tv Democracy Now LINKTV July 20, 2018 8:00am-9:01am PDT
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[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! because of the fight, we had no way to communicate with their family. amy: a historic peace deal between ethiopia and eritrea ends 20 years of a state of war that saw 70,000 killed and thousands of families separated. will get response from ethiopian
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writer awol allo and from eritrean human rights activist vanessa berhe, whose uncle, a journalist, has been jailed since 2001. then, as hundreds of migrant families remain separated, more than 2000, we will speak with reveal reporter aura bogado about how some children released from federally-contracted shelters had scabies and lice, while others had been injected with drugs against their will. she's also exposed a second office used by the contractor mvm to hold my grandchildren -- this time, the children had to bath in bathroom sinks. , a privatee contractor with heavy ties to the cia, in fact, it was founded have an secret agent, office in which neighbors described dozens of children going in over the span of several weeks a nevereaving until the weeks ter. y: a we willook at t
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emotnal and ychologil separation with an el salvadore and mher who reunit -- el salvadoan moer who w reunitewith her son. >> the daye reunitedit was like he lt h i had lt him --urt i h left hi i felt le he hadomethinge waed to te me,ut he cod , butxpress it at his age he said looking at me with a gaze. amy: we also speech as a psychoanalyst who published a pamphlet aimed at helping parents separated from their children. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report, i'm amy goodman. the white house said thursday that president trump will invite russian president vladimir putin to visit washington, d.c. in the fall. news of the invitation capped a week of damage contr by the
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white house, after trump said at a summit with putin in helsinki , that he didn't see any reason why russia would have meddled in the 2016 election. trump's invitation to putin appeared to catch top administration officials by surprise. this is nbc news correspondent andrea mitchell, breaking the news to director of national intelligence, dan coats, during the aspen security forum in colorado on thursday. >> the white house has announced on twitter that vladimir putin is coming to the white house in the fall. >> say that again? [laughter] vladimir putin bag coming to the white house. >> ok. [laughter] that is going to be special. [laughter] but not everyone in the washington dc establishment is opposed.
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thomas pickering told cnn today that the president we got is the president we got, the problems we have with russia are the problems we have with russia, not talking never get to anywhere. meanwhile, the white house on thursday said it was no longer considering an unprecedented proposal that would have seen russian interrogators question former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul and other u.s. citizens in exchange for allowing special counsel robert mueller's team to interview 12 russians indicted last week for allegedly hacking the emails of democrats during the 2016 election. trump was initially warm to the proposal, proposed by vladimir putin, calling it an incredible offer. but trump reversed course thursday after the senate voted 98-0 for a nonbinding resolution opposing any such deal. after current and former diplomats rallied to the defense it would, saying
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undermine the bedrock principle of diplomatic immunity. the resolution came after republican leaders barred a vote on two other russia-related measures. one, proposed by vermont independent bernie sanders, would have demanded president trump speak with special counsel robert mueller. another resolution would have backed the finding by u.s. intelligence agencies that russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. that resolution had the support of arizona republican senator jeff flake. in hispresident, dystopian novel, "1984," george orwell wrote the party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and years, it was the most final, essential command. well, we saw earlier this weekend in helsinki what was truly an orwellian moment. amy: the trump administration on thursday announced plans to roll back the endangered species act, ordering federal agencies to consider economic impacts before listing animals as protected
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under the law. the newly proposed guidelines by the interior department would allow corporations involved in mining, drilling, or other forms of extraction to proceed with projects that would otherwise be prohibited. in response, the natural resources defense council tweeted, "this is unacceptable. the esa is a wildly successful piece of legislation that has prevented 99% of the species it protects from going extinct." aides to former epa administrator scott pruitt held a newly-purchased office desk in storage to air out for a few days, after raising concerns that it contained formaldehyde. that's according to "politico," which obtained an email showing staffers sought to shield pruitt from the toxic chemical after he purchased the desk as part of a $9,500 redecoration of his office. "politico" reports that, just months later, the same aides blocked the release of a report on the health dangers of formaldehyde.
