08/15/18 08/15/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we are in fairfax, virginia. we are in front of the nra headquarters. joaquin would be turning 18. looks ♪ happy birthday amy: six months after the valentines day massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, we speak to the parents of one of

the 17 victims, joaquin oliver. they just marked what would have been joaquin's 18th birthday with a large protest outside the nra headquarters. we will talk to manny and patricia oliver about how they are using art to remember their son and to fight gun violence. , thatdecided that joaquin he will be an activist. and this is the way to do that. this is a way to bring joaquin right here, right now, very loud and clear cut as loud as the kids that are leading this amazing movement.. amy: then nearly three w weeks after the court-imposed deadline for reuniting families forcibly seseparated at the u u.s.-mexico border, more than 500 children main in gogovernment custody. we will l speak to award winning reporter john carlos frerey, jut baback from guatatemala and mex.

all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in pennsylvania, a grand jury report released tuesday has revealed more than 300 catholic priests sexually abused 1,000 children and possibly thousands more over seven decades and that the church leadership covered up the abuse. report to telllls how prieststs raped young girls s and boys, inincluding one priest who rapea yoyoung girl in the hospital afr she had her tonsils out. another priest impregnated a young girl and then arranged for her to have an abortion. the report also chronicles how the church used an array of tactics to conceal the abuse, including lying to the community about why a priest was removed from the parish, transferring pedophphile priests rather than firing them, and locking abuse complaints away in a secret

archive. one priest who had been repeatedly accused of child abuse asked for and received a letter o of recommendation totok at disneyland. this is the pennnnsylvania attorney general josh shapiro. >> the term secret archives is not my term. it is the church officials themselves referred to the troves of documents sitting in filing cabinets just feet from the bishop's desks. bishops diocese, the had the key to the secret archives, which contained both allegations and admissions of the abuse and the cover-up. they may go the vatican declined to comment on primaries were tuesday. held in minnesota, wisconsin, connecticut, and vermont tuesday, where christine hallquist made history by becoming the first openly

transgender major party gubernatorial nominee in u.s. history. she easily won the democratic primary and will now face republican vermont governor phil scott in november. if she wins, she'll become the nation's first transgender governor. vermont senator bernie sanders also easily won his democratic senate primary, though he's expected to run in november as an independent. in minnesota, state representative ilhan omar is now poised to become the first somali-american woman elected to congress, and one of the first muslim women elected to congress, after she won her democratic primary tuesday. her victory comes a week after another female muslim candidate, rashida tlaib, won her congressional primary in detroit. also in minnesota, outgoing democratic representative keith ellison won a sweeping victory in the democratic primary for attorney general. his victory comes only days after he was accused of physically and emotionally abusing his ex-girlfriend. he denies the charges. in connecticut, former national

teacher of the year jahana hayes handily won her democratic primary and is poised to be connecticut's first black woman in congress. and in kansas, which held its primary last week, governor jeff colyer has conceded to kansas secretary of state kris kobach in the too-close-to-call republican primary for governor. kobach is a key architect of the gop's voter suppression efforts nationwide, is fiercely anti-immigrant, and led trump's widelyly discredited presisidenl advisory commission on election integrity. president trump has publicly attacked former white house aide omarosa manigault newman using racist and sexist language, tweeting -- "when you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the white house, i guess it just didn't work out. good work by general kelly for quickly firing that dog!" up until her firing, omarosa was

the only african-american to serve in a senior role at the white house. in her new book, she describes the president as racist and claims he has used the n-word repeatedly. president trump has denied using the n-word. but cbs news has published an audio recording that appears to show white house aides discussing the potential fallout from the release of audio of trump using the racial slur. this is a clip of the audio in which trump spokesperson katrina pierson is spepeaking. listen carefully. >> i'm trained to find out at least the context it was used in to help us maybe try to figure out a a way to spin it. amy: omarosa released that tape. on tuesday, white house spokeswoman sarah huckabee sanders said she could not guarantee that there isn't an audio recording of trump using the n-word. this is sanders being questioned by nbc news's kristen welker. >> can you stand at the podium

