05/29/19 05/29/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is demomocracy now!w! don't step ints and missouri, we're going to see, for the first time since roe v. wade, a state that has had all of its abortion clinics shut down and eliminated, and a should be terrifying to all of us. amy: and then there was none. mazars only abortion clinic might be forced to close by friday. effectively ending access to legal abortion in the state.

we will speak with the aclu as well as an abortion provider in neighboring illinois base just outside st. louis. then we go to arizona where humanitarian volunteer with the group no more deaths faces up to 20 years in prison for providing fo, , wate andnd aid to undocumented migrants. >> january 2018, w was aesteted by b bder patrol and crged th harboring. the bord patrol criminal colalaint ainsnst me, they said i was providi food, wer, beds, anclean clhehes towo men. so they charged me with harboring. amy: scott warren goes on trial today, but will join us first. all that and more, coming up. welcome to d democracy now!,!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as states around the country

ramp up their attacks on reproductive rights, the supreme court tuesday declined to rule on an indiana law that would bar abortions based on the sex, race, or disability of the fetus. the supreme court decision will keep in place a lower court injunction on the measure. the supreme court however decided to allow indiana's so-called "fetal burial" law to go into effectct, which stipulas that abortion clinics must dispose of fetal remains either through burial or cremation. the measure was signed into law by then-governor mike pence in 2016. in more reproductive rights news, the sole remaining women's health clinic that provides care in missouri says it could be shut down this week. planned parenthood said it filed a lawsuit after missouri's health obama refused to renew its license. a judge is scheduled to hear the case today, if planned parenthood's license

is not renewed by friday, missouri would become the first state in the country without an abortion clinic since the landmark roe v. wade ruling. 1973we will have more after headlines. meanwhile, netflflix is the firt major studio to threaten a boycott of geoeorgia in the wake of the passage of the six-week abortion ban earlier this month. chief content officer ted sarandos said tuesday it would work with the aclu to fight the law in court and would "rethink netflix entire investment in georgia" if the law goes into effect. high profile filmmakerers and productition compaeses including kristen wiigig, david simon, mak duplass, ron howard, and killer films have said they would boycotott georgia -- a major h b for film and television production -- because of the new law. california senator and 2020 presidential hopeful kamala harris says if elected, she will require states trying to pass anti-abortion measures that

could violate roe v. wade to get pre-clearance through the federal government, similar to the voting rights act. this is senator harris speaking to lawrence o'donnell during an msnbc town hall tuesday night. she is speaking about her proposed reproductive rights act. >> when elected, i'm going to put in place and require that states that have a history of passing legislation that is designed to prevent or limit a woman's access to reproducuctive health care, that those laws have to come before my department of justice for a approval. and until we determine they are constitutional, they will not take affect. amy: a coalition of lgbt and reproductive rights groups are challenging a new trump administration rule that would allow healthcare providers to decline abortions and other services for patients based on moral or religious beliefs. lawyers argue the rule is

unconstitutional and intentionally confusing. a statement on behalalf of the plaintiffs says, "the rule is intentionally unworkable for health care facilities, including hospitals, and may result in these facilities doing away with reproductive and lgbtq services altogether to avoid losing government funding." back at the supreme court, justices decided not to hear a challenge to a pennsylvania school district's policy allowing students to use bathrooms that correspond to their gender. trans and civil rights activists applauded the news. aidan destefano, a transgender graduate of boyertown high, the school at the heart of the legal case, issued the following -- "by thea the aclu time i graduated high school, i was using the boys' bathroom and participating on the boys' cross country team. i felt like i belonged and had the confidence i needed to continue with my education. i'm glad the supreme court is allowing schools like mine to

continue supporting transgender students." in more supreme court news, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said tuesday he would move to confirm a president trump-appointed nominee to the supreme court if a seat becomes vacant during next year's run-up to the general elections. in 2016, mcconnell led a republican effort to block president obama's nominee merrick garland to the supreme court following justice antonin scalia's death, arguing voters should decide whether a democratic or a republican president would fill the opening based on the results of the 2016 election. german chancellor angela merkel said europe must fight against the right-wing ideology that is on the rise in europe and around the world. in an interview with cnn's christiane amanpour following the european parliament elections, which saw some gains for nationalist parties, merkel stressed the importance of learning from germany's own history.

