[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 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 nev leaving until ree weeklater. amy: a we wi look athe emional anpsycholocal separation with an el salvador he and mother who reunited -- el salvarian ther whoas reunid with h son. >> the d wereunit, it was like hfelt h i hadeft him --urt iad left m. i feltike he h somethi he nted to ll m but he uld , 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 control by the 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. 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 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 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. that report continues to be blocked. 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 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. 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, unsmiling, dirty. it is like the life has been sucked out of them. 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 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 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 , 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 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 responsible 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 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 historic 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 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. and i have a business. meanwhile, on monday, 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 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 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 against the ethiopian government. one of the strongest movements liberationg for the 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 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 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 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. 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. 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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, 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 awol allo. what will happen to the situation in era try a has described? eritrea that vanessa has described? awol: the conditions are not just economic in relation to

this area. i think there is also a human element that comes out of 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 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 day, what would happen to the question 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. 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

and the rule of law. the country is ruled by fear, not by law. the people deserve so much 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 lives, 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. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

"selam means peace" by mahmoud 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 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 phnix office building with

dark wdows, noitchen, ly a w toilet a real invesgation elier is monthncoveredhat some are caing a "bck site"or migrt childr, after neigor filmechildrenn sweauits bei led intthe builng. thbuildi was lead in mar by mv a mility contraor. now new repo by reve shs mvalso opeted a send ofce nearb where aeighbor reportedeeing imgrant childrenathing tmselves throom sks. for mo we go tsan fransco for an update fr aura bodo, immiation rerter foreveal, from theenter fo vestigate reporti. helatest sry is helined, "immignt kids ld in send phoenix fice 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. 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 children 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. 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 areot exact waiting areas. th are plas that he held childrenvernight a lot of themere chilen serated from tir paren. wre are the kid they fro these sarated children aura all othe kidsf iin ha been fr latin america

theyostly arfrom cenal america,pecificay from guatemal and honras. somef the ki did appr to rive by themsves or wh a oup of frids,ut most the ildren 've bn able t idenfy that ve beenhrough there were serated fr their parents. i haveracked dneveral o the cldren, iave spok with several theirponsors, havepoken wi severalf thahas alson been rlly diffult nversatis to havwith the pares setimes. there a mothespecificly th i have en speakg wh, her son s only s years old when hwas takefrom her. n this oice builng, whicis againnot a shter, not licend to opete as such, its not auorized under it contrt to hol haden overnig,nd have

sometim explaino parent who e still etention stl separad from tir childrennd want know anythinghat theyan, ieed sort ofxplainedo them where th were he. me of thquestionparents aske are whwere thewith? wi a with her chilen? wi a with ults? was is a pla where ty got regular als? is is a ace wherthey cou take showe when it mes to ting a shower, th the sond facity a neighb, bill weave explned to mthat on ltiple locationover theourse ofwo yes, he sa childn using bathroinks to se thselves. -- bathehemselve it inot exacy public bathro where pple can me innd o, butt also rses a lot of qstions aut what

kinds eople mahave com intoontact wh these childre overhe time at they re --in the office by vmv 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. 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. 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 the entire 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 to a psychoanalyst who is warning parents when they reunite with her children, they may not be the same child that left them. ♪ [music break]

amy: "a soul in pain." 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 doments sh the moer and s arrivedt the legal rt of eny in rio grandeity on m 28th, 28, to app for asym in the unit states. immiation auorities tained th and theseparatethem, sendinbelqui tthe port isabeletentionenter in texas,hile herhree-yeaold son s flown l the wato new york a held in facilitrun by auman serces agen caed abbothouse. laura gan by king beli at it walike to reunite wither son ojuly 11t play th july . >> suddenly, thecalled me and it waso beautil becausit habeen 41 ys witho my son

and i fe like i couldot any longer. theeunion was etional, t itas als sadecause hdid t react t way hisother, the way imaned he wld have reacte he jus tned and oked at . he jt lookednto my es. he lked at mand nevebroke his gaze it was never ey, it wa beauful to breunitedith m. be confnted witthis, no. a ek has psed exacy. iwas thenning, same. he didot seem love meery mu, but its channg a bit now knows o family d has remember. ybe it like he never rgot. it ithe feengs of bein abandone >> a tre any changesn his attituder behavi or rsonalit yes, the are dierences.