and guarantee the american people they will nevever hear donald trump under the n-word on a recording in any context? >> i can't guarantee anything, but i can tell you that the president addressed this question directly. i can tell you i have never heard it. amy: in italy, at least 39 people were kikilled when n brie collapsed in genoa tuesday, sending dozens of vehicles tumbling 150 feet. the cause of the collapse is not yet known, but many residents are calling on the head of the company that operated the bridge to resign. the morandi bridge was the fifth bridge to collapse in italy in five years. in yemen, the health ministry says u.s.-backed saudi-led airstrikes in hodeidah province have killed 13 civilians and injured two dozen more. the reported strikes come as outrage contininues to grow w or the u.s.-backed saudi-led bombing of a children's school bus in yemen's northern city of saada, which killed 51 people, including g 40 children. this is unicef's memeritxell rerelano.

>> have been r responding with medical materials and support to thee children, but the important ththing is these attttacks don't repeat again. we d don't need to come b back n and treat the children. the objective is that children are not attacked, they are not killed, they are not injured. this is most important. we need to put a stop to this war. amy: in gaza, health officials say doctors have been forced to halt chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients because of severe medication shortages. the officials say the shortages have beeeen exacerbated d by israel's decision in july to seal a key border r crossing, aa move human rights watch has denounced d as collective punishment. also in gaza, israeli airstrikes destroyed a cultural center in gaza city last week. a photo in the aftermath of the bombing shows palestinians holding the cultural center's sign surrounded by the building's rubble. and former cnn host reza aslan

has spoken out about being detained by israeli authorities while he was crossing into israel from jordan two weeks ago. he said d the israeli auththoris asked him to write dowown the names of palestinians and journalists he knew and threatened him saying -- "if you don't cooperate it will be a long time before you see your kids again." aslan spoke out after jewish-american journalist peter beinart also went public about his recent detention a and questioning by israeli authorities at ben-gurion international airport. in tunisia, thousands of people rallied in tunis monday to demand equal inheritance rights for women. the tunisian president beji caid essebsi has prproposed changinig the law to allow equal inheritance. current tunisian law typically allows men to inherit twice as much as women. and in nebraska, authohorities executed carey dean moore using a four-drug cocktail that

included fentanyl, which had never been used before in an execution in the united states. it was the first execution in nebraska in more than 20 years. journalists who witnessed the execution said moore's face turned red, and then purple, and that the execution took over 20 minutes from the moment the first drug was administered. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. students at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, r returned to class toy amid heavy security after summer break. it was six months ago tuesday when a former student, armed with a semi-automatic ar-15, gunned down 17 students and staff and teachers in just three minutes. it was one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. after the horrific attack, many of the students who survived the

shooting became a leading activivists for gun controrol. in march, , they led the historc march for our lives in washington, d.c., were almost 8000 people gathered. in may, they held a die-in at a publix grocery store to protest publix's donations to gubernatorial candidate adam putnam, a self-proclaimed "proud#nrasellout." and in june, they launched a nationonal road to change bus tr where they registered younung people to vovote and to support gun control legislation. the tour ended on sunday in newtown, connecticut, , the site of the 2012 sandy hook elementary school shooting massacre. they met with some of the sandy hook aaron's. atng the students killed stoneman douglas high school was joaquin oliver. on august 4, on what would have been joaquin's 18th birthday,

his parents helped organize a protest in fairfax virginia in front of the nra headquarters. this is his father, manny. >> we are in fairfax, virginia, just in front of the nra headquarters. 18.uin would've and turning he would have been having a lot of fun and probably celebrating. amy: that powerful protest took place outside nra headquarters on august 4. joaquin's birthday. on tuesday, i spoke to his parents men well and patricia oliver who have a started new non-profit calleled change the f to promote the use of urban art and nonviolent creative confrontation to expose the disastrous effect of gun

violence. i began by asking manny about the protest in front of the nra. >> that day was pretty special. i got a call from our now good friend david. we fight together in this battle. amy: one of the outspoken students now fighting for gun control. >> he is one of the leaders of march for our lives. so david told me that they were planning a rally in front of the nra in fairfax, virginia. he was wondering if i was ok to go there with patricia and kind birthdayate joaquin's right in front of their faces. i was totally ok with that idea. i think it was a brilliant way to have joaquin making a statement in front of the group headquarters. so we did that. we went to washington and we

