[captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from papacifica, , this is democracy now! >> the grereat question ofof the 1970's is, shall we surrender to our surroundings or shall we make our peace with nature and bebegin to make repararations fr the dama w we have done e to our air, to our land, and to our water? [applause] amy: 45 years after president richard nixon signed the endangered species act, the landmark legislation is under an

unprecedented attack by the trump administration and industry lobbyists. we will speak to head of the center for biological diversity , which has sued the trump over itsation 68 times environmental and conservation policies. then, as temperatures records are being broken across the world, a new medical study on climate change warnsns up to 26,000 more people could die by suicide in the united states by 2050 if humans don't reduce emissions of greenhouse gas pollution. plus, we look at how central american activists are organizing against president trump's border policies. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in pakistan, millions of people are heading to the polls today

for pakikistan's parliamentary election. at least 31 people were killed in an isis bombing at a polling station in the western city of quetta, while other attacks on polling stations have left at least two people dead. the run-up to today's election has been marred by violence, including a massive suicide bombing claimed by isis at an election campaign gathering in the southwestern province of balochistan that killed over 150 people earlier this month. it was the third worst attack in pakistan's history. hundreds of thousands of people and soldiers have been deployed across pakistan for today's vote, which pits former cricket star imran khan against the party of former prime minister nawaz sharif. he and his daughter were just jailed returning to pakistan. to see our full coverage of pakistan's general election, go to democracynow.org. cnn has published an audiotape of president trump speaking with his longtime lawyer, his personal fixer michael cohen about how they would suppress the story of karen mcdougal, the

former playboy model who alleges she had an almost year-long extramarital affair with president trump in 2006. the audio appears to provide evidence trump knew about the plan to buy the exclusive rights to her story at the time. in the audio, cohen tells trump about his plan to set up a company to purchase the rights from american media. this audio, which is difficult to hear, begins with cohen saying i need to open a company to deal with it regarding david. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer as long as that info regarding our friend david, when it comes time to the financing -- we will have to pay. >> cash? >> no, no, no. amy: that was michael cohen

trump, "no, no," after said, "pay with cash." rudy giuliani said there is no crime being committed on the tape. the white house is also coming under fire for editing the video and written transcript of president trump's summit with russian president vladimir putin in helsinki. the transcript was edited to remove part of reuters' reporter jeff mason's question about whether putin wanted trump to win the u.s. election. this is a clip of the original, and then edited videos, broadcast on the rachel maddow show. they all can be found -- >> did you want president trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help them do that? >> yes, i did. yes, i did. >> that is the real one. watch with the white house has posted. >> options abound.

in anl can be found -- appropriate legal framework. >> a and did you direct any of your offfficials to help thehemo that? >> yes, i did. yes, i did. amy: russia's english language transcript omits the reuters reporter's question entirely. president trump has announced up to $12 billion in emergency relief for farmers whose sales have been hurt by the trump administration's escalating trade war. the agriculture department said it will use an existing program to provide billions of dollars in direct payments to farmers and ranchers as a "short-term solution." president trump's daughter and senior white house adviser , a ivanka trump, is shutting down her namesake fashion brand, amid widespread accusations about conflicts of interest and investigations into the working conditions in her company's factories. a guardian investigation revealed workplace abuse, grueling production targets, and deplorably low pay at an indonesianan factory that makess

clothing forvanknka trump'p's label. many of the female workers at the factory in west java said the pay is so low that they live in constant btbt and canan't afford to live with their own childrenen. israel shot down a syrian jet tuesday it claimed had entered israeli airspace. increasing concerns about an escalation of tensions in the region. in more news on syria, a suicide bombing in the southern city suweida has killed at least 3838 people, with dozens more wounded. the bombing in the government-held city has been blamed on isis. in laos, at least 26 people have been killed and thousands more are in need of rescue after r a billion-dollar hydroelectric dam collapsed, flooding nearby villages and farmland. the e anti-dam group, ininternational ririvers, said e dam m overflowed as a result o f heavy monsoon rains, and that climate change is exacerbating the risks to people e who live downstream of dams. the collapsed dam is one of dozens of hydroelectric projects

