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- [00:15]
Amy Goodman
From New York. This is Democracy now.
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Maria Inez Tericena
The secretary general remains deeply concerned by
- [00:23]
Rachel Gilmour
the continuing military escalation between Iran and
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Amy Goodman
the United States of America.
- [00:28]
Rachel Gilmour
He's particularly concerned about attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran and across the region.
- [00:34]
Amy Goodman
The United nations is calling for new talks between the US And Iran as the war rapidly escalates. The US has bombed Iran for nine consecutive nights while at least three US Soldiers were killed in Jordan and Iraq in the deadliest weekend for US Troops since early March. We'll get the latest then to Houston, Texas, where protests are continuing over the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican father of three US Citizens who was fatally shot by an ICE agent as he drove to work.
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Maria Inez Tericena
Really hoped that my dad would be the last person that this would happen to, but you saw what happened less than a week later out there in Maine. There is a young 3 year old child who saw the worst of the worst. And it is terrible to think that this could happen again.
- [01:35]
Amy Goodman
We'll hear voices from the streets of Houston and speak with Democratic Congressmember Al Green Then millions of people across North America face another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. President Trump's threatening new tariffs on Canada while ignoring the link between the fires and climate change. We'll go to Canada for the latest. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy now, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The United States is continuing to strike Iran for a ninth straight day after two US Servicemembers from Hawaii and Texas were killed in an Iranian air attack on a base in Jordan. A third soldier was killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. On Saturday, the US Struck a water desalinization plant in the village of Banji, disrupting drinking water for about 10,000 people and nearly two dozen villages in southern Iran, according to drop site news. U.S. attacks have also targeted nine bridges, two airports, a railroad junction and a road tunnel since Wednesday. And the International Atomic Energy Agency is looking into reports of an attack on the construction site of a planned nuclear power plant in Darchoven over the weekend. The State Department issued a War Abroad, calling on them to remain cautious. This comes as Axios reports the US Is sending dozens of refueling planes to Israel ahead of increased military operations against Iran. Iranian authorities report US attacks so far this month have killed at least 41 people and wounded more than 400 others. This is the adviser to Iran's supreme leader.
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Toby Jones
If in the Next two or three
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Congressmember Al Green
days, the Americans continue the war. We will enter a phase of complete offense and destruction. Should they try to seize any part
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Toby Jones
of our territory, we might enter that
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Congressmember Al Green
same phase of offense, abandoning our defensive posture, abandoning our deterrence and reciprocal measures in Gaza.
- [03:52]
Amy Goodman
Israeli strikes in Gaza City on Saturday killed at least nine Palestinians, including three children, according to local health officials. Separately, an Israeli attack on a tent sheltering displaced families in southern Gaza killed or at least one Palestinian and wounded several others Sunday night. This is Huda Allahan, whose building was destroyed in an Israeli strike.
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Community Members / Protesters
Our message to the world is to
- [04:19]
Amy Goodman
stop this war on us. We can't stand it. We don't have anything.
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Community Members / Protesters
We can't find food to eat.
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Amy Goodman
Why are they doing this? We haven't done anything. We were staying safely in our homes. We want to eat. We want to live like everyone else. Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,100 Palestinians in Gaza since October when Israel agreed to a U. S brokered so called ceasefire in the occupied west bank, dozens of Israeli settlers stormed a Palestinian village near the southern town of Yata on Sunday, setting fire to a mosque and buildings. Footage obtained by Reuters showed the settlers attacking a Palestinian home, starting fires near the property and spraying graffiti on its walls. Eyewitnesses called it a coordinated attack.
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Maria Inez Tericena
It was an attack on the entire village. The settlers came from the nearby settlement of Habat Ma'.
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Community Members / Protesters
On.
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Toby Jones
There were around 40 settlers.
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Maria Inez Tericena
Six were attacking here. They directly attacked this house to prevent anyone from getting out of the house and the others went towards the mosque and they tried to set fire to the mosque.
- [05:28]
Amy Goodman
Elsewhere, Israeli settlers deliberately set fire to Palestinian farmland and olive groves in the village of Tel south of Nablus. Amnesty International accused Israel's government of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the occupied west bank amidst a steep rise of state backed violence and forced displacements by Israeli settlers. Israel's revoke the protected status of Nile crocodiles to pave the way for a new prison modeled after the Trump administration's so called alligator Alcatraz ice jail in the Florida Everglades. The proposal by Israel's far right National Security Minister Tamar Ben GVIR would see Palestinians held in a prison surrounded by a crocodile infested moat. Israeli researcher and political commentator Shaheel Ben Efraim said on X quote, the fact that Israel is trying to surround a prison with crocodiles tells you all you need to know about these camps which are designed to torture, rape and murder Palestinians often held as hostages without charges, unquote. In Ukraine, Russia launched one of its largest ballistic missile attacks on the capital Kyiv since the start of the war, leaving at least six people dead and dozens injured. Ten people also killed in a Russian strike near the Ukrainian port city of Odesa. In response, Ukraine targeted Moscow with 400 drones, wounding two people, setting buildings ablaze. This is a Kyiv resident whose apartment was damaged in a Russian attack. There was the first strike. The building shook. Then it was quiet for a while
- [07:01]
Maria Inez Tericena
because the front doors had been blown off here in the hallway.
