11/04/22 11/04/22 [captioning made possible by democracy w!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> won a huge vote of confidence. amy: benjamin netanyahu is set to return as israel's prime minister, this time with help from a far-right party led by a lawmaker who supports the ethnic cleansing of palestinians and

was once convicted of supporting a terrorist organization. we will get the latest. then we look at how new york immigrant rights advocates are supporting asylum seekers sent on buses from texas and other states. >> that is kidnapping. anyway you look at it. if i'm forced on a bus and not told where my next destination is for the next ups, that is kidnapping. you drop them off at a rate of location. when they get -- we will take care of them. new york will take care of them and make them feel like they are home. amy: and the intercept has revealed the department of homeland security is expanding efforts to work with private tech companies to police online speech and shape online discourse. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in israel, benjamin netanyahu is

poised to become prime minister for a third time, 16 months after he was ousted from office amid a series of corruption scandals. results from tuesday's election show netanyahu's likud party and its far-right allies won 64 seats in the knesset, enough to form a parliamentary majority. a key member of his government will likely be itamar ben-gvir, an ultra-nationalist lawmaker who openly supports the ethnic cleansing of palestinians. this comes as israeli security forces killed four palestinians in the occupied west bank and east jerusalem on thursday while israeli fighter jets bombed the gaza strip. israeli forces have killed at least 130 palestinians in the west bank this year. we'll have the latest from israel and the occupied palestinian territories after headlines. u.s. intelligence officials say russian troops are poised for complete withdrawal fromkherson.

russian forces have withdrawn to the eastern bank. earlier today, vladimir putin said civilians should evacuate the kherson regions. elsewhere, russian and ukraine completed another prisoner swap thursday with each side releasing 107 pows. united nations nuclear inspectors have found no evidence to back russia's claims that ukraine is building a radiological weapon known as a dirty bomb. ukraine's president volodymyr zelenskyy spoke thursday. >> we have invited the iaea to check. we have given them complete freedom. clear and repeatable evidence that no one in ukraine has created or is creating any dirty bomb. amy: in zaporizhzhia, the operator of europe's largest nuclear power plant says the

facility has two weeks of diesel fuel for its backup generators. iaea director general rafael grossi has reiterated calls for a security protection zone around the zaporizhzhia plant. after fighting once again separate outside coolant which are critical to preventing a radiation disaster. grossi said reliance on diesel thursday generators is "clearly not a sustainable way to orate a major nuclear facility in pakistan, former prime minister imran khan is in stable condition after he was shot in the leg thursday at a rally in wazirabad. one person was killed and at least 10 others injured in the apparent assassination attempt. khan has accused top government officials, including the prime minister, of being behind the attack. local police released a video of the alleged gunman, who said he acted alone though the confession's authenticity has not been verified.

>> imran khan was misleading people and i could not bear that. that is why i did this. so i killed him. i tried to kill him. i tried my best to kill him. i did not want to kill anyone else. amy: the attack on imran khan came one week into his high profile journey across pakistan to demand snap elections after he was removed from power in april. the united nations is calling on nations to agree to a historic new agreement at the cop27 climate summit, whicopens in sharm el sheikh, egypt on sunday. u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres said thursday nations will face climate catastrophe unless they rapidly deliver on commitments made at the 2015 paris climate summit. >> cop27 is the place to renew trust and reestablish the ambition needed to avoid driving our planet over the climate cliff. in the last few weeks, report

after report clear and bleak picture. amy: in one new report, unesco warns one-third of the glaciers that have been declared world heritage sites will disappear by 2050 even if nations take dramatic action to curb emissions. that includes glaciers in yosemite national park in california and mount kilimanjaro in tanzania. meanwhile, the u.n.'s environment program warns in a new report wealthy countries are falling far short of their commitments to help communities adapt to a warming world. the report finds the cost of adapting to climate change could top $500 billion annually by mid-century, dwarfing the less-than-$30 billion countries have so far received to adapt to the climate crisis. in egypt, the egyptian-british writer, philosopher, and political prisoner alaa abd el-fattah is poised to escalate his hunger strike into a water strike when the cop27 climate summit gets underway on sunday.

