04/07/20 04/07/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic, this is democracy now! >> we are fighting just to get this place closed down and sanitize. with the 27 confirmed virus in there. they are sending them home. they're telling them they're going to quarantine them 14 days at home. they can stay home and get paid. nobody is getting paid. nothing. micco just one week after amazon

fired a worker who let a workout, workers at the same staten island warehouse walk off the job again to protest unsafe working conditions as online orders soar during the pandemic. we will get an update. then covid deaths are spiking in black and brown communities. almost one third of new york city's infections are in queens, one of the most diverse places in the world. many in the hardest hit neighborhoods are undocumented and working class. we will speak with congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez who represents the neighborhoods at the epicenter of the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. >> i just want to reassure our community we are f fighting for protecection and that we are fighting to mamake sure that evy single person gets the dignity and the safety that they deserve in this moment. amy: aoc' is district also includes rikers island jail

where at least one prisoner has died of the coronavirus and hundreds have tested positive. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic, new york city. the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is close to 76,000, including nearly 11,000 in the united states. in britain, prime minister boris johnson spent the night in intensive care after his covid-19 symptoms worsened monday. a cabinet member has said johnson received oxygen but has not been put on a ventilator. britain's foreign secretary dominic raab is running the country while johnson is in the icu. johnson has been widely criticized for his government's initiaial approach to handling e coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 5000 in britain. johnson initially discouraged

social distancing and advocated for letting the e virus burn rapidly through the population in order to build "herd immunity." in early march, johnson even boasted about shaking hands at a hospital treating covid-19 patients. >> i am shaking hands. i was at a hospital the other night where i think there were -- there were a few coronavirus patients. i contininue to shshake hands. amy: here in t the uniteted sta, up to 97% of u.s.s. residents ae now under some s sort of stay-at-home order, though the trump administration has resisted imposing a national lockdown despite the urging of dr. anthony fauci, the top member of his coronavirus task force. there are now over 367,000 confirmed covid-19 cases in the u.s., more than one quarter of the reported total cases worldwide, though the actual numbers both in the u.s. and around the world are likely much higher due to limited testing.

a bipartisan group of 11 senators, including four republicans, have called on trump to invoke the defense production act to address the nationwide shortage of protective equipment for first responders. a new report by the health and human services watchdog confirms severe and widespread shortages of critical medical gear at hospitals across the country, putting medical staff at high risk. when questioned about the report monday, trump sought to discredit the findings, suggesting the hhs inspector general was politically-motivated. trump also lashed out at a reporter after a question about failures to test people for the coronavirus. pres. trump: we are the federal government. we are not supposed to stand on street corners during testing. they go to doctors. they go to hospitals. they go to the state. the state is a more localized government. amy: this comes as "the new york

times" has revealed that white house trade adviser peter navarro starkly warned the trump administration in late january that a coronavirus outbreak could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths and tank the economy. navarro cautioned in a memo that the "r"risk of a worst-case pandemic scenario should not be overlooked" based on the situation in china at that time. "the washington post" reported over the weekend trump also dismissed warnings about the coronavirus from u.s. intelligence and health and human services secretary alex azar in january as alarmist. as infections mount across the united states, deaths among grocery store workers were exempted from stay-at-home measures are being reported. at least four people -- employees of walmart, trader joe's, and giant -- have died from the coronavirus in recent days. workers have reported dangerous and stressful working conditions.

in some cases, being forced to work without gloves or facemasks or unable to take paid sick leave. colorado, minnesota, and vermont have declared grocery store workers to be essential workers, extending free child care and panded paiaid sick leave. in election news, voters in wisconsin face a choice today between exercising their right to vote and protecting their health after an 11th hour attempt by governor tony evers to delay the state's primary today through an executive order was quashed by wisconsin's right-leaning supreme court. wisconsin's democratic governor and the republican-led legislature have been battling over the fate of the election for weeks as governor evers has faced stiff opposition in his efforts to delay the vote over concerns about the coronavirus. wisconsin's poll workers are overwhelmingly elderly. many pulled out due to the dangers posed by the coronavirus. milwaukee went from 180 to just