- [07:04]
Amy Goodman
Then came the second strike and then there was a huge blast. We heard it, the building started shaking and I could hear everything flying around. A Colorado prison guard faces multiple charges including attempted murder after he allegedly shot a protester outside the for profit ICE jail where he works. Witnesses say 42 year old Brandon Booth responded to demonstrations last Thursday outside the Geo Group's Aurora ICE processing center by firing a single shot at protesters then fleeing the scene. The bullet struck 21 year old Emma Landis in the heel, sending her to the hospital. In the wake of the shooting, Booth's former sister in law told the Denver Post Booth was, quote, not a good person at all, unquote. She said he'd previously slammed her into a wall giving her a concussion, adding quote, this is not a person who does the right thing or respects boundaries, especially of women and kids, she said. Meanwhile, records show the ICE agent behind the fatal shooting of 25 year old Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero once told a court a head injury had left him with impaired cognitive functioning and memory. David Bourreate filed a lawsuit against the Maine Community College System in late 2023 alleging post concussive injuries after a steel beam fell on his head during a firefighting training course. Just two years later, Bruyet went to work as an ICE officer despite his injury and his documented history of domestic violence against two previous wives and his daughters. He's an Afghan war vet. The far right Social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been arrested in Miami after British authorities issued new rape and sex trafficking charges against the brothers. The United Kingdom's Crown Prosecution Service announced the charges Saturday.
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Community Members / Protesters
38 new charges in total have now
- [09:00]
Amy Goodman
been authorised against Andrew and Tristan Tate,
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Community Members / Protesters
bringing the total number of charges faced to 59.
- [09:07]
Amy Goodman
The charges relate to seven victims spanning a period from 2010 to 2017.
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Community Members / Protesters
I want to make it clear there
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Amy Goodman
is no place for male violence against women and girls in our society and
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Community Members / Protesters
we will continue to work tirelessly to support victims and investigate all reports made to us.
- [09:26]
Amy Goodman
Andrew and Tristan Tate are dual British US citizens prominent in the far right hyper masculine online community known as the Manosphere. They previously lived in Romania, where in 2023 prosecutors filed a criminal indictment against them on charges including violence, rape and human trafficking. Despite the charges, they were freed from travel restrictions in Romania earlier this year after White House officials took an interest in their case. Andy Burnham takes over as the United Kingdom's next prime minister, succeeding Keir Starmer. Burnham is Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade. He's the former mayor of Manchester considered to be more left leaning than Starmer. Starmer was forced to step down from office after members of his Labour Party called on him to resign after the party's huge losses in Britain's local elections. Millions of people across North America face another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. Hazardous air quality alerts are once again in effect today for major cities including Chicago, Detroit, Columbus and Minneapolis. Here in New York, air qualities improved, at least for now, following what officials are calling the second worst smoke event in New York City's modern history. On Friday, President Trump blamed Canada, threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada over the record levels of hazardous air. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. In Maine, former state lawmaker Troy Jackson has emerged as a frontrunner to replace Graham Platner as the Democratic Party's nominee to challenge Republican Senator Susan Collins in November's midterm elections. Over the weekend, Jackson's campaign got a boost when several rivals withdrew from the race. Meanwhile, Jackson received broad support in county level meetings of the Maine Democratic Party ahead of a nominating convention next Saturday. Troy Jackson is a progressive who narrowly lost the Maine Democratic gubernatorial primary when he was cross endorsed by Graham Platner. Platner withdrew his nomination earlier this month after a former girlfriend accused him of rape, and New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani says he's still looking into arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits New York for the UN General assembly in September. Maudani spoke with the New York Times. The interview podcast I believe that Prime
- [11:50]
Maria Inez Tericena
Minister Netanyahu belongs in the Hague. He's a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court. And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years. I've also said that I will follow the laws that we have here in New York City because I believe that there is an importance in following the law as a leader who presides over our city and that's something that I plan to do.
- [12:20]
Amy Goodman
Meaning I'm sorry, I don't understand what
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Maria Inez Tericena
that means, meaning that whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that's what we will do, but we won't be writing our own laws to that end.
