12/26/18 12/26/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is demomocracy now! pres. trump: i can't tell you in a government is going to be open. i can tell you it is not going to be open until we have a wall come a fence, whatever they want to call it. amy: is a partial government shutdown enters its fifth day, u.s. stock markets are on pace for the worst december since 1931 during the great depression. we will speak to economics professor richard wolff.

but first, only days after the u.s. supreme court rules against president trump asylum band, a second guatemalan child dies in border patrol custody in new mexico. we will spspeak to baher azmzmyf the centerer for cononstitutioil rights. > congress s has writitten vy clearly in the immigration anand nationonality act that t indivis are entitled to o apply y for am whether they make that --- whether they enter thehe united ststat a at a port of entryry ad subjecect to routine inspectionr whether they enter oututside a poport of entry to whetether thy cross with the government would say unlawfully. amy: and a group of yemeni americans follow lawsuit over president trump's muslim ban in an attempt to reunite with their families who have been blocked entry into the united states, even though their visas had been approved. we will be joined by a yemeni father and his four-year-old

daughter who is separated from her mother. >> when she asks me for her mother, i always give her a hug and tell her she is coming soon because she doesn't understand what a travel ban means. i try to pick her up when she cries for r her mother. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in new mexico, an eight-year-old guatemalan boy died on christmas eve while in the custody of u.s. customs and border protection, becoming the second migrant child to die in u.s. detention in the past month. felix gomez alonzo was admitted to a hospital earlier on christmas eve, diagnosed with a common cold, given ibuprofen and antibiotics and released. but the boy continued to become more ill throughout christmas eve. after he began vomiting, the boy was sentnt back k to the same

hospital, but fell unconscious along the way. he was pronounced dead just before midnight christmas morning. the cause of d death is not yet known. the boy was first detained along with his father on december 18. the trump administration said it was investigating the latest death and that it had ordered medical checks of every child in its custody. this follows the death of a seven-year-old indigenous guatemalan girl, jakelin caal maquin, who died on december 8, also in new mexico, two days after she and her father presented themselves at the border in a bid for asylum. while he has talked endlessly about the border wall, president trump has neither tweeted about nor spoken about the dead children in u.s. custody. the deaths have drawn international condemnation and calls for a thorough, independent investigation. felipe gonzalez morales, u.n. special rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, said -- "states have an obligation to care for migrants who arrive at the border, they cannot treat them as animals in inhuman conditions. detention of children based on

their migratory status is a violation of international law," the u.n. special rapporteur added. the latest m migrant death comes as the federal governmnment entered its s fifth day of a partial l shutdown over prpresit trump's demands for more m money for an expanded wall on the u.s.-mexico border. 88% of department of homeland to kitty workers among federal employees forced to work without paying. on christmas day, trump said the shutdown will last until democrats agree to $5 billion in new funding, despite his campaign pledge that he would make mexico pay for the wall. pres. trump: i can't tell you when the government is going to be open. i can tell you it is not going to be open until we have a wall, a fence, whatever they would like to call it. i will call it whatever they want. but it is all the same thing, a barrier from people pouring into our country from drugs, a

barrier from drugs. amy: on twitter, trump posted a graphic of a border wall design with the caption -- "a design of our steel slat barrier which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful!" trump said he woululd be heading to texas at the end of january for a groundbreaking. funding for about a quarter of all federal programs expired at midnight on friday, including the departments of justice, agriculture, and homeland security. sosome 380,0,000 federal employs have been furloughed. another 420,000 are working without pay, some within trump's own republican party have suggested the shutdown is an act of bravado. this is republican senator bob corker of tennessee speaking on cnn's "state of the union" on sunday. >> this is a made-up fight so the president can look -- so this is something that is unnecessary. it is a spectacle. and candidly,y, it is juvenile. ththe whole thing is juvenile. amy: the shutdown came as the supreme court ruled friday that

the trump administration cannot enforce a ban on asylum claims by immigrants who cross into the u.s. outside a port of entry. newly seated supreme court justice brett kavanaugh sided with the trump administration, while justice ruth bader ginsburg sided with the 5-to-4 majority in blocking the trump administration's plans. -- asylum band. justice ginsberg's vote came as she was hospitalized in a new york city cancer center, where surgeons on friday removed two malignant growths in her left lung. doctors have called the surgery a success, and say there's no sign that ginsburg's cancer has spread. ruth bader ginsburg is 85 years old. she cracked three ribs last month after a fall inside the supreme court. 2018 marked ginsburg's 25th year on the court, and she has not announced any plans to retire. in more immigration news, authorities in el paso, texas, scrambled over the christmas holiday y to assist hundreds of migrant asylum-seekers who were

