01/26/21 01/26/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> essentially, restoring the situation, transgender personnel if qualified in every other way and serve government in the united states military. amy: president biden reverses

the trump administration ban on transgender people serving in the military, but trans rights are under attack in montana, the decoders, and -- dakotas, and other states. we will speak to the aclu's chase stangio. then as biden proposes a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, what should biden do about the record number of people deported while -- durin thebama years >> if he is serious about resting tothe imgration syem come cannot ju reverse dona trump's pocies. you must work to repair the harm that was done when he was vice president, when record high deportations under the obama adminiration left immigrant counities across the u.s. fractured and financially devastated. amy: then as the wealth of u.s. billionaires source by over a dollars during the pandemic, billion oxfam is warning covid-19 could lead to the biggest increase in global

inequality on record. all of that in more, coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. house impeachment managers have delivered an article of impeachment to the senate, charging donald j. trump with "incitement of insurrection." on monday evening, the nine impeachment managers walked the article through national statuary hall and the capitol rotunda to the senate, where on january 6 a violent mob incited by president trump attacked police officers, looted lawmakers' offices, and delayed the certification of joe biden's electoral college victory. the violence left five people dead. maryland congressmember jamie raskin, who will lead the prosecution against trump, read the article of impeachment to the sete.

>> donald john trump thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the united states. amy: senate president pro tem patrick leahy will preside over trump's impeachment trial, not john roberts, the supreme court's chief justice. the trial is set to begin on february 9. the justice department's inspector general has announced plans to investigate whether any current or former officials at the justice department worked with president trump in his failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election. this comes just days after "the new york times" revealed trump considered replacing acting attorney general jeffrey rosen with another doj official, jeffrey clark, who embraced trump's conspiracy theories about the election.

in related news, dominion voting systems has sued trump's lawyer rudolph giuliani for $1.3 billion, accusing the former new york mayor of manufacturing and disseminating conspiracy theories about the company's voting machines. president joe biden said monday his administration would increase its covid-19 vaccination goal from 100 million shots in the first 100 days to 150 million shots. that's enough to vaccinate 75 million people, a little less than a quarter of the u.s. population. here in new york, health officials have delayed opening covid-19 mass vaccination sites at the yankees' and mets' baseball stadiums and on staten island due to supply shortages. in california, governor gavin newsom has lifted strict stay-at-home orders put in place in december. california's coronavirus cases

are down from a massive surge over the holidays, but the state is still reporting over 25,000 new cases per day and many intensive care units are near capacity. anotr 1800 u.s. residents died of covid-19 on monday, pushing the u.s. death toll past 421,000. president biden's chief medical adviser dr. anthony fauci said monday said under president trump of efforts to slow coronavirus were devastated by anti-mask and anti-social distancing rhetoric. >> when public health issues become publicly charged like wearing a mask or not becomes a political statement, you cannot imagine how instructive that is to any unified public health message. amy: in more vaccine news, moderna said monday its covid-19 vaccine is effective at preventing disease in people infected with new variants of coronavirus. but moderna warned the vaccine appears to be less potent

against one variant, first discovered in south africa. moderna says it's working on a modified booster shot in case it's needed to combat the south african varit or other liages thamight evve furtr resistce to hun imne respoes. anwhile,rug makemerck ha abdoned rearch intcovid-19 vaccinesfter twof its candides faid to pvoke a stro immune sponse i tients eolled in clinica trl. onapitolill, senor mitch mcconnl has drped his mand that demrats prose to presve the fibuster,nding a stdoff ovea power-aring dealetween t two pares over h to run e divide chamber. mcconnelmade thennouncemt after o democrs -- west virgin's e mancn and ariza's kyrstesinema - expresd opposion to geing riof the fibuster ich has beensed overhe yearso upld slaverynd fightivil rightsegislati. esident den hasigned a

executive order repealing the trump administration's ban on transgender people serving in the military. biden also ordered the pentagon to review the files of troops who were forced out because of the ban and to immediately halt discharges of transgender troops now serving. lieutenant colonel bree fram, vice president of the transgender military advocacy group sparta, welcomed the news. >> we believed with four or eight more years of open service, looking back you will see a military without transgender people just as unconscionable as one would be without other minorities that are serving today. amy: puerto rico's governor has declared a state of emergency over gender-based violence following at least 60 incidents of femicide reported in 2020. six of the murders were of trans women. meanwhile, right-wing state lawmakers in montana, north dakota, and south dakota are pushing a number of new anti-trans bills.