- [12:28]
Amy Goodman
New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy now, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. is expanding its attacks on Iran after at least three soldiers were killed in the deadliest weekend for the United States since March. Two U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian attack on a base in Jordan. A third soldier was killed in northern Iraq during a controlled detonation of a downed Iranian drone. The US police identified the soldiers killed in Jordan as First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan at 25 years old, of Hawaii and Private Isabella Gonzalez, 19 years old, from Texas. A third soldier remains missing in action after the attack in Jordan. The US has now struck Iran for nine consecutive nights. Iran's retaliated by striking US Allies across the Gulf. Earlier today, Iran threatened to not allow a, quote, single drop of oil or gas to transit the Strait of Hormuz if US Aggression continues. This comes as Axios reports the US Is sending dozens of refueling planes to Israel ahead of expected increased military operations against Iran. According to Iranian authorities, at least 41 Iranians have been killed and 408 wounded in US attacks so far this month. We're joined now by Toby Jones, associate professor of Middle east history at Rutgers University, author of Desert How Oil and Water Forge Modern Saudi Arabia, as well as running essays on energy, water and environmental crisis. Toby Jones, if you can start off by commenting on these developments. The ninth straight night where the US Attacked Iran, Iran retaliating across the Gulf. The number of US soldiers has increased who are killed to 17, another one is missing, and the targeting of civilian infrastructure. Take it all on. Professor Jones,
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Toby Jones
good morning, Amy. Thank you. We're at a remarkable moment. We shouldn't be surprised that the United States has escalated violence in the region. What's been on display since February, when the war started, or at least the most recent round of what is a long war in Iran started, is that the United States has considerable violence at its disposal, but it has limited political capacity to dictate terms. While it had a series of nebulous objectives in February, regime change, dismantling or at least challenging Iranian nuclear capacity, what the war has come down to in the summer is essentially control over the Strait of Hormuz which was not in question at the start of the war. The United States is unhappy that Iran has essentially emerged from months of fighting with control over a strategic waterway. The United States is frustrated by its inability to change or alter any of that. Iran sits in a position of primacy at Hormuz, and the United States is lashing out, seeking to undo that position, to challenge and to bottle back up Iran's newfound strategic influence and capac and control over what is the world's most important energy corridor. So what we're seeing then is the United States expanding its war efforts to inflict pain on Iran, to maximize both military targeting as well as civilian and infrastructure damage, to create the conditions for the impossibility of life and to weaken the Iranian regime. It's hard to say that it's working. For nine straight days, Iran has remained defiant and has even escalated and retaliated against not only Jordan, but also against Kuwait, and more recently against the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet, the Naval Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. Iran has been steadfast. The United States is scrambling. It's hard to know where this is, go where this is going to go, but it's all very disturbing.
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Amy Goodman
And can you talk about the soldiers who have died that we know of and the missing soldier? Talk about the US presence from Jordan to Iraq where these soldiers were killed, One of them not in an Iranian strike, but when they were dismantling an Iranian drone.
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Toby Jones
Well, Americans seem to forget the just sort of massive presence that the United States has built militarily in the Middle east and particularly surrounding the Persian Gulf since the early 1980s. It's been a 50 year long project marked and sort of punctuated by conflict against Iraq, an ongoing siege and sanctions regime against Iran, but all with the idea of creating a massive military footprint in order to secure American hegemonic and political economic interests, primarily energy, but also Israeli security and American Israeli relations, as well as American relationships with the authoritarians across the region. So that footprint has been built steadily over time and it's more or less a permanent presence. The targeting of US soldiers on the one hand is a normal act of war from the Iranians. They're responding to aggression against them, which they did not provoke in February, but which the United States and the Israelis believed was in their interest to pursue. And so Iran is striking out at American infrastructure. One of the most fascinating aspects of the war over the last several months is how little we actually know about the costs for both American forces and American military materiel and infrastructure in the region. We know that Iran has targeted infrastructure in the Gulf, both civilian and military, has now begun to attack Jordan. What we don't know is we don't know the scale of the physical damage that's been obscured and hidden from us from the Department of Defense and the Pentagon. I mean, Hegseth has petulantly avoided confronting or being honest with what the costs are. And the only reason we know about the deaths of these three soldiers and the possibility of a fourth is because you can't hide the returning of dead bodies. We don't know how many people have been injured. We don't know the knock on effects in the region. We know very little, we have very little information. This has remained more or less true both in terms of what happens on the waters of the Persian Gulf and what happens elsewhere. What Americans have probably not paid sufficient attention to is the massive vulnerability of all of these places and systems. There's a separate question of whether they're actually necessary or not. I don't believe that they are. I think Americans voted in the last election because they're tired of US wars in the Middle east and elsewhere. But the reality is that there is an ongoing physical significant commitment by the US military to the region. So it's hardly surprising that in the course of war that American soldiers would come under fire and pay a price.