five polling locations. meanwhile, the u.s. supreme court sided with wisconsin republicans monday in a 5-4 vote against extending the absentee ballot deadline to next week. tens of thousands of wisconsinites will have their votes thrown out, even though they will not even receive ballots until after election day due to a surge in demand because of the pandemic. justice ruth bader ginsburg warned in her dissent that the court's decision "will result in massive disenfranchisement." in new york, governor andrew cuomo said monday the curve of coronavirus deaths appears to be somewhat flattening after the death toll stabilized at around 600 deaths sunday and monday, but he warned the situation is still dire and new yorkers would need to maintain strict measures to continue the trend. >> if we are plateauing, we are

plateauing at a very high level and it is tremendous stress on the health care system. to say this health care system, which is at maximum capacity today, right? this is a hospital system where we have our foot to the floor in the engine is that redline and you can't go any faster. by the way, you can't stay at redline for any period of time because the system will blow. amy: cuomo said schools and non-essential businesses will now remain closed until april 29 at least and announced fines for viviolating social d distancing rules would increase from a maximum of $500 to $1000. as of today, new york state has nearly 5000 deaths from covid-19, with over 130,000 confirmed cases and over 16,000 hospitalalizations.

the trump administration and local governments are facing cacas to release more detailed information on the racial makeup of who is dying from the pandemic. initial evidence shows african-americans have been particularly hard hit. in louisiana, where the death toll has topped 500, governor john bel edwards says 70% of the victims have been african-american even though the state is less than a third black. >> disturbingly, this information is going to show you the slightly more than 70% of all the deaths in louisiana are of african americans. than soy, slightly more that deserves more attention a d we are going to have to dig into that to see what we can do. amy: in chicago, african-americans have made up over 70% of the covid-19 deaths in the city despite comprising just 30% of the city's population. on monday, the lawyers' committee for civil rights under law joined with hundreds of

doctors urging the department of health and human services to release race and ethnicity breakdowns of covid fatalities. the american civil liberties union has sued a federal prison in oakdale, louisiana, after five prisoners died from covid-19. the aclu is attempting to force the federal bureau of prisons to release prisoners who are at high risk for serious illness or death due to the outbreak. this comes as authorities in ohio report three prisoners have died from suspected cases of coronavirus at a federal prison in elkton. the ohio national guard has been deployed to work inside the prison. as countries impose lengthy lockdowns to combat the spread of the coronavirus, reported cases of domestic abuse have spiked around the world. u.n. secretary general antonio guterrrres called d for governms to prioritize wowomen's safety s many face mounting risks in- and outside of their homes. , theyany women and girls

should be safest in their own homes. lockdowns in court timeses are essential to coronavirus, but they can trap women in abusive apapartments. role -- seen horrifying global search anand domestic violence. amy: to see our discussion on mastech violence in the pandemic, go to democracynow.org . on monday, france reported its highest daily death toll monday after numbers from this weekend appeared to indicate the daily fatality count was slowing down. france's overall death toll is approaching 9000 -- the third highest in europe after italy and spain -- with confirmed cases approaching 100,000 spain, which has the second highest death toll on the continent with over 13,000 deaths, announced over 40,000 people had recovered and been

discharged from hospitals. in more nenews from spaiain, the mininister for ecoconomic affais has saidid the governmnment plao implement a universal basic income as soon as possible to help workers and families recover from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic. the guatemalan government has asked the u.s. to limit deportations to 25 people per airplane to control the spread of the coronavirus. in recent weeks, two immigrants deported from the united states to guatemala tested positive for covid-19 and were later hospitalized. meanwhile, as part of their social distancing measures, peru and panama are limiting the movement of residents by alternating days on which men can leave their homes with days when women can go outside. transgenender activists in panaa have spoken out against the system. women were filming some of my transference that were at supermarket and they said, this isn't their day.

why are they coming out if they are men? they were dressed as women because this is how we dress. this is our gender exprpression. there has been a mistake. the president came out saying they study things before making an announcement. i don't think k they studied our situation. panama d doesn't h have a a genr identity policy right now. amy: in papakistan, dozens of doctors and nurses were arrested in the city of quetta monday as hundreds protested the government's failure to provide them with personal protective gear. riot police also reportedly beat them with batons. pakistan has reported nearly 4000 covid-19 cases and over 50 deaths. india has stepped up plans to halt exports -- stepped back plans to halt exports of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine after the trump administration threatened to retaliate against the planned move. india is the world's largest producer of hydroxychloroquine, which president trump has repeatedly encouraged americans

to try and touted as a game changer in treating covid-19 symptoms despite medical experts warning more tests are needed. the two french doctors have provoked outrage after suggesting last week that a vaccine for the coronavirus could be tested in africa. the world health organizations rector general tedros adhanom ghebreyesus, who is from ethiopia mccall the comments racist and said "africa can't , and won't be a testing ground for any vaccine." the united states is facing new accusations of blocking the shipment of u.s.-made medical equipment to overseas buyers. ontario premier doug ford said monday the u.s. blocked d delivy of 3 million face masks to canada as ontario's stock of personal protective equipment is set to run out in just one week. over the weekend, germany accused the u.s. of modern piracy after a shipment of 200,000 german-bound protective face masks were diverted.

