03/23/21 03/23/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the border is closed. we are expelling families. we are expelling single adults. we have made a decision that we will not expel young, vulnerable children. amy: the biden administration moves to close much of the southern border as it holds 15,000 unaccompanied migrant

children. the number oasylum seekers shows no sign of slowing down. we will get the latest and look at how two trump-supporting mexicans are fanning the flames at the border. >> broadcasting false information out of a migrant camp. now hundreds of asylum-seekers who alrey fearor their lives because of death thrts and essential america and ng violenceave to also contained with the xenophobia, racm, and hostility these livestream ares are inting a socl media. amy: plus, we go to bessemer, alaba, where amazon woers are voting on whether to become the first unionized amazon warehouse in the unid states. it's one of the most closely watched union electionin decades. >> working at amazon warehouse is no easy thing. the ships are long, the case is superfast. you're constantly being watched and monitored. they seem to think you are another machine. amy: we will speak to stuart

upper bound, president of the retail and hotel union. while amazon is fighting the unionization drive, the come to jeff bezos has made $65 billion over the past year during the pandemic -- that's an average of over $7 million an hour. a mass shooting at a supermarket in boulder, colorado, has taken 10 lives. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. in boulder, colorado, a gunman opened fire without warning at a supermarket monday afternoon, killing 10 people. witnesses described a horrific scene of bodies littering supermarket aisles as the shooter systematically fired round after round at shoppers without saying a word. police injured a white male

suspect outside the king sooper's grocery store and took him into custody. he has not been identified and no motive in the killings is known. among those shot dead was 51-year-old police officer eric talley, who was the first on the scene. resident steven mchugh dropped his family members off at the supermarket's pharmacy, where his son-in-law was in line for a covid-19 vaccine with his two grandchildren. mchugh said the family witnessed people being shot around them and d in a closet until lice rescued them. >> it is not ok that we don't have better gun-control laws. let me just say that. when it is your family -- this has got to stop. every week in the united states, there is a shooting. now it is our turn. and that should never be repeated anywhere. amy: the killer used an ar-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. just last week, a colorado state

judge blocked boulder ordinances barring assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, ruling in favor of the national rifle association's colorado affiliate and two boulder residents. the nra is in deeply weakened state. a filed for bankruptcy last year after new york state attorney general the tisha james sued them for fraud, seeking to dissolve the organization. the senate judiciary committee is holding hearings this afternoon on gun control. the centers for disease control and prevention is warning of another rise in covid-19 cases, with the seven-day average of daily infections up by 5% or more in 27 states. cdc director rochelle walensky on monday asked u.s. residents to continue to wear masks, to avoid crowds, and to delay travel even if they've been vaccinated. >> we are at a critical point in

this pandemic come a fork in the road where we as a country must decide which path we are going to take. we must act now and i am worried that if we don't take the right actions now, we will have another avoidable surge. just as we are seeing in europe right now. and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccinations. amy: the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases said tuesday that drug maker astrazeneca may have submitted outdated information about its covid-19 vaccine that provided an incomplete view of efficacy data from a late-stage clinical trial in the u.s. the development coulcomplicate astrazeneca's application to the food and drug administration for emergency use authorization. here in new york, governor andrew cuomo says all state residents aged 50 and older are now eligible for a covid-19 vaccine. meanwhile, west virginia has become the third u.s. state to offer vaccines to all adults, joining alaska and mississippi.

more than 82 million u.s. residents have received at least one dose of vaccine -- about one in four people nationwide. the head of the world health organization is calling on vaccine makers to license their technologies to other manufacturers, calling growing vaccine inequity a moral outrage. who director-general tedros adhanom ghebreyesus called it shocking that some countries are racing to vaccinate their entire populations -- including healthy younger people at lower risk of covid-19 -- while healthcare workers, older people, and others at high risk go unvaccinated in poorer nations. >> the gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries and the number of vaccines administered through covax is growing every single day. and becoming more grotesque every day. amy: saudi arabia has proposed a

ceasefire to end its six-year war yemen, buhouthi rebs have rejted the de saying the saudis must first fully lift its devastating blockade which has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. shortly before proposing the ceasefire, saudi forces carried out air raids striking dozens of targets in yemen, including a grains port. in news from bangladesh, a massive fire in a rohingya refugee camp has killed at least 15 people and displaced 50,000. al jazeera reports 400 people remain missing. the fire began in a camp in cox's bazar and then spread to two others, destroying thousands of shelters. nearly a million rohingya refugees live in southern bangladesh after fleeing a military crackdown in burma in 2017. it was the third fire at the camps in recent days. one survivor told reuters -- "when we were in burma, they destroyed everything. now it has happened again." at least 137 people have been killed in niger after gunmen on

