amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> these missiles can follow multiple targets, can change their target along the way. amy: thousands of u.s. marines and sailors have been deployed to deter iran from seizing oil tankers in what the washington post calls a "remarkable escalation.”

tensions between the two countries. iran has responded by equipping its navy with drones and missiles. we'll speak with the quincy institute's trita parsi who asks, "with marines on persian gulf vessels, is biden risking war with iran?" then, an update on how the u.s. is responding to asylum seekers, starting at the border in texas where state troopers are reportedly separating migrant families, to new york city where there are growing calls for long term shelter for asylum seekers as the city says it has run out of room. >> another slap in the face historical new yorkers who have been here and our most recent arrivals who are just seeking a little bit of help in this moment. and we need to stop doubling and tripling down on emergency systems like the shelters and get people out of emergency shelters and into permanent housing. amy: then, the iraqi men suing u.s. military contractor caci

for torture they endured at abu ghraib may finally get their day in court. we'll speak with their lawyer and hear from one of the men -- an al jazeera reporter -- about what they endured. >> one of these methods, we were kept handcuffed with a hood on your head. then they would bring a big dog. you would hear the panting and barking of the dog closely. this was one of the methods of the torture and interrogations that was conducted. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. west african leaders are planning to hold an emergency summit thursday to discuss the situation in niger after last week's military coup. ecowas, the economic community of west african states, had threatened to use military force if niger's leaders did not step down by sunday but there has

been deep division within ecowas over how to respond. the senate in nigeria has come out against the use of force even though nigeria is the largest and most powerful nation in ecowas. on monday, the united states announced it was freezing about $100 million in aid to niger where the u.s. maintains a major drone base. meanwhile, acting deputy secretary of state victoria nuland traveled to niger where she met with some leaders of the coup who rejected her calls to step down. nuland was denied a chance to meet with niger's ousted president mohamed bazoum. meanwhile, mali and burkina faso have sent delegations to niger to reaffirm support for the new rulers. all three nations are former french colonies where anti-colonial sentiment has soared in recent years. this is a spokesperson from the government in mali. >> i would like to remind you that burkina faso, mali, and

niger have been dealing for years with a negative politico, socioeconomic and humanitarian consequences of nato's hazards in libya. if it took us 10 years, how many would it take us to get over another adventure of the same nature in niger? we don't know. 20, 30, 40 years, 50 years? one thing is for certain, the president has clearly said no. we will not accept military intervention in niger. they are coming for our survival. amy: in ukraine, at least seven people have died in the eastern city of pokrovsk in a pair of russian missile strikes on an apartment block and a hotel regularly used by journalists covering the war. the first strike hit at 7:15 p.m. on monday. a second strike came 40 minutes later, hitting first responders who had raced to the scene of the initial strike. according to ukrainian

officials, 31 people were wounded including 19 police officers and five rescuers. in other news from ukraine, authorities have detained a mormon accused of plotting to assassinate ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky. the woman has not been identified. voters in ohio are heading to the polls today for a special election to decide whether to make it harder to amend the ohio's constitution by raising the threshold from a simple majority to 60% of the vote. republicans in ohio introduced the ballot measure just months before voters will decide in november whether to enshrine abortion rights in ohio's constitution. the republican megadonor richard uihlein of illinois, a key backer of anti-abortion groups, has bankrolled the republican effort by giving $4 million to the group protect our constitution. former minneapolis police officer tou thao has been sentenced to nearly five years

in prison on state charges for his role in the police killing of george floyd in may 2020. thao held the crowd back while officer derek chauvin pinned george floyd to the ground with a knee on his neck for over nine minutes. thao is already serving a 42-month federal prison sentence for violating floyd's federal civil rights. donald trump has suffered another legal setback. a federal judge has dismissed a defamation countersuit filed by the former president against e. jean caroll. in may, a jury ordered trump to pay carroll $5 million after it found him liable for sexually abusing her at a department store in the 1990s. more than one million homes and businesses lost power on monday as a deadly storm lashed the eastern u.s. from alabama to new york. at least two people died. meanwhile, cnn is reporting recent heat waves in the southwest killed at least 147 people in five counties in arizona, nevada, and texas. experts believe the actual death toll is far higher.

