08/19/22 08/19/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> null and void. in our view, there is not legally -- amy: kenya is facing a political crisis after last week's presidential election.

the apparent runner-up refuses to concede as more than half the country's electoral commission resigns to protest how the votes were counted. we will go to nairobi for the latest. then the occupied west bank where israeli forces have raided the offices of sev palestinian civil society groups. >> [audible] our office is now closed due to israel listing this as an unlaul organization, also known as a terrorist and is asian under israeli. amy: we will speak to two groups rated thursday. the no tech for ice. why a group of civil rights groups are suing exes next this

for selling personal information to u.s. immigration authorities. >> organizations fighting for immigrant justice, racial justeprivacy rights, and against criminalization are saying no tech for ice, no data for ice. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. russia has rejected a call by the united nations to create a demilitarized zone around the russian-controlled zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. russia's foreign ministry on thursday called the russian army's occupation of the site in southeastern ukraine a guarantee against a "chernobyl scenario," a reference to the 1986 nuclear catastrophe in northern ukraine. russia's rejection of the deal follows thursday's visit by u.n. secretary-general antonio

gutteres to lviv, in western ukraine, where he met with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy and turkish president recep erdogan. he said fighting by russia and ukraine near the plant risks a worldwide nuclear disaster. >> equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the plant, for the diploma in of forces and equipment must be avoided. the area needs to be demilitarized. any potential damage to several e.g. is suicide. -- zaporizhzhia is suicide. amy:oday guterres is visiting the coastal city of odesa to inspect ain shipments after a u.n.- and turkey-brokered deal guaranteed safe passage to ukrainian ships in the black sea. here in the united states can the justice partmentas bn giveone weeko make public part of the fidavitsed by federal ents to searcdonald

ump'florida me earli this mth. u.s. judgeruce rnhardtuled thsday porons of t affidat should beedacted t that iwas in t interesof the blic andhe mediao unse theocument. the affivit willrovide clu to how the fbi established probable cause in its search of trump's mar-a-lago estate where agents recover 1sets of classifi documen, many of th marked top secret. federal prosecutors probing donald trump's role in the attack on u.s. capitol have sent a grand jury subpoena to the national archives asking for all the documents provided to the house january 6 committee. this comes amidst reports the u.s. secret service failed to inform capitol police about a threat made against speaker nancy pelosi until after the january 6 the tech was underway, according to a new report by citizens for responsibility and

ethics in washington, which cited, communications between law enforcement officials around the time of the insurrection. in texas, the elections a minute straight or of -- elections administrator of gillespie county and her entire staff have quit their posts over death threats, harassment, and incidents of stalking after joe biden's victory in 2020. anissa herrera told a local newspaper -- "after the 2020, i was threatened, i've been stalked, i've been called out on social media. and it's just dangerous misinformation." donald trump one the county by a 59-point margin. here in new york, the trump organization's chief financial officer has pleaded guilty to 15 felony charges of tax evasion and other illicit business practices. allen weisselberg admitted to a judge in lower manhattan thursday he unlawfully took home nearly $1.8 million in off-the-books compensation from the trump family business over a number of years.

those rent-free perks included lease payments for a luxury car, private school tuition for his grandchildren, and free use of a luxury apartment overlooking central park. under terms of a plea deal, weisselberg has agreed to testify as a prosecution witness against the trump organization when it goes on trial in october. however, he did not agree to directly implicate donald trump or members of the trump family. weisselberg was sentenced to five months at new york's notorious rikers island jail, where he's expected to spend as little as 100 days behind bars. to date, more than two dozen people from trump's inner circle have been imprisoned or face criminal indictments. in climate news, china has deployed cloud-seeding airplanes over drought-stricken parts of the country as hundreds of millions of people endure china's longest heatwave on record. this wee china's ministry of water resources ordered planes to drop silver iodide into the clouds over hubei province, where prolonged heat has damaged crops and led pas of the

yangtze river run dry. similar scenes are playing out along rivers in europe, including the rhine, the danube, and the loire in western france, where this week residents visited dry river beds that are normally covered with meters of water. >> it makes me sad. it makes me sad because i grew up in the village and i've never seen the loire like that. before we could fish because the water was not too hot yet. now when we go, it is just algae. all of the fish died or were eaten by the herons. amy: the low river levels have impacted france's 56 nuclear plants, many of which rely on river water to keep their reactors cool. this week french officials granted an exemption to environmental laws to allow nuclear plants to discharge hot water into already-warming local rivers. this comes as europe's glaciers

