amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we are here to discuss the exciting progress we have achieved. our historic initiative to develop tests, manufacture and deliver a vaccine in record timime, and that is whwhat it is, in n record time. amy: as the world's biggest phase three clinical trial of a covid-19 vaccine study begigins in the ununited states, we will speak to a bbc science reporter who took part in a vaccine study y at

oxfoford and look at who is profiting from the race to velop a vaccine. then we go to texas, to look at how hundreds of people who came tthe uniteded states seekingsylum were secretly held in hotelels for days on end before beingng exlled from the cotry. we have children and other asylum-seekers in here, with no paper trail. this is a black box of information. if we cannot get their infoformation, they will be expelled from this country, back into violence. amy: all that and more, comingng up. welcome toto democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war -- the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. senate republicacans and the white house have agreed on a planan to slash unemployment benefits for the tens of millions of workers who have lost their jobs since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. for the past four months, unemployed workers have received an additional $600 per week, but republicans

want to reduce that to j just $200. many economists fear the cut could lead to a spike in evictions and a rise in hunger. this comes as the reported u.s. deathth toll from covid-19 tops 148,000. presidenent trump's national security adviser, robert o'brbrien, has become e the highest ranking u.s. government official to test positive. o'brien abruptly left the white house on thursday, but his staff reportedly only learned why from media reports on monday. it is unclear when o'brien was last with president trump. in related news, the world's biggest phase three e clinical trial ofof a covid-19 vaccine study began in the united states on monday. the vaccine was developed by the biotech firm moderna and the national institute of allergy and infectious diseaseses. 30,000 p people are expected to participatete in the trial. on the same day, trump traveled to north carolina to visit a fujifilm facility working on a covid-19 vaccine and pushed states to

reopen, despite the recent surge in cases. >> i believe a lot of the governors should be opening up states. ththey are n not opening, and we will see w what is h happening with that. a lot of it has to d do with the fact thahat therapeutically, you will have some great answers. amy: the university of notre dame has announced it willll not host the f first prpresidential debate on september 29 dueue to thee pandemicic. the dedebate will now tatake place atat case wewestern reserve university in clcleveland, ohio. it i is cosponsored by the cleveland clinic. this comes as schools across the country are deciding whether to resume in person classes. in florida, over 300 children have been hospitalized from covid-19. the number has increased by 23% over the previous week. meanwhile in california, the covid-19 death toll at san quentin state prison has reached 19. in other coronavirus news, former presidential candidate herman cain

remains hospitalized. he tested positive in early july after not wearing a mask at president trump's indoor rally in tulsa,a, oklalahoma. the former residentntial candndidate is i in his seventh -- presidentntial candidadate is in his 70's. the global covid-19 death toll has topped 654,000. on monday, the world health organization declared the outbreak the most severe global health emergency the w.h.o. has ever faced. >> this is the sixth time in global health emergency has been declared under thehe internationanal health gulations,s, but it is easily the most severe. in the past six weeks, the total number of cases has roughly doubled. news,nternational vietnam is shutting down its third-largest city after residents tested positive,

the first confirmed covid-19 cases in vietnam since april. bloomberg's report of the new numbers are going faster in i india than anywywhere else in the wororld. india already has the world'd's third most cases behind the u.s. and brazil. in brazil, a coalition of workers have filed a complaint with the international criminal court, accusing brazil's president of committing a crime against humanity by respsponding to the pandemic with contempt, neglect and denial. on monday, the president removed his mask while greeting supporters just days after announcing he no longer had covovid-19. he tested positive three times, and then negative. attorney general william barr i is testifying before the house judiciary committeee today on a range of issues including president trump's the planet of federal agents to the city of portland. he calls the protests and assault on the government of the united s states, accccording

to his prerepared remamarks. this c comes as trump p is repoportedly planning to send more federal agents to portland, it could include an additional 50 customs and border protection officers. meanwhile the national guard has been appearing -- a national guardsmen is appearing before a committee or he will testify that the violent june 1 crackdown on demonstrators near the white house which was ordered by attorney general barr was a quote, unprovoked escalation, and that protesters were quote, engaged in the peacefeful expresession of their first amendment righ.. invalided news,s, the electronic frontier foundation obtained -- using ahowing downtotown businesess district's cacamera network.. the body of the late civil rights icon, 17 term georgia