- [19:20]
Amy Goodman
Speaking of coming under fire, talk about what's happening to international law right now. Toby Jones
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Toby Jones
well, look, international law remains a bedrock of how the global system is supposed to function. It establishes both a set of norms for behavior as well as ostensibilities, a system of accountability for people to behave appropriately both in times of war and absent times of war. But what we've seen since at least the early stages of Desert Storm, the lead up to the 1991 war, and everything that's followed both from the position of American war fighting in the region and importantly, the way that's linked to how Israel behaves in the west bank, in southern Lebanon and especially in Gaza, is that international law and international norms, what might be considered war crimes, while they, they are very obviously being committed through the targeting of infrastructure, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing in the west bank, genocide in Gaza, ethnic cleansing in Lebanon, the targeting of water desalination, bridges, infrastructure, oil refineries, and all the sort of following environmental and social harm that comes from all of that, lays bare that the international, the system of international law is a system in which there's no accountability for real power in the world. The United States and Israel, they enjoy, if not absolute pretty close to absolute impunity. And in fact, remarkably, the United States has begun talking about dismantling the International Criminal Court, not just ignoring systems of international norms and law, but actually dismantling it so that it can behave the way it wants to in the world. About 25 years ago when I first moved to the Middle east to study Arabic in Cairo, this was in 2001 and 2002. My wife and our friends and I did a year long Arabic language program at the American university in Cairo. Cairo 911 happened while we were there. The US started its war in Afghanistan. Israel staged a siege in Ramallah that spring. American citizens in Cairo were concerned and I think rightly so, predicted the kind of escalation of American imperial violence that would follow over a generation, both in Afghanistan and Iraq. We circulated a petition gathering signatures amongst other American citizens in Cairo and it was significant enough that we got an audience with the then American and ambassador. I won't name him on air, but a George Bush appointee with several of us in his office. And he sat us down and he rolled up his sleeves and said nobody cares about international law. And that was a real eye opener and it was an important moment. It's not a system of beliefs or practices or a legal system that needs to be abandoned, but we need to reckon with how it's not equally imposed or enforced and how people like Iranian citizens, Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Iraqis and those without big enough guns are not protected by it.
- [22:09]
Amy Goodman
Interestingly, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, said the administration will dismantle the ICC brick by brick if necessary. Meanwhile, the United nations is calling for Iran and the US to come back to the table. Toby Jones, associate professor of Middle east history at Rutgers University, writes frequently on oil war in the Middle east, author of Desert Kingdom, How Oil and Water Forge Modern Saudi Arabia and Running Dry Essays on Energy, Water and Environmental Crisis. Coming up, we go to Houston, Texas, where protests continue over the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, the Mexican father of three, fatally shot by an ICE agent as he drove to work back in 32nd. Or talk by Palestinian musician Huda Asfur performing in our Democracy now studio. To see your full performance and interview, go to Democracy Now. This is Democracy Now. Democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman. We go to Texas where Houston community members continue to demand justice for Lorenzo Sagado Araujo, shot and killed by an ice age on July 7th. He was a 52 year old Mexican father of three US citizen sons, lived in the United States for nearly 35 years worked in construction. The ice agents involved have not been identified. It's also unclear whether they remain on active duty or have been placed on administrative leave. The office of Harris County District Attorney Shawn Teare is pursuing an independent investigation. While Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, said Texas Rangers will investigate the fatal shooting, advocates fear the Trump administration may attempt to withhold key evidence. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has also announced it will hold a field hearing in Houston Friday to hear eyewitness accounts and testimony in Salgado Araujo's killing. But three key witnesses who are in the van with Lorenzo are still being detained at an ICE jail in Conroe, Texas, run by the for profit prison company Geo Group. One of the witnesses is Lorenzo's brother, brother Victor, who now faces deportation. Well, Democracy now has been on the ground in Houston over the weekend and visited the community built memorial at the site of the fatal shooting in the heart of the Magnolia park neighborhood in the city's East End district. Democracy Now's Maria Inez Tericena spoke with some of the visitors as well as Cesar Espinosa, executive director of fio.
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Maria Inez Tericena
Today we are at the memorial of the, the makeshift memorial, the community memorial, the community shrine that has been set up for Mr. Lorenzo Salgadoraujo. Apparently, from what we know, Mr. Lorenzo was coming this way and then he u turned and his van ended up in this very spot. And unfortunately, this is where he took his last breaths. As you can see, you know, this is in the heart of magnificent Olio park here in Houston, Texas, one of the first Latino communities here in Houston. People in the second third generation, people who have maybe their immigrant parents moved here and they've grown up here. This is a very Latino part of town. And for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, he felt like this was home. He raised his family here and so he was at home when this happened to him. The other thing that I was pointing out earlier was the red bricks. I mean, this is a, a clear reminder of community coming together to save themselves. The red brick significance is when the city of, of Houston refused to pave the streets in the barrio, in the neighborhood, people got together and they bought these bricks and they laid them down by hand. People like Lorenzo Salgador Ajo would have been the people who would have come together and with their hands would have built this street, would have built the neighborhood. When we came here the first time, I noticed that immediately and it brought chills to me because it's very symbolic that this happened here. You Know, one of the things we have seen and one of the things that, that also brings a lot of emotion to us is seeing all the abuelitas, the mamas, the daughters, the men, the dads coming out here and taking care of the shrine. If you, if you look at the, at the, at the flower where the Veladoras are, some. A man built that and brought that over here.