in baytown, texas, one couple who had been married for 52 years, died after their air conditioning broke and they couldn't afford to fix it. extreme weather fueled by the climate crisis continues to devastate communities across the globe. in slovenia, floods have killed at least six people in what the country's prime minister has described as the “worst natural disaster to ever hit” the country. in south korea, authorities are racing to evacuate nearly 40,000 young people attending the world scout jamboree due to an approaching typhoon and extreme heat. the leaders of eight south american nations and thousands of indigenous activists are gathering in the brazilian city of belem for a major summit on protecting the amazon rainforest. brazil's minister of the environment and climate change marina silva spoke on monday. >> as we have had this 14-year

hiatus without a call for the summit, we arrive with clarity. the first point is that the amazon is drastically threatened. the second is we cannot allow it to and to the point of no return. it is possible to reverse this process by working in isolation. amy: many indigenous leaders plan to attend the summit on the amazon. this is raoni metuktire, chief of the kayapo people. >> if we continue to do forest, we will continue to have problems, not only for indigenous people but all people. we must preserve it so that our children and grandchildren can be well, sleep well, and you'd well -- eat well. we, the indigenous people are feeling the climate change. many rivers are drying up and the temperatures are very high. the force are dry. there is a lot of heat and little rain. this is perceived in the villages and indigenous communities.

amy: in northern india, more than 300 muslim homes and businesses have been demolished since thursday as part of a crackdown led by the ruling hindu bjp government. on monday, a court ordered a halt to the demolitions while asking if it was part of a "exercise of ethnic cleansing" by the state. al jazeera reports more than 150 muslims have also been arrested in what some have described as a campaign of collective punishment following an outbreak of clashes between hindu and muslim groups. britain has begun housing asylum seekers on a large barge off its southern coast in an effort to save money over housing migrants in hotels. this comes despite numerous protests and warnings. last week, the firefighters union said the barge was a “potential deathtrap" due to a lack of fire exits. there are also reports that the barge has no lifejackets. meanwhile, here in new york city, mayor eric adams has announced a plan to house as many as 2,000 migrants at a tent complex on randalls island in

the east river. we will have more on new york later in the broadcast. president biden is visiting arizona today where he is set to formally preserve a million acres of land near the grand canyon as a new national monument. environmentalists and native communities have long pushed for the land to be protected. the move is intended to permanently block uranium mining in the area. in chicago, police have charged a 43-year-old man with first degree murder after intentionally shooting a nine-year-old girl in the head while she was riding her scooter. eyewitnesses said the shooter was upset that the girl, serabi medina, and other kids were making too much noise in front of his home. the gunman, michael goodman, is expected in court today. this marks the second time gun violence has shattered the medina family. in 2018, serabi medina's mother was fatally shot in the head. police in montgomery, alabama have issued four arrest warrants after a group of white boaters

attacked a black dockworker who told them to move their illegally parked boat. cellphone video showed the brawl escalated when a group of men came to defend the dockworker. a 16-year-old who was dubbed “black aqua man” on tiktok -- where the video first went viral -- was seen swimming across the river to aid the dockworker. and in labor news, over 11,000 city workers in los angeles have begun a one-day strike, their first since 1980. the striking workers are represented by seiu local 721. los angeles has seen a wave of labor organizing this summer. los angeles has seen a wave of organizing the summer. hollywood writers have been on strike since may and actors have been on strike since july 14th. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the biden administration has

deployed thousands of u.s. marines and sailors in the middle east in order to deter iran from seizing oil tankers and other commercial ships near the strait of hormuz. u.s. forces arrive sunday and could be stationed interested ships in what it called a remarkable escalation between the two nations. the move comes after the navy said iran tried to seize two commercial oil tankers in the gulf of oman last month, and reportedly opened fire on one of tankers. the u.s. said iran also seized two merchant ships in may and dozens more since 2019. the u.s. naval forces central command called iran's actions a "threat to maritime security and the global economy." this is white house spokesperson john kirby speaking about iran on cnn. >> we have seen a real increase