are experiencing their worst summer melt season on record. scientists with the european commission say this summer's extreme drought could be the continent's worst in 500 years. here in new york, police arrested 10 climate campaigners thursday as they held a peaceful sit-in protest inside the manhattan offices of senate majority leader chuck schumer. the activists are demanding schumer and other democratic leaders reverse fossil fuel-friendly concessions in the recently-passed inflation reduction act. one provision, added to win the support of west virginia democratic senator joe manchin, fast-tracks approval of the mountain valley fracked gas pipeline. another side deal limits public input on major new infrastructure projects while weakening environmental review procedures. this is activist gigi nieson of the group no north brooklyn pipeline. >> making side deals to advance your political agenda with joe

manchin, taking more fossil fuel money than any member of congress, is undemocratic, unjust, and racist because it will take public voices out of the decision-making process, especially those from black, indigenous, and people of color communities. amy: the biden administration says it will add 1.8 million doses of monkeypox vaccine to the u.s. supply as it struggles to contain the largest-ever outbreak of the viral disease outside of africa. last week, the food and drug administration approved a plan to stretch the vaccine supply by administering one-fifth of a normal dose per patient. critics say there's limited data showing whether the strategy will be effective. the u.s. leads the world in confirmed monkeypox cases with over 14,000, more than a third of theorldwide total, though disease experts say the true number of infections is likely far higher. public health data show black men have been disproportionately

affected by monkeypox but are receiving the vaccine at much lower rates than other groups. this comes after the head of the centers for disease control has cash is announcing a sweeping organization of the cdc. dr. rochelle walensky acknowledged failures in the cdc's response to covid-19 and promised better communication with researchers and the public. this week the biden administration signaled it will stop buying covid-19 vaccines, treatments and tests as early as this fall. white house coronavirus response coordinator dr. ashish jha spoke at an event sponsored by the u.s. chamber of commerce foundation. >> getting us out of that acute emergency phase, find the treatment, find the diagnostic test. we need to get out of that business over the long run. my hope is in 2023, you're going to see the commercialization of almost all of these products. some will begin this fall.

amy: in colorado, a grand jury has launched an investigation into a denver police shooting that left at least seven people injured in july. recently released body camera footage revealed new details of the chaos that impelled him. denver police previously admitted -- reportedly previously omitted to report key facts from previous descriptions of the shooting, including that the man they were pursuing, 21-year-old jordan waddy, was throwing away his handgun when police shot him anyway and that he had raised his hands when police first approached him. six bystanders who were standing nearby were also wounded. in tennessee, federal judge has ordered the coffee giant starbucks to offer to rehire seven workers who were fired after they let a campaign to unionize the store in memphis. since starbucks workers in buffalo organized the first union last year, starbucks has faced dozens of unfair labor practice charges, including over 200 for violations of federal

workers protections stemming from retaliation claims. to see our interview with the union organizer, one of the memphis seven, go to democracynow.org. in argentina, massive anti-government protests continue denouncing worsening unemployment, poverty, and skyrocketing inflation and living costs. on wednesday, thousands of workers, union members, and social justice advocates took to the streets of buenos aires demanding the government of president alberto fernández increase living wages and to do more to address the crisis. >> today in argentina, it is a privilege to eat. in other words, such a fundamental right for families, especially for many women who are heads of households, today they cannot even guarantee daily meals for their children. in argentina, there are many problems. we are proposing that we have to move forward with the universal based wage, and income that would at least put an end to this in argentina.

amy: and in mexico, a truth commission formed by president andrés manuel lópez obrador has confirmed the involvement of federal and state authorities in the 2014 disappearance of 43 students in ayotzinapa, calling it a high-level cover-up state crime. the commission also said there is no indication any of the students are alive. their disappearance sparked international condemnation and mounting accusations of human rights abuses against former president enrique peña nieto. the students' families for years have expressed hope some of them had survived, often leading protests where they chanted, "you took them alive. we want them back alive." next month will mark ayotzinapa's 8th anniversary. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. kenya is facing a political crisis following last week's presidential election. on monday, the chair of kenya's election commission announced deputy president william ruto had won the election after winning 50.5% of the vote.