went to virginia. numberour wall or wall nine. a lot of people were singing "happy birthday" to joaquin post up amy: in front of nra headquarters. >> right in front of the headquarters. it is interesting that being the headquarters, the center off ths whole gun lobby, if you want to say it that way, there was only like 30 people from their side protesting what we were doing. at the same time, there were like 1500 on our side. that gives you the balance that we see every single day every time we go to different places of how the numbers are divided in the station right now. there is way more people on our side. that is for sure. amy: it is not the firirst tim you e e in fnt of nra headquarters.

yoyou would toto conont the e an dallas at their natialal convention when presidt trump and vice preside p pence went speak. >> tt was inresting cause we had thera conveion in dalla werehere a wk beforehe coention t pn where were doing ou walk, wch i an action o demding rigs, sically,gainst g laws. when weere thera week fore, trp still d not kn if hwas gointo show the coention. r me, itas tally, i mean why he gointo come re?? whis he supporting these people? when i heard the news that he would be there with pence and that would b be there togegether empowering this group,hahat is whwhen addededim to thwalk. its graphicchanged stst becse o ofis decision of bebeing ere.e. i though o ok, n thahat u'

going to be here, i'm going to use your image and d my rally, which is two blocks away from where you are going to be. amy: explainer tradition now -- explain your traditional of making the girls. you are in artist. >> i am, yes. i love art. that is what i do. i don't know how to fight any other way. i speak and draw. there is a creative process. it wasn't planned. our future should be way different than what we are living right now. we come to these places. thatngregate people follows our movement and then we start drawing on, not permanent walls, images of joaquin. this is a way to give joaquin a voice still these days. art style.ti

a lot of stencils. deep where we're going and what is happening in that location. and according to that, i will play around with some elements and make sure that joaquin's words are pretty loud and clear. we decided, me and patricia, that joaquin, besides being a victim, sadly but true, he will be an activist. and this is a way to do that. this is a way to bring the legend of joaquin right here, right now, very loud and clear, as one of the kids leading this amazing movement. amy: so talk about the first mu ra and what it saidl. >> the first one we did said we demand a change and i thought about that because -- amy: this was in florida. >> it was in florida.

it was very recent to the tragedy. i was very sad and there is a balance between being sad and being verytive and activist and sometimes sadness limits your emotions. so that wall, it was a very hard experience. i had no idea where i was going. i do remember i had d a hammer n my hand and i was between being sad and mad and i just hit the wall. it was a drywall wall, a fake wall. and that sound of meeting the wall made some of the people that were there run away from the room because we were all expecting a shooting could happen anywhere. amy: it sounded like a let's. >> it sounded like a let's, which is amazing. i discovered that same moment a

way to impact people, which is, in other words, convincing fast, and i liked that, the option of impacting people instead of convincing people. then i hit the wall 17 times. then i had some flowers. i placed those flowers in those honoring theomehow victims. process ofame the each wall. the walls have been evolving. now they are more -- now it is a combination -- now i am more mad than sad. i became a little more better researcher of what is going on. i have been educating myself. how do i fight this? amy: manny oliver, the father of walking -- joaquin n oliver, one of 17 people killed six months ago in the valentine's day

massacre a at marjory stononeman douglas high school. when we come back, manny and patricia will talk about valentine'ss day and t the day y citizens along g with joaquiuin. it was i inauguration day 2017. for our music break, we turn to a video put together by family friend the features joaquin lip-synching to some of his favorite songs. ♪ [music break]

amy: that video put together by a family friend that features joaquin oliver lip-synching to some of his favorite songs. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as students at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, return to class today after summer break, we are looking back at the valentine's day shooting massacre six momons ago when a former student done down 17 students, staff, and teachers in just three minutes. we're speaking to mania patricia oliver, the parents of 17-year-old joaquin oliver, who died in the shooting. i spoke to them tuesday. many talked about joaquin's final hours alive. >> the night before the tragedy,