now in their attempted attacks, or in some cases, said the, successful attacks on maritime shipping in and around the strait of hormuz come inside or out the gulf. this is activity we have seen from the iranians before, spiking now, and we are sending a message to our partners and allies that we take this seriously. so much oil travels through the strait of hormuz. that is a chokepoint or the middle east that has global trade implications. that is what these deployments are all about. amy: meanwhile, iran has said the ships it detained committed various violations, and that at least one ship had issued a distress signal that it was responding to. on saturday, iran said it has now equipped its revolutionary guards' navy with drones and missiles. this is iran's navy commander speaking on state tv. >> these missiles can follow

multiple targets, except commands when launched, and change their target along the way. amy: for more, we are joined in washington, d.c. by trita parsi, exec. vice pres. of the quincy institute for responsible statecraft, and author of several books including "losing an enemy: obama, iran and the triumph of diplomacy." his new column for responsible statecraft is titled, "with marines on persian gulf vessels, is biden risking war with iran?" welcome back to democracy now! maybe you can answer that question for us. lay out what led to what the u.s. is doing, how iran is doing and when you are so concerned about. trita: this is extremely concerning. the reason why the washington post characterized this latest potential move by the biden administration as a remarkable escalation, it is because it is

a remarkable escalation and risks leading the two countries into war. the iranian taking these ships in the gulf of oman needs to be addressed, but the root of the problem is the biden administration has continued trump's maximum pressure strategy on iran, confiscating vessels with oil from iran. u.s. laws do not apply to international waters. as a result, the maritime security has been threatened by these actions and by the response of the iranians. if we truly want this to end, the easiest way is to stop confiscating iranian oil and then there is no reason for the iranians to do what they have been doing. by putting these marines on commercial vessels -- this has not happened since the previous war times.

this is a reason why the washington post is characterizing this as a remarkable escalation. amy: the washington post also reports on the recent steps to deter iran include the deployment of advanced f-35 jets as well as other aircraft to the persian gulf region. your response? trita: what we are seeing which is quite concerning, despite the promises that there would be lesser u.s. military presence in the persian gulf and middle east, bring the troops home, now we see the biden administration moving more troops into the region, betting on deterrence rather than de-escalation of the situation. part of the reason why the administration is doing this is its key priority in the middle east right now which is to get saudi arabia to normalize relations with israel. in order to do that, the saudi's have asked for a defense pact

with the u.s., something biden has been reluctant to offer. it would mean that the united states would have to sacrifice its men and women for the defense of the saudi dictatorship. in order to meet them halfway, it appears the administration is calculating, by moving more troops to the region, by demonstrating it is willing to go in with iran, that that will make the saudi's more comfortable that the united states will come to their defense even in the absence of an official security pact. the question we have to ask ourselves, for what? getting the saudi's to normalize relations with israel, at a time when the israelis have the most extremist government in their history, annexation of palestinian territory, and possibility of making peace between israelis and palestinians because of the israeli government currently, you have normalizations take place in that context would be an american endorsement of what

the israeli government is doing in terms of undermining any prospects for peace. it is baffling to see me i we are taking such immense risks that could bring the u.s. into war for achieving things that are of little value when it comes to peace and stability in the region or u.s. interest in the region. amy: you also say the iranians have the potential to use a water girl to take out a tanker. what could all of this mean? trita: one scenario that are not sure the white house has taken into account is, instead of the iranians going after these commercial vessels in the manner they have done so far, they may use a grown to take out the engine and then let the ship drift into iranian waters. at that point, you would have 20 or so u.s. marines in iranian waters, they would confiscate the ships and probably deter the

soldiers. this didn't happen by accident in 2016 when some american sailors accidentally veered into iranian waters because of navigation and engine problems. that was resolved in 16 hours because the jcpa was in place, the obama administration had established a good channel of communication with the iranians. as a result, most americans don't know about this because it was resolved so quickly. biden has done none of this, and as a result, if this scenario would take place, it could lead to a major crisis between the two countries. amy: you write, it is impressive how mbs, the head of saudi arabia essentially, impressive how mbs has played biden. explain. trita: if you look at what has

