06/09/20 06/09/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: frorom new york city, the epicenter of the p pandemic in e united states, t this is democry now! , came to icening around 2:00 a.m., at 7:00, started the processing and i was going to be sent to eloy. amy: as the police continue to violently crack down on demonstrations across e country, we look at how ice

agents are also in the streets targeting protesters from arizona to new york. then we will go to minneapolis where the community has taken over a sheraton hotel to provide shelter to more than 200 unhoused people amid prorotests and the pandemic. >> this used to be a hotel most of now it is a sanctuary. amy: they may be evicted today. we will get the latest. and as new york city begins to partially reopen, we will look at what it means for t the nation's largest public transportation system. >> we knkn this is a mass transit city. >> w we onlyave so many y train, so many seseats, so many lines d so many tracks. so if yoyou accommodatete this dedemand for social disistance,t means you can only serve a small percentage of your riders. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democrynynow.org, , the quarante reportrt. i'm amgogoodman.

in h houston, texas, thousands gaththered monday to p pay their respects to george floyd two weeks after he was killed by minneapolis police. his brotheher terrence floyd spe to reporters in front of a memorial at the fountain of praise church, where a public viewing was held. what, if he was told he would have to sacrifice his life to bring the world together, i know he would have did it. again, love is love and we are all hurting as a family. amy: the reverend al sharpton appeared with george floyd's brothers, along with relatives of trayvon martin, eric garner, botham jean, ahmaud arbery, and michael brown. the floyd's family attorney benjamin crump also spoke. >> either america will destroy racism or racism will destroy america. in the name of george floyd. amy: george floyd's funeral is today in houston, his hometown. he will then be buried next to

his mother. in minneapololis, former police officecer dererek chauvin made s first court appearance for the murder of george floyd via video from a maximum-security prison. his bail was set at $1.25 million, or $1 million with conditions. a warning to ourur audience, ths adline contains videdeo of graphic police violence. authorities in austin, texas, are fafang questioions over the death of an african american man named javier ambler in march of last ar. he died after beinpulled or by willisoson coty d depies aftea chase at began when he fail t to dithe e helightstsf his suv whe e passg a a dety's ca newly released pice bodyam footagshows amer was repeededly ted w whi he toto the office, , "i he cocongtive heart failure" and "can'tt breathe" a "i'm not reresistg.""

amy: details about amber's death are lyly comg toto lht nowow after the austin amicican-stesmsmanuccesssslly forced the relea o of thpolilice body cam foota a and iernanal reportababout blerer's dedeh. -- abouthe killi. unl last week bler's family , onlynew he dd in pole cuody. his ath was so filmeby a&e's realy show "ve pd" b the otage hanever be publly viewe he was aormer postaworker and faer two. the dirict attney has anannounced the caswill go a

grd jury ts summmm. in n mexico, a las cceces poce offic has beecharged with invuntary mslaughte fothe dedeh of h his and aft a trfic stopn the ofcer bruary. christher smelr remainfree bail. hes accuseof killi valenzue by placg him in ne restrai. smelser heard ohis lape videtelling lenzuela"i' ing to expleti to chokyou t, bro." even aft valenzua lost consciouess, theideo sho smser madeo attempto help him. instead he is ard descbing hiencountewith valzuela as a "gd littleight." antonio lenzuelaas a father of fr whwho rkrked aa painter. accoing to "e washinon post lasas cceces, n mexico, d the hiest ratef police llings oany cityn the untry beeen 2015nd 2019. on capitol hill, democratic lawmakers from the house and senate introduced their police reform legislation monday. this is congressional black caucus chair karen bass. acthe justice and policing

establishes a bold transformative vision of policing in america. never again should the will be subjected to witnessing what we saw on the streets in minneapolis. the slow murder of an individual by uniformed police officer. amy: the legislation would make prosecuting police abuses easier, create a national registry to track misconduct, the transfer of some military equipment to police departments, and ban chokeholds and other practices that have killed people. before unveiling the bill, a group of prominent democratic lawmakers, including speaker nancy pelosi, senate majority leader chuck schumer, commerce member jim clyburn, and senator cory booker took a symbolic knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds. the amount of time dear children george floyd to the ground by his neck while floyd gasped for air, slowly dying. in new york, rainsy orta, the man whwho found eric garner's arrest has been released from prison. he had been serving for yearss and and drug charges b but was