we'll have more on the fight over trans rights after headlines with the aclu's chase strangio. the senate has voted to confirm janet yellen to be treasury secretary, making her the first woman to ever hold the post. during her confirmation hearing, the former federal reserve chair urged lawmakers to "act big" on the next covid-19 relief package. >> the smartest thing we can do is act big. i believe the benefits will far outweigh the costs, especially if we care about helping people who have been struggling for a very long time. amy: the senate is also expected to confirm tony blinken to be secretary of state today after he received the support of the senate foreign relations committee on monday. during his confirmation hearing, blinken backed the trump administration's hardline approach on china and venezuela, including recognizing opposition leader juan guaido as venezuela's president.

blinken also said the u.s. would move to end its support of the saudi-led war in yemen. during the obama administration, blinken traveled to saudi arabia to expedite weapons deliveries shortly after saudi arabia's war on yemen began in 2015. in yemen, tens of thousands of protesters marched in the capital sanaa monday, condemning former secretary of state mike pompeo's designation of houthi rebels as a terrorist organization. aid groups warn the designation will only exacerbate yemen's humanitarian crisis -- already the worst in the world, with millions facing famine. in ontario, canada, anti-war activists held a non-violent civil disobedience protest monday, sitting in the path of trucks carrying armored vehicles bound for saudi arabia. it was part of a global day of action against the war in yemen. this is rachel small, an organizer with the group world beyond wars. >> we are here today to mandate that canada cancel its arms

trade to saudi arabia, that companies who ships the arms, producing the tanks, we're demanding they immediately stop being complicit in arming saudi arabia and a sending weapons to the worst humanitarian situation on the planet. amy: in ethiopia, jarring witness accounts are emerging of the involvement of eritrean soldiers in the deadly conflict in the northern tigray region. survivors told the associated press eritrean soldiers looted homes and broke into houses searching for and killing tigrayan men and boys. they're also accused of targeting thousands of refugees and sexually assaulting people. thousands of eritrean soldiers have fought on the side of ethiopian armed forces in the bloody conflict that started in november. humanitarian aid workers warned earlier this month that hundreds of thousands of people in the

tigray region could starve to death as sho were depleted of food weeks ago, and nearly all of the region's population some 4.5 million people -- need emergency food aid. in climate news, a satellite survey by british researchers finds earth's ice sheet lost 28 trillion metric tons of ice between 1994 and due to global 2017 heating from human activity. that's enough to cover the state of michigan with a sheet of ice 100 meters thick. this comes as the white house is preparing to announce several executive actions wednesday meant to mitigate against the climate crisis, including a ban on some new oil and gas leases on federal land. on monday, u.s. clime ambassador john kerry told world leaders at the united nations climate adaptation summit that he is proud the u.s. had rejoined the paris climate agreement. former u.n. secretary-general ban ki-moon welcomed the news. >> this means the multilateralism that has been in

disarray and the last four years is now back. amy: the international labour organization warns wages fell by $3.7 trillion in 2020, with the coronavirus pandemic eliminating the equivalent of more than a quarter-billion full-time jobs. job losses around the world were four times worse last year than dung the global financial crisis that began in 2007. this comes as the international chamber of commerce is warning vaccine nationalism could cost the global economy $9.2 trillion if governments fail to provide poorer nations with access to covid-19 vaccines. nearly half of the losses would impact wealthier countries. we will have more on the growing economic inequality during the pandemic later in the broadcast. at least three dozen congressmembers are appealing to president biden to commute the sentences of the 50 people on federal death row. in a letter spearheaded by congressmembers cori bush and ayanna pressley, the lawmakers

write -- "the legacy president trump left behind is one of carnage and unrestrained violence that must be rectified immediately." biden vowed during his campaign to end capital punishment. congressmember pressley and senator dick durbin have also introduced a bill to ban the federal death penalty. in media news, "the new york times" is facing mounting criticism for firing editor and award-winning journalist lauren wolfe allegedly after wolfe tweeted she had "chills" while watching president biden's plane land at joint base andrews on the eve of his inauguration. "the new york times" has disputed this, saying wolfe was a freelancer and not a full-time employee and that she was not laid off over a single tweet, but the paper offered no other explanation for its decision to terminate wolfe. journalists from across the country condemned wolfe's firing. author jillian york wrote on twitter -- "the fact that tom friedman can spout absolute warmongering