happened during the biden administration, biden promised he would show the world the pariah that saudi arabia is, take a tougher stance, end the war in yemen. many promises were made. instead we see mbs playing tough ball with the biden administration, raising oil prices at a moment that was really crucial to the u.s. for prices to go down, pushing back hard, making a deal with the iranians through the chinese. all we have seen from the biden administration is to pursue a softer and softer approach toward saudi arabia, including now considering some form of a security arrangement with the saudis in return for this normalization. it seems this obsession with getting a saudi-is really normalization, which has questionable value, is the leading star of the organization, and are willing to

go to great lengths and concessions to saudi arabia to achieve it. it is not really clear what mbs is going to go for at the end of the day. just down when that opportunity is getting him major concessions from the u.s. side. amy: we are coming up on the anniversary for the demonstrations against the young woman who died at the hands of the so-called morality police. her death causing protests around the world. do you think u.s. antagonism toward iran will actually embolden iranian leaders to be more bold and oppressive as we understand they are planning for a new crackdown on the people? trita: rater tensions between the u.s. and iran have been to the detriment of the pro-democracy movement in iran. their ability to pursue the changes that they are seeking is

all the more difficult when there are high tension between the two countries. in this specific instance, i doubt that it will be significant. the government has been brutal in their clampdown of protesters. even though there is a likelihood that there will be new protesters on the anniversary, because the anger of the population is still there. nothing has changed in the country in terms of addressing some of the root causes of this. nevertheless, the repression is likely going to be very intense. if you look at this over the long-term, what we have seen is when countries are under the type of broad economic sanctions that iran is under, countries like cuba, venezuela have been under, the long-term effect is that the governments become far more oppressive than before. in order to keep control, stay

in power, control the anger of the population, they resort to more oppression. the instances we have where these broad-based sanctions lead to debt accreditation are very few. only one example, south africa. in all of these other cases, these broad-based sanctions have led to a situation where the population is more repressed because the government becomes more aggressive, including more aggressive on the foreign policy as well. amy: 30 seconds. what do you think should happen now as biden -- he was obama's vice president. you would think that his policy toward iran is more like trump's. trita: he is continuing the maximum pressure strategy. his administration tried with the pharmacy and negotiations. the iranians have created massive problems in the process, but there was a key mistake in

the beginning from the administration. it didn't go back into the agreement right away through executive order, as it did with the paris agreement, wto. it used the trump sanctions as leverage. that has been a critical mistake that has led to several consequences, including the ones we are seeing right now. amy: trita parsi, thank you for being with us. we will link to your column, "with marines on persian gulf vessels, is biden risking war with iran?" next, an update on the u.s. response to asylum-seekers from the southern border in texas, where state troopers are separating migrant families, to new york city. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: setar rock by maral. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to texas, where republican governor greg abbott

continues to escalate his crackdown on asylum seekers arriving at the southern border. the houston chronicle reported last week texas troopers have recently changed their policy and are separating families at the u.s.-mexico border, under abbott's "operation lone star," ." at least two families have been separated. the policy has been widely condemned by immigrant rights activists for its abuses. attorneys with texas riogrande legal aid described most of the families are from venezuela and planned to turn themselves into border officials to request asylum. instead, troopers with the department of public safety arrested the fathers on trespassing charges, while other family members, including their young children, were separately detained by border patrol. the practice even violates the abbott administration's own border enforcement guidelines .

advocates are urging the biden administration to intervene and immediately reunite the families. the campaign #welcomewithdignity said in a statement, "the world can now see that governor abbott's cruelty knows no bounds." just last month, biden's justice department sued governor abbott after texas installed barrels wrapped in razor wire in the rio grande as an attempt to block asylum seekers from crossing the river. dozens of migrants, including children, have suffered severe injuries and lacerations after being cut by the razor wire. last week, the body of two asylum seekers were found in the rio grande, one of them trapped in the razor wire barrier, the first reported deaths linked to the buoys. one of the victims was identified as a 20-year-old from honduras. meanwhile, the blistering heat wave in texas has also been deadly for migrants crossing through the region, with a whistleblower recently revealing texas border officials were

ordered to deny migrants drinking water even in the brutal heat. for more we go to el paso, texas, where we're joined by marisa limon garza, executive director of las americas immigrant advocacy center. welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us, though not under these circumstances. can you describe what you understand is happening at the border? people will say under truck, they understood the separation policy, still thousands of families not reunited. but it is continuing to happen? marisa: indeed, it continues to happen at the southern border. we believe in the well-being and safety of all people, and ideas shared by many americans. we all know, including governor abbott, the incredible harm and lifelong damage that is caused by this separation.

