12/07/21 12/07/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what we have seen over the past couple of weeks is that shareholders of pfizer and moderna making a fortune on these vaccines when we should be treating them as a public good, ensuring everyone is vaccinated so we can get over this pandemic as quickly as possible. amy: as nations brace for a new surge of coronavirus cases due to the omicron variant, a new

study shows the eight top pfizer and moderna shareholders made $10 billion last week as stock prices soared. this comes as the admin has stalled on the $2.5 billion plan to thwart omicron-like variants. we will get the latest. then the biden administration is resuming donald trump's remain in mexico after being ordered to to do so by a judge. human rights advocates warn the policy puts asylum seekers in gre danger. >> every once in a while there is an incident like what happened in del rio that brings it to the forefront of people's minds. we need people to understand the grave danger people are being placed in when they are turned away with a policy like this. amy: plus, we will look at how the nation's first supervised drug injection sites have opened in new york city in a bid to

fight a rise in overdose deaths. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the justice department has sued texas over its heavily gerrymandered political maps, charging republican lawmakers drew new districts that favor white voters despite the rapid growth of black and latinx communities in texas. associate attorney general vanita gupta said monday the new maps show clear signs of discrimination. >> texas will gain two new congressional seats because of its population growth. almost all of which is due to the growth of minority population. however, texas has designed both of those new seeds to have white voting majority. the congressional plan also deliberately reconfigured a west texas district to eliminate the opportunity for latino voters to elect a representative of their

choice. this is the third time in three decades where texas has eliminated a latino ectoral opportunity in theame district, despite previous court determinations it violates the law. amy: this comes a month after the justice department sued texas over its recently-passed voter suppression law, saying it illegally targets texans of color, voters who don't speak english, and voters with disabilities. new york city will require all private employers to mandate their workers get vaccinated against covid-19 by december 27, with no testing option as an alternative. it's the most aggressive vaccine mandate yet by any state or big city in the united states. mayor bill de blasio said the mandate could help prevent a winter surge of new cases. -- new infections. >> i describe the actions as a preemptive strike. get ahead of the problem before it deepens, new something that works, vaccination.

amy: nearly 90% of new york city adult residents have at least one vaccine dose, a higher rate than the national average. this comes as covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to rise rapidly nationwide. the official u.s. death toll from the pandemic is now on pace to pass 800,000 by the end of the year. president joe biden meets today with russian president vladimir putin amid growing tensions over russia's build-up of an estimated 100,000 troops along its border with ukraine. the biden administration says it's responding by sendg reinforcements to nato allies in eastern europe. on monday, white house press secretary jen psaki said the u.s. was prepared to sanction russia if it launched an invasion of ukraine. >> on financial sanctions, we have consulted significantly with our allies and believe we have a path for that would impose severe harm on the russian economy. you can call that a threat. you can call that a fact.

you can call that preparation, whatever you want to call it. amy: russian officials deny they're planning an invasion of ukraine. a kremlin spokesrson monday called u.s.-russia relations ahead of biden's meeting with putin "quite lamentable." meanwhile, russia and india on monday pledged greater military cooperation as president putin met with prime minister narendra modi in new delhi. modi agreed to purchase russian-made surface-to-air missiles and the pair signed a contract for india to manufacture more than 600,000 kalashnikov assault rifles. the biden administration has threatened to sanction india over its growing military ties with russia. in haiti, another three of the 17 north american missionary hostages taken in october have been released. christian aid ministries says the three free members are healthy and in good spirits. a haitian gang claimed responsibilityor the kidnapping and had threatened to kill the hostages if their ransom was not paid. 12 people remain in captivity. in related news, internal

documents have revealed the homeland security department's civil rights office in late august advised immigration and border enforcement officials not to mass deport haitian asylum seekers, warning the expulsions could be a violation of u.s. civil and human rights obligations. that's according to buzzfeed, which reports the civil rights officers were ultimately ignored. since september, advocates estimate the biden administration has deported some 9200 haitians, setting off condemnation from even u.n. human rights officials. in more immigration news, the biden administration on monday restarted the contested trump-era remain in mexico program. since its implementation in 2019, the policy formally known as the migrant protection protocols, or mpp, forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait in mexico while their cases were resolved in u.s. courts. earlier this year, a federal judge ordered the biden