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that report continues to be blocd. declaring that health care is a human right, at least 70 democrats have signed on to a new medicare for all house caucus. speaking on capitol hill thursday, caucus co-chair, congressmember pramila jayapal of washington, said the u.s. could provide universal healthcare by lowering the age of medicare eligibility from 65 to 0. >> we are united today by the common conviction that health care is a human right. [applause] must belth care affordable and acceptable to all residents of the united states and that one way to ensure health care for all is to use the system that already exists for millions of seniors over the last half-century and that is medicare. re---ells fargo will refund hundreds of thousands of
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dollars after attacked on tens of millions of dollars in fees for services they never requested, including insurance against identity theft and debt protection. this comes just months after federal regulators fined wells fargo $1 billion for forcing people to buy auto insurance policies they didn't need, for improperly charging mortgage holders, and for other financial crimes. on capitol hill, democrats on the senate banking committee grilled kathy kraninger, president trump's nominee to head the beleaguered consumer financial protection bureau, an agency opposed by republicans, which has seen its operations severely curtailed under the trump administration. this is north dakota democrat heidi heitkamp questioning kraninger. >> have you ever worked at a bank or credit union? >> senator, i have not. you ever had oversight or regulated a bank or credit union? >> know, i have not. >> have you ever been responsible for oversight or leadership in supervising payday lenders? >> no, i have not.
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amy: kraninger is a senior official at the white house office of management and budget, who has proposed cutting nearly $150 million -- or about a quarter from the cfpb's budget. she assisted the trump administration's bungled response to hurricane maria in puerto rico, and helped craft the "zero tolerance" policy at the u.s.-mexico border that's seen thousands of immigrant children separated from their parents. this is massachusetts democratic senator elizabeth warren. >> you see the videos of some of these children returned to their parents after long separations. they are dazed, unsmilin dirty. it is like the life has been sucked out of em. whoe are innocent children may be scarred forever by this policy. it is fundamentally immoral and you were part of it. will a moral stain that follow you for the rest of your life. amy: senator warren's comments came as federal officials
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reported thursday that just 364 of some 2500 families with children aged 5 and older have been brought back together, less than a week before a court-ordered deadline to reunite children and parents. we'll have more on the emotional and psychological impact of the trump administration's immigration policies later in the broadcast. in the gaza strip, one palestinian was killed and three others wounded wednesday after israeli warplanes bombed a security observation post near the rafah border crossing with egypt. israel said it was targeting palestinians launching incendiary devices on kites flown over israel's militarized border with gaza, which it blames for burning crops on israeli farms. in southern israel, defense minister, avigdor liberman, said today, israel is preparing to launch a "large and painful military operation close vote that he said would rival the 2014 assault on gaza, which killed over 2,300 palestinians while leaving 17,000 injured. this came as israel further tightened its blockade on the
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gaza strip, barring deliveries of natural gas and other fuels. in a statement, the un's office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said israel's fuel blockade would exacerbate the already dire living conditions in gaza, and raised concerns of collective punishment. back in the united states, at least 11 people drowned thursday evening in branson, missouri, after their amphibious boat capsized. the death's came as more than two dozen tornadoes injured more than a dozen people. secretaryecurity kirstjen nielson on thursday backed president trump's defense of violent white supremacists who attacked counter-protesters in charlottesville, virginia , last august, saying "both sides" were to blame for attacks that left one counter-protester
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, and antiracist protester, dead and dozens more injured. nielsen made the remark at a forum organized by the aspen institute. what is important about that conversation is that that it is not one side is right or wrong. anyone that is advocating violence, we need to work to mitigate. amy: last august 11th, hundreds of torch-bearing white supremacists held a march on the campus of the university of virginia, chanting "blood and soil," and "jews will not replace us." the next day, members of the group attacked counter-protesters, firing at least one shot from a pistol, and brutally beating 20-year-old deandre harris in a parking garage, before a neo-nazi named james alex fields drove his car into a crowd of demonstrators, murdering a local paralegal named heather heyer and injuring at least 19 others. in new york city, the nypd said thursday it will immediately hold internal disciplinary hearings for sergeant daniel pantaleo, the officer filmed killing african-american staten island resident eric garner with a fatal chokehold in july 2015, while garner said "i can't
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breathe" 11 times. now!, eric democracy garner's mother said she wants to see other officers on the scene of her son's death held accountable. >> what i would liked to see is that all of the officers are held accountable and transparent and that they get fired from the force before they are the ones that are responsle for my son's death. amy: and in new york's hudson valley, protesters gathered wednesday outside the troy police department to demand justice for dahmeek mcdonald, an unarmed african american who was fatally shot last august during a traffic stop. the protest came after a grand jury voted not to indict jarrod iler, the police officer who shot mcdonald in the head and arm. protestors called for governor andrew cuomo to appoint an independent prosecutor, demanded that the city of troy create a civilian review board, drawing comparisons to the national pattern of police officers receiving preferential treatment after extra-judicial shootings
