interview and performances, go to democracynow.org. two days after a court-imposed deadline, the trump administration said thursday that just 57 of the e children 103 under the age of five have been reunited with their parents after they were separated at the border under the zero tolerance
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policy. officials said they could not reunite the other 46 children because their parents have been accused of crimes, because the children were not related to the people they were separated from, or, in at least a dozen cases, because u.s. immigration authorities had already deported their parents. in total, about 3000 separated children are in detention centers and facilities across the united states. a judge has ordered all separated children reunited with their parents by july 26. some migrant parents who have bebeen released from detentionoy they've been unable to reunite with their children because of bureaucratic hurdles. on wednesday, democracy now!'s laura gottesdiener spoke with a honduran mother who had bebeen separated from her two children at the border. after being released from the hutto detention center in texas, she flew here to new york to try to reunite with her children being held at one of cayuga centers' facilities in east harlem, but she is definitely get her children released to her. name is maria, and i am in new york. i am here looking foror my children. they have them inin here.
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folks what are you here when our children are inside? >> because i was separated from them. was releasesed l last friday from detention, but my are still here inside, and they won't release them to me. they say the fingerprints a sister andnd husband sent still have not arrivived, and out tod, they're a asking for my fifingerprinints. rerei need thihis process to be fasterer. i need my childreren to be with me. my family has spent a month fighting to get my children released, and so far it has not been possible. my family has not been able. my husbandnd a and my sister hae come here, butut they just keep saying they're fingerprints have not arrived yet. so i need this process to be faster because i want to be with my children already. this is really difficult for us.
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what we are suffering as mothers. we are asking g for help so thee process can bebe faster and our children c can be reunited quicy with us. >> how old are your chihildren? >> one is 11 years old and the other is seven years old. >> where re: from? >> hunter is. >> whahat is your message to the public and to your children? children, i love them so much and i'm suffering so much for them. and to the public that is been us, i w want to say thank you and i hope you keeeep supporting us so our familieses can be together soon because this is really difficult for us. we came to this country looking for protection and look how we have ended up.
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they have taken our children from us. this is so difficult. as a mother, i have been so hurt by what they have done to me. all because i left my country, fleeing from the gangs. i sold my house to protect my children, and now here they have separated me from them. it is so hard living through this. all i am asking for is your compassion. and to the president, give me my children back as soon as possible. the most.at i need amy: that is mararia honduran , a mother who has not been able to reunite with her two children, seven and 11, who were separated from her at the border. this comes as the trump administration has announced a new asylum pololicy at the u.s.s.-mexico border, which instructs s immigration officers to immediately r reject asylum-seekers who say they are fleeing gangs or domestic violence. it alslso instructs immigration officers to consider whether asylylum-seekersrs crossed the border o outside legal ports o f entry and to weigh that against
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their asylum claims. border patrol agenents have been stationed on the mexico side of the brbridges atat legal ports f entry up and down the border, prohibiting asylum-seekers from entering legally, forcing many to cross at unauthorized entry points. in our last minute of this broadcast, we are joined by renee feltz, democracy now! correspondent who has long reported on the criminalization immigrant families. her new story for the nation was reported in partnership with the investigative fund at the nation institute and it is headlined "for some migrant families, a second separation awaits." give us an update on the these separated families. herere she says there waiting fr her fingerprint and in other cases, we hear dna. >> they may not be able to cle ore with their un grandmother, clearly the relatives. if they have to get a dna test, that to pay for that. and fingerprints. at our slip of the next ups the parents have to
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take was there reuniteted. .aura has done a great job i think journalists can look closely at how the trump administration is clamping down on the rights of these people as they go through court to seek asylum. families come to the u.s. to seek asylum. this case that i reported on in my story for the nation suggest parents who do their asylum claim denied, which is likely to the new limits sessions has implemented, they may have to decide, and my going to go back to the country i fled with my child in the u.s. to face a separate asylum claim? the have additional opportunities they can pursue. these are parents whose children think that abandon them. we've heard that arabs have -- we've heard reports that children don't even remember what the parents look like. amy: we will continue to follow this next week. thank you, renee feltz. that does it for this broadcast. happy birthday to carl marxer.
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democracy now! is looking fo x
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[drum beating] [c[children playing] sami yaffa: drugs, cacartels, arbitrary violence.e. five decades of civil war, kididnappings, and people disappearing. when you get over the country's frightening reputation, you will find an uncommonly rich and unique musical culture bubbling under the surface. welcome to colombia. i'm sami yaffa, and i'm a rock

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