Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240713

Amy President Trump is moving ahead with his pledge to withdraw from the landmark paris climate agreement. We will speak to 350. Org cofounder Bill Mckibben. Then we willll go to yale to spk to a student who is fighting to stop the deportation of his hundred mother. She is receiving stage four Cancer Treatment and is being held in a private detention jail in georgia. Plus, it is election day and much of the United States. We will look at a new york city Ballot Initiative that could change the way voters selectt their candidatates in future elections. It lets you choose whethero vote for one candidate like you always have work to rank your favorite. If your first choice does not win, your boat automatically goes to your second choice. The first candidate to get a majority wins. Amy rankeked Choice Voting. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace e report. Im amy goodman. The Trump Administration has formally notified the United Nations that it will withdraw the United States from the historic paris climamate agagreement, starting a yearlog process to leave the International Pact to fight the Climate Crisis. The u. S. Is the Worlds Largest historic Greenhouse Gas emitter. It will become the only country outside the agreement. The 2015 agreement aims to limit global temperature rise to less than 1. 5 degrees celsius, a target that would prevent the worst effects of catastrophic Climate Change. Trumps decision to withdraw from the historic pact has sparked Widespread International condemnation. This is the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson speaking monday. China express his regret official starting the relevant process of withdrawing from the paris climate agreement. We believe climatete change is a common challenge faced by all of humankind. All memos of the International Community should join hands to cooperate, each doing their best according to their ability to jointly deal with that. The u. S. Can take moree responsibility and make more constructive official contribibo multilateral cooperation instead of adding negativity. Amy well have more on the United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement after headlines. In news from washington, democrats have begun to release transcripts of testimonies from the closeddoor impeachment inquiry into whether President Trump withheld military aide from ukraine to pressure the ukrainian president to investigate trumps political rival, joe biden, and his son. One of the released transcripts shows the former u. S. Ambassador to ukraine marie yovanovitch, said she felt threatened by the president s words after she read a transcript of the july 25 phone call between trump and ukrainian president zelensky. Another topic to secretary of state mike pompeo my michael mckinley, testified he told pompeo three times they should make a Public Statement in support of yovanovitch. Contradicting pompeos claims in an abc news interview last month that he had never heard from mckinley about his concerns. President trump is continuing to demand to know the identity of the whistleblower his complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry. Trump has peers that compare the whistleblower to a treasonous spy who deserved the death penalty, raising concerns about the officials safety. On monday, contacted senator rand paul also called on the media to expose the whistleblower while speaking at a rally in lexington, standing next to President Trump thing do your job and print is name. Voters are heading to the polls today around the United States fofor statewide elections in Ballot Initiatives that wilill e se as a measasure of President Trump influence heading into the 2020 president ial elections. In kentuckckys governoror race, democratic challenger state attorney general andy beshear is looking to oust republican incumbent matt bevin. Trump held a rally in kentucky monday night to try to drum up lastminute support for bevin. In mississippis governor race, Democratic State attorney general jim hood is facing off against republican Lieutenant Governor tate reeves. Democrats are hoping to flip both governorships. In virginia, democrats are hoping to take control of the legislature. In new york city, voters will decide whether to move from electing candidates by a plurality of votes to rankedChoice Voting, a a system in which voters rank their favorite candidates in order and the person with the most topranked votes wins. Proponents of rankedChoice Voting say it will help underrepresented voters and candidates of color. In tucson, voters will decide on a Ballot Initiative aimed at making tucson arizonas first sanctuary city. If passed, he will be the first time voters will approve a city sanctuary status as opposed to, for example, city councils. In San Francisco, chesa boudin, a public defender and the child of Weather Underground activists kathy boudin and david gilbert, is running to be the next district attorney. This is boudin speaking on democracy now i am writing because i have seen firsthand personally my whole life how broken our criminal Justice System is. Mymy earliesest memories are gog through steel gates and metal detectors just to see my parents, just to give them a hug. And i learned three years and now decades of prison visits that are Justice System is not doing nearly enough for victims of crime, not rehabilitating people who have been convicted of crimes, and it is a system of racist mass incarceration that is costing taxpayers billions of dollarars and making us leless. Amy we will h have more on election day and ranked Choice Voting later in the broadcast. We will also be speaking with colorado secretary of state. Colorado is a vote male in state. Advice columnist and former Television Host e. Jean carroll has sued President Trump for defamation after he denied raping her in the 1990s. Carroll has accused trump of forcibly kissing, then raping her in the dressing room of Bergdorf Goodman Department Store in new york. Trump has claimed that he did not know and had never met carroll, despite a photo