giveven early releaease becausef the coronavirus pandemic. in virginia, a man who claims to be a leadedeof the ku u klux kln has bebeen arrested d after drig his car into a group of protesters in richmond on sunday night. harry rogers was charged with assault and battery. local authorities described him as a "admitted leader of the ku klux klan and a propagandist for confederate ideology." meanwhile, in bakersfield, california, there have been at least three recent cases where drivers ran into protesters. on saturday, a 55-year-old african-american named robert forbes died after being hit earlier in the week by a white driver. no charges have been filed but witnesses have accused the driver of intentionally trying to hit peaceful protesters. and in seattle, an african-n-american man was injud on sunday when a man drove into a crowd of protesters and opened fire. the driver, nikolas fernandez, is being held for suspicion of assault in the first degreree. in m more news frorom seattle, prprotestersrs are claiming vicy after taking o over the area around a police precinct

building that had been the site of protests and a brutal police crackdown for eight days. seattle police chief carmen best described the move as an exercise in "trust and de-escalation." on friday, seattle announced a 30-day ban on the use of tear gas, but officers continued to use it against protesters over the weekend. meanwhile, the seattle city council has begun discussing demilitarizing or defunding the police force. on monday, seattle city councilperson kshama sawant introduced a bill to ban police from using chemical weapons and chokeholds. the killing of george floyd has sparked major shifts globally on how gogovernmements are approacg police violence. on monday, francnce banned polie use of chokeholds during arrests. in britain, over 160 members of parliament wrote a letter to the inteternational l trade secretay demanding britain suspend the export of british riot gear, teargas, and rubber bullets to the united states. "we should not be helping donald trump repress his own people," said labour mp jeremy corbyn on twitter.

all callss to defund the police arare growing in the united states, joe biden has come out against the policy. onon monday, spokespererson said biden "does not believe that police should be defunded." meanwhile, joe biden travel to houston monday to meet with the family of george floyd. they met for a about an hour. in the o occupied west bank, palestinians rallied monday in ramallah against israel's plan to annex the west bank. protesters also carried signs honoring george floyd and in solidarity with the anti-police brutality uprising in the united states. the protest follows similar actions across the occupied palestinian territories and israel in recent days. on saturday, senator bernie sanders addressed crowds via video stream at a rally inin tel aviv, telling protesters annexation must be stopped. meanwhile, in the west bank city of bethlehem, a mural of george floyd was painted on the separation wall with israel. this is mahmoud abiedalla, who initiated the ididea for the tribute mural. >> we paint on the apartheid

wall that we are trapped under is a measure of solidarity with them and a solidarity with black people who are in the united states that are oppreressed ande can see racial discrimination between white and black peopopl. confirmeded cases of the coronavirus worldwide now top 7 million, with h over 400,00000 deataths. as many countries open up again, the world health organization warned monday the situation isis gegetting worse globally. >> although the situation in europe is improving, globally, it is worsening. more than 100,000 cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days. yesterday, more than 136 cases were reported -- the most in a single day so fafar. amy: n nearly three quartersrs f

recent cases came from 10 countries, mostly in the americas and south asia, said the world health organization. the who also said that the spread of covid-19 by asymptomatic people appears to be rare. latin america remains the epicenter of the pandemic, with the highest tolls reported in brarazil, mexico, chihile, ananu -- which together account for over confirmed cases. one million the who said over the weekend central anand south amicica have likelely not reachd peak transmission yet. however, cuba remains a bright spot in the region, where infections have been on the decline for two months. cuba announced this weekend it is closing in on the tail end of the pandemic. in new zealand, nearly all restrictions have e been lifted, including social distancing and limits on public gatherings, as the country enteters into ththe least restrictive phase of its rerecovery. new zealand has not reported any new cases inin over two weweeks. in south africa, president cyril

ramaphosa said he is worried as the country's cases have surged over the past twtwo weeks. on monday,y, the o official l dh tollll topped 1000. here in the united states, covid-19 infections hit record highs in 14 states and puerto rico since the statart of the montnth of june as the nationwne caseload nears 2 million and over 111,000 deaths. some statetes that startrted eag restrictioions before memeetinge recommended metrics for reopening have seen major surges, including texas and arizona. but the trtrue toll of t the pandemic in the u.s. remains hard to estimate. fewer than half of u.s. states are reportining probable coronavirurus cases and deaths o the centers for disease control and prevenention, per fefederal recommendations. these inclclude some of f the largesest and most populous stas including california, florida, and new yorkrk. meanwhile, "the new york timese" reports s that dozens of major hospitals that received billions in government bailouts through the cares act continued to

