04/21/20 04/21/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amamy: from new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic, this is democracy now! administration continues to press congress to replenish the enormously successful paycheck protection program, which has impacted 30 million american jobs. we hope to have an agreement very soon. amy: as the white house and $450rats near ideal on a billion coronavirus relief

package, members of the progressive caucus a belles out businesses once again and fails to protect working people. we will look at who is getting down that with the american prospect david dayen. and we will look at how a document of people in new york and new jersey's hardest hit communities are reporting fears of hunger with record high unemployment and no federal assistance, and how they are organizing and helping each other through mutual aid. that has coronavirus infections continue to mount inside immigration jails across the country, we will go to california's otay mesa detention center or dozens launched a hunger strike to call for their release and authorities pepper sprayed a number of women. they are throwing pepper spray at us. they do not respect us. we are human, not animals. they want us to sign documents a we throw away the masks. they want to charge us for t-shirts used to make the masks. amy: first, an update from gonzales.n

all that and more, coming up. wewelcome toto democracy now!, democracynow.org, the ququarante report. i'm amy goodman. in the united statates, deaths from the coronavirus have topped 42,000, and confirmed cases are approaching 800,000. worldwide total confirmed cases are closing in 2.5 million with 171,000 recocorded deaths. president trump said monday he is shutting down immigration to the united states by executive order. it is his most drastic move yet to cut entry of foreigners into the country. he announced the move on twitter last night but did not offer specifics on the legal basis for the decision. more southern states announced plans to start rolling back lockdowns. georgia's republican governor

brian kemp said gyms, hair and monday nail salons, spas, and tattoo parlors a massage therapist will be able to start operating friday. restaurants and movie theaters will reopen next monday. kemp acknowledged his decision would make more georgians sick. >> we have more people moving around, we're probably going to see our cases continue to go up. but we are a lot better prepared for that now that we were over a month ago. we have the hospital bed capacity. amy: atlanta mayor keisha lance bottoms said she was not given advancnce notice of f the move d that the numumber of fatatalitis still on the rise. savannah, georgia, mayor van johnson said he is beyond disturbed, noting testing is still lacking and the state has not seen the recommended 14-day dedecline before reopening.. in southth carolina, republican governor henry mcmaster is reopening public beaches, department stores, and some retail businesses starting today. ohio and tennessee said they would start to reopen businesses from may 1.

this comes as anti-lockdown protests continue around the countrtry monday. ththe govevernment's top advisen the coronavirus, dr. anthony fauci, warned protests against state lockdowns will backfire and cause a spspike in new case. massachusetts warned itit is becoming a hotspot for the cocoronavirus. in recentes surged days. the death toll is expected to top 2000, this week, with 40,000 confirmed cacases. "the boston globe" printed 16 pages of death notices on sunday, more than double the number of pages this time last yearar. in new york, numbers continue to trend downwards. known covid-19 deaths dipped below 500 for the first time since april 2. the total official death toll is by far the highest in the country, close to with over a 19,000 quarter of a million confirmed cases. new york city has cancelled all public events through june. the new york state nurses

association sued the new york department of health and two hospitals monday for their failure to provide adequate safety measures at the start of the coronavirus crisis. this is jujudy sheridan-gonzale, president of the nurseses associatioion and an ememergency room nurse. > i if they havee been doubug theirr capacity, b but they didt double theirir staffing. because e so many of ourur nurss got sick,k, we were terriribly understataffed -- whicich reaeay results in n negative oututcomed even deathths of papatients. because if you're onlnly capable ofof taking carere o of o one oo critically ill patients and new are being told get to take care of five or six, are going to have to neglect four of them. amy: in other news from new york, the metropolitan transportation authority confirmed plans to hire another 350 police officicers this year, despite e the fact that it is facing $8 billion in losses due to the coronavirus crisis. the mta is seeking another $4 billion in federal bailout money after receiving $3.8 billion in

the first relief bill passed last month. mta data shows black and brown people are the most targeted by fare evasion policing. at least 79 mta workers have dieded and thoususands more tesd positive for covid-19. in califorornia, a fedederal jue has orordered immimigration anad custstoms enforcrcement, orr i e urgegently revieiew the casesesf detaineeees most likikely to sur severe illness or death from the coronavivirus, to dedetermine whetether they c can be relelea. judge jesusus bernal c condemnee syststem-wide ininaction inn respondingng to the ououtbreak. the ordeder cites dedetainees or pregnant i immigrants,s, and the 55, whwho suffer f from chroninc healalth condititions. araround 31,00000 immigranants n immimigration prprison -- 22220e confirmed cases of covid-19. in other immigration news, the supreme court said it will consider the role that undocumented workers are playing to help combat the coronavirus