administration to revive the program. but immigrant justice advocates are denouncing biden's government for choosing to expand those who are eligible to include asylum seekers from the entire western hemisphere, which includes haitians. the group human rights first has tracked over 1500 reports of murders, tortures, rapes, and other attacks against asylum seekers forced to remain in mexico. this is an asylum seeker from honduras, who has been stuck in an encampment in the mexican border city of reynosa. >> i have been here for four months with the migrant campus located. we want to leave and we have suffered a lot. there are many sick children. we are afraid because we feel unsafe here. amy: more on that story later in the broadcast. the bettman has expansion -- has accelerated the expansion of new oil and gas wells in the united states, issuing drilling permits on public lands at a faster pace than under president trump.

that's according to a new report by public citizen, which found bureau of land management has approved an average of 333 oil and gas drilling permits per month under biden, 40% faster than it did in the first three years of trump's presidency. this comes despite a campaign promise biden made during a 2020 debate with bernie sanders. >> new more drilling on federal lands. no more drilling including offshore. no ability for the oil industry continue to drill, period. amy: meanwhile, new study finds the world's biggest fossil fuel companies have made $174 billion in profits during the first nine months of 2021. cnn reports a top aide to former vice president mike pence is cooperating with the house committee investigating the january 6 insurrection. marc short was pence's chief of staff and was present when pence was rushed out of the senate chamber and moved to a secure location in the capitol basement as rioters chanted "hang mike

pence!" breached the building. donald trump reportedly banned short from the white house immediately after the insurrection. meanwhile, california republican congressmember devin nunes said monday he is quitting congress by the end of the year in order to become ceo of the trump media and technology group. donald trump said in october the new company will compete with social media giants like twitter and facebook that have banned him from their platforms. nunes formerly served as chair of the house intelligence committee, where he helped to stymie investigations into russia's role in the 2016 election. in chicago, actor jussie small it testified in his criminal trial monday where he denied paying two brothers and orchestrating a fake hate crime on himself and said the attack was not a hoax. smollett was arrested in 2019 and accused of lying to the police about being violently assaulted on the street. smollett is gay and african american. police believed smollett paid two brothers, who were personal

acquaintances of smollett's, to carry out a staged attack. the former star on fox's hit tv show "empire" is facing six counts of disorderly conduct, and up to three years in prison if convicted. in north carolina, an animal rights advocate has been convicted of felony charges of burglary and larceny for removing a sick baby goat from a goat meat farm. wayne hsiung was given a suspended sentence and 24 months probation. the co-founder of the animal rights organization direct action everywhere was arrested in 2018 for taking the baby goat from the sospiro goat ranch in pisgah forest. hsiung said the goat was suffering from pneumonia and had lice. his action was broadcast on social media as animal rights advocates often film these public animal rescues from farms where the animals face cruel and unsafe conditions. the department of justice has ended its latest investigation into the murder of emmett till without filing any charges. till was the 14-year-old black teenager who was brutally abducted, tortured, and killed in mississippi in 1955 after he

allegedly whistled at a white woman and store clerk. she said she lied when she said till made sexual advances toward her. but the justice department monday said it had insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt she lied to the fbi. her husband and half-brother were tried for till's murder and acquitted most of they later confessed. till's mother described her decision to have an open casket and show her son's mutilated body at his funeral. this is the film "the untold story of emmett louis till." >> i looked to mr. rayner and he wanted to know was i going to

have the casket opened. i said, oh, yes, we are going to open the casket. he said, well, miss bradley, do you want me to do something for the face? want me to try to fix it up? i said, no, let the people see what i see. amy: if you would have lived, he would have celebrated his 80th birthday in july. and the world renowned political dissident, linguist, and author noam chomsky tur 93 years old today. i recently had a chance to speak to him from his home in tucson, arizona. i asked him about what gives him hope as he turns 93. >> i hope that the young people who are demonstrating in the streets of glasgow, the line workers in the united stas you

are agreeing to a transition program to sustainable energy, and minis -- many others like them, i hope they will be in the ascendancy and can take the measures that are fsible create a much better world than the one we have and the one that the people of the world deserve. amy: noam chomsky will join us tonight in a scial virtual event as we celebrate democracy now's 25th anniversary. we will speak with nome, along with angela davis, martín espada, winona laduke, and arundhati roy, plus the two dannys -- danny glover and danny devito. the event will also feature musical performances by lila downs and tom morello. the virtual celebration begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern. go to democracynow.org for more details.