dropped off suddenly by ice officials outside a greyhound bus terminal without any plan to house them. local shelters say they weren't told in advance of ice's plans, as is customary, leaving them struggling to find accommodations for hundreds of migrants, including young children. on sunday, greyhound brought in buses where migrants could shelter overnight into the christmas eve holiday. sergeant robert gomez of the el paso police department said -- "we weren't going to put 200 people on the streets of el paso on a cold night. we wouldn't do that." on wall street, the stock market plunged more than 650 points on monday, marking the worst december decline since the great depression of the the latest 1930's. selloff came after treasury secretary steven mnuchin spooked investors after revealing he'd spoken to the ceo's of the six largest u.s. banks in a bid to shore up cononfidence ovover the economy. this came as trump renewed his attack on the federal reserve and openly criticized its chairman, jerome powell, whom he appointed.

on christmas eve, trump tweeted -- "the only problem our economy has is the fed. they don't have a feel for the market, they don't understand necessary trade wars or strong dollars or even democrat showdowns over borders." we'll have more on the trump administration and growing economic turmoil after headlines with economist richard wolff. in syria, israeli warplanes fired missiles near the e capitl dadamascus early w wednesday, wh syrian state media saying a weapons depopot was blown up in the attack. earlier this week, israelili pre minister benjamin netanyahu threatened to launch more assaults inside syria, saying he was targeting hezbolollah and other r forces backed byby iran. this comes as the trump administration is ending its support for a kurdish-led militia fighting isis, as turkish troops mass near a northern town held by the kurds. since 2014, the u.s. backed the ypg militia with weapons and logistics, but is withdrawing the support as turkey prepares to invade syrian territory it controls. last week, president trump ordered the withdrawal of all

2000 u.s. troops from syria. the pullout reportedly came after trump spoke by phone on december 15 with turkey's authoritarian president, recep tayyip erdogan. the white house later said erdogan had invited trump to a meeting in turkey in 2019, and that trump is open to a potential meeting. meanwhile, president trump said he would fire pentagon chief james mattis two months ahead of schedule after matattis rebukedd trump's foreign policy decisisis in a resignation letter he made public last week. trump reportedly did not read mattis' letter and only learned about his objections from fox news. afteter growing increasingly a y wiwith his defense chief, trump said mattis will leave on january 1. he had p previously been expxped to retirire at the end of february. patrick shanahan will become acting secretary of defense. shanahan is a former executive at the u.s. weapons maker -- manufacturer boeing. meanwhile, president trump's envoy to the coalition fighting isis has resigned over trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from syria.

brett mcgurk was appointed in 2015 by president obama and held the role until his resignation last week. in indonesia, the death toll from a devastating tsunami has risen to 430. on saturday night, a massive wall of water suddenly emerged from the ocean and swept rapidly across coastal areas of western java and southern sumatra. hundreds were swept out to sea, as homes, hotels, and businesses were destroyed. this is a spokesperson with indonesia's disaster punishment agency. we evertil today, recorded 430 people have dieied, 1495 have bebeen injured, 159 ae 21,991 re:ng, and evacuees. the losses and damage to building state it is still being collected. amy: the tsunami did not follow a major earthquake, and therefore, did not trigger indonesia's early warning system. ininstead, it t resulted from mn ereruption andnd underwater

lalandslide atat the krakatau volclcano. authorities s have warned ofof e potential tsunamis and have ordered coastal residents to evacuate for higher ground. in kabul, afghghanistan, at leat 43 people were kililled monday after a team of gunmen stormed a government building and began moving floor-to-floor to target workers. the assault began after a suicide car bomber detonated outside the public works ministry ahead of a gun battle that lasted for hours. no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which was one of the deadliest assaults on kabul this year. indonesia's army has been accused of using the banned chemical weapon white phosphorus on villagers in west papua during assaults earlier this month that left seven people dead and thousands displaced. a photo published in the us join weekly "the saturday paper" shows a wounded man with what appears to be a severe leg injury from white phosphorus, an incendiary substance that buburs through skin to the bone. the man was among victims of helicopter attacks on pro-inindependence activists in

