Loading summary
Transcript97 lines
- [00:15]
Amy Goodman
From New York. This is Democracy Now. We are here in solidarity with a colleague whose wife is under all this structure, his children, he has two children and his wife under there. And with the hope of finding them alive. In Venezuela, rescue efforts are continuing after two devastating earthquakes. At least 235 people have died, but thousands remain missing or injured. We'll go to Caracas then. The right wing Supreme Court majority has handed down a pair of major immigration rulings. One allows the Trump administration to turn back asylum seekers at the border. The other ruling allows Trump to remove protections from Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
- [01:08]
Guerlene Joseph
Yes, today hurts, but we will continue to fight on behalf of the 1.3 million TPS holders from 17 countries. Today it is Haiti and Syria. Tomorrow is Venezuela, Nicaragua and others. So together we say no to injustice and we must make sure that we as a country stand on the right side of history.
- [01:34]
Amy Goodman
Plus, the Supreme Court blocked thousands of cancer patients from suing Bayer, the manufacturer of the popular weed killer Roundup. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. In Venezuela, the confirmed death toll from twin earthquakes hasearthquakes has risen to 235, but is expected rise dramatically as international rescue teams, including those from Mexico, Brazil, Cuba and the United States have joined the round the clock search for survivors trapped in the rubble. Thousands of people remain missing and injured. Hospitals are rapidly reaching a breaking point with Venezuela's Health Ministry reporting an estimated 4,300 injured people. Many residents of the capital, Caracas, La Guerra and and surrounding areas have nowhere else to go after their homes were flattened by the back to back earthquakes. The President of Venezuela's National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said 250 buildings had been damaged or destroyed with La Guera the most heavily impacted.
- [03:03]
Juan Gonzalez
This is the time to save lives. This is the time to rescue people. This is the time to assist those who are at this moment trapped beneath the rubble of all of the buildings, apartment blocks, shopping centers, bridges and roads that were damaged and directly struck the people.
- [03:24]
Amy Goodman
Jorge Rodriguez is the brother of the acting president Delsey Rodriguez. Later in the broadcast, we hope to go to Venezuela for the latest. The International Maritime Organization has paused its evacuation of thousands of strand sailors and hundreds of cargo ships from the Persian Gulf after an unknown projectile hit a Singapore flag vessel in the Strait of Hormuz Thursday. U.S. officials said Iran fired on the ship. Iranian officials have not claimed responsibility, but the attack came just hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned ships must first coordinate passage through the Strait with Iran's Navy. Meanwhile, the US Treasury Department has granted Iran a 60 day sanctions exemption, allowing it to sell crude oil and petrochemicals in US dollars for the first time in over 40 years. The move will unlock billions of dollars in oil revenue for Iran's oil industry. Lebanon's national News agency reports Israeli airstrikes killed two people and wounded a third in southern Lebanon, while Israeli soldiers bulldozed and burned homes in the town of Merkabah. The continued attacks came despite the U s Iran cease fire deal, which requires Israeli forces to end their occupation of southern Lebanon, and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said their forces would maintain an indefinite presence in southern Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Lebanese and Israeli diplomats agreed to extend negotiations in Washington, D.C. for a fourth day. Hezbollah is not a party to the talks. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration's policy of denying people at the U S Mexico border a chance to seek asylum, a right enshrined in both federal and international law. The 6 to 3 decision reverses lower court rulings ordering a halt to the practice of metering or limiting the number of asylum seekers who can present themselves at a US Port of Ent each day. In a scathing dissent read from the bench, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, quote, the consequences of today's decision are predictable. More people will die. More people will turn back and be subjected to violence because of something they cannot or should not have to change about themselves, such as their race, religion, nationality or political opinion, sotomayor said. In another 6 to 3 ruling, the court's conservative majority agreed to allow the Trump administration to end temporary protected status TPS for an estimated 350,000 Haitian and 6,000 Syrian immigrants. The ruling paves the way for mass deportations of asylum seekers to two of the world's most dangerous nations. Also on Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down a Hawaii law requiring people get permission to carry guns onto private property, and justices ruled 7 to 2 to restrict thousands of lawsuits claiming Bayer, now the parent company of Monsanto, had a duty to warn consumers about potential cancer risks from its popular weed killer roundup. We'll have more on the Supreme Court's rulings later in the broadcast. The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deport more than 500 unaccompanied immigrant children, bypassing longstanding legal protections for migrant children who are in the US without their parents. The children have been in the custody of Office of Refugee Resettlement for at least six months and don't have family, relatives or guardians who could sponsor them in the country. Orr, which is overseen by Health and Human Services, has aided the Trump administration in identifying children who could become targets for deportation. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden condemned the move in a letter to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Writing, quote, this is a severe institutional failure that places hundreds of vulnerable children in immediate jeopardy, effectively erasing them from the protection of U.S. oversight and thrusting them back into danger. To weaponize the very agency charged with their protection is an unacceptable, acceptable escalation of executive overreach that undermines our nation's commitment to due process, he said. In Syracuse, New York, two Homeland Security officers entered a voting site during Tuesday's primary elections to request a poll worker delete her Instagram account over her call for the ICE agent who shot Renee Goode in Minneapolis to face charges. Paige Linganya says the trouble began during her shift as an elections inspector at Syracuse's Central Library when she received this voicemail from a man identifying himself as Dave Brody, special agent with Homeland Security.