>> there is s to this day not a singngle synagogue, nonot a sine take care center for jewish children, not a single school for jewiwish childldren that d s not need to be guarded by german policeman. we have to facece u up to the specters of the past. we have to tell our young people what history has brought over us and otherers and these horrors, what we are for democracy, why we try to bring about solututio, why we always have to put ourselves in the other person's shoes. amy: on saturday, germany's anti-semitism commissioner advised jews in the country to avoid wearing kippahs in public because of the rise in anti-semitism. german government figures show anti-semitic hate crimes rose by almost 20% from 2017 to 2018. in syria, over 2 20 civilians we killed tuesday as attacks in the northwestern rebel stronghold of idlib continue by government and russian forces. nine children were among the dead according to the

britain-based syrian observatory for human rights. the united nations is warning 3 million people in idlib are caught in the crosshairs of the fighting and blasted the international community's lack of action in the face of the growing humanitarian crisis. in brazil, at least 55 prisoners were killed as fights broke out across four prisons in the northwestern state of amazonas. 15 prisoners were found dead sunday and 40 on monday in what authorities say were gang-related riots. the deaths were caused by strangulation and stabbing. leaders of the suspected gangs are being transferred to maximum security prisons. brazil has the third largest prison population in the world. according to local human rights groups, one of the prisons where riots broke out was housing more than twice its prisoner capacity. brazilian president jair bolsonaro, who campaigned on a law-and-order platform, has said he would "stuff prison cells with criminalsls." in more news from brazil, a local non-profit environmental group is warning that deforestation in the amazon

rainforest increased by 20% in just the last nine months. experts say logging and land invasion are to blame for much of the loss. president t bolsonaro anhihis environment minister have worked to open the amazon even further to logging, mining, and agribusiness companies while violating g the land rights of indigenous peoples. earlier this month, eight former environment ministers warned that bolsonaro's administration was systematically destroying brazil's environmental policies, with one f former minister sayig brazil was becoming an exterminator of the future. malaysia will send up to 3000 tons of plastic wastste back to the countries it camee from in n attempt to halt wealthier countries from dumping their used plastic under the guise of recycling. malaysia became the world's main dumping ground for plastic refuse after china banned its importation last year. the plastic is smuggggled to unlicensed recycling plants from countries including the united

states the u.k., france, canada, , and australia, and is causing environmental problems for surrounding communities. this is malaysian minister of energy yo bee yiyin. >> so what the cities believe that sent for recycling is actually dumped in our country. malaysia, like any other dedeveloping country, has a rigt to clean air, clean water, sustainable resources, and clean environment to live in. just l le cities of developed nations. amy: back in the united statat, a $19 billion disaster relief bill continues to stall in the house as republican congressmember thomas massie objected to its passage tuesday by demanding an official roll call vote following a similar move last week by fellow republican lawmaker chip roy. the bill passed handily in the senate last week but the objecting congress members cited the lack of border wall funding, among other reasons,s, for their opposition. the bill would send relief funds

to western states hit by wildfires, midwestern states dealing with flooding, and hurricane-ravaged areas in the southeast t and puertoto rico, s well as to farmers affected by natural disasters. house majority leader steny hoyer said democrats will attempt to pass the bill on a voice vote thursday, or failing that, would pass the bill after lawmakers return from their recess. recent research shows that e-cigarettes may pose an increased risk of heart attack. a new study in the journal of the american college of cardiology has found that the substance used to flavor e-cigarettes can threaten the survival and proper functioning of human cells. the study's author says the research refutes the common perception of vaping as a safe alternative to smoking regular cigarettes. the fda said last year that -- the food and drug administration said last year that vaping had increased nearly 80% among high schoolers and 50% among middle schoolers over the previous year. and in more public health news,

the measles outbreak has now hit over half of u.s. states. 60 new cases were identified over the past week, bringing the total to 940 cases in 26 statats so far thihis year. new york has the highest number of new infections according to the centers for disease control and experts expect the number of cases to exceed the outbreak of 1994, in which 958 cases were identified. public health officials blame lower vaccatation rates based misinformation for thehe curre surge in infected people. meananwhile, maine became thee fourth state, along with calilifornia, missssissippi, and west virginia, to end most non-medical exemptions for childhood vaccineses. 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'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. "this is not a drill. this is not a warning. this is real and it's a public health crisis."