hibehaviors really aggresve. he doenot lien to met all. i'm ving ts proble sinche arriv, he haseen king thiway. went withim and ses the ole waand image coming from e saldor to t united statesy bus. would ve h to rern with a chil likthis, buthen he traveled rlly calm. bught h from the to her and erythingas reallfine cause, i truth, hwas no likehis befo. toravel x hours eight hours on b likthis nowi woulimagine would ha had return my couny. bu n he heldut untilhe 20 omay anow he acting very dferently >> wt diffences doou see? you sa he was aing a bi aggrsively? w doeshis manist? y, he doenot list, he vlent, mo than anhing se with .

he doenot list to me anymore. sotimes, hhits me. the y we reuted, the reuon iwas li he felturt that had left m, sometng like that. felt le he hadomethinge waed to te mbut heould t expresit at hi a because he just stayed looking at me with a face, with a gaze that told me everything. whyid youome herewhy d you dede to ce? >>ecause 'm enngering untryi'in dger beuse the gan, the discrination , the reats. in sameerson wh red m january 14 is thsame pern whleft me egnant wh my ild. i s discrinated agnst for being lesbian. they beame, evenome of m friend when was in 1 and the fath, when ian call m at, heaped me for beg a leian and th the a o maki me pregnt.

ant to bine, i a ture wita person love, to marry, i so want be ppy withy chi and m fami, i alsoantrotectn d the suort i d't ha in countrythis is y i cam for happy fure. up unt now, i ve neverad an eedom, n en with t girliends i ve had. it is if we a not the. we have always been hidden. it has not been freedom and happiness, not at all. amy: that was belqui yessenia castillo 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. 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 have 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 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 ba, bitingnto piec, you would beery confed about th, but wean appreate the chdrenho do t have languagend a wayo eress eir needsnd they n't ve a y toxpresshat is frighteng to them wou act t in the bodies. that isomethinghat we kw ov and oveagain. is sothing th parents hopefuy havnot had see so much o we tught thawasur rol to able toellarentshat ese are rmal reactns to abnormalircumstaes.

its eithern opportity or a real nod pointhat can extrelyifficu after a of e he and thfinal relf in e reunifation. weanted toe able timpart that knoedge to pentso at 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 tthe storand a happy enng.

althe morehocking en it isn' tuse ouro be le knowlee, the tngs tt we t withinur officevery single day whe we talko pele who he been traumated , ople whore adults o have been traatized as childre, we know some things aut whato expect andhathe effts of auma a and howonghey ow up. we wanteto be ab to offe , weecau, first ll nted tbe able prepare parentwere notrepared .syclogicall they dot reallbrace emselveshow coulthey, fo the ng perioof recover. kids whoabout 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 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 pampet, iis a snal tha therare otheresourceout ere. ere arorganizaons of concern. it reay will te a ville a ry long me. did lve a spa on the pamphlor infmation aut lol organations. we hhlightednited wa freem for iigrants. we higighted iormed immigran weant to pple tknow tt the were oanizatio. we we reallyappy to able to add somhing fro fd gers, whhas help so many americ childn over t years over tv becausene of th thin that heays overnd ov again is en you a in ouble, fd a hper. want toncourageeople to reach t. onthing wenow is tt trauma tends silence peopl and it

tends not be okenf. catalyst, sobe a things that were not thought to be spoken of could be spoken of with people who can help. amy: nancy burke, we want to thank you for being with us. we will link to the pamphlet you have published aimed at helping

óaócñógñtñrñxñúña man: bythe year030, twthirds othe worlwill be lacki access clean dnking wate. this is problemhat evy sile persois gonnae dling wi regardls of whe they li in the rld.