08/10/22 08/10/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> in five days we have identified 51-year-old muhammad syed's a person who perpetrated at least the two crimes on rhode island and cornell southeast. >> our community has lost others, uncles, husbands, and beloved friends. an albuquerque new mexico, police have arrested a primary

suspect in the recent killings of four muslim and. we will get an update from muslim community activist samia assed who organized a memorial for the victims last night at the islamic center of new mexico. did the fbi recently raided property since st. louis, missouri, and st. petersburg, florida, tied to the african people's socialist party as the justice department and dies a russian man w they accuse of using u.s.-based groups to spread russian propaganda. we will speak with african people's socialist party founder omali yeshitela whose home was raided. >> they see in the african people's party, and vanguard for the struggle for the liberation of our people. they see that because not just what we do here in united states but because we have the temerity to do like malcolm and take the struggle of black people around the world. amy: the bed and -- the biden

administration says it has ended the remainder mexico policy that forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait and mexico assert cases made their way through u.s. courts. >> now that the injunction has been lifted and the biden administration has expressed its intent to end the remainder mexico program, we demand they do so immediateland in an orderly way to disenrolling one who continues to be and remain mexico out of that program and is able to face their immigration cases from u.s. amy: we will speak with efrén olivares of the southern poverty law center and get an update on children and parents who represented at the border after they were separated under trump's zero tolerance policy. he writes about them and his own story in "my boy will die of sorrow: a memoir of immigration from the front lines." all that and more, coming up.

primaries were held tuesday in wisconsin, minnesota, vermont, and connecticut. in wisconsin, the millionaire construction magnate tim michels won the republican gubernatorial primary. he was endorsed by donald trump, defeated rebecca kleefisch, who had the backing of trump's former vice president mike pence. michels will face wisconsin governor tony evers in november. if elected, michels has vowed to abolish the bipartisan wisconsin elections commission. meanwhile, wisconsin lieutenant governor mandela barnes easily won the democratic senate primary after several of his opponents dropped out. barnes would become wisconsin's first black u.s. senator if he defeats republican incumbent ron johnson in november. mandela barnes spoke at a victory rally on tuesday night. >> will continue to fight for

good paying jobs that you can raise a family on. i am here to tell you together we will move forward to protect the rights of so many people, the fight summit people have been involved in before we got here, ke the right to vote. and the right for you to make your own decisions about your own bodies. amy: in minnesota, congressmember ilhan omar has survived a primary challenge from former minneapolis city councilmember don samuels who criticized omar's calls to defund the police. in other news from minnesota, kim crockett has won the republican primary for secretary of state. crockett is an election denier who has called the 2020 election rigged. and in vermont, becca balint won the democratic primary for vermont's sole congressional seat.

balint, who is the leader of the vermont's state senate, defeated vermont's lieutenant governor molly gray. balint had been endorsed by bernie sanders. if she wins in november, balint will become the first woman and the first woman and the first openly lgbt person to represent vermont in congress. vermont democrat peter welch, who currently serves in the house, easily won the democratic senate primary in his bid to replace retiring senator patrick leahy. welch will face republican gerald malloy in november. an attorney for former president donald trump says fbi agents took about a dozen boxes of material from trump's mar-a-lago estate on monday while executing a search warrant. few new details have emerged about the id as republican lawmakers called on the fbi and justice department to publicly answer the questions about the unprecedented raid. trump is believed to be in a possession of a list of what was taken from his property, but he

has not made this public. according to multiple news organizations, the raid focused on recovering documents trump illegally removed from the white house last year. on tuesday, white house press secretary karine jean-pierre said president biden only learned about the raid from public reports. >> the justice department conducts investigations independently, and we leave any law enforcement matters to them. it would not be appropriate for us to comment on any ongoing investigations. a make of this comes as donald trump is expected to be deposed today by lawyers from the office of new york attorney general the tisha james as part of a probe into the trump organization's financial practices. republican congressmember scott perry says fbi agents seized his cellphone on tuesday morning while he was traveling with his family. perry is the chair of the house freedom caucus and was a key backer of trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. he has so far refused to testify