and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace 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: as nations brace for new surges of coronavirus cases as the omicron variant spreads, vaccine manufacturers are seeing their profits soar. a new report by global justice now found that the eight top pfizer and moderna shareholders saw their stock holdings jump $10 billion last week following the discovery of the new variant. one of the report's authors tweeted, "when is a new covid variant good news? when you are a pharma shareholder, obviously." this comes as global public health advocates warn the world will keep seeing more coronavirus variants unless wealthy nations and vaccine manufacturers do more to address vaccine inequity. the world trade organization was scheduled to hold a ministerial

meeting last week to discuss a waiver on intellectual property rights for vaccine but the meeting was postponed due to the omicron variant. we are joined now by nick dearden. he is the director of global justice now, which is part of the people's vaccine alliance. welcome to democracy now! why don't you start off b laying out what you found. >> thanks, amy. we already knew the vaccines that have been produced, often with public knowledge, having an absolute fortune for some of the companiesn the world. the two really big ones, pfizer and moderna, they're bringing in $1000 a second. these were already the most lucrative medicines in history. when we were worried last week and about the omicron variant starting to spread, look at what happened to the stock of those companies. what we found is a few shareholders -- when i say

shareholders, i mean super wealthy, super big investment corporations, saw their share price rise $10 billion over a few days. just the ceo of moderna so his share price rise $800 million. that is just one person. he cashed out $3 million on the basis ofhat rise. they are making an absolute killing. off any event -- off an event which they are responsible for. experts have been warning us for months unless we vaccinate the whole world is rapidly and fairly as possible, we will see variants arise and above them risk our own vaccination programs. and here in europe and north america. but what you're finding is the companies have made most are doing least to share their technology. the least to vaccinate the world. there basically for profit before any other consideration,

sold huge amounts to governments in the global north. as i said, this is publicly created know how step moderna won 100% research and pfizer also huge amounts of money given to it by the public sector. yet they are doing nothing to ensure equitable access. one of my friends of the people's vaccine alliance joked we should not be calling this omicron, we should be calling this the pfizer variant or the moderna variant. handing over global vaccination folly to these big pharmaceutical companies for whom the public health care is not a priority. the priority is making enormous amounts of money for some of the richest people in the world. juan: you mentioned moderna the ceo of moderna who has refused to share the vaccinate recipe -- vaccine recipe.

could you talk about the impact of that decision in particular on global vaccine inequality? coax one of the things that gives me hope as many companies in the world have looked at what western leaders like boris johnson have done and have said, we are not relying on you. in a pandemic, we need to start making this ourselves whether you give us the recipe or not. the world health organization is backing a factory and scientists in south africa now to begin producing an mrna vaccine, the technology behind the pfizer and moderna vaccines. when they learn how to do it, they will share it with any factory because hundreds of million more doses could be produced at the moment if we just shared this vaccine. they went to pfizer and moderna and said, will you share the recipe? both of those corporations said no. that means they're going to keep going.

they're going to reverse engineer or mimic the moderna vaccine without mission and they will begin sharing it. first, it will take much longer because they have to work out how to do it. you can make the difference -- they could be the difference between a few months and a few years. amy: let me go to the pfizer ceo being questioned last month by cnbc host joe kernen. >> you see this happening every year, we get a booster of the same vaccine or a slightly different vaccine every year to deal with what we are seeing with these mutations, is that what you perceive? for pfizer, you would be selling these things every year -- not that you want to do that. i'm sure you're not hoping for it, but it would be almost like an annually for pfizer. >> i did make a projection months ago the most likely scenario, we would need a third dose.