and this is very nostalgic story. it hurts, but i will share again. joaquin asked to me to stop by .nd buy some flowers for his girlfriend. going -- it was going to be valentine's day. so we bought them. after when iday dropped joaquin at school at 8:30 a.m., he said "i love you dad." "i love you son." he was full of may flowers. he was supposed to call me back how it went.w

we had that kind of relationship. i said, make sure you call me back so you can share her reaction for the flowers we bought. he never called back. that was the last time i had a chance to speak to my son. but i do know that tori got the sunflowers. he had time to give them to tori. amy: patricia, you are wearing those sunflowers will stop is that right? you were the sunflowers around your neck? >> yes, that is true. tori made us a little necklace. together, you can see a heart. she made it half and half for each of us. she receivedowers that day. that was very nice of her. amy: and you have one of them right there. >> that is right. encased inrt of engage plastic one of those flowers.

>> these are the flowers i bought with joaquin the net before. the question here, or one of the questions i have been asking to myself, we did the right thing. we were raising our kid in a house full of love that will buy flowers for valentine's day. him and his dad were buying flowers the night before. what was going on in that other house? what was the whole point of putting all of those weapons together and those bullets together? what is wrong in this society that that is an option? that while me and my son are buying flowers, some other people that could be your neighbor, could be your family member, is just planning this terrrrible thing just to finish people's lives? amy: you won't even say the

shooter's name? >> no. i don't need to. do you know why? because there are many of them. only an issuenot that happened in parkland to patricia and manuel and joaquin. right now while we are talking, there is another shooter planning to do -- ask lee, maybe right now, someone just died because of this. so giving a name to a shooter is not necessary. it is not fair to give numbers to victims and give names to shooters. so that is the reason why -- it is not that it is hurting me at all. handleust not the way to the situation. amy: so what is the answer? >> to solve the problem? well, thank god we have democracy that i trust and there

is a system and we can vote for the people that will be able to fix this, hopefully. besides educating ourselves on how we do what we do, we also have been educating ourselves in who we should trust and who is capable of fixing this. i can tell you something, i have been searching for this dream team to solve the problem. and answer number one or rule number one is that if anof these guys that are planning to be representing us i is receivig money from the nra, you are out. you are not cool. you can't represent me because you don't have -- way of thinking. you are working like for a cartel. as hard as it sounds, when you have a cartel, you put money into politicians pockets so they

leave the law alone so you can keep on with your business,s, me more money, anand kill more peopople. amy: in fact, right after the massacrere, what made parkland o different is how active you all became so quickly. when others, particularly those involved with the nra like donald trump, are talking about thoughts and prayers, even the governor rick scott, you all were mobilizing. led by the kids. .nd saying, nothing doing i remember at the march for our lives, one of the posters was ofssing pears" with pictures tater taught and pears. you all were involved with the legislation, writing the legislation. .> we were involved as much as we agreed with being part of it, we have something in common.

17 families were going through pain. we lost our kids. some people lost their parents. 14 students, two teachers, and one coach. we agreed on some of the solutions. we don't agree on others, but we respect each other a lot. those -- that is not the way we are handling. we respect what they do. the only day we went to washington was to draw a wall, to be an active, graphic message sender. amy: both of you became citizens years ago from venezuela will stop you moved to florida. talk about joaquin becoming officially a citizen, your son. when was that? >> it was last her, january 20, 20 17. he was very, very excited to become an official citizen.