furlough, fire, or cut the pay of tens of thousands of workers, even as their ceo's receivive py packages of tens of millioions f dollars. in immigrationon news, a complat filed by twowo immigrant righths groups accuse immigration and customs enforcement of spraying a likely hazardous coronavirus disinfectant over 50 times a day at the adelanto detention center in california in poorly-ventilated and crowded areas. prisoners there have reported nosebleeds, fainting, headaches, stomach pain, and a burning sensation in their skin after coming into contact with the chemical. in related news, at least one asylum seeker held at ice's port isabel detention facility in south texas has entered his second week on hunger strike to protest squalid conditions and lack of protection against covid-19. in spain, a former salvadoran army colonel appeared in a madrid court monday to face trial 30 years after he allegedly orchestrated the 1989 murders of six jesuit priests,

their housekeeper, and daughter in el salvador. five of the victims were spanish nationals. inocente orlando montano served as el salvador's security minister and accused of ordering the attack that was carried out by a u.s.-trained counter-insurgency force. montano lived in the united states for 16 years, and was extradited to madrid in 2017. montano could face up to 150 years in prison if convicted. and 80-year-old peace activist and former nun liz mcalister has beenen sentenced to o time servd for breaking into the kings bay naval submarine base on april 4, 2018, to protest u.s. nuclear weapons programs. the georgia base is home to at least six nuclear ballistic missile submarines, each of which carries 20 trident thermonuclear weapons. her six co-defendants in the kings bay plowshares 7 will be sentenced later this month. during the sentencing hearing monday, mcalister said -- "i don't apologize for it. i think the weapons are completely destructive of life." in addition to time served, she was sentenced to pay $25 per month and serve three years of

supervised release. liz mcalister appeared on democracy now! last october after serving 17 months locked up. this tridentons on subdomains, if there ever used, that is the end of life on earth. that is the end of life honor. i have to say no to that. we don't have that right to destroy god's creation. amy: to see our full interview with liz mcalister, visit democracynow.org. and those are e some of the headlines.s. this is demomocracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york city, joined by my co-host juan gonzalez from his home in new brunswick, n new jersey. hi, jujuan. juan: welcocome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin with protests around the country. the protest against police brutality continue nationwide, immigrant rights advocates are

sounding the alarm over the presence of ice, immigrations and customs enforcement agents, at some of the demonstrations. last week, a viral video showed a group of ice agents working with the new york city police department to detain a protester at a george floyd rally in new york city. the immigrant defense project said agents held the man on the ground as they pointed three guns at him. the man, who hasn't been identifified, was handcuffed and searched. he was reportedly released after agents found a military veteran's id on him. immigration rights advocates say the man is a u u.s. citizen of puerto rican descent. for more, we're joined by mizue aizeki, deputy director at the immigrant defense project. welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. you are with the immigrant defense project. can you describe whwhat happene? how arare ice agents in thihis demonstrations and what t happed to thihis man? >> good morning.

thank you for hahaving me. that is s a really good ququest, what happepened and why was s ie yhrrththere? from what the man told usus come he was w walking on the streree, had just joioid a protesester people on the upper west side when allll of a s sudden a blacv pulled up, feynman jumped out, and they're all plainclothes. i think three of them had their guns drawn, when wearing the best that said ice. they threw him on the ground, basically, forcefully, hit his head and has a big bruise. and then started searching him legally, as you mentioned. they took his phone out of his back pocket. they tried to unlock it but they were not able to. they went through his wallet. that is where they found his id as you mentioned. after 10 minutes of detaining him, the agents were told by their supervisor to let h him go because they had no grounds to hold him. like in so many of

these incidents as we know, the agents walk away. the man was left there. luckily, his health is fine. while he does not feel comfortable sharing the story for himself personally, he has asked us to share it wididely in the hopes the abuse. anand it will result i in more m for othehers. whilile it is not often captured on video, so m much of violencn, this is how ice operates all the time. one of ththe big concerns we hae is ice parartnering with the nyd right now is they been v very oppoportunistic in terms of policingng. overer the past 10 y years, we e cis basicically embed themselves toto local police forces all ovr the country. now alalmost every fingerprint taken atat a police precinct serves as an automaticic alert syststem to ice and triggers a couldt byy -- coul

trigger ice. in new york state, we e have sen in the pasast few years under a, 1700% inincrease in n ice arrest unitited statetes courththouses. this is why we hahave a go right now in front ofof the new york state legisislature ice ice that would limit'ss practice of targeting people in and around courthouses. juan: you mentioned the increase in icece arrests a and documentn the e first few weekeks of f thr about a 400% increase of ice raids in new york cicity. could you talk aboutut that in particulular, just befefore the pandemic expxploded? also, what about the f fact new york city governmement supposedy is not cooperating with these kinds of a aests? >> that is a good point to raise. i thk as we e are seeing foforce coming out to -- t trying to suppreress -- i think trtrump similarly has tried to his

