03/16/21 03/16/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> in particular, we will push back necessary. >> i know japan shares our concerns with china's destabilizing actions. amy: in their first overseas trip, defense secretary lloyd austin and secretary of state tony blinken ramp up the pressure on china during a

meeting. china is warning the biden administration against launching a new cold war. we will speak to vay prashad out u.-cna relations. th we go to the u.s. southern border where as many as 4000 migrant children are seeking refuge being held in crowded cells. we will speak to fernando garcia of the border network for human rights. then we will get the latest on calls for new york governor andrew cuomo to resign. >> because of the multiple credible allegations, it is clear that governor cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners, as well as the people of new york. that is what i believe the governor has to resign. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. germany, france, and italy have suspended use of the astrazeneca

covid vaccine over concerns about reports of blood clots in people who he received it. they follow denmark, the democratic republic of congo, iceland, indonesia, ireland, the netherlands, norway, and venezuela in suspending astrazeneca shots. the vaccine has been administered to millions of people around the world and is a major part of the u.n.'s covax initiative to bring mass vaccination to lower-income countries. a small number of recipients developed blood clots after at least one dose, and one person died of clotting, but the world health organization warned there's no evidence astrazeneca's vaccine caused the adverse outcomes. this is who chief scientist soumya swaminathan. >> 2.6 million people have died of covid-19 disease. and so far, of the 300 million doses that have been given to people across the world -- of course, using different vaccines

-- there is no documented death that has been linked to a covid vaccine. so i think while need to continue to be very closely monitoring this, we do not want people to panic. amy: many european nations have suspended astrazeneca vaccinations just as covid-19 cases surge across the -- surge across europe. italy has imposed another national lockdown, and france considering tough new measures after hospitalizations reached their highest levels since november. the united states recorded about 56,000 new coronavirus infections on monday and 741 deaths. those figures are way down from january's record-breaking peak, but still comparable to levels seen during last summer's peak of infections. figures from the transportation security administration show more people passed through airports last friday than on any day since the start of the

pandemic. in california, newly compiled public health data shows 440 autoworkers at a tesla factory tested positive for coronavirus between may and december of 2020. during that period, tesla's ceo elon musk, who recently surpassed jeff bezos as the world's richest person, defied orders to close the bay area plant, calling public health measures fascist. the wealthiest u.s. billionaires made more than $360 billion during the pandemic according to "the washington post." the senate has confirmed deb haaland as secretary of the interior, making her the first native american ever to serve in a u.s. presidential cabinet. just four republicans voted for her confirmation. haaland is a tribal citizen of the laguna pueblo. she's previously opposed fracking, the keystone xl oil pipeline, and other fossil fuel projects. she is a 2020 recipient of the

nuclear free future award for her efforts to address the impacts of uranium mining in the american southwest. in immigration news, the biden administration is planning to detain asylum-seeking teenagers at a convention center in dallas, texas. this is the latest facility opened by the biden administration to hold unaccompanied children and teens, who are being apprehended in record-numbers as they attempt to reach the u.s. seeking refuge. the ap reports the kay bailey hutchison convention center will be used by fema, the federal emergency management agency, for up to 90 days to hold as many as 3000 unaccompanied teens. mainly young men. in february alone, over 9000 unaccompanied children and teens were apprehended by u.s. authorities. in related news, congressmember ilhan omar is leading demands the biden administration end contracts between immigration and customs enforcement, ice,

and local jails and prisons. in a letter signed by 24 members of congress to homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas and white house domestic policy director susan rice, congressmember omar refers to the practice as an extension of -- which directed the justice department to end its use of private prisons -- impacting about 9% of the prison population. at the time biden made no mention of ending contacts with privately run immigrant prisons that jail the majority of people for ice. federal agents have arrested two men who were filmed assaulting capitol police officer brian sicknick during the january 6 assault on congress. george tanios of west virginia and julian khater of pennsylvania appeared in federal court monday, charged with assaulting sicknick and other officers with chemical spray. sicknick apparently died of his