because of the community would be waning, the virus -- the need of variants that will emerge. i am more confident right now this will be the case that i was when i met -- made the projection. amy: if you could respond to the pfizer ceo and also, i am a bit confused because i watched the cofounder and chair of moderna being interviewed. he said moderna is the only company sharing their formula. went on to say they won't enforce patents against anyone who uses our patents to make a vaccine against the pandemic. if others can do that, that is great. can you respond? is he telling the truth? >> first of all, pfizer sees now

is a major contribution to their income for years into the future because of the monopoly they now hold on this vaccine, monopoly held up by global trade laws. interestingly you started this piece by saying the w t o summit was canceled precisely at that summit where many countries like south africa and india were coming to say override these monopolies, let us at least for the length of the pandemic not put intellectual property law ahead of saving people's lives around the world. somewhat ironic that very summit had to be canceled because of the emergence of this variant that was a result of the very trait rules the wto upholds. they absolutely always have seen this as a massive income stream going forward. it will raise them over $35 billion a share and potentially up to $50 billion on the vaccine next year. just phenomenal amounts of money

that have never been seen before in the history of big pharma. when it comes to moderna, they're doing nothing to share the recipe. they're only saying they won't enforce the patents during the period of the pandemic. let's bear in mind this technology there setting on, this mrna technology is not even just about covid. this is a revolutionary technology. created by public resources which holds at the possibly of vaccinations for hiv, malaria, the ability to deal much better with certain types of cancer -- this is a revolutionary technology and these two corporations want to sit on it as long as they can because this is their fortune for decades into the future. juan: i want to ask you, this whole issue of the public investment in this technology, could you go a little more into detail about the u.s. government's invested especially

in moderna and now the battle that has developed between the government and moderna over who really has the biggest share or share of the responsibility for the developments? >> absolutely. if you look at the public citizens, they say 100% of moderna's vaccine was researched by government-paid scientists. the rollout we are sing also helped to the tune of billions of dollars from the u.s. government under operation warp speed to help get this vaccine manufactured, tested, and trialed [captioning made possible by democracy now!] in many ways it is a public vaccine. it should be a public good. the problem is governments like yours and mine don't put sufficient conditions on the research. basically privatize it and allow these corporations to monopolize that research for decades into

th future. that precisely is what has happened here. now u.s. government under biden, by the way, supports the tripps waiver, but what they're doing is they're saying, we own these patents, we on some of this intellectual property because we put money into it. moderna is refusing to even acknowledge this. there's a court case, they would have been much better had it not been the moderna has lost an appeal at the moment against u.s. government, which is trying to say we own some of this intellectual property. one of the things we are saying to president biden, you absolutely do own some of this and it is time to exercise emergency powers to say this is a public good and we're going to march in and take these patents

in this know-how and we're going to share with the world and ramp up manufacturing as fast as we possibly can because we cannot allow you any longer to book profits ahead of saving lives. amy: nick dearden, thank you for being with us. next up, how the biden administration stalled on its promise to implement a $2.5 billion plan to thwart omicron -like variants. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: joni mitchell. a celebration was held in a person for the kennedy honors on sunday. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we now look more at how the biden administration is addressing the global pandemic. on monday, usaid administration samantha power announced a plan for the united states to spend an additional $400 million to help increase vaccine access internationally. power made the announcement just

days after vanity fair revealed a $2.5 billion plan to thwart omicron-like variants has been stalled inside the biden administration. we are joined now by katherin eban, who wrote the vanity fair piece. welcome back to democracy now! soleil out what is happening. we are talking about a global pandemic. >> good to be back with you, amy. the biden administration has pledged to be an arsenal of vaccines for the entire world, with the full recognition -- developing world unvaccinated, the become essentially factories r new variants like omicron. so there is an absolute sense of urgency among public health experts and within the biden administration. however, what happened was even despite gigantic pledge of vaccines, 1.1 billion doses, that is what the biden

administration has pledged, startinground this summer i learned from my reporting, health officials inside the biden administration began to realize that they were hang uptake problems in far-flung countries. they were dropping off crates of vaccines on airport tarmac and lo and behold, without more logistical support, without boots on the ground helping to administer those vaccines, it was almost impossible in some countries to turn those donated doses into shots in arms. so i obtained an internal plan that usaid had put together which basically said we have to really surge this response if we want to meet biden's pledge to help vaccinate 70% of the world

by september 2022. so it proposed essentially a $10 million global plan of which $2.5 billion u.s. share to surge up teams that could help with logistics in numerous countries around the wld. what i learned is that plan had been circulating inside the government since around october, but nothing was done. and as one source explained it to me, they have not gone and asked congress for money in part because they're facing a narrow senate majority, their focus on infrastructure and build back better, and they have not actually requested the funds. so the plane has been sitting there. and as the plan has been sitting there, we are saying this omicron variant developed out of southern africa, most likel and this is what all of the public health experts have been