meanwhile, barbados said sunday the u.s. had seized a shipment of 20 ventilators headed to the island. in related news, the associated press is reporting federal purchasing contracts show the trump government waited until mid-march before bulk-ordering n95 masks, ventilators and other essentl l medical l equipmt,t, even though hospitals and several states were already overwhelmed with an onslaught of coronavirus patients and were pleading for reinforcement from the strategic national stockpile. cardinal george pell who has been accused of sexually assaululting boys, walked free from prison tuesday after australia's highest court overturned his conviction. pell was sentenced to six years in jail last year for r sexually abusing underage boys and isishe highest-t-ranking member of thee catholic church to have been convicted of a sex crime. he had been found guilty of multiple criminal acts and the abuse of two choir boys in 1996. pell served as the vatican's chief financial ofofficer.

the united nations says a deadly shelling of a women's prison in yemen's taiz province sunday could amount to a war crime. at least five prisoners were killed and two dozen injured, including four children, according to yemeni officials. the attack has been blamed on houthi rebels. and for the first time ever, the u.s. has labeled a white supremacist group a terrorist organization. secretary of state mike pompeo announced monday the "russian imperial movement" would be designated a foreign terrorist organization and imposed sanctions on its members. the group is said to support neo-nazi groups in russia and in parts of europe and provide paramilitary training to white supremacists. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy g goodman in new york city, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. my cohost juan gonzalez is joining us from his home in new jersey, new brunswick, new jersey. the state with the seconond

highest number of reported deaths. 1003 people in new jersey have died. more than 41,000 have tested positive. it is good to have you with ththis, if not at t my side, a t leasast safe at home. juan: greetings to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. an e eco- amazon warehouse works in staten island walked off the job and stayed home from work to monday protest unsafe working conditions as online orders sort amidst the coronavirus pandemic. the action came a week after chris smalls, a worker at amazon, was fired by amazon after leading a strike at the as jfk8.house known more than 50 amazon warehouses across the u.s. have confirmed covid 19 cases, including the staten island warehouse where at least a dozen workers have tested posositive for the virus.

this is rina cummings. > ever recently been made awe there are more positive coronavirus cases at the warehouse. i am not going to o work today becacause amazon is putting my life at risk. they're puttingng my fellow workerers life at risk as welels the community at risk. we need jeff bezos to close the warehouses with positive cases. amy: we turn right now to ateles sosolis, lead organizer make the road new york. she helps lead the group's beyond amazon coalition n in new york city and helped organize monday's strike. in a minute, we will talk about mutual aid rising among immigrant and low income communities and make the road's emergency response fund, and we will be speaking with congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez for the rest of the hour. but right now we turn to angeles sosolis.

describe the worker strikes at amazon. were you there?? how are they organizing? what are people calling g for? >> good mornrning. to give some perspective on one of the scale of the largest warehohouses on the east coast, the jfk8 facacility in staten island employees thousanands. thousands who come to work from mamanhattan,n, brooklyn, queened jersey.. our members walked out last monday because of the report of 10 positive cases in the facility. yesterday, over 60 workers walked out again because they are nearing 30 positive cases and amazon has not done enough to institute safety protection, health protections, insure sick leave for individuals who are not just showing symptoms but also have not tested positive. members of make the road new york, workers organizing with other organizations took action to call on governor cuomo to

intervene and to stop the spread of the transmission. we have amazon workers who are members who say they feelwe have members who say they feel proud when they go into work and are packing essential items like food and medicine, but somebody don't feel the same e way when ththey are walking into facilits riskining their lives just to sp glititter tattoos and board gam. if we don't call an amazon to put ththeir billions to protectg the workers and limiting the spread of covid 19 supply chain, they are not only profiting from the pandemic, but helping to perpetuate it. the virus has been shown to survive on cardboard, so we're talking abouout protections for the workers s from the warehouse through the delivery chain. juan: i wanted toto ask you, amazon i is one of the compapans enjojoying w wdfall profits as a result of ththe current crisis because the number of online orders has so sharply increased -- 50% increase in the orders of food orders to amazon.