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Community Members / Protesters
After we spoke with Cesar Espinosa of community, members from different parts of Houston came by Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's shrine to pay their respect. My name is Sonia. I was born two streets down from here. I'm an educator, so I worked also down the street from these, from this place. I came here today because Mr. Lorenzo is everybody's father. I'm a child of immigrants myself and when I'm here, I'm overwhelmed with emotion because it's like if I was looking at my, my own dad posted up there, the amount of support that this family has gotten, it's no coincidence and it's not by accident. It's because he is, he's Houston's dad. He looks just like all of our parents. He has the same story, the same American dream. And today I decided to stop and come here because, because I just needed to pay my respects and I needed him to know. I needed the family to know that they're not alone, that we're all with them and that he's cared for. Sadly, after this, my dad has started carrying his passport with him everywhere he goes because he's just, he was just so struck by what happened. He's so scared. He's an American citizen also, but just afraid that somebody will profile him the same way that Mr. Lorenzo was profiled. On Saturday evening, community members continued coming by Mr. Lorenzo's memorial, bringing candles, fresh flowers, balloons and other offerings to honor him. They placed a poster that showed Mr. Lorenzo with Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, the 25 year old Colombian father killed by ICE in Maine. On the same week, parents also came to the memorial with their children.
- [29:55]
Amy Goodman
My name is Efrain Montalvo.
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Maria Inez Tericena
We are here because we are afraid
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Congressmember Al Green
of what is happening.
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Maria Inez Tericena
Like Mr. Lorenzo, we also work in construction and we don't know if we
- [30:05]
Amy Goodman
will come back home.
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Maria Inez Tericena
If we have children with us, we
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Congressmember Al Green
worry about them being stopped or that the same thing will happen to us as it happened to him. I've been here for about 20 years. I arrived to the United States around 2006. I drive through these streets every day for work.
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Maria Inez Tericena
We brought a heart hat, part of
- [30:33]
Congressmember Al Green
the Gear we used on the construction site as a symbol of the sorrow we share with his family. This is very sad.
- [30:44]
Amy Goodman
My son is 4 years old.
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Congressmember Al Green
If immigration were to stop me, the thought of having to leave my son,
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Maria Inez Tericena
I have a lot of fear. If they stop me or to leave
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Congressmember Al Green
him, there is fear. There is fear.
- [30:56]
Amy Goodman
That was Ephraim, a construction worker who was at the memorial for Lorenzo Sagado Araujo, fatally shot by an ICE agent in Houston. Ephraim visited the memorial with his four year old son. The Salgado family laid Lorenzo Salgado Araujo to rest in a private funeral and burial Saturday. His oldest son, Ronaldo Salgado, said in social media, we played music. Horses danced. We celebrated the life of the man who provided for my mom and my brothers for more than 30 years. On Sunday afternoon, hundreds gathered for another rally calling for justice and accountability in Lorenzo Salgado Uralvo's death. They were joined by Ronaldo and his brother, Lorenzo Jr. Protesters temporarily shut down a bridge holding signs that read borders, Kill and Abolish ice. Democracy Now's Maria Nez Teresena spoke with some of them.
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Toby Jones
Ice melted Texas heat.
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Community Members / Protesters
I smelt in Texas heat.
- [31:56]
Toby Jones
I smelt. I melted Texas heat. I melted Texas heat.
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Community Members / Protesters
We are at Irvin Chu park in Houston ahead of the march demanding justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Several grassroots organizations have gathered here. Community members. There are people holding signs saying abolish ice. ICE out of Texas. You can hear the music in the background. We spoke to some of the activists and members of the community.
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Toby Jones
My name is Vivek Venkatraman and I'm an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. ICE has not slowed its terror even
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Maria Inez Tericena
one notch since the brutal murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
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Toby Jones
As you mentioned, a young high school student described by his peers and his teachers as a very sensitive student, was very forcefully detained at the Hobby Airport here in Houston. And of course, in the immediate days
- [32:52]
Maria Inez Tericena
following Lorenzo's death, not in Houston but
- [32:55]
Toby Jones
across the country, we've seen the continuation of ICE brutality.
- [32:58]
Maria Inez Tericena
We saw in the immediate aftermath of
- [33:00]
Toby Jones
Lorenzo's death, the brutal shooting in the head of Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Bideford, Maine, we saw a man in Florida fleeing ICE hit by oncoming traffic.
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Community Members / Protesters
And what has been the response of Houston officials, of Hannah Harris county officials? What power do they have to stop ICE operations here in the city and protect the community?
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Toby Jones
Many of the people here, in fact, spent many months at City hall demanding an end to collaboration between ICE and hpd. And through that public pressure, the city actually decided to pass an ordinance that limited the collaboration between ICE and hpd. Almost immediately after that ordinance was passed, which took a lot of work from the bottom up after Greg Abbott threatened to withhold some funding almost immediately.
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Maria Inez Tericena
John. John Whitmire.
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Toby Jones
The mayor folded and the city council folded. And this is the kind of attitude
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Maria Inez Tericena
we've seen from them over and over.
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Toby Jones
Just a complete betrayal of the people who have put them in power.