that have been proposed, or are currently under construction, in laos. meanwhile, in more climate change news, the death toll from the uncontrollable wildfires raging around the greek capital , athens, has risen to 76. nearly 200 more people were injured, including children, by the fast-moving blazes. we will have more on climate change later in the broadcast. in india, a nationwide truckers ' strike has entered its sixth day, with drivers demanding lower fuel prices and more transparency to the highway toll system. the strike has disrupted the transportation of goods nationwide, including for amazon and other international retailers. back in the united states, geororgia's s secretary of state brian kemp has w won the republican gubernatorial primarary. kemp, who's backed by president trump, will now face democratic progressive stacey abrams, who is vying to be the first

african-american governor in the deep south scece reconstruructi, in the november general election. and african american activist has won her congressional primary race to represent atlanta's northern suburbs. her son, jordan davis, was shot and killed in 2012 by a white man after he shot into a car of teenagers playing loud music. she ran on a p platform of tighr gun control. the new york city delivery worker who was detained by ice after being stopped at the fort hamilton army base while delivering a pizza last month has been released from detention. emotional video footage of his reunion with his family shows pablo villavisencio hugging his wife and young daughters late tuesday night, after a judge ordered his release. the judge also slammed government lawyers during a hearing, asking, "is there any concept of justice here? what is the danger to the community for a man who has committed no

crime?" the judge was appointed by former president george w. bush and formerly served as corporation counsel for new york city mayor rudy giuliani. in more immigration news, a group of asylum seekers have sued ice, accusing guards of violently repressing a peaceful hunger strike outside adelanto detention facility in california last year, which the asylum-seekers had launched to protest the lack of clean drinking water, and the spoiled food, and unsanitary clothes provided inside the facility. the honduran and salvadoran asylum seekers say the guards attacked them and placed them in isolation for organizing the hunger strike. this is plaintiff josue mateo lemus campos. >> they sprayed me with pepper spray, they roughed me up, they hit me in my kidneys, they grabbed my arm. when there was not any pepper

spray, they made us shower in hot water, which caused unbearable pain. the other thing was being locked up for too long. it makes you feel bad emotionally. amy: the adelanto detention facility in california is operated by the for-profit company, geo group. tomorrow is the court imposed deadline for the trump administration to reunite all children with their parents separated at the border. 1000 have been reunited so far, the trump administration says -- less than half of the amount they must unify by tomorrow. in oakland, california, a 27-year-old white man has been arrested for attacking two young african american women on a bart train, killing 18-year-old nia wilson and wounding her sister, letifah. the stabbing attack sparked widespread outrage in oakland, where hundreds of people marched through the streets monday night to demand justice for nia. many oakland residents have denounced the attack as a hate crime. authorities say they have not

yet connected the suspect, john lee cowell, with any white supremacist groups. and in sweden, a student activist prevented the deportation of an afghan asylum seeker from sweden by refusing to sit down until the man was removed from the flight. this is student eli ersson, who liveve streamed her actions on e flight.. >> i'm not going to sit down until ththis pson is offff the anane. because he would most likely get killed. amy: after s r refused to sit do, ththe afan asysym seekeker was finalllly removed from the plplane. he is n now rortedly baback in swededish custody. the video of her protest has since gone viral. and those e are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

gonzalez. juan welcome. the trump administration recently announced plans to roll -- gut 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. the endangered species act was adopted in 1973 to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats. the trump administration's proposed rules are among several recent efforts to weaken t the endangngered spepecies act. earlier this m month, a packagaf c congressionalthe western caucus was introduced to

"mododernize" " the esa. in introducicing the legislatio, republican congressman don young of alaska said, "the endangered species act has been weaponized and misused by e environmental groupsps for too long.g." meanwhwhile, in the senate,, wyoming republican john barrasso, chairman of the senate committee on environment and public works, also introduced a draft bill to amend the endangered species act. this is barrasso speaking at a hearing last week. >> congress last reauthorized the endangered species act with amendments of substance 30 years ago. has the u.s. constitution been amended more recently than the endangered species act. stakeholders are making it clear that it can be improved. a major goal of the act is the recovery of species to the point that protection under the statute is no longer necessary. was signed into law, only 54 out of 293 species listed have been delisted