before the house january 6 committee. in june, federal agents also seized the phone of attorney john eastman who had advised trump on ways he could stay in office after losing the election. at least one person died after a series of large explosions at a russian military airbase in crimea. russia claims the explosions were caused by an accidental detonation of ammunition. ukrainian officials have not publicly commented on the explosions but an unnamed ukrainian military official told "the new york times" that pro-ukrainian forces were behind the blast. in an address on tuesday night, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy did not discuss what happened at the russian air base but he called for crimea to be returned to ukraine. russia annexed crimea in 2014. secretary of state tony blinken is in rwanda today after stops in the democratic republic of congo and south africa.

blinken's trip comes just weeks after russian foreign minister sergei lavrov visited egypt, uganda, ethiopia, and the republic of congo. some analysts say the two trips have echoes of the cold war as washington and moscow attempt to increase their influence on africa. while in south africa, blinken criticized russia's invasion of ukraine. earlier this year, south africa joined many other nations in abstaining from a united nations vote condemning the invasion. during a press conference with blinken, the south africa's foreign minister said she would like to see an end to the war but criticized how international law is not fairly enforced. >> we believe all principles that are germane to the united nations charter and international humanitarian law must be upheld for all countries, not just some. as much as the people of ukraine

deserve their territory and freedom, the people of palestine deserve their territory and freedom. amy: israeli forces killed two palestinians on tuesday in the occupied west bank. this according to the group defense for children. on tuesday, israeli forces shot dead 16-year-old hussein jamal hussein taha in nablus. then in the early evening, israeli forces shot dead 16-year-old momen yasin mohammad joude jaber north of hebron. this comes just days after israel killed 16 children during three days of attacks on the gaza strip. in other news from the region, and israeli bus company has apologized after a bus driver ordered 50 palestinian workers off a bus near tel aviv last week. the driver ordered the palestinians off the bus after three jewish passengers got on and refused to travel with the palestinians. the bus company claims one of the jewish passengers threatened to driver and claimed he was a

transport ministry official. in new mexico, police have arrested a 51-year-old man named muhammad syed with murdering two muslim men in albuquerque. he is also suspected in the killing of two other muslim men. the four deaths have stunned the muslim community in new mexico. police are still trying to determine a motive. in a news release, the department said a "interpersonal conflict may have led to the shooting." we will have more on this story after headlines. in nebraska, a mother and her teenage daughter have been charged with felonies after the mother helped her daughter obtain a medication abortion. authorities built their case in part on private facebook messages between the mother and daughter which were obtained through a warrant. investigators also obtained the teenager's medical records. authorities say the teenager, who was 17 at the time, broke the law by getting an abortion

after 20 weeks. the mother and daughter are also accused of burning and burying the fetus. the teenager is being charged as an adult at the request of prosecutors. in california, a group of asian-american residents have filed a class-action lawsuit against the sheriff and other officials in siskiyou county in northern california. the lawsuit accuses the officials of a "sweeping campaign to harass and intimidate hmong and other asian americans." according to the lawsuit, 28% of drivers pulled over by the county last year were asian american even though they make up just 2% of the county's adult population. the lawsuit also alleges asian-americans were 25 times more likely to be searched during traffic stops than white drivers. in other news from california, the los angeles city council has voted to ban encampments for unhoused people near schools and daycare. the vote came after a dramatic

meetg where twprotesters were arrested as they denounced the council's vote. a jury in california has convicted a former worker at twitter of spying for saudi arabia by providing the kingdom private information about saudi dissidents. prosecutors accused the man, ahmad abouammo, of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from a close aide of saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman in exchange for information about certain twitter account holders. one saudi aid worker who ran a satirical twitter account was later abducted by the secret saudi police, tortured, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. president biden has signed a $280 billion package to support the u.s. semiconductor industry. pres. biden: i am signing the law that chips & site.