injuries on january 7. separately, federal prosecutors say a new jersey army reservist who joined the january 6 capitol assault maintained a military security clearance, even though he was an overt white supremacist who wore a hitler-style mustache and haircut. co-workers say timothy hale-cusanelli made frequent anti-black, anti-semitic and pro-nazi comments while working as a security contractor at a u.s. naval weapons base in new jersey. meanwhile, police have begun scaling back a massive security perimeter on capitol hill, including metal fences topped with razor wire. washington, d.c., non-voting delegate to congress, eleanor holmes norton, has proposed legislation that would ban permanent fencing around the capitol. last month, norton tweeted -- "there are many state-of-the-art options that wouldn't needlessly wall off the capitol complex like a fortress that needs to be protected from the people we represent." in minneapolis, lawyers for

former police officer derek chauvin have asked a judge to delay his murder trial and to move it away from hennepin county, which is one of the most diverse counties in minnesota. chauvin faces murder and manslaughter charges after he was filmed kneeling on the neck of george floyd for over nine minutes last may, killing him. chauvin's lawyers cited last friday's unanimous decision by the minneapolis city council to approve a $27 million settlement with george floyd's family that resolved a wrongful death lawsuit, calling it "incredibly prejudicial." this comes as jury selection in the trial continued on monday. of the nine selected so far, five jurors identify as white, one as multiracial, one as hispanic, and two as black. in georgia, voting rights activists are lobbying coca-cola, home depot, and other prominent georgia-based companies to oppose voter-suppression being advanced by republican state lawmakers. last week, georgia's state senate approved a bill that would end the right of voters to cast absentee ballots without excuse, while toughening voter

id requirements. georgia voting rights activist stacey abrams blasted the legislation as a "redux of jim crow in a suit and tie." secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin met with their counterparts in japan today and will next head to south korea in their first overseas trip. the meetings are widely viewed as an attempt by the biden administration to secure allies in washington's campai to coter china's growing power. after headlines, we wilhave the test on u.s.-china relations with vijay prashad, the director of the tricontinental institute for social research. the vatican has declared it would not be blessing same-sex marriages or unions, arguing god "cannot bless sin." the recent announcement radically contradicts earlier comments made by pope francis where he stated same-sex couples should be allowed to have civil unions. in 2013, he famously said, "who

-- "if a person is gay, who am i to judge?" lgbtq rights groups are condemning the vatican's move, calling it a drastic step backwards. indigenous land and water protectors on monday led several direct actions across the u.s. and canada against the construction of enbridge's line 3 pipeline, which would carry more than 750,000 barrels of tar sands oil a day through fragile ecosystems -- endangering lakes, rivers and wild rice beds. award-winning actor and activist jane fonda yesterday joined calls to stop the pipeline. close we were driving down the highway as we saw this and we saw the pipeline that they want to late under the headwaters of the mississippi. that company, enbridge, is a foreign company, bringing oil fr canada, tarands oil, the worst. we are here to try and stop it. amy: and members of the newly formed unions of musicians and allied workers money held dozens

of actions that spotify offices around the world, protesting the streaming companies refusal to increase its payment rate to artist. spotify currently pays most about one third of the said per stream from among the lowest rates of any streaming company. spotify's night has tripled during the pandemic. this is a musician in toronto. >> the biggest streaming service of all of the streaming services, quit paying less. we know you have the end come. we know the shareholders have the income. we have seen the receipts. amy: 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 lieners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show looking at u.s.-china relations. secretary of state antony

blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin met with their counterparts in japan today and will next head to south korea in their first overseas trip. the meetings are widely viewed as an attempt by the ben administration to sere allies in washington's campaign to counter cha's gring power. blken spoke earlier today in japan. >> we are united in innovation of a free and open end of pacific region. our countries follow the rules, cooperate whenever they can, and resolve their differences peacefully. in particular, we will push back if necessary when china uses coercion or regression to get its way. amy: the japanese foreign minister also spoke at the joint news conference. >> we agreed to oppose china's unilateral bid to change the status quo, including in east china sea and south china sea and shared concerns about