congress member john lewis arrived at the u.s. capitol monday where he became the first black lawmaker to lie in state in the rotunda. former colleagues including house speaker nancy pelosi, democratic presidential candidate joe biden took part in honoring lewis's legacy. a motorcade stopped at the martin luther king jr. and abraham lincoln memorials in the newly established black lives matter plaza, which lewis visited before his death, before the procession made its way to the capital. notably absent from yesterday ceremony was president trump. a reporter asked him if he planned on paying his respects to congress member lewis. >> i won't be going. no. amy: i won't be going, he said. trump did not publicly acknowledge congress member lewis's death until 12 hours after his death. he tweeted saddened to hear

the news of civil rights hero john lewis passing. the lamia and i send our prayers to he and his family melania andia -- i send o our prayers to he and his family. signed whenn the delegates reads quote, this country is currently in the throes of a catastrophic public health crisis. millions of americans have lost their health care insurance because of job losses. this crisis has highlhlighted the need to separate health care from employment. in other news from the dnc, platform committee members overwhelmingly voted against proposed language that would oppose illegal israeli settlements in the west bank and support conditioning u.s. aid if israel moves ahead with annexation plans. in sacramento,o, california, immigration rights activists protested outside the mansion of governor gavin newsom monday, to demand

mass clemency and the immediate release of people in state prisons and immigration prisons. protesters chained themselves to the gate of the governor's home. this is lisa knox, an attorney with centro legal de la raza. >> we are here today to demand that gavin newsom free them all. amy: 14 undocumented activists and immigration attorneys were arrested at the actionon, and releasased earlrly this morning. in malaysia, former prime minister najib razak, has been found guilty on seven charges of graft and sentenced to 12 years in jail. the charges stem from the multi-billion dollar looting of the government's investment fund. najib faces a total of 42 charges in five separate trials. last week, goldman sachs reached a nearly $4 billion settlement with the current malaysian government over its role in the corruption scandal. goldman sachs raised $6.5 billion for the fund, which was routinely looted by

government officials, people working for the fund, and two senior gololdman bankers. in britain, a trial is under way over the 2015 mariana dam collapse in minas gerais , brazil which killed 19 people and destroyed nearby villages as mudflow with millions of tons of toxic mining waste blanketed nearby villages. the samarco mine was owned by brazilian company vale and anglo-australian multinational bhp, which is being sued by over 200,000 brazilians, local governments, and organizations, including indigenous tribes, whose lands were decimated by the disasterer. this is guarani indidigenous chief kara'i peru. >> what t we had, they took everything. they finished it off. hohow are e we going too survive with this polluted river? they have already told us. amy: in sports news, major league baseball has postponed three miami

marlins games after at least 12 players and two coaches with the team tested positive for the coronavirus. the news came just 4 days into the new season, which was shortened, with games played in empty ballparks, due to the pandemic. the team is now quarantining in philadelphia, where they had just played. the development also forced the philadelphia phillies to postpone their home game last night with the new york yankees. in other baseball news, the tampa bay rays tweeted friday, today is opening day, which means it's a great day to arrest the killers of breonna taylor. the mlb team also committed to donating $100,000 annually to local racial justice groups. meanwhile, the nfl announced monday it is canceling its preseason, and the new york times has revealed president trump lied last week when he announced he was scheduled to throw out the first pitch on august 15 at yankee stadium. he was never invited. trump made the announcement shortly before dr. anthony fauci threw out the first pitch at the yankees-nationals game in washington. over the weekend, trump announunced he didn't have time to go to yankee

stadium. in environmentntal news, deutsche bank is the latest major financial institution to say it will stop funding arcticic drilling projecects. thisis com a as siberiaa cocontinues to b battle wildfires and record high temperatures, spurred by greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. a a new investigatioion by the public accccountability initiative reveals major polluters and financial institutions are also funding powerful police groups across the u.s. the companies include chchevron, shell and wells fargo, which pour money into police fououndations in cities including seattle, chicago, washington, new orleans and salt lake city. carroll muffett of the center for international environmental law said, this report sheds a harsh light on the ways police violence and systemic racism intersect with the climate crisis. and those are some of f the headlines.s. this is dedemocracy now!, democracynow.org, the war -- the quarantine report. i'm m amy goodman. gonzalez is