because they have recovered. ththat is less than n 3%. as a doctor, if i admit 100 andents to the hospspital only three recover enough unundr my t treatment to be dischargedi would deserve to lose my medical license with numbers like that. amy: house democrats and conservationists managed to get excluded from congress's annual defense spending bill policies that would restrict endangered species act protections for certain animals. for more, we're joined by kieran suckling, executive director and a founder of the center for biological diversity. the group has sued the trump administration 68 times over the -- 81 times over the past year and a half. elcome to democracy now! talk about what is happening to the endangered species act 45 years after it was passed and president nixon signed off on it. kieran: yes, the trump administration's proposal to gut

the endangered species act is the most comprehensive, devastating attempt to destroy this law we have seen this entire time. this is after reagan and after worseshes, it is even than that. it is quite extraordinary. juan: and specifically, how would the weakening or getting of the actutting work if it went through? kieran: it will strip protection entirely for about 60% of all species on the list. these are the species listed as threatened rather than endangered. currently, they get essentially the same protections as endangered species. under the trump proposal, they would get no protectioion at al. you could continue to kill them, continue to destroy their habitats, as if they were not protected. juan: and how would this issue of taking it into account

economic impacts work? is reallys, this disastrous. the endangered species act is incredibly successful because it requires that all decisions be made solely on the best available science. no politics, no economic concerns. trump administration wants to say, when deciding whether a species is endangered, a scientific question, you were going to have to take into account economic impacts. activity, mining, logging, grazing, is the cause of endangerment. this is the endangered species act, not the endangered mining industry act. it turns the priority of this law entirely upside down. amy: i want to turn to richard nixon speaking in 1970 when he outlined a sweeping plan to protect the environment. three years later, he signed the enendangered species act.

the greatand xm: question -- nixon: the great question of the 1970'0's is shal we surrender to our surroundings or shahall we make our peace wih nature and begin to makake reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our w water? [applause] amy: that is richard nixon speaking back in the 1970's. i want to go back to republican senator john barrasso of wyoming speaking at a hearing for a draft bill to amend the endangngered species a act. >> the discussion draft elevates the role of states in partnering with the federal government to implement the endangered species act. it affords states the opportunities to l lead wildlife , includingn efforts the establishment of recovery teams and developing and implementing recovery plans. it provides for increasing

regulatory certainty so stakeholders are incentivized to enter into recovery activities. it increases transparency. it codifies prioritizes species listing petitions come as a limited resources flow to the species most in need. amy: kieran suckling, if you can respond. kieran: yes, this is really extraordinary. to get onto the endangered species list, you first have to -- the first have to be a finding that state plans have not worked. now he wants to have the law say, let's put the states, whose plans failed, in charge of conserving the species. how can that make any sense at all? he wants to do that because he knows the states don't have the money, the infrastructure, and

in places like idaho, utah, alaska, they don't have the .esire to protect the species it is the reason they are endangered in the first place. we don't turn over implementation of our laws to criminals who have just been found guilty of breaking the law. the state can be a partner of the federal government. the federal government needs to set the standards, provide the funding to get the job done that the states failed to do. juan: kieran suckling, what is your sense of why the trump administration is making this such a priority? president trump is not exactly known as a guy who has a lot of concern about what is going on the openre or with spaces of america. he is a real estate developer. why do you think he has moved so aggressively on this front? kieran: he is being strongly influenced by right-wing

republican congressmen, especially those from the western states, were so much logging, mining, grazing, , oil drilling, coal mining is taking place on public land. there is this right-wing agenda to allow our public lands to be turned over to industry groups. these folks, particularlyly outf utah, have trump's ear and he is doing essentially whatever they want to happen. amy: can you talk about what animals have been saved by the endangered species act? kieran: you know, there are just are hundreds. of the 1600 species on the domestic list, 85% have improved in population size since going on the list. for example, the bald eagle, when it was first put on the list, there were just a couple hundred of them. ,y the time they were recovered

there were over 8000. other species that have been helped are the wolverine up in the northern states, the grizzly bear has recovered tremendously from on the verge of extinction .o many hundreds of them on the east coast, we have the atlantic sturgeon off the coast of new york. down in florida, we have the manatee, another incredible success story. green sea turtles on the texas coast. really in every single state in the country, endangered species are thriving because of the work the federal government -- because of the very protections the trump administration and congress want to kill. talked about what president is directly trying to do. -- what areress these efforts to amend or modernize the act about? kieran: yes, so congressional