china's coast guard ls. amy: in this is defense secretary lloyd austin, also speaking at the joint news conference. >> i know japan shares our concerns with china's destabilizing actions. and as i have said before, china is a facing challenge for the department of defense. amy: last week, president biden met virtually with the leaders of india, japan, and australia in the first meeting of the so-called quad, the quadrilateral security dialogue. beijing has accused the quad of perpetuating a cold war mentality. on friday, secretary of state blinken and national security adviser jake sullivan will meet with their chinese counterparts in alaska for the first direct talks between beijing and the biden administration. earlier this month, blinken described china as the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century for the united states. >> china is the only country with the economic, diplomatic,

military, and technological power to seriously challenge the stable and open international system. all the rules, values, and relationships that make the world work the way we want it to because it ultimately serves the interest and reflects the values of the american people. amy: this comes as the united states and china are taking markedly different approaches to vaccines and the covid pandemic. while the united states faces accusations of hoarding covid vaccines and blocking efforts to waive vaccine patent rigs at the world trade organization, china has shipped millions of vaccine doses to nations in the global south. what has been described as a form of vaccine diplocy. china sent free samples of sinovac's vaccine to 53 countries and has exported it to 22 nations that have placed orders. recipients include brazil, mexico, peru, colombia, ecuador, and bolivia. to talk more about the

u.s.-china relations, we are joined by vijay prashad, the director of tricontinental institute for social research and author of many books, including "the poorer nations: a possible history of the global south." his latest, "washington bullets: a history of the cia, coups, and assassinations." he's a senior non-resident fellow at chongyang institute for financial studies, renmin university of china. his latest article for peoples dispatch is headlined "biden continues the u.s. conflict with china through the quad." welcome back to democracy now! let's begin with that headline. can you talk about the biden administration's approach to china, how it compares to trump and what you see needs to happen and change? >> it is great to be back with you. first thing i would like to say is there is -- before that, the

obama approach. obama and not graded something called the -- to asia. when they say china is a threat come as anthony blinken said, what i thought was very sharp and rather the look of speech, when he says china is a threat, what did they mean? i think europe's position is important. they do not mean china is a military threat to the u.s. after all, they have the ability to protect his homeland. it is not threatening the united states. it is u.s. naval vessels that are sailing close to the chinese mainland in so-called freedom of navigation -- right close to chinese territory and waters. the chinese do not have a military threat against the united states at all. what they are talking about has been very closely clarified at

this quad meeting, which is the united states government understands that china's scientific and technological developmen particularly in robotics and telecommunications, green technology and so on, has suppressed -- far surpassed that of european companies. this is an existential threat as far as the united states is concerned, the u.s. government is concerned, to silicon valley. china doesn't threaten the american citizen, the average american citizen. a chinese tele-communication companies like huawei our generation head of u.s. telecommunications companies. rather than compete as it were a free market with these companies, the united states government is using immense military pressure, diplomatic pressure, and assorted informational war to push china back into its boundaries.

one thing as far as the u.s. is concerned, amy, for china to deliver its workers to produce products for u.s. companies, quite another went chinese companies ar competing fair and square against u.s. companies. that is the real issue here, not human rights, not military pressure, not what lloyd austin quite gingerly called stabilization. that is not the issue. the main issue is scientific and technological competition. china i'm afraid as far as silicon valley is concerned is the head of united states in that game. juan: i want to ask you about how china is covered in the u.s. and western media. you mentioned the technological competition that often gets some play but the main issues that the u.s. press seems to concentrate on our the trade deficit with china, the democracy movement in hong kong,

or the fate of theuslim uighurs in china. very little attention is played to china's role as the principal reducer of poverty in the world. today there are about 112 million manufacturing workers in china. that is more than the combined workforce from a manufacturing workforce of the united states, germany, france, italy, and japan combined. what has happened over the last 30, or years is that china has lifted about 700 million people out of extreme poverty. could you talk about this role of china is changing the nature of the distribution in terms of -- of course, american companies have benefited fromhe low wages in china, but the chinese people have also had enormous change in the living standards as well, no?