once in a generation investment in america itself. allow the american people can be proud of. amy: the chips act will provide more than $76 billion in subsidies to corporations that produce semiconductor chips in the united states. vermont independent senator bernie sanders opposed the bill saying it is a form corporate welfare for a handful of wealthy high-tech companies. and in news from mississippi, a grd jury has declined to indict carolyn bryant donham for her role in the lynching of emmett till nearly 70 years ago. till was the 14-year-old black teenager who was brutally abducted, tortured, and killed in mississippi in 1955 after he allegedly whistled at donham, a white woman who worked as a store clerk. her husband and his half-brother were tried for till's murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. earlier this year, a team

searching for evidence in the emmett till case found an unserved warrant charging donham in his kidnapping. on tuesday, emmett till's cousin and best friend the reverend wheeler parker, jr. responded to the news by saying -- "the fact remains that the people who abducted, tortured and murdered emmett did so in plain sight and our american justice system was and continues to be set up in such a way that they could not be brought to justice for their heinous crimes." 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 democracy now! 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: we begin today's show in albuquerque, new mexico, where police say they've arrested a primary suspect in the recent killings of four muslim men

in the city. the suspect himself is a muslim man. this comes after the body of naeem hussain was found late earlier this month, just hours after he attended the funerals of pakistani immigrants muhammed afzaal hussain and aftab hussein at the islamic center of new mexico. those two were killed the week before in what police described as separate ambush-style shootings. a fourth south asian muslim man, mohammad ahmadi, was killed in november. since the murders, many members of the muslim community say th've been afraid to go outside. albuquerque police deputy commander kyle hartsock gave an update on the arrest at a news conference tuesday afternoon. >> july 2022 late at night, aftab hussein was found shot to death. on august 1, late at night, muhammad afzaal hussain was found dead not tofar away off cornell southeast. the homicide unit and the crime

scene team started noticing similarities between these cases . we were able to relate the casings found on both of the scenes that were likely fired from theame firearm. we quick started looking at other cases that could be similar in identified there might ba really active public threat, someone targeting a ceain community for reasons unknown or certain persons for reasons unknown. five days ago we came to the public to ask for help. in five days we have identified 51-year-old muhammad syed as the personho perpetrated at least the two crimes on ode island and cornel southeast. we continue to investigate the other crimes closely with the district attorney's office and the federal prosecutors office. what we can tell you is a tip from the community helped lead us to this subject. what helped us eventually find the car we put out just two days ago to the public. amy: police say muhammad syed is originally from afghanistan. and that "interpersonal

conflict" may have led to the shootings. congressmember melanie stansbury, whose district includes albuquerque, remembered one of the victims, muhammad afzaal, who had worked as a field organizer for her campaign. >> he was kind, hopeful, optimistic. a city planner who believed in democracy and social change and believed we could in fact build a brighter future for our communities and for our world. our community has lost brothers my father's come husbands, uncles, and beloved friends. amy: hundreds attended a memorial tuesday night at the islamic center of new mexico, albuquerque's longest standing and largest moue, which at least three of the victims had attended. this is ahmad assed, president of t center. >> my astonishment forhe community -- i can't put enough

words to tell you how shocked we were and how much this community has suffered as a result of the killings and how we just can't make heads or tails of it. we are still in a very surreal time trying to make sense of the senseless killings that we have suffered. amy: for more, we go to albuquerque to speak with samia assed, human rights activist and organizer who was the host of the memorial at the islamic center of new mexico last night. she is the former board chair of the city of albuquerque's human rights board. samia, we first met you when democracy now! covered the 2017 women's march in washington, d.c., and you were part of the new mexico delegation. our deepest condolences to you and your community. you have said this has been one of the hardest weeks of your life. can you tell us what you

understand so far about these four murders and the arrest of a suspect yesterday, muhammad syed? >> i do recall the 2017 interview. yes, yesterday's happenings, reports we got from the apd and the city officials were exactly as you reported. there was no new additional information. needless to say, it was shocking to all of us. we did have a sigh of relief there was some kind of closure. the community was in fear and terrified. we are still in shock and figuring out the details as we speak right now. juan: samia assed, at the