introduced over 60 bills in the last two years to gut the endangered species act and they know what they are doing. these bills go right at the key decision junctures in the act that protect species and, in some so, slowdown industries. they want to make it harder to put a species onto the endangered species list at all. if you stop that key moment, none of the other things flow from it. they want to allow protected habitat areas to be destroyed, even though they were set up simply to save the species. they want to change the people who create recovery plans for the species, so that the states and industry groups dominate those plans.

they want to make it so that greenhouse gas emissions and global warming cannot be addressed at all, even though they are driving almost all the species on the list extinct. they want to create loopholes so that oil companies, mining companies, logging companies can continue to implement destructive plans, even though those plans have been specifically found to be driving species extinct. juan: you mentioned greenhouse gas emissions, but the trump administration is also seeking to revoke california's authority to set its own tougher automobile emissions standards. on tuesday, the acting epa administrator said the u.s. needs a single standard for fuel efficiency for cars and trucks. kieran: yes, this is really outrageous because the way our clean air act works is that

allows states to step standards -- set standards if they are higher than the federal government. for 48 years running now, california has had a higher standard. it has had that through administrations, democratic and republican, conservative and liberal. no one has had a problem with it, until trump. effecttly, this is his and efforts to reduce any attempt to control global warming, but it is also clearly a personal agenda to attack california, which he believes is just generally a hostile element to him personally, so consequently, we have this incredibly irrational act, especially when for example you have barrasso talking about states rights. these republicans only want to empower the states when the states have a lower protective

standard. the second a state has a higher standard, all of a sudden, all concerns about states rights go out the window and we have to go to a federal single authority that is going to reduce environmental protections. the record oft the interior secretary, ryan zinke? documents released by the department of interior and then retracted a day later revealed that agency officials dismissed evidence of public lands provide numerous benefits in favor of prioritizing fossil fuel interests along with ranching and logging. is meetingng zinke with people that are not on the public record. for example, he met with congressman chris collins, a new york republican, the first in congress to endorse trump's presidential candidacy. but his calendar did not show who else was in the room, three

representatives of a company that do business with the national park service. one of about of a dozen instances uncovered of his calendar omitting who he is actually meeting with. is going to zinke go down as one of the worst interior secretary zinke history -- his actions are very interior secretaries in history and his actions are very similar to scott pruitt's before he was forced to o resign. he is aggressively trying to avoid all environmental laws. he is meeting with industry groups constantly and then hiding that, rather than simply admitting to what he is doing in public. and the agenda is always the same. what can he do to allow public lands to be destroyed? what can he do to allow more oil and gas drilling, even if it is polluting local communities, poisoning children?

it is really a disaster. he has turned this agency, which is supposed to be in charge of america's land, air, water, and species, into a handout program for industry and then going so far as to erase all of this from his calendar, from his meeting notes, to take decisions from lower officials who are trying to do their job and erase all harmences to issues which their agenda. in particular, what you will see is that protecting public lands, especially on national monuments, is really good for local economies, but instead they will erase that information and say this is hurting local economies and it is not just a ,oral, it is illegal -- immoral it is illegal. that is why this agency gets sued so much. juan: the department has also commissioned and expedited

environmental review of leasing part of the arctic national wildlife refuge. -long battlecades that the oil and gas industry has not been able to win. what has been happening here and what could be the potential impact of this expedited review? this is very concerning. the arctic national wildlife off the coast of alaska is sought after by the oil industry, for many decades now, and it has always been stopped because it is such a crown jewel of environmental protections. there are so many other areas available for drilling. zinke has now expedited efforts to review proposed drilling up there, brought on millions of dollars of new money, which don't exist to do anything else in government apparently, more staff, and he wants to push through at a very rapidd clip a decision to open this up to more