outbreak, ahead of a major case challenging trump's move to end daca, or deferred action for childhood admissions. about 27,000 daca recipients are health care workers. legal groups involved in the case say terminating daca during the public health crisis would be catastrophic. the treasury departmenent announced monday it is providing nearly $3 billion in payroll support for airlines. "the los angeles times" reported at least 15 airline workers died from the coronavirus over a nine-day period earlier this month, but the true number is likely much higher and there is no central tracking mechanism for covid fatalities. airline workers were previously barred from wearing facemasks as the outbreak spread in earlier weeks and some say they were kept in the dark about colleagues who contracted the virus. disney will stop paying over 100,000 employees this week -- nearly half its workforce. the company is maintaining its executive bonus plan and a planned $1.5 billion dividend.

disney chief executive bob chapek said he would take half of his $2.5 million base pay due to the crisis, but he makes an estimated $25 million annually thanks to bonuses and a long-term incentive award. disney chair and former ceo bob iger earned $47.5 million as ceo last year and is worth $690 million. jeremy haicken, president of the unite here local representing disney world workers in florida, told the hollywood reporter -- "florida is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster. the system was designed to fail even in the best of times, and now hundreds of thousands of workers are paying the price. what are workers going to do when their children are starving -- ask them to wait seven weeks for governor ron desantis to send them a check?" smithfield foods, which recently had to shut down a pork production plant after more than 350 workers tested positive for covid-19, is blaming workers for the coronavirus outbreak.

a spokesperson said "living circumstances in certain cultures" enabled the rapid spread of the disease. employees and investigations into the outbreak, however, show smithfield made a number of missteps in managing early signs of the outbreak, including concealing infections and compelling employees to work without protection. the e south dakota smithfield plant that was closed now has well ovever 700 covid-positive people and those related to them in the area, a majoror hotspot n the unitited states. in michigan, a five e year-old girl from detroit, the daughter of two first responders, died of covid-19. skylar herbert is michigan's youngest known death from the coronavirus. she spent two weeks on a ventilator after developing a rare complication that caused her brain to swell. as countries, including germany, norway, and australia start to

ease coronavirus restrictions, the world health organization has cautioned against a hasty lifting of protective measures, warning, "the worst is yet ahead of us.s." >> we want to reemphasasize that eaeasing restrictitions is not e the epipidemic will require a susustained effofort n the e part of indidividuals, communitieies, and goverernmento continue suppressing and controlling this deadly virus. amy: in britain, a government official has said the lockdown could last for three more months as the official death toll tops 16,000. new data suggests the covid-19 death toll in parts of the u.k. is up to 40% higher than the hospitals-only figures reported by the government earlier this month. on monday, france became the fourth country to report over 20,000. in the philippines, authoritarian president rodrigo duterte has threatened to impose martial law to enforce lockdown

and social distancing measures. duterte previously said police and military should shoot people dead if they flouted lockdown measures. police say 120,000 people have been arrested or given warnings for violating government-imposed rules. in the mexican border city of nueva laredo, 14 asylum-seekers have tested positive after coming into contact with a man recently deported from the united states. meanwhile, three migrants depoported two w weeks ago frome u.s. to haiti have tesested positiveve for covovid-19. cnn is reporting north korean leader kimim jong-un is in grave danger after a surgery according . south korean media reported kim had a heart surgery but fefew details about his condition are known. speculation about kim's health was fueled when he did not appear at a recent c celebration for his grandfather and state founder kim il-sung. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his former political opponent benny gantz signed a deal monday to form a

national emergency government. the deal puts an end to a protracted political stalemate after neither candidate received enough votes to claim victory after three elections over the past year. gantz previously had said he will not work with netanyahu. netanyahu is under criminal indictment in three corruption cases. his trial was postponed to next month because of t the coronavis outbtbreak. in hong kong, activists are warning authorities are using the coronavirus pandemic as cover to target critics after police arrested 15 high-profile activists saturday, including former politician and legislator lee cheuk yan, media tycoon jimmy lai, and democratic party founder martin lee. hong kong has arrested over 7000 people for their involvement in last year's massive anti-government protests, which were triggered by a proposed law which would have allowed authorities to extradite people in hong kong to china. the price of oil dropped below zero for the first time ever the historic collapse is due in monday. part to massssive drop in n demd becacause of the coronavirus