warning about precisely. juan: what is the problem, the biden administration has too small a team of the top coordinating this stuff or is that they have not figured out the logistical problems involved, particularly, for inance, i think your peace note the situation even with syringes, which are critical in terms of administrating vaccines ? a syringe shortage in various countries? >> right. the problem throughout this has been they are absutely talking th talk. they are even making good-faith pledges. they are shipping out vaccines. they like to say they're doing more than all other countries combined. that is true, but the reality is if you want to get to a certain goal -- which they do -- it is not enough. that has been recognized. i reported actually weeks

earlier that 1.1 billion doses pledged, the majority of that in pfizer vaccine, and lo and behold, you need a specialized syringe to administer the pfizer vaccine. that is in shortage all over the world. experts were warning the biden administration -- i obtained docuntation. they were warning them, if you do not donate these syringes along with the doses, you're going to have vaccines sitting idle. that is exactly what has happened, which is your having a pileup of vaccines in countries that are not getting into arms. so south africa even told the world, we don't need more doses. we have 20 million surplus doses. we have not been able to administer them.

so that is what we are seeing, the problem is shifting from not enough doses to not enough support on the ground to administer doses. in fact, the plan i obtained said that specifically. that that is where the problem is now shifting. so it is one thing to make pledges and another to donate. that is all good, but it is not enough. the african union released a statement with the world health organization just the other day saying, "thanks, everybody, for your pledges of doses but we don't want anymore vaccine donations sent ad hoc with short expiration dates and no syringe is. if you want to help us, help us logistically and on the ground in a poor dated fashion." basically, what we're seeing is what experts have been warning about all along, which is there is not really a plan to get

these doses into arms. juan: how does the u.s. effort compared to that of other countries, especially in this area, not so much of delivery of the vaccines, but from a tarmac into arms? for instance, the effort that china has been promoting around the world? >> you know, i don't really see other countries doing anything more or better than the united states. i don't think there is any sort of one model of a country that is doing the most to vaccinate the world. but what is absolutely clear is in all of our best interests to get to a goal that has been set by the world health organization, that is been embraced by the bide administration -- which is to get to 70% global vaccination by september 22 and this internal

document that i obtained, basically says in order to do that, we have to massively surge up the effort. we are not there. if you look at the -- if you look at africa, there are only two countries, i believe morocco and tunisia, which are going to reach a 40% vaccination rate by the end of this year. there is a tremendous lag in administering these vaccines. amy: of course, this is about ending the pandemic globally. let me ask you one final question around that issue. is this effort that has this tiny group within the white house coordinating with usaid, what do you think needs to happen? >> well, the biden administration says there engaged in and all of government

effort, but my reporting sws they had a very small team within the white house micromanaging the rollout of these vaccines so you would have ambassadors from various countries calling up the state department and saying, wait a second, i just heard you are dropping 2 million doses on as this afternoon and there is no coordination. so there is a sense that policy is being driven at the very top within the white house, but the implementation is really supposed to come in a oriented way from federal agencies. according to my sources, that has not been happening. amy: katherine eban, thank you for being with us, investigative journalist and author, concerning editor at vanity fair. we will link to your peace "a

$2.5 billion plan to thwart omicron-like variants is stalled inside the biden administration." she is the author of the book "bottle of lies: the inside story of the generic drug boom" and "dangerous doses: a true story of cops, counterfeiters, and the contamination of america's drug supply." we're going to move on right now. i am amy goodman with juan gonzalez as we look at this very country -- controversial move of the biden administration moved of the trump-era remain in mexico policy that forces asylum seekers who arrive at the southern u.s. border to wait in mexico while their cases are resolved in u.s. courts, a process that can take months or even years. human rights advocates who monitored the program's first day under biden said they already witnessed u.s. border patrol officers turn away several people who tried to request asylum. a group of former immigration judges released a statement condemning the return to the program as the "antithesis of fairness."