drilling. he is throwing all of the environmental s standards, , rew processes out the window. i think it is partly because he knows time is limited up there for him. this to become his legacy, the guy who opened up america's biggest, most important wildlife refuge e to l drilling. amy: kieran suckling, we are speakingng to you in porortland, oregegon. in yosemite right now, national park, thousands are being evacuated because of terrible wildfires. i want to ask you about something that happened in oregon. dwighttrump partnered son w who weree in 2012 off

committing arson on federal lands. prosecutors say y the hammonds t the fires to coverp ththeir illelegal deerer poaching.g. ththeir convictition sparked ard right-wing militiamen, led by ammon bundy, to take over the malheur national wildlife refuge in oregon, provoking a 41-day armed standoff in 2016. can you comment on this and what message president trump sending with these pardons? kieran: this is very disturbing because the hammonds not only were arsonists who set fire to our public lands, but have a long history of threatening to kill federal officicials and whn the bundy militia group came up to support them, when they were prosecuted, they came up with the message of not just let's hope the hammonds, but let's give all of america's public lands away to industry and state groups. soso, when trump is pardoning these people, he is really sending a signal to this right-wing base to say, hey,

antigovernment extremism, threats of v violence agaitt those you don't like, against the goverernment are acceptabab. theyey are encourageged. in facact, earlier, whwhen he pardoned joe arpaio, it turns oh joe arpaio was also a supporter of this bundy group and this radical, violent a agenda. i think it goes along with trump gearing up this violent undercurrent in america to support him and to drive fear into others. juan: last week, supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh submitted to the senate his responses to a lengthy questionnaire as part of the confirmation process. responding to a question about the 10 most significant cases over which he sat, kavanaugh cited his dissenting opinion in white stallion energy center v. epa, in which he argued that the

epa must consider financial costs when deciding whether to regulate emissions from power plants. kavanaugh wrote in the questionnaire, "in my view, it was unreasonable and therefore unlawful under the administrative procedure act-for epa not to consider the costs imposed by regulations in determining whether such regulations were appropriate and necessary." i'm wondering your thoughts on if judge kavanaugh is confirmed for the supreme court, what the impact of this would be on environmental laws in the future. kieran: it would be extraordinary. trump has already had one appointee on the supreme court. , he wills the second likely be able to control the whole judicial agenda for environmental protection in this country and that is incredibibly importrtant. , theause right now

strongest, most powerful force of resistance against trump is our legal system. that is because virtually everything he wants to do is illegal, the people he has put in place like zinke and pruett to carry out his agenda have such disdain for governance, they don't even know how to do governmental process properly, so they are continually sued, they are continually found --lty, and that is a keeping is keeping america on track, this independent judiciary. if trump captures the supreme court, we are going to find he's got an open agenda to do whatever he wants. it is very, very dangerous and disheartening. amy: we just have a few seconds, but kieran suckling, your organization, the center for biological diversity, has sued the trump administration 81 times in thehe last year and a half? have you had any success? kieran: yes, we have actually won most of those cases. it has been about one a week.

for those that have completed, we have won most of the cases and it shows you the power of our independent legal system and are independent judiciary to address excesses of power, even by the president of the united states. amy: kieran suckling, we thank you so much for being with us from portland, oregon, executive director and founder of the center for biological diversity. this is democracy now! recordscome back, as are broken, heat records around the country, and around the world, we will look at a new medical study that indicates suicide will go up by tens of thousands as a result of climate change. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "animals in danger" by

johnny and the raindrops. this is democracy now! we turn now to look at climate change and its impact on human lives. greece has declared three days of mourning over its worst wildfires since 2007 that have killed at least 60 people in towns near athens, including families with children who were found clasped in a last embrace as they tried to flee the flames. greece and other european nations have been facing record heat and an unusually hot summer. this is greek prime minister alexis tsipras. >> there are no words to describe our feelings in times like this. the country is experiencing an unspeakable tragedy. dozens of lives are gone and this is unbearable for everyone, and most of all for the families who lost loved ones. juan: this come as japan has declared its deadly heatwave a natural disaster. at least 80 people have died from the heat in japan and the death toll is expected to continue to rise. in africa, temperatures reached a staggering 124 degrees