presidency to use force to try to really create a lot of fear and implementnt mass deportation agagenda. , ththe or may not know number o of policing agentnts hs grownn tremendously. we startrted with almlmost -- vy few ice agents who gogo out and conduct raids. they grerew a lot under busanand obama. hisou may remember, trurump, first mother presidency, january 20 17, issued an executive order calling to most triple i think the ice force, 1010,000 additiol ice agents. the e other piece of his agenda hahas been to pressusure citiese new york that have policies that limit icee collusion with police or local p police collusion with ice, so-called sanctuary cities. year, the trurump

administstration came down hardn new yoyork city and new york ste . what we had seen was ice presence -- itit almost looks le a constant presencnce on the streets of new york city i in particulular. mentitioned, , the defense project r receives foren percent -- reports of warnrner percent increase, of until the time when n the city s shut down becacause of covid. so w we had report of a an ice ararrest the m morning before ee day before the governor declared nenew rochelle a conininment zo. that was like one of the first areas s really hard-hihit and a westchester r county. we had i ice taking advantage of peopople being in their homes ad conducted d an arrest there. we had i ice conducting an arret in long island, the same day they shut t down the schools during covov.

wewe are allll familiar -- you mentioned d the stotory before e last segment about ice refusing to relelease peoeople in detenon and continui to depoport people, people with covid, during this time. think want to also add, i the other thing s saw happening in january was the threat of the borderer patrol swat team, the trump administration said they would be sending them into cities like new york that had such policies to protect immigrant rights. and then also we saw other tactical teams from ice with assault weapons standing in the street in the bronx and stating their conducting surveilillance0 47 under a program called operation palladium. amy: i would ask you but the issue of new y york being a sanctuary city. why are these ice agents in new york city tackling this puerto rican n man? ofi think there's been a lot

city" term "sanctuary clearly, i think new york is not a sanctutuary city. abuse,saying a lot of violence by y the state or the police toward black and brown communities in new york. of the city toy limit ice presence here from you know, there are only so many options and the detainer policy is one of them. i think the other thing, especially since dhs was founded post 9/11, we have seen many forms of collaboration between local police and federal police in the form of joint task forces or i think [indiscernible] legitimate police force. this is something i think it's really important to kind of raise and challenge. just like we have heard a lot of

great commentary on your show an analysis of people about what the real function of policing is on a domesc level, it is t maintain social control and unequastatus q.. e isis basically the gloll licece fce, whwhh alsseserves to m mntain a highly equal obal w wld order with the u.s. athe center of thapopower. keepthe things that we trying to allenge and fight backn is this notion ice polingng. -- ahinthere'e's a lot of lot of freedom for ice to be present in new york at these raids. ice often hides behind the rule of law. like, we're police. politicians protect them in that. part of the work we are trying to do is expand our analysis -- it this and really serves those in power iff

immigration is s separated from imperialism. there's a great quote from a sri from the 1950's who said "we are here becaususe you arare there." juanan, as s you point out on yr the e economic intervrvention in latin amemerica has shaped te migration flowsws to o the unitd stateses. so why d do i bring this up when you're asking me about what righght ice has to be here?e? part of f our work is toto chale the legitimacy of ice and expose their function in the global world order. , thank yoyou for joining us from the immigrant defense project. phoenix,ow to targeting protesters who were recipienents of daca, deferred action for childhood arrivals program. police in phoenix, arizona, arrested community activist maxima guerrero as she was

leaving a protest on may 30 with a group of legal obsbservers. she was one of three daca recipients arrested over that weekend in phoenix. guerrero is an organizer with the immigrant rights group pupuente human rights movement, and already wears an ankle monitor, so ice monitoring her constantly. she wawas releaseded on june 1 h help from lawyers and addressed supporrs. >> this morning i came to ice around 2:00 a.m. at 7:00 p.m., they started processing me when i was going to be sent to eloy. do attorneys -- through attorneys, i was able to be out for now. amy: she is a daca recipient. well, for more, we go to phoenix, arizona, to speak with sandra castro solis, advocate with the immigrant r rights gro, puente human rights movement. we welcome you to democracy now! can you explain this case?

the level l of risk that all protesters take now in confronting police brutality with a number of brutal police facing t them, is that immigrans also face the possibility of deportation. talk about maximus case and the other people you're working with. >> gooood morning, e everybody. andnd thease of maxima other i individuals, she was prpresent on may 30 as a legal observer. she was at thehe downtowown facy where there was s the ongoing really advocatin andr.e r r geor floyd johnson,omomeoneho w was murdrdered othe 25th by the departntnt of blic safy. in o communitythere was a t t of ptest and maxima as a

daca recipient. was there pmarily tensure their saty g goi on with phoeninix police departmtt because with us, thhistory s alyseen thathey actut wi excessi for when it cocos to meing protters. so she was there documenting. totowardhe end of the night i read 1:00 m., sheas actctlly pied up an arrested tting into her car. it is very important we keep repeatinitit oveandd over, she was there as a lel observer anshshe w k kept up an arrested. once she was aesested,hehe was given these hararsh charges by e phoenipolice darartmen inclingg rioting -which is felo one conviction,hihich ululd aumaticacay alert ice to put an ice hold her.