showing the two of them together at a party in the 1980s. Carroll said shes filing the defamation suit on behalf of every woman who has ever been harassed, assaulted, silenced, or spoken up only to be shamed, fired, ridiculed, and belittled. No person in this country should be above the law including the president. Over 20 women have accused trump of rape, sexual assault, or sexual misconduct. A federal Appeals Court has rejected President Trumps efforts to fight a new york grand jury subpoena for his tax returns. New york prosecutors have subpoenaed for eight years of trumps tatax returns as part of an investigation into hushmoney payments doled out by trumps former fixer and personal Attorney Michael Cohen ahead of the 2016 election. Cohen says trump personally directed him to pay hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former playboy model Karen Mcdougal during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has been sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion, bank fraud, and lying to congresess. He is in jail now. President trump threatened to cut off federal funding for the climatefueled wildfires currently raging across california. On twitter, trump attacked California Democratic governor gavin newsom, claiming hes done a terrible job of Forest Management and implying he would pull funding. In response, Governor Newsom fired back at trump, you dont believe in Climate Change. You are excused from this conversation. To see all our coverage on the climatefueled wildfires in california, go to democracynow. Org. We will also be speaking with environmentalist Bill Mckibben. In chile, tens of thousands of protesters took the streets of santiago again on monday against rampant economic inenequality. The protesters are demanding major reforms to the countrys current constitution which was written during chilean dictator Augusto Pinochets brutal military regime. Over 4000 academics around the world have signed a petition demanding the chilean government stop the violent repression of antigovernment protesters. At least people have been killed 19 and hundreds more have been shot and wounded since protests erupted on october 19 in response to a subway fare hike. In iraq, authorities have again cut off Internet Access s amid nationwide antigovernment protests that began over one month ago. Over 250 people have been killed in the governments brutal crackdown, which included the killing of four protesters near the iranian consulate in the holy city of karbala on sunday. This is the father of one of the slain protesters. Our son is a hero. He was carrying only the iraqi flag, nothing else. The reason militias attacked color samples of the protesters took to the streets for defending our legitimate rights and changing the constitution. Seven iraqi young men are jobless. This government will never serve the iraqi people. Amy in indonesia, journalists Maraden Sianipar and Martua Siregar were killed at an illegal Palm Oil Plantation on the island of sumatra. Both journalists had reported critically on the plantation. Inindonesian authorities have ruled the company violated the law when it deforested the land to build the Palm Oil Plantation. Deforestation for Palm Oil Plantations is a major contributor to climamate change. In spain, thousands of protesters took to the streets monday after a barcecelona court decided to convict five men accused of gangraraping an unconscious 14yearold girl of the lesser charge of sexual abuse and sentenced them to 10 to 12 years in prison. And sentenced them to 10 to 12 years in prison. Thursdays sentencing came after the judges ruled that because the adolescent girl was unconscious and under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, the men did not have to use physical violence or intimidation which are requirements under spanish law for a crime to be considered rape or sexual assault. This is one of the protesters, elia. It is clear they have to change it in the charges of the law or both. A 14 euro girl is unconscious, it doesnt matter. She gets raped by five people because one is masturbating . There are jujudges who say thats abuse . I find that incredible. Amy United Nations Refugee Agency is warning the m migratin land route across africa is even more deadly than the perilous journey across the mediterranean sea. Since 2014, over 19,000 people have died trying to cross the mediditerranean en route to europe. A top official with the u u. N. Refugee agency told a german newspaper the land journey t to reach the seaea is likely quites deadly. Twice as deadly. Ststarvation and illness are amg the primary causes of death. Turkish Officials Say they have captured the pfister of baghdadi in a raid in northwestern syria. The woman was captured amidst turkeys ongoing offensive in northern syria, which began after President Trump abruptly withdrew some u. S. Troops from the regigion, clearing the way r the turkish offensive. Turkey has been accused of committing war crimes against Syrian Kurdish fighters, including female fighters, during the ongoing offensive. A manhattan judge has dismissed ubers lawsuiuit challenging new york citys new law capping the number of licenses for ridehailing services. Last year, new York City Council passed the nations first cap on the number of forhire vehicles. The legislation also allows new york city to set a minimum wage for drivers with uber, lyft, and other ridehailing services. New yorks insurance regulator is launching an investigation into Unitedhealth Group after a study showed a United Health algorithm prioritized medical care for healthier white patients over sicker black patients. A study published in the journal science found the algorithm, called impact pro, steered black patients away from highquality care and favored treating white patientsts with complex healalth procedures over black patients. Its one of the latest examples of Racial Discrimination in algorithms or Artificial Intelligence technology, which also includes a googlefunded Artificial Intelligence tool that found tweets from African Americans were more likely to be considered toxic