fahrenheit earlier this month in algeria. it was the highest recorded temperature ever in africa. meanwhile, here in the united states, a staggering 41 different heat records have been broken in the united states so far this month. in california, wildfires forced the closure of yosemite national park, forcing the evacuation of thousands. amy: well, on monday, a new published in the journal "nature climate change," reported that when there are abnormally hot temperatures, there also tend to be higher suicide rates. the study predicts suicide rates in the united states and mexico could actually rise with each 1 degree celsius increase in a month's average temperature. for more, we are going to san francisco, where we are joined by dr. sanjay basu, co-author of the new study, "hihigher temperatures increase suicide rates in the united states and mexico." dr. . basu is an assistant professor of medicine at stanford and co-author of the

book, "the body y economic: : wy austerity kills." welcome back to democracy now! talk about this new study. dr. basu: thank you for having me. the new study tries to explain statistical phenomenon that have been observed since the early 19th century. what seems to be the relationship between temperature and suicide and, importantly, this study tries to disentangle in your correlation from a more causal relationship using new statistical methods. the study i examined counties in the u.s. and mexico from as far and, after 1960's correcting for seasonality, economic changes, and a wide range of other factors, we observed a direct relationship between increased average temperatures and suicides, replicating the effects observed since the 19th century of heat

waves, unusual heat waves, and exexcess suicides, particularly among older adults. juan: now, obviously, there might be some skeptics who would say, a correlation is not a cause and effect. how do you respond to those concerns? dr. basu: we did a number of new statistical techniques to decipher the two. one of the most important is that we looked within the same area over time and looked at comparing unusual heat waves that are attributable to climate change to the typical range of heat and then correcting for all other factors that might affect suicide rates within the area. we also controlled for a number of other variables and looked at larger data sets. we confirmed the findings and a wide range of other data sources. for example, we looked at over 600 million geo-quoted twitter

accounts were people publicly posted depressive or suicidal thoughts. we compared that to national mortality linkages and deciphered some of the mechanisms that might explain this temperature-suicide relationship. amy: you found a 1-degree celsius increase in average monthly temperature cororrelates with i increases in the e monthy suicidide rate in the united states and in mexico. talk about the differences you found in our two countries. dr. basu: one of the key issues between the two countries is not only the higher average temperature in mexico, but some differences in the economics of the countries, and in the typical work people have in the countries. there have been prior studies that examined how people in different jobs, sectors, and a different income levels are affected by temperature

increases due to climate change to in our case, we found remarkably consistent increases in the risk of suicide across a number of sectors, rather than simply isolated to people in the agricultural sector. juan: i was going to ask you about that. one would think that the impact of climate change, especially economically, would be felt even much more so on people in the countryside, rather than the cities, but you did not see any distinct qualitative difference ruraln the impact for areas versus urban areas? dr. basu: it was rather remarkable. over time, it appeared that ruralgh in earlier years areas were disproportionately ,ffected, and we do still see for example, the relationship between a bad harvest year and increased suicides, as time has progressed and is both urban and rural populations are affected by climate change, we actually

see the beginning of consistency across all groups, such that individuals across a number of employment sectors and locations appear to be almost equally affected now. amy: you also examined whether monthly temperature also correlate with patterns of depressive posts on social media containing certain keywords like "depressed, lonely, suicidal." talk more about that, so we are not just talking suicide here. juan: and also, are you sure that people don't just get more depressed the more they use social media? dr. basu: that may be a separate phenomenon. we also looked at correcting for trends in social media use and how much people use these words within locations just as a temporal trend, a routine trend over time, versus their use of these words and particular words

that have, in previous studies related to suicide risk in unusually warm months within the same location versus normal months with them -- within the same location and even for the same person. that helps us statistically isolate relationships of temperature and we had some additional controls, looking at factors like employment. factors, be multiple we try to disentangle that portion that seems to relate in particular to increasing temperatures. amy: you also cowrote a new study on the impact of climate change on the world's food supply. what did you find there and is there a link to farmer suicides in india? dr. basu: certainly, the issue of farmer suicides in india has been appropriately brought to light over the last few years as suicide rates seem to increase in times of economic devastation and, particularly, devastation

after inclement climate events. we seem to find there is a second phenomenon that has been less discussed. as carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, the nutritional quality of staple crops appears to decrease remarkably. the vitamin and mineral content of key crops that are the major low andfor particularly middle income countries decreases the nutrient quality for important nutrients like iron and zinc, and we find, in fact, that the rates of nutrient deficiency that can lead to important diseases are expected to increase to medically in the context of climate change. amy: dr. sanjay basu, we want to thank you for being with us, assistant professor of medicine at stanford university. co-author of the new study regarding suicide rates being increased in the united states and mexico by higher temperature rates. this is democracy now!