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of people of color. this is dahmeek mcdonald's uncle, messiah cooper, speaking wednesday. >> we have to call on the governor to step in. ,ot only when there is a murder but in any aggressive force used by the police. the attorney general needs to step in and handle the case. it just cannot be if they kill us. [applause] and even when they kill us, we still receive no justice. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show looking at the storic peace effort in east africa between ethiopia and eritrea, where leaders of the neighboring countries have signed a "joint declaration of peace and friendship" and declared an end to the nearly two decades of a state of war. from 1998 to 2000, ethiopia and eritrea fought a border war in
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which 70,000 people were killed. since then, ongoing disputes had kept the two countries in a state of conflict. on thursday, the pro-government eritrean press agency announced on its facebook page that eritrea has withdrawn its troops from the heavily militarized border with ethiopia as a "gesture of reconciliation." on wednesday, the first direct flights between ethiopia and eritrea in 20 years took off from addis ababa, headed to eritrea's capital asmara. the majority of the flights' passengers were members of families separated by the long-running "state of war" between the neighboring countries. this is an eritrean passenger, abraham tilahun. >> it has been like 22 years. , we did nothe fight have an address to communicate with our family. piece, i have come here to live for my family.
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and i have a business. meanwhile, on mony, eritrea reopened its embassy in ethiopia. ethiopia's prime minister abiy ahmed and eritrea's president isaias afwerki spoke at the event in addis ababa. >> forgiveness is to count the trespasses caused in the journey. even if the offender does not ask for forgiveness, the offended has the right to forgive. it is not necessary to have a recipient to make forgiveness. >> because of our past historical and cultural synergy, we have overcome the plot to spread hate and revenge among ourselves and we are determined to move forward. amy: for more on this historic peace deal and what comes next
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we joined by two guests. awol allo, a frequent ethiopian political commentator, and lecturer at the keele university school of law in staffordshire, england. his recent article for al jazeera is titled, "torture, state terrorism and ethiopia's transformation." and joining us from london is vanessa berhe, an eritrean human rights activist who founded the group one day seyoum, which campaigns for the release of her uncle, eritrean photojournalist who was imprisoned in 2001 amid -- 2001. we welcome you both to democracy now! we're going to begin with awol allo. can you talk about the significance of this coming together? as you say, this is such a historic coming together of two countries to have such a strong thatction, one of the most society could find around the world. for these countries to go beyond the pain, the trauma, the
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induced byhat is that absolutely meaningless war and to get to a place where the countries stand together and say, we have been deprived of those very important moments of togetherness and now is the time to move forward for the betterment of both countries, i think that is a historic and extremely significant move. can you talk about how this was accomplished, for people who are not familiar with the history between ethiopia and eritrea? so, ethiopia and eritrea are two of the most closely connected countries. eritrea was part of ethiopia until 1991. , there were several movements that had been fighting
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against the ethiopian government. one of the strongest movements liberationg forhe of eritrea. the strongest movement was led by the former ethiopian prime minister. it was led by other people over but itrse of time, finally brought down the ethiopian government. these are people that knew each other very well, that fought against this shoulder to shoulder. years after every --p became desperate eritrea eritrea became independent, there were disagreements between their two leaderships and they were not able to solve them peacefully and the used a
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desolate piece of land as a pretext to go to war and it was one of the most senseless and meaningless wars because there was no justification for those two countries to go to war. by the end of the war, the two countries agreed to settle their disputes peacefully and one important component of that peace resolution was to admit the differences and appoint an independent boundary commission to look at the legal issues and those countries agreed that the decision of the commission would be final and binding for both countries. the commission look at the matter and reached the conclusion, essentially giving and othero eritrea areas to ethiopia. then the easy and dust ethiopian government essentially refused
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to abide -- ethiopian government essentially refused to abide by the agreement. so we had no peace. both countries were bent on destabilizing one another and the region. the 2006 war between ethiopia and somalia was very much a conflict between ethiopia and eritrea. it also significantly affected the landscape within ethiopia and eritrea. amy: where did the united states fit into its -- this picture? awol: ethiopia is a very large country. ethiopia is strategic and the war on terror. it became almost one of the
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and a key counterterrorism ally of the united states in the horn of africa. as a result, ethiopia received financial and economic and technical support from the united states. at the same time, there was a process of isolating and sidelining eritrea by the ethiopian government. the united states was not constructive at all. the number of sanctions imposed , they were the result of ethiopia and the united states government. the ethiopian government used the discourse and the landgrab not just to isolate era trail by presenting itself the only power that can provide stability in the region, but also to engage in plans within ethiopia itself.