the ceceral highlalands of westt papua. the crackdown came on december 1 after r west papuans raised ther flag to mark the anniversary of indonesia's 1961 invasion. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i am one gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. for the second time this month, a guatemalan child has died in the custody of u.s. customs and border protection. eight-year-old felixix gomez alonzo died in new mexico on christmas eve after being detained since december 18. earlier in the day, he had been diagnosed with a common cold, given ibuprofen and antibiotics, and released. but the boy continued to become more ill throughout the day, becoming nauseous and vomiting. he was sent back to the same hospital, but fell unconscious along the way. he was pronounced dead just before midnight chchristmas morning. this follows the death of a seven-year-old indigenous

guatemalan girl, jakelin caal maquin, who died on december 8, two days after she and her father presented themselves at the border in a bid for asylum. amy: meanwnwhile, the supreme court has rejected president trump's asylum ban which attempted to deny asylum to anyone entering the country from outside of a legal port of entry. supreme court chief justice john roberts joined the liberal wing of the court in ththe 5 to 4 vo. justice ginsburg voted from her hospital bed. the case was brought by the american civil liberties union, the southern poverty law center, and the center for constitutional rights. we are joined now by ccr's legal director baher azmy. it is great to have you with us. explain this lawsuit. >> the lawsuit was initially filed the day the trump aministration promulgated regulation an executive order that attempted to bar people

from eligibility for asylum at the inter-outside a port of entry. and what the lawsuit said is that this regulation clearly violates the plain terms of a 38-year-old statute, the refugee act from 1980, that specifically says individuals can apply for asylum no matter where they enter, which reflects the basic reality in the international law law, which asylum recognizes that people who are fleeing persecution do not and cannot how chelate precisely where to enter in order t to sek refuge. and so this principle reflects the basic you military notion that people who enter, wherever they enter, shall be allowed to apply for asylum. the supreme court left the decision striking down thehe , as ition in place plainly violates the law. juan: president trump earlier dismissed the lower court decision by judge tiger,

claiming this was an obama judge whwho was making this decision. to fourwe have a five vote in the supreme court upholding that. >> that is right. the ninth circuit court of appeals, the majority opinion written by jay bybee, a bush appointee, also affirmed -- amy: norm for the torture memos. >> among other things, that's right. it is a little surprising and consuming there are even four votes to reconsider lower court's decision because it would seem the law is a clear and the conservative look at the statute and see the executive branch cannot simply rewrite a congressional statute with a flip of the pen. amy: so you have judge roberts, the chief justice roberts, siding with the liberals and justice ginsberg voting from her hospital bed a at memorial sloan-kettering. >> yes.

quite dramatic. judge kavanaugh siding with the other very conservative members of the court. roberts presumably sees his role as an institutionalist now and upholding both the appearance and the integrity of the court around questions of the rurule f law. amy: but maybe doeoesn't t wanto be called the kavanaugh court. >> and taking control of the institution. the ports ofsue of entry, clearly, the trump administration is making it even more difficult day by day for anyone to apply for asylum at a port of entry because they are making the waiting lines so long. but what is the difference between enterining illegally and seeking asylum versus going through a port of entry? >> that is a very important point. they passed -- they enacted this regulation out of a stated desire to "channel people to ports of entry" to great

incentives, a fact that has exists for desperate refugees. at the same time, at portsts of entry, they are blocking the application process to a trickle. migrants are stuck in very laredous locations like havejuana or war as, which intimate violence and gang presence, and being forced to wait weeks. and people are dying there as well as a result of the trump administration's to trends policy. amy: which brings us to the death of this little boy, eight-year-old felix gomez alonzo. once again in new mexico, just caal died on december 8 as she and her father, this time felix and his dad, were in border patrol custody. -- he cameght there

over the border december 18. he has been in custody for about a week. this is the second child to die. what more do you know about this? the don't know all of details and apparently, there is an investigation to be taken, but i do think we know several things. first, people, including people with children, make this journey not as the right would have it to exploit the american immigration system, but out of genuine desperation to flee horrific violence or crushing degradation and poverty. the journey is in fact very dangerous and arduous, which reflects in fact the desperation people feel to cross from say througha, el salvador, mexico into safety of the united states. and perhaps most important, the product of these and other deaths on the border, on both sides ofof the border, comes frm the trump administration policy

of deterrence. they want toto make it as difficult as possiblble for individuals to enter the country . and at some level, are satisfied about reports of horrific conditions on both sides of the border and deaths. as the u.s. special repertory noted, the other piece of this is the children are being held in adult jails, what margaret's called the icebox because they are freezing, and all of this is intentional. not this debt in paparticular, t part of a system designed to inflict maximum suffering, therefore, keep migrants out of this country. juan: we're talking about someththing likeke 15,000 young people are in detention somewhere with customs and border patrol. this is an enormous number. >> it is. you pair that with the family separation pololicy and the asym ban and of a piece to