that means no water or food at all. abd el-fattah has already been on a hunger strike for more than 200 days to demand his freedom after he was jailed over much of the last nine years for his role in the 2011 revolution that ousted egypt's long-time dictator hosni mubarak. alaa's sister, mona seif, spoke from london thursday after meeting with britain's middle east minister and the british foreign earlier this week. >> once you start the water strike, the body can only sustain itself so much so we are talking about a view days in which either u.k. government has to step up what they're doing -- the u.k. government and egyptian government have to agree on a solution or we are going to lose alaa in prison. another of alaa abd el-fattah's sisters, sanaa seif, says she plans to attend the cop27 talks next week. you can see our coverage of alaa

abd el-fattah's case and our coverage of the u.n. climate talks at democracynow.org. democracy now! will be in sharm el-sheikh for the summit. canada is continuing to press for foreign military intervention in haiti amid worsening political, economic, and gang crises. this is canadian prime minister justin trudeau. >> we understand how many there are who don't want to see international intervention. it is a reality. at the same time, look at the crisis. violence, poverty, the color and health crisis. then we say to ourselves, we have to intervene in one way or another. amy: meanwhile, over 90 civil society groups wrote a letter to president biden urging him to reject outside military intervention in haiti and instead pursue diplomacy and support haitian-led political dialogue. they write -- "we were heartened to see in your 2022 national security strategy a commitment to 'not

use our military to change regimes or remake societies,' and we encourage you to follow through on that commitment in haiti." the united nations general assembly has overwhelmingly condemned the united states' embargo on cuba. 185 countries on thursday voted in favor of lifting the decades-old sanctions which have devastated cuba's economy since the 1960's. only the u.s. and israel voted against the motion, while brazil and ukraine abstained. billionaire elon musk met thursday with over half a dozen civil rights groups this week amid concerns the new owner of twitter will allow misinformation and hate speech to go unchecked. media matters, free press, and dozens of other organizations urged twitter's top advertisers to remove their ads from the platform if proper safety standards are not imposed. meanwhile, musk is reportedly firing thousands of employees, about half of twitter's workforce starting today and requiring remaining employees to return to on-site working.

some twitter employees filed a class-action lawsuit alleging the firings are unlawful. nearly 50,000 is due to workers are set to go on strike if a deal is not reached. on wednesday, over 35,000 university of california student workers voted in favor of authorizing the strike getting november 14. there demanding salary increases that keep pace with the skyrocketing cost of living in california as well as free public transit passes and reimbursement of childcare costs. and human rights activists led an 18-hour protest thursday outside new york city hall as they continue to demand officials shut down the rikers island jail complex. thdemonstrion was response to the death of 26-year-old gilberto garcia, the 18th person to die at rikers so far this year. he had been jailed at rikers for three years as he awaited trial. he died of an apparent drug overdose but a cause of death

has not been confirmed. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in israel where benjamin netanyahu is preparing to become prime minister again, 16 months after being ousted from office. results from tuesday's election show netanyahu's likud party and its far-right allies won 64 seats in the knesset, enough votes to form a parliamentary majority. netanyahu served as prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and then again from 2009 to 2021. he is currently on trial for corruption. a key member of netanyahu's government will likely be itamar ben-gvir, an ultra-nationalist lawmaker who openly supports the ethnic cleansing of palestinians. in 2007, he was convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization.

ben-gvir's religious zionism party won 14 seats in its strongest showing ever. last year, he relocated his parliamentary office to the sheikh jarrah neighborhood of jerusalem where other settlers have attempted to violently evict palestinian residents from their homes. for years, itamar ben-gvir hung a picture in his home of baruch goldstein, an israeli-american who killed 29 palestinians at a mosque in hebron in 1994. the jerusalem post described him as "the moderate these really version of an american white supremacist and european fascist." the return of netanyahu comes as four palestinians were killed in the occupied west bank and jerusalem thursday while is radially fighters jets bombed gaza. israeli forces have killed at least 130 palestinians in the west bank this year. many palestinians fear the return of netanyahu will only make this worse.