motorbikes attacked villages near the border of mali. it was the deadliest attack in the west african nation in years. the coordinated raids occurred on sunday -- on the same day niger's constitutional court confirmed newly elected president mohamed bazoum's victory. back in the united states, the senate has confirmed boston mayor and former union leader marty walsh to be secretary of labor. walsh becomes the first labor secretary to come from a union background in nearly 50 years. with walsh's confirmation, boston city council president kim janey has become interim mayor of boston, making her the firswoman and first person of color to hold the office. the white house is preparing a $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package as part of president biden's build back better agenda. "the washington post" reports the legislation will be broken into two parts. one package will focus on education and programs to increase the participation of women in the work force, including paid leave, universal pre-k, and free community

college. it would also extend the child tax credit for several years. a second part of the legislation focus on infrastructure like bridges, roads and waterways. it would reportedly provide $400 billion to combat climate change, including $60 billion for green transit. in comparison, congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez and senator elizabeth warren recently proposed a bill that would invest $500 billion in electric public transportation infrastructure. education secretary miguel cardona has canceled $1 billion in student loans for more than 70,000 people defrauded by for-profit colleges. the decision reverses a move by former education secretary betsy devos to limit student loan relief for people impacted by the collapse of for-profit colleges like corinthian and itt technical institute. louis dejoy, the trump-appointed postmaster general, is unveiling

a sweeping austerity plan for the u.s. postal service to reduce post office hours, increase postage prices, and slow down mail delivery. this comes just days after 50 house democrats wrote to president biden urging him to fire the entire board of governors of the united states postal service, which has the sole power to remove dejoy from his job. federal investigators are weighing whether to charge people who joined the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol with seditious conspiracy -- the crime of seeking to overthrow the government. the justice department has not successfully prosecuted a sedition case in over two decades. this comes as prosecutors are preparing to discuss plea deals with some 300 suspects charged over the january 6 assault, which left five people dead. over the weekend, wisconsin republican senator ron johnson made headlines when he falsely claimed january 6 rioters were not violent. >> i honestly say, i do not feel

threatened a january 6. i didn't. there was much more violence on the house side. there is no violence on the senate side. amy: former president trump's lawyer sidney powell sought to dismiss a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed against her by dominion voting systems, saying no one should have believed her repeated false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. in a court filing, powell's lawyers write -- "no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact." the supreme court has agreed to consider the justice department's request to reinstate a death sentence for dzhokhar tsarnaev who is serving life in prison for his role in the deadly 2013 boston marathon bombing. last year, a lower court tossed out his death sentence but the trump justice department appealed.

and in atlanta, the husband of a woman who died in last week's mass shootings has revealed he was handcuffed and held by police for four hours after surviving the attack. mario gonzález said -- "i don't know whether it's because of the law or because i'm mexican. the simple truth is that they treated me badly." he didn't learn his wife delaina ashley yaun had died for hours. gonzález and his wife had gone to the spa together for massages and were in separate rooms when the gunman opened fire. they had married over the summer and had a baby girl. a total of eight people died in the attacks on three asian-owned spas last tuesday. seven of the victims were women, including six of asian descent. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york city 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: photos released on monday show migrant children crowded into holding areas separated by plastic sheeting at a temporary processing center near the u.s.-mexico border in donna, texas. there is no social distancing in effect as the children huddle on plastic mattresses, covered with foil sheets. the photos were shared by democratic congressman henry cuellar of texas with the news site axios. cuellar said eight pods that were meant to house 260 children were packed beyond capacity, with one pod housing over 400 boys. he said customs and border patrol agents were "not equipped to care for kids." there are now over 15,000 unaccompanied migrant children in u.s. custody as the number of asylum seekers at the southern border shows no sign of slowing down. over 5000 of those are being held in customs and border

protection jails. axios reports over 800 children have been jailed for over 10 days -- more than a fourfold increase over the past week. this comes as "the washington post" reports cbp has requested airplanes to traport asylum- seekers from the southern border to sites near the canadian border for processing. department of homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas appeared on multiple news shows over the weekend to say the u.s. border is effectively closed. close the border is closed. we are expelling families. we are expelling single adults and we have made a decision that we will not expel young, vulnerable children. amy: myorakas says officials are rebuilding systems the trump administration tore down. but republicans have tried to blame the emergency with migrant children's welfare on the new -- welfare. during an interview monday with former president donald trump, fox news host harris faulkner falsely reported mayorkas had resigned after less than seven weeks on the job. >> the dhs secretary mayorkas