but four of the seven members on the election commission have disavowed ruto's victory and are critiquing how the votes were counted. the apparent runner-up, former prime minister raila odinga, has asked the supreme court to challenge the results. >> no and void -- by a court of law. in our view, there is neither legally -- amy: on thursday, chris coons met with both presidential candidates, as well as kenya's outgoing president. he said he urged kenyatta to support a "peaceful transition of power." kenyatta has not y comment publicly. on wednesday, the apparent president-elect william ruto said he plans to move forward on forming a new government. >> i want to say that this

afternoon to ask all of us to learn from the people of kenya who have settled on the issues. they want us to deliver on the commitment that we gave the people of kenya. and i want to say to this team that we do not have the luxury of time to waste. amy: we go now to nairobi to speak with the kenyan writer and analyst nanjala nyabola. her new piece in the nation is headlined "the kenyan kakistocracy: what are we supposed to do when the electoral system consistently yields terrible candidates?" nyabola is also the author of the book "digital democracy, analogue politics: how the internet era is transforming politics in kenya." nyabola begins by writing -- "if you've noticed an eerie silence coming from the

direction of kenya, it's because many of us are struggling to believe that what the news is telling us has happened." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. can you talk to a global audience now about this presidential election in kenya and why so many are questioning the results? >> i think it is not so much that people are questioning the results but people are questioning the outcome of the results. that is an important once because of the history of kenya elections. we have had heavily contested elections in the last 30 years starting in 1992 and there's always been a reason to doubt the results because of interference by the election commission, but people in power. the 2007 round that led to violence. it comes under a cloud [indiscernible]

electoral commission not rising to the occasion, results being interfered with. a great deal of expectation that after six cycles beginning in 1992 the electoral commission might be able to deliver a result that was not shrouded in lack of clarity. i think this particular point, it is not so much people questioning the results -- although the opposition certainly is and it is well within their rights to question the results -- after all of this time, these were the options put before the voters in the person who has been declared the winner is a person who has such a cloudy history and what does that actually hold for the country. amy: can you tells about the two men vying for the presidency? william ruto has announced he has won. he has also been indicted by the international criminal court then there is raila or dingo

--odinga was run for the presidency five times. tell us about each person. >> both of these men have been in politics for a long time. odinga was one of the leaders of the independence movement in kenya, was in politics since 1960. in many ways, has been cheated out of his fraternity to rise to power by his chosen ideology. he was a socialist. at the time in the 1960's and africa i the context of the cold war, proxy wars, being a socialist was seen as an undetectable politics for this part of the world. -- unacceptable politics for this part of the world. and hurting this on the others you have william

ruto. [indiscernible] switched sides from government opposition depending on who was in power. has never really gone head-to-head. in fact, on the same side of state ballot in 2007, same side as the election. [indiscernible] e story of how fluid gting politics has been in theast 30 years. very difficult to pin issues, difficult to pin iologies and individuals, and instead what we have seen is causation between these groups, these individuals trying to navigate their personalities, trying to sort of

grasp for power around each other. both men certainly have a check or past. election violence -- cycles of election violence. questionable political choices, certainly in the last five years we have seen what we call the handshake, compromise between raila and kenyatta. sort of forcing this realignment between these characters. long story short, there's multiple levels of consternation happening here. there is the personality consternation but also the rupture of the compact between these two men. you have to choose between people who may be don't write e standas of ethics and values youould want in national media., cut the fact william ruto has been indicted by the international criminal court? explain why.

>> and the 2007 election cycle, probably the most hotly contacted election in kenyan history, and that particular cycle candidate won --we have a parliamentary system. ended up with the most members of parliament. would have him come out as president. instead what happened was there was a lot of questions in the election results. sort of half gestured effort of that particular election cycle. we end up with his opponent in declared president. when it happened december 29, 2007, people took to the streets in protest. leading into this very tense beginning of 2008 for canyons.