than tweets from white people. U. S. Government facial recognition tools are also more likely to misidentify black people more often than white people. In colorado, the fbi has ararrested a 27yearoold man o was allegedly planning to bomb a synagogue in pueblo. Court documents say Richard Holzer talked about killing jews in online forums and once wrote on facebook, i wish the holocaust really did happen. They need to die. He was arrested friday after he examined fake pipe bombs that had been prepared by undercover agents, who had been tracking and interacting with holzer since last septembeber. And in oklahoma, hundreds of prisoners walked free on monday, in the largest singleday commutation in u. S. Hihistory. The 462 prisoners were all convicted of lowlevel nonviolent crimes that the oklahoma pardon and parole board said friday would no longer be considered felonies today. This is lana lemus, who was incarcerated for three years for simple drug possession. She reunited with her daughter outside Kate Barnard Correctional Center monday. I have been out of her life for three years. She has never given up on me. It is a great opportunity for a lot of women out there. I have to say . Thank you. Amy and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. The Trump Administration has formally notified the United Nations that it will withdraw the u. S. From the historic paris climate agreement, starting a yearlong process to leave the International Pact to fight the Climate Crisis. The u. S. The woworlds larget historic Greenhouse Gas emitter will become the only country outside the agreement. The 2015 agreement aims to limit global temperature rise to less than 1. 5 degrees celsius, a target that would prevent the worst effects of catastrophic Climate Change. Secretary of state mike pompeo announced the news monday, tweeting today we begin the formal process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. The u. S. Is proud of our record as a world leader in reducing all emissions, fostering resilience, growing our economy, and ensuring energy for our citizens. Ours is a realistic and pragmatic model. The announcement comes as the effects of the climatete crisis are already being felt around the world, from the wildfires raging in california to extreme drought in partsf f centl america to a worsengng monon seas in soutasasia. Lasteek, a new studyubublish in Nature Communications warned 300 Million People are at risk of being displaced due to rising sea levels by 2050. According to the report, global sea levels are expected to rise between two to seven feet and possibly more, wiping some coastal cities off the map. Withdrawal from the climate accord was declared on the first day possible under the accords rules and will take a year to take effect, meaning the e process will cononclude ee daday after the 2020 p presidenl election. In a piece for the guardian, headlined a climate denierinchief sits in the white house today. But not for long, 2020 president ial candidate Elizabeth Warren wrote the next president must rejoin the Paris Agreement, but that alone is not enough. Instead, she must show the world that the United States is ready to once again lead on the international stage. The first step is to submit a new u. S. Commitment under paris raising our previous target to achieve rapid emission reductions. In november 2020, it wont just be donald trump on the ballot but also the chance to renew americas climate leadership for a safer, cleaner, more secure and more prosperous future. Well, for more were joined via democracy now video stream by Bill Mckibben, cofounder of 350. Org. His latest book, falter has the human game begun to play itself out . He is joining us from middlebury, vermont. Welcome back to democracy now can you talk about the significance of the formal pulling out of the u. S. Climate agreement . Pompeo and trump announcing. This has been coming for a yearar since trump announced his initial decision. In s some sense, it is no surprise. Mike pompeo is the congressman who took more money from the Koch Brothers than any other member of congress, which is not an easy sweepstakes to win. This is in one sense what was expected and in another sense, it is deeply historic. When people look k back, if they are able to come and write the story of this time, thehe decisn of the United States to be the only country on earth, lets be clear, the only country on earth, unwililling to take partn a global solulution to the greatest c crisis wewe have ever faced theres a lot to be ashamed of and the trump years and a lot of terrible things that have happened. It is pretty hard to top that. Juan bill, you said the decision to withdraw is the greatest success of the denial machine the fossil fuel industry launched 30 years ago. Could you elaborate on that . Greatnow know from investigative reporting that the fossil fuel industry knew everything there was to know 1980s. Hange in the exxon was the bibiggest companyn earth. Their product was carbon. Of course they were going to study it. With scientists told them uncanny accuracy what the temperature in the co2 concentration would be in 2019. Understanding that this was a threat to the world but also a threat to their business, they took the second more seriously than the first and began this decadelong process of climate decadelong of climate denial and delay, setting in motion these big think tanks and so on and so forth. That is what came to a head at this withdrawal from paris. It was the ultimate conclusion of all that work at disinforormation. From one point of view, it was extremely successful. The fossil fuel industry had its most profitable years in the last two decadeses. On the o oer hand, we are now missing half the c cis in the arctic, the Great Barrier reef is affected, the oceans are 30 is oncidic, california fire more weeks than not. We are in deep, deep trouble. And the idea were just going to put our hands over our eyes come over our ears, or over our mouth at this point isis about as depressing as it is possible to get. Juan i want to ask you come in terms of the direct effects that people