nonsense about the middle east for decades but new york times fires lauren wolfe over a single tweet tells you everything you need to know about the new york times." president biden has revived efforts to place abolitionist harriet tubman on the $20 bill. the plan was announced by the obama administration in 2016 but was delayed until 2028 by the -- president trump citing technical issues. tubman would be the first black woman to be placed on u.s. currency, replacing former president andrew jackson, who enslaved over 100 people. the move was met with mixed responses as racial justice advocates a social media argued the u.s. government should prioritize economic justice for the black community. screenwriter kashana cauley tweeted -- "unfortunately, due to the black women pay gap, if we put harriet tubman on the $20 it'll only be worth $12.20." and the american library

association has awarded a caldecott medal to the children's picture book "we are water protectors," marking the first time in history indigenous people are recognized with the award. the book was illustrated by artist michaela goade and written by carole lindstrom of the turtle mountain band of ojibwe. the book tells the story of a young woman resisting the construction of the dakota access pipeline. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: president biden has signed an executive order repealing the trump administtion's ban on transgender people serving in the u.s. military. biden also ordered the pentagon to review the files of troops who were forced out because of the ban and to immediately halt

discharges of transgender troops now serving. on monday, biden spoke about the issue as he signed the executive order. pres. biden: what i am doing is enabling all qualified americans to serve their country in uniform and essentially restoring the situation were transgender personnel, qualified in every other way, can serve the government in the united states military. amy: newly sworn-in defense secretary lloyd austin expressed support for lifting the trans ban during his confirmation hearing last week. >> i've support the president's plan, the plan to overturn the ban. i truly believe, senator, as i've said in my opening statement, if you are a fit and you are qualified to serve and you can maintain the standards, should be allowed to serve. you can expect that i will

support that throughout. amy: on his firsday in office, president biden also signed an executive order to extend federal nondiscrimination protections to lgbtq people. and biden has tapped dr. rachel levine, pennsylvania's top health official, to be assistant secretary of health. levine appears poised to become the first openly transgender official to be confirmed by the u.s. senate. as lgbtq groups praise biden's actions in his first week in his office, right-wing lawmakers in montana, north dakota, south dakota, and other states are pushing a number of new anti-trans bills. on monday, the montana house passed a bill banning trans student athletes from participating in school sports and another bill to limit health care options for trans youth. meanwhile, puerto rico's governor has declared a state of

emergency over gender-based violence following at least 60 incidents fm aside reported in 2020. six of the murders were of trans women. to talk more about all of this, we're joined by chase strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the aclu's lgbt and hiv project. welcome back to democracy now! let's start off with this executive order of president biden. can you tk about the significance? >> good to be back. if you go back in time to the beginning of the trump administration, some of their very first things he did was to target transgender people. first in schools and then if we recall in july 2017, via tweet come he decided to vent open transit service in the u.s. military. so finally after years of litigation, after transit service members being in a precarious position, biden and secretary of defense yesterday

lifted the ban on open trade service, allowing any qualified individual who is transgender to continue serving in the military d directing the department of defense and the department of homeland security to implement a process whereby not only trans people can remain in the military, but can unless. also ensure trans people able to access health care while serving under the military and that anyonean have the record marking their gender updated to accurately reflect they are. this is incredibly important development. one of the most aggressive examples of discrimination against trains -- trans by the trump administration are gone. juan: those who see the military as a career, this issue of executive orders basically determining whether trans people can serve is basically -- it could go back and forth.

what are the prospects for some kind of congressional decision on this issue so that we don't have to depend on the whims or viewpoints of a particular administration? >> that is a good question. in many ways over the past eight years and more, really, we have seen because of the failure of congress to act, the power of the executive -- so much being done by executive order. i do think on it comes to the issue of open trans serve, if you recall, even under obama, there was a ban on open trade service. it did not get changed until the end of the second obama turn in 2016. after years of review. i think what we will end up saying is after four or eight years of open trade service, it will just be something that we accept as a matter of course. whether or not congress acts. the reality is, trans people have been serving in the military for decades.