could you talk about how has the company dealtt w with since the crisis inside of its plans for what you'rere hearing from the workers s in terms of f protectn and for r them? looks s absolutely. haveoo manyny workers do not enouough masks, gloves, or propr protectiveve equipment. enoughas not been strict social distancing measures and site credit break rooms. picture thousands of workers using the samee bathrooms, turnstiles. there is been cleaning around them, but there is not been or 100% paylosures for workers who go home. this is an opportunity that makes boldld demise of the regis corporation of the world. for far too long, f for persons like amazon had paid nothihing n taxes. that is starved our safety net hospitals, our public hospitals like l cursed thatat require resources to deliver the care needed at this moment. amy: vice news recently reported -- well, they obtained leaked

notes from an internal meeting of amazon company executives discussing a plan to malign chris smalls, calling him not smart or articulate. this was up early part of amazon's pr strategy to smear smalls and make him "the face of the entire union/organizing movement." can you u responond to this? >> absolutely. i would say amazon's actionss toward chris indicate a patteren of disrespect for all of the employees s in the workforce who speak out against dangers working conditions. there's a reason amazon has been named onone of the momost danges workplaces in the world by the natitional occupation healalth d safefety administration. it is becausese when workers spk up about dangerous conditions on their job, amazon swiftly depresses worker organizing, cuts corners, and ensures that workers dodo not have the abiliy to speak upp on the job safafely

withouout being intitimidated. their actions toward chris are not only quite frankly racist, especially toward a black man in america, but indicate how they treat whistleblowers across our supply c chain. juan: : i wanted to askk you, related to what is going on in queens, make the road has been active among the immigrant community's in brooklyn and queens for years, to what do you atattribute this you norma'a's e in -- you norma's spike in ilillnesses in the area? >> theoriess and which are membmbers are momost concentntr, the e neighborhohoods of jackson igights, elmhuhurst, havave bece the epicenter of the cororonavis with 20,000 cases and counting. this is the heart of immimigrant new york, one of the most diverse in the country. it is an area with h high densiy ofof low income families who are forced to share in overcrowded housing which increases the tranansmission inside a househo.

it is an area where far too many people live paycheck-to-paycheck and for a long time, denial to health care coverage conontribud to c chronic health conditions. we have lost members of our community. memories of our organization to this virus. in o o grief, we organize. we organize because 40% of adult latinos in new york city have lost their job and the ability to bring food home to their families. we organize b because on april 1 40% of n new york k city renters cacame up short onon rent and because our state has yet to enact a rent suspension was not far too many had to choose from paying for food and paying for rent. amy: just this week, i heard of one horror story after another. two mexican immigrants who have lived here for decades, brothers, died in their home -- did not even make it to the hospital. another immigrant, undocumented, died. what effortsts are you involved

with with make the road to reach out to people? how afraid our people to go to the hospital, like, perhaps they are turnining themselves into a popolice station or something? >> the trump administration has for far too long demonized imimmigrants despite the facactt 27,000 dreamers are on the front line of the medical fight in the united states. in new york city, almost 90% of the delivery workforce are immigrants. two thirds o of those are undocumented. that means that those delivering food to those who m most neneed, they themselves cannot access criticalng -- life than if it's. it f falls far too shohort of wt undocumented workers need. this moment calls for a hardd lolook at every signal decision-maker who willfullyly neglects the hard-working undocumented immigrants who pay millions in taxes do not have the ability to access social benefits. as such we have several different initiatives and

organizing efforts. members, despite being home, does notot mean they are t in the f fight. we are still calling for a just stimulus of what we need. we need d federal and state packages that provide income streams directlyly to undocumend immigrants because currently,, this population cannot access unemployment benefits. this virus does not discriminate based on immigration statatus. it does not make sense that our administrations are not preparing and providing cash assistance so that all people, regardless of immigration status, camper dissipate in social distancing. wewe are organizing delilivery workers toto advocate for hazard pay come increased access to treatment, and increased proper protective equipment as well. we haveve organize mutualal aid effortrts and a number of funds, includining the whistleblower fd for amazon workers across the country since the strike at jfk8, we have seen strikes in elsewhere.