we know what happens to children, the psychological damage to adults as well. it is not surprising, unfortunately, that he has continued to ratchet up the response to gain political points. we see this separation occurring, we see the harm it is causing. it's incredibly difficult to have that happen here at our southern border. when you that with the horrors of this buoy system, everything we are seeing in eagle pass with a razor wire, the lacerations on people and the harm it causes, it just goes back to a tired trope that people pursue which is a deterrence practice through cruelty. this cruelty continues to be augmented and built upon in horrific ways that we know are just not effective. people are on the move across the globe. this has not deterred migrants from coming. if anything, these practices but

people in more harm's way when they are just trying to seek asylum, their legal right. it is horrific to see. we call on the biden administration to continue their efforts to stop the abbott administration, so that we no longer have the separation of families on our watch. it is unconscionable, goes against our values. amy: can you explain, they are arresting the men on trespassing charges? marisa: yes, the trespassing charges is the tool the governor is using with operation lone star to put the men -- that is one of the few access points they have -- as a way of legally operating through the department of public safety. this mechanism results in separation of families. those families are supposed to be presented together to border patrol officials and not have the separation occur. there is some kind of breakdown between border patrol and dps

and what is actually happening at the southern border. this is causing the community to respond in different ways. there have been reports of different people in the community, landowners and others, having real issues with these practices. the city council has had to privatize a park that became public again because there was not a real understanding of the great lengths the abbott government would go to to make sure there was harm placed on migrants. amy: i want to go to this issue of the razor wire. you are in el paso. i want to ask you about the response from the border city of eagle pass, where residents gathered to commemorate asylum-seekers who drowned in the river. this is jessie fuentes who is pursuing a lawsuit against texas & governor abbott over the river barriers & its environmental impact.

he spoke to the dallas morning news. >> i don't know what it will take to get our rivers back. that is a destroyed island. you don't make a comeback if you just remove everything that is there. we have to let the river heal, let our community heal. we need to remove all of these impediments out of the river. that is a federally protected river. none of that should be in there. amy: this is mexican president andres manuel lopez obrador speaking last week condemning texas governor greg abbott's immigration policy. >> their nationalities are being investigated. the people found in the rio grande river. action will be taken. we are already demanding the removal of these buoys which deny our sovereignty and human rights. the texas governor, greg abbott, should not act like that. it is inhumane.

you don't treat any person like that. no person should be treated like that. that is not something good people do. amy: what is happening on this front, marisa limon garza? any effort to remove the razor wire? the federal government says they are taking action. what exactly are they doing? marisa: the federal government through the department of justice is seeking litigation against the abbott administration to remove these barriers, make sure this is not happening here at the southern border. here in el paso, we know well what kind of a scar militarization is on our region. that extends from san diego all the way to brownsville. this is a reality we face every day when we see while you're at our ports of entry, border wall construction, fencing, drones overhead, checkpoints out of the region. it is no wonder that eagle pass is suffering these great harms

with this horrific new iteration, a way to increase militarization on pieces of land, an environment that has been protected, has been enjoyed by flora and fauna for millennia. to see these atrocities, really flies in the face of everything that we believe in and value in. it is time for that federal government to take a more active response, push for more action, to make sure this practice ends, so there can be in a tent of healing from the environment and communities. i know members of congress will be visiting the southern border this week. we call on them to take action and to push the administration forward on ending these horrific practices. amy: your organization, along with 200 of the rights and immigrant organizations have written to the biden administration which has been using the decrease in migrant crossings between ports of entry as an example of the asylum

policy working. what are you calling for in the letter? marisa: we are calling for an end to these practices. we know this decrease in numbers is not an actual representation of what is happening and it cannot be attributed to this new policy. we know that people take time to see what kind of impact it will have. the reality is that people are continuing to be on the move. we are calling for an end of the use of these contraptions preventing people, having access to territory where they should be able to seek protection. we joined with many other organizations across the country, calling for an end to these practices, especially all the things related to the circumvention of lawful pathways which the biden administration has put into place, using the expedited removal which is