>> i want to respond to you mentioned the u.s. media. frankly, most of the u.s. corporate media have become stenographers of the u.s. state department. the credibility to have mr. mike pompeo, former secretary of state, stand up on behalf of the muslims of china after what the united states has died in afghanistan, iraq, and don't forget pompeo used to had the cia. it strains credibility with u.s. is defending people in the hong kong. they were ruled as a colony for hundreds of years. the british government now standing up for human rights and democracy is extraordinary that nobody asked the question about their own integrity on these questions. but let's leave that aside. yes, it is certainly true that as far as developing countries are concerned, china has played an extraordinary role in producing the ability for the

chinese people to lift themselves out of poverty. let's be clear about one thing. china has the longest second world war on the planet. it started in 1937 and ended 1949. that is years more than the second world war in europe. the country was devastated with the chinese communists took part in 1949. very serious battle to end poverty. they did not do it merely by transfer payments, by cash payments. they did it by improving social indicators, improving health care, literacy, education in general, and someone. this is enormous feet that they have done by lifting come as you say, 700 million people out of poverty. this should be the headline but it is not. even more so, amy, you're quite right to mention what has been called vaccine diplomacy rather than the vaccine nationalism nursing in north america,

canada, where for instance, there is double the number of vaccindoses needed. canada shamefully has taken vaccine out of the covax fund, which is supposed to provide vaccines to developing countries. yes, china is producing a kind of vaccine diplomacy rather than nationalism, but more than that, chinese medical personnel, like cuban medical personnel have been going around the world assisting countries in combating covid-19. we are all for the cuban doctors to get the nobel peace prize this year, but we should also recoize the number of chinese doctors who have been overseas providing assistance under the global south. recently, even the atlantic magazine ran a story to show that myth of thede chinese deathtrap needs to be called into question. in other words, china has been lending enormous amounts of money for developingurposes in south countries like bolivia where the united states has come in with a project called --

tried to undercut chinese investment by bringing in u.s. private sector investment and strong-arming countries as we sawn all seven or, strong-arming the vernment saying don't take american money and cut the chinese out. we are going to make great trouble for you. this is old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy. people need to see it for what it is. if we're going to talk about human rights, what about the human rights of the people of el salvador to craft their own for policy? why should they be dictated to by washington, d.c.? juan: i went to center on that a little bit, the situation in latin america. latin america has become the second major region for chinese investment abroad and the kinds of projects the chinese are helping to finance, they are sounding. $5 billion being spent to build

two hydroelectric dams in the patagonia section of argentina over the santa cruz river. a transcontinental railroad between peru a bolivia. and of course, a new canal across central america, across nicaragua that would basically compete with the monopoly that the panama canal has had over world shipping. could you talk about the sheer size of these projects? most americans are not aware this enormous infrastructure that is resulting from the belton road policy of china. >> during this pandemic, people have been aware of what we call the digital divide. some people not having access to the internet. th is very difficult at a time when 160 8 million children have not been able to go to school because they do not have access to the internet. it is not just a digital divide. there is an electricity divide.

it is one thing to live in the united states and bemoaned of elements overseas, but you have to understand in countries like bolivia, ecuador, even the southern part of argentina, there is electricity divide, and infrastructure divide, a lack of transportation and so on. very little capital is coming to this country from the world bank, from the international monetary fund that has enabled infrastructural projects. what the chinese have done with the belton road initiative is provide vast amounts of finance that you mentioned to develop some of this infrastructure, to bridge the electricity gap, to bridge the transportation cap. this is the case in bolivia. they cut some important deals with the chinese not only to mind lithium, which is a key component of batteries, but to develop the processing of lithium in bolivia and create electric cars.