are we going to let them serve openly and proudly or are we going to force them into the shadows the trump administration has done? the reality is, i do think there's going to be relatively uncontroversial er time because we already have tens of thousands of trans service members and hundreds of thousands trans verans. this is an important step in taking why some of the most explicit arms of discrimination that we have seen under the trump administration. one important thing to note, it wasn't about the military. this was announced by different secretary mattis, defense secretary at the time. really had no idea this was going to happen. this was part of a larger project to expel trans people from public life. that is the battle we are fighting against. not only the federal level, but in many ways come across the country. whether orot congress acts, i think once w have policy implementation from the federal agencies, the defense

department, department of homeland security, i do thk we will see open trans service and after eight or 10 years it will be something that we accept as a general matter. amy: i want to turn to trans activist and author dean spade who was speaking on democracy now! after the president trump banned transgender people from litary service. >> when we lose our critic of militarism and of the u.s. military and it debate, what happens in my view is trans people become a symbolic space in which to have physically pro-advocacy npr. to me for lesbians and gays and trans people, has often volunteered to that trap. only preventing the military is a great place to work that does wonderful things to protect our country, which is not i think of progressive view. andy rebrand the military at the site of liberation and progressive politics which it is finally not. one of the largest sources of violence on the planet earth.

amy: chase strangio, can you respond? >> i don't think, from my perspective, as liberatory as progressive in the same way i look at formal equality is constrained limited with part of the path towd true justice. i think we have to kee in mind while we may critique and should the larger project u.s. military , it remains the largest employer in the united states and with the band did was take away the implement benefit that people had worked decades for, their ability to support themselves and their families. this was really about taking away people's autonomy, taking away -- theirabor. while i share these larger critiques of the u.s. military comply think as we abolish a destabilize these harmful institutions that are wreaking havoc across the globe, we can't do so at the expense of the lives and well-being of

individuals -- many of whom are coerced because of the senate racism and poverty into the institutions themselves. om my perspective, this is a criticaloment in ending discrimination. valuing the labor and bodies of people who have been working incrediblyard and were relying on benefits that for better or worse, we coerce people into risk losing in many ways. as someone -- i hold a very significant critique of u.s. militarism and the defense department budget and also come from a military family. so while, yes, i don't want our military and acting balance abroad as it inherently does, when my family members deployed, i also want them to be safe. that inevitably means investing some amount of resources into a system that i despise. i think we have to hold the complexity of that truth. it is not so sime as we can allow the government ban a group of people from problematic instutions. we have to recognize we are

supporting individuals while we are fighting against systems. i think this is an important moment not only for trans service members, but for building trans just is not because the military as the side of liberation by because the discrimination by the government is an impediment to organizing and surviving of our communities. juan: chase, could you talk about the various bills that are now at the state level? the anti-trans bills, some of which are being voted on this week? >> one of the saddest things for me right now is we have this change in administration. the biden administration on day one, on the day of inauguration, relatively innocuous executive order essentially saying "i'm going to follow federal law." federal law prohibits sixers termination. -- sex discrimination, yet we have a significant backlash the notion that trans humanity is

going to be recognize. one way that is manifesting are in dozens of bills across the country that would ban trans young people from sports and criminalize health care for trans youth. at a time where we are facing epidemics of homelessness global pandemic, so many kids are learning on zoom, not able to participate in sports, we're having states take aim at the dies of ans young people and telling them not only should they be excluded from the activiti their peers are participating in, but e health care there relying like is about to become a crime. sterday i spent three hours listening to debates in montana in hearing the most horrible things about trans people directed at young people by their government. the long-term cost of the introduction of these ells alone, let alone their potential passage, is going to be felt for generations. it is truly painful toear movement that essentially at its core beliefs being trans is

wrong and should be eradicated. juan: what are the kinds of policies that you would hope the biden-harrison administration would pursue in terms of trans righ, beyond is the issue of the military? >> i think what we see, and of course the first three days are examples of just rolling back what we already thought is a backward step in the last administration -- i think what we need to see is an aggressive enforcement, first and foremost. we need the biden-harris administration to take an aggressive position to ensure trans people are fully protected under the law. it also we need to go much further than that. we know civil rights prottions on tir own are not going to protect trans people. we need aggressive action from this administration to end