those were the words of planned parenthood president leana wen tuesday, when news broke that missouri's only abortion clinic might be forced to close by the end of the week, effectively ending access to legal abortion in the state. as republican legislatures across the country attack reproductive rights with a wave of anti-abortion bills, this threat is coming from the state of missouri itself. planned parenthood says that missouri's health department is threatening not to renew its license over a series of unreasonable demands, including interviewing seven of the clinic's doctors. dr. colleen mcnicholas, an abortion provider at the clinic, told reporters -- "this is harassment and attempted intimidation of doctors at the highest levels of government." if missouri i fails to renew the

license by may 31, it will become the first state without any abortion services since roe v. wade recognized the consnstitutional right to an abortion in 1973. planned parenthood has fileded a lawsuit to stop the clinic's closurure. a hearing is scheduled for this afternoon in st. louis. amy: this comes less than a week after missouri's republican governor mike parson signed a law banning abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. the law will trigger a total ban if roe v. wade is overturned. the same day that planned parenthood announced the threats to its last clinic in missouri, on tuesday the supreme court declined to take up a provision of an indiana law that bars abortions based on the sex, race, or disability of the fetus. the decision keeps in place a lower court injunction on the measure. the supreme court, however, decided to allow indiana's so-called "fetal burial" law to go into effect, which stipulates that abortion clinics must dispose of fetal remains either through burial or cremation.

the measure was signed into law by then-governor mike pence in 2016. well, for more, we are joined by two guests. in st. louis, missouri, we are joined by dr. erin king. she is an ob/gyn and the executive director of hope clinic for women in granite city, illinois, which is about ten minutes from downtown st. louis, missouri. and here in new york, we are joined by alexa kolbi-molinas, senior staff attorney at the aclu reproductive freedom project. she recently filed the aclu challenge to the alabama abortion ban. welcome both of you to democracy now! let's begin with dr. erin king. the st.minutes from louis women's health clinics that provide abortion. explain what is happening this week, before we move on to the supreme court, what could happen by friday with missouri's last remaining women's health clinic that provides abortions. >> thank you for having me on

the show this morning. we are really, really concerned here in missouri. i am a missouri resident. right now i'm sitting literally a couple of miles from the last remaining clinic. the news that broke yesterday about the fact that the missouri state health department is threatening to shut this clinic down based on unreasonable concerning for the patients in the state of missouri. we are really literally in a crisis right now where the patients in our own state of missouri cannot access safe reproductive health care as of fridayay. right now i happened to be fortunate enough not just to be a gynecologist and provide abortion care, but to do that in illinois. am predicting sing a high number of patients having to start to travavel across stae lines just to receive the health care they seek.

what dr. king, in terms of your clientele already is doing, can you talk about that? given there's only one clinic left in missouri right now that can provide e abortions? >> the hope clinic for women where i'm the executive director and also a physician, we have seen patients for over 45 years. many of whom are from missouri. we are ready see patients come over 50%, come from missouri. in the lalast two years with a significant number of restrictions around abortion in missouri, we have already seen a very, very high number of patients have to come over to illinois to see us. i expect that number will increase to give the kelly. just yesterday as the news was breaking about the health clinic potentially being shut down on friday, we are he had a flood of panicicke --

panicked patients. we are already concern there is a lot of confusion around this issue. unfortunately, not all patients can pickup and drive across the state line to seek care. amy: can you explain what is happening by friday? -- we werey it seems just talking about licensing of the clinic, something that happens every single year. your husband is also an abortion provider in the st. louis plananned parenthood clinic. >> correct. what is happening is that every year -- this is a law in missouri -- every year the abortion clinic has to apply and be accepted for a new license as an abortion facility, which comes with a lot of regulations above and beyond the usual regulations around health care. the missouri state health