criminalize basic refugee laws. basic refugee prototections in a scandalous and in violation of the most basic international humanitarian law protections. amy: this storory of felix, , wo dies in custody -- this is in the midst of a government shutdown. thousands of border patrol are working without pay, so there is enormous stress on the system. trump speaks on christmas come a tweets in leslie, never once mentions the death of this child, nor the death of jakelin, but tweets a about thehe wall in leslie and about "order security." >> yeah, i mean, we can't expect acrosst of them but the the megalomaniacs brain. he would presumably see this as child'suence of the

doing rather than a consequence of his the administration's policies. amy: we are going to be joined by a four-year-old child who is trying to see her child who had been granted a visa, a yemeni mother, but under trump's muslim revoked. was you brought a lawsuit in that case. we will be talking about that later in the broadcast. we want to thank you for being with us now. baher azmy is a legal director of the center for constitutional rights. when we come back, first, we will be joined by richard wolff, , ththe well-known economist, talking about the country's economy right now. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "winter spirit" by katherine hoover. flutist and composer, hoover died on september 21 at the age of 80. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: the partial shutdown of the u.s. federal government is entering its fifth day after a political impasse over president dodonald trump's contentious demand for border wall funding. funding for about a quarter of all federal programs expired at midnight on friday, including the departments of justice, agriculture, and homeland security. on christmas day, trump said the shutdown will last until democrats agree to fund his $5 billion u.s.-mexico border wall despite previously repeatedly claiming mexico would pay for the wall. the shutdown is occurring as concern grows over the u.s. economy. u.s. stock markets are on pace to suffer their worst december since 1931 during the great depression. in response, treasury secretary steven mnuchin held an emergency meeting with top financial

regulators and also convened a separate call with top executives of six major banks. this came as trump renewed his attack on the federal reserve and openly criticized its chairman, jerome powell, whom he appointed. on christmas eve, trump tweeted -- "the only problem our economy has is the fed." well, for more, we're joined now by richard wolff, emeritus professor of economics at university of massachusetts, amherst and visiting professor at the new school. he is the founder of democracy at work and hosts a weekly national television anand radio program called "economic update." he's the author of several books, including most recently, "capitalism's crisis deepens: essays on the global econonomic meltdown." richard wolff, welcome to democracy now! so before this coming have the capital gains tax break, the break for the richest americans president trump said he is improving the economy, now the stock market has plummeted back to the depression times. explain. >> we have had an economy that never really escaped the crash

of 2008. in a way, the last 10 years have been an economy on life support. vast amount of money pumped into the economy, driving individuals, governments to borrow money, a debt sustained situation. and after a while, you can't mount up the debt on the basis of an economy that has it really gotten going. and we're seeing the eventual break. the capitalist system has a downturn every four years to seven years. it has had that for centuries. in the last big downturn was 2008 and 2009. if you do for an seven and add it to nine, we are due for one. every major stock market observer, bank, and someone predicts that we are having a downturn. it is really a question of exactly when. the stock market anticipates this. we're having come in a way, economic chickens coming home to roost and the notion that it is

just the fed's policy that explains this is really the kind of remark that would get a student a very low great in any economics course. juan: why over the last 10 years, the federal reserve kept interest rates are low a and provided so o much cheap money? why hasn't inflation increased dramatically in the u.s. over this period of time? >> the irony is, it is one of the bizarre ways and economy works. there was no incentive to take all of that money and go in and produce things that might have driven up prices and so on because the people in america cannot afford to buy it. our wages have been stagnant. the debts have been so big that people are afraid to borrow the once -- the way they once did. they do, but not at the growing scale as before. all of that extra money kind of went into the stock market to make it self make quick money by buying shares, hoping they would go up. and if all of the rich people who get it into their hands do

that kind of thing, ucb stock market go up. at the underlying economy doesn't go anywhere. again, after a while, that is not a sustainable arrangement. juan: the other thing that happened, after the trump tax was all of these companies buying up their r own shares, seeking to drive up their prices. not all of that money has been lost? >> basically, yes. it was money that was not used to hire people, was not used to raise people's wages. all of those promises were never delivered on. instead, it rushed into the stock market or buying back shares, which is another way of playing the market. so the market prices went up. the mainstream media tended to say, see, the economy is in good shape, it is strong because the market went up. but the underlying reality of most people, which is reflected in our politics, is one of bitterness and anger and resentment that they are not participating in this so-called recovery. and now the richer also facing

the falling a part of this house of cards as the market tumbles down. and poor mr. trump, having stakaked his reputation on a rising market, is now confronted with a declining one, and is looking for a scapegoat -- which mr. powell, his own appointee, is providing to him. thisi do want to ask about treasury secretary mnuchin's secret meeting, emergency meeting i should say, with top u.s. financial regulators after hosting a call with executives from six major banks on sunday. you have him meeting with j.p. morgan chase, bank of america's brian moynihan, goldman sachs david solomon, morgan stanley, .ells fargo, citigroup what message did he convey to them and what about the meeting with the regulators? >> i think the basic plan here -- no one knows the details -- but most of us think this was not a leak.