this is youssf khattab, a resident of gaza. >> now the the governments that were formed by benjamin netanyahu get the palestinian people their rights. he was even rejecting all agreements the palestinian authority. this upcoming government is an extreme right government. as a result, the posting people will not witness anything but war, destruction, killing, and more bloodshed. houston relations, land confiscation -- house demolitions, land confiscation. amy: we are joined now by natasha roth-rowland. she is an editor and writer at +972 magazine and a doctoral candidate in history at the university of virginia. her research and writing focuses on the jewish far-right in israel-palestine and the united states. welcome to democracy now! first of all, can you layout the significance of this victory? it is not only about benjamin netanyahu but who he is allied

with, the parties that will make up his coalition and who they are. >> certainly. the first thing to say is the election results from tuesday are very grim. if you are watching the polls leading up to the elections, sort of like it might be a bit of a tossup. at some point looked like netanyahu's bloc by get a narrow margin. he has now landed a 64 seat majority, which is stronger that i think most people were anticipating. it is not just about netanyahu himself returning to power, accompanied by this litany of criminal charges -- which may well be dispensed if the incoming coalition gets its way with the judicial system. but it is also about netanyahu's allies. chief among those is itamar ben

gvir, the head of the party that ran with religious zionism in the selections and brought in an unprecedented 14 seats. that is the third-largest party in the knesset. a whole new level of power for the extreme right in the government. i wi add to that, i think there is an understandable impulse to say no matter who is in power in the israeli government, not much changes. the occupation continues. violence against palestinians continues. but environment of gaza continues -- the bard meant --bombardment of gaza continues. it will get worse. the question is, how much. tell us who itamar ben gvir is. in an october 1990 five interview, he can be seen holding an ornament taken from prime minister yitzhak rabin's

car by far right is really activists during a protest during the oslo accords. >> people managed to get to this is simple. it symbolizes -- amy: that was october 19 1995. that was actually decades ago. short time later, november 4, a jewish extremist assassinated yitzhak rabin in tel aviv. your comment? >> the first thing i want to make clear is e assassin was not part of the same youth movement most they shared similar ideologies. it is not been clear that time was youth activist with another movement. it was the extreme right party founded by an american-born

rabbi and ultranationalist who immigrated to israel in the 1970's, formed his parties and a few unsuccessful attempts, managed to get elected to the knesset. in 1988, sensibly racist and democratic platform, led by other far right parties worried who's going to begin nibbling away at their voter base. having said that, even though he was banned from running and elections, it stuck around as a political movement. it was outlawed in 1994 after the terror attack you mentioned by goldstein. it has continued to have court activists, despite its manning. that was the context in which -- the clip we just saw.

he has maintained his views. he had this photograph of goldstein on his wall for decades. he was finally convinced to take it down in 2020 by some of his partners who he was running in elections with. he has since recanted his earlier statements that he sees goldstein as a hero and a center of the jewish people. it is my view the statements are not to be taken fiercely. i think they fit in the same bucket as his supposed moderation of his views on palestinians and any kind of liberal vision for what israel-palestine should look like. one of his own party activists was caught on camera admitting his views is a ploy to make sure he does not get struck from being able to run the knesset. and that is who we have at the top of the faction.

religious zionism. that is who we have come into the knesset as a potential kingmaker mostf the ministry he is seekg and may well get his minister of public security. that puts him in charge of the police and the prospects for that i think are frightening. amy: although you say he recanted, i want to go back a decade ago, july 2011, when itamar ben gvir told a reporter why he chose to put that photograph of goldstein on the wall of his home. >> he is righteo man. amy: how much power does he have today? talk about what this means, what netanyahu has had in the past and who he is with today. also the fact itamar ben gvir relocated his parliamentary office to the sheikh jarrah

neighborhood of jerusalem and the significance of what that means. >> well, the relocation to sheikh jarrah was somewhat of a political stunt. itamar ben gvir followed in the footsteps of his mentor. a student in figuring out where the hotspot of is and give them -- descending on it. it was sort of a desk with the banner above it but it was intended to incite tensions and confrontations and he was successful in doing so. as a coalition partner to netanyahu, it remains to be seen what aspects of his parties platform he is able to push forward. i think in terms of assisting netanyahu, as said beforethe