memorial last night, both the governor of new mexico and the mayor of albuquerque spoke. how are local officials, how have they been responding to these tragedies in your community? >> they've been very helpful. they have been available to the community, ready to support as in any capacity and as you saw yesterday at the memorial, their presence was extremely important to lift the spirits of the community that has been devastated, quite frankly. amy: you knew the men. did you know all four of them? can you tell us about them? you have this funeral on friday of two of the men and and right after that, one of the men who attended their funerals was gunned down. >> i knew two of the victims,

mohammad ahmadi who was the store owner. i knew of him. i had been to his market. he was a nice, nice gentleman. a friend of ours, just such a gentle, gentle soul. for me as a community organizer to have another muslim man who was deeply in touch with the needs of the community and was ready and doing the good work of civil engagement and engaging his community, he believed in a brighter future and he was taken away way too soon. it is a tremendous loss for us. i was devastated, needless to say. i knew him throughout organizing.

my son who was a senator at unm worked closely with him as mohammed was also there. you can imagine the interactions that would not in the community. this was very personal. it was close and near to all of us. yes, it rattled us. the loss was really hard on s. it is a lot for the community. amy: i want to turn to the albuquerque police chief harold medina who vowed to increase the presence of police in the muslim communy. >> the albuquerque police department will continue to be visible in the muslim community in the days to come and throughout the weeks to ensure they feel safe and they have time to come back to a normal life. amy: are you concerned at all now that they say they have the primary suspect come about the

increased presence of police -- it was also announced the fbi -- in the muslim community of new mexico? >> surveillance in the post september world for the muslim community is always a concern, but in this case, it was needed. i am thankful chief medina has reassured the muslim community by safeguarding the community. we needed it. we are such a small community my 3000 to 4000 muslims within the city of albuquerque, to have this sequence -- a number of community members that have been murdered, like i said, i think the community needs assistance from the city in really putting at ease many of the muslim community. as a result of what happened in

the last week, which was a really, really heavy week to my ople were not leaving their homes. school starts today. people were afraid of sending kids. we need to get back to normal, to the normal, whatever normal we have. the presence helps ease new mexican muslims and new mexicans at large, helps put them at ease, then it serves a purpose. i think this day and age, it absolutely helps, for sure put the community at ease. juan: i was going to ask about that because initial fears, obviously, were these horrific killings were the result of some sort of anti-muslim hate crimes. when you hear the news that the

main suspect or the person charged is a member of the muslim community, how do you deal with that? >> it was hard. it was really shocking. i was at home when i got the news. i first was really relieved we got the suspect but it felt almost to me personally. it took me back to the september 11 moment when it was like, oh, gosh, i wanted to hide under a rock kind of situation. but it is devastating. it is shocking. it is surreal. we don't know what to make of it, right? we never expected it to be from us, even though we were open to all scerios. a lot of people were thinking it was a hate crime. it was a common denominator in the conversation based on the

islamaphobic attacks on the community across the nation, post september 11. we have been targeted. election season nears, that is also a worry. it is still a worry but with the perpetrator being muslim, i just want to say violence is not exclusive to the muslim community. it can happen in any community and it should not be a judgment call on who we are and how we move forward. we will address all of how we unify the community and that is exactly where we are and how we plan to move forward is real certifying -- solidifying relationships and part of that was with the memorial yesterday

to bring it back to the base. the community here in albuquerque. at the icnm, all my life it has always been a diverse group of ethnicities, a diverse group of religious sects. we never had that divide and we don't intend to have that divide . again, as hard as it is, we are going to get through this. amy: samia assed, again, all of our condolences. human rights activist and organizer in albuquerque and a member of the islamic center of new mexico. next up, the fbi recently rated properties in st. louis, missouri, and st. petersburg, florida, tied to the african people's socialist party as the justice department indicts a russian man who they accuse of using u.s.-based groups to spread russian propaganda. we will speak with the african

people's socialist party founder omali yeshitela, whose home was raided. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

and beco this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we turn to look at t fbi raing several propeies in late julyn st. louis, missouri, and st. petersburg, florida, that are tied to the african people's socialist party, which leads the uhuru movement. the pan-afrinist group has been a longtime advocate f reparations for slavery and a vocal critic of u.s. foreign policy. the raids came as the justice department indicted a russian man living overseas named aleksandr ionov, who they accuse of using u.s.-based groups to spread russian propaganda.