this is how she gotrapped in what we call the web of depoatation stem. the mechanisthat was already placed -- whom we are talki about how immigration rks in , unde the sheriff's toch, ice was a able not ly place a hohold but also go and pick her up along with the other daca r recipients. i'm wondering if you can talklk about the whole issue -- amy: i have to jump in because we are trouble hearing you. the pandemic broadcacast, people broadcasting from home. i did not get t to hear your question to amplify on it, juan. but if you can talk about the other protesters, sandra, and the kind of risk they y face and what people are willing to face as they take on this issue of police brutatality and hononor george floyd -- these otheher cases? >> right.

so right now we are in the momentnt where peoplple want toe advdvocating,tets building that solidarityty, especially when we're talking about the latitinx, chicanos, undocucumented communinity. they want to be under the streets in solidaritity. a lot of folks are coming. ththey are saying that these protests are b being met with exexcessivee force. howewever, there sing this calll full -- call for juststice is to big to notot answer and lolot of folks are going -- another daca recipient caught. one thing that is very important to note boone we are talking about protesting and talking about anybody going to protest whether it is s a daca or someby who dodoes not have anyy paperss whatsosoever is that prorotestse supposeded to be consisidered sensitive e locations. the trump adminisistration had even acknowledged protests being a sensitive location come just

like hospitals, just like funerals, just like weddings where ice is not supposed to be allowed to even be around the periphery but also they're not to be any raids. we see now what this emboli guys out there if ice is running people up, targeting people that want to pick up like with the cases of new york, it is t p police depapartment themselveses who are arrrrting d giving high charges to inindividuals who mamay or may t ve daca - -- may be eligible to straingrecipients s and them into this d deportation pipeline. it is the mechanism that has already existed and existed t to continueue to criminalizeze blak and brown bodies. amy: what is at stake for the immigrants righthts movement wih the call to dedefund the police? how does that include or does it, ice? >> i think with individuduals,

whenen communities -- when our commmmunitieies say defund the police, we're talking about all sysystems of policing, all systs i c continue to c criminalize,, continue to kill individuals. when we are talking about the priorityty, t the movement is defendg g the police. lots of communitieses, especialy in aririzona and natationwide, e been saying abolish ice. when we are talklking about defining police, we're talking about defining everything mechanism and really deconstructing these mechanisms that continue to exist. not ononly criminalizeze, but capitalize on n our bodieses not only being targeteted but also detain. amy: also, sandra castro solis,, can you talk about the immigration jails in arizona like l lowe palmlma, among the . ice just come the largest covid outbreak? >> sure. at this time arizona is also on the map where we arere one of te totop 10 covidid-19 infested ars

when we are talkiking about the tension anand talking about prison. arizizona is sisixth on the cha. in laplace malone -- anand go k keep going.g. center has overr 78 caseses of covid-19. ice contntinues to release -- denies the number of information they're pututting in as f far aw many tests they are. this is a cilility witith 3000 cases78 already confirmed , and d no signs of how many people insidee d detention are being given n tests.. what that protocol looks lilike, and also w we don't knowhatat te of tests the staff or anybody who is coming inside and outside ofof these facilitities. what we hahave seen with the izona freedom campaign that we have beeeen launching is that to

tension centers, prisons, these are hotbeds. forese are not only areas vast contanation with pele who are side, buwe are also saying theuards, t thetaff who comen n and t of the differentt detention towns are adding to the high contamination rate whewe're talkinabout the prison counts in these ison citie yuma, arizona, is a ecific exame e for is. consider the hototbed for covi19 in o our state. you, first, to ask my apopologieses for droppining. we were havingng some microphone difficulties. but i wanted to ask you aboutut the issue of accountability on the part of ice. would local l police departments inincreasingly morore and momore police d department have bodycam videosos commit body cams on thr officers, some of them increasing number have local

police review boards, what kind of accountability exists for moninitoring the actions of ice given the factct that it is a nationonal law enfororcement ag? belelieveis moment, i there is no accocountability. i believe that is why puente and other organizations, we are the people on the ground who are actually there hololding thehem accocountablble. at this time, ice can't even track how many tests they are a ministry or they don't to share how many covid-19 tests there giving. ice is not giving us the information, how long it took once these charges for the daca were dropped, how long -- how and why they were still held in fourth avenue jailil. how and why ice was able to pipk them up. how and why ice was able to tell