pandemic. the news came on the 10th anniversary of the deepwater horizon disaster, which led to the largest offshore oil spill in history, releasing over 200 million gallons of oil into the ocean, killing 11 people and tens of thousands of wildlife. and as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of earth day tomorrow group of new york city , a council members announced a resolution monday, backing activist calls for the city to divest from financial institutions who back the fossil fuelel industry. the move is supported by the stop the money pipeline campaign. jpmorgan chase, blackrock and liberty mutual are some of the companies targeted by the resolution. earlier this month, reuters reported jpmorgan chase, wells fargo, bank of america, and citigroup are preparing to seize oil and gas assets as energy producers reel from the oil industry crash. this i is 350.org g co-founder l mcmckibben, speaeaking during ga virtual news confeference yeyesterday. political changnge in

wawashington, chchange on wallll v very f fast come becaususe when banks a and thins mamake announcncements, theyey d stockmarkets within minutes. and it could c come globalally. doesn''t realally rule thee worldld anymore, but walall street still k kind of doeoes. so the thihings that happepen iw of ababsoluteney arere first-ororder impoportance in ts fight, e especially given how little time we have. amy: that is bill l mckibben. those are some of the headlines. this is s democracy now!, democracynow.orgrg, the ququarae report. i am amy goodman in new york gonzalezohost juan joining from his home in new jersey. second only to new york with infections and deaths from covid-19 with at least 88,000 cases and nearlrly 4500 d death. juan,, w welcome.

juan: welcome to o all of ourur listeneners and viewers s from around the country andnd around ththe world. amy: before we continunue with e show, we spoke on here lasast tuesday. your mother had just gone into the hospital. 92 years old. in new jersey. and she tested positive for covid-19. can you give us an update on your mom and also your wife? >> yes, any. thank you for asking. mymy mother was in t the hospitl for several days but thank lee, she was released late last week and wawas s sent to a rehabilitn center w where she is getting se thererapy now to get her strengh back. it seeeems she is out of danger. likewise w with my wifife. we h had a rough time last week. she e was in really badd shapepr several dadays, but now seseemso be in the clear. she is eating well. she has no fever.r. she is still l in isolation and

will be in isolation in our hohouse for at leastst another k to 10 days. but at least the worst appppears to be over for our family. and luckily,, i have not s shown any y symptotoms until nowow. please, keep your fingegers crossed. i want to thank allll of the fas of democracy now!! w who tweeter i mailed to us s their hopes for ththe recovery of my family members. amy: very quickly, i think the things that have happened with your family are so instructive. when you called the ambulance for your wife, the emt heroes are not talked about enough but came in and those kind of recommendations like kroening, like laying on your stomacach to open up your lungs. juan: we did have to calall on thursday the ambulance bececause she wawas really n not only incredibly weak, she didid not have fever, but she w was havina lot of t trouble breathing.

she was also delelirious. shshe could not recall l where e was, what was happenining, what had happened the day before. i really got quite frirightened. i called 91 one. ththe ambulance c came. these ememts were fantasastic. they took k all of her vitital s and theyey said she was getting h head emten and the said, look, , i know this s allk you are feeleling worse thanans. i take youou to the hospital rit now, they're likely just to have you there for several hours and sasaid you back home because the are 70 othther people that are eveven more sick so he didid gis a bubunch of instructionons a at ways to get through i it as best as possible. then he said, any time she getes worse, if it isis five minutess from now come have an hour frorm now oror tomorrow, just callll s and we wilill takeke her to the hospspital right a away. i think that called h her quitea

bit t and they calmed d me quita bit. within a couple of days, she was doing much better. amy: again with your mother, this whole issue of testing in this country, and the severe lack of access to testing and yet trump has pushed to open the country to "liberate these states." you're 92-year-old mother who had been taking care of her covid-positive cousin, you take her to the emergency room, one of the best hospitals in new jersey, and they would not test her? inititially that theyikely had c covid and were not going to o admit her or even test her until i i kept pressing him on n the issues of the enormous -- the unbearable pain she had in her abdomen. at that point, they took another look andnd they said, y yes, w'e gogoing to a admit her but w wee to t test her first. when they tested her and shehe

turned outut covid-positive,e, n they reaealized they initially made a mistake i in just tryingo sendnd her home.e. yes,s, you're not gettingng tesd even a at the hospitals, even at the bestst hospitals, unless they're planning to admdmit you. the testing issue is s still a huge issue, as m many in the commerercial for cororporate m a have said and the alternative media that the testing issue withns primary for dealing what is going to happen after the country begins to reopen. amy: and the fact they offered your mother hydroxychloroquine when the studies have not been died yet, when some of the studies that are being done like one in brazil were stopped because of the number of cardiac arrests and deaths in the studies, yet you are being offered hydroxychloroquine when lupus patients, whoho need itit, can't geget it. juan: i wasn'n't ofoffered it. they were plplanning to bebegino get my mother treatment for i it when i asked about i it.