we came here the day after he turned three years old. in his heart, he was more american because he learned how to grow up in the american en though we have our own culture. he made a combination of most cultures, which was very good for him. he was very proud of that. and that day he was so excited. he was so emotional. he made a review from when we went through all of these years, the process growing as -- amy: let's makeke a point of wht this day was. thatry 20, 2017, the day joaquin became an american citizen was also inauguration day for president trump. >> that was a unique day because we begin citizens very early in the morning. that happened at 8:00 in the

morning -- amy: where were you? >> we were at the place -- the immigration center that they have a huge room there where they were celebrating the citizenship. maybe 200 people receiving citizenship. they play a video with the current president, and at that time, exactly, he was obama -- amy: that was the morning of an operation. >> at8:30 so it was s still oba in powower. he gave as the "welcome to america." ad three hours later, we had new president. amy: and the three of you became citizens that they? >> yes. we became citizens. joaquin was 16 at that time so we were -- automatically. amy: talk about graduation day, patricia. >> graduation day was a very

hard day because every kid, case,ally joaquin, in my it dreaming about that day. he was like any other family. we were planning about future, about schools, about where to go, how we were going, what do you like most. was very committed to be going to that day. he loved to write. or said once,ote i get my diploma, i will see straight to my mom's eyes." we were at home debating about graduation day. ,manueled our daughter and the, we thoughtht the best

when receiving the diploma was me. i prepared myself emotionally. it took a while. itit took something to be e the. i said, i have to do what i have to do. joaquin happy because i know he would be very proud of me being up there on stage receiving the diploma. but we also decidided to not ony receive ththe diploma, we have o make a statement. we have to take advantage of the moment to make people understand that this can't be happening again and again and again. so that is why -- amy: talk about what you wore. >> we decided to make this jersey. joaquin was very into sports. , youcided to make a jersey know, to make the statement very clear. jersey shirt,e

but it was saying "this should be my son." amy: there is the t-shirt. you're holding up his diploma and your yellow teachers says "this should be my son." two weeks after the massacre at parkland, president trump urged republican and democratic lawmakers to pass comprehensive gun control measures and accused pennsylvania republican senator pat toomey of being afraid of the nra. amy: think of it, you can buy handgun. you can't buy 1 -- you have to wait into your 21, but you can buy the kind of weapon used in the school shooting at 18. i think it is something you have to think about. will take what, i'm going to give it a lot of consideration and i'm the one bringing it up and a lot of people don't want to bring it up because they are afraid to bring

it up. at 18, can't buy handgun 19, or 20, you have to wait into your 21, but you can buy the weapon used in this horrible shooting at 18. you're going to decide, the people in this room pretty much, are going to decide. i would give very serious thought to it. i can say the nra is opposed to it. i am a fan of the nra. no bigger fan. i am a big fan. these are great patriots. they love our country. but that doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. it does that make sense that i have to wait until i'm 21 to get a handgun, but i think it is weapon at 18. i was just curious as to what you did in your bill? >> we did not address it, mr. president. pres. trump: because you u are afraid of the nra. >> it never came up. pres. trump: it is a big issue right now. a lot of people are talking about it. a lot of people are afraid of that issue, raising the age for that weapon to 21. amy: that is presidentnt trump

saying don't be afraid of the nra. did he do any of this he is talking about? >> i love how he points of people, blaming everybody. i love also the way he says "i'm going to have to think about this." there is nothing to think about. this is happening already. after that, he was at the nra convention empowering these groups. he has never been -- by the way, i don't need him -- amy: you mean he never came to parkland. >> he never came to parkland. i invited him publicly to parkland. i said, now that you have been invited to the white house, let's do this another way. how about you take one of those trips to mar-a-lago, driving 30 minutes or 25 minutes to parkland, and i want you to spend five minutes in joaquin's so maybe empty room,

you have an idea of what is going on in many houses, in many families around the nation. of course, that was ignored. fine. amy: you put that information out because mar-a-lago is pretty much down the road. >> absolutely. by the way, that invitation was in all media. he got that. he ignored it. i am not a pro trump have -- onll and i amy: can you share any of joaquin's -- >> i have something right here i can read you. it is pretty impactful. amy: ok, guys, i've had it. i want to ask everyone of my true friends who support donald trump if they could live without me. if i vanish today, would you be

happy? would you be ok with that? not just me, but anyone being discriminated by your president. would you guys be 100% ok with your immigrant friends never existing in your life? and those who choose to stay out of it are just as bad. if you stay quiet, you are supporting him. so fight for us and we will fight for you. love us and we will love you. take us in with open arms and we will make sure we make the best out of our stay here." amy: and that is the words of your son joaquin oliver. >> so who ever thinks that me are leading our own fight, they should know that we are leading joaquin's fight. and ago that was a tweet of joaquin's.