this was a letting us know that the government is busy fixing all of this. the hope is by promising everybody is on board to fix it, that the market will somehow come back. it is the easiest, simplest first step. the irony is, it did not play out very well because the mass of people sought for what it was, a ploy, an effort to verbally shore things up -- which makes you wonder about how bad it really is, having pretended there was no problem, having pretended we have a strong economy, we don't have one, so now you have to talk it up. my guess is it won't make a big difference. we have a long-term instability built into the economic system and we look to be on the verge of doing just the kind of downturn that history suggests we ought -- amy: why is from so angry at steve mnuchin right now? basically, he is a scapegoat. there's some evidence you try to

figure out if you could fire him. he was told apparently he cannot. ok, he can fire mr. mnuchin. so maybe he has to shift his focus of who is the bad guy here. so he is of the bad guy. so the system is never questioned. he will find somebody who he can fire to do the theater he's in still like to do to solve aoblems by pointing to scapegoat. juan: to what degree is comes concerning trade were battling with china have an impact on the u.s. economy and where people think it is heading, not where it is right now? >> most at this point, it is terribly uncertain. companies around the world cannot make plans, cannot make investments, cannot make assumptions about what is going to happen because we do not know what he is going to do. we do not know what the chinese are going to do. but there is a more historical problem here. it is american history. when we became an independent nation, it was partly because we were held back -- tea party, by

the british. they had a role, they wanted the colony to be subordinate. we did not want to do that as americans, and we ended up pushing back against the control , the effort to hold back american development. we went to two wars, revolutionary war and the war of 1812. the history records are not good about trying to squelch an upcoming economic power. china is today's upcoming economic power. the effort to stop it is both likely to fail and extremely dangerous because these trade wars have a nasty habit of becoming military. amy: what about this government shutdown and who it hurts? i could not help thinking about the fact so many hundreds of thousands of workers will not be paid -- of course, it is particularly painful through the holidays -- any hundreds of thousands are being furloughed. you have those in the private sector who rely on the government jobs for their jobs. they will lose their jobs or not

be paid. i mean, president trump, before being president, he did not pay many of his workers. at this idea of who is her generic government shutdown and who continues to get paid -- government shutdown and who continues to get paid? >> this is theater. this is mr. trump producing a big news event. he is in charge. he is acting. or him, the cost of these hundreds of thousands without income -- by the way, all of the people they can't spin on who are losing and income indirectly, when you multiply this out as we do in economics, the impact is very severe. i'm not even talking about the services they can't perform in the long run effects of the services not being performed by the government, the irs is cutting back at a time when we are desperately in trouble with our revenues anyway. so yeah, it is a crass, self-serving, political ploy the cost of which in the tit-for-tat war with china are huge, but are

not being counted because they don't populate in to the self-promotion of our leadership. juan: this is all coming supposedly during a time when we have the lowest unemployment record in decades. supposedly unemployment rate. yet of course, many of those who are employed are severely underemployed. i am wondering what your senses of the actual economy itself? is, we have a lot of employment, but the quality of the jobs has collapsed over the last 10 years. the people who work now used to be people who had a job with good income, good benefits, and good security. the jobs overwhelmingly created have none of those things -- low wages. that is why our wages have gone nowhere. bad benefits. those are shrinking pepensions d so on. and the security is virtually gone. one of our biggest problems is people do not know one week to the next what hours they're

working, what income they will get. what we have done is we've ratcheted down the quality of jobs. we have made people use of their savings since the great crash of 2008, so they are in a bind. they have no choice but to offer themselves at lower wages or at less benefits were at less security than before -- which is why there is the anger, which is why there was a vote for mr. trump in the first place because this talk of recovery really is about that stock market with the funny money that the fed reserve pumped in, but is not about the real lives of people -- which are in serious trouble, hints the numbers like average american family cannot get a $400 emergency cost because it does not have that kind of money in the background. so you have undone the underlying economy. you have this frothy stock market for the 1% him and this is an impossible tension during the country apart. amy: so the democrats will be taking office or over the house next week.