attacks on the judiciary which are intended to get netanyahu off the hook in the corruption trials, once to encourage immigration i palestinians from within isrl-palestine on both sides of the great line. he wants to make it much easier for israeli security forces -- palestinians on both sides of the greenland with minimal repercussions. great deal of impunity enjoyed by police officers acting against palestinians. he wants to make that impunity even broader. he wants to in his own words crackdown on reform jews . there were some easing of protesters regarding reformed jews in the past year. those are expected to be rolled back. his party looks set to attack

the lgbtq community. they want to reverse the ban let so-called conversion therapy. just yesterday, the head of t naan party that won 14 seats in the last election, he wants to try to legally ban pride parades. i want to play a clip of itamar ben gvir last month leaving -- weaving a gun and shouting during confrontation in this neighborhood. >> shoot them. amy: he said "shoot them" this is the palestinian describing itamar ben gvir's actions in his neighborhood. >> his field office plans to

take over a neighborhood. he said something to tent here and starts pointing at houses he wants to take. my house is under threat. my neighbors house is also under threat. we all received eviction orders. also orders not to build or renovate. he comes or makes trouble for everyone. imagine a knesset member pulling out gu. we have women and children here. what do you expect from him? they signed him as the minister of public security. of course he will be more confident and relieved. but as my neighbor said, we don't care. even if he was the pme minister, we are staying in her house is here. this is our legitimate right to defend our houses and children. amy: natasha roth-rowland, haaretz editorial titled "kahanism won. israel is now closing in on a right-wing, religious, authoritarian revolution."

explain also overall what this means. lara friedman tweeted wednesday -- "reminder: six months before israeli election that made kahanists arguably most powerful political force in israel, the biden administration decided to do its part in normalizing kahanism by removing kahanist groups from u.s. list of foreign terrorist organizations, where they'd been listed for decades." which also, by the way, goes to the conviction of itamar ben gvir for being part of a terrorist organization and for racism. if you could respond to all of that. >> in terms of what lara friedman said about the state department removing kahanahi, i

think what she's saying is correct. i don't think it is the state department alone that has played a role in this normalization that she discusses. i think it is unhelpful the two groups were removed from that designation six months ago because i think it has contributed to this idea kahanism and ideology are somehow relics of the past or sufficiently marginal that they don't -- they don't merit close on entering and surveillance. and i think all of that is incorrect. also a wider modernization of itamar ben gvir k andahanism that unavoidably will be revisited now but that has played a big role in downplaying the threat posed by his ideology and potential wind power in the

israeli government. i think we want to put things into a little more familiar context for watchers here in u.s., the effects are little bit by -- what happened with trump for becoming president. parallel forces where he was ridiculed as an extremist but also a joke. at the same time, he received such intensity in the spotlight that he won the kind of coverage at that most politicians can only dream. the same thing happened with itamar ben gvir in israel-palestine. he was dismissed as a horrendous but marginal phenomenon but the second he got into the knesset, he started being invited repeatedly onto israeli news shows. there is is to sister that says -- a statistic that said he was only second to prime minister bennett in terms of the airtime

on israeli year. i think those things combined to push him into this place were he has enjoyed greater exposure than ever which rather than turning people off him has actually won supporters to him and his party. and all of the kind of marginalization and dismissal of the threat he poses has backfired because now he will be going into the governing coalition in the top of the third most powerful party in the coalition and may well be in charge of the police forces. amy: natasha roth-rowland, thank you for being with us, editor and writer at +972 magazine, and a doctoral candidate in history at the university of virginia. her research and writing focus on the jewish far-right in israel-palestine and the united states. coming up, we look at how new york immigrant rights advocates are supporting thousands of asylum-seekers sent to the city

on buses from texas and other states. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. amy:this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. amy: many said they were pressured to get on the buses and misled about where they were being sent. this is director of team tlc nyc. >> the bus arrived from texas, one of the buses that had been sent by governor abbott in august. we had a lot of families on this bus, a lot of little kids. we had teddy bears and toys and food and water.