we have o organized emergency response fund. donaters and viewers can directly to support over 3000 members and more with assistance or buyining food. we also have startrted and we could -- i mutual aid bikee brigade program which delivers intry and essential items brooklyn and queens strereet are momost at ririsk members homome. >> i i juan: governor cuomomo has receiveded a lot of f attentionm the commercial media in recent weeks, many p praising his decisive and clearheaded leadershipip for new york state. i'm wonderingg your assessment f how governor cuomo has functioned up to this point? >> new york governor cuomo enjoys his moment of fame on a nanational scale. his actions behind the scenes have harmed thousands of new

yorkers. he passed in austeririty budget that faiailed the working poor d favors the rich. just on the topic of amazon, while the governor of kentucky immediately intntervened when positive cases of covid poppeped up in amazon warehousese has coe our governor has yet t to respod to the strikers calling on him to ensure their safety and the safetyty of the public. in fact, this is the man who wanted to rename himself amazon cuomo. we need ththe governor of new yk to enact real protecections for all undocumented immigrants, for all workers in our state. camerahip in front of a a is one thihing, be behind the scenes, the budget has hurt our community's. medicaid.e cuts to it has faileled to tax the rich and billionaires in our state that have the ability to provide the reresources and do ththeir t

to slowing the spread of this crisis. amy: we want to thank you, angeles solis, lead organizer on the workplace justice team at make the road new york. when we come back, we will be joined by alexandria ocasio-cortez for the rest of the hour. her district includes the areas hit hardest by the cororonavirus -- queens, the bronx, and rikers island. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: the new york philharmonic orchestra performing from their home, sending their gratitude to frontline health care workers. every night the empire state building pulses read in honor of all of those essential workers

who are protecting everyone. this is democracy now! i am amy g goodman with juan gonzalez. i am broadcasting from new york, he is in new jersey. here new york, the death toll has nearly reached 5000. we are spending the rest of the hour with u.s. representative alexandria ocasio-cortez, who represents the neighborhoods that have been called the epicenter of the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic here in new york city -- queens and the bronx. almost a third of the city's covid-19 cases are in queens, which has been called the most diverse place in the nation. many of the hardest hit in ththoseds neighbhborhoods are undocumenen, working-class, working poor. in elmhurst, ques momore than two-thirds of residents were born outside of the u.s. the majority are black and latinx.

queens has more covid-19 cases than any other borough, yet it has fewer hospitals than its neighbors, with only three major medical centers. "the new york times" reports -- "queens has 1.5 hospital beds per 1010 people, c compared d t3 in manhattan." alexandria ocasio-cortez's district also includes rikers island, where at least one prisoner has died of compmplications of covid-1-19. hundndreds have tested positive. rikers currently holds just over 5000 people. many are there for parole violations or are serving less than a year for low-level offenses. many are there in pretrial detention. they simply don't have money for bail. on friday, congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted -- "covid deaths are disproportionately spiking in black k + brown communitities. why? because the chronic totoll of redlining, environmental racism, wealth gap, etc. are underlying health condiditions.

inequality is a comorbidity. covid relief should be drafted with a lens of reparations." alexandria ocasio-cortez joins us now. thank you so much for being with us, congressmember. can you start out by talking about your district? we have heard a lot about elmhurst hospital come as we should. the doctors and nurses, like so many around the country in the sanitation workers in these hospitals come are not properly protected. we have not heard as much and there may be a deep connection here about the community that it serves. in just the last week, i have heard about three men, two mexican brothers, who died in their home, not even in the hospital. their bodies just recently taken out. a third died in the hospital. fears of even going to hospitals knowing what could happen to them, who have been hard-working

members of our communities for so many years, talked about your community. >> thank you for t the oppororty to discuss the actual communitieies surrounding elmhut hospital and e elmhurst queens. this is one of the most mentionon,lass -- as you blackest and brown asked communities in new york city. it is extraordinarily dense, even for new york city. that in theprise wake of thisis pandemic, right after the e trump a administratn basically said, if you are undocumented and seek public servicices, public heaealth car, etc., then you will be essentially p put on a fast trak either denial of citizenship or outright deportation. so now that we have e this pandemic and it is hardest hitting in communitities that ae