i think people don't know during the last year of evo morales government, bolivia produced electric cars for domestic consumption. it is quite incredible what has happened in that partnership. they want to ofskill these countries come not just leave them as a place to draw raw materials for or bash products produced in china. look at what happens in ecuador. the government of marino under some pressure from the u.s., but linda marino of ecuador doesn't mean much pressure from the u.s. government. decided to cut out chinese loans which have been taken by the previous government of rafael correa. we look closely at these two agreements. it was very clear that chinese loans were far less onerous than the u.s. loans that were coming in. the chinese during the pandemic essentially said, we suspend all

payments for another two years. the u.s. has not been suspending debt servicing payments from developing countries. if you look at the case of ecuador, it is a better deal to take the chinese money. rather than accept this, rather than say let's have a collaborative approach between china and the united states, very much hope ialaska this becomes part of the worldview that there should be a collaborative approach -- rather than a collaborative approach, i'm afraid the biden administration is doubling down on the trump administration's cold war policy gets china. amy: vijay prashad, there is a tweet and meme a lot of the chinese diplomats are putting out right now where they are saying that,, what is it, china has not dropped a single bomb on foreign soil and in more than 40 years, meanwhile, the u.s.

dropped 46 kwanzaa day -- 46 bombs a day on average. your response to that? >> amy, stockholm -- releases a repo evy year on arms deals and litary spending and a report recently shows the united states government has increased its military spending in china has decreased its military spending. at the same time, just a few weeks ago, admiral philip davidson of the indo pacific command went before the u.s. arms services committee and basically asked for $5 billion for the indo pacific command this year in -- and $27 billion over the next period. he said something chilling at this hearing. he said united states government must be prepared to fight a war against china. he prepared to fight.

the chinese have not used any militarist language. they have cautioned and said, look, we need to dial back this tension come the so-called riddim navigation -- freedom of navigation by the u.s. navy needs to stop. united states these to draw back. there's no need to militarize guam. conflict is unimaginable between two nuclear powers and yet united states ramping up the language, spending more to has developed aacific outlet,le hypersonic christmas of which can fire from anywhere in the world and hit beijing in 15 minutes. it is chilling with the u.s. government is doing can ramping up this cold war and the name of human rights, and the name of not destabilization,

charter. for this reason, china and a host of other countries have created a group called friends of the u.n. charter. this group of friends will be a group in the united nations that will try and push the objectives of the charter against will try and push the objectives of the charter against groups like the quad. china has had the quad is fine. you can meet as the quad, but don't produce groupings like the quad whose intent is to destabilize a country like china, destabilize another member of the united nations. that was a very sober statement coming from beijing. but this group of friends of the u.n. charter is a significant development. i hope more people pay attention to it. juan: i would ask about the role of the major multinational american companies which clearly have benefited from being able to offshore their production capacity in china while selling

their products in the west. their role is increasgly used the has become more and more belligerent toward china, but yet the companies still have to make money as a result of e relationships with china. >> juan, these companies know what they make money on is on the patents against technology. apple does not make anything. apple collects rent of products made by a taiwanese company inside china. apple does not make iphones. it outsources the production of the iphone. they make money off the rent, off the patent. when chinese firms develop new patents -- the last couple of years china has registered more patents than u.s. companies. as china develops new technologies and so on, this is what will outflank u.s. companies. it is very significant during the truck years, none of the

silicon valley firms opposed the trade were prosecuted by mr. trump against china. the head of apple to see mr. trump. he did not say dial back the trade war. this is really important. he did not say dial back the trade war. he said that the trade war is unfairly helping south korean companies like samsung. and that there needs to be away to figure out this trait more so in third countries not benefiting from the u.s. trade war with china because the real beneficiary as far as the ceo of apple was concerned should be apple. in other words, silicon valley understands that they require u.s. pressure on china to make china surrender its advances in high-tech, telecommunications, robotics, green technology, someone, so u.s. firms can continue to make money off the