are feeling here of climate refugees i want to ask about the situation in Central America. The immigration battle is not paid few people i paid attention to the ongoing crisis in Central America, the drought that has now been really affecting that region since about 2014. It has continued to get worse to worldpoint that the u. N. s food program recently said that levels of Food Insecurity that have not been previously seen in the region exist there. You could argue many of the people coming from honduras, from guatemala, and from el drug quartere the of that region is, are in effect the first climate refugees that we are seeing coming into the United States. Im so g glad you brought tht up. I got arrested at an immigration protest because i wanted to draw attention precisely to the link youre describing. If you look at a map, Central America is one of the few places on the planet where there are g oceans on both sides of f a narrow strip of land. The oceans are warming much faster than the land surface. That is where most of the heat is going. That means those who are close border to them, especially on both sides, are dealing with some very powerful effects. He droughts are extraordinaryy that is one of the things driving people north to the border, just a as the huge drout in s syria a d decade ago hehelt the stage for the trauma, turmoil, and refugees we see there. To put thihis in perspective, te an. Estimates we could see billion climate refugees and the course of this century. That is a number that hasas gone up in the last week or so in a very scary new study on sea level rise, one that everyone should be paying attention to. Case,not about, in this an increase in the rate in which the sea level is rising, it is about a recalibration of how high most of the worlds coastal cities are. It turns out that their radar and satellite data was misleading people. In many of these cities and regions s are much lower to the ocean that people had thought. When you look at the maps of where we are going to be by 2050, they show things lee almost all of the delta in etnam under ter. Ththat is one of the most important ricegrowing regions on the planet, if not the most important. This is truly terrifying to look at those pictures and to realize just how fast this is coming now. With thethen you have mass protest against inequality in chile, the chilean president announcing he is canceling cop and madrid now taking up the responsibility of the december u. N. Climate summit. The significance of this, Bill Mckibben . It was probably inevitable that till i was going to cancel this because at some level, dealing w wh Climate Change is about dealing with justice and equity. Those may have been concepts that the chilean government were not too eager to have people focusing on too much right now. Process is going to look forward, but it does it without the active participation of the u. S. In fact, wite u. S. Trying to sabotage the process. We are the worlds biggest economy. It is pretty hard to ask china and india to takeke up the e slk here to provide the leadership the u. S. Should be providing. But essentiallyly, that i is wht people are doing. To some degree, theyre living up to it. Ththe chinese are installing energy at a breakneck pace. Look, as you know, it is not like the paris climate accords was an amazing document. At best, it offered us the possibility of keeping enough momentum going to maybe begin to catch up to physics at some point. That momentum has been broken now by the Trump Administration and by its handlers in the fossil fuel industry. So now we are in we are in a place where we are relying on civil society, on mass movements to do what they can to reset the zeitgeist and to do it quickly. Thank you to the young people have come forward in t the lasat year. Thank heaven for everyone rallying behind them. We are going to need a lot more that in the year to come. Amy and we will be broadcasting inm the u. N. Climate summit madrid as we do every year. Juan i would ask about the response of Corporate America, specifically the automobile makers, general motors, toyota, Fiat Chrysler. They have sided with President Trump in his continuing battle with california over autoignition standards. Your take on that . It is shortsighted in the extreme. They are playing the same game as everybody else, trying to get another year or two out of their Business Model which at the moment is telling people ever bigger suvs and so they have been willing to side with the trumpet administration to try to make sure we dont do anything about fuel economy. It is always the shortsighted. It is obvious theyre opening up the door even wider for the europeans, for tesla motors, for all the people who are actually working on the next in ration mobility nextgeneration mobility, not to mention the bus lanes. But the problem is not that we wont get there eventually. The problem is this is a contest. Scientists a year ago in the last report pretty much gave us a deadline. They said if we had not made fundamental transformation in our Energy Economy by 2030, then our chances of meeting even the modest targets set at paris is essentially nil. That means we dont have fiveyear product of element cycles to waste. It means everybody h has to be going as hard as they can right now. Amy and yet Corporate America is divided. If you can talk about this. On the one hand, you have general motors, toyota, Fiat Chrysler siding with the Trump Administration against california. But then youou had this slew of other totomakers including ford, honda, and volkswagen which have sided with californias right to set pollution limits. Why this division . Whot pretty much reflects is most scared of trump and who is furthest along in coming up with cars that can meet emission requirirements. All of the automakers know better. They all embarked on a course of lower emissions since the obama administration. General motors, toyota, those people are just trying to suck up some more gravy for a few more years. It is a disgrace. The same disgrace is happening in the utility industry, happening in agribusiness, happening