finding out what the families need. get them some clothing and get them to where the need to go. there was a woman who had a neck brace animatedly got her to the medical triage tent -- immediately got her to the medical triage tent. the first class we greeted there was a young lady were 12-year-old girl who had diabetes who had not had insulin for four days. one of my volunteers is a former nurse and she quickly identify the problem and got her to the hospital. we have had that at least a couple of times where someone was a diabetic and had not had insulin. people had their medications taken from them. people who were dehydrated. we had a little boy who had a seizure because he had not had his proper medication. all kinds of terrible results from people being mistreated at the border and then being put on a bus for 36 hour, 40 journey without proper food or water. amy: ilze thielmann speaking

outside the port authority bus terminal in the center of manhattan. she and many other new yorkers have also taken newly arrived asylum-seekers will stop on thursday, democracy now! spoke a venezuelan asylum seeker who arrived to new york in september and is now staying with thielmann. he was apprehended at the texas-mexico border and detained for two days. he said he was put on a bus to washington, d.c., and then on another to new york city. he asked to remain anonymous for safety. >> i left due to the economic situation in my country. you cannot make much money there. i have my daughter's my wife and my mother and that is why i made it to the united states. i was homeless a lot of the time. i went to the darien jungle.

i was in there for seven days eating only bread. i got out of there and made it to panama and then costa rica and the nicaragua. it was complicated. we were always running. i made it to guatemala and then we crossed into mexico. mexico was a nightmare. they attacked venezuelans a lot. the police come immigration officials. when i made it to the state of monterey, i did not have money anymore. i had nothing. searched for a train known as "the beast." the train took us all the way to your the u.s.-mexico border. we hit and ran so aggression agents would not arrest us. we saw mexican immigration so we waited for them to pass on their

boats stuff there we decided to jump in the river. the water completely covered me. i was being pulled by the river but swam and made it to the other side. that is when we turn ourselves into the u.s. immigration police and they apprehended us. i came to the united states without any money. all i had was faith in making it here. i would pray to god to take care of me. a lot of the people i came here with who did so much to come here died. the river took them and they drown. so when i made it the first thing i said was, thank god. i was blessed in new york. i did not know anyone here. the woman who i'm staying with has supported me so much.

the shelters did not have room so she brought us here to her apartment. she gave us food. she gifted me a bicycle. she gave us clothing. i am so thankful to her. i hope i have the opportunity to stay here and work and give to the opportunity to bring family with me, one of my daughters, i will do it. that is why we're here, to fight for our families and children. amy: last month the biden administration started expelling venezuan asylum ekers mexico under an expansion of the pandemic and trump-era title 42 policy that blocked at least 2 million migrants from applying for asylum at the border. for more, we are joined by two people who are working with ilze thielmann and others in new york

and around the united states to welcome the thousands who continue to come, and those already here, who need support as their cases wind through the u.s. immigration courts. one of our guests, adama bah, first joined us on democracy now! in 2010, when she was 22 years old and had been placed on the no-fly list even though she had been granted asylum from guinea where she faced female genital mutilation. this is part of our interview. >> i came to this country when i was here with my mother and when i was 16 i was detained for immigration reasons. i didn't know i was illeg, so that's when i found out. after three years of battling, i got an asylum in 2007. i work in ankle rice look for 3.5 years. -- i were in ankle bracelet for 3.5 years. amy: wait, explain why you got the political asylum, what it was you faced in getting it. >> well, i got the political asylum, because in my country, they circumcise women.

amy: and you were afraid, if you went back this would happen to you, as it did to all the women members of your family? >> all the women in my family have gotten it done, even my mother. amy: why did you wear an ankle bracelet? >> they wanted to track my immigration. i don't know. amy: that was adama bah in 2010. she joins us now as a community organizer, also author of her own graffiti "accused: my story of injustice." also with us is power malu, a community organizer who runs the group artists, athletes and activists. they both have been working closely with ilze thielmann and others to assist thousands of newly arriving asylum seekers. we welcome you both to democracy now! adama bah, it is remarkable what you yourself went through. you have just gotten more citizenship? >> yes, i just became an american citizen a year ago. amy: but here you are, rather