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Community Members / Protesters
I am with Amigos de Los Salgado. We are a new organization that formed on the wake of Mr. Lorenzo's death. We are strong advocates for the Salgado family. So it's composed mostly of childhood friends of Ronaldo. We went to middle school, high school together, stayed in contact throughout our early adulthood years. And it hit us as if it was was our own family member. When we heard the news of Mr. Salgado being shot by ICE agents, it broke our hearts as if it was in our own family. Do you have family members of yours, relatives who are afraid to go out in the street? After not only the shooting of Mr. Lorenzo, but just the presence of ice in the city of Houston, I have had also family members taken by ICE and deported to Honduras. And these are folks who were on a pathway to citizenship. They were on a path to get visas or residency or whatever the respective immigration status was. They were doing things the right way. I had a cousin who was detained and deported last year in August, and another who was detained earlier in 2026. So just months after our first cousin was detained and deported, another cousin of ours was also detained and deported. My name is Alma Cooper. I'm here first because we are demanding justice for Lorenzo. But it's not just that this terror is coming from the government. Government is not just in Houston, is not just in Texas. It's not just in the United States. It's terrorists all over the world. Just look at the Marco Rubio declaration a couple days ago. Is plain and simple terrorism. They are terrorizing the entire world. So I heard the about the killing of Lorenzo Salgado the same Tuesday last week, at night, when the news, I was watching the news and I, I, I mean, I got furious because this is terrorists from the state, from the government. They want to get a criminal, get the criminal that is in the White House. So my name is Lizbeth. I am 23 years old. I am here because my mom, my dad, they're both immigrants. They came to this country looking for something greater. And honestly, I, I feel like this whole Thing is idiotic. I wish we could just work together, leave at peace, but honestly, with how things are looking, we need to fight back. That's why I'm here.
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Maria Inez Tericena
My name is Jorge Ojeda. When I saw Lorenzo's dad, it reminded me a lot of my dad who goes out.
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Community Members / Protesters
My parents came in legally, doesn't matter
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Maria Inez Tericena
because my grandpa was the one that came in illegally to make that happened.
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Community Members / Protesters
And it doesn't matter at all if
- [37:38]
Maria Inez Tericena
you come here legally or not. You shouldn't be murdered just because you're here without a piece of paper.
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Community Members / Protesters
We just received word that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's two oldest sons, Ronaldo and Lorenzo Jr. Will be addressing the crowd on the stage.
- [37:51]
Maria Inez Tericena
I really, really hoped that my dad would be the last person that this would happen to. But you saw what happened less than a week later out there in Maine, there is a young 3 year old child who saw the worst of the worst. And it is terrible to think that this could happen again.
- [38:17]
Toby Jones
The number one thing I think our government fears is the people coming together,
- [38:22]
Maria Inez Tericena
becoming educated and having these difficult conversations with each other. And it's really important for us to stay united, to stay positive and to keep fighting for justice. And I really only have three more words for y'.
- [38:38]
Community Members / Protesters
All.
- [38:39]
Maria Inez Tericena
I love you, Houston. It's very nice to see so many people, so many people of all backgrounds, races, colors, creeds, religions come together and try to ask for what's right. Try to ask for the bare minimum and it's going to be justice. Is that too much to ask? I hope you guys have a safe, powerful march. And thank you all for being here for my dad, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo.
- [39:39]
Community Members / Protesters
My name is Sofia Reyna. I'm 16 years old. Lorenzo, he wasn't the target that ICE was looking for. And his life was lost. Why? It could have been me, it could have been you, it could have been anyone. And right now we're in the streets protesting on this bridge. We want everyone in power to hear, we want everyone to hear that this is not fair. Innocent lives are being lost. Families are being torn apart. Innocent lives, hard working people, people who pay taxes are dying on our streets. We're not gonna let the that vibe. We want justice now.
- [40:31]
Amy Goodman
Special thanks to Democracy Now's Maria Inez Tericena, Nicole Salazar and Hani Masoud in the streets of Houston. This is Democracy Now. Democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman. We're joined now in Houston by Democratic Congress, Congressmember Al Green, who serves on The Homeland Security Committee. On Sunday, he attended a rally for Lorenzo salgado Araujo, the 52 year old Mexican father of three U.S. citizens shot and killed by an ICE agent July 7th. He'd been in this country for almost 35 years. Last week, Congressman Green took to the House floor to warn of a possible Trump cover up in the killing. Representative Green, thank you so much for being with us. If you can talk about what you are demanding now and the congressional hearing on the road in Houston that will take place on Friday.