everywhere where everyone is trying to maintain their Business Model just a little while longer. Those are the years that will break the climate system. Amy lets stiti with california. On sunday, trump threatened d to pull federal fununding for the wildfires ragiging across california. In a Twitter Exchange with Governor Newsom, trump tweeted every year, as the fires rage and california burns, it is the same thingand then he comes to the federal government for money help. No more. Get your act together governor. You dont see close to the level of burn in other states. Governor newsom responded you dont believe in Climate Change. You are excused from this conversation. Last year, trump suggested califofornias forestst floors should be cleaned, claiming that finland prevents fires by raking forest areas. Your recent piece in the guardian is headlined has the Climate Crisis made california too dangerous to live in . Your response to whats happening and what exactly do you mean . Firirst of all, dont blame writers for headlines. That piece did not say that people needed to leave california. Ort it did wasquote remarkable story in the San Francisco chronicle in the day the fires were raging at their it was asonoma. Straightahead new story that said experts are now beginning to worry that areas of california had become too dangerous s to inhabit. We havave had one wildfire after year and theyfter have gotten bigger and more dangerous. And the reason is pretty clear. It has gotten so hot and so dry in california that it just turns to tinder. California has always had wildfires, but not like this. Theres a steady coming out today indicatining the dryness alone is making these kinds of big combustible wildfires for oncees more likely heart goes out so much to people who year after year have to live through this kind of fear and a placeand tension in where, you know, a generation ideal ofill had this relaxation and chill. It is not that anymore. It is not when people are smelling the smoke in the air. Amy Bill Mckibben, we want to thank you for joining us. 350. Work. Ounder of his latest book is falter has the human game begun to play itself out . On friday night, i will be one of the moderators of the onstever president ial forum environmental justice. Senators Elizabeth Warren and corybooker come also tom steyer and other candidates will be taking part in the form itself in orangeburg. Democracy now will be Live Streaming and broadcasting the president ial town hall starting at 6 00 p. M. Eastern. Tune into democracynow. Org. When we come back, and a document of mother from honduras rerecovering from stage four orl cancer is fighting imminent deportation in georgia. She has been locked up in an immigration jail since being arrested for a minor Traffic Violation in august. We will speak to the person at the forefront of her fight come of the fight for her to be released, her son yale phd student daca recipient. Stay with us. [music break] amy fire by black pumas. This is democracy now , im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we turn now w to the casef tania romero, an undocumented mother from honduras and stage four cancer patient, who is fighting to remain in the United States with her four children. Two months ago, romero was imprisoned by immigration and Customs Enforcement at the privatelyowned Irwin County Detention Center in georgia after she was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction and arrested for not having a drivers license. Her arrest and imprisonment interrupted lifesaving medical treatment as she recovers from oral cancer. Romero remains locked up at irwin, an immigration jail notorious for its abuse and medical neglect, where she is awaiting news about her case. Amy tania romero has lived in atlanta, georgia, for 20 years and raised her children there while working as a nanny and eventually a fululltime construction worker. A deportation order against her had apparently been outstanding since 2008, but she didnt learn about it until a decade later, according to her family. This is tania romero on a phone call from detention monday afternoon to her son Cristian Padilla romero. My experience here has not been easy. There are a lot of people inside this detention facility, so we dont get much sleep. I need to see my oncologist because im not getting any care here. I need to see him. I had an appointment with the oncologist at the hospital in september and i have not been able to see him yet. Juan that was tania romero speaking from the irwin Detention Center in georgia. Her attorney requesteded a stayf dedertation onon humanitarian grounds because of her fragile health, but it was denied in september. Her son Cristian Padilla romero is not backing down. Padilla romero, a graduauate student at Yale University, has been leading a campaign demanding his mothers Immediate Release from detention and for ice to kill her deportation order. He has a petition on behalf of his mom with nearly 30,000 signatures. Amy cristian is a phd student in latin American History at Yale University and a honduran immigrant protected by the obamaera deferred action for childhood arrivals, daca, which grants undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children relief from deportation and a renewable work permit. He joins us now from new haven, connecticut. Cristian padilla romero, welcome to democracy now i am so sorry it is under the circumstances. How did your mother end up in jail . What are you doing to fighght to get her out of this forprofit detention facility and prprevent her deportation . All, thank you for having me, amy. I really appreciate you sharing this story. My mother ended up in irwin Detention Center after being pulled over for a Traffic Violation. Because she was in a c county tt works with ice through a program called 287 jude, after our family paid bail few hours after, the Police Department held her on hold for ice and the next day she was already on her way to irwin Detention Center. And since then, our attorney has been fighting to basically get her released so she can see her oncologist, specifically