palma end up in la detention center by the end of the e day. i believe the way thiss administration is running, the way this administrtration is set up, there is no basis of accountability. the local governors, nobody is holding ice accouountable.. it is set up where local elected officials are unable to hold him accountable because they are a a federal agency. so the trurump administratations not goining to hold ththem accountable, then who is? i think the answer for us in our community is us and it starts wiwith really putting the information out there, exposing them for who they are, and really exposing them for wanting to take advantage ofof the situation of covid-19 continuing to conduct their rates through pandemic coming continuing to targetet and plug people out of protests, and continuing to

allow the spreadad of covid-19 dedeaths to occur inside ththe detention centers and continuing - -- door people while poor peoplple while they have proven to have tested positive for covid-19. they're running like a rogue agency at this time. amy: i want to t thank you so much, sandra castro solis, for joining us advocate with the , grassroots immigrant justice group p puente human rights movementnt. when w we come back, as the lockdown is slightly lilifted in new york, what is the same for the largest transportation mass transit cities system, the subways? stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: amy: t this is democracy now!, democracynowow.org, , the quarantine report.t. nenew york city is known as a ms transit city where millions take

subways and busses and trains to work every day, but that changed when it became the epicenter of the pandemic. this week new york city enters phase 1 of reopening amid the coronavirus. officials announced their plan to keep workers and riders safe during a press conference friday in the empty terminal of grand central station. this is patrick foye, head of the metropolitan transit authority, or mta. >> secondldly, we will continune our unprecedented cleaning and disinfnfecting program. third, face coverings and masks are mandatory at all time for all customers and employees. four, wewe are eancing safafety and security by increasing the police, of nypd, mta and other personnel systemwide. fifth,h, our nation leading employee safety initiatives will cocontinue. the temperature brigade will continue testing workers for

fevers. boarding will remain in place on boarding at this time. we have installed hundreds of plastic barriers at employee workplaces acrososs the system. six, we are exploring innonotive cleaeaning suggestion with p pis already underwayay, testing the use of ultraviolett light, antimicrobobials, and electrostatic applicacators forr disinfecting purpoposes. amy: since thehe pandemic bebegn more than 130 new w york citity transit woworkers have died from covivid-19. nearly 10,000 haveve returned to work aftfter being o out becausf the coronavirus. traiain operators and condtotors have reporteted the most infectionsns. for more, we're joined by y seth rosenberg, subway operator with new york city transit for 14 yearars, and a shop ststeward wh transit workers union local 100 and a member of a small coalition of transit workers called localal 100 fightback.. welcome to democracy now!

describe the conditition of the subways as more and more people take them. what is happening? what are you d doing inside the subways and what is happening to the workers inside? >> thank you for having me on the show. hello to everyone. [indiscernible] crowded.e getting more as the pandemic restrictions are lifted and so forth. given the mta's horrible track record with respect to safety for us, the numbers you stated are horrific, i would say it is very stressful and dangerous situation. the safety measures are not in place to protect transit workers and riders. there are number of ways i could discuss. -- some of uss have been trying to push back to try and figure out ways to k kep thingsgs safe ourselves.

right now there is no filtration system. the air in our calves that we are working in for hours comes from the cars. isask enforcement for rides spotty. most people are good people and wear them but really, there is no way to enforce it. had had coworkers who have pepeople coughing, sititting bed them for half an hour, operating the train and there's nothing they can do. they're quite scacared. i would say it is a mess right now. juanan: i want to ask youou paparticularly a about the m mak situation. now the governor with his executive order in the mta sasaying eveveryonshouould weara thesk, this is obviously opposite of what was being said early on in the pandemimic b bul of the officials - -- all of the officials wewere saying masks ae not nececessary. but now we realize that wearing ofof masks is probably one of te most important ingredienents to

being g able to guardd against e pandemic. what about the workekers? hohow many masks are you getting now said she will l be in the subwbway all the time?e? bit aboutsay littttle the history. the mta had a panandemic plan fm 2012 that was s supposed to stockpilee p ppe and then diststribute it. in a number of social distancing and sanitizing measures. it was not put into effect. with respect to the masksks, thy hide behind the cdc saying, well, they change their ininstruction. the fact that transit workers early inin march were clamoringg for masks say we need masks, we are expoposed comome over and s, the transitt authority -- the policy earlyly on was that t thy said we e would be disciplined f we wore our own masks. maskst we could not have in public. the number of people higher up in our union went along with that as well. we see the results from that.