than sort of getting away from the trauma of what you left behind, working to help other people who like you are desperate to come to this country. talk about what you have been doing here and what you face with the thousands of people, in this case in new york, just coming here. >> so because of my experience, it was very important for me to be out to help advocate. we are at port authority every single day welcoming them and helping them navigate into the shelter system. once they are in the shelter system, we're helping them with social services. we are also at the airport and bus terminals. i want to highlight port authorities are not the only route these migrants are coming from. they are coming from airports, other us terminals around new york city. amy: talk about where those

buses are coming from. we see you at port authority greeting the asylum-seekers. what are they telling you and what about these journeys and where do they think they are coming to? >> so the buses coming at port authority are from texas. the ones not coming from port authority are coming from other states. so arizona, ohio, indiana. those are just some of the few states they're coming from. the migrants coming specifically from taxes -- texas or the abbott buses we call them, they are waking up at 1:00 in the morning and told to get on these buses and they're not sure where they're going. you have some who know they're going to new york and a lot of them don't have any idea. as soon as they arrive in new york city, i colleague power, he tells them you're in new york city in manhattan. it is the best way to identify

where they are so there's no confusion. briefly we tell them what the next step is. amy: power malu, what is the next step? how did you get involved with your group artists, athletes, and activists and being there is a person who orients these asylum-seekers, why this is so important to you >> i am born and raised in at the lower east side. my mom and dad were born in puerto rico. i was born in new york but i still consider myself an immigrant. it is important for people to realize if you weren't born here 500 years ago, you are an immigrant. if you're not a native to this country, or an immigrant. i want to make that clear when they come to new york city, this is the first place that we actually have an opportunity to right the wrongs. they are put in these cold cells

just ring teachers so they arrived to new york with anxiety levels through the roof. it is up to us, our jobs as new yorkers to be able to welcome them in the city that is a so-called sanctuary city with the love and care and dignity that they deserve. so when we get on the bus, the first thing we do tell them is they are in new york city and although they may see police officers and now because we have the national guard stationed there they may see people in uniform, military uniform, they not to be afraid. they are free and they are welcome here in new york city we will do our best to advocate for them. we try to find out if they have family members in new york or on the way. one of the main things we like to do is reunite families. at the border, they've been separated. there is no rhyme or reason. we have reunited so many families. thousands of families that have

been separated where the mom and dad don't see each other for weeks or months at a time most of children. two daughters that were separated from the mom and dad and younger children. one was sent to ontario california and the other to san diego, california. we look to get them together and reunite them here in new york city. that is one of the main things we pride ourselves in is having a conversation with them. for the first time they have someone listen to them. someone that cares and wants to know what are their needs. the follow-up, it takes into consideration as sharing our phone number with them and then it is spread through out the community. people come to us for all types of help. whether it is questions about their immigration or because they need clothing or food, any type of resources that are supposed to be shared with them and they're not getting, they come to us. they come back to the port authority. our receiving hundreds and

hundreds of people at the port authority will stop now it is up to 20,000 plus in new york city. at the follow-up means they're not getting the resources they deserve so they trust this place they first were welcomed and they share that within their community and we try our best to try to connect with grassroots organizations were the ones doing the work. we want to be clear with that. there is a lot of miscommunication or misinformation that the city is doing so much for these migrants and they are well-off. that is not the case. we are advocating for them every single day and we have to be on the ground fighting for them. and they know this. that is why they come back and say, hey, we have been at this hotel for two weeks and still have not enrolled our child in school or still have not gotten any type of resources. we are getting cold food or we are not getting food at the time because we don't know when the food is being served. there is a language barrier. it is up to us to continue to advocate for these people and

that the city know and people that really care, the grassroots organizations that need support because we're not getting the support that we need to be able to make this sustainable. and that is all we want to be able to do, continue to help these people because they deserve to be helped and treated as human beings, not as political ponds as they been treated for these past several months. amy: power, so moving to see you and adama bah and others greeting, laying hands on, having signs that welcome people to new york. we see a woman and a neck brace, a child who did not have insulin who was a diabetic, four years old. adama bah, can you talk specifically about black asylum-seekers and if they are treated differently than others? >> there's over 10,000 black migrants in new york right now. black migrants are coming the