- [08:54]
Dave Brody
We were just calling you in reference to a post that we believe you made on Instagram where you doxxed an ICE agent back in January. We just wanted to talk to you about it. You're not in any type of trouble.
- [09:10]
Amy Goodman
Gagne believes the agent was referring to her January 8 Instagram post naming Jonathan Ross as the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Goode. It featured a still photo from a publicly available video of Ross taken moments after the shooting and cited a Minneapolis Star Tribune report identifying him. The post concluded with the caption, I think today is a great day for Jonathan to be indicted, unquote. Gagne returned the missed call and agreed to meet agents inside the polling site rather than face them outside alone. Two officers then arrived and handed her a form letter warning you may be in violation of federal law and that, quote, it is unlawful to threaten to assault, kidnap and or murder a federal official, unquote. Gagne since refused to delete her Instagram post or shut down her account and has set up a GoFundMe page to pay for potential legal expenses. The experience is intimidating, and I believe it's important that election workers are able to do their jobs without feeling pressured or afraid. It's also important for the protection of
- [10:22]
Juan Gonzalez
freedom of speech and civil liberties.
- [10:23]
Amy Goodman
And I want to know that the lack of professionalism with a forum that was given to me was very concerning. If it hadn't been confirmed that they
- [10:31]
Juan Gonzalez
were ICE agents, I would have believed
- [10:32]
Amy Goodman
it was a scam. A federal judge in Massachusetts has blocked President Trump's executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to create so called confirmed citizen lists of eligible voters. The ruling by District Judge Indira Talwani also halts Trump's directive to the U.S. postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on federally approved lists. Thursday's ruling was the latest in a series of setbacks to Trump's voter suppression efforts ahead of November's midterm elections. It came one day after US Postmaster General David Steiner was grilled by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Here he was questioned by Michigan Senator Gary Peters.
- [11:23]
Juan Gonzalez
So, yes or no? If a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposal rule? Under our proposed regulation, no. We would tell the state that we need the manifest in order to, you know, look what we're asking. That's the answer you tell no. So the proposed rule basically coerces states to conform to these new requirements and hand over their absentee voter rolls or
- [11:54]
face the consequences of not being able to vote.
- [11:58]
Amy Goodman
Vice President J.D. vance Thursday praised disgraced former President Richard Nixon, downplaying the Watergate break in and cover up as a minor event. Vance was speaking at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library Museum in Yorva Linda, California, while promoting his new book, Communion.
- [12:16]
Juan Gonzalez
I think that his historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, but I think deservedly so. As I joked with Robert backstage, if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12 hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.
- [12:35]
Amy Goodman
And New York City's Rent Guidelines Board has voted to freeze rents for the next two years for nearly a million rent stabilized apartments. The historic decision fulfills one of Mayor Zoran Mamdani's key campaign promises just six months into his term. The 7 to 1 vote Thursday took place at El Museo del Barrio, a museum in the neighborhood of East Harlem, where hundreds of tenants packed an auditorium, breaking into chants of joy, many taking to the streets to celebrate after the vote. This is Chantela Mitchell, chair of the New York City Rent Guidelines Board.
- [13:11]
Erica Pinedo
I believe a 0% adjustment for one and two year leases is fair and
- [13:17]
Amy Goodman
responsible approach this year. It's one that reflects the depth of
- [13:21]
Erica Pinedo
affordability challenges facing tenants while recognizing the
- [13:25]
Lupe Aguirre
real pressures that owners continue to face.
- [13:28]
Amy Goodman
And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I am Amy Goodman in New York, joined by Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez in Chicago. Hi Juan.
- [13:43]
Juan Gonzalez
Hi Amy. And welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world.
- [13:48]
Amy Goodman
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 6, 3 decision that the Trump administration can turn back asylum seekers at the border and that doing so does not violate federal immigration law. The turn back policy, euphemistically called metering, allows immigration officers at border crossings to block asylum seekers from setting foot on U.S. soil. The policy is not officially in effect. In fact, it was rescinded in 2021. But the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn the 2024 appeals court ruling that found the practice unlawful, and the Supreme Court then agreed to hear the case. The case is Mullen v. Alotorado. Erica Pinedo is the executive director of Alotro Lado, the lead plaintiff in the case. She joins us from Mexico City. And Melissa Crowe, litigation director at the center for Gender and Refugee Studies and co counsel on the case, is joining us from Mary. We welcome you both to Democracy now. Erika, let's begin with you. Talk about the significance of this Supreme Court decision and talk specifically about the case your organization brought, Alotro Lado.