sheltering at home in new jersey. after months of denial, president donald trump made his second ever public appearance w wearing a mask inin north carolina monday, where he said a coronavirus vaccine could be available by the end of the year. he made the comments while touring a fujifilm plant that has been repurposed to make vaccines. >> we are here today to discuss the exciting progress we have achieved under the operation warp speed. our historic initiative to develop tests, manufacture and deliver a vaccine in record time, and that is what it is, record time. therapeutically, we are very advanced. you are hearing about it and yoyou will be hearing about it a lot more in the next two weeks. amy: president trump did not wear a mask during his news conference and overnight he tweeted to his followers, i

know you people want to talk about a mask. hello, you don't need a mask. the first t major covid-19 vaccine ststudy launched in ththe u.s. monday.y. inin a collaboration between the drug maker moderna and the national institutes s of hehealth, 30,000 people will join a clininical trial this summer to determine the vaccine's safety a and effefectiveness. top expert and t the director of the n national ininstitute of allergy and infectious diseases, dr. anthony fauci said results from the late-stage study could be available as early as november. the company pfizer also launched a late-stage study monday that will involve 30,000 people from the u.s., argentina, brazil and germany. this all comes a as a vaccinee being g developed by oxforord university has triggered an immune response. for more, we go to london, where we're joined by a science journalist who participated in oxford's vaccine trial. richard fisher is a senior journalist at bbc future.

-- hete about called wrote about his experience in a piece t titled coronavirus, what i leararnt in oxford's vaccccine triaial. bealk about why y you would injected. >> it was a personal decision and a journalistic one. i wanted to do something and help the collective effort. i have b been relativevely fortunate in this pandemic in the sense that i am not a frontline worker, i don't work in a shop. my level of risk is very low, compared to many others. help an opportunityty to . is aecond reason journalistic c curiosity.

i reportrt and write about clinical trials and how science works from the outside but i have never actually been part of it in any sort of method journalism kind of way. i wanted to see what it was like inside. juanan: could you take us through some of the process, once you started the trial? this is an unusual situation, even before the trial is completed, we are finding countries like brazil announcing they are putting down $287 million for initial doses of the vaccine.e. the actual experiencnce with the oorord trial has been excellent s so far. the way it works is you sign up on the website, fifill out a q questionnaire aboutut medical history, a and then you go o to an inititial

screenining importrtant -- screening appointment. the hospital for daughter was born, i have been there many times, and it was repupurposed and set aside f for the vainine tria. the hospital experience is certainly different when you go for a trialal. everyone is wearing masks and there was a strong smell of bleach. through --ou they want to inform you and make sure you know everything about the trial. they explain the science and the possible side effects. they also talk about w what you would be able to do, what you will be able to do. i can't give blood for the next year. if i was a woman,, i would be asked to use contraception. it is -- they are very careful to make sure you

have full knowleledge of what is going on and potential side effects, mild or severe. it is a very thorough process. the following week, in my case, i went and had -- i don'n't know whether i actually have the experimental vaccine. it is a a 50-50 chance. in the oxford trial, there are 10,000 of us split into two o groups. half will get the experimental vaccine being developedd at oxoxford univiversity. the otheher half will get an experimentalal vacaccine being dedeveloped d from an agenda's -- for meningitis. juan: how long was the process of the actual trial, before the per luminary results were announced? -- before the preliliminary

results were announced? >> the preliminary resultsts were based on the inititial thousand peoeople in an earlier phase ofof the trialal. doa a clinical trial, we very different stages. the vaccine is tested with animals first so e basic safety is understood, and then a small trial. anduggested promisingly there were no severe safety problems and there was an immune response generateded. that is very promising. what needs to be done now is expanding out into phase two and phase three. this is about testing safety and efficacy of scale. in order to have the confidence to delivever a vaccine to an entire country, the entire world,

you need to test a large-scalale. you need a l lot of people, in a lot of different to experience the virirus in different ways. only thehen can n you get thee confidence over time. you could see very rare side effects and a large group of people and whether or not it actually works. this is the long haul of developing a vaccine. it is often thought you can just throw money at a prproblem and get a vaccine quicker. it is true we are accelerating development at the moment. but thehere needs to be patience because only time will tell if the vaccine works at scale. it is a challengege for the regulators. at some point down the track, a regulator is going