massive infections, deaths among around workers -- like 140. the numbers are staggering. just to say it is not just masks. they failed on sanitation, on social distancing. when i got back to work in late april, i had to push for social distancing measures in my work lace. the transit authority is always playing catch-up. -- rightmasks, we get now the policy is we get two n-0 95 masks a week. i have a strong science background. there are ways to reuse the masks, but the transit authority does not have a policy in place -- like, they want us to clean them off with sanitizing wipes or something like that. that is not a safe measure. you sesee this flip araround fro masks to masks being reactive

instead of proactive. even when they do, they won't give us what is really needed if they don't have a coherent disinfectant policy for the masks, early should have one per day because they are disposable. juan: i wouldd asksk aboutut the distancing. the mayor de b blasio has recommended the subways have a policy of every other seat bebeg empty, butut the mta i itself w- whicich is contrololled by the gogovernor, has said, no, that s some practical, it would not work. you mention yourur union. your union h has always been pretty close to the gogovernor n termrms of being able to exact from the governor r better contracts from their perspective. what about the responsibility of union leaders in this whole issue a public health? unfortunately,an, i think what w we have seen here is it certainly has gone t the other way. i might argue the relationship effective been not

for our union members for a long time, if ever. but with respect to this, during the early days of the crisis, we were in n freefall. thee mta did not care about our lives and was willing to sacrifice us to k keep service going and the union went r right along with it all stop when, gay marching orders of we e have to keep servivice going, our union was very quiet with respect -- as debts mounted up, there was not any effective push on the ground to stop unsafe work, just take trains and buses aren't going to run until our workers are kept safe. with respect to the social distancing, i think - -- i mean, anyone whoho has riddenn t the y fofor a period of time knows wih respect to r riders, it is completely untenable. as things get more crowded, and i think the transit system once it too, the trains are just going to get packed. amy: i wanted to -- go ahead. >> just quickly, transit workers

don't have any social distancing on the trains. we are in the cabs. the air getets through from the cabins to us. if you look at d.c. metro or new jersey, philly, they have closed off the cars in which the crew operates. transit refuses to do that. i think k at this late stage in the game after so many deaths, it is indicative of how they consider us to be sacrificial, coconsider our labor to be in ss drill but our lives to be expendable. amy: following up on these measures to supposedly protect everyone, the m mta 13 point pln says wear a mask, governor, tweeted -- remember if you are writing,g, must w wear a mask. but what is the enforcement mechanism here? the the city has shut down subway from 1:00 to 5:00 every night, first time in over a century. the signifificance of thisis? are e they cleaning the subways?

>> a lot to say about that. with respect -- there's no enforcement mechanism. every day i worked last week, i and a couple of other workers tried to create some social distancing space by putting up sosome tape likeke is done officially in the londonon underground. ththe mta refuses to do that post ever since then, i've had peoplele riding nearar me withot masks. ththere's realally no enforceme. the possibility of traransmissin if there's another flareup is serious. with respepect to the shut downi think they are doing some cleaning but the fact is there running trains as normal, just without people on them. with respect to -- the homeless are an issue. i am a strong advocate for the homeless. we demanded a plan where the system was s shut down for a wek or two in the homeless would be given hotel rooms.

get the services they need. which really the worst of all worlds with respect to this because they can't to the type of cleaning they need while t trains keep running. the homeless are pushed out into the neighborhoods at the end of the line and then come back in without beingng given the real services they need. amy: seth, tnknk you foror being wiwi us, subwaway operator with new york city trtransit for 14 years, and a shop steward with trtransit workers unioion local0 and a member of a small coalition of transnsit workekers called local 100 fightback. we will continue to monitor the situation as the lockdown lifts very slowly here in new york city. and speaking of unhoused people comeme after break, we will go o minneapolis we will find out abouout a sheridan hotel where close to 200 unhoused peoplee haveve gone in thehe last, well0 dadays. whwhat is hahappening to them t. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the ququarante report. goodman with juan gonzalez. wewe go now to minneapolisis, we more than 200 unhoused people

are facing imminent eviction from a sheraton hotel that community organizers turned into a sanctuary for homeless people amid citywide protests against the police killing of george floyd. as parts of the city erupted into flames and thousands took to the streets in protest, i now's people seeking refuge first moved off the streets and into the largely vacant hotel on may 29. the hotel's occupancy grew to more than 200 with a group of volunteers and organizers working around the clock to keep the operation running. the sheraton is just one mile from where george floyd was killed by minneapolis police more than two weeks ago. the hotel has provided shelter for a homeless population hit not just by citywide unrest but also the coronavirus, which particularly threatens the unhoused. but now the former sheraton's owner is threatening to evict all 200 people from the hotel today. as the situation unfolds, we go to that sheraton in minneapolils where we're j joined by two