- [15:05]
Erica Pinedo
So first of all, thank you so much for having me today. We originally brought this case because we documented hundreds of asylum seekers being turned away from ports of entry and also documented many individuals who were assaulted, raped, trafficked or killed because they could not access protection in the United States. This particular case is so important, and I think that the importance was really minimized by the justices. Justice Alito engaged in a rather tortured textual analysis, really focusing on the word in to basically say that if individuals cannot set foot on US Soil, that they do not have the right to ask for protection at the US Border. So this was really not about the text of the statute. It was to reach the political goal of ending access to asylum at the US Mexico border. He uses a few analogies in the decision, but I think the most apt analogy would be if a police officer were standing outside of a polling place and the Supreme Court decided, even though he's pointing a gun at you and you couldn't go inside the polling place, you still have the right to vote. I mean, it's just, just ridiculous. But that, unfortunately, was the decision of the Supreme Court. The practical effect right now is not going to be a huge change because, like you mentioned, the policy has not been in place since 2021. But the broader effects are really significant. First, it undermines international cooperation around the Refugee Convention. It legitimizes turnbacks for other countries that are engaged in this practice, of which there are many. And it really just solidifies the idea that human beings cannot cross borders to seek safety. And in a time of increasing conflict and climate catastrophe, this will result in many more deaths.
- [16:59]
Juan Gonzalez
And Erica, can you talk some about how this closure of the border, really that's happened, especially in the last few years, has impacted Mexico and people and migrants or refugees arriving in Mexico.
- [17:18]
Erica Pinedo
So, like I mentioned, the Trump administration, starting from the first Trump administration and continuing into the Biden administration, have hardened the border infrastructure so that individuals who are in Mexico trying to reach the United States cannot set foot on U.S. soil. They are turned away by U.S. officials at the border. When the Biden administration created the CBP1 system, which gave hundreds of thousands of individuals appointments to seek asylum in the United States, there were many, you know, they were all waiting in Mexico. That system was canceled by the Trump administration, and approximately 300,000 individuals who had already registered in the system were then stuck in Mexico. So here in Mexico City, we've worked with a very diverse population of refugees who are now applying for protection here in Mexico. Many have received it, but there is a rule in Mexico that you have to apply within 30 days of entry for asylum. So a lot of people were already waiting for longer. There's also very limited capacity here for third language speakers, those who do not speak English or Spanish. So we've been helping those individuals. But I would say that the Mexican asylum system has been overwhelmed, and there are serious safety concerns for individuals forced to wait in more dangerous parts of the country.
- [18:42]
Juan Gonzalez
There are also, however, still many people who cross back and forth across the border every day. Americans going to work in Mexico, Mexicans coming to work in the United States or to shop or to go to school. How has that affected the general transport comings and goings on the border?
- [19:04]
Erica Pinedo
I would say after years of living on the border that it has become more burdensome for people who are crossing for economic or educational reasons. Whenever the United States or even Mexico implements a policy that keeps asylum seekers away from the border generally will result in longer lines for people who are crossing for other reasons. But I do want to say that the San Ysidro port of entry, which was the initial focus of our litigation, is the largest land border crossing in the world. So I think between 50 and 100,000 people cross that border every day. So the Department of Homeland Security saying that they don't have capacity to process asylum seekers in addition to those tens of thousands of individuals is really, I would say, laughable. But obviously the consequences are dire.
- [19:55]
Amy Goodman
Melissa Crow, I wanted to ask you about Justice Sonia Sotomayor's surprising speaking from the bench least she certainly seemed to surprise Justice Alito, who read the majority decision. In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor referenced the 1939 turnback of the Ms. St. Louis, a ship of more than 900 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe. The boat forced back to Europe after being denied entry to Cuba and the US. Eventually, 1/3 of the passengers were murdered in the Holocaust. Justice Sotomayor wrote, quote, congress passed the Refugee act in 1980 because it did not want this country to repeat the mistakes of its past. Yet if the refugees on the Ms. St. Louis were to walk up to a port of entry on our southern border today, the majority's interpretation would allow immigration officers to refuse even to consider their asylum applications by physically blocking them from stepping foot onto US Soil. The majority's interpretation permits the government to do that even if the refugees complied with all applicable laws and regulations, even if the port had ample capacity to inspect them, and even if turning them back would result in the very persecution from which they narrowly escaped. Melissa Crow, if you can respond,
- [21:35]
Melissa Crowe
Thank you. Justice Sotomayor really understands the stakes at issue in this case and at the border. She drew from a quite eloquent amicus brief submitted by the Hebrew immigrant aid society HIAS that was involved in helping initially to bring the Ms. St. Louis back to Europe in an effort to protect those refugees, and they've also been involved in protecting asylum seekers on both sides of the border. This decision is devastating to the rights of asylum seekers, and Justice Sotomayor correctly points out that the majority opinion was rather myopically focused, as Erika noted, on semantics on the plain meaning of arriving in. And they ignore other fundamental canons of statutory interpretation. Asylum law dictates that noncitizens have the right to apply for asylum if they are physically present in the United States or if they are arriving in the United States. Both the District Court and the Ninth Circuit found that those must be two distinct groups of people because Congress chooses its words very intentionally. The majority opinion admitted that this might in fact be redundant, but again focused exclusively on the plain meaning of arriving in. They also found that by turning individuals who are on the threshold of entry to the United States back,
- [23:53]
Amy Goodman
that the
- [23:54]
Melissa Crowe
government is not denying access to the asylum process, but rather delaying access. That is a perspective that is completely divorced from reality because we know, as Erica said, that so many people who were turned back were so desperate that they ended up trying to enter between ports of entry, either by swimming across cross the Rio Grande or by traversing the desert under harrowing conditions. And many, many of them didn't make it to the other side. People will die as a result of this decision. And there is simply no excuse for this narrow interpretation of the statute. When Congress passed the Refugee act, they were codifying our international obligations undertaken after the Holocaust, when world leaders came together and vowed never again to let the turnback of the St. Louis happen. And we have betrayed that understanding through this decision.