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it has not been constructive at all and i don't think the usa played any part in the current agreements between the countries. , ithe u.s. played any role think this is the success of two african countries without needing the support or babysitting of western , sticking together, hammering out key issues. it is a very important milestone. we will see where they can go from here. everything suggests there is a strong desire to move forward. amy: this is the ethiopian prime minister speaking earlier this month. betweenere is peace ethiopian and eritrean people, the horn of africa will be a region of development.
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our people who live scattered will come back with dignity, our citizens will not be sold in exchange like commodities. amy: in addition to the ethiopian --in addition to awol eritreanessa berhe, an human rights activist, whose uncle, and eritrean photojournalist, who was imprisoned in 2001 and has been there ever since. your thoughts on what this historic moment? for me, the war with in itsa is only relevant relationship to the situation and eritrea. eritrea is considered to be one of the worst dictatorships in the world. the government has justified themselves with war. peace foriority is the eritrean people, peace in
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eritrea for their lives when it comes to freedom of movement, freedom of religion. peace for them. to this extent, we have not seen remarks regarding the situation in eritrea. until that comes, i cannot be optimistic about this peace. amy: can you talk about your uncle? , thesa: following the war eritrean government decided to turn into a dictatorship. politicianswn criticizing the government's actions. my uncle was one of the journalists imprisoned in that. family members have not been able to visit them or get information about their whereabouts. he has been in prison 17 years. i've been advocating for him for about five years and we have not
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got any information from the government. we have been advocating for him and his colleagues of forums, conferences, at the u.n., the african union. the reply is that the second the war the ethiopia -- with ethiopia and come everything will go back to normal. your uncle or will be released. will be opened again, elections will happen. these are the promises we have been given from the government and these are the promises we are still waiting to be implemented and addressed. , your uncle,sehaye was one of the head of the eritrean state television and one of the founders. vanessa: yes. during the war, he was a war photographer. he was on of the most prominent war photographers. he documented the war with ethiopia. after the war, he was a director
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of the eritrean state television and became a documentary maker. photographs are hanging up in the museums, they are on television, they are being sold as postcards, but his name has been deleted and there are from theto erase him eritrean memory that has been very efficient, unfortunately. that is why i and other people have campaigned for him in eritrea. amy: a global survey released thursday found north korea and eritrea of the world's highest rates of enslaved people. the eritrean government is a "repressive regime that the abuses its priest -- construction system to hold citizens in forced labor for decades." can you explain this conscription system. describe its impact on people fleeing the country.