it is not only the democrats, but you have this whole new generation of progressives that are moving in. what do you want to see happen? what can they do? >> the first thing is they have to get strong enough, which may take a while, to have thee numbers able to fundamentally change policy. i want.what i want them to recognize our economic system is a problem that there ought to be a national debate, which they are in the best position to start, that we stop looking for the scapegoat or that one. not just mr. trump with powell or mnuchin, but the whole mass media effort to see a problem everywhere but in the basic economic system. we have to get over that. or have a century, we have been afraid to debate those questions because of the cold war and everything having to do with it. let's do that. let's ask him for example, whether the best way to organize our enterprise is to have a tiny group of people make all of the

decisions so the rest of us have to live with the results, but we have no input. a country that promises it is committed to democracy has never faced the fact that in the enterprise, we don't have democracy. we have a tiny group of people making all of the decisions, and that is not a good idea. themaybe now we can face decisions they have made, individually and collectively, have plunged us into a situation where we cannot afford the luxury of not facing basic questions about how our economy is organized. we should have done it for the last 50 years. maybe this new generation of young people coming into the congress will begin that conversation. and hopefully, bring us along into a national debate on these subjects, which is long overdue. juan: what kind of legislation do you think the house should be seeking to pass? summarizeiest way to it, we have been following -- and for chile, democrats, too --

something called trickle-down economics. we help the folks at the top. we bail out the big banks. we give care benefits. we hope it trickles down, which it really does. the first thing they can do, reverse it. let's do trickle up economics. you help people at the bottom in all the different ways that we know how to do because the of your resume back in the 30's did a lot of that. so we knowow how to do it. amy: like? >> put people to work. put people to work doing socially useful things at a decent income. here is another one. the greening of america. that could help millions of people in a direct way. let's do that. amy: put forth by democratic-socialist. >> and that is where we would expected to come from because we have not been willing outside of the mainstream to have the debate -- excuse me, in the mainstream we have not had it. we need the folks that are new and different to talk about all

of those things. we did them before. the minimum wage should be raised dramatically. we should be helping all the kinds of people who have been denied health. we should be making sure jobs are secure, that jobs have proper benefits, that we are enhancing the benefits -- all of the things that could help the folks at the bottom, have the money to spend, that will trickle up into the profits and revenues of business. that is a more humane system. even if it doesn't work as much as we wanted to come at least we will have helped the majority of the people. what we have now is the trickle down that helps those of the top and when it does not trickle-down, what if we got? we have helped those at the top -- again. the focus on trickle up would be an alternation in our policy that is long overdue. amy: are we in the midst of recession or just about to hit us? >> it is just about to hit us. goldman sachs is literally predicting it. j.p. morgan chase, they're all

saying in the newsletters -- if you read the financial press, it is not a question of whether, it is a question of when. it is sort of within the next six to 18 months. yes, it is possible those will be wrong, but it has been that way for a couple of centuries. it is a good bet. have one.e going to and mr. trump is in the very dangerous position of having two years to go before he yes to run for reelection at a time when the one thing he can point to, which is economic something come is going to disintegrate as it has in the last several weeks. amy: richard wolff,, thank you for being with us, emeritus professor of economics at university of massachusetts, amherst and visiting professor at the new school. he is the founder of democracy at work and hosts a weekly national television and radio program called "economic update." author of a number of books, including most recently, "capitalism's crisis deepens: essays on the global economic meltdown." when we come back am the center for constitutional rightss files a lawsuit on behalf of the

yemeni americans to bring their families across the ocean to the united states to reunite them -- they already were granted visas, but because of the muslim ban, are stopped from coming. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "coming home" by women of the calabash. founder madeleine yayodele

nelson died on september 6 at the age of 69. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: a group of yemeni-americansns have filed a new federal lawsuit over president trump's muslim ban. the suit alleges the state department has revoked previously approved visas preventing many yemenis from reuniting with their families living in the united states. we are joined now by two of the plaintiffs. amy: mohammed alobahy has lived in the united states since he was 16. he returned to yemen to marry his childhood sweetheart, amal, but she has been prevented from coming even though her visa has been approved. we are also joined by ahmed abdulwahab mohammed and his four-year-old daughter areg. they are both u.s. citizens but trump's travel ban has separated their family. ahmed's wife and areg's mother has been unable to come to the