- [25:20]
Amy Goodman
That boat that was turned back and so many of the Jews died on board was called the Voyage of the Damned. Before we go, I wanted to ask Erica Pinero, who we are speaking to in Mexico City, executive director of El Otre Ladoif. You can describe in this last minute, before the law was no longer being used, was blocked, what happened to people on the ground?
- [25:50]
Erica Pinedo
Before metering was being used, people could approach a port of entry. And I think all of us have traveled internationally or most of us have. We know that when you enter a country, you're usually on the physical soil of the country before you reach an inspection booth. So that was what was happening at the border. People would enter the United States and then speak to an immigration officer and ask for asylum. Over the past decade or so, that's no longer possible. They've made it impossible for people to set foot on U.S. soil. And so that really just eliminates the right to seek asylum in the United States.
- [26:29]
Amy Goodman
But when the policy was in place, one of the things your organization paid for, for example, 12 funerals for people who were waiting at the border.
- [26:41]
Erica Pinedo
Yes, unfortunately, there were a lot of people who didn't make it. We had clients who were murder. We had clients who died because of horrible conditions in shelters or camps, including a baby who died of pneumonia in a Tijuana shelter. We have people who were victims of crime in very dangerous border cities. And our organization wanted to make sure that they had a dignified burial and made sure that the bodies were returned to their home country.
- [27:14]
Amy Goodman
Erika Pinero, executive director of Alotro Lado, speaking to us from Mexico City, and Melissa Crow, director of litigation at the center for Gender and Refugee Studies. Thank you so much for being with us. Coming up, we go to Venezuela. The devastating double earthquakes. Thousands of people are missing. Stay with us. Is there a harbor
- [27:51]
Juan Gonzalez
harbor for these hard times Been going over the paths
- [28:01]
Amy Goodman
in my mind
- [28:05]
Juan Gonzalez
Is when we were younger Ran through the flowering trees it's hard to remember the sunlight and breeze oh, to find what we left behind and blur the bay.
- [28:41]
Amy Goodman
A Harbor for Hard Times by David Berkley. This is democracy now. Democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We're going to continue with the Supreme Court decisions that came out yesterday. But first, we just made a connection with Venezuela, so we are going to go to it. The death toll from the twin earthquakes has risen to over 200, expected to rise dramatically as rescuers search for surviv drivers trapped in the rubble. Thousands of people remain missing. At least 4,300 are injured in the two quakes that struck about 100 miles west of Caracas Wednesday evening, as many people were at home celebrating a national holiday. They were the strongest earthquakes to hit Venezuela in over a century. In Caracas, residents looked for friends and family trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. We are here in solidarity with a colleague whose wife is under all this structure. His children, he has two children and his wife under there, and with the hope of finding them alive and well. We are here, as I say, in solidarity, hoping that his family is well and well, as I say, I am not from the area. My building suffered some damage, but nothing compared to what this guy is going through in this place. Survivors of the earthquake have shared horror stories about being trapped under collapsed homes and businesses.
- [30:11]
Juan Gonzalez
My name is Eric Paul Martinez Santos, and I am a survivor of the earthquake that occurred yesterday afternoon. I was in my building for four hours until I was rescued by someone from Civil Defense or I'm not sure. They didn't have many tools. They couldn't find the chisel, the drill, the grinder. They went at it with their nails. I also helped because they passed me a tool and it saved me because I had a lot of furniture in my home that protected me from the wall.
- [30:41]
Amy Goodman
We go now to Caracas. We're joined by Andrena Chavez, reporter based in Caracas, her building damaged by the earthquakes. I'm so glad we could reach you, Andrena. Can you describe what's happening right now?