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before, as a mentioned after the war ended, the government decided to use the war as justification for several of its policies, the shutdown of the free press. another thing they implemented was indefinite national service. national service is supposed to be 18 months. to this day, it is indefinite. the amount of money that they get is so limited that people are dependent on outside sources , so family members, friends from abroad and this has been referred to as one of the main reasons why people leave the country. over 5000 people leave eritrea every month and a lot of those are young people who were conscripted when they were very young. the last year of high school. after that, they are forced to
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stay if they do not get the from their tests. they are placed in colleges if they received the right marks. if they do not, they are in the national service program. it is not just the fact that it is indefinite, but also that the conditions are completely horrible. and all of these different types of human rights abuses have been criticized by foreign groups because there are no ngo's in eritrea, ngo's are forbidden by the government. i wanted to turn to the a person who sought asylum in the united states after fleeing eritrea. he was detained here for more than a year. he was then deported back to
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eritrea. going through the cairo airport in egypt, he took his own life, he died by suicide. friend, who would meet with him as a volunteer translator at the broward transitional center in south florida, and immigrant detention center. >> did he tell you what he most feared if you were deported to eritrea? testimony said in his is they asked him what would happen if he went back to eritrea. jailid i might go to the or torture or even be killed. amy: do you believe that the u.s. reporting -- deporting him was a death sentence? >> that is what i believe,
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eritrea isthey know , why didace right now for thato get deported situation? he ended up killing himself. held in friend of a man the u.s. applying for political asylum, he was denied an deported, and took his own life on the way back to eritrea. i wanted to put that question to aw allo. what will happen to the siation in era try a has described? eritrea that vanessa has described? ol: the conditions are not just economic in relation to this area. i think there is also a human element that comes out of
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this. government can consistently use this situation as justification. now, if the security situation in ethiopia is no longer there, if the two countries could have , theceful relationship government would have no justification whatsoever. if there is no clear justification they can point to, it means to, it means that -- the second point is that even if eritrea have a genuine concern with ethiopia so that eritrea has to
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keep such a large army and repressive environment, then that genuine justification no longer exists and all eyes would be on the eritrean government to see what they would do. and i think some of the actions , membersalready seen of religious communities which are persecuted in eritrea, i think that is a very important step. of the y, what would happen to the questi of is really up to the people and the eritrean government. the eritrean state has been exactly in the same situation we are witnessing. there is no guarantee that it will be a democracy. they paid the price to bring about the kind of change we see now.
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the decision as to what the future will hold in ethiopia is not entirely up to the government now. it is also in the hands of the people. -- showne have sown that they cannot tolerate this system. amy: vanessa, i'm going to give you the last word. eritrean activist whose uncle since 2001 inison eritrea. you have the u.s. deporting people back to eritrea. you have your uncle's situation. you think the peace deal can improve the situation at all on what are you calling for? call for the implementation of a constitution. since the war ended, the eritrean government has refused to implement the constitution anthe rule of law. the country is ruled by fear, not by law. the people deserve so much
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better than this. prisoners need to be released, the youth need to be taken out of the national service and given autonomy over their own ves, and eritrean government has to step down and the power has to be transferred to the people and that is what i call for. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us. is an eritrean human rights activist, whose uncle, a photojournalist, has been in prison in 2001 in eritrea. awol allo is a commentator and , thees in britain university school of law. as we report on the historic peace deal between ethiopia and eritrea and we will continue to cover what happens in east africa. when we come back, thousands of children remain separated from their parents, what is the u.s. government doing to reunite them? a government that separated them in the first place.