causing incredible damage, erosion of due process for anybody trying to seek protection while in the custody of border officials. amy: finally, marisa limon garza, the issue of the desperate heat and what migrants face. if not the razor wire, the deadly heat. marisa: the heat is horrific. yesterday in el paso, i believe we reached 112 degrees. the longest streak of over 100 degrees temperatures in our region. the reality is migration doesn't stop. there are limited resources for people, resulting in death in many instances. it is a reality of migration that should not be a part of what happens. a lot of the deterrence and cruelty practices push people to more dangerous and remote parts of the border. that results in increased loss of life and damage, harm when it

comes to heat-related illnesses and other problems. it is another element that is only ratcheting up. the other consequences we have when it comes to these practices, these kinds of deterants. amy: the issue of border guard not only not providing water but sometimes taking water that humanitarians lead for people who might be seeking refuge. marisa: it is devastating. there are calls throughout the community for people, regular folks to be able to have access to water. we have cooling stations in our community so that people can cool off but those protections do not extend to migrants, which is inhumane and horrific. to hear that families are knowingly being left without any kind of water, a basic human

right, is devastating. that is something that we are certainly against, in favor of a real humanitarian response, which is what the response to migration should be first and foremost. recognizing that common humanity, what we all feel as we are going through this scorching summer as a result of the climate crisis. amy: marisa limon garza, thank you for being with us executive , director of las americas immigrant advocacy center. we now go from el paso, texas to here in new york city. mayor eric adams has announced a plan to house as many as 2,000 asylum seekers at a tent complex on randalls island in the east river as his administration claims the city has surpassed its housing limit to shelter the tens of thousands of asylum seekers who've been sent to new york since last year. many by texas republican governor greg abbott. newly arrived migrants have been

forced to sleep in the streets including last week when dozens waited outside of manhattan's roosevelt hotel for days, sleeping shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidewalk, in hopes for a bed and shelter. others have been stuck in the city's shelter system for months as new york officials have failed to provide asylum seekers with permanent housing. meanwhile, migrants who apply for asylum have to wait 150 days -- five months -- to file for a work permit, leaving them no options to make a stable living while they wait. for more we're joined here in new york by murad awowdah, executive director of the new york immigration coalition and nyic action. welcome back to democracy now! talk about the situation today where the mayor, democratic mayor eric adams faces a deadline to tell the state, tell the new york governor what new york city needs. murad: first, thank you for

having me with you today. one piece of information i would like to share is that new york city, new york state has welcomed immigrants and refugees for centuries. this time is no different. we have been welcoming folks from across the world. this past year we have seen an increase of people coming from the southern border. through that we have also seen that our system is not actually working in the city. we are a city of 9 million people, a city that has long had an incredible impact across the spectrum, contribution from various communities, specifically within immigrant communities helping to build our skyscrapers, bridges, every piece of new york city and new york state has an immigrant imprint and it. last week what we saw on the news across the globe at this point is asylum six seekers

sleeping outside of the roosevelt hotel which has been turned into a welcome center. those images were gutwrenching. how can we in a city of new york continued to have a broken system that continues to have people dehumanized in this way? as well as last week, a court hearing where the city and legal aid, monitor for the shelter system, went into court. it was a closed-door session but when they got out, it sounded like the city needed to make its request to the state on what other support they needed for shelter. in the state constitution, it also puts it on the state. this doesn't erase the fact that we have been dealing with an increase in folks coming in the past year, doubling down on broken system that don't work, never have worked.

we have been asking for people to be supportive, getting people out of shelters and into permanent housing. that continues to be our ask at the moment. amy: mayor adams has asked to suspend a decades-old shelter order that requires new york city to provide shelter to anyone who asks for it. talk about the significance of this, murad. murad: as you mentioned, a decades-old policy that allows for, regardless of who you are, to be able to get a shelter bed. historically, there's been a lot of tension between the services being provided. decades ago, single men were not allowed to get shelter. the court found that that was inhumane and illegal, so the right to shelter has been not just a court decree, but a law.