when the doctotor said, yes, w'e givingng hydroxychlororoquine tl the patients here. i said, is this part of a test, research test? he said, yeses, we are cononducg researarch tests, but your motor being over 90 woululd not qualiy for that test but we e are routinely gigiving it.t. i said, do you have to give it? he said, well, no, if you don''t want to. i'm m perfectlyy fine withth not giving it to her. i said, no, thahank you, don't gigive it to her. if she does not h have a severe case and her l life is not ththreatened right nowow, i'd rr not take the chahance. so t the doctor pretty mucuch lt it u up to me only whenen i askd about it, not - -- otherwise, he was just going to in minister it to her anyway. amy: in the midst of this, you as well as your wife have been working on raising money, doing mutual aid for immigrants in new jersey. talk about that work and the

organizations that are desperately now trying to get support to people who will not get money from the stimulus package, who have been hard-working people all of their wives -- all of their l lives bt are losing their r jobs now oney one. juan: we managed we e could go last sunday,y, just before myy mother went t into the hospitall and d before i wife got sick, we started together with a bunch of grassrsroots organizizations hen new w brunswick -- this is a ciy ofof 55,0000 people. the majority of whom are latino. and most of them are from mexico, from t the will hock a ststate of mexico. there's s a large immigrant and undocumented population herere n new brunswswick. they don't qualalify for the stimulus soo we started d a mutl aid of new brunswickck gofundme page with various groups in thee coalalitions. in less than a week, we managed to raise $70,000 inn donationsns for cash -- direrect cash grants

to these hard-hihit families. and we've already mananaged to t 5000 of that out right away. even before the gofufundme money has come in because it takes aa while for that t to be processed but other p people fronted d the money to be able to start the grants out the door to get to these families. g gete been able toto alreadydy at least $5,000 out the dodoor d wewe will be getting more out in the rest of this week. amy, i w wanted to talalk about someththing else, which i thinks very impmportant. we are s seeing g a lot of i it, these protests aroround the country y people demananding and to the shutdowns that were aimed to stop the spread of the pandndemic. what troubles me most about this is h how right wing extremists brbrandishing automamatic weapo, and they become regular features of these protests. with the man i in the white hohe and nothing to condemn this form

of intimidation. are trump, most of them supporters. i would like our viewers and listeners to ask themselves a question -- if hundreds of african-americans or latinos showed up in cities around the country brandishing automatic weapons, what would be the response of the country to this? why is this being almost accepted and normalized now as a method of protest? my fear is this will become normalized over the next few months as we head toward a bitter national election. we should make no mistake that this country is edging closer and closer to neofascist authoritarianism. of: juan, you say the issue it being almost accepted. it is not almost. the president from the bully pulpit of the white house is encouraging it, saying these are his people. juan: he is encououraging the protesest -- amy: liberating the states. juan: he has not directly to my

knowledge directed -- back to the armrmed part of it bubut hes praising thehese folks as wondnderful americans. i don'n't think we should d dist the possssibility of this president would dececlare an election t that he loses as a fraud and illegitimate and attempt to stay in power. folks s may say this is far-fetched. i hope it is. but i think we should not delude ourselves that we are living in extreme airyry times in the unid states juan right now. amy: juan, i am so thankful you're ok and all the best to from extremely important professor at rutgers university, very popular. so beloved by her students, and your mom, all the best as well. as the communities that only in new jersey and new york but all over this country, we're going toto continue to lookok at this issue of mutual aid. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report.

i'm m amy goodman. one gonzalez. as we look at how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting undocumented people here in new -- new york city where immigrant committees haven't hit the hardest, even as the numbers of daily deaths statewide has declined in recent days. in queens, often held as the most diverse borough in the world, the neighborhoods of corona, elmhurst, east elmhurst, and jackson heights have been overrun with covid-19 cases. elmhurst hospital is overwhelmed. and even those who aren't sick are reporting fears about record high unemployment and no federal assistance for undocumented immigrants. many are considered essential workers and are continuing to go to work every day without protective equipment or health insurance. last week, hundreds of people lined up outside a church in corona for a free bag of groceries and supplies. the line stretched 22 blocks. over 1000.t well this is rosi sutelo being interviewed by univision. >> we can't afford rent.