the groups were not named in the indictment but reportedly include the african people's socialist party. one of the fbi rai targeted the home of omali yeshitela, the founder of the african people's socialist party. he accused the fbi of targeting the group for its political work. he joins us now from st. louis. welcome back to democracy now! we actually spoke to you first about a quart of a century ago in 1996 when democracy now! just began. can you go back to the end of july and talk about what happened? talk about that day of the raid. where were you? >> my wife and i were awake. we were sitting at the dining room table discussing how we were going to be moving for the day. she is responsible -- has organized a program to change african -- train african young women in becoming doulas in city

where enough lack navies guy to fill 15 kindergarten -- black babies die enough to fill 15 kindergarten classes. i was prepared to go to the gym and then we heard this loud racket outside, this noise from loudspeakers demanding the residents of this property should come out with our hands up and nothing in our hands. as this was being said, a loud flashbangs grenades were exploding all around the house. i asked her to allow me to leave first and to get on the phone to call people to let them know we were being raided. she tried but was unable to do it because they had jammed our phones. i went down the stairwell and when i got to the bottom of the

stairwell, these laser dots from automatic weapons were bouncing off my chest. i heard the commands to move toward them, toward the light. there is a large armored vehicle in front of our house. camouflage-clad troopers, fbi agents, and i don't know who else with flak jackets and automatic weapons. my wife followed me down and on her way down, a drone pastor had going up the stairwell into the house. so i went outside and was zip tied at the side of the house. i don't know how many fbi agents there were but there were a lot of them most of a lot of different vehicles. my wife came downstairs. she was handcuffed behind her back. i'm asking them, why, what is

going on. they said they had a search warrant for my house. i asked them to see the search warrant. they conveniently did not have it on them, but it was somewhere in the vicinity and they would get it. we were told to sit on the curb, which we did not comply with. they said, well you can sit in the backseat of the car. i said, i don't to sit anywhere, i want to leave. i don't want you here, i don't want to be here with you. why are you here? why are you tacking my house? they took my cell phone. they said we were there because later that morning there was going to be in indictment out of tampa, florida, against russian national and should he come to the u.s., he would be arrested and somehow my name was involved in this indictment. so that was the basis they gave for the arrest.

i did not know it at that time, but across town one of our officers was being attacked. this is an an officer of the people's party. upstairs are two residents, white people who were also handcuffed at guoint. they h alreadynocked o the windsn the use -- imy hous they hnock se doors loose fr t hinge they had comto the bk stairwl and ud flashbg grenades in threar of my house, plaster all over everytng. days after the h done wh appeartos w to have been a test run with -- on july 2 with someone pulling into the parking lot in broad daylight and from his trunk pulling a military

grade flamethrower to torch the red, black, and green flag that was on this 50 foot flagpole. this had occurred come fbi, homeland, local police came out and refused to charge the guy with anything except some kind of misdemeanor, miss jeff. they refused to characterize it as arson. trying to understand that initially clearly suggested to us it was not just some casual guy who just happen to have a flamethrower in his trunk who did not like us who did this, but the state was somehow involved. then 27 days later, there was an attack on that same building come the same building rather that you referenced we came under attack in 1996 with 300

local county estate, and federal forces. so it is the same building. this time they did not say anything about russians or indictments. in fact, nobody was arrested. they used all the teargas they had against us. clearly, we have been targeted. they stole cell phones. they stole laptops. they stole ipads. they stole something like 40 years of archives we have in that building in st. petersburg, florida, the history of our movement come our party, and the struggle there in st. petersburg. they also detained -- they went to the residence of a young woman who oversees most of our communications work. they told her someone was breaking into her car to draw her out of the house. at that time, they forced their