heavilily immigrant and also wih strong historicalllly black communities as well, people are either afraid to go to elmhmhurt hohospital out of ththe cost ort of sheer fear they will be put in the public charge list. actually pushed the trump administration, we were able e o secure c confirmation from the administration that they would casesfer covid related and treat them under the public charge rule but ththere is so mh confusion alrlrdy that mamany memembers are scarared to go. ththese are the same people who are prereparing our food. they have the same pepeople who stock our grocery shelveves. theyey're the same pepeople who deliliver ouour goods. the ad yet that we can deny them care as though thehe pandemimicl not a affect them in grgreater s because of that is naive and

unscientific.. ask you a about this enenormous racial and etethnic disparity in the cases and especially in the deaths that are occurring. asas amy mentioned earlilier, te idea -- the areas of? heheights in corona and elmhurst are the epicenter center. district has also beeeen hard hit. as of 10:59 last that according to the tracker that the c city website produces for new york city every day, there e were 679 people -- bronx residents who had died of coronavirus. that is more than twice as many that have died in mananttan. only 302 in manhattan. even other the bronx is significantly smaller in populalation thehen manhattan. you hahave a situation where te bronx is 16% of the population

of the city but represents 24% of all the deaths. we have a situation where even in brooklyn, the areas of brooklyn where most residents are dying are in the northh brooooklyn and brown & brown -- black anand brown community's. how do you assess the city and the state's response to what iss clearly a disparate imimpact of this epidemic? > as i had mentioned earlier, inequality, environmental racism, these are conditions. when you have a pandemic, similar to hurricane maria, when you have a natural disaster or an event like a pandemimic hit communities that havave already been ravaged by we can healthh care systems, we can infrastructure, the south bronx is part of the highest childhood asthma rates in the country. we talk abouout environmental raracism, we are t talking about ilillegal dumping.. we're talalking about concentrad

waste sites and concentratingng highwaways and tcking zones throug the poorest comnities in the country ce the black and brown communities. issue ofeady have an an extremeespirato illnees inhe bronx. that is largely due to t trucng that mes through rere, th environmental inequality that cos throug here the expressway, nonotorious project off racism y robert moses as a way he tried to concentrate and push these communities and design the community through, when you have the toll of health and equity -- and on top of that, these are our frontline workers. where you see our frfrontlinee workers living or whehere you se -- the same places where you are seeing covid cases spiking. like and workers are overwhelmingly part of this

frontline. they are the grocery store workers. they are the delivery workers. they are hospital workekers, includuding janitorial stataff. when you have this pandemic layered on top of it, we knew. i to the unequal access to care, when you pair that with ratios thanspital beds far lower affluent communities, this is what you get. when it comes to the city's response, i believe the city is doing absolutely everything that he can that also have to acknowledge that there are two entirely different starting lines. we have been working very hard, but also w when wewe don't pushr things like rent -- full rent and mortgage moratorium, you push these workers to go outside because they feel the pressure to make their rent and they may go out and take work to take work under the table in ordedero make ends meet. without this ecoconomic relief,t

also adds to the public health issues we currentltly face. amy: after the break, we're going to talk about the stiglitz package, about what you call the corporate slush fund, that $500 billion and how it will be monitored. i want to ask about another area of your district, which also goes to you as a congressmember dealing with prisons and jails all over the country, rikers island, the whole jail system in new york, what rikers island, are people still being center for pretrial detention simply because they don't have enough money to post to stay out of jail? and what is happening? we see hundreds of both prisoners and staff have tested positive. there already y has been a deat. what about t the calls for decarcerating, for releasing prisoners not only at rikers, but around the country now? tells where ththey stand. >> we have been approachingng ad

calling f for the g governor ane mayor to take a strong dec arseral approach. that first death, not that any --it was even for a criminal o offense. it wasas for simple parole violation that was known in nature. what we're seeing here i is that with city is s packing rikers individuals and they know it is a tindererbox. tinderbox for workers and incarcerated people. we have to demand not just at rikers but across the country we need to increase our demands for elderly to end pretrtrial detention as mucuch as possible, to make sure we not arreststing people for low-level arrests. wewe been plplacing inquiries te if there people being moved to rikers. we believe the mayor is trying

to take off f low-level arrestss but there are ststill so manyy individuals that d do not belong therere. knowing this pandemic was coming, , knowing everything tht was happening, ice was still conducting raids in sanctuary cities. it was to punish the cities. ice as well is knowingly packing these detention facilities with people who have not commititted crcrimes but arere merely theree civil proceedingeasons and who are merely awaiting a courtt date. there is no reason these jails shouould be filled. there's no reason they should be packed. a decercerale agenda in order to fulfill our responsibility as public servants. amy: just before we go to break,