>> yes. have shows,e that i which is before that come also written by joaquin. dated december 2013. "dear u.s. gun owner, i'm writing this letter to talk to you about how we're going to solve this gun law movement. most of you have a problem with the idea of a universal background check. why are you mad that there is a background check? it is for your own good. maybe you are fond of having crazy people with death machines. shouldn't have anything against background checks if you are innocent. thank you, joaquin."

he was 13 years. amy: patricia, your thoughts as you head back to florida, what this period, with this six months, if you feel you are beginning to heal, status possible? happens justhat it yesterday. meeting-- i have been other people in the same circumstances. i think every day is a different day and i see from them thahat they're just t surviving g in te momoment. i think we have to go. we have to keep g going. it will bring us some relief that we feel we're doing something for other kids and other people because we are all suffering this terrible situation that is the lack of gun control.

so that is what i think about talking about me, that it makes me feel better in a way that i could do something for somebody else will stop amy: manny, the six months for you? also, your daughter, because joaquin has an older sister and rea. is thesix months for me amount of time that i have been fighting and it is not enough. there are two ways of looking at time in these situations. oh, my god, it is our to six months. it is a short time to get used to the situation, but it is also very short for our fight. happened, wewhat go to what we carry, and i carried this little stone i memorial atquin's

ththe school. and it goes "we will change the world for you." that is what i try to do every single day. amy: manny and patricia oliver, remembering their son joaquin oliver, one of 17 people killed six months ago in the valentine's day massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school. students return to school today after summer break. onquin would have been 18 august 4. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we return, 559 children remain separated from their parents. separated by the u.s. government. what will happen to them? where are their parents? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: students from stoneman douglas high school performing during the tony awards "seasons of love" from the hit broadway musical "rent." this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nearly three weeks after the court-imposed deadline for reuniting families forcibly separated at the u.s.-mexixico remain in government custody. the deputy director of the a so use immigrant rights project said in response the government appears to be taking a remarkable position that it is the job of private entities to find these parents and it can largely sit back and wait rest to tell them when we find people, he said.

most of the family separated were seeking asylum from violence in their home countries of el salvador, honduras, and guatememala. instead,d, the parenents weree charged d in federal court witha crime for illegally crossing the border, then held in jail and detention. the children, some still breast-feeding, were sent to shelters around the country. the separation of families has sparked massive condemnation and protest, including an instagram campaign called "dear ivanka," in which celebrities, including amy schumer and chelsea handler, are calling on the president's daughter, who is the senior white house adviser, to take action on the ongoing crisis of family separation. the judge who issued the executive order demanding the trump administration reunite all separated families said, for every parent who is that located, there will be a permanent orphan child and that is 100% the responsibility of the administration, the judge

wrote. for more, we're joined by john carlos frey, award-winning investigative reporter with the marshall project and special correspondent with pbs newshour. he is recently back from reporting trips in guatemala and nogales, mexico, where he spoke with asylum seekers waiting for days and even weeks on end to enter the united states. welcome to democracy now! tell us what you found. seekers whosylum are waiting in line to make a claim of asylum. these are individuals who have fled their home countries the cause of violence, domestic violence, gang violence. they have every right to make a claim of asylum, and the trump administration has decided to put a cabal shot on it. people are having to wait up to two weeks at the u.s.-mexico border, just to make a claim of asylum. this is further endangering their lives. they are in a foreign country. usually don't have any money, don't have a home, don't have a place to sleep. many of these individuals are there with their children and

having to wait two weeks in some sort of fictitious line just to bye a claim of asylum caused the trap administration's restriction on asylum seekers. i am working on a story right now to try to figure e out why e trumump administration is slowig downwn the process. in addition, they are restricting the claims of asylum, what individuals can actually claim as a reason for an asylum claim. those restrictions, i think, are targeted directly at central america. jeff sessions has said they are no longer going to be honoring claims of domestic violence and gangger honoring claims of violence as reasons to make a claim of asylum. this is why central americans are coming. gang violence is out of control in central america, and domestic violence in honduras and guatemala is the worst in the world. honduras is the capital for from a side in the world -- femicide