to have to say this is ok, we can roll this out. everyone i in the worlrld needs the vaccine. there is huge social pressure on these scientists. it is a heavavy burden to carry. many of the scientists wewere working in different fields before the pandemic. now they have the expectation and hopes of the people around ththe world on their shoulders. amy: i want to ask about your thoughts on president trump going to north carolina yesterday, and before the big name of pushing g for a vaccine, which is called operation warp speed, he talked about the various vaccine programs. but then last night, he tweeted you don't need to wear a mask, as if going for

a vaccine in the months to come means that -- and as he said yesterday, states should be reopening, schools should be reopening, for this promise in the future. your brother is a doctor in the intensive care unit where you are. can you talk about the connection between these two things and if you could respond to a poll by the associated press thahat foundnd that h half of a americans say they would get a covid 19 but 30% said they weren't sure and another one in five said they would refuse to get a vaccine. maybe part of their concern is thiswarp speeded, unsafe? there is a lot to unpack. those statistics about people refusing vaccines, it is boring.

-- it is worrying. i think the safety of the vaccines is being tested in many people. worry if people based on down concerns they may have read on social media. i would suggest going to authoritative sources, reading journals or science magazines. this will tell you about how the vaccine does work and what the process is. the question of wearing masks. this has been hotly debated in the u.k. as well. that just the case masks have become compulsory inside shops. the science suggests that wearing a mask reduces your risk. it cannot keep you safe.

there is no such thing as being totally safe, but it is about reduction of risk. ifif something reducuces your risk a little bit andnd reduces the risksk of the pepeople around you, , i think it is worth h doing. it seems a very easy thing to do. i don't mind wearing a mask. as for the vaccinene, we are still a way off. it is coming, but the typical timeline for vaccicine developmenent is m measured in years, n not months. i was surprised to hear the anthony fafauci suggest ththe vaccine might come in november. much faster than i would expect but he is much more qualilified than me. this disease will be around for a long time. it is also the case that we should not hold out hope ththat the first vaccine willl be whahat is called a sterilizing vaccine. many people think a vaccine

to something that will just wipe it out, and that you won't catch the disease, but preliminary evidencnce suggests it may take more than one vaccine. people could still pass it on, and that is something that would allowow the disease to spread to those who haven't gotten it or cannot have a v vaccine because there vulnerable for other reasons. amy: twitterer has removed a twtweet that was retweetedd by president trump that falsely said there is a cure for coronavirus. he retweeted a tweet that said covid has a cure, america wake up. before we go, i wanted to ask you, you spent a year here with a fellowship. i am looking at the prospect of governments focused on short-termism. can you make the connection

between attitudes like these and denial of the crime -- of the climate crisis? >> it is d definitely the case that there is embedded i in the structuture of popolitical systems and any politician, any kind of party that the --entives are there rather than things that would benefit society five or 10 years down the track. it has been embedded no democracy for many years. the question is how can wewe incentivize politicians to do things that benefit the next generation? somethingthey do they won't get the credit for? that is a challenge of politics. we have to t think about how our decisions and our

politicians make decisions that a affect each generation, but it is a tough problem. i think it is p particularlyy acute, because when you have politicians doing thingsgs that only speak to theirir base, that leads to short-termism over long-term benefits to society. amy: richard fisher, we e want to thank you for being with us.. senior journalisist at bbc futurere and a volunteer in the covid-19 vaccine trial at oxford university. we will link to your piece coronavirus, what i learnt , in oxford's vaccine trial. he doesn't know if he got the vaccine or a plalacebo. when we come back, we look at the governmentt program pumping millions of dollars into vaccine develop and. who is profiting? stay with us. ♪