we can't afford food. that is what we are hoping we will get more help for everyone. that is why we are here. amy: last week, california governor gavin newsom annonouncd a $125 million relief fund for undocumented immigrants in the state left jobless by the pandemic. that is california. when asked last thursdayay got similar support in new york, governor andrew cuomo refused to commit. broke, it would be irresponsible to do these things. i do hope and believe the federal government should have a more inclusive policy. close undocumented immigrants, that there is no -- >> we're looking att it but we evever of financial prproblems t now. amy: goverernor cuomomo is meetg with p president trump the w whe house today. this comes as new yorkrk city mayor bibill de blblasio has announced d a $20 million initiative sponsored by george soros's openen societyty foundan to send one-time payments toto p to $20,0,000 - -- to up p to 200

undocumented immigrants throughoutut the city. individuals wiwill receive $4000 and fafamilies will l receive $. as reports of widespread poverty and hunger continue in communities, people are organizing and helping each other ththrough mutual aid despe extraordinarily difficult circumstances. for more, we're joined by two guests. juan carlos ruiz, lutheran pastor of good shepherd church, brooklyn and co-founder of the national new sanctuary movement and the new sanctuary coalition here in new york city. and cinthya santos briones is a mexican photographer, anthropologist, community organizer based in new york city. her recent piece in the nation is headlined "immigrants are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus crisis." it is part of a weekly series. juan carlos and cinthya also happen to be married. thank you for joining us together on one skype as you

join us from your home in brooklyn. we welcome you both to democracy now! juan carlos, talk about the scope of the -- you know, lines of people just in queens a alone far outnumber the protesters in different states calling for reopening the states, butut you don't s see these imamages. describe these images to us. is a despairrit that was the on the ground. this is a battltleground thahat bodies are piling up. as you know, thehe officiaial nr of bodies here in the cityy that dieded, the peoplele that didiet home wasn't even part of the official c count. we havave famamilies living with infected peoeople. wewe have families who haven't

worked for over a month. and alsoso you have many of our they havefamilies, beenen in the fronontlines. they h have b become essentiall workers. still invisibible, very much invisible. but they have been going out to p protection.ny for the fedederal government, there is this confusision, next messages, this information coming down the pipe. also, there in new york k in the , immigrantsts have become a nationanal t target bye federal government. we have becocome rather visible, but as a way of scapegoating this, as a way of practically

persecutining us under the homelaland secururity. we have become the threat or the public threat for national security. ground, the picture i is bleak. -- not only the dead ones who are piling up in their hohomes, but they aree hungry. they don't know where to turn. they d don't knowow where too g. our rapid respoponse solidarity nenetwork, all the way from washinington h heightsts in and bayter cocome here ridge, we hahave been respondin. --s rapid responses ththe nypd locally has beeeen in

..hoots, wororking w with icee despite the dedenial o of de blo and cuomomo. they keepp working. theyey have been complicicit wih this perfect storm. theyey keep d denying thehe locl police have been working witith ice, but the last year or so, we have had manany families w who e been persecuted ,raided w with e help of new w york police. and this has c created the perft ,torm because now the people even whehen they need to go to e hospital, they have e this deep distrustst in the institutions because wewe have bebeen deceied over and o over. they are doing d deceptive

practices by the local government in terms of being complicitt with fefederal immigration. so the situation is dire. many, many of ouour families at thisis p point n not only dodo e the meaeans to pay the renent, t they don't have the food that is necessary for their survival. inn: i wanted to bring cinthya santos briones. cinthya, could you talk about the mutual aid? i mention some we were doing here in new brunswick in the mexican, immigrant community. could you talk about what is going on in new york city with immigrant communities? anand also, there''s probably mh more of a tradition ofof mutual aid at t the community levevel n manyny latin a american communus becaususe people c come from coununtries s where government support for the safety net is

not as great.. >> yeah, thank you so much for bringing thihis out. i think the solidarity not only to the religious groups and organinization, butt a also the restaurants, for example, , in e bronx. not just immigigrants, but homemeless. i was speakaking with o one of e homeleless and they y were teleg [indiscernible] restaurants arare in s solidariy also. peopople from ththe commmmunitye mutual aid is not ononly fromm ororganization, itit is from t r own imimmigrant communitities. in mexico we have different latin n americanan communinitie, indigenousus communinities, and these forms of tradition of --ual aid

that kind of mumutual aid is he. for example [inindiscernible]e] becomes the epicenter. providing not only f food to the ammununity, she also hasas company people who h have their family -- in their ownwn homes. ususual aid is alslso coming frm thee commumunity -- mutual aid s also comining from the commumun. -- neighbors, families in this crisis. cinthyacinthya amy:, if you could talk about the media coverage of undocumented community's. what is being missed? and the importance of the

pepersonal testimonies that you have been c capturing in photos and you been talking to peoeopl? outut through tohatsapp some closose friends see how they are doing during this p pandemic. they were sending me photos and ineos about their new life this pandemic. i want to say sometething.. they have been in n this pandemc but they have also beenen in frt of any kind [indiscernible] they are alwayays there for us, feeding us, w workingng at our s as the babysitter, the nanny. i was reaching out to the foundations.