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ahmed. here on democracy now! i'm amy goodman. the trump administration has less than a week to meet a court-ordered deadline to reunite children and parents separated at the u.s.-mexico border under its zero tolerance policy. federal officials reported thursday that just 364 of some 2500 families with children aged 5 and older have been brought back together. another 848 have been cleared for reunification. others have been deemed ineligible because of criminal records or because they waved reunification. more than 700 parents have been deported as advocates say some migrant children have been released from federally contracted shelters with scabies and lice. in illinois, officials are investigating the chicago nonprofit heartland alliance over allegations it housed children separated from their parents at the border, with many of the children reportedly suffering abuse and neglect. "the washington post" reported one boy at heartland alliance's facility casa guadalupe was
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repeatedly injected with a drug that made him drowsy, while another boy was denied medication for weeks after injuring his arm. the "washington post" also says children were surveilled with hidden cameras and prevented from hugging their siblings. they have been separated their parents. a report by reveal from the center for investigative reporting shows taxpayers paid more than $1.5 billion in the last four years to companies operating immigrant youth detention centers that faced accusations of serious lapses in care. children held at shiloh treatment center near houston, texas, were restrained and injected with powerful anti-psychotic drugs against their will, making them dizzy, listless, obese, even incapacitated. meanwhile, the u.s. military and ciacontractor mvmhas admittd it detained migrant children overnight inside a vacant phoenix office building with rk winws, no kchen, on a fetoilets. a reve investition earer th month uovered wt some are callg a "bla site" f migranchildrenafter neighb filmed ildren i
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sweatsts beinged into e buildi. thbuildingas leasein march mvm, militarcontract. now a w reporty reveal show mvm so operad a seco offi nearby,here a nghbor reportedeeing imgrant childrenathing tmselves throom sks. for mo we go tsan fransco for an update fr aura bodo, immiation rerter foreveal, from theenter fo investigive reporng. r latesttory is adlined, "immrant kidheld in cond phoenioffice seen bathing in sinks." her other recent report is headlined "immigrant children forcibly injected with drugs, lawsuit claims." give us the latest. aura: thanks so much for having me back. we just reported this first story out two weeks ago. back then, we knew that children, according to neighbors, were held overnight in this office, this unlicensed, unmarked office in central phoenix.
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at that time, ice told us its contractor, mvm, was not authorized to hold children overnight, that the contract only allows for same-day transport and that they are allowed to use that office for what ice calls a "waiting area." , theompany itself, mvm company with strong cia ties, a defense contractor, originally said they don't operate any kind of shelter or housing, then told us that they use some of their offices as temporary holding place for cldren that it is transporting. less than a week after our initial report came out, mvm did have to confirm to reveal that it was indeed sometimes holding children overnight. we were able to figure that out from documents that we were able together about some of the children that were held there.
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just a few days later, we got some more information that there was a second office in which they were holding children overnight. also in phoenix. less than a mile away from the first office. mvm did have to acknowledge that that was the case. we know of two places that are unmarked, unlicensed, and neighbors sometimes know about the existence of them. mvm knows about the existence of them. these are not shelters. ey are n exactlyaiting areas. they are plas that he held childrenvernight a lot of themere chilen serated from the parents where arere the kids, they from, these separated children? aura: all of the kids of it in have been from latin america, they mostly are from central america, specifically from guatemala and honduras.
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some of the kids did appear to arrive by themselves or with a group of friends, but most of the children i've been able to identify that have been through there were separated from their parents. i have tracked down several of the children, i have spoken with several of their sponsors, i have spoken with several of that has also and been really difficult conversations to have with their parents sometimes. there is a mother specifically that i have been speaking with, her son was only six years old when he was taken from her. in this office building, which is again, not a shelter, not licensed to operate as such, it is not authorized under its contract to hold haddren overnight, and have to sometimes explain to parents who are still in detention, still separated from their children and want to know
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anything that they can, i need to sort of explained to them where they were held. some of the questions parents ask me are who were they with? with a with other children? with a with adults? was this a place where they got regular meals? this is a place where they could take a shower? when it comes to taking a shower, with the second facility , a neighbor, bill weaver, explained to me that on multiple locations over the course of two years, he saw children using bathroom sinks to base themselves. -- bathe themselves. it is not exactly a public bathroom where people can come in and out, but it also raises a lot of questions about what kinds of people may have come into contact with these children over the time that they were --d in these offices by vmv
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mvm. amy: you were the first to report on the drugging of inldren, that was at shiloh texas. we are seeing this "washington post" report about casa guadalupe they in chicago run by heartland alliance. in that case, we hear about kids being injected with some kind of drugs the kids don't understand. explain what you found. aura: sure. i'm not too familiar with the chicago story. onave been so laser focused trying to track down the children that we know were held at mvm offices, but i do know from the story that we broke about shiloh and the widespread abuses and so many of these shelters, the shelters that we do know, the existence and locations, everything ranging from sexual assault to neglect, and then forced drugging.