- [41:39]
Congressmember Al Green
Well, thank you for having me. Amy, may I please take just a moment to compliment you on the excellent reporting that was probably the best that I've heard or read in terms of what actually happened. And those reporters should be commended highly. I'm grateful to have this opportunity to talk about the demands. The demands are very simple. A demand for justice. The justice has to include an investigation. The investigation has to be independent. It has to be transparent. It has to give us the opportunity to know what happened to Mr. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. We still don't have all of the facts. We have what typically happens in these circumstances, which is ICE will make a statement and then after they make a statement that appears to be bogus, they will say wait until all of the facts are out. Well, they have rushed to judgment and then they encourage that others not rush to judgment, but they make the initial statement. That creates the confusion that surrounds a case, which is the case with what happened here. My belief is that there is an attempt to cover up currently taking place. And that attempt to cover up is something that ICE has perpetrated in other cases. We can recall what happened in Minnesota. We remember Mr. Preddy. We remember what happened with Ms. Goose. Good. These attempts to cover up have manifested themselves and they've been exposed and that's what's happening now. And Amy, it's done for a given reason. You take all of the evidence and you don't share it with any of the local constabulary. And in so doing, you can present the case to the grand jury. If you don't get a true bill, if there's no indictment, you win. If there is an indictment, it's a federal indictment. And that then allows the President to do what I call cleanup. He can then pardon the people if they are convicted. He's demonstrated that he would do this when he pardoned some 1500 people who assaulted the citadel of democracy, the United States Capitol, when there was a peaceful transfer of power. So, yes, there is going to be a shadow hearing in Houston, Texas. Texas, under the leadership of the Honorable Bennie Thompson, who is the ranking member, which means that If Democrats had 218 or more members of Congress, he would be the chairperson of the committee. This man has demonstrated his fairness over the years as the chairperson of the committee. When they investigated the impeachment of President Trump, evidence that kind of led to the impeachment. So the Chicano. The Hispanic Caucus will, of course, be a lead organization, as they should be. This is something that involves a community that they strongly represent. We all represent communities, but they are intimately involved and they should be a lead organization. This will be a joint hearing here in Houston. I'm honored to sit on the Homeland Security Committee. And my hope is that we will hear from the District Attorney. He has made some very bold and powerful statements. My hope is that if given the opportunity, we'll hear from lawyers and people who have talked to the persons who are presently incarcerated, the three men who were in that truck, and who have given accounts that are contrary and antithetical to what the government has said. This is an important human hearing. It will expose more, but it will also cause this case to remain a part of the public dialogue. Unfortunately, these things happen with a degree of rapidity such that we have one circumstance that we are trying to understand, and we find ourselves moving on to another circumstance that we don't understand. We've had something to happen now in Maine, and the cameras were moved to Maine. And as a result, what has happened here will somehow become secondary or tertiary news. We have to make it primary news. And this is one of the reasons why this shadow hearing is so important.
- [46:20]
Amy Goodman
Can you talk about the relationship between the African American community, Congressmember Al Green, and the Latino community? So often attempts are made to pit them against each other. Talk about the coalescing right now in Houston around the death of Mr. Salgado Araujo.
- [46:43]
Congressmember Al Green
The best evidence of it is what took place last evening, last night at the Community of Faith. This is a church under the leadership of Bishop James Dixon, and there was a cross section of persons there from all faiths. Generally speaking, we had persons of different hues, different ethnicities, and we were all there to say to each other that we must respect and we must work with each other. Someone mentioned Dr. King's words. We must all learn to live together as brothers and sisters, I might add, or we will perish together as fools. We are doing just that, learning to live together such that we can take all the challenges of our time and confront a common enemy that continues to become a part or be a part of our lives. And that common enemy, my dear sister, is invidious discrimination. Invidious discrimination is the common enemy for Latinos and African Americans. And we have to confront this common enemy together. We cannot allow people to segregate us and cause us to believe that one is somehow benefiting from opportunities that belong to the other. We have to work together. And we are working together. I'm honored to say that the Honorable Sylvia Garcia has done an outstanding job of presenting this case to the public. She has been assisted by other people, but she's done an outstanding job. Job. And we are working together. And yes, you're eminently correct. There have been attempts, not just with this case, but in the main in the country to divide Latinos and African Americans to keep us at odds with each other, such that we don't focus on that common enemy which is invidious discrimination. And it happens every day in the lives of these communities. Communities. People want to believe that there is no racism in the country where you're wrong. They want to believe that there really is no discrimination in the country. Some people would say this, but they are wrong. It does exist. Now, does it exist to the same extent that it did some hundred years ago when we had lawful segregation, which was a form of racism? No, it doesn't exist to that same extent, but it does exist to the extent extent that it has an impact on the daily lives of people working in the country. And we have to fight it. And we are working together. And my hope is that this will give us greater unity. This man's life can stand for a lot of things, but in dying, he can also do something that we may not have done but for his death. And God forgive me for having to even say that, but maybe it will cause us to realize that we're all in the same boat. Some of us may be here from different places, but we're in the same boat now. And we should move together in this same boat toward liberty and justice for all.
- [49:52]
Amy Goodman
Well, I want to thank you, Democratic Congressmember Al Green of Texas, who serves on the Homeland Security Committee. Again, on Friday, the Hispanic Caucus will be holding a field hearing in Houston, and we hope to have you on again soon. Congressmember Green, as you. You are outgoing, having lost the primary, targeted among others by the cryptocurrency industry. We want to talk about all that with you and your more than 20 year career on Congress and what your plans are. I want to thank you so much for being with us from Houston. Coming up, millions of people across North America facing another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. Stay with us.
- [51:05]
Congressmember Al Green
Sam.