patents, to continue to make money as rent seeking companies. because they are certainly not making money as innovative producers. what are the new major technologies and a green technology produced in the united states? not much. mu of the big development have taken place in germany and china. as the reason why u.s. high-tech firms are basically alignedith this cold war mentality that has emanated in washington from the obama administration onward. amy: i want to ask you, vijay prashad, back to the issue of vaccine, this idea of china dropping vaccines all over and the u.s. still involved in these wars around the world. and fighting waivers at the wto that allow for more vaccines to be made available to the developing world. i mean, but the new york times" has a front -- has a

front page peace. john bolsonaro's consider the tropical trunk, close ally of trump. he refused to deal with china and huawei, a large tele-communications company. but now in their desperation and with trump gone, they're turning to china in a major way -- around telecommunications and at the same time, asking china, can you get us vaccines? chile is -- china is the dominant supplier of vaccines in chile. mexico, peru, ecuador, bolivia most of hear the u.s. is either being accused of hoarding vaccines were fighting the ability is vaccines around the world.

>> well, and south africa, india major part of the work, nonetheless these two countries -- they have asked that the vaccines's patents be unlocked. it is clear when you talk to people at dhl and other -- they say the shoot is not getting -- the i these vaccines almost all produced with massive public financing. there should be no patent on these vaccines. they need to be unlocked. soutafh - as if it is unlocked.

there should not be seen as applicable issue. why should a swiss company or u.s.-based company be making billions of dollars, hundred civilians of dollars on the pandemic? we used to talk about something called war profiteering during the war when eynk be an immoral thing. companies should not be making money during this pandemic. there should be no politics in this. there should be no profit in this most of these should be treated as a human tragedyhiwite chinntries are showing the way are treating this as a man tredy.ag look, china does not have a political litmus test where it since sinovac. it is not a saint mr. bolsonaroo

mr made racist comments about the chinese, therefore we won't see to the vaccine. no, the chinese say, we don't really care what you say. it is a human tragedy. the brazilian people should not be held hostage by the ill humor of mr. bolsonaro. they have been provided vaccines. this is a very mature attitude. i hope this kind of attitude defines the policy not only at the united nations, but at the who. we need a little more maturity in the world. i feel all of this warmongering, war talk, this falls talk about destabilization and someone on should be set aside. i'm not actually govern much by what blinken said in his speech in early march. i thoughtre a little bit of reality would have been useful. despite the fact mr. blinken is fluent in french, is very, very much like ke pompeo. amy: vijay prashad, thank you for being with us, author and director of tricontinental

institute for social research senior non-resident fellow at , chongyang institute for financial studies, renmin university of china. next we go to el paso for the update on the emergency of the u.s. southern border were as many as 4000 migrant children are seeking refuge in the u.s., being held in crowded cells. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: yo-yo ma who gave a surprise concert this weekend at a vaccination site at the berkshire community college as he waited alongside others in an observation area after receiving his second dose of the covid-19 vaccine. yo-yo ma is 65-year-old. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as the biden administration begins its "help is here" tour to promote the democrats' $1.9 billion covid relief package, a delegation of republicans headed by house minority leader kevin mccarthy launched their own tour this week at the u.s. southern border, where as many as 4000 migrant children who sought refuge in the united states are

being held in crowded cells, many for longer than the three-day limit. on monday, mccarthy said they toured an ice detention center in el paso and spoke to fox news about visiting a border patrol station to speak with agents. >> you go monument three and you talk to those agents, it is not just people from mexico or honduras or el salvador. we are finding people from yemen, iran, turkey. people on thero terrist this is a 17-year-old honduran migrant speaking to reuters. >> thank god we are here at our destination and there will be me osoorni oso osoni oso orni d r a month suffering, hungry with no sleep.