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amy: performing amazining grace yesterday in ththe capitol rotunda for thehe late congressman -- for the late lawmaker, johnhn lewis. the firsrsafrican-amamerican lawmaker whose bodody is laying i in state in the capitol rotunda. this is democracy now! the quarantine report. i am amy gdman with juan gonzalez operation warp speed at's the na o of th governntnt proam p pumng biions o odollars into vaccine vevelopmt and resesear, but t o is profiting? t turn w to looat t the nearar $$6 bilon the u.s. governme h has iesteted to coronaviruvavaccin, teing and eatmtmen the trump ainistration has poured me -- hasoured moneynto six ograms. month, thes trump administration gave $1.6 billion to a small company which has never brought a vaccine to market and it's more than 30 year history. this comes a as the new york timemes reports corporate

insiders are profiting off of the rush to make a vaccine. they reporort insiders frorom at least 11 c companies, , most of themmallller firms w whose fortunes often hinge on the success oror failure o of a single drug, have sold shares worth well over $1 billion since march, for more, we are joined by peter maybarduk. he is the director of public citizen's access to medicines program which released a database that tracks the billions of taxpayer dollars supporting covid tests, treatments and vaccines. welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. layout who is getting this money. -- lay out who is getting this money. billions and billions of taxpayerer dollars going where? know how they are proving their papath to success because there is a striking lack of transparency in the collection process the biomedical advanced research and dedevelopment auththority,

is giving hundreds of millllions off dollars too former s sickle cororporations to advance vaccine development and also manufacturing. in many cases, t these arere vaccine candidates that are already built on taxpayer-funded science. the national institutes of health owns oror claims patent on some e of the technologogies. the public has been investing in some of ththese technologies for a a long time but today, we see executives and hededge funds making tremendous paydays just by announcing snippets of positive news, even though there candidates may tururn out to not be successful. jujuan: i wanted toto ask, because this is not just happening in the united statates. it is s in the european union, china, india, brazil. we have seseen huge e sums invested into what is essentially the california gold r rush for the pharmamaceutical indusy.y.

untold wealth awaits thohose who produce these initial vaccines, and yet there is so little transparency as to who is getting this, and how the dedecisions are being made. >> we don't hahave the contracts. heheavily reredacted contracts obtbtained byere itrououp last month, but is hard to tetell whether any significant condnditions arere being a attached to the hundreds of millions of dollars taxpayers are givingng out. inwant to be investing vavaccine research and development, but it is important that there are conditions attached, including affordability and reasonable pricing, regarding plans to get scale in supply and for plans to transfer technology so we can teach the world how to make this vaccine and avoid severe rationing. there is much more to know, but what is clear right now

is that t stock options are increasing five and sixfold for the executives in these firms, even as they exaggerate their role in operation warp speed. peteran youou talk, about the company nova-vax. barda, the biomemedicall advanced research and dedevelopment authority was the single largest award, $1.6 billilion too nova-vax,, ththe littlele-known maryland firm that has not developed a susuccessful vaccine i in 30 yearars. $1.6o they get billion?n? >> we don't know is the short answer. we donon't know too much more about them than what you said. indicates how little transparency there is in this process.

we do know that there stock options for executives jumped f from $20 mimillion to $100 millilion with their close association with warp speed but in terms of the science a and production, w we knknow very little. juan: this whole issue of executives being able to drugin, even before a is proven effective, or a vaccine is proven effective and comes to market, is restrainny w to this kind of activity, especially giviven in international emergency like this -- given an international emergency like this? >> we certainly should b be demanding a great dedeal more transparency in n the didisclosures thatat are made.

vacaccines are comes from a company and we have petitioned that he disclose conflict ofl interest but we were shut down b by the inspector general. we are concerned about t the addidict -- about the conditions of affordability and supply that come out of this because no corpoporation manufacturing at scale -- manufafacturers at scale to supply the entire world. we could encounter a m massiveve vaccine -- global vaccinee aparartheid. there is reticence among our leaders to order corporations to transfer their technology to imposose any condititions whatsoever on top of these grants, despite the fact that all the leading c candidates that a are being considered d for operation warp speed are benefiting not just t from the

grgrants but from early-stage researchch by federal scientists, taxpayer-funded studies that led to the development of the technology being used to develop the vaccine today. we have already invested in these vaccines, we should have the right to attach certainonditions and ma sure e everybody can access safe and effective vaccines. amy: let's talk aboutut how investstors are b benefiting from the billions of d dollars going to thehese drug compananies. for example, the new york a smallports after company was chosen, stock options for insiders swoword, a hedge e fund the controls ththe company immediatelyy gaineded $200 million of profits. >> that's right. i isu said, t the problem the executives and h hedge funds are feediding on

people's hope and desperation, and it takes only a bit of f positive newss to send stocks soaring or little of negative news to send them plummeting.