we were about to do a piece. the photos ins show the e videos of ththe people one fronont lines as theyey are dodocumentining through h theirn perspectivive that we really d't see in the media. at some point [inindiscerninibl] small apartments s in a family living -- one family of five members living in a one-bedroom apartment. llas.ele making t torti one photo that was not published in this piece, but one of my frfriends sent me a photograph

when she was in a protest outside a jail and her husband was there. see how migrants describe it. juan: i i want t to ask ruth mez carlos ruiz juan about any migrants may be afraid toto go to the hosospitals but w we hear just last night president trump saying he's going to try to shut down all immigration into the country, even l legal immigration for the ofure, this constant use scapegoatiting of immigrants in the country underer this administratition. know, - -- corrupupt institutions, institutitions tht

do not have ththe w welfare of r communitieies. we arere not new to that. bubut when we cocome to thehe lf the free, we expxpect somethinig elelse but it plays out highferently whenen you have aa echehelons of f power, when youe these kinds o of attack k againt our commumunity -- i mean, t the rhetoric, the xenophobic rhetoric, thee racacism thatat s been said, that continues to realally have p practical consnsequences -- negative consequeuences a against n not y socially and cululturally,y, but also e economically against our pepeople. whole infrastructure of terror, this allocation ofof fus or resources into our communities come into the most

vulnerable p populationsns of or sosociety. is a masky, the virus in the machinery off death that feededs on thehe blood, you k k, [indndiscernible] we have a lot of blood on her hands. wash our, even if we hands day anand night,t, it is l bloody. and the governmnment hasas realy causused this perfrfectt storm a bunch of lies, by continuing too attatack the most vulnerable, ad contininually toto victimizeze d scapegoat the immigrants in our black and brown communities. , a key forarlos ruiz being with us. we cannot emphasize enough, 200

to 300 peoeople a day as confird by the mayayor himselflf are dyg in their homes. how many of f them were afraid o go to the hospital? afraid they could be picked up by ice? juan carlos ruiz, cofounder of the new century movement, thank you for being with us. cinthya santos briones, mexican photographer, anthropologist and community organizer based in new york city. we will link to your piece in the nation headlined "immigrants are bearing the brunt of the coronavirus crisis." this is democracy now! when we come back, who is getting bailed out and who is it? and then we go to otay memesa, california, where women cocome immigrants, have been pepper sprayed by guards as they deal with covid-19. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: that's dr. colleen farrell performing "amazing grace" at bellevue hospital with accompaniment as the staff held a service for their beloved nurse, ernesto deleon, who died from covid-19. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. democrats are closing in on a dealal with the white e house fa $450 billion relief package to

address the ongogoing economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, even as progressive say that a pals out b businesses without prototecting working people. treasury secreretary steven thahat deal allocates anan additional $350 billion too smsmall business loans and reli. and a concession to democrats, the new relief package also includes for hospitals and $25 $75 billion billion for testing. at monday's task force meeting, trump suggested demands for testing and ventilators are part of a political conspiracy against him. trumka r remember, it was all ventilators and the reason it was all ventilators, they said there is no way he will ever be able to catch this one. not only did we catch it, we are noww thinking of ventilators all over the world. we can send them -- thousands are being made a week and they're very high-quality. theywasn't playing well so

said testing, testing, we will get him on testing. well, testing is much easier than ventilators. amy: as trump attacks testing, members of the progressive caucus are attacking the new stimulus bill for failing to include measures like rent cancellation, hazard pay, funding for the postal service and vote-by-mail, and health care expansions. thisis is democratic congress member alexandria ocasio-cortez speaking at a virtual press conference monday. helpfululntalism is not in this momentnt. it is not helpful for people to say,, well, we gogot something o wewe might as well support it. dimet a nickekel, we got a in trillion dollar bill, so a nickel is more than nothing so we shohould support it -- is unacceptable. amy: well, for more, we're joined by the executive editor of the american prospect david dayen. he writes a must-read daily update on the pandemic called "unsanitized." david, welcome to democracy now! tell us what is happenening here in this latest bailout p packag, who is getting b bailed ouout ad who o is not.