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in shiloh, children do allege they were held down and injected with very powerful drugs. i spent time with a little boy who was nine years old when he spent six months there and he was given very heavy psychotropic drugs. i was just texting with his mom earlier today. she finally got her son back after six months, but during the whole time he was there, she was so worried because she saw him lethargic, she could not recognize this child that she was sometimes seeing through what's up video when she was when shehatsapp video was able to call him. he felt like he was very slow and tired when he was there. he wound up at this facility because he tried to run away. he wanted to be with his mom.
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we know that children miss their parents. he wanted very desperately to be with his mom, so he talked about running away and he tried to run away, and that was one of the reasons for which he was evaluated by a psychiatrist, and then he was sent to shiloh, where he was drugged with six months without his consent and his mother's consent. the government knew full well where she was thentire time. a caseworker was in touch with her the entire time. they would not give her custody thethey kept drugging him entire time. she is still working to taper him off those drugs. he is only 10 years old now. amy: aura bogado, i want to thank you for being here. headline,nk to your "immigrant kids held in second phoenix office seen bathing in sinks." her other recent report is headlined "immigrant children forcibly injected with drugs, lawsuit claims." we will go to a mother and speak
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we end today's show looking at the emotional and psychological impact of family separation. on wednesday, democracy now!'s laura gottesdiener sat down with a salvadoran mother named belqui yessenia castillo cortez, who reunited with her three-year-old son, michael, last week after they were separated by immigration officials at the border in texas. feral docunts showhe moth and sonrrived athe legal po of entrin rio grande cy on may8th, 201 to applyor asyluin the unitedtates. immigrion authities deined themnd then parated em, sending lqui to e port isabel dention cter in texas, wle her tee-year-d son waflown althe way new york andeld in aacility n by a han servis agency call abbott use. laura ben by asng belqu wh it was ke to beeunited with h son on ly 11th.lay th july 11 >> suddey, they lled me and it was sbeautifubecause had en 41 da withoutyon d i feltike i couldot any longer. theeunion was emoonal, bu it w alsoad bause he d noeact theay his mher,
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e way i imagid he wou have reacted. he just turd and loed at me he juslooked io my eye he lood at me d never oke s gaze. wasever eas it was beautil to be united wh hi toe confroed with is, no. a we has pasd exactl it s thegning, same. he did n seem toove me vy mu, but its changi a bit. now henows ouramily anhas membered maybet is likhe never forgot is the flings of beg abandod. >>rehere any changesn his attituder behavi or rsonalit yes, the are dierences. s behavi is real aggrsive. heoes not sten to at all. i'm havinghis probm.
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since arrivedhe has bn asng this y. i nt with m and bus the ole way d imagincoming from e salvar to thenited states bbus. would ha h to retu with a child like is, but en he traveled reay calmly i bught himrom therto here and evything w really ne beuse, inruth, hwas not like ts before toravel sihours oright urs on a bus like is now, would agine i uld havead toeturn toy countr but no,e held o until t 20th omay andow he iscting very difrently. >> wt differces do y see? you saide was actg a bit aggresvely? w does ts manife? yeshe does t listenhe is viont, morehan anytng el with me he does t listeno me ymore. somemes, he ts me. the dawe reunid, the reuni
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, iwas likee felt ht that had left hi somethi like that. felt likhe had sething h want to tell mbut he cld noexpress at his a becae he just ayed loong ate with aace, wita gaze that td me evething. whyid you ce here, y diyou deci to com >> bause i'm endaering my untryi'm dger becae ofhe gangsthe discrination , the reats. in sameerson wh red m nuary 20 is the me perso who ft me prnant witmy chd. i wadiscrimited agait for being a sbian. they beame, evenome of m friends, when i s in 1 and e fatherwhen i c call hi at, he red me for beina lesbn and wi the aim of makinge pregna. wt to bege, i a fure with person iove, marry, i al want toe
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hay with my childnd my familyi also wtrotectio anthe suppt i don't haven myountry, is is whi came, for a ppy futu. up untilow, i ha never h any frdom, not evewith the girlfrnds i ha had. it is asf we areot there we have always been hidden. it has not been freedom and happiness, not at all. amy: that was belqui yessenia caillo cortez, separated from her three-year-old boy michael for 41 days. she just reunited with him and was speaking with democracy now! video produced by anna barsan and cinthya santos, with special thanks to ali toxt-lee. in three-year-old michael's discharge papers from abbott house, a clinician described the child as having a "laidback personality and a quiet disposition" who interacts positively unkindly with peers. but she also wrote "he has had adapting to the program.