- [30:57]
Andrena Chavez
Hi, everyone. Thank you. And yes, I mean yesterday, Wednesday. I'm sorry it was such a difficult day. We experienced an immense effort. Two immense efforts, one consecutive after the other one. I was on the stage when it happened. I was a few blocks away from my home and the commotion. It was inside the wall. There were several buildings. And when I ran home, because I needed to come back home and see what was happening, I saw at least three buildings collapse in front of me or partially collapsed in front of me. And I was so certain that I was going to find my own building also collapse. Thankfully, that didn't happen. My building has some substantial damages, but it's Not a cruise at the moment. And my apartment, fortunately, is on task, ready to damage. Here in Caracas, we do have some areas that were severely affected, especially Los Palos Grandes, which is in the east of Caracas, but also San Bernardino, which is more to the west, and an area that is called El Gentil, which is kind of far away. But as being seen before, that El Quito, it is extremely affected. And unfortunately, because the most affected area is La Guayra, which is another state, and it is north of Caraca, because that is a disaster zone, because it is social devastation that is happening there right now. All the efforts are concentrated in La Guayra. There are areas in which the rescue people haven't been able to arrive. That is why it's so important that Venezuela is asking for solidarity, for international solidarity, for other countries to send equipment, send people, to send anything that we can meet here to be able to rescue more people. Because the reality is that at least thousands of people still flood on the level.
- [32:52]
Amy Goodman
Andrena, we're having trouble understanding you, and I'm wondering if you could drop your video so that we just have the audio. And I think we would understand you better, if that makes sense. Andrena Chavez is reporter based in Caracas. Again, her building itself was damaged. But talking about what's happening over. Okay, if you could continue, Angelina.
- [33:18]
Andrena Chavez
So I'm just going to repeat a little bit of what you're like.
- [33:21]
Amy Goodman
That's fantastic.
- [33:22]
Andrena Chavez
Yes, yes. So, like I was saying, we experienced this double earthquake. I was on the streets when it happened, a few blocks away from my building. The actual commotion was incredible. When I was running on my way home, I saw at least three buildings partially collapsed in front of me. Thankfully, my own building didn't collapse. It did have substantial damages. And fortunately we are. Everybody in my building is safe. However, there are other areas in Caracas. For example, a place called Los Palo Strande, which is in the east of Caraca, it is severely affected. There is a huge building there that collapsed, and a lot of people are trapped under the rubble. We also saw several buildings that collapse in San Bernardino, which is west of Caracas. And from what I understand, in a lot of these places, the rescue team haven't been able to arrive because all the efforts are concentrated in La Guayra state, which is the disaster zone. In La Guayra State, we have more than 250 buildings that collapse. There are thousands of people still missing, thousands that are trapped under the rubble. We still don't know exactly how many people died, because right now we don't have clarity about that. The entire Venezuelan police, the entire Venezuelan military protection cv, the heated protection, the firefighters, volunteers of all kinds, they're all working. They're all concentrating their efforts in La Guayra and parts of Caraca to save people, to rescue people. However, of course, we weren't prepared for a disaster of this magnitude. So it's not enough. That is why Venezuela has been calling people, calling other nations to please send equipment, to send rescue teams, to send humanitarian aid, anything possible to help Venezuela overcome this tragedy, because we obviously cannot do it alone. And a lot of that has to do that. Of course, Venezuela is a country that has been under US sanctions, that has been economically asphyxiated for at least 10 years now. So Venezuela is a country that has an infrastructure that is very deteriorated. We have public services that are very deteriorated. And all of that has been something that has really added to this tragedy.
- [35:44]
Juan Gonzalez
And Andreena, you mentioned the U.S. sanctions and efforts to shut down Venezuela's economy. But yet you're still there's still quite a bit of civic activity by citizen groups, by communes. Could you talk about that as well?
- [36:04]
Andrena Chavez
Yes, absolutely. I mean, every single institution in Venezuela, like I said, the national police, the military, firefighters and all kinds of volunteers have been working tirelessly since Wednesday trying to rescue people. But we also have people from communes, from the Venezuelan communes, from popular organizations. These people are organizing, gathering food and anything, medicine and anything that people in La Guayra might need. And themselves, they are carrying all of these humanitarian aid and taking it to La Guayra. Only yesterday, at the end of the afternoon, we saw a huge caravana of motorcycles, people who are collecting food and taking themselves to La Guayra. So there is a huge network of solidarity going on right now. We also see that there's people outside of Carazas in other states like Sulia, Aragua, other places in which people are collecting food, collecting medicine, collecting clothes, blankets, water, and bringing it to Caratas to help people here. So there is a huge network of solidarity right now. We have university students in the Central University of Venezuela who are using the university spaces to collect all of these aids and to volunteer to rescue people. So we have a lot of solidarity right now. So despite the fact that Venezuela certainly needs a lot more help from other countries, we have a huge movement going on right now to try to do everything possible to save people.