we have numerous policies at the local, state level where we have codified in a number of different ways, very complicated policies, but it is incredibly strong. you cannot justgut it because you don't want to fix a system that is broken. the best way to fix it is to cut the red tape, end barriers for the people who need the support they need to get out of shelter and into permanent housing. this is an issue for the mayor who doesn't want to do that. amy: mayor adams is saying he wants to send fliers to the u.s.-mexico border telling asylum-seekers not to come to new york. we know that the governors are sending asylum-seekers to new york, some don't even know what is happening or where they are going. murad: we need to invest whatever resources we have right now into stepping up the city's

workforce, not these other stunts of hiring outreach workers at the southern border to deter people from coming to new york. new york has historically been where you can achieve your american dream. that is why many immigrants, including my family, came to the u.s. over a quarter of the states population are immigrants. that is why they continue to come to the state regardless of what folks are saying. if you can make it in new york, you can make it anywhere. that is the dream that folks are trying to strive for. in this situation, people just need a little bit of help. asylum-seekers and migrants are not staying very long, on average between 30 and 45 days. what is more distressing is the migrant families and recent arrival families that are going to be put into shelters even longer than historically

unhoused families, who often stay in for years before they are offered permanent housing. we want to flip this on its head and support people getting out as quickly as possible. amy: murad awowdah, where are the asylum-seekers coming from? not all from latin america, but where from elsewhere? murad: the vast majority over the past year have been venezuelan. what we have also seen with regard to venezuela, the government has collapsed in a number of different ways. in the u.s., we are not seen the highest migration of venezuelans here. if you look at surrounding countries, about 6 million venezuelans left, and a vast majority are in south and central america as refugees in neighboring countries. we are just seeing a small population of venezuelans coming up.

there is an increase in global migration across the board. this is not unique to the u.s., this is happening everywhere. we have to create policies that move into being more welcoming, continuing to give people refuge and safety. the vast majority of asylum-seekers are latino with a great deal of folks coming from venezuela, some coming from peru, colombia, el salvador, nicaragua, but then we also have a large contingent of folks coming from africa. senegal, amli, nigeria, -- mali, nigeria, democratic republic of congo, haiti. amy: which goes beyond the issues of immigration. with venezuela, the strangling sanctions that the u.s. has posed on the venezuelan government. murad: foreign policy in general

and how it is impacting the migration and movement on a global scale. it is not just what is happening there. historically, the u.s. intervention policy in these other countries that has moved people to seek safety and refuge here. amy: and the climate crisis. murad: absolutely. amy: finally, our other cities looking to new york as an example on how to deal with asylum-seekers? murad: unfortunately, right now, we are seeing other cities bossing people to new york as well -- bussing people to new york as well instead of supporting our new arrivals. this is not just a new york issue. we are seeing folks come from everywhere going to different cities. there is a model here that can be uplifting. i think ella actually has a --

l.a. actually has a better model on supporting, getting the services they need. a real partnership from every level of government down to the community organizations, needs to step up to meet the moment together. amy: murad awowdah, thank you for being with us executive , director of the new york immigration coalition. coming out, the iraqi men suing caci for their imprisonment at taboo grabe -- abu ghraib. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: windfall by son volt. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we and today show with a federal lawsuit brought by iraqi torture survivors that appears to finally be heading to trial after a federal judge refused to dismiss the case. the center for constitutional rights and four iraqi men are suing the military contractor caci which was hired to provide interrogation services at abu ghraib, an iraqi prison where the men were tortured by u.s. guards. the lawsuit was first filed in 2008. 15 years ago. since then, caci has attempted 18 times to have the case dismissed.