that sort of escalating into violence, particularly ethnic violence in different parts of the country, shutting down the country. the biggest political crisis since 1982, the attempted coup of 1982. when the crisis happened, the agreement was basically that between the two parties, if they can come together and signed a peace agreement, they would have -- the people that believed were most culpable for the violence, would hand over those names to the international criminal court. they did not come to an agreement in time. including william ruto and the former president. [indiscernible]

because it was too dangerous for the witnesses, too much political interference. that is why the icc decided not to proceed with that particular case. the cloud hovered over ruto's political career but it does not seem to have affected his position this time around. i think that is what is is the question about what the future of kenya is going to look like, which is the cloud has not gone away. it is still very much present and in unresolved question, what is kenya you look like in the aftermath? amy: can the whole trump phenomenon in the united states, the insurrection, the violence, the questioning of the election had an effect on kenya? >> if anything, i would say it has gone and the other direction. a lot of the tactics we're seeing being deployed across the united states were tried and

tested and implemented in other parts of the world first post reversed learning happening and that direction. i give an example in my book. what we're calling the post-truth politics. [indiscernible] finding social media practices, framing, etc. in developing countries. what we see with trump threatening to run for president, one of his promises is to execute drug dealers. that is something that comes from duterte in the philippines and that is, is that he made -- comments he made. we tend to have this idea that

things happen in the west and then the rest of the world learns about it. but actually, with the rise -- it is the inverse. populist leaders are fighting these factions in countries that have less stringent legal context, civic context. it is then picked up in wealthier countries. xenophobic sentiment and all the sentiments them become [indiscernible] what trump has done is normalize certain rhetoric that if you want a healthy civic space, you would not want that normalized. it has created authoritarian entrepreneurship where people are sitting the light between the populist leaders because they don't fill it there is space for international discourse but what is tolerated [indiscernible]

unfortunately, i think we're going to see more of that happening. amy: and your term that kenyan kakistocracy? >> it is governance by people who most people would not even be proud on a personal level, but seating the personals space to them. and it kenya, we have a lot of really great presidents who did not make it onto the valance because the way that -- the quality threshold is interpreted to disqualify people who maybe don't have the financial resources, may be don't have the access to government, maybe don't have the pedigree -- political pedigree, the most known, well branded candidates do, but have policies and a vision of hothey want the country to be run. of those people don't make it onto the ballot. instead because we are living in this era of disinformation,

branding, politics as spectacles is the people complained the brand games the best that make it onto the ballot. to me, that is how you end up with a kakistocracy. amy: i wanted to ask you about the drought in the horn of africa where the united nations has more than 18 million people are facing severe hunger. this includes over 4 million people living in kenya's north. if you can also address your view of war with ukraine? we just reported in the headlines the u.n. secretary-general went to odessa to make sure the grain shipments are allowed to leave the southern port. of course, that directly links just a few days ago the first grain shipment traffic was allowed out. >> i think there are two

separate things happening, even though there is a connection between them. think in terms of drought, this is the fifth failed in this region -- rainy season in this region. that is a question of compounding what was already dry area. most of the landmass is what we call not quite deserts but not enough rainfall to sustain a forest or something like that. as -- coming much more frequently and shorter seasons between them, they'rexpecting if nothing changes between now and the end of the year, people preparing for a declaration of famine and how that will affect people in the driest and most precarious regions of the country. i think with the conflict in russia, the bigger question is

not just grain imports but food -- food distribution coming from like the world health organization. that has implications for somalia as well. [indiscernible] we do import a lot of mates from mexico and other parts of the world. more broadly food security in the world affecting food distribution everywhere and triggeri a -- i am more concerned -- not more concerned, but certainly concerned about the politics of it all in theolitics of using foods a bargaining chip in national conflict. what kind of future are we setting ourselves up for, what kind of discourse are we setting ourselves up for if we don't actually speak out against this particular practice? unfortunately, like i said, the

world is not in a good place most of a lot of issues will come up in the next few years. if we can't prevent this kind of strong-arming and use of food in the conflict context, what kind of security are we setting ourselves up for? amy: nanjala nyabola, thank you for being with us, writer, political analyst, speaking to us from nairobi, kenya. we will link to your piece in the nation "the kenyan kakistocracy: what are we supposed to do when the electoral system consistently yields terrible candidates?" she is the author of "digital democracy, analogue politics: how the internet era is transforming politics in kenya." coming up, israeli forces have raided the offices of celibate -- seven palestinian civil society groups. stay with us.