between 2019 and 2020, trump officials used the remainder mexico policy to force nearly -- remain in mexico policy to force nearly 70,000 asylum-seekers to wait in parts of the country the u.s. government knows are extremely dangerous. a report by human rights first tract more than 1500 murders, kidnappings, rapes, torture, and other attacks on migrants returned to mexico under the policy. this is a man named eduardo, who described how he was kidnapped and held for ransom after he was forced to wait in mexico but he was government. >> a pregnant girl who came with her child laying on the ground. the poor girl cried and cried. we were all traumatized. they had us and they said, whoever doesn't pay us, we will kill you or we will cut your fingers off one by one until your family finds a way to pay us. i thought about my son and my

wife who are waiting for me. i left nicaragua to save my life and i almost lost it here. amy: president biden initially halted trump's remain in mexico program shortly after he took office in february, fulfilling a campaign promise. but he kept in place trump's title 42 policy, allowing the u.s. to continue mass expelling asylum seekers without due process, citing the pandemic as justification. this is biden speaking in december. pres. biden: it is a matr of setting up the guard rails so we n move in the direction -- i will accomplish what i said i would do, much more humane policy based on family unification. but it requires getting a l in place. it requires getting funding in place, including just asylum judges, for example. so it is a matter of it will get done and it will get time quickly, but it not going to be able to be done on day one. >> what would you sd immigration advocates who say maybe you're possibly dragging your feet, he migh take too long? it sounds like you're saying -- pres. biden: i have never told

him anything i have not done. amy: now the biden administration says it has no choice but to reinstate the remain in mexico program, also called the migrant protection protocols or mpp, after a federal court in texas ordered a revival of the policy as part of a lawsuit brought by texas and missouri. but critics note biden has not just restarted mpp, he has expanded it to include asylum seekers from the entire western hemisphere, including haitians. for more, we are joined by kennji kizuka, the associate director of research & analysis for refugee protection at human rights first. democracy now!democracy now! welcome to. the program just went into effect yesterday. the new remain in mexico program. explain who is forced to stay in mexico and the dangers they face and what biden can do about it. >> thank you so much for having me. that is correct.

the policy remain in mexico which is officially called the migrant protection protocols but has nothing to do with protecting migrants and everything to do with deterring people who are seeking protection from attempting to seek asylum in the united states, it was officially relaunched yesterday and this morning my colleagues are waiting for the first group of asylum-seekers to be sent back to mexico. as you noted in its original iteration, the trump administration used it to return not mexican asylum-seekers who from spanish-speaking countries and later from brazil. this new version that the biden administration announced last week could return asylum-seekers from anywhere in the western hemisphere. of course, we understand that means the admin is considering returning any asylum-seekers, among others, to wait for their asylum procedures and what were quite honestly farcical

immigration court hearings the work that my colleagues and i did over the past few years was largely to track what happened to the people who were returned under moderna remain in mexico most of what we found were humanitarian catastrophe. we tract more than 1500 cases of kidnappings, rapes, torture. unfortunately, two individuals that we know of lost their lives. a salvadoran father, an asylum seeker, was stabbed to death in tijuana, and a young man from cuba, a 19-year-old, was shot to death just a few months ago. it is extraordinarily concerning that the biden administration is not only restarting this policy, but expanding it. a court order does not require the administration to expand the

policy. it certainly does not require the administration to return haitian asylum-seekers to mexico where we know black asylum-seekers face particular determination and violence. it is just extraordinarily concerning what is happening this morning. juan: good you talk about the role of the mexican government in this, whether, one, in terms of its reaction to the remain in mexico policy or its responsibility for providing some kind of security for these asylum-seekers while they await some kind of adjudication other applications? >> the mexican government is an integral part of the remain in mexico policy. he could not have been implemented the first time around and could not have an implemented in this version without the agreement of mexican officials to allow asylum-seekers to be sent back to mexico.