same route as the south american brothers and sisters. but once they arrive in texas, they are transported to another detention center and they are not released until there asylum case is proven. so they have positive or negative. if there are some cases positive, that means they have a credible fear of not returning to their country and their released. they are not released just like that. the majority of the black migrants have a bond, the highest bond -- the heist i saw was 6000. but these go higher than that. like migrants have to wear ankle bracelets. our hispanic counterparts are being released with the cell phone, not wearing an ankle bracelet. so black migrants are really discriminated. the city doesn't have the resource or the language access for them. there never has been a system created for them. my job in the job of my colleagues and the organizers i work with is advocating for them

was to advocating for language access, because these black migrants have already been through a lot. there discriminated even more. amy: the issue of haitians, thousands of haitians fleeing to this country. the latest news in bc reporting the biden administration considering expanding operations with u.s. military base and prison at guantánamo bay to hold haitians who are caught at sea trying to reach the united states. in the 1990's, i remember well the united states using guantánamo to hold as many as 12,000 haitians who had fled the u.s.-backed coup in haiti against aristide so you have. that situation and then in new york, randall's island being used as a major site to hold people, particularly single men

i think up to 500 for 1000 but only a few have gone there. >> that is correct. i heard about the haitians being hold at gitmo. i was horrified because you know the traumas and the things that have happened there. the men that are currently at randall's, we do follow up with them and we ask them how they're doing. they do tell us they are being taken care of very well. a lot of the issues they're facing -- there are no social services so they are coming back and asking us what support there is for them. >> i also want to touch base on that because when randall's island was opened, it was made to be temporary. now we are the ones that are sending a lot of people because people are coming by plane so the buses have decreased. another thing i want to touch on

is the fact african migrants now put into the randall's island was done by different organizations working together. i want to highlight that and adama to speak about what happened this last sunday because there is a different story being told and i want to be able to use this time to share that. you should talk about that. amy: are cities is an incredible woman. her organization, she has been the main point person who has obtained -- obtained the bond for these black migrants. they are literally dropped off the streets of louisiana, atlanta, chicago. when they're dropped off, they're contacting mercedes to get a ticket in your city. they heard there is an opportunity in new york city that they are saved as black migrants in new york city. so when they arrive, they contact me. they contact organizers they

know. thousands of black migrants, including have been sleeping in mosques around the country. they are in horrific conditions. i want to bring awareness to our struggle. with that opportunity we took the chance to put them in randall's island. this past sunday we took about 45 african men and sent them to the hurc. it was a successful mission. successful because these men are now in warm beds. they are safe. they are being fed. still, they need more support. they need more resources. amy: i also understand on the issue of haitians being held near guantánamo, the unhcr has called on the united states to refrain from forced returns of haitians. finally, i want to ask you both

about what you think the city should be doing that they are not doing now. that is new york city. and then take that national. what you are doing most of our people reaching out to you? >> i think one of the most important thing is the city needs to be honest about what services and resources they need help with. new yorkers, we are incredible. but we need to step up and say, hey, i'm a doctor, lawyer, nurse, i can take time to help. most important, to work with grassroots on the ground. we know the community very well. power and i are connected to about 38 states. we are contacting those on the ground trying to find solutions and resources. i want to highlight all of the organizations that have been on

the ground. but it is also important to find us, to give us funding to continue the work we're doing. she makes a great point because people think everything is under control and then they don't even see grassroots organizations and the work we are doing. we are the backbone and the foundation of what is happening right now and we are the advocates that are not being recognized. so people don't see a reason to donate to us and they don't think, hey, the city has it under control. we want to be clear it is the grassroots organizations that reach of her food that is feeding thousands of migrants that are arriving in the ones that are in the shelter system because we bring food to them. these are organizations that are on shoestring budgets but they are stepping up and we want to be clear when we reach out to other organizations across the country, they are doing the same thing. if we can do it as grassroots organizations, so can mammoth

organizations that have bigger budgets or have connections to philanthropy and they can help us to continue this work stop and all they have to do is reach out. we have the model. we have the solutions. we are on the ground creating this network. all we do need is the support. this is not a competition. amy: power malu is a community organizer who runs the group artists, athletes, and activists. adama bah is a community organizer and author of "accused: my story of injustice." adama bah is a refugee from guinea and has lived in the united states since she was two years old. this is what mutual aid looks like. a very special thanks to our democracy now! producers. coming up, the intercept has revealed the department of homeland security is expanding efforts to work with private tech companies to police online speech. back in less than 30 seconds.