- [37:35]
Amy Goodman
Andrena, I want to thank you for being with us. And of course, we're going to continue to follow this story while hundreds have been documented dead. But it's feared that thousands are because of the number of missing and the thousands who are injured. We thank you so much for being with us. Andrena Chavez, reporter based in Caracas. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. As we move into a second major decision on immigration the Supreme Court handed down yesterday, which interestingly is actually linked to devastating natural disasters like took place in Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled in another 6 to 3 decision that the Trump administration can strip away protected status from 350,000 Haitian immigrants and 6,100 Syrian immigrants who've been living and working lawfully in the United States under temporary protected status, known as tps, the program designed for foreign citizens of countries the US Government believes are too unstable or dangerous to be returned to, often due to natural disasters or war. The loss of TPS will put hundreds of thousands of people at risk for deportation. This is Guerlene Joseph, co founder of the Haitian Bridge alliance, speaking yesterday.
- [39:09]
Guerlene Joseph
Yes, today hurts, but we will continue to fight on behalf of the 1.3 million TPS holders from 17 countries. Today it is Haiti and Syria. Tomorrow is Venezuela, Nicaragua and others. So together we say no to injustice and, and we must make sure that we as a country stand on the right side of history.
- [39:35]
Amy Goodman
White House senior aide Stephen Miller, who is seen as the architect of the president's deportation agenda, took questions from reporters after the ruling came down. Does your administration consider Haiti a safe country for Haitians?
- [39:49]
Juan Gonzalez
Absolutely.
- [39:50]
Amy Goodman
For Haitians, yes.
- [39:53]
Juan Gonzalez
So for, I mean, yes, Haitians live in Haiti. It's not our position that Haitians should leave Haiti. I mean, it would be crazy for us to say that Haitians couldn't live in Haiti. It's their country. Of course Haitians should live in Haiti.
- [40:04]
Amy Goodman
The case is Mullen v. Doe. The conservative majority ruled the Supreme Court lacked authority to review how the president or Department of Homeland Security used their authority on tps. He also rejected the idea that racial prejudice was involved in the decision for Haitians. In her dissent for the liberal minority, Justice Elena Kagan said it was, quote, unquote, quote, plain to see that race played a role, writing, quote, the evidence includes statements by the president so repellent and racially inflected that the majority declines to put them in print. Justice Sotomayor said. For more, we're joined by two guests, Guerlain Joseph, co founder and executive director of Haitian Bridge alliance, joining us from Washington, D.C. where she held the news conference yesterday. And with us in New York is Lupe Aguirre, deputy director of U.S. litigation International Refugee Assistance Project. Guerleen, let's begin with you respond to the decision and what this means.
- [41:04]
Guerlene Joseph
Thank you so much, Amy. As I mentioned several times yesterday, the community was devastated. But we continue to make sure we push through. This decision literally means that we have over 350,000 Haitians and 606,000 Syrians whose lives are in the balance, at risk of deportation, family separation, detention, cruel situations where we are continuing to see, knowing the conditions on the ground and the narrative that the government is is using against the community. We know very well that it is truly based on racial slur. That again we continue to see happening even after the SCOTUS decision yesterday. That's why we continue to push in asking the Senate to uphold and vote in favor of extending TPA for three years for Haitians. That is currently on the floor of the Senate. But the reality is that the decision yesterday is devastating. I cannot tell you how many people have been calling not knowing what tomorrow will bring. Are we going to be deported? What will happen to my children? We have people who have been in the United states for over 10, 15, 20 years that have been able to not only support themselves, give back to the United States, but also supporting those back at home for the past 10 and 15 years.
- [42:50]
Juan Gonzalez
Inderlin in terms of the impact in the United States itself, there are estimates that as many as one third of Haitian TPS holders work in the US Healthcare system. If all of these folks in the next few months or a year are suddenly declared no longer documented and can't work, the impact that that might have on the US Health care system, that's being completely ignored in this, isn't it?
- [43:21]
Guerlene Joseph
We have been talking to several hospitals, health care providers and they tell us that they are afraid that the world workforce will be eliminated. Currently, as you mentioned, 1, 1/3 of the Haitian CPS holders are our health caregivers. They are in the hospital, they are in the home health care. In addition to understanding in places like Mississippi and Ohio where they continue to not only invest in the communities where they have been able to live peacefully with their neighbors, going to church, but we have have industries. The healthcare industry, the hospitality industry, the meatpacking industry, also the farm workers also be a part of that, we are looking at the catastrophic deficit in the workforce in the United States if we allow this deportation machine and cruelty to take effect based on what we are seeing right now.
- [44:20]
Amy Goodman
I want to go to a Syrian TPS holder, a member of the LGBTQ community who submitted an anonymous audio recording to the refugee Assistance program Irap in response to the Supreme Court ruling.