within the administration as to who gets funded, or who gets government support? >> the vacaccines ---- was on the board of moderna, but we don't really know. they trump administration is built on a number of pharmaceutical executives that have played key roles. former advisor -- in the white house came from gilead working as a lobbybyist. this background certainly has s informed the traumuma admistrationon in thisis area and its extrememe defererence to corporatate interests in operation warprp speed and elsewhere.e. potential problems we sesee, it is apprpropriate to be investining great sums of money right now, in an effort and putting money, investing moneney, recognizing that some vaccines are not

going to work out. ththey have to spepend that momoney in order to develop a safe and effective vaccine as quickly as possible. however, we should be able to ask for certain coconditions and we e are very concerned about what happens whwhen a vacaccine comes onlini, whwhen there is simply not enough vaccine capacity. --: finally, peter, essentntially says to prpresident trump, shut it down, start over, do it right. what are y you dememanding?? thahat the demanding trump p administration impose -- first they need to publish the contracts. we need to see what is being done witith the billions in taxpayer dollarsrs being spentnt in these vaccine contracts.. we need toto see technology w we need to orderr compananies to disclose their confidential information, to license theieir patenents so other manufacturers can also mamake thosese samee vaccines.s. if w we don't teach ththe world how to make vaccines, there will be a global vaccine apartheid, and serious rationing. greatlay will cause setbacks and cost people's lives and cost popolitical stabilitity. we have to be willing toto order corporations to do what is necessary to scale up supply, and that means

not basing the vaccine market on monopolies, or sisimply entrusting any corporation withth hundreds of millionsns of our r dollars to go do the right ththing, but making it a nationonal proroject technology, publish the d data so w we can study safety and efficacy and so on. amy: should patents be forbidden? >> they should bee l licensed, not monopolized. everything should be licensed. amy: that letter frorom the health professionals is more broad, beyond vaccines, telling the u.s. government to shut it down, to go back to a national strategy for dealining with the coronavirus pandemicic. pepeter maybarduk, i want to say thank you.

-- when we come back, we will people who of the went to a local hototel in mcallen texas -- in mcallen, texas and some children being held there, immigrant children. what has happened to them? the state being hit not only by the pandemic but a hurricane. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! the quarantine report. i am amy goodman w with juan gonzalez. under a shshocking new trump administration policicy, hundrereds of people who camee

to the united statates seeking asylylum were secretly held in hotels for days on end before being expelled from the country, often with little ono paper trail. between april l and the end of ju, more than 200 unaccompanied immigrant chilen, inclcluding babies and tolers werere held in hotels a and then removed. a private cocontractor for immigration and customs enforcent or ice took the children to three mpton inn hotels in n arizona and near the texas-mexicoo border. ice paidvm incorporated to transport and monir r the children, the same company that previously y held separarated immigrant t children in squalid conditions in empty office buildings. as hurricane hanna threatened south texas t this weekenend, many chilildren held at the hotel were moved to different locations, though it is not clear where. last night, the aclu and the texas civil rights project and their co-counsel successfully sued to stop the expulsion of 17 people detained in the hampton inn hotel. officials agreed instead to transfer them to the custody of orr, the office of

refugee resettlement. where they were supposed to be held. all of this comes after members of the texas civil rights project went to the hampton inn hotel in mcallen last week and attempted to offer legal help to people detained there. in this video, you can see and hear attorney andrew udelsman as he is getting off an elevator on the 4th floor and is confronted by men who refuse to identify themselves. >> you can't be here. >> can i see your badges? [speaking spanish] >> if you are detained, give me your name. >> get out of here. >> who are you? are you police? >> get out. get out. get out now. >> are you police? >> don't worry about who we are. amy: an attorney with the