deportation, to really have meaningful efforts to decry saray, to into systems of poling that disproportionally harmed our communities. to take aggressive stances against bills that criminalize sex work that make it haer for people to survive, particularly for trans people of color who are repeatedly profiled and targeted as sex workers or perceived sex workers. we need to hold this administration to account, not just to espouse notions of equality but really built out meaningful programs of justice. that will take a lot more than wh we have seen so far. although, i will say at least announcing they will enforce -- the supreme court decision, shouldave an impact on the states about to risk all of their federal funding just to target trans young people. amy: chase, can you talk about the move made by the new governor of puerto rico who has declared a state of emergency

over dinner base violence after a wave of killings targeted women and transgender people? can you talk about the significance of this? >> i think one of the greatest challenges, particularly looking at movements from a legal perspective, how do we deal with the system of violence that is affecting so many? across the u.s. and puerto rico, we are seeing so many trans women and girls murdered and so many cis women and men killed. we have systems in place that allow for violence to continue and yet the only solutions we have tend to be car several. i think having leaders, executives, and say, thiss an emergency, this is a public health emergency, this is an emergency of survival and we have to come up with solutions that are not just about sending people to prisons and jails, but about being that the roots of why people bodies are so precariously situated that it

leads to mass death. whether that is in the hands of inviduals is in the murders of puerto rico and across the world and at the hands of the government -- metaphorical hands of the government. we set people up to be victims of violence, whether that is state violence or individually perpetrated violence. i think we need more recognition of the public health crisis i violence against women ,cis, and trans, and systems that don't just rely on putting people in jail but absent look at how we can distribute resources of people are actually expressing safety and not just the illusion of safety that comes cerceral control. chase strangio, thank you for joining us deputy director for , transgender justice with the aclu's lgbt and hiv project. next up, as president biden proposes a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, what should biden do about the record

number of people deported under the obama-by news? we will speak with journalist and author jean guerrero. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. this week, immigrant rights activists launched a new campaign called #wearehome to push president biden and democratic majorities on capitol hill to create a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants. biden included the pathway to citizenship in a proposal he announced on his first day in office last week, along with six executive orde dearslihng wit immigration. politico now reports congress may break the proposal into parts. biden also ordered aause p on all u.s.-mexico border wall constructiuct

dollars of unfinished work mains under contract with the federal government. activists in over a do on u.s. cities held a daofy action sunday urging him to takeg further steps to stop the construction. meanwhile, biden's 100-day deportation pause took effect fridaynd i as facing a challenge fr tomexastt aorney general ken paxton, who argues an agreement e thtrp administraon stiigned in its final weeks with arizona, indiana, louisiana, and texas tles them to a 180-day consultation period. since trump left office last week, his former senior adviser on immigration, stephen miller, has emerged as a right-wing media personality. he went on fox news' "the ingraham angle" friday to attack biden's immigration plan. >> if you ad the text of this orr, it is mind-ggling. it holds all deportations for 100 days, including the most hardened criminals living in the

united states. that means child molesters, sex offenders, drug dealers, gang members, ms 13. all shielded from removal. this is the priority of our new president? amy: later this week, biden is expected to issue another executive order to restore ice on the protections and set up a task force to reunify families separated at the border. for more on all of this, we are joined by jean guerrero, investigative journalist who profiles miller in her book "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." she does publish any op-ed this past week and in "the new york times" that is headlined "3 million people were deported under obama. what will biden do about it?" jean guerrero, welcome back to democracy now! talk about the executive orders that biden is taking and what you want to see him do. cooks so far we have seen him reverse a lot of the actions that trump took coming in the

muslim band, reviving daca in stopping the border wall construction. in many ways, his plans go back to policies and approaches that we saw under the obama-biden administration, prioritizing series criminals for deportation and maintaining family unity. this is something that we saw obama professed he was doing. he talked about targeting felons, not families. as you mentioned under the obama administration, we saw more than three lung people deported. these are people who had families, jobs, and homes in the united states and a majority of these people were guilty of only immigration offenses. crossing the border illegally. these were not impact series criminals. if biden reverts to the policies of the obama administration, he is really ignoring the lessons of that e in which we learned