congressmember, you confronted an ice agent at t laguardia airport. if y you could talk ababout thi, what exactctly was happening, ,o was transpsporting immigrant children? can you expand what happened? >> so this happened several weeks ago. i got a call in thehe evening fm our local -- one of our local immigration community organizations. ththey had gotten a tip from a transportingce was six minors, six eldred into new york cityy from -- we were extraordininarily concerned. we decided to hop into a car and drove ststraight to look for the airport and i waited at the gate. ice agent time, an

came out with six young boys. they were being transferred into new york city. this was after the pandemic had corrupted come after the pentntagon hadad already started banning much domestic travel for members. here we have ice transporting children into a pandemic zone come intnto the most concentratd area of the most concentrated city of. they were flying into laguauard. they were not even flying into jfk or nenewark, ththey weree fighting into the shadow of elmhururst hospital. i confronted the agent. they were transporting these facilitiesto orr where staffers have been confirmed to have covid-19 cases. after inquiring, we startrted to make a lot of noise about this. since then, i've started to place some restrictions, but not nenearly enough, to protect thee have started to

play some restrictions, not nearly enough, to protect these told him. amy: a reporter asked trump if undocumented immigrant's are welcome at t testing sites.. can they b be tested without fer of being reported to immigration authorities. this is what president trump said. pres. trump: the answer is yes. we will do those tests because i think in that case it is important. i think -- you could say illegal alalien, you could say illegal immigrant, you can say whatever you want to use your definition of what you're talking about, we're all talking about the same thing. yes, we will test that person because i think it is important we test that person. we don't want to send that person back into wherever we're going to be sending the person, whether it is another country or someplace else. we now are bringing them rightht out of our country. yeah, we will tetest this peopl. amy: so there you president trump -- test them before you sesend them out. overall, your response to president trump, his antagonism

against any kind of criticism, the well-known documented lack of tests, lack of ppe, protective gear for people who work in hospitals, and now this and, sure, t test them before we deport them? , not just president trump, but this entire administration, , new what was coming. trump this pandemic was coming. the military knew this pandemic was coming. the cdc knew this pandemic was coming. hhs new this pandemic was comingng. a alsoas atructural l but acknowledgerefusal to , more impoportany, to act. this pandemic - -- and the casualties that we are seeing are again not just due to coronavirus. there are people dying unnecessarily -- as you mentionened earlier, people are

not just dying in hospitals. in new york city alone, we are saying 200 to 300 people dying their homes a day -- per day in n new york city. inside their homes in addition to the hospitalizations. these numbers you are seeing, all in all, many of them are confirmed coronavirus cases as youu menentioned, many people 't have access to tests so a lot of these deaths -- there are many more that are uncounted, that are being counted as pneumumonia working counted as other causes of d death because those people were not able to get a covid-19 test. many ofditional deaths, them are unnecessary. they arere deaths of incompeten, death of science deninial, of inequality. it is important for us to acknowledge how unnecessary the level of crisis that we are at right now that is due to the

incompetence of this administration and due to the lack of responsiveness of this administration. and when it comes to the paicularly c cruelty to undocumented immigrant's, it is also a f form of denial of the fact many of these undocumented people pay taxes, fund our public schools, and fund thehe very public health system that they are being denied access to right now to the billions of dollllars in taxes they pay. millions morore asked by thehe , these workers pay billions more in taxes t than facebookok does, that amazon does come, and other corporations do. so when it comes to contributions to our public system, they do far more ththan ththese corporations do. itit is extraordinarily importat they have access to our public health system. by the way, he should not just be for covid 19 cases. our public health system should be free at the point of service for r every single person in ths country. there are folks that are saying,

oh, you will get paid sick leave if it is covid-19-related as we are seeing with amazon, they will take your fever come if you don't have a test, then you u wl not receive paid sick leave. we should have universal system where every person can be the doctor -- see the doctor free of charge when theyey need to see t but they can get the care they need. that is what it means to live in an advanced and modern and humane society. so lonong as we don't do that,te have not earned the right to callll ourselves one. amy: we're speaking to congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez. we will be back with her in 30 seconds. ♪ [music break]

johna doctor singing lennon's "imagine." he is from the mayo clinic. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