when we come back, how central american activists in this country are organizing against president trump's immigration policies. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

"globe all warming."." i'm amy y goodman with juan. juan: we end today's show with a leading central american activist's response to the crisis prompting thousands in honduras, el salvador, and guatemala to seek asylum in the united states. this week, the trump administration disclosed it may have deported up to 463 parents of children separated by immigratioion officials at the

border, even as their children remain in u.s. custody. this comes as a federal judge has ordered the trump administration to reunite all separated migrant children and parents by july 26. the administration says just over 1000 parents have been reunited with their children so far, less than half of the families it must reunite by tomorrow. earlier r this month, president trump pushed back against the court ruling. mandating the reunification of families. >> well, i have a solution. tell people not to come to our country illegally. that is the solution. don't come to our country illegally. come like other people do. come legally. amy: this comes as a federal judge in boston ruled monday that a lawsuit could proceed in court, that argues the trump administration's end to temporary protected status for immigrants in the united states from honduras, haiti, and el salvador was racially motivated. about 400,000 immigrants stand to lose their temporary

protected status, including more than 260,000 from el salvador, nearly 60,000 from haiti, and 86,0,000 from honduras. for more, we go to chicago where we are joined by oscar chacón, executive director of alianza americas, a network of latin american immigrant-led immigrant -led organizations committed to advancing a public policy agenda to improving life in their communities in the u.s. and their countries of origin. his most recent essay for medium is headlined "why abolish ice doesn't go far enough for migrant families." so, here we are. it is wednesday, oscar. imposed is the deadline by a federal judge in san diego. the federal government is saying that they have reunited 1000 families. that is not even half of the kids that they ripped away from their parents at the border.

the deadline is tomorrow. can you talk about the effect of this, how your organizing? oscar: absolutely. i think that the explanation to the fact that so few parents have actually been reunited with their kids is because the administration felt so incredibly confident that nobody was going to challenge this particular action, and that they would never have to face the challenge of reuniting parents and children. saying are essentially is that this particular episode we have seen unfolding over the past several weeks is actually perhaps a preview of what we are likely to see over the next year after theply because termination of temporary protected status, daca, and other protections for people like central american communities come to an end, there will be far more children potentially separated.

take into account the just in terms of tps recipients, there are nearly 250,000 u.s.-born children whose parents are tps recipients, and if they were to be taken away of this particular protection and then placed in potential deportation proceedings come put perhaps in detention, and eventually deported, we may see a far larger challenge in as far as the images that we saw in the u.s. southern border recently. clearly, to us, this is a situation where we need to go much deeper than we have gone so far. we believe it is important for americans to understand what has been happening at the border has been happening for years. it will likely happen even more so in the future. we need to absolutely ramp up the efforts to make sure people understand that this is a

tragedy that has been long in the making and that has its foundation intragedy that has bn the laws that were passed long ago. 1996, to be more precise. unless we managed to gradually change these particular laws, we will continue to see these heartbreaking images of families being broken apart. juan: i wanted to ask you about the roots of the problem, because we have been hearing a lot lately, and certainly in the progressive community, about the call to abolish ice. but most people, most americans do not realize that ice was only created in 1996. as a result of the law you mentioned, the immigration and reform act of 1996 that was signed into law by president clinton. i was wondering if you could talk about how that law really set the stage for what happens not only under president obama, but especially now under president trump. i think we are a little problem with oscar hearing us. can you hear us?

oscar: yes, i believe i can hear you now. that.let me repeat there has been a lot of calls recently for the abolition of ice. but most americans are not aware that ice is a relatively new agency and government affairs. act thatut of the 1996 you alluded to, the immigration and reform act. i was wondering if you could talk more about how that act, signed by president clinton, set the stage for these mass deportations that occurred under president obama and have ramped up under president trump. what was it about that law that made this possible? oscar: let me begin by saying that the 1996 immigration act was actually the evolution of a movement that originated much earlier and that first came international awareness in 1994 in the context of california.