in the world. i think guatemala ranks third. these individuals are leaving with legitimate reasons to make claims of asylum. the trump administration is basically saying, you're not welcome anymore. amy: talk about these 559 children. first we thought it was 2500 children that the government had snatched from their parents. in many of these cases, the parents did not even get a receipt for their children. like when you go on an airplane and you get a receipt for ththe baggage that you willingly give over. they did not even realize their children were being taken from them. some were told they were being given a bath. we thought our 2500 and then the government changed and said nearly 3000. now they say 559 kids have not been reunited with their parents. where are the kids and where are the parents? knew were the all kids were and were the parents were, we would be reunited. this is a debacle.

this is popoor managemenent at e ve leaeast. this i is an inhumanee practicef not beining able to matatch chin with their parents.. in many cases, records were not cap were taken. somemething simpleikike a cheaep swap -- cheek swab so there could be an accurate match. especially if yoyou're trying to match children who may be too young to talk or identify family members, that is the possibility as well. there is evidence to prove that in 26 cases, with parents the government did not take any information at all, they just took the kids from 26 parents without taking names, without taking any form of identification, or any way of even matching them -- there's also evidence to show at least five children remain nameless without any sort of identification on them. so these children, we don't even know who they are, his parents they are. they will never be reunited.

i have heard in some cases that the parents who have been deported have given up. they are not going to look for their children anymore because it is futile and they think maybe the kids would have a better life in the u.s. anyway. builts is a disaster exactly from the hand of the trump administration. i also heard while i have been at the border that children are still being separated. i don't think that is being reported enough. this is still a process. the odd thing about it is, asylum seekers, with a come from central america especially, they believe -- i'm not quite sure why this is a belief -- they believe if they bring their children, them a better chance of getting asylum. it is some form of proof that if they have their children into a common maybe they will get into the country easier. some people are still continuing to bring their children, even of have been separated, mostly because they don't have a choice. amy: if you can repeat that. children are still being

separated from their parents? the trump administration says this is not true, and there have been federal judges who have ruled this cannot happen. >> i visited a shelter in guatemala where migrants have been deported. this was less than a week ago that i was there. there was a family that had had their children separated from them about three weeks ago, which would have been past the deadline actually to reunite the children, not even saying they weren't going to be separating children anymore. legally -- and this is tenuous at best -- legally, the trump administration is allowed to remove children from their parents is we can prove the parents have committed some form of a crime. if the parents are going to be incarcerated, then by law the administration, the federal government, has the right to remove the children. we're not quite sure what these individuals are being charged with. that information has not been

forthcoming. for the has asked charges against these parents through a foia request. still charging parents with some form of a crime. we're not sure if it is the crime of illegal entry into the u.s. or some other crime that might be in their background.d. but kids are still being separated -- at least by individuals i spoke to. amy: d you know or they are being put? >> nobody knows. children who are being separated from their parents, if they are teenagers, usually go to places that we handle unaccompanied minors. these facilities are equipped to handle teenagers. these are kids that come to the u.s. border by themselves so the facilities can handle that. infants and toddlers, kids that may still need some sort of formula or have been breast-feeding are our too young to talk, where do we put them? we can't put them in a facility with teenagers. we have to put them in a facility may be a neonatal or childcare facility.

the u.s. government is not equipped to do that. these are makeshift shelters. we are not privy to the information of where they are actually being held. amy: john carlos frey, can you talk about the very gold on ranging -- bomb range? >> is a 70 mile stretch of land owned by the federal government or the military, mostly the air force, performs military exercises. bombing runs. basically, training pilots for military exercises. it is a court owned off area of the southern arizona desert. it happens to cross very well-known migrant routes. migrants are coming through the desert on their way to the united states, sometimes cross the very goldwater bombing range. it is almost impossible to get to a major highway were migrants usually pick up their right without crossing this bombing range. the bombing range is restricted from humanitarian assistance