- [44:35]
Dave Brody
When I've heard the Supreme Court's ruling this morning, I been just honestly going around in circles since then, feeling anxious, scared and honestly confused about what might come ahead with the reality of going back to Syria being closer than ever. I just don't know. The Middle east is up in flames. Syria has just came out of a five decade dictatorship and it's more unstable than ever. So not only I'm facing the possibility of most likely facing all sorts of violence from mental to physical and sexual, and I have to hide at my identity once again, but, but I'm losing the things I have come to appreciate here in the us Things that I would tell everyone are things that you would consider normal, as simple as quite literally just living in peace with others, feeling supported by your own community. So I just tell that to everyone. Don't only think about TPS holders, but rather the ripple effect that this will have amongst Americans and everyone here on the economy, on the psyche of society here.
- [45:51]
Amy Goodman
So Lupe Guerre, Deputy Director of the U.S. litigation International Refugee Assistance Program IRAP, can you respond to this audio message?
- [46:01]
Lupe Aguirre
Absolutely. First, I just want to comment on the strength and courage and resiliency of all the TPS holders from various countries. But what he said is absolutely right. There are ramifications beyond the TPS community, ramifications that will impact the US society, our healthcare industries, our economies. We have one plaintiff who is a highly sought after doctor that patients travel miles to see. But that didn't matter to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held regardless of whether the government is following the scriptures of the TPS law, we have nothe federal courts have no review power over that decision making and that's absolutely the wrong and immoral decision. They chose ideology over our promise, our rule of law and our promise to provide refuge to people who are seeking safety.
- [47:11]
Juan Gonzalez
And Lupe, I wanted to ask you. The Trump administration is constantly saying that they are directing their dragnets around immigration to the worst of the worst, the criminals. But in reality, what has been happening here is a total 180 degree turn on US policy toward immigration in general because you were talking not just about the refugee system, the reductions there, the attacks on tps, the increased fees, almost a doubling of the fees for people just to apply to become U.S. citizens or visa fees. It's an attempt to completely shut the country off from legal immigration, not just from undocumented immigration. Wondering your thoughts about that.
- [48:00]
Lupe Aguirre
That's absolutely correct. This is just part of the Trump administration's efforts to feed the detention and deportation machine and essentially halt immigration, even when people follow the rules apply, are vetted consistently as they have been under the TPS laws. And so it is not about it's about maintaining their campaign promises to root out people that they see as undesirable, even though they are valuable contributors to our society.
- [48:36]
Amy Goodman
I want to thank you both very much. Of course, we'll continue to follow the effects of this and make a correction. The quote I read accusing the president of racism was Justice Kagan, not Sotomayor. She said she would not repeat how he described the Haitian community. Lupe aguirre, Deputy Director, U.S. litigation International Refugee Assistance Project, or IRAP. And I also want to thank Earlene Joseph, co founder and executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance. Coming up, we will look at the Supreme Court blocking thousands of cancer patients from suing Bayer over the weed killer Roundup Up. Stay with us.
- [49:24]
Juan Gonzalez
Monsanto,
- [49:29]
Amy Goodman
ruler of the earth, the air and water too. Have you ever figured what you're going
- [49:41]
Juan Gonzalez
to do when you find you've poisoned even you. Monsanto?
- [50:00]
Amy Goodman
Have you no children?
- [50:03]
Juan Gonzalez
To live beyond your time and live
- [50:07]
Amy Goodman
to feel ashamed of your every bad Monsanto? By the late folk singer Michael Hurley performing in our Democracy now studio. This is Democracy now, democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. In another major Supreme Court ruling, the court blocked thousands of cancer patients from suing the manufacturer of the popular weed killer glyphosate, marketed as Roundup. The main plaintiff in the case is a Missouri man who sued Monsanto and its parent company Bayer in 2019, alleging 20 years of exposure to Roundup caused him to develop blood cancer. A jury found Bayer had failed to warn him of the risks associated with Roundup and awarded him $1.25 million in damages. The Trump administration, which has called Roundup safe, sided with Bayer in its challenge at the Supreme Court. We go now to Nate Halvorson, an Emmy Award winning reporter at the center for Investigative Reporting. Recent investigation of his is titled We're Bombarding America's Forests with Roundup. Halvorson's new piece from Mother Jones is headlined, the EPA Relied on an Influential Glyphosate Study, even after learning Monsanto was a ghost writer. Nate, if you can respond to the Supreme Court decision and explain exactly what you meant in that title.
- [51:39]
Juan Gonzalez
Yeah. The Supreme Court decision ruled that the EPA is now our single point of failure for warning us about harmful effects from chemicals like glyphosate, that they alone can require a warning label and what I found was, is that the EPA has been relying on ghostwritten studies, ghostwritten by Monsanto itself, to say that this product is okay.
- [52:16]
So, so, Nate, can I. Can you explain to me a little more about what the court decided here? Are they effectively saying that. That states cannot have their own safety standards, separate and apart from governments, from those of the federal government, in terms of these warning labels?