department has stated they don't think the planned parenthood in st. louis can comply with these regulations. they a are forcing the doctors o go through interrogations. they are forcing -- i think you said it at the beginning of the program -- seven of the doctors to go through interrogations just to get this licensing through. the planned parenthood in st. colleagues ofe ours at hope clinic. we work with them on a day-to-day basis. we know the health care they provide is very safe. it is high quality. it is well within the standards of medical care. shutting down the clinic based on new allegations and interrogations just based on harassment and intimidation does nothing to improve the health or safety of the patieients in the state of missouri. juan: i wanted to ask you, what kind of problems do you confront being a provider with even in illinois in terms of potential harassment? d you have any fears for your self, your own safety given some of the ongoing protest and even violence that have occurred

against other abortion providers across the country? >> i have been a gynecologist for 15 years. i do a lot of different work as a gynecologist. i do work specifically doing abortion care. i do feel harassment from protesters, from people who believe abortion should be illegal. that is been a long-standingng isissue and it does feel scscaro provide care that there are people that don't agree with you and have in the past and violent against providers who provide that care. i think this is a whole new level of concern where we aree actually scared of our own health department in missouri. i am also a licensed physician in missouri. it really is intimidating to think our own health state department could suddenly turn on you for providing legal, safe care that is well within the standards of medical practice. i am concerned for our patients. hearing inients are

states across the country their care can be criminalized. our governor in missouri on friday signed a ban into law that would prevent abortion after the eighth week of pregnancy. i think patients are feeling not just the harassment the providers feel from the outside, but also from their own state. can friday, the data clinic close, the last women's health clinic that provides abortion in missouri, the first date not to have one at all, friday is the 10th anniversary of the assassination of dr. george tiller who was shot dead at a church in wichita, kansas, may 31, 2009. but i wanted to take up that issue of the governor signing of the ban, mike parson signing that ban on abortion at eight inception with no exception. the law triggering a total ban if the roe v. wawade is

overturned. during a debate over the new antiabortion bill, the republican missouri state rapelator barry hovis said by a strananger should be distinguished byby what he calld "consensual rarape." >> just say someone goes out and they are raped or sexually assaulted one after a college party -- most of my rapes were not the german jumping out of the bushes that nobody met. that was one or two times out of 100. most work d date rates orr consensual. which are all terrible, but i said in court when juries would ststrugglele with those types of situations, where it was a he said/she said, they would find a person not guilty. amy: that is barry hovis saying rape by a stranger is different consensual rape. i also want to turn to the powerful words of michelle alexander, author of the new jim

crow, a new york times columnist. she recently wrote about her own abortion "my rapist apologized. i still needed an abortion." she wrote -- those are the words of michelle alexanander in her recent "new york times" column. i want to bring in alexa kolbi-i-molinas, senior staff attorney at the aclu freedom reproductive freedom

project. >> i think before this year, we would not have even seen abortion bans like this being provoked -- purported. what we're seeing now is an unprecedented rise in the extremism and the radical nature of these bands. before this year, politicians would have been afraid to even introduce a ban like this and now they feel emboldened. nonetheless, as michelle alexander's column really aptly points out, at the end of the day, and abortion ban is abortion ban and these exceptions for rape and incest for far too many people provide no help at all. with or withoutn one of these exceptions is when to be just as damaging to people. juan: i wanted to ask you, as you mentioned this onslaught now of legislation across the country, it seems almost a

deliberate effort just at this particular point by the republican majorities in different state legislatures to begin a whole new culture war here on the issue or to ramp up the culture wars just in the run-up to a new presidential election to mobilize their own base. is so opportunistic that at this particular moment, all of a sudden, all of these bills are being passed across the country, almost in accord needed fashion. >> you are right. this is a ramping up andd definitely accord needed strategygy. seen more, we have than 400 restrictions on abortions passed in state legislatures. but what is happening this year is definitely a national and concerted effort by politicians who have really been a emboldened by president trump's antiabortion agenda to really ratchet it up a notch and now go directly -- take direct aim at roe v. wade with abortion bans.