this is one of the plaintiffs in the case speaking on democracynow almost a decade ago , talking about what he endured at the grape in november of 2003. he was working as a journalist for al jazeera and travel to the province to report on the invasion. it was there that u.s. soldiers detained him. he said when he asked what he was being taken in for, their response was, "you know the reason.” he was ultimately transferred to abu ghraib. when i spoke to him a decade later, he was in doha, qatar, and i asked him about his time in captivity. >> throughout my detainment in the solitary sales, there was an interrogation every two or three days. during these interrogations, we were subject to many psychological and physical torture methods. one of these methods was that we

were kept naked, handcuffed with a hood on your head. then they would bring a big dog. you hear the panting and talking -- barking of the dog closely. this is one of the methods of the torture and interrogation they conducted. there are many similar cases. amy: how long were you held like this? >> these interrogations that happened every two or three days would last for an hour, hour and a half. the details of the interrogation were different. in some cases, they would bring dogs and then start the interrogation. in other cases, they would throw cold water or hot tea on you and then begin the investigations. of course, you were always naked and hooded. i stayed for 40 days in a solitary cell.

70% of that time i was kept naked. amy: for more, we are joined by baher azmy, director for the legal center representing the plaintiffs in the case. welcome back to democracy now! explain the significance of the judge once again saying, no, the lawsuit been not be thrown out, as caci has attempted 18 times to do it. baher: thank you for paying attention to our client's struggle of getting some measure of justice. what the court held here, has held repeatedly, is that plaintiffs here, our clients have presented sufficient evidence that they were subject to torture at abu ghraib and

there was a connection from military police, some featured in the pictures that we have all come to be horrified by, connection between the military police and caci interrogators sent from the u.s. the caci interrogators were ordering the military police to soften up detainees in the night shift at abu ghraib where there was, as military leaders found, a command vacuum. the court found sufficient evidence of torture, evidence connecting the torture to caci interrogators, domestic interrogators. that has cleared away any remaining obstacle for the case finally going to trial and our clients getting their day in court. amy: talk about your clients, start with salah.

where is he today, what happened to the others? baher: in this case, we represent four detainees. we have prior cases representing nearly 200 individuals. we have another case on behalf of 71 iraqi citizens against a translation company. that case settled favorably. three individuals who were at abu ghraib. this is against caci specifically. all three plaintiffs were swept up in the chaos after the occupation, ultimately found their way to abu ghraib, suffered the range of tactics, interrogation tactics, violence

tactics that amounted to torture. sleep deprivation, nudity, temperature manipulation, and outright beatings. one has asylum in sweden, now has residence there. they are all suffering the aftereffects, psychological and physical, from their time at abu ghraib. salah and the others are looking forward to appearing in a u.s. court, telling a jury and the american public about what happened to them. amy: could you talk about the emails sent by a caci employee? the judge in the case had said that this could be a smoking gun. the caci employee writing and a

mill to his boss about what he witnessed, apparently residing in protest, the judge said. she said she was amazed that no one at caci seemed to follow up on the employee's concerns. caci lawyers have disputed that the email, which is not publicly available, is possibly incriminating. talk about what caci is, what their argument is? baher: caci continues to have huge contracts with the united states government around surveillance and technology, at the time, was hired to provide interrogation services under contract with the u.s. government, sent over highly unqualified but comparatively senior contractors that took command of the military police,

ordered these kinds of abuses to extract -- soften up to detainees and extract the intelligence. the question in recent years as a result of supreme court rulings is, what extent is corporate domestic conduct related or perpetuating what happened abroad for purposes of this jurisdictional question? the judge in a prior hearing due to single out an email going back and forth between abu ghraib and headquarters, pointing out the seriousness of interrogator conduct there, sounding the alarm to headquarters. we would say the headquarters largely ignored and covered up, continues to deny to this day. amy: i want to show an image. radio listeners can go to democracynow.org.

the plaintiff, salah al-ejaili, hooded at abu ghraib with his vomit at his feet. where did this photo come from? baher: from the discovery process in the case. there are not many photos that specifically identify our plaintiff, but this was one of them. you can see him suffering, hooded, bound, put in a humiliating and psychologically she mill eating set of techniques at abu ghraib, that he and others had to endure. amy: we will continue to follow this, as we have four years. the case is now moving forward after 15 years. baher azmy representing the abu ghraib plaintiffs in this case against caci. for two decades, he's been part

of a team challenging the u.s. government over the rights of guantanamo prisoners and the rights of asylum-seekers and accountability for victims of torture, representing these abu ghraib prisoners. democracy now! is looking for

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