rest of theing the hour with congressmember ocasio-cortez. this is the congresswoman speaking on the floor of the house about the $500 billion corporate bailout part of the massive coronavirus stainless package. >> we have to go into this vote eyes wide open. funding for one of the largest corporate ballots with a few strings as possible in american history. shameful. that fight is wrong for crumbs, for our families and the option that we have is to either let them suffer with nothing or to allow this greed and billions of dollars to be leveraged into trillions of dollars to contribute to the largest income inequality gap in our future. juan: that was congresswoman alexandrdria ocasio-cortezez prr to the vote on the s stainless package. congresswoman, could you talk about the debate he had with

yourself whether to support this package given the enormous tax breaks and the direct t grants d loanans to corporate america? ultimimately, this debate -- it was up to each a ad every member. i don't like any member for how they voted. member forslight new how they voted. i could not bring myself to support this bill because i believe people will soon see the extraordinary asymmmmetrical assiststance that went corpororations. we a are notot just talking abot half $1 trillion that went to wall street as i mentioned in ny remarks. to $4s being leveraged trilillion for wall l street and corporations. what we'rere seeing in payroll protections for small bususiness is just a drop in the bucket compared to that.

ultimately, what this administration did w hold every hospital hostage come every frontline worker hostage. it i is not an easy decision whatsoever for any member. ultimately, i think people will soon see the betrayal that was in this bill that was pushed forward by the administration and by mitch mcconnell. completely -- it is completely unethical and inhuhumane what has been done. and we talk k about the oversigt of this bill. it is fafar too flimsy. what we have essentially done is give steven mnuchin a blankk check to pick and choose who this administration will reward with $4 trillion. juan: i wanted to ask on the portion of the stimulus packagee that is supposed to go to the american people and the american workers, the particular issue of what happens -- firsrst, there'a

grant0 per person outright that is given by the government, anand in the adddded unemploymet benefit of $600 a month h for seseveral months. the reality is, as you w well know, that especially when it comes to the undocumented, they will not get any of f that $1200 and more important, even on unemployment, there are so many millionsns of people that work f the books in america and obviously, they cannot qualify for unememployment, so they will get no assistatance whatsoever. >> that is exactly right. on top of that, , you also havea carve out of young pepeople whee if you are claimed as a dependent on somemeone else's taxes but you are above the age of -- if you're 17 or older you also receive no assistance and no cash assistance as well. this is disproportionately hurting their young.

it is hurting the undocumented. it iss hurting people who work off the books. which is to say it hurts some of our most vulnerable populations. the people who need thatat help the most right now, some of the people who needed the most, are also not getting it. which again contributeses to a public health crisis in addition to an economic one. amy: congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez, we want to ask about the election. they're holding the wisconsin primary today despite the theant opposition of governor in so in wisconsin. i think in milwaukee, they have closed over 100 polling places because they are often run by elderly poll workers. i want to ask about the presidential election. you're the most high-profile surrogate of bernie sanders. you have been there with him and state after state. what i is happening wiwith this campmpaign right now? what are e plans? myself and theke

senator had been focusing on covivid relief package. one of the key things right now we must push for, we must fight for is the same thing ththat wee hahave continue to fight for. we need to make surere that thee are very strong accommodations made for progresessive future in our country. i think it t comes to that, w we need to see very serious movement for the singlgle-payer healalth care system, toward a living wage going toward justice , andncarcerated people justice for our immigrant population. we need to have a strong agenda across-the-board. without any sort of progressive conversation or progressive defifinition or concession to or party, we e have to continue pushing forward.

when it comes to the specific things -- ultimately, that is up to the senator, but i know for one we must continue pushing to make sure -- particularly on climate change -- what kind of agenda is being formed right now. and not only what that agenda is, but who is gogoing to be making those decisioions and really administering a and executing that agenda. amy:y: do you know if f he will continue to be a presidential candidate through to the convention at the convention is even held? convention isthe heldld is an excelellent questi. i do not know. that is ultimately up to the senator. i think he makes t these decisis one data time and looking at to the next primary, i don't -- i do not believe he has said one way or another. amy: we're going to leave it there now.

i want to thank you so much for being with us, compass member alexandria ocasio-cortez, u.s. representative for new york's 14th congressional district, that does it for our show. democracy now! is brought to you by an amazing

♪ hello. great to have you with us from our studio in tokyo. this is nhk "newsline." we begin in japan. people in major cities are responding to the government's call to limitit outings and clo stores. the p prime minister, abe shinz officially declared a month-long st