that is what we're saying, this campaign that has been developing over time but it is ramping up and reaching a new stage ththis year. you took on the abortion ban in alabama, which is also no exception for r rape or incest. we're talking about missouri, one of six states with just one abortion clinic left. on tuesday, the supreme court declined to take up -- this is really hard to understand -- declined to take up a provision of an indiana law that bars abortions based on sex, race, or disability to the fetus will stop the decision keeping in place a lower court injunction on the measure. that clarence thomas, supreme court justice, indicated in a 20 page opinion he supports the law writing, "enshrining a constitutional right to an abortion based solely on the race, sex, or disability of an as plannedd

parenthood advocates, would constitutionalize the views of the 20th century eugenics movement." can you decipher what this is about and also what was upheld in the case of the indiana law that mike pence signed off on when he was governor and what the supreme court refused to rule on? >> in indiana, like in summary other states again, we have seen an onslaught of restrictions, designed both that pushing abortion care out ofof reach but also stigmatizing and shaming the people who access abortion care. what happened yesterday as there were two laws in indiana. one which has to do with disposal of the fetal tissue in the other, which was in intrusive law that try to ban abortions based on the reason the person was seeking the abortion. no such law has ever been upheld in any state. what we got from the supreme court was a mixed decision.

the lower courts had struck down both of those provisions. the supreme court said with respect to the ban on abortions based on a person's reason, we're going to let the decision of the lower court stand -- meaning that law is never going to take effect. it was blocked, held unconstitutional, and that is not going to change. the other decision on the other law is think it is important understand it was not brought ofer the roe v. wade line cases, so it really was not a direct challenge, or not to the access of abortion. there was no evidence that law was stopping the fetal tissue disposal -- the disposal law was preventing anyone from getting an abortion or would prevent anybody. is unfortunate because we know the purpose of the law is to shame and stigmatize people who seek abortion care, the supreme court's decision in allowing that law to stand is not going to interfere with access to abortion.

thomas'saw from justice occurrence is something that is driving so many of these laws, which is the utter distrust of people who choose to terminate their pregnancies. i believe that anyone who makes that personal and private decision that it is just not the right time for them and their family to have a child could be doing something discriminatory, eugenicist.ing as a a it showsws such a lack of distrust. it is quite offensive to the one in four women in n this country who choose too have abortions fr reasons that are entirely their own and really personal to their family and their circumstances. amy: so the injunction just and and this will not go into effect in indiana? >> exactly. amy: but fetal burial does. talk about what that means in the is -- the expense incurred and what it means thehologically when you say

fetus must be buried or cremated. what if you have a miscarriage? >> this is one of the rational elements of the law, which i think has been pointed out in the lawsuit, which is why the lower courts had enjoined it. obviously, when a person has a miscarriage at h home, none of these restrictions would apply. they are only targeted at abortion clinics. it goes to show you what the motivation here was. then, this is part of numerous restrictions -- you heard from dr. king talking about the numerous regulations and licensing requirements that abortion clinics have to comply with. they go above and beyond anything else any other medical providider has to comply with. so this is just part and parcel of those burdens, again, going back to these attempts to shame and stigmatize abortion care, to really marginalize it from the rest of health care -- which is exactly what it is. juan: you filed a challenge to the alabama law.

how do you see these various challenges of this raft of laws across the country proceeding over the next year or two? is it likely this is going to reach the supreme court and have a decision before the presidential election, or is it more likely it would happen afterward? >> it can take years for cases to reach the supreme court, so i'm not sure in in these cases are on the fast track to get up to the supreme court. as reese on tuesday, the supreme court does not even take all of the cases that come to it. when it comes to these bans like we have seen in alabama, kentucky, missouri, georgia, i am confident the lower courts will block these bans and prevent them from taking effect. i think it is important that people know that, that abortion today is still legal in all 50 states in the country. as dr. king mention and the providers in alabama have found, their getting calls from people every day to the clinics

terrified, panicked abortion is already illegal. it is important to get the message e out that thesese banse going to be blocked and abortion remains legal in all 50 states. amy: a final comment from dr. erin king. on the front line, right over the border from st. louis and illinois, executive director of the hope clinic for women in granite city, illinois, as this clinic is about to close. just repeating this, may 31, unless the court case that is going to be heard today, something happens with that. again, on that 10th anniversary 's dr. george tiller assassination, and abortion provider in n kansas. how you are all protecting ourselves, dr. king? we're just trying to get the