way into her car as she opened it to check it. they stole her cell phone. she is one of those persons who was also so-called unindicted co-conspirator along with me and to others. we are waiting for the other shoe to drop. juan: this is an astounding ory. for those of us who are familiar with the radical movement and black and red community's in the united states, the african people's socialist party has been in existence for more than 40 years. it is -- it arose out of the black community and is one of the few organizations that has consistently maintained an anticapitalist come socialist, and internationalist perspeive. and suddenly you're being accused of being pawns of the russian government? what sense can you make of this

attack? >> i think what we are experiencing -- by the way, may was 50 years of existence for the african socialist party. you're right, i was asncc organizer. we came out of the whole civil rights movement. we are dealing with the fact the united states is facing crisis where there's this uncontested -- it is been perceived by much of the world and i think rightly so as losing its grip on the world. having suffered humiliation and saudi arabia, the country that biden had said he was going to turn to some kind of a pariah and then findings of slinking over or slithering over russia's say, fist bumping the prince.

the african people's socialist party -- i want to invite you and all of your listers to come and see the work we're doing in st. louis. we are transforming the most oppressive african community. when they came to our house, they came -- it is the most depressed economically depressed , politically neglected place in st. louis. we have transformed much of that. our party has in pulling the people to active political work to change that community. we have brought basketball courts where there were none. we built it ourselves. no city government, no help. we initiated the doula program where 20 young african women, even as we were being attacked, this was happening. we have created programs for

african men and women leaving prison, workforce program. we have bought properties, opening a bakery café to train people coming out of prisons and a culinary arts and things like this. we about properties to house them once they get out. this is our work. when i say our work, work we've been doing for 50 years as a party and i've been doing for nearly 60 years is about the liberation of black people. i want to be clear on that. the government is clear on that. they use russia, they use this nonsense even at a time where we are seeing white people scaling the walls of the capitol threatening to kill the vice president, the feet on the desk of nancy pelosi and you talk about we have some role under the russians of contaminating this pristine elections that happened in this country? i am in a state where the guy who's running for senate, one of his most controversial if you

will campaign advertisements -- videos, has him smashing through a door just like the fbi smashed through our doors, camouflage people, him stepping in with an automatic weapon saying he is going rhino hunting. we are contaminating and undermining elections and in this country? we are responsible for discrediting the united states around the world? it is the most ridiculous, asinine issue. the african people's socialist party are busy all over the world. we are throughout the caribbean and west africa. we are there in the slums and places -- township in south africa. we are a problem -- we are throughout the caribbean as an

organization. the u.s. has identified three strategic enemies and one of them clearly as russia and the other is china. very dangerous, serious situation. in africa is one. for the first time in the 246 year history of the u.s. marines, put forth their first four-star black general and given him the job of presiding over africa command. the organization from the u.s. military to control and contain africa that finds itself it says in the context with dutch contest with russia and china and black people in africa. that is why you have the first black secretary of defense they call him in its history. africa is an enemy and blood people, if you remember, 1969, the guy declare the black panther party was the greatest threat to the united states. it was dealing with international affairs and did not have the kind of organizational presence we have

throughout the african world, so that is why we came under attack. it is an attack on the right of black people, on our struggle for the absolute total liberation of every grand avenue africa and unification long with the african people around the world in solidarity with oppressed and colonized people. juan: omali, you mentioned russia identified as a prime into me of the united states. what do you know about this guy aleksandr ionov, the one who supposedly you are a co-conspirator with an these allegations he has been spawning with others dissident movements within the united states? >> i don't know if the russians are spawning dissident movements in the united states. i just of the african people's socialist party, we are 50 years old. we are on the same trajectory we have always been. i find it extremely problematic for suggesting somehow the

russians, we needed the russians to tell us -- it fits into the whole narrative about colonized people and black people being too stupid to say our own future and control our own affairs that we need somebody to come and tell us america's trading is bad. that george floyd did not happen. it wasn't the murder of mike brown that brought the african people's socialist party into ferguson, st. louis, that somehow the russians had something to do with this is asinine. there are some things i will not talk about in terms of still pulling together legal forces to deal with this because -- they mentioned they took laptops and cell phones and other devices like that, but they took a lot more. they took years and years of communications with various people that we have had around the world and throughout this country. they have texts, emails, constructing some narrative that will defend what it is they have

done. they have created a political offensive against us and they're using the law -- constructing a case using the law to punish us for what they cannot characterize as a political crime most of the political criminal in this instance is the united states government. i won't say too much about that aspect of it except to say it is a bogus charge. it is a ridiculous charge. anybody can see our history -- there is the assumption somehow somebody paid us to say something about genocide against african people. 1950's, black people into the united states charging genocide. 1982, held our first tribunal in the world on reparations of black people with international jurors playing a role. we basted on international law. one aspect of that was the u.n.