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amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israeli forces raided and closed the offices of seven palestinian civil society groups in the occupied west bank on thursday. several of the groups report soldiers confiscated items and files before leaving behind notices declaring the groups unlawful. israel designated six out of t seven groups as terrist organizations last year, a decision m with criticism fr both the united nations and internatational human rights groups. groups raided on thursday include the human rights organization al-haq, the addameer prisoner support and human righ association, the bisan center for research and development, defence for children international-palestine, the union of agricultural workers committees, and the unn of palestinian women's committees. israel's crackdown on palestinn civil society groups

s been condemned acrosthe globe. the office of the united natio high commissioner for human rights condemned thursday's raids stating -- "israel's disturbing designation of these organizations as 'terrorist organizations' has not been accompanied by any public concrete and credible evidence." amnesty international also condemned israel's actions and praised the palestinian groups targeted. one amnesty official said -- "these organizations have contributed enormously to human rights in the occupied palestinian territories and across the globe, yet israeli army boots trample all over their work." thursday's raids came 100 days after israeli forces shot dead al jazeera journalist shireen abu akleh as she covered an israeli military raid in the jenin refugee camp. the israeli raid also came as

the united nations has condemned israel for killing 19 children in recent weeks in gaza and the occupied west bank. we are joined now by members of two of the palestinian groups raided on thursday. brad parker is with this, senior advisor for policy and advocacy at defense for children international palestine, one of the groups criminalized by israel. he is based here in the united states. and joining us in ramallah is sahar francis, general director at addameer prisoner support and human rights association. sahar francis, let's begin with you. describe what took place on thursday. >> hello. actually, yesterday we waked up to the news that israeli occupation forces raided ramallah city and entered palestinian

organizations and they confiscated property and meed with the files and broke furniture and sealed the doors of the seven organizations in orr to enforce the closure of physically closing allhe organizations and to implement actuly what e military commander last year that the seven organizations are illegal organizations and they're not supposed to continue their essential work that continue to be of limited the last couple of months to offer services of usual important services weo foprisoners, for children, for women, for farmers, and to protect human rights in general, to document all of these relations as you described in your introduction that they

place on a daily basis unoccupied territories to lobby around these war crimes in order to seek accountability. amy: brad parker, can you describe what happened to defense for children international palestine? >> early morning around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, around 100 soldiers outside of our office from the cctv footage inside the office and does it's inside, sort of rooting through the files, removing her photocopier, printer, client files. files of children that we represent in the israeli military court. physically welded shut the door didn't take day notice to the door ordering the closure of the

office and essentially shutting down or attempting to shut down our activities. amy: now this follows last year the designation of six palestinian human rights groups by the israeli government as terrorist, including both of yours, defense for children international and addameer. among those that condemned this, the united nations for ministries of belgium, denmark, france, germany, ireland, italy, the netherlands, spain, and sweden. sahar francis, what has this meant for your organization? >> of course this is aimed to silence as an prevent us, as i said, offering the services and the documentation of the violations. the support of the international community, whether from the u.n.

or the diplomatic side or the states you named, confirmed the professionalism of the work and the fact that all the secret information that israel has claimed is the base for the decision of this is improved this information was sufficient and we are not convinced, actually -- sis why they continue to support us and issued their statement. we believe the israeli action yesterday came as an answer for such statement and in fact, actually, israel sent a message that we are the masters, we are the ones who control the occupied territory and decide

who could continue or not on the ground. amy: in july, democratic congress member ayanna pressley of massachusetts and 21 of her congressional colleagues sent a letter to the biden administration demanding public rejection of the israeli delegation of palestinian human rights groups as "terrorist" groups by israeli authorities. the lawmakers wrote in part -- "a reported lack of evidence to support this decision raises concerns that it may be a deeply repressive measure, designed to criminalize and silence prominent and essential palestinian human rights organizations. the u.s. must always and consistently speak out against efforts by all countries attempting to undermine civil society and the necessary work of humanitarian organizations." brad parker, has there been any response from the biden administration?

>> not as of yet. i think the biden administration has been pretty silent on the designations in the attempt to criminalize civil society over the past 10 months. the usual sort of rhetoric is that they are reviewing the information that the israeli authorities have provided but they have not taken a position one way or the other. that was met with nuance yesterday suggesting the state department spokesperson noted information so far doesn't suggest it would change the position, even though the position has not been articulated and expressed. maybe that is any opening. but i think it is also important over the past 10 months, the conduct by the israeli authorities to criminalize us and our work is really part of a years long campaign to

delegitimize and essentially criminalize the work we do to expose great violations against palestinians at the hands of israeli forces a the work we do to hold israeli officials accountable, whether it is the international criminal court or obally with various governments. the letter from representative presley and combined with the various european governments, united nations officials coming out consistently to condemn these repressive tactics by the roots -- israeli government to come and lies our work is every thing people should know. we are researchers, social workers, lawrs working to highght the human impacts of israeli policies and israeli oppression on housing and living in occupied palestinian territory. america earlier this week, the