message out to patients that abortion is legal, that they still have access, and we're trying to let them know where they have access and how they can get the health care they are seeking. that is the best protection for our patients, giving them accurate information and trying to reach out to them in a compassionate way that do stigmamatizes the care they aree seeking and d tells them there e people who care about you, people who will take care of you, and you will get good high quality medical care and we're here to take care of you. and you go dr. king, we want to thank you for being with us. and we want to thank alexa kolbi-molinas, senior staff attorney at the aclu reproductive freedom project. when we come back, a man who attempted to provide water for undocumented migrants coming over the border from m mexico in the desert, so many have died, faces 20 years in prison. he goes on trial today. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: alice boman, "waiting." this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. returned to southern arizona, where a humanitarian aid volunteer is heading to trial today for providing food, water, and shelter to two undocumented migrants. scott warren of ajo, arizona, faces up to 20 years in prison after being charged with three felony counts for allegedly harboring undocumented migrants. warren is a geographer who volunteers with no more deaths and ajo samaritans, two arizona-based aid organizations. for years, the groups have left water and food in the harsh sonoran desert to help refugees and migrants survive the deadly journey across the u.s. border. amy: warren was arrested on january 17, 2018, just hours after no more deaths released a report detailing how u.s. border agents had intentionally destroyed more than 3000 gallons

of water left out for border crossesers. the group p also published a a o showing g border agents s dumpin out jugs of water in the desert. hours after the report was published, authorities raided warren's home in ajo where they found two migrants who had sought temporary refuge. amnesty international and other human rights groups are now calling for the charges to be dropped against warren. inin a moment, scott w warren wl join us from tucson. but first, i want to turn to a short documentary by laura saunders for the intercept about the work of humanitarian aid workers, iluding warren, o the border. it is tieded "lethemem he water. savor our deserts, but this desert right arndnd our totownhere w w recreate, housed 57 bodies. lastmains of human beings year. 57. do you find remains in your , ins, in your golf courses

your neighborhood playgrounds? what would that make you feel like? >> may the spitsts of r brhersrs a sisters walk in beauty teternity thank you, creator. >> i am scott warren, a geograerer. i hahaveived i iajo for about six yearnow. e momenthat real changed for me, gome invold in a b way, was moving hereo o ajond exrience in the wer and a more vceral wa being he in the summer, running io o peop inhe desert w had wald acss the dert and were in need of ter, meengng oth fos who o re doing humaniririan a. onef f themed like

mostmpororta issues cing is place. r me, to not be iolved in thatould be like not being fully engaged and fully present in this plac so groups likeo o more deaths and oths have all provid humanirian aid and in seah h and rescue diffenent wa here in the desert. we went fr findi human remains every other month to findg five sets of human remains on a single trip. hiking through the valley. and then going back a week later and finding two more setsff remains. on a single day of searching, finding eight sets of raiains and bodi of people who d di i in adcentnt aas of f e boing ran.

thecale of is crisiof humanitaan csis in t missing peons crisis ewew righ open -- wide open. >> i am the president of the search a r rescu weave bebe doing this for almost six yea.. necessary for the famili. we are searching for a guy that s leleftut there >>ou arereearching for a body? yes. >> just one that y k know of? >> three, actual.. e isis mt recece. we hope to find him grateful to have the people, thes volunteers

we might not even be related to each other, buininside here, we have to a a family. >> in your hands, lordwewe ask ththis morning that you help us reach the grays were people ndd ur h hel our. father, we ask this so we can help them as it is the mission wewe car in n ou hearts. helped -- we have to be realistic and kw w we have to be strong. even though it bakaks ou hearts toind tse remains, we have to be stro a and keep on going becausototherwe, w we uld nono be ae to reach out. after three months, we found remains, probably five or six yeyears d.

its rereal sad what they had too o throh and how they died. and knowing theiramilies won' be ae e to s thehem ymore e realal, really hard. but we have to keep onoioing i its nececeary. >> responsibility to give them the coordinates. once thehahave i thahat really -- they come and ge them >> in january 20, , was reststed by b bder patrol and charged wiwith harbong.