amy: thousands of the unaccompanied minors are being where fema will hold as many as 3000 unaccompanied teens. mainly boys. this comes as democrats on capitol hill could vote this week on bills to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the u.s. as children and provide legal status to farm workers and also a path to citizenship to daca recipients. for more, we go to el paso, where we are joined by fernando garcia, founding director of the border network for human rights. welcome back to democracy now! describe the scenend what you think nes to happen. >> what we are experiencing at the border is a surge of families and children coming to the border but by no means is is a crisis or new situation. as republicans had presented it. and if the last 10 years, we

have seen more families and more children coming to the border. they used to be we are close to 40,000 unaccompanied minors. by 2019, a couple of years ago in the trump administration, 70,000 unaccompanied minors. what we're are seeing at the border is not new. this is part of a larger problem. not only children, but families. they continue to come. they nevertoco s states, the administration deported closedo.

anything, we have a nitarian crisis. more than anything, we have a crisis of administration was not ready. specifically after trump destroyed the system, destroyed infrastructure. juan: fernando, could you talk in tms of the particular surge, the most recent surge -- are you finding the role of these criminal gangs and the is $8,000, p nine thousand dollars, $10,000 to pay coyotes to help people get to the border. >>to border. >> that has been true for many, many years. it is not specific for this

year. since 1994, in the last 20 to acrs from el paso to war is -- i'm sorry, from juarez el paso, they charge thousands of dollars. they have the ways and means to bring them across. this is the result. this is the result of the militarization of the border. the harder it is to come across, it is more business for the smugglers and some of these criminal organizations. emigration is an historic phenomenon. people continue to come for multiple reasons. in centralmerica, violence and

economic crisis. but then when they get to the border, they see there is construction of border walls, that there is more border patrol . the populated areas are sealed so that people cannot cross so they have to hire these coyotes to take them farther awaythe boe democrat in control or tenuous control about the house and the senate as well as the white house, for any kind of legal reform that would bring some order and humanity to immigration policy in the united states, what are the pspects look like rightow from what you can tell? n fm atwh you can tell?

>> again, listen. i do believe this administration has very good intentions. biden won the election by 70% of the hispanic voting in this country. experience the surge of we are expecting that to happen. but, you know, and very concerned about how this adra is not prepared to deal with the situation at the border. i mean, for four years trump destroyed everything at the border.

so much money to the border wall that there are no asylum officers or judges, for the children and families. this administration, if they don't put enough resources very quickly on the ground, welcoming centers for example, where we can surround these families with services, access to health care and legal suprt, if we don't do that qckly, this can become a problem a political problem. it already has a problem for this administration, then whenever they get to congress to discuss immigration reform, republicans will continue to use the situation to derail any robust systemic immigration reform. amy: fernando, can you talk about where exactly this money should go? the idea of diverting it away

from these detention centers and building up that detention infrastructure versus to nonprofits that are used to dealing humanely withigrants? >> this is not going to be relved by nonprofits and community efforts. we are doing a lot, but what we need is a robust invesent tmbyen this governmente these are not s by any private entity. weant institutions of the government to create wcoel ogovg centers where they canrovide enough resources for these families and these children and also a sponsorship program specifically having families to sponsor children that are coming by themselve finally, we already set it, more resources at the ports of entry. we need more asylum officers and

jues. we don'have that of the border that is why we are seeing the backlog in the detention centers helping children and families. amy: fernando garcia, thank you for being with us, founding director of the border network for human rights, an advocacy organization based in el paso. we come back, calls for governor andrew cuomo to resign. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. new york governor andrew cuomo is refusing to step down despite growing calls following multiple accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct, as well as hisff vi chuck schumer person gillibrand have called for his resignation. >> because of the multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, it is clear that governor cuomo has lost the confidence of his governing partners as well as the people of new york. that is why i believe the