the mexican government has made certain assurances to the biden administration that, for instance, transportation and housing, security will be provided. but frankly, the mexican government doesn't have the capacity or will to ensure the safety of the people who are returned. unfortunately, in the cases that we documented of people who were kidnapped, assaulted, mexican officials -- police, military, immigration officials -- were often complicit in those attacks or at some point themselves directly causing them. so it does not appear the biden administration can, through his cooperation and agreement with mexico, guarantee the safety of the people who are returned. we have already heard from some order cities, the mayor of tijuana for example, has that the city is just up or t receive any more asylum-seekers. in part because so many are

already waiting in these border cities because the biden administration has continued to use california to block asylum request at ports of entry, and that has made many asylum-seekers are working -- putting month and month for the initial opportunity to ask for some. they have no capacity to take in for asylum-seekers. frankly, the shelters themselves are not say places, either. we have documented many instances in which attacks, rapes have happened inside shelters are just outside them. there just isn't any way to safely were humanely implement this remain in mexico policy. juan: what are we talking about in terms of the size of the populations now that are in these cameras or shelters on the mexican side of the border? >> during the presidential campaign, dr. jill biden visited the in camera that had grown up in the city of matamoros across

from brownsville. at that point, there were maybe 2000 people in that camp. i think it led the biden campaign to really condemn remain in mexico, to say publicly it was inhumane and commit to ending it. unfortunately, the biden administration's policies, the use of title 42, and now this remain in mexico restart, have generated themselves these kinds of informal encampments. we see a massive cap and tijuana, another in reynosa, where thousands of people are sleeping outdoors in terrible conditions and exposed to the dangers of being kidnapped or raped, assaulted. we continue to track these instances. in the last year alone, even without remain in mexico, with just the title 42 policy in place, we have been able to track more than 7000 attacks

against asylum-seekers who were stranded in mexico. we don't know how many people are going to be returned under remain in mexico this time around stop but as you noted, last time there were 70,000 people placed in the program and they had to wait for months and months for the hearings. this created major humanitarian disaster because there were so many people who were forced to remain in these dangerous places with really nowhere safe to go. amy: didn't a federal judge instructed biden administration stop using title 42, yet their continuing it? we're not talking about mexicans. they can't stop mexicans from coming in. these are non-mexicans. >> the remain in mexico policy only applies to non-mexican migrants and asylum-seekers, but the title 42 policy applies to anyone from anywhere in the world. so the biden administration, like the tribe administration,

have been expelling mexicans, central americans, haitians, people from many countries to mexicond some cases to the countries they were fleeing directly, nicaragua, haiti, guatemala. the biden administration is true, they are under court order with respect to remain in mexico , but the court -- in the case that was challenging title 42, should order the biden administration to stop using title 42 to expel families. the biden administration in that instance chose to appeal the decision. they have continued to fight those decisions. there's no court order in place that requires the biden administration to use title 42, for example. these are deliberate choices the administration has made to continue to block people from being able to request asylum at ports of entry and they're using them to expel people in places whether lives are in danger.

amy: kennji kizuka, thank you for being with us, associate director of research & analysis for refugee protection at human rights first. coming up, we will look at how the nation's first supervised drug injection sites have open a new york in a bid to fight the rise of overdose deaths. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. officials in new york city say nine lives have been saved so far after the opening of two new supervised illegal drug injection sites. a government approved facilities are the first of their kind in the u.s. they come as u.s. overdose deaths topped 100,000 during the first year of the pandemic. locations offer clean needles and can administer the opioid reversal medication called naloxone as well as provide medical care and drug dependency treatment option. advocates have long fought for better and safer resources for people with addiction.

there are now over 120 drug injection sites operating worldwide. for more, we're going -- we are joined by kassandra frederique, executive director of the drug policy alliance, a national nonprofit fighting to end the war on drugs. welcome to democracy now! explain what is happening at these sites. these are illegal drug injection sites that are approved by new york city, the first in the country. >> thank you so much for having me. these overdose prevention centers are places where people are already publicly injecting, we are incentivizing them to come to these places so they can sit down, learned strategies are bound injection that really rece the harms that come with injection, that are able to have conversations about e substances they are using, and use under the supervision of other people. part of the reason why this issue is so urgent is because

our drug supply is been adulterated with fennel. when this happens in the drug supply is contaminated, we are in a situation where people are using and overdosing faster and we are getting more deaths. that is part of the reason while we are seen such a search. with these overdoserevention centers, people are able to use under supervision, therefore someone is overdosg, there is a greater chance -- people will be able to revive them. what i wld offer is the latest, 15 people have been seen in the six days the centers been opened in willacy that increasing. juan: i want to ask about the implications of the epidemic of overdose deaths in nation is undergoing now. back in the 1970's, i think