the bord patrol criminal iasint against me said pridingood, wat, beds coming can cloth to two men so they chgeged me with harboring. went through bder patrol custody a appeared in front of a judge an was released on my n n wereogniniza' that was over a year ago. weave been engagedmbmbarraed lel proceedings leading up to a pontial trial sometime teter [captioning mee ssibibley demoacy now! i amy phiips. moved tojobout 15 years agago. aboueight or nine yes ago a group ofs began a small version of the saritans iuess eve time i ok at scott i ink of mown son. it i unconionable tohink

at he habeen chaed with feloniesoroing what as a parent would bsoroud of what hhad done and knowis paren are oud. people ve alwaycrossed thejo aa, walki through the dest. peopleave beeninding ws to come here to the desert. but what happened is it ss tueded inta mor indusial ale operati in t 1990's anearly 2000's as ey reall push people t into places likehese andhese deserts and mountains. what had been a small-scee thing, local organizations that move peoplanand gos to the desert, sml l samp of f boer trol agents that might t t to go o outnd intntdict people or be involved in findingeoeople whwho d died or local residents who would respond to pplple wh

needed fooooand water, that all just completely mushroomedntnto this massive industry. >> you reach p pointhehere y say, enough. whatever the consequenss are, enough. drivers with permits should co together to be utoto appachh law-enforcement. common in moreodies --ow manyore bods? it is justot ok. we are here and we willeleave ththe water and we are a rl community atat isn't a scyy place to live. >> ihihink o impmpornt thing andhat people here in ajo othe local communies on th bord have be providi

humatarian a and havalways respondeto pele beingn ne. pele here have provid food and water to folks who a crossing t d deserwho o arin despate e coition. they he rerespded toto rcue opople w arere ithe dedert. ththey heouound a rececoved e b bodie a t the bes of peopople who havavdied in e dese. that h been gog on for fover, basally. it has bn a factf life r ople whoive here i want to srtrt offy saying who i am. i ha beeeen ound h he for almost 80 year we honor these individlsls tod wi a reaeang of the names. plse respopo when thnameme i called amy: "let them have water," a short documentary by laura

saunders for the intercept. when we come back, we go to tucson to speak with scott warren, who was arrested in january 2018 and goes on trial today. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: we're joined in tucson, arizona, by scott warren, manager and a volunteer who is heading to trial today for and aing aid to two committed immigrants. he was charged with three felony counts for allegedly harboring and document it immigrants. he was arrested in january 2018 at a location called the barn, which was used by few miniature and volunteers. he is a geographer who volunteers with no more deaths and ajo samaritansns volunteer. amy: we're also joined by

catherine gaffney. scott, lay out what happened that day in january 2018 when you are at the barn as well as other volunteers. explain who exactly rated and what happened to you there. >> thanks, i was at the barn, a property in ajo used by a variety of -- excuse me, stagetarian groups that from that property to go out into the desert and put out water into search and rescue and that sort of thing. in january 2018, we were preparing for a group of high school students to arrive who were going to volunteer to do some of this humanitarian work. it is a pretty common thing that student groups will volunteer.

day, a couple of order patrol agents had set up surveillance, kind of a cross the way from the barn, an area where they could watch what was happening there. and at some point, they said they saw me speaking with two men who they somehow determined the --egally present in illegally present in the united states. they set up an operation to raid the barn through what they talkd a knock and operation. about 5:30 late in the afternoon , early evening, a convoy of border patrol and sheriff deputy vehicles entered the barn, the point, i and at that

had informed them they were on private property. they did not have a right to be there come a and they persisted went to the entrance of the barn. by the time i arrived at the looking where they were inside the building, they had already had these two men who were, they determined to be illegally present in the country , and they were sort of detaining them. at that point, they informed me they were going to arrest me and that i was b being arrested for harboring. juan: scott, i want to ask you about -- most people who are not from earlier with your part of the country don't realize the arizona desert area is the most .eadly place for migrants