you may recall the california voters adopted a proposition 187, which was a very rudimentary anti-immigrant ballot initiative in california and it passed. many people thought that the fact that the supreme court 187ped most of proposition from going into effect was the end of the story, but in reality, it was only the launching moment for what became federal policy in 1996. at the heart of the 1996 immigration policy reform was a relief that painted all immigrants, but particularly mexican and latino american immigrants, as some sort of threat to the country. that particular threat was enshrined, essentially, into this particular immigration law, but is driven by three critical principles. exclusion, restriction, and punishment. what they really wanted to do with this particular act was to

that many racist and white supremacist forces considered to be undesirable as residents of the u.s., but also wanted to kick out of the country as many people as possible, also deemed as undesirables. on the bookshad since 1996 has been a horrible piece of law that makes possible everything we have seen from that point forward. the events of 9/11 in 2001 only bolster even more this basic architecture of immigrants as threats to the country. as you pointed out, ice is a relatively new agency. the problem is not necessarily an enforcement agency, because when you have good laws in place, it is important to enforce the laws, the problem we have essentially is that whether it is ice or whether it is the border patrol, the bottom line

is that the law that they are charged with enforcing is s a horrible p piece of legislatitin that, frankly,y, unless we manad toto gradually chip away, destry it, abolish it, we will continue to face the same horrifying images that we have seen at the border, and that we see on a daily basis whenever ice carries out raids against people who are hard-working, taxpaying contributors to the united states of america. amy: can you talk about the sanctuary movement today around the country, where particularly women, central american women, are taking refuge in churches, communities protecting them? and how it compares to what happened in the 1980's, the sanctuary movement here in t the united s states, with the u.s. backing of the right-wing regimes terribly murderous regimes in guatemala, honduras,, el salvador? oscar: first of all, let me say

that as someone who came to the u.s. still in my teenage years in 1980, and who became involved in what was broadly known as the solidarity movement back in the 1980's, i actually have a very close relationship with the sanctuary movement back then. i believe it was a practical statement of disagreement by people of faith in this country to policies that were being enacted by the federal government precisely against central american immigrants running away mostly from dictatorial right-wing regimes in central america. what i see today in these so-called new sanctuary movements is a gradual expression against -- again of dissenting voices mainly from faith communities that are appalled at the policies that we continue to have in place, that we continue to enforce, and i believe that the sanctuary

movement, whether it is in the form of the places of worship or cities declaring themselves sanctuary, are once again expressions, very important expressions, of a dissenting voice that is trying to once again point out that these actions are far from what most americans would consider morally acceptable and, i believe, they will play a very important role in gradually reversing the policies and actions that makes a many people ashamed of our government and ashamed of the actions that have been taking place more recently at the u.s. southern border. but i emphasize, these actions take place in many cities through the country because of enforcement agencies like ice implementing a horrible law like the one we passed in 1996. juan: finally, we'll have about 45 seconds, but if you could comment on how the change of government in mexico may have an impact from your perspective on the continuing crisis at the

border between the u.s. and mexico? oscar: well, we are hopeful that the new administration will actually take a deep look at the policies that have been in effect over the past several years. i like to point out the following this humanitarian crisis declared by president obama in 2014, the mexican government, for all practical purposes, became the extended border for the u.s.. inhave seen a huge increase deportations from mexico, essentially replicating the deportation practices of the u.s. we are hopeful that the new administration will again take a fresh look at this and reassess whether this is the right policy for mexico, a natioion that pris itself from saying that it is an international human rights leader. we just don't see that in practice, but we would love to see that come to be the case. amy: oscar chacon, we thank you for being with us.

his recent essay, we will link to it at medium. that does it for our show. has a job opening for a broadcast engineer in new york city. find out more at democracynow.org.

♪ ♪ welcome to nhk "newsline." it is 9:00 a.m. on thursday in tokyo, and we start with breaking news out of japan. two more inmates from the dooms day cult have been executed. this comes after the cult's former leader and six other members were put to death in early july. all members were involved in a series of crimes that left 29