because of, for obvious reasons, it is a dangerous place. and so individuals who care for migrants on their journey by putting out water and food or maybe even searching for lost migrants, are not allowed onto the stretch of land. i had been in contact with the search and rescue team over the past six months. they have discovered over a dozen bodies on a very small section of the barry goldwater bombing range when they had permission to search in this general area. it is believed there are hundreds, if not more, individual human remains still on the bombing range, but the federal government is not allowing anyone on to search for these individuals. a regularross there basis. these individuals believe, at least the search and rescue many, belelieve, there are many more bodies therere and the federal gogovernmement is barrig that process. amy: a mass grave of records on the very goldwater bombing range, right over the bord

er. >> that is correct. amy: hundreds of bodies? >> without a doubt. this search and rescue group which means "the eagles of the desert," was given permission to search a very small section of the south end of the bombing range where there were no exercises being performed. they were looking for an individual who was possibly still alive. that a missing persons report. they were given permission over a weekend -- i'm sorry, over two weekends, to search for this individual. the individual was not found but in the process of searching for that missing person, they found 13 human remains just in the course of two weekends in a very small section of the bombing range. to this group, that was prove there must be at least hundreds more, if not more than that. they were the first group ever allowed to search on the bombing range. as i said, this is part of a corridor that margaret cross.

if you get to the bombing range on your way to this road, you're probably -- you have probably already been walking for days in the desert. you are in pretty bad shape. you will have 30 more miles to go. it is pretty likely that as you say, there are hundreds of human remains still there and the federal government does not believe that -- at least, that is what they say on paper -- and are not allowing groups in. amy: in 2015, john carlos freyy, you reported on a massive great in texas that held the unidentified bodies of more than 300 immigrants. the bodies gathered from the desert. your report found many of the immigrants died after crossing into the u.s. and waiting hours for border patrol to respond to their 911 calls. what is the latest on this? >> the forensic team that uncover the bodies, exhumed thee human remains and started to take the dna samples and analyze the human remains for possible reunification with family

members, have tried deluge only to get these individuals back to loved ones. -- diligently to get these individuals back to loved ones. the process is complicated. for the most part, law enforcement in the united states keeps the names of individuals who are deemed missing. missing persons reports are handled by law enforcement agencies in the united states. those law enforcement agencies, if they like or if they want to come are responsible for turning those games over to the missing persons database. for the most part, sheriffs, police department, police agencies in the u.s. do not count migrants who are missing as missing persons. so these individual names are not being turned over to the database. so there is no way for someone in latin america to search for their loved ones through a dna sample because those names have not been entered into the database. so the organizations that have exhumed the bodies, that are

concerned about migrants come have started their own database. there is one that a forensic team from baylor university has put together called "i have a name." they have posted ththe actual identifying features of the individualal who is lost, the clothing they may have been wearing, the jewelry they may have had on their person -- any signs of what these individuals mahave lookeked l like are on ts particular website so that people looking for their loved ones in latin america may go on and say, "my daughter or son was wearing jeans and a blue shirt." it is a needle in a haystack way of trying to get people reunited, but at least at this point, without putting individuals names on the database on the missing persons database, is about the only way that people are ever going to be reunited. as you say, close to 300 people were exhumed from these mass graves. as far as i understand, only one individual has been reunited

with his family. there's not much a government effort. the federal government has washed its hands of these individuals and is not assisting either financially or by allowing names to be put into the database. amy: john, i want to ask about the connection between these mass graves, whether we're talking about brooks county are the very goldwater bombing range, and people waiting on the day,r even now, day after trying to come in legally, and then giving up and coming another way and risking their lives even further. >> there is a direct correlation. individuals who are trying to make a claim of asylum h have fd their countries because they don't have a choice. they are fleeing for their lives. if we are not allowing them in to make a claim of asylum, they will go another way. the route available to the are the deserts of the american southwest. it is most likely now that individuals who cross the desert will be put in peril. they will suffer just going

through, especially this time of year, we can count on the fact that many of these individuals may perish. amy: john carlos frey, this is incredible reporting. thank you for being with us award-winning investigative , reporter with the marshall project. we will do the interview in spanish at democracynow.org>>ñ

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