criminalizing certain immigrants are criminalizing immigration overall ends up fracturing and financially devastating immigrant communities as a whole. i argued if biden is serious about a more humane approach on immigration, what he needs is not just to reverse trump's policies and go back to obama era policies, he needs to actually repair the harm that was done when he was vice president. that is going to entail providing a pathway to reunification for a lot of these families that were fractured and separated by the mass deportations. he is promising to do this for the families that were separated at the border under trump. those operations caused a lot of outrage in america and created a sort of amnesia for what had happened under obama. i believe he needs to provide the same sort of pathway to reunification for some of these families as well as the mental health services that he i promising for the trauma that

was caused to the trump-separated families. the american psychological association says thebama mass deportations caused serious psychological harm to children. th same with the trump family separation instead. i think biden needs to reckon with that. he needs to reckon with the mistakes that were made when h was vice president. juan: jean guerrero, i want to ask you, biden says he has a plan that would establish a $4 billion program to assist a, guatemala, honduras and reducing the crime and conditions that drive people to the u.s. but evident exact method 'm pretty sure $4 billion does that even compared to the amount of money united states in real dollars gave to the central american government during the civil war's back in the 80's and military aid. do you think that is a sufficient amount to be able to

address some of the deep problems that exist that drive people to come to the united states? cls it is certainly not enough, especially if there's that accountability and transparency in how that money is spent. so far -- whenever there are conversations about providing aid to central america, there's this huge gaping hole and in the conversation coming out of washington, d.c., which is what about -- as you were saying, the military aid provided over the past few decades that contributed in a major way to the violence that is sending people north, seeking refuge in the ited state not only that, what about the fact the majority of weapons that are seized at crime scenes and other parts of latin america come from the united states? is almost no conversation currently happening about smuggling of weapons that contributes to the violence

central america. i think that is something that biden also needs to do something about. juan: in terms of this whole issue of both lot of democrats and republicans agree on that need to supposedly support those who are undocumented or even permanent residents who are felons or criminals come and you write about in your book about "no country for brown sinners" -- what about the issue of people making mistakes whether they are citizens or undocumented or permanent residency or in the united dates? >> this is very important

because over thdecades, we have had tse very violent immigration policies and this letter is asian at the border based on the ia of the that ombre. for obama, was "felons close but not families. her trunk, is going after alleged criminals and rapist, not the good people that occasionally come across. the story of the bad ombre has been weaponized over the decades, punished entire immigrant communities. i contrasting the "bad ombre" with the "good immigrant" who work initially hard and never break any rules, essentially what politicians are doing is reducing immigrantives to caricatures can be exploed and exlled from the country. i think it is very important that we be very careful about e narratives that are being used both in the media as well as by politicians. i personally come from a lineage

of so-called what would be considered "bad hombres" and my father is an immigrant from mexico who struggled with substance abuse, is the subject of my first book. for made, this is impersonal. my father is a type of nonwhite person who is devalued and dehumanized by immigration narratives and policies, whether it is trump's bed ombre's or obama's "felons not families." this is something i noticed creature booted the apathy of people in regards to obama's ss deportations, people thought, oh, these are bad guys. most of these were men and people were -- they did not have to be in the country but i spoke to a lot of these people and documented their skeletons in the border desert after they died trying to re-unite with

tilde. there only criminal was -- reunite with their children. they were looking for their families. i think biden is to be careful about the narratives he is using. right now he is falling into that same trap where he is saying, my immigration policy is about prioritizing series criminals. but what that does is sort of marries the concept of immigration wi criminality. that is something that we as a country really need to walk away from because it contributes to a lot ofheatred and the resurgence of white supremacy that i document in my book "hatemonger," or people associate people who come here whether they are refugees for asylum-seekers or immigrants to associate them with criminality. th is not the case. sarlacc likely to commit crimes than nativeborn people according to practically every study that has been done on this issue. amy: you write in your "new york

times goes put out that about how an immigrant from what obama lucia quiej, attended the democratic presidential primary debate with her five children who had not seen their father since he was deported three years earlier under obama. she asked the candidates about their position on deportations and family reunification. this is what she said. >> i want to ask a question. i have a deep pain. b and my children have a deep pain because my children's father was deported for not having a license. he was a heard workingman. what can you do to stop the deportations and reunite the families? >> i will do everything i can to unite your family, your children . >> i will do everything i can to