united states, even though her visa was approved. we are also joined by ibraham qatabi. he is a yemeni-american activist and senior legal worker at the center for constitutional rights. and back with us is baher azmy, legal director of the center for constitutional rights. layout this lawsuit that you just filed this week. >> sure. thank you. generallyare aware about the muslim ban, which is eliminating the possibility of obtaining visas for hundreds of thousands of potential applicants from muslim majority countries, including yemen. the supreme court unfortunately upheld major parts of the muslim ban last year. but what we're seeing is even individuals who had been approved for visas prior to the muslim ban taking effect, or

later denied those visas were ficials werement of saying this proclamation means you're not allow the visas. juan: so this is retroactive. >> they're making it retroactive a lawfully because the proclamation is not supposed to take away visas that were already granted by law. not only is the proclamation outrageous, discriminatory act, consular officials are using it as a pretext to deny people benefit they are actually already lawfully entitled to. so we filed a lawsuit demanding these families be given the visas, be handed over the visas they were already approved for them. you arehammed alobahy, the lead plaintiff. could you talk to us about your situation, what happenen with y? >> my wife had her interview

november 14, 2017 at the u.s. embassy in djibouti. after the interview she was given a letter that indicated her visa was approved. all she had to do was just wait two weeks until the visa is printed. it has been since that time until now we have not heard anything from the embassy. in march 2018, her visa was basically denied under the proclamation. in june 2017, we received any notstating her visa is eligible foror a waiver. since that time until today, we have not heard any updates. we are not certain about what is the next step. juan:: and you have been in this country for how long? >> over 12 years. i went to high school here. i became -- i got my bachelor

degree in structural engineering at the university of buffalo. i worked in rochester, new york, for over two years. due to the expenses of my wife pay for myng too expenses, i had to move back with my parents in new york city. amy: your wife is living in djibouti with her brother? >> yes. amy: what is the cost of living? why did they leave yemen? >> we left yemen because the city where we were came under attack by the houthi rebels and the government army. there is fighting in the city, which forced her whole family to leave the city. we can't really return back to yemen because there is no hope for them to return back to. amy: i want to bring ibraham

qatabi into the conversation. you have been working with a yemeni american community for aa long time now. how typical is his story? >> this is one example of hundreds that we know. the center for constitutional rights received about a list of 150 individuals who their visas were approved in advanced, but were not given, , or denied in e end. a lot of devastating stories that are coming out of djibouti, back, and malaysia because in 2015 when the war broke in yemen, the u.s. embassy had to shutdown its stores in yemen. so all of the yemeni american families were forced to move to different countries for the immigration interviews. as a result, they have been stranded in a lot of diffeferent places, which created a lot of different -- difficulties for yemeni americans and their families. mohammed is a perfect example

where yes is foror his family he but also abroad but yet he has been waiting for his wife to come to the united states for over a year now. and then a lot of different examples where we know their kids were given visas but not the mom. another example of our client mohammed where his daughter, four years old now with him in the u.s.s., but her mom is stuck and stranded in djibouti for over a year, too. so we have a lot of -- the yemeni americans in the families hit by theely being trump administration given the trump admininistration supportig the war in yemen, supporting the saudi-led coalition were families cannot go back to yemen. but at the same time, having another domestic policy, the muslim ban that also targets yememeni americans and the families, not allowing ourur families to come to the u.s. -- which is denying their basic rights to be united with their

loved ones, their children in their family separation crisis that we see today within our community here in new york and also across the united states. juan: i guess most americans are not aware, there's a sizable yemeni community herere in the u.s. we're talking about the poorest country in the airbnb world, not only the scene of this horrific you monitoring crisis and war, but to what degree that has this muslim van hit most at yemenis here in the united states and their families compared to even other muslim nations? yemeni americans, most of the people applying for their spouses or children. yemeni americans have been in the u.s. for over 100 years that, including my own family. there are thousands of people who have been trying to bring their loved ones for years. a good example, our client to petition for their families a

couple of years ago and are still stuck in the third country bebecause they had to wait becae they could not go back to yemen because of the devastation that has taken place there. yemen is currently the world's humanitarian -- the worst humanitarian disaster in history. theres point -- and also, is an outbreak of cholera. amy: more than a million people have it. >> there is a blockade. even if you plan go back to yemeni, cannot go back to yememn by the state department's own account saying yemen, do not travel to countries. stating no place in yemen is immune from violence, yet they have been denying yemeni americans to bring their families to the u.s. amy: yet this incredible story where the u.s.-backed saudi regime is destroying yemen post of president trump just tweeted, "saudi a is going to rebuild