♪♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. the intercept has revealed the department of homeland security is expanding efforts to work with private tech companies to police online speech and shape online discourse. the intercept's reporting is based on years of internal dhs memos, emails, and documents. according to one internal document, the agency is focusing on a number of topics including "the originsf the covid-19 pandemic and the efficacy of

covid-19 vaccines, racial justice, u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan, and the nature of u.s. support to ukraine." the fbi has also played a key role in the effort. we are joined by lee fang. he cowrote the intercept's investigation headlined "truth cops: leaked documents outline dhs's plans to police disinformation." why don't you lay out exactly what you found and how you got these documents. >> amy, thank you for having me. good morning. earlier this week we reported this story that shows involving mission of the department of homeland security that they're moving to police online discourse under the mantle of fighting alleged disinformation and misinformation. this effort began in earnest in 2017 after russian interference in the 2016 election. there was a dry run of efforts

to censure and influen social media around the pandemic, around the 2020 election. but as you mention, documents we obtained from litigation, from public resources, and from whistleblowers shows a really massive expansion of this mission that dhs plans to weigh in on political topics. as you mentioned, the war in ukraine, is withdrawal from afghanistan, origins of covid. these are policy topics. these are areas of contentious debate. it is not clear why the government should be weighing in and giving us the official truth and censuring -- dissenting opinions. these documents raise clear civil liberty concerns, concerns around the first amendment and if the government is trying to shape the kind of news we see. amy: let's take one example,

withdraw from afghanistan. talk exactly about what you found. >> we obtain a draft report of the department of homeland security's review, planning documents that shape dhs' agenda , their focus over a four-year period. basically, planning document that shapes the agency's agenda. the documents show the department hopes to focus on issues such as the nature of u.s. support for the war in ukraine. how they hope to do this is not clear. what they classify as distance of -- disinformation is not clear. we do know from recent history from a long period of history that the u.s. government has attempted to shape public opinion around contagious foreign policy. issues the government has lied about our support -- the nature of u.s. support for wars in

vietnam and iraq and afghanistan, why the government sees itself as the arbiter of truth is really not clear. and how this government attempts orill attempt to shape discourse around the war in ukraine again is not clear. amy: if you could talk further about what exactly cisa is that donald trump signed into law and also the disinformation governance board that dhs eventually scrapped. >> the cybersecurity infrastructure security agency cisa is a sub agency of dhs where a lot of this disinformation, policing efforts are housed. this was created by an act of congress in 2018, signed into law by president trump. if you look at news coverage around the sub agency, focused

around protecting the critical infrastructure of the u.s. around water, run utilities, pipelines, kind of traditional infrastructure. but after being signed into law, this new bureaucratic arm of dhs really got to focusing on disinformation and alleging misinformation by claiming disinformation or any kinds of these false information on social media could pose a threat to the u.s. -- could disrupt radical infrastructure. -- critical infrastructure. these efforts technically began under president trump continue to expand -- the disinformation governance board announced by president biden in april, faced immediate criticism as orwellian mystery of truth after kinda

facing criticism from both left and right, biden shuttered this board in august. the documents we have show the efforts to police social media live on under cisa, which is a multibillion-dollar agency that meets monthly with the private sector. they were meeting regularly -- amy: we just have 20 seconds. do you see cisa in the united states further emboldening or autocratic regimes like egypt, turkey to force social media companies to repress their citizens? >> every society faces disinformation campaigns, false information on social media. what we're seeing in closed societies, autocratic societies, an effort to suppress freedom of speech, suppress social media, suppress the press. an open societies, we should be countering with more speed and

better speech. the question is, as we see where across the globe this kind of crisis of disinformation, will the u.s. take a more open society -- amy: we have to leave it there. we will link to your piece. check out our election night coverage.ç■ç■