texas civil rights project yelling, are you being detained, yell youour name to me. r more we e go to mcallen where we're joined byby senen highmemez perez,z, advocacy direrector for the texas c civil rirightsrojeject and part t of the e team that uncovevered this new trump administration policy. it is great to have you back with us. you are right there in the hohotel. can you u explain how yoyou learnened ice was secretly holding childldn like this? >> part of what we e are seseeing with thee video w was anandy stepping f forward and basically takaking abuse by these unnamed guauards. for many weeks now since the cdc ordered thahat effectivively the trump administration needs toto end asylulum, we know folks s coming intththe borderr to legally s seek asylum including unacaccompanied childrdren, that i instead of going ththrough the procece

that i is spelled-out byaw, the trump adadministration has been basicically e expelling them without due prorocess and without any paper trail and violating due prprocess. fofor the lastst couple ofof week we haveve knownwn that the number of childrdren under the custodyyf the fefederal government a and the office of refugee e resettlement hasas decrcreased over thehe course of the p pandemic.c. in june we filed a lawsuit on balf of o one of th chilildren that wa expelled, and through her experience and working with her, we came to find o out that she and t that h hotel is what set u up, foror us a period o of investigation, like what do you meaean you were in a hotel if you were an unanaccompapanied child? after a couple weeksks of investstigation and workingg wiwith the associated press, which broke the story, we were actually able to hamptononat the

hotell in tetexas was being used to house in detatained indidividuals, includingng unaccompanied children but also other asylum-seekerers, cluding otother family units before they were expelled from the country. it is important to n note the distinctctn betweenn expulsion versus dedeportation. under deportation, which is a legal process, there is aa paper r trail. there is a way for u us to track what i is going on and try y to do some legal intetervention. under expulsion, what is happening iss the administration is basicacally apprehendingng people, holding them at blblack sites like this hampton inn or other hotels across the country or moving to otr governrnment prisons, before e they are just summarily expelled and disappeared from the country and it becomes impossible for groups like us or other immigration attorneys or human rights advocates to even find individuals to try and start some sort of legal process on their behalf. wen:: i wanted to ask,

ofoften hear t the united ststas talk of the black belt south, those porortions of the united states that are still ovoverwhelmingly african-amererican. the area o of mcallen is ththe brown belt of the united states, where counties and cities are 80, -- 80%90% latitino. what is your understanding of what local officials knknowif anythining about whwhat is going onn w with the federal agencies?? >> once everything became viral on thursday, we quickly found outhat thehe city of mcallen dididn't h have any knowledgdge of whahat was goining on at the hampton inn. this is part of thehe wider picturure. the thinings we arere seeing in poportland, where dhs agents and, border agents, portland is not on the border,r, they are disappearing folks, protesters.

the thing happenining in the rio grgrandealley y and arizononis that the heaeavy militarizatition becse of dhs last 20 years hasas already been expxperienced by the community y for decadedes. peper militarizatation, unaccountable federal agents ththat are basically shootinin indidividuals with impupunity. there have been numerous and bordederce patrol d detentionon facilities. boborder wall construcuction is ramping upup in thmiddddle off a pandemic and t there has been this kind of hyper militarization on brown commununities at thehe borde for decades and decadades. what w we saw on thursday wawas alalso an outcrorop of thahat. sometethingfinitely being imposed d under thee titional suritity apparatus with no regard to t the communitieies that have actually been herere in live here, and have been undergoing this militarization for decades. amy: i wanted to get your response to the hilton cocompany which owns hampton

inn. ey said our policy hasas always been that hotels should notot be used as detention centerers or for detaining individuals. expect t all hilton properties to reject business t that wod use the hotel in a -- in this way. what are you demananding of them?? >> on n friday, we had that statement from the hilton company, but we e also saw that they were no longer detaing individua that hampton inn hotel. when we went on saturday, we definitely found famils that were waving at us from the window. we definitelely knew. on monday y we saw the hililton company update their statement to c clarify wt was actutually going on. we know w that ts sort of backck and forth is happeningg and that there is definitely accoununtabili t that thee hionon company neeeeds to have, because it happened under theieir noses and happened not just in t the valley but in other locatitis.