- [51:41]
Amy Goodman
A Baq by Palestinian musician Huda Asfour performing in our Democracy now studio. To hear her full performance and interview, she is a biomedical engineer, taught at Georgetown. Go to democracynow.org this is Democracy now. Democracynow.org, i'm Amy Goodman. Millions across North America face another day of hazardous air pollution as nearly a thousand active wildfires continue to rage in Canada. Hazardous air quality alerts are once again in effect today for major cities including Chicago, Detroit, Columbus and Minneapolis. Here in New York, air quality has improved, at least for now, following what officials are calling, calling the second worst smoke event in New York City. Modern history. In Canada, the fires have disproportionately impacted indigenous communities, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. On Friday, President Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada over the record levels of hazardous air. Trump wrote, quote, the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous and totally unacceptable. Acceptable, Trump said. But Trump has not said a word about climate change, which many scientists say is a driving force behind the fires. We go now to Montreal where we're joined by Rachel Gilmour, independent journalist, creator of Bubble Pop Media. Thanks so much for being with us, Rachel. If you can talk about what's happening in Canada, the blowback, I guess you could say, in the United States. States and President Trump threatening Carney and Canada with tariffs, blaming Carney for what's happening in Canada, actually standing next to Carney and the Mexican president at the World cup on Sunday in New Jersey.
- [53:39]
Rachel Gilmour
Yeah, the situation in Canada is, it's horrifying. I mean, we're watching the, the impact of the climate crisis in real time. It's disproportionately impacting. As you noted, indigenous communities here, people have had to flee their homes, a large number of them ending up in Thunder Bay, where there's actually not enough space for everyone. The people are camping in tents just so that they have somewhere safe to sleep that isn't their communities that they've had to leave behind because of the ravaging wildfires. As you noted, there's almost a thousand of them. Bur it's genuinely a crisis. There's lots of mobilization happening here in Canada and the commentary from Trump was extremely offensive to a lot of Canadians. I mean, what else is new? I think, unfortunately, no one's really Surprised by it anymore up here. But, you know, particularly given just days before he made those comments, a Canadian firefighter had died in Colorado fighting wildfires. So it was just extremely, extremely ton own death. But the additional horror, I guess, of just the apathy in Trump's comments is the reality that he's not acknowledging climate change. And Mark Carney sort of did a little bit of. He, he doesn't usually respond directly to the more unhinged stuff that Trump says, but he sort of made this, this comment about how it's, it is the climate crisis crisis that is making the dry and hot conditions for more wildfires to be sparked when there's more extreme weather, which causes more lightning strikes. But the difficulty here is that, you know, as much as Carney's saying that in response to Trump, he's not exactly taking the climate action that we need here in Canada. In fact, quite the opposite, despite him sort of selling himself as this climate guy, leaning on his credentials from his time at the United nations, if you
- [55:50]
Amy Goodman
can talk about that. I mean, on the one hand, you have president, you have Prime Minister Carney announcing a multibillion dollar strategy on what he called breaking Canada's economic dependence on the US which must have infuriated President Trump. But it includes a new pipeline in Alberta and building up multiple liquefied natural gas terminals. The proposed PIP pipeline would move 1 million barrels of oil daily from landlocked Alberta to the southern coast of British Columbia near Vancouver. If you can talk more about the significance of this, Rachel.
- [56:29]
Rachel Gilmour
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think a lot of us were shocked by the announcement because so many people had this idea that Carney would at least give the tiniest bit of a damn about the climate crisis. Yeah, he, he came out and made this announcement alongside Alberta Premier Daniel Smith. Alberta is where most of the oil is in Canada. It's where we have our oil sands. And, you know, they announced this new proposed pipeline, and what's ridiculous about it is the claim is that we need this investment in oil and gas to diversify away from the United States. But the economic case even isn't there there. The we just twinned a TMX pipeline to the west coast. And just now it's starting to make about a billion dollars annually. And we pay the Canadian taxpayers $34 billion for that pipeline, which means it will have to make that kind of profit for 34 more years to be profitable. And that's the previous pipeline that the Canadian people were forced to buy by a liberal government. Government. And now Mark Carney is saying that he's offering his full throated support for another oil pipeline. I mean, the only way that we can actually profit from that oil pipeline is if we absolutely abandon the fight against climate change. Because we would need there to be a world where demand for oil and gas continues to uptick for decades into the future to actually make money off of this pipeline. So it makes no economic sense and obviously it is a horrific plan for the climate crisis in Canada. Our oil and gas sector is our largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. And Mark Carney is selling the snake oil solution of carbon capture and storage to go alongside the oil and gas pipeline. But the, the, he's offering a tax credit for oil companies that use that captured carbon to actually inject it into depleted oil wells, racking out more oil that otherwise would not be able to be accessed by those companies. So they get a tax credit for that.
- [58:48]
Amy Goodman
Rachel Gilmour, thank you so much for being with us. Independent journalist in Canada, creator, Bubble Pop Media. I'll be in Martha's Vineyard July 31st with a screening of Steal the Story. Please. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.