former chilean president expressed alarm over the number of palestinian children killed recently by israel. over the past 10 days, israeli forces have killed 19 palestinian children. 17 in gaza and two in the occupied west bank. in a statement, the present batch let said inflicting hurt on any child during the course of conflict is deeply disturbing. the killing and maiming of so many children this year is unconscionable. earlier this week are the israeli newspaper reported an internal israeli military report has acknowledged that an israeli air strike near the jabalia refugee camp in gaza killed five palestinian children on august 7. the youngest child was four years old. during israel's recent assault on gaza, israeli officials repeatedly denied killing palestinian children. this is the international

spokesperson for the israeli prime minister speaking august 6. >> tonight islamic jihad terrorists, fired rockets toward israel which fell short inside gaza, hitting a palestinian home and tragically killing at least four children. there's videos cumenting the entire thing. there was no israeli activity in the gaza strip under that area or at that time. islamic jihad is killing palestinian children in gaza. amy: brad parker, you are with defense for children international. your response? >> what we have seen over the past 10 years or more is that israeli forces routinely carry out attacks in a densely populated residential areas where children bear the brunt of those attacks. over the past year, so far in

2022, we have documented 20 palestinian children shot dead by israeli forces in the occupied west bank, documented 17 palestinian kids killed during the latest round of these really military and gaza -- israeli military in gaza. we continue to investigate a number of those cases but the case reference tier is attribute it to israeli forces and it really is a pattern that we see consistently gng back more than 10 years where israeli forces attack and use explosive weapons, drone strikes, where there is complete disregard for international humanitarian law and the rules of war for who can be targeted. we constantly our document in

cases of israeli forces killing palestinian children, excessive use of force, disproportionate use of force, or intentionally targeting civilians, including children, that amount to war crimesnd just complete disregard for international law stop amy: sahar francis, you recently were denied boarding in israel for a flight that was transiting through the united states to a meeting you're trying to attend in mexico. do you have any information about why you were bardi? are you on some kind of blacklist? >> actually, this was shocking at the time when i was then boarding the airplane without even explaining to me in real time why i was not allowed while i had a valid visa to thenited states until april 23.

i tried to figure out why i was banned. for a month after just in june, i t a response that my visa was canceled. again, without explaining actually why my visa was canceled. i think it is totally related to the fact that what we are facing as an organization, the allegations from the israeli side and the silence of the u.s. on the official position against this resignation of the organization to be one of the reasons for such practices against an individual come against myself, against other colleagues that would travel outside the occupied territories or other harassments and intimidation's that we can face

as human rights defenders because of the israeli attack against the organization. and make other european union, the majority vote, decided to unfreeze up to $215 million in funds for the six palestinian groups like addameer that have been designated by israel as terrorists. so many countries in the united nations have condemned this designation. do you know what is happening with this money? >> addameer, specifically, we are not getting direct funds but i would believe the commission with the local office of the eu will be responsible for maintaining and continuing the project that some of the six organizations were involved on because it is really -- there is no basis against the organizations that can justify

the freezing the projects that were implemented. it was much politicized from the side of the eu to suspend the projects of these organizations. amy: your organization is currently working to stop administrative detention, which enables the israeli government to detain anyone based on secret information. how many people are held in this condition and would affect the israeli military raided your offices we have your legal cases, does that compromise the work you can do? >> definitely it will compromise the kind of legal services that we can offer we are representing an front of the military courts. currently, there are around 700.

some are children. some are sick people that they need treatment while in detention. at least one person, what than 150 days of a hunger strike and there are immediate threats to his life. in the last couple of days, with the support of the other colleagues from human rights organizations, issue an urgent appeal to release him and trying to lobby on his behalf to be released. amy: sahar francis, thank you for being with us, general director at addameer prisoner support and human rights association. and brad parker, senior adviser for policy and advocacy at defense for children international palestine. next up, no tech for ice. a coalition is suing lexisnexis

for selling personal information to immigration authorities. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. a coalition of immigrant rights groups have sued the data broker lexisnexis for collecting detailed personal information on millions of people and then selling it to governmental

entities, including ice, that's immigration and customs enforcement. the lawsuit alleges lexisnexis has created a massive surveillance state with files on almost every adult u.s. consumer and describes how law enforcement officers can surveil and track people based on information these officers would not, in many cases, otherwise be able to obtain without a subpoena, court order, or other legal process. the groups also accuse ice of using information collected by lexisnexis to circumvent local policies in sanctuary cities. plaintiffs in the lawsuit incle organized communities against deportations, mijente, and just futures law. and for more we are joined by cinthya rodriguez, a national organizer with mijente. she is joining us from icago. can you lay out this lawsuit and the significance of filing it where you are in the state of illinois? >> thank you so much for having us.