convention on the punishment and prevention of the crime of genocide. we did that. this is the time the united states had not even ratified the genocide convention. amy: just to be clear, you have not been charged with anything. they raided your house, handcuff you and your wife, used flashbang grenades but you are not charged with anything. >> we have not been charged yet. we expect indictment. we expect also and attempt to separate people from these incredible programs that we have been doing and much of this has been done, by the way, facilitated by white people who voluntarily pay reparations to the african community through us. we have 130 some odd organizations, organizers, 130 cities to say this leadership is functioning in 30 states. so they have not charged us yet, but that is the thing hanging over our heads.

we are convinced part of this also is to represent -- terrorize people, you can't communicate with us because -- to keep people from supporting the programs we are doing and now we have to spend money buying communications capacity, you know, videos and laptops and things like that. and to get lawyers. because this thing about unindicted co-conspirators provides them an opportunity anytime they want to to file these charges. we expect indictments to come. amy: and if you would mind, your age? >> i will be 81 in october. amy: can respond to the raid on mar-a-lago? some of your properties in st. petersburg were also raided, also in florida. >> i have not heard a single -- anything about flashbang grenades going off at trump's place. i'm not heard about flashbang

grenades or any of those people climbing the walls of the capitol. the fact is the fbi is being used by a political instrument and certainly that happen with us and i cannot speak to the former president of united states is up to say there's always contest happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country and if they could, lump us into their bead, their struggles. we are fighting for the liberation of black people, unification of africa and we are not going to stop. amy: omali yeshitela, thank you for being with his, chairman of the african people's socialist party located in st. louis , missouri, set up their after -- well, it was eight years ago yesterday when michael brown was killed by police. when we come back, an update on how the biden administration says it is officially ending the trump era remain a mexico party.

also, how many children are still separated from their parents, separated by the trump administration. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "heat wave" martha and the

vandellas, co-written and co-produced by lamont dozier. he died monday at the age of 81. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the biden administration said monday it is officially ending the contested trump-era "remain in mexico" policy and will no longer force asylum seekers to wait in mexico while their cases are resolved in u.s. courts. over months and years. the announcement came just hours after a judge lifted an injunction, in effect since december, blocking biden officials from terminating the program, formally known as the mpp, the migrant protection protocols. the supreme court ruled in june the biden administration had the authority to end the policy. some 70,000 asylum seekers were subjected to mpp from january 2019 to january 2021 -- when president biden suspended the policy fulfilling a campaign promise. but a federal court in texas last december ordered the administration to restart the

program after legal challenges from texas and missouri. since then, nearly 6000 more asylum seekers were enrolled in mpp. this is an asylum seeker from nicaragua who was living at a border camp in matamoros, mexico, in 2020. >> i know this is not the ideal place for any child, for any teenager. but while we are here, we're are doing our best. to save them from mental health problems. sometimes the sadness is overwhelming but you have to stay strong. i want my granddaughters to have a better future. amy: well for re, we're joined by efrén olivares, deputy legal director at the southern poverty

law center's immigrant justice project. his new book is "my boy will die of sorrow: a memoir of immigration from the front lines." welcome back to democracy now! if you can talk about the significance of the end of mpp and then we want to ask about the separation of children and how many are still separated. >> good morning. thank you for hang me. the end of mpp is a long time coming. we were pleased to see the administration suspended the program right at the beginning of the biden administration. unfortunately, litigation and the courts got in the way and have prevented it from fully winding down the program. in fact, the administration was forced to enroll people in mpp. now the district court -- there's nothing stopping the biden administration from promptly and orderly disenrolng everyone whis in mpp and allowing them to face