>> t they'rere calling this s te interim p package in between t e last really big one, the cares act, and then what their calling cares act two. i guess you could call it cares act one point five. mostly this replenishes the small business fund dig out just to give out these forgivable loans. $75 million for hospitals and for testing. as you mentioned, it does s not add d all of these important prioritieses likike vote by mai, like hazard d pay, l like helpig the post office survive that progressives have been calling for for some time. of why do a question you keep giving republicans the thing they want, whether it is a giant corpororate bailout or ths continued money into the small business fund when the

democratic priorities are left on t the table? juan: yoyou wrote r recently abt the naming o of donna s shalalao head t the bailout oversight panel, nancy pelosi named her even though she is clearly conflicted in terms of her own private investing's and even though she is virtually no experience in this kind of oversight. could you talk about the meetitg of this coming frorom the democrats to name someone like donna shalala in chargrge of seeing how this money is being spent? clubs sure.. should l layla is a pelosi loyalist. she is rules committee and that is a tell that she is someone that backs pelosi 100%. donna shalalaed, was the health and human services secretary under prpresident clinton but this partiticular bailout oversight panel is really about lookingngt federal reserve lending

programs. if you are on the financial servicices committttee, if youoe on the oversight committee, that might be ann impmportant positin wherere you would haveve a lot f experience. the sort ofn't t have history with financial services that you would expect. lasastid notice in her disclosure form that she listed -- individualer stock holdings and businesses like going, alaska airlines, and lots of oioil companies, lots of banks that might be in line f fr a bailout. shalala told "the miami herald" yesterday that she sold those stocks, said she sold some of them over a yeyear ago. however, there was never any disclosure of that which if true would violate the stock act, which forces disclosure of any transactions by members of

congress within 45 days. i am trying to get to the bottom of that. i think what is signals is pelosi once someone that is personally loyal to her o on ths panel and expertise at conducting the oveversight needd to make sure this money is being spent properly is a secondary consideration. amy: david dayen, alexandria ocasio-cortez and other members of the progressive caucus that they are not going to support this stimulus package. if you can overall talk about who has benefited so far when we hear about ruth chris steakhouse getting $20 million and other companies in the small business part of things, andnd also the banks ---- and we only have a miminute or two. >> t there werere about 80 publy traded companies that receiveded these smalall business forgivabe loans in the small business program including roots --

ruth's chris and a number of others. in general, smaller businesses were able to get some support but you are talking about banks who were able to get billions of dollars in processing fees under that loan program without having to do a whole heck of a lot. in general, there's been a disproportionate response that is reflected in the cares act for individuals, for small businesses it is very hard to get relief. individuals at risk having their individual checks taken and garnished by banks. the unemployment program -- it is hard to get unemployment insurance. but if you are a big corporation, the federal reserve has $4.5 trillion in reserves ready for you. americare you stand in

and where you stand in this bill depends really on your power and influence. amy: we want to thank you for being with us. david dayen, we will be visiting you again in the coming days. executive editor of the american prospect where he writes a mumust-read daily update on the pandemic called "unsanitized." when we come back,k, why are w n in detention, immigration detention, pepper spray in the midst of this covid pandemic, let alone coming at the time? stay with us? ♪ [music break] ledical "let my people go" by people demandnding bill de blasio release people from jail and immigration detention amidst

this pandemic. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. we end today's show looking at mounting cases of coronavirus insiside immigration jails acros the country. one of the largestst outbreaks s that t the otay mesa detention center neaear san diego, california run by private prison company corecivic, which last week confirmed at least 27 cases of covid among prisoners. over the weeeekend dozens of , immigrants began another under strike over their safety. last friday, otay mesa prisoners were told to sign contracts written only in english in exchange for receiving face masks. some refused to sign, prompting guards to pepper spray them. the waivers were later reportedly retracted. this is a woman describing the attack in her holding unit last friday during a call with the immigration rights group pueblos sin fronteras. >> they are throwing pepper spray in the cells. we are on the hunger strike

because they're coming to throw food at us like dogs. we have rights. we are not medals. there's a woman who suffers from convulsions. they don't want to give her her medicine. all of our rights are being violated. it is not fair. please help us. get us out. all of us have been pepper spray. many people do not understand what is happening because they don't spanish. they don't speak english. help us. they are removing people from each cell in handcuffs. please help us. amy: activists say hundreds of people imprisoned at california immigratioion jails are currenty on hunger strike. for more, wewe arere joined by h mendez, community activistst and volunteer r with otay mesa resistance.e. can you describe whatt is happening inside? these woman -- women were told they had to sign in order to get a face mask, a contract that said they would not hohold corececivic, which rs ththis for-profit prisonon, respsponsible? > >> yes. that is what happened.