has resigned, mr. president. pres. trump: i'm not surprised. that is a big victory for our country. >> me stop. let me listen to mighty one more time. forgive me. forgive me. that has not happened. amy: "that has that happened." for more, we are joined by luz lopez, senior supervising attorney with the immigrant justice project of the southern poverty law center. she came to the united states as a 10-year-old refugee with her family from el salvador, which she writes about in her recent op-ed for "the new york times" headlined "migrant children deserve better." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. if you can respond what is happening on the border, not under president trump at under president biden, and if you can fold in your own experienced in history and what needs to be done. >> thank you.

good morning. it truly is an honor to be here. thank you for this space. so what is happening at the southern border is shameful. we as a country should remain vigilant and hold any administration accountable regardless of political party with respect to our treatment of children seeking refuge who are fleeing countries that are in turmoil -- largely because of our geopolitical policies over the past several decades. and with respect to how this mirrors our journey, my family's journey to the united states, it really breaks my heart, amy, that when we came to the u.s. in 1980, i was accompanied by my parents and my brother my father had received a death threat.

he was a teacher, so was my mother. we were forced to flee el salvador. the united states was funding a war, funding the military that was killing thousands of people. we fled. we left everything we had. everyone we knew. our loved ones come our family, and set out for the u.s. where we had family in new york. if we had fled under the condions that exist now, i very likely would never have had the chance to serve for the united states u.s. department of juste. i never would have had the chance to sit here with you to talk about how we can do better and we must do better for these children and these families. one of the things that concerns me the most is that while we recognize that the new

administration, the biden administration, has made some positive impact in overtures to ensure that there is a fairer process -- for example, they have removed -- should say they have revoked the law that, the memorandum that had required ice and orr, which generally processes unaccompaniedinors, unaccoanied childrewho ce to the u.s. seeking asylum, there has been this process in place whe these two federal agencies share information. that has a chilling effect on many of the sponsors anfamily members who were seeking to reunite with these children

because ice was using this process, the process that should be full of hope and should be humane, as a means to identify and deport people, the sponsors who were seeking to reunite with family members. so we do recognize that the biden administration has made some positive -- taken some positive action, but the fact remains that children continued to come to the u.s. trying to seek refuge and solace and comfort away from the horrible situations that we find in the northern tribal in guatemala, el salvador, and honduras -- and in mexico, of course. what we as a country and we would like to hold the biden administration accountable for our policies that are humane,

family and child-centered. we have the means, amy, to be more efficient in terms of reuniting families and children at the border with their hosts here in the u.s. wthe biden administration acknowledges percent of folks or more who come to the border, because there is a relative, there is someone waiting for that person or that fami here in the u.s.. so instead of spending millions and millions of dollars on cbp and ice temporary shelters, makesht shelters for childre and families, we can actually divert those funds to ensuring a quicker, more efficient process through which we can reunite

these families with their sponsors. these children with their sponsors, who are family members , who are trusted people, and who are waiting for them here in the u.s. juan: i wanted to ask you, in terms of cash you mentioned when your family came in 1980, you and your family. but even back then, in the midst of civil wars in central america, the united states granted very few salvadora and guatemalan refugee status or asylum for those countries. what are the conditions that you feel warrant the asylum status now for those are coming across the border, even if they are nominally no conflicts existing in central america right now? >> thank you for the question, juan.

anyone who is familiar with the present situation in this country called the northern triangle -- honduras, guatemala, salvador -- knows that there is rampant crime, corruption, children -- adults are being murdered. there is lawlessness and terror in these countries. a lot of it goes back to come as i ntioned, these geopolitical gains united states used to play during the cold war, which have left these nations without infrastructure and without really any government structure thatavors democracy. and as a result, we have children who are fleng crime, certain death at the hands of gangs and of a corrupt government or a government that may lack the means to protect

their own citizens. it is quite lawless. my family, i still have family in el salvador. each day things get worse because of covid of course has exacerbated the situation. there is a growing desperation. and while we do not want to play into the narrative that there is this surge and we don't want to spread any misinformation, we know the rate of children, families, a person coming to the u.s., has been steady. it has not suddenly spiked. it has been steady over the past year, t coincidentally because of covid. that has exacerbated these conditions in the northern triangle where crimes -- there is no protection for families,