-- joined by rosemary fister a , public health nurse, outreach and community organizer. when we booked this segment, we were just going to talk about this amazing place being run by the unhoused and the organizers like you, rose marie, but now as we go to air, we hear you are being evevicted. talk about what you have created over these last 10 days >> thank you, amymy. 10 dayays ago, this spspace oped up to provide housing to peoeope who were displaced and unsheltetered usising hotels for ing.gency house there been emergency space inn this unity for years. wase uprising in minneapolis

an acutely danangerous situation for pepeople who work unshelter. we were able to provide housing to people to get through some of the scariest days that we hahave seen in the city. peopople came in from the strees having been shotot at. people came in from the streets being chaseded. people came in from the streets talking about the kkk visiting their campsite. and today, it is clear that our time at this helel is ovever. we were able to open the door to a space, we were ablele to have people - -- help people througha crisis. we opened the door and demonstrated some possibilities. this is the time for the e city, for the state, for the county, for the nonprofit, for the philanthropists to step in. we demonstrated the clear n nee. we houoused well over 20200 peo. as of this morning, 427 people on the waitlist. at only with t the owner threatening withth the yesterda,

butt also an emergency this morning that is still unfolding and i can't realally speakak tot right now. we're still trying to find out what is happining but it is very clear right now the space we have created for the last 10 option.no longer an there e is nowhere for p peopleo go. many of the homeless who are e in the hotel w were in ann encampmpment near the e minneaps police precinct that ended up being burned down as a result duringng t the protests. can yoyou talk about -- what did the hotel owner do initially? did he just walk away from the hotel? what happened? tatalk about thee interaction between the owner and ththe peoe who are there now. interestingt is ann and ever-changing relationshihi.

we h had a m massive incncreasen cities.ness in the e twin ththere is no room in the shelters. wewe called every night to see f there are shelelter beds and t y are generally gone by 9:00 in the morning. this has been a crisis.s. this has been a a field choice. we had no other choice than to try to find some ways while the curfew was descending in the national guard was invading our city. there was nowhere for people to go. we turn to a space that we identified as an space that was in the neighborhood that we could use. we informed the owner we're going to be staying there. himegotiated and persuaded with a crowd in the lobby and let him m know what we were goig to be doing. he initially was very gracious. wewe went from 20 rooms for 40 rooms to 90 rooms diving mamastr keys t to allll36 rooms i in the hotel.

it was a very interesting kind of dynamic. we later learned given operating without a licensese, working wih the hotel workers union unite herere and understanding more of the dynamics behehd the issues -- behind that situation. he had some significant other history y that we are still tryg to find out how to address. he started threatening us with .viction, telling us yesterday issues with the hotel keys being deactivated. people getting locked out of their rooms. really, just creating a sense of uncertainty, procure already, and chaos that we were trying so hard to provide sanctuary to. juan: i w would ask you becausee only have about a minute leleft, but if f you could talk about te connecection to george floyd, ,o many of the residents inin the hotel.l. he actually worked for a time in

one of the city's major homeless shelteters and m many of the residents knew him.. can n you talk about t that as ? >> yeah. george floyd was a shelter worker. he worked at the larger shelter in town for about three years.. a number of the people that were staying in the sheraton or the former sheraton knew him. george floyd is the person thaht gave u us the power mamake these opportunitities happen. we have an obligation to create the world we want to live in. we have seen it is a possibility. it took runnnning down a police station to cononvince the county we needed open up -- and it ststill wasn't enough. it is clear people have nowhehee to go. it i is the crisis is much largr than anynything that has b been measureded. and right now we are at a crisis point.t. we're calling upon the state, the county, the city, the nonprofits, the entire system to step in. these people have nowhere to go

now. this is a dangerous situatioion. it has been a dangerous situation. people are dying much younger than they should be. they are already facing infectious diseases part of the covid-19 pandemic. they are already facing epidemic overdose deaths. with national racial disparity. are --e who amy: we have to go but it people want to find out more about what is hapappening there, , is o website you can send people e t? >> the website is sanctuaryhotel.org. updatesl be posting some there later today. amy: think is so much, rosemary fister, community organizer who has worked for many years in minneapolis with peoplple experiencing homelessness. we will keep people upupdated. will they be evicted from this former sheraton hotel or will

there be some kind of compromise reached? i want to thank you all to making democracy now! happen today. so many working from home to protect against community spread. 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 de

♪ hello. a very warm welcome to nhk "newsline." we begin in hong kong where pro-democracy rallies were held to mark one year since mass protest. aside from a gap from the coronavirus, the demonstrations have continued