the appointment she had in Early September which she missed. We have no idea where her cancer situation is at ththe moment in terms s of remission. We started thihis Campaign Last week because we are really fearful for her health. To ask forant peoples support to build pressure on ice to release her while we await the pending motions to the courts. You tellstian, could us something about your familys journey . Youre from honduras, but various members came at different times, and where you grew up and how you ended u a at yale . So i always say my mother has been the single biggest reason why i ended up at yale. My father was the first want to come and then my mother and then i came when i was seven years old. I would to the Public School system. I was fortunate enough to have some good mentorship and a hardworking mother that worked multiple jobs to make my life easier and make my academic life easier, especially. Juan and you were raised largely in georgia . Yes. I have lived in georgia up until except for a few years in georgia up until college when i went to school at Pomona College in california and now at Yale University. Amy cristian, you called your mother in detention and asked what her message was for the community as well as for President Trump. This was her response. I want to thank all of you for your love and for your prayers. Thank you all for your efforts, for signing the petition and helping anyway you can. What i would tell President Trump is that he should consider my delicate health and for him to give me the opportunity to stay in this country. Amy can you talk about where the case stands now and the Community Response . You have not stopped organizing. Talk about your work at yale what is the new phrase, ic daca mented . Who are you linking upup with . The support has been incredible. The petition itself was very collective effort as well. Ive had help from peers here, help from professors, help from so irent organizers and have received so many help. Just the signatures alone for the petition have been amazing. I have also been contacted directly from people who want to help in any single way. We have also been able to get support from Congress Woman lucy mcbaths office and helping submit and agree to ice regarding my moms case. They are directly communicating with ice regarding her situation to see what can be done in her situation. My peers have been really influential and really key in this organizing effort because, for example, thursday, a lot of my peers organized a phone bank in one of the buildings here at yale where they called ice. I believe 90 students called ice over two hours basically asking them to release my mother. That, among other things, are an example of the incredible support we are getting. My mother has known about this, too. Every time i speak to her i tell her about the new number of signatures or the people helping. She is in awe most of the time. We expected support, but this kind of support has been really amazing and we are really grateful for it. Juan i want to ask about the continuing problems and congress and trying to fashion some sort of immigration policy reform. Whiche protected by daca, President Trump has try to resend but the courts have prevented it from so far. Your mother would have been, seems to me, protected by dapa, together policy president obama initiated that protected the parents of childhood arrivals, but the courts have basically sided with President Trump on his illumination of dapa. Your frustration and your sense of what is going on or not going on in congress in termsms of immigratioion reform . It is a very unfortunate reality. As you know, oral arguments will start next month at the Supreme Court over daca and we should have a decision by june. It is a prececarious situauatio. Unfortunately, the effect has been hundreds of thousands if not millions of undocumented families have been torn apart. Many individuals, kids, are trapped in these Detention Centers with very little to do. Many people are not receiving the medical care they need or the accommodations they need. That is one of the basic things that could be at least done on a very humanitarian ground, address the issue of the separation of families and the long detentitions. Theres been no political will c congress, esespecially, to address this issue. That is the reality that people like my mom she is one of hundreds of thoususands of peope who are trapped in this situation. In 2017, the atlantabased immigrant rights Group Project sosouth, alongside penn state e, published a report documenting the abusive conditions at the privatelyowned irwin Detention Center, where your mom is currently imprisoned. In response to her case, project souths legal and advocacy director Azadeh Shahshahani tweeted about the reports findings, saying medical care is woefully inadequate. As a result, outbreaks of illnesses like rashes, the flu, and stomach illnesses remain rampant throughout the facility. Shutdownirwin abolishice the same 2017 report, project south said the lack of adequate access to medical care is alarming. The standard wait time for immigrants at irwin wanting to visit the medical staff is between two days and two weeks. Once detained immigrants finally meet with medical personnel, their conditions are loosely diagnosed and their complaints are ignored. As we wrap up in these last 15 seconds, what do you feel is most important right now, cristian . Is,hat is most important one, stop my moms deportation. Icice has scheduled to deport h. And two, rerelease heher so shen see her oncologist. Amy we want to thank you for being with us. We will continue to follow the progress of the case. Cristian padilla romero, phd student in latin American History at Yale University, fighting against his mothers deportation order demanding her Immediate Release from detention so she can be treated. Voters are heading to the polls today. That is our next segment. We will look at the ranked Choice Voting and we are going to look at, welcome innovative approaches to getting more peoplele to vote in these midtem elections. We will be speaking