richard nixon started -- launched his war on drugs in 1971, back then during the heroin epidemic, i think the total number of overdose deaths in any one year back in the 1970's was about 7000. and in the 1980's at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic, the largest number of overdose deaths was less than 9000 in any one year. now we're dealing with 100,000 in 12 month period according to the cdc, 10 times the number of people dying from drug overdose deaths now than back in the 1970's and 1980's. the implications of that republic out and in terms of how government policy is shaped. >> yeah, this is an incredibly important point. i think the thing we point to is the role of criminalization plays in exacerbating the public

health crisis. the explosion of mass incarcation, the consistent policies that focus on control as opposed to public health have only exacerbated the issues that we are in right now. if we think about the heroin crisis in th1970's and the role of methadone, we think about how restrictive it , the lack o access to new medications and the racial disparities about who h access, we recognize this moment isolicy-created. ou policies have put us in the situation. we are really in a moment where these prevention centers are about us creating more tools for us to deal with the problems that our decision-makers have created. juan: in terms of the demographics of the drug overdose situation, obviously, back in the 1970's and 1980's, it was largely within the inner cities among african-americans

and latinos most of now this epidemic started really in the rural areas and has moved into the cities, hasn't it? largely started first along working-class and poor whites and now increasingly into the black and brown communities as well? >> i think it has been more of a mix. it has been rural white folks that have been suffering from overdoses, but i think part of the reason why you have seen the marshalingf resourceis because this was also hitting middle class well resourced white folks. that is what is the government and the status quo to respond because there is a class as well as race implication happening, which has marshaled the kind of response thayou have seen. what we're seeing now is there is a dramatic increase of the overdose crisis hitting black and latino communities in this country. in fact, in w york ere we have open the overdose centers,

e blacks have had the highest rate of overdose. the largest increase in rates between 2019 and 2020. so we're seeing such a dramatic increase. sties have shown where ohio, new york where the highest overdosed rates, increases ppening among bck community's. their multiple states -- there was another study that showed washington, d.c., illinois, wisconsin, minnesota, these places, the black opioid debts happened where the white folk. it is important to understand -- this is what history shows. there's no crisis happening in the united states that -- if

white folks start to t impacted, we will see a dramatic increase. the thing we are pushing for is usually when that happens, the pendulum swings rapidly to black criminalization. we are seeing that at the federal level but the biden administration continued to push criminalizion of fentanyl. we as advocates know when that happens, public health push will reseed and kernel as nation will take its place. this wordpress to have a conversation about how we need to get public health at the center and at the forefronof our strategy in order to make suree do not continue the policies that put us under this position in the first place. amy: can you talk about where we stand in the world? consumption spaces had been in other places in the world. around 120 sites operating around the world. here in new york, we have these first legal injection sites.

now boston, san francisco, washington state all considering this, the state spaces away from police and incarceration. talk about how this contributes to ending the war on drugs. >> we want to keep people alive. the war on drugs is a war on people. in order for us to actually win, we need our love was to be here, and that includes who use drugs. i want to be clear, these are the first sanctioned centers. people who use drugs have been fighting strategies to keep themselves alive for very long time. this comes out of a deep history and strategy of ha reduction. people who use drugs for the first people pushing for giving peop who use drugs clean equip like sterile syringes. they have operating these kinds of places for a long time to help save each other. this is us moving to help them

to bring this out from the underground to make sure we can create an infusion of resources and press to actually have conversations about what it i we need to keep our loved ones safe. often times when we have these conversations, people are focusing on we want to g people to stop using drugs. we want people to turn back to our lives. what we have consistently heard from people who use drugs is they said they need to slow down around them. overdose prevention centers give us the opportunity to get people who use drugs the resources and the time and the consultation to look at the choices they make, create the conneions they want, and slow down the aos that comes with criminalization. amy: we have five seconds. i want to thank you -- go ahead >> thankou. i would offer this is an opportunity for us to look at how do we center around those who need drugs a listen to them and create resources that

are anchored in that. amy: kassandra frederique, executive director of drug policy alliance. we hope you'll join us tonight for the virtual celebration marking our 25th anniversary at 8:00 p.m. eastern time at democracynow.org. we will be speaking with several