governor has to resign. amy: president biden, who is a longtime friend of cuomo's, has yet to weigh in. he said the investigation should be allowed to happen. we are joined by new york state senator alessandra biaggi. she is a democrat who represents parts of the bronx and westchester. of the first lawmakers to call one for cuomo's resignation. so there are six women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, and then you have the nursing home scandal of the thousands of undercounter deaths of nursing homes. state senator, we had you want talking about the issue of sexual harassment and assault any months ago. what are you demanding now? >> clubs thank youor f having me. good morning. just zooming out for a second, the totality of the circumstances that they depart. i mean come the details of the growing sexual harassment allegations in the nursing home

death cover-up as you mentioned, we also have reports about t ald other things that i haven't mentioned, reveal an underlined issue and pattern which is that the governor has not only abused his sition of power, but he has used it in a way that is politicalpoliticalcalling for to resign. it does not meas resign, as i'm sure the public watching can see. if the governor does not resign, i do believe the next step has to be starting the process for impeachment.

heinwha'' 'm sayingnd a thrt the articles of impeachment. the assembly started an st to the judiciary juimpeachment. there's onlyne o oer before the articles of impeachment are drafted. the investigation peace -- i do think that is the next prudent step because of what is in front of us in terms of our responsibility as lawmakers and elected officials. juan: senator biaggi, you work for a time in the governor's office. could you talk about your own experiences in that were lace? you've said you've not met a place -- person in your politics was a good relationship with andrew cuomo. why is that? >> i did work for

the governor. i thought let many people it was going to join an administration that was going tbe this progressive beacon of new york and do a lot of good to push that -- back against the trumpet administration. not only was i wrong, but injured in an administration that was part of the culture of fear, of toxicity, berating people, yelling at people. ly isp toxic but also abusive, there wa a lack of progress happening. the behavior and that n n aerrt leads to bad governance. when i look back now thinking

about what was possible at that we stopped because of theore governor's obsessiveness, frankly, with controlling that went outthout his or his top aides. you might think that is a very normal way to operate an office, but we have an office full of very ambitious, smartit cannot o . juan: in te t t say that the governor should be given the benefit of having an actual iestigation, verify these allegations, what do you say to them? >> the governor is guaranteed

due process under the law, of cot: investigations, two for nurs homes,, and then the attorney general'r'. between investig that may and in criminal charges and the question of confidence in our political leadership. that is why i think he needs to stand byy call for the governor to resign. especially this moment we are in, which is not a moment to take lightly. we are in the midst of budget. we are about to start planning for the state of new york. give a $16 billion deficit. there's a lot of work to do.

i think what we're hearing as each day goes on is the governor same, we have work to do. if all of the things that we distraction that he doesn'want to think about and i'm sure he does not want to think about, but the point is ese are distractions that have been created because of the behavior of our governor. the rest of us want to get back to work to be able to do our jobs. amy: do you think governor cuomo and his hatred for mayor de blasio and also the kind of pressure he is under now as de blasio to resign is actually shortchanging the city? glasgow said to the tune of hundreds of thousands of vaccines? do see this any other places in new york? you share text text messages with new york magazine showing the kind of harassment that one receives, particularly you, from his aide melissa derosa, who often is at his side. just remember, we have to abide by fcc rules on not expressing

curses on the air. >> i will surely not repeat the curse words a members of the governor's administration, you have my word on that. i think we listen to what de blasio saying about shortchanging the city, that is not a something that is an anomaly. it is not unusual. the governor's decisions about how he governs are very political. he oftentimes make decisions based on those who are loyal to him. the stories coming out about his vaccines are calling kind executives and trying to escape their loyalty about their relation to the governor and then decisions being made about vaccines, it is not unusual for those who have been working in new york state government under this executive administration, but also -- amy: 10 seconds. >> to my decisions based on politics at a moment where we can save lives is outrageous. i think there is a lot of work

to be done here and i think this is the governor who is not able -- amy: alessandra biaggi, new york state senator representing parts of the bronx and westchester. that does it for our show. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]