with the colorado secretary of state. Stay with us. [music break] amy a song for assata by common. This month marks the 40th anniversary since supper sugar solder sugars escape from prison. This is democracy now , im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan voters are heading to the polls today in many parts of the country for state and local elections that will be seen as a measure of President Trumps influence heading into the 2020 president ial elections. Several local races and Ballot Initiatives have received national attention. Voters in tucson arizona will decide whether to become arizonas first sanctuary city. And here in new york, voters will decide on a major ballot measure that could change the way voters select their candidates in future elections. New yorkers will decidide whethr to move from electing candidates by a plurality of votes, to ranked choicice voting, a system in which voters rank their favorite candidates in order, and the person with the most topranked votes wins. Amy if the measure passes, new york will be the most populous u. S. Jurisdiction with ranked voting. We are joined now by maya wiley, Senior Vice President for social justice and professor of public and urban policy at the new school. Her new column for the New York Daily News is headlined rankedChoice Voting will help underrepresented new yorkers. Is so little talked about in this country on this election day, explain what ranked Choice Voting is, where it is used in the United States, and then why you think it is most importatant. Thank you. It is great to be here on such an important day. I hope everyone is voting. Ranked Choice Voting is quite simple. It is about voters having more choice about who gets elected to public office. In these races were we have multiple candidates and we are seeing this increasingly, particularly in new york city you can say, heres my first choice, heres the persrson i le second, heres the present i like third, and you can rank up to five people. You can just choose one if you only want one, but what this does is it means that if there is a runoff, if we have a candidate that does not win 50 plus one 50 plus one votes, there is a majority candidate, a majority candidate that person wins. But if no one wins a majority, this allows the system rather than asking people to come back to the polls for runoff, it throws out the candidate that got the least number of votes and it takes those voters second choices and then it retabulates. It just keeps going until there is a candidate that has 50 plus one vote. Will effectivively eliminate what new york city has been calling a regular headache, which is a runoff elections that are not only costly, but require voters to come out more often. Exactly. This is why i as a resesident, i as a black woman, isa Racial Justice advocate strongly support ranked Choice Voting. We know for low income people of any race, particularly of color, we dont have enough people actually coming out to vote for a lot of reasons. One of them is that people are earning paychecks. People have children and they dont have childcare. So they are making decisions about whether to come to the voting booth or do other things that actually sustain their family. This does not wewe see a huge dropoff of voters of color coming back for runoff elections. For good reason, many instances. This says to the single mom who has to eararn two papaychecks jt to make ends meet, maybe not even making ends meet, doesnt have to come back to the polls for her vote to count. At you wrote this piece the New York Daily News and supportive ranked Choice Voting. There was a counterpoint to your piece. It was written by new York City Councilmember i. Daneek miller wrote that communities of color are the exception to the citys poor election turnout, and that the implementation of rankedchohoice voting could diminish the value that they bring to the ballot box. He goes on to say rankedChoice Voting could afford a traditional candidate an unfair advantage in an election that has women or candidates of color running. Local Political Science experts have already suggested that voters in an rcv system might hedge to a traditional candidate as a safe second choice. Your response . First of all, i want to say i think it is incredibly important that people care about whether or not the vote of our people of color in new york city are being counted. So that is important and i agree with taking a serious look at it. What i did was pull the studies. I looked at the research. We have San Francisco, open, minneapolis many places where ranked Choice Voting has happened and what we have seen in the research is that it increases the number of people and fourby 62 california cities studied. 62 increase in people of color being elected to local office. In minneapolis, a transblack man was elected as a result of ranked Choice Voting. Ishink the fear understandable in the sense that change is scary. I dont think we had a press conference yesterday on the steps of city hall where we had black, latino elected officials standing up for ranked Choice Voting who are nontraditional candidates, who were people who are progressive, who were people who are not part of machine politics, who were people who received racist attack ads trying to divide and undermine their campaigns saying ranked Choice Voting is going to create more opportunities for more candidates that look like us, but also we think our constituents know hohow to do this. Election is ans election where there wont be a lot of people necessarily voting anyway, how are the political machines of the city responding . O this particular amendment and also, if it is approved, when would it take effect . I cant really speak to the machinery. I can tell you have lots of elected officials whoo are supportingng ranked choice voto. I think that is what is important. There is a disagreement among ofcted, particularly those color. They are not speaking with one voice but im excited we have 70 standing up in favor of ranked Choice Voting. In terms of implementation, it is 2021. We have every City Council Seat will be