- [52:38]
Yeah, that's right. The ruling essentially says that only the EPA can make a determination that something is harmful to us and has to carry a warning law label. John Darnell had sued in state court saying that the law is required in his state that he be warned that organizations such as the World Health Organization had declared it a probable carcinogen and that by not warning him, they were in breach of state law. And that is how he sought justice. And these cases, these state cases have been going on for a while, as you mentioned. There are thousands of them pending. But because of these cases, all of the litigation, I think there's now more than 12 billion in financial settlements and payouts to people who have developed illnesses like non Hodgkin's lymphoma because of these cases. We have gotten access to, to internal Monsanto company records and emails. And what those emails have shown was that internally Monsanto had identified peer reviewed studies that were coming out that showed how this herbicide, the most widely used herbicide in the world, could damage people's DNA, which can lead to cancer. And so as a response to that, what these lawsuits uncovered is Monsanto launched a program secretly to hire what appeared to be independent scientists to write reports and do things like, quote, get up and shout that glyphosate is non toxic. And then once these reports were written, Monsanto sort of steps back and says, we have nothing to do with it. And the authors say that. And then they're presented to the public and to regulators like the EPA as this independent analysis. And it's this, these ghostwritten studies that Monsanto secretly orchestrated that has absolutely infiltrated the EPA's assessment of these products. And unfortunately, in the Supreme Court case, that that ghostwritten information has now made its way into the Supreme Court's decision. Because twice Justice Kavanaugh cited the very EPA report that relied on these Monsanto ghostwritten studies.
- [55:19]
So what is the recourse now for individuals in this country who are sickened or poisoned by not just by Roundup, but by many other pesticides and chemicals?
- [55:34]
Well, what Justice Kavanaugh said was the recourse is that people could contact the EPA and let them know that they had gotten sick and that the EPA should look at it again. But look, I contacted the EPA when I found out that they had been relying on this ghost report study and that in fact the EPA internally had identified this ghostwritten study nearly a decade ago as being corrupted Monsanto scientist, which its inspector General's office, its criminal division, had called research misconduct. And when I contacted the epa, they sent me a statement back that was riddled with inaccuracies. They said that this study, this goes written study, only appeared in a footnote of their assessment. That was inaccurate. It appeared in the body of their assessment. They said that the studies that this ghostwritten report was citing had already been published and that was inaccurate. These were all new studies. Actually, it turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, that were studies that were coming from data that the glyphosate manufacturers themselves had supplied.
- [56:48]
Amy Goodman
Nate, I wanted to go to a clip from your Mother Jones documentary which features a 2015 interview by French journalist Paul Moreira with the herbicide advocate Patrick Moore.
- [57:01]
Juan Gonzalez
You can drink a whole quart of it and it won't hurt you.
- [57:05]
Amy Goodman
You want to drink some? We have some here.
- [57:06]
Juan Gonzalez
I'd be happy to, actually. But not. Not really.
- [57:09]
But not really.
- [57:10]
I know it wouldn't hurt me if.
- [57:12]
Amy Goodman
If you say so, I guess I have some glyphosate.
- [57:14]
Juan Gonzalez
No, no, I'm not stupid.
- [57:15]
Amy Goodman
Okay, so you.
- [57:16]
Juan Gonzalez
No.
- [57:16]
Amy Goodman
But I know it's dangerous.
- [57:18]
Juan Gonzalez
I know people try to commit suicide with it and fail fairly regularly.
- [57:22]
Amy Goodman
Tell the truth.
- [57:22]
Juan Gonzalez
It's not dangerous to humans. No, it's not.
- [57:25]
Amy Goodman
So you ready to drink one glass of niphosin?
- [57:27]
Juan Gonzalez
I'm not an idiot.
- [57:29]
Amy Goodman
If you can. In this last 30 seconds, we have Nate Halvorson summarize the significance of what we have just heard and the Supreme Court decision.
- [57:42]
Juan Gonzalez
Yeah, I think a lot of people have really grave concerns about a chemical that has now shown in lower courts to cause cancer. And the Supreme Court ruling didn't say it doesn't cause cancer. It didn't say it doesn't hurt your gut microbiome didn't say it doesn't hurt most endangered species. It just said that our single point of recourse now is to try to get justice through the EPA by letting them know. And we'll have to see how that plays out in court and what happens with these thousands of cases that are now sitting out there from people who say it gave them cancer.
- [58:17]
Amy Goodman
Nate Halvorson, Emmy award winning reporter at the center for Investigative Reporting, will link to your recent articles and a very happy birthday to John Randolph. I'm headed to Rhode island this weekend in providence tonight at 7. Tomorrow afternoon, 3:20 at the Avon on Cinema for the film about democracy. Now steal this story, please, with the directors Tia Lesson and Carl Diehl. We'll be doing Q and A afterwards, then to Newport, Rhode island, at the Jane Pickens Theatre on Saturday night and on Sunday at 2. And that is this weekend. Check our website@democracynow.org we're hiring an education program manager. Check it out at democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.