pass laws that would bring families back together. amy: jean guerrero, you write your op-ed "today the meaning of separated families has narrowed with vines reunification task force focused on the separated by trump. lucius family has been erased." talk more about this and what needs to be done. >> when i was reporting on these mass deportations, there really wasn't a lot of outrage in america remember wondering what it was going to take to get ericans to object to the violence of our immigration policies. we saw the outrage come about during the trump administration when we had the zero-tolerance policy and this policy of separating asylum-seekers at the u.s.-mexico border. obama separated families with jobs and homes and children in the united states. the profile of them was

different. it made me realize most americans care deeply about inhumane immigration policies, but they care mostlwhen it involves victims that they see as innocent ors exceptional. under the trump administration, it was very hard for people to perceive the families that were victims of immigration policy as bad hombres. we are seen the profile of these people, mostly people -- mothers and children coming from central america and seeking refuge of being death rates and extreme violence at home. it is this double standard that we have. the united states we are conditioned to delight in white male misbehavior in our culture. meanwhile, we are conditioned to see black or brown men as animals or monsters or thugs or invaders. this demonization of flawed

nonwhite men contrasts with our cultural fetish with white male antiheroes like american psycho or tv shows like "breaking bad." i argue in my op-ed until our narrative, national narrative of black and brown immigrants as a license to err is white men, they will be dehumanized by our institutions. stephen miller, who i profound in my book "hatemonger," grew up idolizing white antiheroes like martin scorsese's monsters. his white nationalist agea is a natural outcome of a culture that glorifies bad white man and dehumanizes brown and black men. i think that double standard is at play here when you see -- when i talk about the importance

of biden not merely reverting to ama-era policies of saying he will prioritize series criminals because again, that justmarries the concept of immigrationnd minor offenses to some kind of national security threat, which it is not. juan: the issue -- the long-term solution clearly is a new conference of immigration reform law. at least biden has put forth his plan that would include a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented within eight years, considerably better than in 2014 when talking about 10 years -- i mean, 13 years and before that, 2006 they were talking about 10 years. what are the prospects you see now for that being able to be passed in congress, especially given the reality that once those 11 million are able to become not only permanent residents, but citizens? politics and in this country

will be decidedly changed. i'm wondering your sense of how many republicans right now in congress to be able to agree to pass immigration reform? >> there is going to be very little republican support for this bill, but it is a possibility we will see some republicans revert to the conversations that were being had in 2013 and 2014 when they were talking about the importance of the latino vote and diversifying the republican party and campaigning in communities of color anyways they nev had before. these are conversations the republican party was having about the need to reform itself several years ago, completely took a 180 when trump and stephen miller came into power and decided to double down on

the white working class, particularly the white mal working class. i do think we may see a return to those conversations. and i think this is an extremely significant bill. it provides 11 million and document a people to provide -- contribute economically and in 70 other ways and at this country with a pathway to citizenship if they passed a background check and paid taxes. one way i think that could go a lot further than so far has been proposed is congress woman pramila jayapal is planning to introduce this resolution that completely rejects the quid pro quo framing a previous immigration reform efforts. instead of offering protections in exchange for increased militarization, a completely rejects that and says we need to dismantle the deportation machine completely and completely to criminalize immigration. instead of reporting everyone

here -- deporting everyone here who is here illegally or committed a minor offense like driving without a license, there will be a scalable civil consequence. you may have to pay a fine for committing an immigration offense, you may have to do community service. it also provides a pathway to reunification for any family that has been separated by u.s. government regardless of who separated them. this resolution is driven by a respect for human rights rather than political considerations. i think that is one way in which the biden administration can go a lot farther. amy: so much more to talk about the we will have to have you back step thank you for being with us. jean guerrero, investigative journalist and author of "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." and we will link to your piece in "the new york times" titled