up for reelection. We will have a mayoral race. We are looking at hundreds of candidates for local offices. Ranked Choice Voting is going to sasave us a lot of time. It will save a lot of folks money. It is also going to ensure more votes are counted. Juan i would ask you about another question, which is the recent federal Appeals Court decision on net neutrality. You are the chief telecom person in the de blasio administration. This is a subject dear to your heart. The decision by the court to strike down or to support the fccs striking out of net neutrality, but to allow states to fashion their own policies . Know, im a big supporter of net neutrality. What is concerning is the amount of money in politics and the fact telecoms go and actually go to states and try to get them to pass laws at the state level that prevent local government from doing more to ensure that there is an open internet. That is a big concern i have is when you push it down to the states, will have some states that will do the right thing and you will have some states that will do the wrong thing. Then we dont have a good system of protections for an internet that is global. Amy we want to thank you, maya wiley, professor of public and urban policies, as we turn now to look at how colorado has taken steps to make it easier for the residents to vote. The vote by mail system allows residents to bypass long lines at polling places, additional measures include automatic Voter Registration with drivers license servivices, extending te vote to parolees, and allowing some 17yearolds to vote in primary elections. As a result, colorado ranks among the highest in the nation for voter turnout and is considered an example for states needing to expand voter access at a time when republican legislatures and state houses across the country are attempting to suppress the vote. Colorado secretary of state jena r,iswold boys us from denve colorado. Explain how the mail in system works and what happens today of someone did not mail in their vote was not can they still vote in colorado . Every eligible and registered colorado and receives a male and ballot right to their house. That is really exciting for a lot of coloradans and has increased voter participation. We have the highest percentage of citizens registered to vote and our participation rates are often the first or second for the entire nation. Lots of people are participating. The great thing about our model is that folks receive a male and ballot. But if t they decide to vote in person, they can still do that. People can literally drop off their mail in ballot or not even take their mail and ballot and go in person and get a new ballot and vote right at a Polling Center. Amy how did this come about . How did the mailil and system ce about . You also have oregon, washington. Why does this make voting so much more accessible . In 2013 and about actually passed with bipartisan support here in colorado. A lot of republican county clerks pushed these reforms. It is more efficient. It is cheaper. It ends up being a great system because there are sometimes lines in colorado, but we dont suffer from the type of long lines we see on election day across the country. But we really have a commitment to make sure every eligible coloradans voice is heard. Whether theyre republican, democrat, or independent khmer poor, weorado, rich or have continued to just improve our model. His laste to pass legislative session, the colorado bones act, which adds polling locations and maladroit boxes across the state and guarantees for the First Time Ever either a Polling Center or a dropbox on public universities and on tribal lands and tribal leaderships request. Issue someabout the critics may raise of the fact that the potential for abuse when you have an entire electorate voting by mail in terms of influencing, lets say, seniors as Senior Citizen centers or the head of a family influencing the rest of the members of their families, filling out their ballots at home the sanctity of the secret ballot . Have any audits been done as to how this might affect the voting process . You know, generally, we do not have any complaints. S. Here in coloradodo, we do allow assistance to voters. They voter needs help filling out the ballot, they can ask a friend or family member. But it is the law that whoever is offering assistance has to fill out the ballot as to how the voter guides them. It has increased accessibility tremendously to people who just cant make it to the polls. Luckily, we still offer the in person voting experience. What we see during general elections is about half of all of the people that go to Polling Centers are either updating the registration or registering for the First Time Ever. Unlike many states, what we do in colorado is offer sameday Voter Registration. So an eligible person can literally go to the polls today, register to vote, and cast your ballot. Amy on the issue of parolees, colorado just passed a law restoring Voting Rights to parolees. Can you explain how it works and how many people itit will impac . Sure. Previously, folks on probation had the right to vote in colorado and there was preregistration of parolees. One of the things we passed last legislative session i am very proud of that again just underlines our commitment to make sure eligible people can vote is parolee reenfranchisements. Everybody that was on preregistration as a parolee got kicked into just normal voter status. Parolees now in colorado can register to vote, can vote in this election, and i think all of our reforms shined in stark contrast to the Voter Suppression we see across this country. I am so proud to be able to fight for Everyday Americans come everyday colorado ands and having the opportunity to shape our shared future. Amy thank you for being with us, jena griswold, secretary of state of colorado, speaking to us from denver. On friday night, 6 00 p. M. Eastern standard time, democracy now well be cosponsoring the first environment of justice president ial Candidate Forum in orangeburg, south carolina. I will be comoderating. Check us out at democracynow. Org