about 30% to 40% of all deaths occur in the desert areas of arizona? >> yeah. arizona, along with south texas, are two of the worst areas thely where we are finding highest number's of people who have died crossing the border. those numbers you reference are they are justt the numbers of bodies in human remains that we have found in the desert. so we assume there are many more . all across arizona, there are many people who die in the desert, who have died in the desert. the particular area where i live often called the ajo corridor is in southwestern arizona and it is particularly brutal. many, many people have died there. of the national

veryife refuge and the goldwater bombing range, where we have increasingly been finding many, many bodies and bones of people who have died while crossing the desert. ironically, southern arizona, it was the center of the copper industry, the state of arizona, for the entire united dates. and for decades, migrant mexicans from mexico were the ones to work in many of these mines. they were illegal then to come and work in the mines, but now are suddenly considered -- they were legal then to come in and worked the mines, but now are suddenly considered illegal. interesting point. where i live, it is a former copper mining town, a former company town. everything was controlled by the company. everybody who came in and went out sort of had to be vetted by

the company. throughout much of the 20th century, particularly early in the 20th century. it was these copper companies that determined who came and went. they were the ones who sort of dictator the nature of the border and who was allowed to be there. so it is really fascinating to me to look at how even though so much has changed, my town is no longer a copper mining town. the mine closed in the 1980's. very much a postindustrial economy. , then that void postindustrial void, we have had this massive growth of the border security industry. .t is enormous and by allll measures, a and los like it is going to continue growing.

amy: scott warren, let's talk about the timing of the raid in january 2018. just after no more deaths organization, released a report detailing how u.s. border agents had intentionally destroyed more than 300000 gallons of water let out for migrants crossing the border. the grououp also published a vio ththat showed border agents dumping out jugs of water in the desert. explain the significance of this, the timing, the same day. this was a report released by no more deaths on the morning that i was arrested. the report was the second in a series of reports called "the disappeared" series. in this particular report looked humanitarian aiaid supplplies left i in the desert were being

destroyed by border patrol agents. there was a whole report that was associated with that, pretty detailed analysis that you mentioned. the things that went viral were a couple of those videos that showed agents destroying water and dumping out water. so this happened on the morninig of my a arrest. measures now, we have learned more of that story. but the report was released that morning and agents set up surveillance on the barn that afternoon, then arrested me that evening. juan: i would also like to ask catherine gaffney, you are a volunteer with no more deaths. the new talk about the crackdown on people who are trying to assist some of the migrants for humanitarian purposes?

i think syracuse university revealed the report there has been a 30% increase since 2015 in the number of people arrested annually allegedly for harboring or assisting undocumented migrants. but that is nationwide. what have you been seeing? >> that's right. this is a somber moment for us as we go to trial today. scott is being prosecuted, as he mentioned, for providing food, water, clean clothes, and beds to two people who ask for help. what we've seen in no more deaths recently is really an escalation of a long-standing war on the lives of undocumented migrants and undococumented communitities in this country. the number of deaths and disappearances has been ongoing. there is been more than 7000 known deaths in the last two decades. and that is a vast undercounting

of the true number of people in love died or gone missing. what we really seen in the last several years is a ramping up of attacks not only directly on the lives of undocumented people crossing through the border, but also on those who make it their work to stop and help people and try to prevent these deaths and suffering. and that is not only through humanitarian aid groups i just and were just a many other search and rescue and humanitarian aid groups that work on the border, but frankly, on the daily lives of many people in the borderlands for whom it is a normal occurrence for someone to come knock on your door asking for a glass of water or asking for help. when we see the expansion of the harboring statutes to criminalize such basic accept human care, it is really -- acts of human care, it is an interpretation of the statute. is sort of leads to the conclusion that if you're sitting down at the table with your family member who is

has a different status than you, you need to check their papers before you pass them the bread. if you invite a neighbor over for barbecue, do you need to set up a checkpoint before you can share food and water? amy: i want to ask scott, you go on trial today. amnesty has called for all charges to be dropped. the judge has refused. your defense today? we will be really, over the coming week and a half, outlining our case about the necessity and the need for humanitarian aid. right morally, ethically, spiritually, and legally to give and receive humanitarian aid anywhere, and particularly the borderland

region. america we want to thank you both. we will continue with part two at democracynow.org. scott warren on trial today with no more deaths and catherine gaffney. thank