mijente joins this lawsuit because lexisnexis is collecti and selling the data of more than 276 million people acss the country, particularly using their acura product. in illinois, we want to bring light to consumer rights, how it is at odds with illinois consumer protectio and kamala. we are talking aut one of the biggest data brokers in the worl lexisnexis, and how they're getting rich off the cks of community members by selling our personal information that can lead to detention and deportation. in illinois, we're talking about various organizing and legal efforts that are happening to

put a data broker like lexisnexis on notice. this lawsuit also follows an important hearing last month. last month the cook county commissioners held the first hearing of its kind that we know of in the country that was investigating the local repercussions of this lexisnexis contract we're talking about. $22.1 million contract. investigating the local impacts about this contract of ice with other data brokers is important. during this hearing last month, the town had the opportunity to hear public testimony, witnesses that spoke about digital loopholes. amy: i want to go to the cook county meeting you're talking about. the recent hearing on the repercussions of ice contracting third-party data brokers like lexisnexis.

hearing from community members like michelle garcia, a member of the illinois coalition of immigrant and refugee rights and access living. she said she used lexisnexis to search her own records and found dozens of pages of personal information on herself, family members, and even other people who lived in her same apartment comple this is what she said. >> lexisnexis collected 4 pages of information about me, my family, and my acquaintances. it was extremely disturbing, scary, and overwhelming to see everything in writing that they have collected about my life as a cook county resident. this information being in the hands of a third party like lexisnexis and and potential in the hands of ice puts by loved ones and other community members at risk. i had the privilege of citizenship. but if i were one of millions of and cument of peoe living in

the u.s., ice could find me within a matte of hours by searching through a report like mine. ice is threatening to go after anyone they believe is deportable. amy: that is michelle garcia. how does lexisnexis get this information? it goes way beyond the immigrant community in the u.s. when you're talking about 250 million people. what are lexisnexis products? what are people using that tracks them? >> just one way is a one-stop shop. data points like addresses, phone numbers, lenses information, social media information. but also things like medical history, credit scores. michelle also spoke aboutaving infoation on her neighbors.

the list cano on and on. we want to be clear we're talking about massive surveillance stoptabs are being kept on communities of color, protesters. at the endf the day, this is affecting us all because it is happening without consent come happening that people knowing, that a warrant or subpoena or court order. i also want to share some a freedom of information act request earlier this year that revealed how nationally ice agents ran over 1.2 million searches in the lexisnexis database over a seven month period. it is important to understand the searches are happening through dro and the division of ice the focus is on arrests. i live here in cook county in the chicagoland area where the local chicago field office ran

just themselves over 13,000 of the searches. amy: no tech price immigrant justice advocates first exposed the multimillion dollar contract between lexisnexis and ice in colorado through a foia that revealed the corporation was giving ice access to real-time jail booking data from sheriff's offices in the state of colorado. explain the significance of this and why puto many people in danger. >> so before cook county held this hearing, colorado was the first state where we are seeing it was named publicly by community's that ice is circumventing protections. so folks from the colorado immigrant rights coalition and other organizations in colorado and mijente joined these groups to eose an ice contract from july 2021 that confirms what we

had been sing and hearing. so this was breaking news because thi contract it is explicitly stated that ice is contracting with data brokers like lexisnexis. this is happening through lexisnexisggregation of public and commercial data and also real-time jail dat r many years people have fought really hard and organized for protections. these policies that prohibit or seek to prohibit information sharing and cooperation between law enforcemen and ice, but now we have this $29 contract with lexisnexis providing vector access to peoe's information and going against the spirit of protection. so colorado was the first state and we know local organizing is going to continue to close loopholes and make it easier for

ice to detain and deport our people. amy: we will continue to follow this, cinthya rodriguez national , a organizer with mijente. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]