for children. there are very few jobs. the economies in latin america are clapsing because of what is happening due to the pandemic. things were bad before. we need to be cognizant that many of the families, the people who are fleeing are doing so because of past policies that need to be remedied, yes. we must hold the biden administration accountable for working with those governments tonsure that folks in these areas are actually safe, that they have access to the vaccine which in el salvador, a country of millions, less than 30,000 people have begun to be vaccinated. so there are a lot of factors,

human factors that are driving children and families here. these are not new factors as you point out, but what is new is that this country in some was has lost its soul. juan: i wanted to ask you, in terms of the so-called surge that has much been reported of late, how much of that is actually, from what you can tell , new waves of migrants coming from the northern triangle and how many of those are people who have been shut out over the last several years by the trump administration and effectively dumped in mexico right across the border and now think with the new biden administration, there will be an opportunity to have their cases reconsided or their chances reconsidered? >> that is really good question. i do not have data that would indicate one way or another

whether the number of folks who are coming e primarily folks who stayed in mexico who were not permitted to access the asylum process that the u.s. is responsible for ensuring under international and domestic law. we have an asylum process in place that we seem to ignore. so i don't have data in terms of who were folks that remain in mexico that trump era policy where we completely abandoned the asylum process and did not even process the numbers of folks that we needed t we asked people to stay. we had never done that. we do know there is not a surge. there is data by the american

immigratn counsel that shows the numbers have been fairly steady for the past year. what we are seeing, unfortunately, that concerns the communities that serve these children and families, is that we are sort of reverting to some of the trump era practices, where we are not pushing for means to efficiently come to quickly unite children and families with their u.s. sponsors that have been waiting for them. amy: we have to leave it there. 10 more seconds. >> i have hope. there are progressive members of congress that understand, that are willing to work with community organizations to ensure that children are protected and that we remain true to what the values of this country, what we tell the world the values of this country are.

amy: as you write a new article that children should be treated as children. luz lopez, thank you for being with us, senior supervising attorney with the southern poverty law center. when we come back, we will be joined by jean guerrero who just wrote a piece "the maga clowns making chaos at the border have ugly pasts." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "summer 78" by claire pichet and yann tiersen. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we look now at how two mexican social media influencers who are devoted trump supporters have been spreading false conspiracy theories abo the ongoing crisis at the u.s.-mexico border, warning their viewers in the united states of an orchestrated invasion and child trafficking funded by democrats. an explosive new report published monday in "the daily beast" by reporter jean guerrero

reveals one of the men was deported after serving time in prison for a federal drug-trafficking conviction, but was able to reenter the u.s. while trump was president. he is a livestreamer named oscar ramirez, or "oscar el blue," who calls himself an independent reporter and was feared on trump's former chief strategist ste bannon's podst "war room" several times this month. ramirez also contributes to a u.s. right-winmedia network called "real arica's voice." this is a clip from one his reports. >> all the way over here, they put a wall to protect the united states and to protect his invasion that is happening. it was amazing. amy: so that is oscar ramirez or "oscar el blue." just this past april, ramirez reportedly reentered the u.s. at the el paso, texas, border crossing come along with anthony agüero, another right-wing influencer who allegedly took part in the january 6 insurrection and is a close friend of the qanon conspiracy

theorist and congressperson marjorie taylor greene. if you're having trouble all of this, let's go to jean guerrero, investigative journalist & author of "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." she has a new piece in "the daily beast" titled "the maga clowns making chaos at the border have ugly pasts." welcome back to democracy now! lay out what you have found. this is explosive. >> i look at the cases that two of these right-wing conspiracy theorists but oscar ramirez is the most shocking case. he is someone who as you said is with the federal drug truck having conviction in his past, which according to the immigration and nationality act at u.s. federal law on immigration, someone with that kind of conviction would be in immiscible to the united states after deportation. unless he were able to obtain a special visa waiver from the

attorney general himself or the state department. it would bimpossible for him to retrieve the united states without basically very strong political connection are working as an informant. i asked this ramirez the details of his visa. he refused to give them. he accused me and "the daily beast" of promoting child trafficking by trying to expose some of the things he is involved in. in additi to the tens of thousands of u.s.-based followers he has and spreading lies to, creating his history about alleged trafficking at the border when he himself has a federal drug trafficking conviction, it has been incredibly damaging. in addition to socia media following, he has been appearin regularly on a u.s. right-wing media outlet called "real america's voice."

i reached out to them about their decision tose a convictedrug traffker as a talkin