they were giviven forms a and td they had t to sign thiss form wh was only given in english. there are e people in the detetention center that don't kw spanish or engnglish at all. this woman --- thihis one wawasy given in engnglish andnd peoplee told to sisign it quickly.y. if not, dodon't t get a m mask,s babasically whatat it saysys. it i is inhumanane. some people from personal counts i have heard were even charged money fofor this m mask. and a a form they hahad to sisi, too. itit is horrible e what is happening. juanan: ruth, to reaffifirm, mof the people i in ice detention, they're basasically -- they are not accused of any y crimes. thisis is a civil detetention pepending adjudication of their status. what has beeeen the federal government's attitude toward releasining these detainees?s? n now, therey right are plenty of people who are

ready to o go reunitete with thr families. they h have their spsponsors. they have everythingng t that is needed. someme are even -- they're lookg for parole, to o be releasedd on parole, , on bond,d, or any y kf opopportunity to be able to reununite with theheir families. but right now ice has not been answswering questions for r peo. there e has been a b block for l -- f for people t to contact her lawyers come all kinds of blockages right now that makeket impossible so that p people can haveve their rights of finishing or processing theirir asylum cases. they are jusust being heheld ina deathh t trap. it is i inhumane. wewe have cocountless accounts - sorry,y, so many accounts s of people who every siningle dayayl in to our organization telling us they just want to see their families.

if it is the last time they are able to see them come at least one more time. because at the rate that covid is going right now in the detention n centers, to give e r brbrief picture of what it looks like, jujust three days ago the cases were already at 41 of confirmed cases inside. yesterday i received a call with an update that it is now 49 cases inside. detaineegiven to a inside by the medic of ice. it is insane. that is not made it out. it has been three days. amy: i want to turnn to a transgender woman being held at otay mesa, speaking to you, ruth last weekend about the abuse , she has endured. in this audio clipip she's describibing being retaliated agagainst by otatay mesa guardsr mamaking a phone call. she was recently put in solitary confinement. >> and i thank you for being our

voice out there because in here, who is going to listen to us? the guards don't even wash our hands. they don't care about our health. the guards are not covering their faces. they did not even have gloves on when they had me in handcufuffs. amy: ruth mendez, is genesis still in solitary confinement? i mean, you been have the former ice director making very clear that ice in particular has the sole authority to release all of these prisoners. he is s demanding they do, as do many g grassroots groroups, yety have not done this yet. but t start with genesis. still innsis, she isis solitary confinement right now. she does not have access to commissaryry. she does not havee access -- she is limitited access to the phon. she is n not even able to go t o the l library. we talked not to long ago and it

is just these lilittle thihingst mamake h her -- make it so mucuh hardrder to be insnside solitary right now.. it is insane. she, r right, is a veryy strong wowoman that i admdmire so mucu. it is unfair what is hapappening to herer. currently,y, she -- - because of up, incncident t that she stood demanded answers from ice and just people around the ststaff f corecivic, she was takaken in handcucuffs and taken a solitary and g given 15 daysys. however, that was s doubleled rerecently. so now i it is going to o be 30 daysys. and she wawas not given a a rean why ththat is s happenining. she has told u us on multiplple times, just speaking to us personalally, thatat she does st think she will lasast 30 days inside solitary confinement

becaususe of how tererrible thte conditions arere. juanan: could you talk about inn general at otatay mesesa, are mt of t the d detainenees beingng n dormitory-ststyle huge r rooms r are they a a few people to a ce? >> the u units come as do i understand it, t this difficulto geget -- b billy when we can communicate anand the only wayae and corerecivic a are lettingngr to be communication n right nows ththrough phonone calls, but whi imagine is it i is pods, like units. therere can be from 10100 peopln onone unit toto 70 people. the numbmbers vary between the units. it is social disistancing and being able to follow cdc guidelines, it is imimpossible o do so inside thehese plalaces. anand there have beeeen cases we pepeople who havave g gone to ml unitits and come backk posititie haveve been sent to the sasame s

again to be e with other p peop. yes,s, we know withh the pandem, with covovid, it o only takes a littttle bit for it to spread to everyone. so that is the c conditions they arare in contention -- curreren. amy: i federal judge in california has ordered ice to urgently review the cases of prisoners most likely the server from the severe illness, these outbreaks of covid, and he condemned the systemwide also currently about 3131,000 p people are in detent, ice detention. ruth mendez, community activist and volunteer with otay mesa detention in san diego. thank you for being with us. democracy now! is working with as few people onsite as possible to prevent community spread. the majority of our amazing team is working from home. i want to give a special thanks to julie crosby. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now!

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