their proceedings from the united states where they will have access to counsel, the abilitto gather evidence, present that evidence, and every thing that comes with presenting an immigration or asylum case. juan: you worked legally on behalf of many immigrant families that were separated under the zero tolerance policy former president trump. what is the status withhose separated families today? >> well, it varies. some families have been reunited. many are litigating their cases against the government as a resultf that policy, which remarkably, the biden administration is defending in court. there dozens of lawsuits still ongoing and the biden administration is defending trump policies trump administration officials. some famils, unfornately come are so separated. some children are still in the

u.s. either with relatives or in the foster care system and some parents were deported to their home countries and have not been located. not every family has been reunited. some never will, unfortunately. juan: also, the biden administration still enforcing the title 42 pandemic policy. nearly 2 million asylum were expelled without due process as result of title 42. what do you see happening with that policy in the future? >> well, now the cdc and a host of scientists and public health experts have confirmed there is noublihealth justification for title 42 expulsions. unfortunately, the ending of title 42 has also been soft in litigation. the administration has said multiple times it end intends to end the policy but the court

prevents it doing so. we see in congress there was no codification of title 42. as the administration continues to litigate that against texas and other states, we look forward to having a science-based policy around the pandemic as well as a common sense immigration and asylum policies so those seeking safety and it is country have any orderly way to do so. amy: i want to go to a clip -- as you said, represented many of the separated families at the border and have spoken about this over the years on democracy now! as you write about in your book "my boy will die of sorrow: a memoir of immigration from the front lines." this is what you write about a day in 2018 in mcallen, texas. he said "i came back to the benson tower standing outside not the corner of 17th an austintreets. i waed as repter set e camera

renee ltz hatraveled fm new rk citto mcall, the firsreporterho reach out to us abo the breng crisis anwe sawhis as a oppouny to bre the story a wider oons, whichas not yeawarof whaweere eing anhearing courtvery day let's goo he intervi i 2018 outsi that feral courthse incallen a ge group prite prin tranort bus bked up behind you. >> these are the buses in which the immigrants, many of whom parents who have had their children taken away come are transported to and from the courthouse probably to a cbp detention facility. the sad thing is that many of those people have children, and many of them were separated this morning before they came to court and were led to believe that when they return to the detention facility, their children are going to be there. but we know that the children will not be there because the

government is separating them. amy:,'s -- it may surprise some to know that some to know that someone thousand children are still separated at this point? i believe when the biden administration came in, they put dr. jill biden overall in charge of reunification. if you can talk about the effect -- in your book, also write about your own experience so many years ago being separated from your family. >> yes. that interview you played, it was before this crisis had made national news and we were struggling tbreak through and make sure the public knew what was really happeni at the border. one of the saddest things is we will probably never know how many families were actually separated, given the government's intentional lack of record-keeping. we will not know. many families were separated and the children ended up in a

shelter for the shelter never knew that child had been traveling with a family, with a parent, father or mother. there was no record-keeping and the children were too little to be able to explain that step we will never be able to truly know how many children were truly separated. as far as the lifelong consequences of that, there's been widespread trauma that experience come of that violence ripping apart and sing a child from his or her mom or dad that audio that leads, that does not convey what this policy caused to children and parents. it is still hard to understand how in this country in 2018 and ongoing it was possible to see such a cruel violation of human rights against children. amy: efrén olivares, we will do a post-show interview with you

and post it online at democracynow.org to hear about your own expense as you write about in your book "my boy will die of sorrow: a memoir of immigration from the front lines." efrén olivares is the deputy legal director at the southern poverty law center's immigrant justice project./ñ/ñ/ñ/ñ/ñ/ñ/ñ/c

(sophie fouron) this little muslim island is stuck between the east african coast and madagascar. it's also a bit stuck between the long walk towards modernity and its very strong traditions. there are many challenges here in grande comore. there is shortage of electricity, everyday, they have shortage of water, the roads are devastated, the infrastructures are old. they have a long way to come, but they are filled with hope and optimisim. people take care of one another here. there is a great deal of