syria, they're going to pour money to rebuild syria. what about yemen, which their bombing regularly with u.s. weapons? ahmedat brings us to abdulwahab mohammed mohammed and your little daughter areg who is four years old. stoning case in trying to get your wife here. you went back, took a very .angerous journey back to yemen can you explain what happened to you, how you try to get back and then what is happening with your wife? after i applied for my wife, i had an appointment in djibouti. and wased back to yemen a very limited life to yemen. that day was very hard. traveled from the

border. more than 24 hours i was in very dangerous places. after that, took my family to djibouti. also, on the way to djibouti was very hard because djibouti, they stopped all of the flights from yemen to djibouti. i went to sudan and then djibouti. it was a very, very hard journey from yemen -- actually from here to yemen and from yemen to djibouti. juan: and you initially got an approval for your wife to come to the united states? wifeapply for visas for my and my daughter and my mother. they checked all of the paperwork and tell me everything is good. i did the interview on october 5 -- so on october

11, i had the first visa for my mother. then october 11, i had visa for my daughter areg. then i was waiting for my wife. they tell me, it is going to be assured for the following weeks, like after -- joint amy: this is 2017. >> yes. monthsaiting about six for my wife to get her visa. i don't get anything back from them. so then i get scared her visa is -- g to be expired amy: areg. >> yes. amy: areg, where is your mommy? >> djibouti. amy: she is in djibouti now? can she come here to see you? no? why not? not --use her be set is

because the visa for my mom. one coat to you get to talk to her on the phone sometimes? >> yet. amy: would you like her to come here? >> yeah. amy: do you have a new little sister? >> yeah. amy: have you ever met her? >> no. amy: she is in djibouti with your mommy? >> yeah. amy: so explain, ahmed abdulwahab mohammed, she goes to djibouti, and extremely expensive place to be. she was told she could come here. there was no problem with her visa a year ago. >> yes, she had received from the embassy that she had been approved for her visa and they told her, just like a few weeks to get issued the visa because

of the process. then from that time, i never heard anything until july 2, 2018. they respond to us. they said -- actually, before that on february 2018, they called my wife. they told her, ok, you have to come to the embassy. she went there. they said, we cannot give you your visa because the travel ban . amy: because of the travel ban. >> and they held her passport. since we did interview on october 5, they held her passport in the embassy was so she could not go nowhere. her passport was at the embassy. and after that, they give her her passport back and they give her the letter. they said because of the travel ban, we cannot issue the visa. we had to wait actually until

july 2, 2018, they sent me and you mail and said -- an email and send you have a waiver. you got approved for the waiver. from that time until now, i don't get anything. amy: no approval. juan: in terms of your lawsuit, what are you hoping to get, and immediate injunction action on this or you have to go to trial to get -- adjudicate the situation? >> there's no lawful basis to withhold the visa approval. we're hoping the court very quickly orders the u.s. government to hand over the visa that has already been approved. just to say, in reflecting on the two segments you started with and can including with, there's something deeply concerning and depressing in these threads which involve people fleeing conditions of violence and deprivation, in part created by this government. and to be met with exclusion

from this government for problems we are in part responsible for and to deny these human beings their desire for freedom to be reunited with loved ones and for opportunity is the height of cruelty and arbitrariness. amy: as we wrap up, ahmed, what do tell areg which he asked for her mommy? >> i cannot explain to her what the travel ban means. i give her a hug and tell her, ok, your mom is coming soon and sometimes i call her and she gets to talk to her mom who tells her she is coming. sometimes she gets to talk with me and her mom, she comes down aunt rights with her now. sometimes they comment nighttime and they say she is crying, yet to come over to see her. so i go there and call her mom. amy: we hope to have a show where you are all on the program

together, putting your wife. i want to thank you for being with us, mohammed alobahy and ahmed abdulwahab mohammed are both suing the trump administration. as well as ibraham qatabi

zipperer: good afternoon, and welcome to today's meeting of the commonwealth club of california, the place where you're in the know. i'm john zipperer, the club's vice president of media and editorial, host of its week-to-week political roundtable series, and your moderator for today. and now, it's my pleasure to introduce today's distinguished speaker, chaharlie sykes. he's the a author of 8 booksks oon current t affairs and education, includingng his new book, "how the right lost its mind." for years, he was the number one conservative talk radio host in the state of wisconsin. his past books have offered critiques of higher educationon, such as 1989's "profscam." he hasas written about pititics and social criticismsm, such as "the end of privacy" in 1999, and "a a nation o of moochers" in 2013.