"3 million people were deported under obama. what will biden do about it?" ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan

gonzalez. we look now at growing inequality during the pandemic. a new report finds the collective net worth of u.s. billionaires grew by more than $1.1 trillion during the pandemic. the institute for policy studies and americans for tax fairness said those gains could "pay for all the relief for working families" in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package president biden has proposed while leaving the nation's richest households no worse off than they were before covid-19 hit. meanwhile, a new report by oxfam international shows it could take more than a decade for poor people to recover from the pandemic and urges governments to take urgent action and "set concrete, time-bound targets to reduce inequality." democracy now! recently spoke with economist darrick hamilton, who wrote of one of the report's forewords. >> what we should not be concerned about right now is austerity politics some notion

of deficit constraints. amy: for more, we're joined by oxfam america vice president paul o'brien. the new report "the inequality virus: bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus through a fair, just and sustainable economy." paul, welcome back to democracy now! lay out what you found. >> thank you for having me. it is worrying. the last time we did this report, tend to do it around davos when the rh usually gather in for codes but this time was virtually. last time it was bad and it has got a lot worse. every country looked at come inequality has gotten worse during the pandemic. perhaps it is not surprising but it is worrying. the richest 10 people, they ended up making half $1 trillion during the pandemic. the richest thousand g all the money they lost from the pandemic back. dr. the same level of wealth

within nine months. at the same time, it has been disastrous for people on the wrong end of poverty. the reality of it was most people on the planet earthor oncrisis away from going into deep poverty or extreme poverty. that crisis happen. it happened in help terms and economic terms, happened because there were lockdown for forced to go out into precarious jobs. all around the world now, we are seeing folks struggling on the wrong end of inequality while those who have been the beneficiaries of our broken economic system had done quite well juan: paul, could you talk especially about the impact in the u.s. on african-americans and women in particular? you note one and five black women lost their jobs between february and apr of 2020? >> let's talkbout and help terms in economic terms. in health terms, the really

troubling fact is this is disproportionately landed worse for black and lanx communities. if they had faced mtality rate at the same level as white communities, there will be 22,000 people alive today that are not. a lot of it is because how our economy is structured in terms of economiinequaty. so if you are in the top islof income in the united states have a 90% chance of having paid sickly. in the bottom have come less than half of you will get basically. you're out there as a fronline worker or social worker or ofn in the care economy, looking after ks or the vulnerable or the eerly or guess you can't do what, and right now, just a simple hi desk -- behind a desk and get paid you have to be taken worse. this has been a really rough

time for american workers. we work alongside of them i'm happy to reflect the more personal stories if that is helpful. amy: women have been particularly hard-hit. some have described this whole thing as a she session. women in the u.s. lost 156,000 jobs while men gained 60,000 jobs many women accounted for all the 140,000 net jobs lost. what this means come the setback for women this country decades and what has to be done and particularly around covid and who gets sick, who dies come who gets access to vaccines -- not only under the u.s., but around the world? >> precisely, amy. the date around the world -- i'm not sure it is worse, but it is terrible in terms of how it has discriminatory only impacted women. a lot of it is because inhe

informal economy, julian workers out of work, women are often on the front lines of under cured labor. in the middle east and north africa, many of them have been forced to give up their jobs at 40% higher job loss even though they were already discriminated against to start with the terms of getting jobs. we have this ilatin america and some say arcana -- sub-saharan africa, too. without basic protections, when you have a pandemic like this, it will hurt women more everywhere. juan: and the 10 richest men in the world according to your report, icing a combined wealth increased by half a trillion dollarsince the pandemic began? >> and to put that into context, that is enough to vaccinate everybody on the plat earth to get rid of this pandemic. that is just the profits they've made during the pandemic.

the additional money they have made. yes, it would be a good thing if they all sat around the dinner table and said, you know, we made this tra money, let's get rid of this pandemic. of course, our economic system can't rely exclusively on their largess. what we are not doing is articulating and then having the legislations that turns out from a voluntary philanthropic exerse and is something they are required to do. amy: and what would that look li, paul? close i wrote a book about it. we have a bite-here's a administration that cannot just normalize. they have to pass a range of policies in terms of social proctions to get that money tsystem so people have the social protection and economic opportunity they need to lift themselves from this pandemic. amy: paul o'brien, thanks for being with us, vice president of oxfam america. we will into the new report "the

inequality virus: bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus through a fair, just and sustainable economy." very happy belated birthday to charina nadura!!ó■ thank you for helping out.

♪ ♪ ♪ thank you for joining us. from our studio in tokyo, this is nhk "newsline." we start with the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. the world has reached another staggering milestone. according to johns hopkins university, there are now over 100 million confirmed cases. the united states has the highest number and accounts for more than a quarter of the global