definitetely thehere is some accoununtability that needs to haen. the wideroint is s that these black sites being operated by dhs, , whether they are a at a hilton, ritz-carlton or even one of the government prisonsns that we already havave a network of alalong the border, the wideder picture is there is no oversight, no accountntability to what is goingn. we could havee families and otother detained folks i in our commities,s, and they would be no waway for us to find out unless we do a big investigation like we just did, to uncover one site. if this is what it takes to uncover one location and try to stop the leak -- stop the illegal expulsion of individuals. we know they were more than 17, so we are still actively looking for those individuals who removed this weekend under the cover of a hurricane. this is all happening with no oversight. we can only imagine what other black sisites and other

secrecy is being opeperated by dhdhs along g the b border. amamy: you arere calling for a cocongressional veststigation, so you don't have to imagine? >> exactly. we neeeed people t to start askiking queions,, like hohominy people haveve been expepelled, how many unaccompmpanied minors, whehe are these locations and whwhy isn't there access totoegal counseat these areas? -- we can'tartrt inintervene e on behalf of individuduals leless we ow thfull picture.. unfortunately right now, the adadministration has b been using the covivid panandemic to create a cloud of secrecycy over t there asylum p pcess and illegal asylylum policies at t the border. we really need to shine a light on that. amy: you mentioned the hurricane. we want to stay at the texas-mexico border, to lolook at what has happened to asylum-seekers in the mexican city just across from brownsville, texas, one of the largest refugee camps

that houses more than 1000 asylum-seekers, including newborns and elderly people, told to evacuate overnight when the river next to it started to rise and flood their tents. rain from hurricane hanna has continued to devastate the area. these are people who have been waiting for months for court dates under u.s. immigration policy. joined bywe're the executive director of catholic charitiesest the rio grande valley. welcome to democracy now! can you describe what happened last night? >> we have been very concerned for the almost 2000 individuals, refugees waiting at the border. amy: keep going. >> we just want to make sure that they are safe, and together with the we are trying

to work to move them to a safer space. afraid,they are they are afraid of what is happening to them and not wanting to leave the area, we continue to monitor the river and we are prepared to move them to a safer space. juan: in terms o of how t the united states -- we are hehearing all the attention placed on the storm in the u.s., very little on the impact on mexico, right across the border. >> we see the families in mexico, on the border being affected on both sides, and there is a lot of extensive flooding on both sides.

howave already seen water is being released along the rivers, and releasing all the flooding that is happening in other cities already. so, we think this is happening also here and we are trying to do our best to assist the families and help mexican authorities that are concerned with their safety. amy: i want to turn to the honduran asylulum seeker who has been forcibly living with h his family at the encampment for a year due to trump's remaining mexico policy. spanish] >> some very difficult days and nights. the rain has passed, but it is now heading to the mountains. what are the consequences of

that? the rio grande flows from their. -- from there. there is no protection for us if the river overflows. amy: he is describing what is happening there. can you compare the u.s. response to mexico's? >> i wish the u.s. could see the danger these families are exposed to, and that they are allowed into the u.s. to be safe in an area in the u.s. so we can take care of them as they go through their asylum process, because it is not safe for them to be there. y you wrote a, piece in thehe washington post that covid-19 has come to our migrant camp. t the policicy even more urgent. explain how hard covid has hit. best toe doing our

control the spread of covid and measures are being taken .o make sure it doesn't we truly need to move them out of there and allow them to enter the country. it is the right way to do it, and i wish that happened. amy: we will link to y your piece. i want to thank you for being g withs,s, executiveve direrector of caththolic charities ofof the rioio grande theey, , and thank yoyou to advocacy director for the texas civil rights project. we will continue to follow what has happened to these disappeared children and adults. that does it for our broadcast. if you want to sign up for our democracy now! daily newsletter, you can go to democracynow.org or text the word democracynow to the number. is producedw!

with renee feltz, mike burke, deena guzder, libby rainey, nermeen shaikh, carla wills, tami woronoff, charina nadura, sam alcoff, tey marie astudillo, john hamilton, robb

natasha del toro: coming up on america reframed... if you give somebody a label of a 40 iq, right, what are our expectations of that person? mimicah: and i googled what a 40 iq is, and they, like, saidid that somebody who can't really, like, work at, like, a job, or can't, like, move from their parents' house, probably. del toro: : millions of amereris with intntellectual disabilitis are exclcluded from classrooms and the workforce.e. woman: what we're doing is fighting against segregation again, but segregation based on ability. man: the iq test measures a very limited potential of our brain to learn. it misses all the other stuff. del tororo: three young adults navigate school, work, and relationships,