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during admission he would cry continuously and ask for his biological mother, belqui." for more on the psychological impacts family separation has on young children, we're joined by dr. nancy burke. nancy burke, is a psychoanalyst and a co-chair of the psychotherapy action network which helped publish a pamphlet aimed at helping immigrant parents separated from their children understand the different children that ha returned. she's on the faculty with the chicago center for psychoanalysis and feinburg school of medicine with northwestern university. welcome to democracy now! the little boy michael, her little boy she has just reunited with after over a month away from him is biting apart a nerf football, he bit the whole thing apart. talk about the effect on these children. normal reactions, i don't like to word -- use the word normal, but i will in this
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case, because of want to emphasize that normal reactions to abnormal circumstances look abnormal. if you saw a child in a playgroup chewing on a nurf ballbiting io piecesyou uld be vy confus about thatbut we c apprecie the chdrenho do nohave nguage a a way t expss thr needs a they d't ha a watoxpress wt is ighteninto them wouldct ouin theirodies. that is sething tt we kno overnd over ain. is someing thatarents hopefull have t had toee so much of. we thoht that sur role,o beble to tlarents tt the are noal reactio to normal ccumstanc. it ieither aopportuny or a real nodal point tt can be extremyifficultfter allf
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th hopand the nal reliein threunificion. we wted to bable to part at knowlge to partso th they have some knowledge of what to expect and how to react. amy: talk about this brochure. it is not geared to the general public. you are doing it for the separated parents who are so excited, they finally accomplished this feat of finally finding their children separated by the trump administration, that they find such different children. dr. burke: absolutely. they don't expect it. if you are in that circumstance, all of your interest, all of your hope is going to be focused on reunification, and that seems like an end to e story d a ppy endi. all e more scking wh it n't. to e ouro be ab knowledg the this thawe siwithin o office ery
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ngleay whe we talko pele who he been traumated , ople whore adults o have been traatized as childre, we know somthings aut what expect andhathe effec of auma arend howong ty sh up. wanted be ableo offer we becausefirst of all waed to able torepare parents re not ppared psychogically they do n really ace emselves, w could ey, for the lo period ecovery. kids who about these were drugg? it is not even cleare what was used on them. when they cry for their mothers and fathers. dr. burke: this is a devastating
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and terrible thing. one of the things that we know is that children who are traumatized have access to their feelings and cannot put them in words, cannot structure them, cannot use relationships in order to be able to make them manageable. what this does is it essentially gives children a lack of access to be able to express themselves. in essence, it freezes them in time and it does so in a way that is very frightening. now don't knowey themselves and their parents do not know them either. we are very concerned about these reports. amy: we have less than a minute, but the long-term impact of this trauma and what resources do these parents have? belqui is wearing an ankle monitor, it is put on by the u.s. government. she is tracked everywhere. what resources do they have to help their children? dr. burke: when we gave this
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pamphl, iis a sigl that there e other sources t the. ere are ganizatis of ncern. it really ll take village veryong time did lea a spacen the pamphletor infortion abo loca organizions. we higighted uted way, freedofor immrants. we highlhted infmed migrant. we wt to peoe tknow tha therwere orgizations we werreally hpy to beble add sometng from fd rors, who s helpedo many american childreover theears er tvecause o of the thingshat he ss over a over again is wh you aren trble, fina helr. weant to eourage pple to reach ou one ing we kw is thatrauma tends toilence peoplend it tends toot be spen o catalyst, sobe a
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[man singing in gaelic] sami yaffa: thieves, murderers, bloodthirsty savages, and drunken subhumans. that's how immigrants fleeing famine to the u.s. were described in the late 1800s. surviving under english reign for almt a millennium, the irish people are used to being the underdogs. maybe leading the life of the disadvantaged and striving to survive here in theist and the rain is the ect reason behind thexceptional cultural achievents of the emerald island. it's c
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