s response to the pandemic, healthcare, Climate Change, racism, and u. S. Immigration policy. Mr. Biden kids ripped from their arms and separated and now they cannot find over 500 sets of those parents and those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. It is criminal. It is criminal. S. Trump they went down they are so will taking care of. Amy we will air excerpts and speak to Erika Andiola of raices action epidemiologist dr. Ali , khan, Rashad Robinson of color of change. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. As the u. S. Death toll from covid19 topped 223,000, President Trump and former Vice President joe biden met in nashville, tennessee in the , thursday second and final debate of the 2020 campaign. They sparred over the Trump Administrations response to the pandemic, Climate Change, racism, u. S. Immigration policy, and health care. Completednt, trump bidens public run Health Care Plan with medicare for all other by senator bernie sanders. Pres. Trump when he talks about a public option, he is talking about destroying your medicare and destroying your Social Security and this whole country will come down. Bernie sanders tried it. Mr. Biden he thinks hes running against somebody else. He is running against joe biden. I those other people because i disagreed with them. They make of thursdays debate was originally scheduled to be the third and final one but trump scuttled a second appearance earlier this month after refusing to take part remotely following his hospitalization with covid19. After headlines, we will spend the rest of the hour unless tides president ial debate. The United States confirmed more than 75,000 new Coronavirus Infections thursday one of the worst daily tolls of the u. S. Outbreak so far. North dakota has suspended Contact Tracing efforts as a backlog of cases overwhelmed National Guard soldiers assigned to track down the contacts of infected people. As of thursday, north dakotas hospitals had just 14 intensive care unit beds available statewide. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins shows that if north dakota were a nation, it would have the highest number of per capita covid19 cases in the world. In wisconsin, a massive Field Hospital outside milwaukee admitted its first covid19 patient thursday as wisconsins infections continued to surge to recordhigh levels. Utah governor gary herbert warned thursday that the states Healthcare System is at or near capacity. In massachusetts, bostons schools superintendent on thursday canceled plans to resume inperson learning at public schools. In houston, texas, teachers at dozens of schools staged sickout protests thursday demanding smaller class sizes, enforced social distancing, and mask wearing, better classroom ventilation and other Safety Measures at schools. The food and drug admisation remdesivir as thfirst cod 19 treaent in t united ates. Some sdies he shown e antivir drug may duce the number odays cov19 patits arhospitaled, thgh a large rld heal organizion stud blished st week und mdesivirails to event deathsmong cov19 patits. Coronarus casecontinueo surge acss europ where t Czech Republic is reporting the highest per capita infection rate in the world. On wednesday, the czech Prime Minister andrei babis apologized as he announced a new nationwide lockdown, the second of the year. In paris, the french Prime Minister has extended a nightly curfew to cover 46 Million People about twothirds of the french population. To put things simply come the situation is serious. It is serious in europe and france. Amy india has seen a downturn in new coronavirus cases after peaking last month at nearly 100,000 confirmed inctions per day. India still reporting some 50,000 daily cases. In eastern bihar state, the party of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi has promised residents free doses of a future Coronavirus Vaccine but only if the party wins in the november 10 elections. Opposition parties blasted the move saying modis party is exploiting the pandemic for political gain. Back in the United States, the Senate Judiciary committee voted 12to0 thursday to recommend Amy Coney Barrett be confirmed to the Supreme Court. Republican chairman Lindsey Graham disregarded his committees own rules requiring a quorum be present and proceeded with the vote after all 10 of the judiciary committees democrats boycotted thursdays roll call. Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell plans to hold a vote in the full senate as early as monday. Senate democrats have called the rush to confirm barrett so close to the election an illegitimate power grab and Reproductive Health advocates warn barrett could help overturn roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case affirming the right to an abortion. Meanwhile, environmentalists are warning barretts refusal to acknowledge the science of Climate Change could spell disaster for efforts to mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis. Lori lodes of the Group Climate power 2020 wrote the last thing our country can afford is a climate denier who will use her lifetime seat on the Supreme Court to block Climate Action and roll back our environmental laws for decades to come. In colorado, a wildfire raging Near Rocky Mountain National Park exploded in size thursday by more than 100,000 acres, jumping the Continental Divide and leaving residents of mountain towns scrambling to evacuate. The east troublesome fire has grown to over 170,000 acres the secondlargest wildfire ever recorded in colorado. Meanwhile, firefighters continue to battle the largest wildfire in colorado history, the nearby cameron peak fire. Massive smoke plumes from colorados fires reached into the stratosphere, shrouding the sun, and turning skies orange as far away as minnesota and wisconsin. In immigration news, the guardian reports many of the cameroonian Asylum Seekers who were recently deported en masse were subjected to torture to force them to sign their removal papers. Asylum seekers were reportedly choked, beaten, pepper spray, and received death threats. Others were handcuffed as immigration and Customs Enforcement agents forcibly took their fingerprints in exchange for signatures. Last week 60 cameroonian and over two dozen congolese Asylum Seekers were deported, including two cameroonian women who feared they were unknowingly subjected to forced sterilizations at Irwin Detention Center in georgia. Many of the cameroonian asylumseekers feared they would be killed upon their arrival in their home country. In more immigration news, the Los Angeles Times reports at least 19 women are alleging they were subjected to invasive gynecological procedures without their consent while imprisoned at the privately run Irwin Detention Center in georgia, including undergoing unnecessary procedures that affected their ability to have children. Most of the women are Asylum Seekers from the caribbean, africa, and latin america. In related news, the intercept reports Google Technology will be deployed to the u. S. Mexico border to assist in Border Security enforcement. Customs and Border Protection reportedly agreed on a deal with google in august for a new to collaborate and and new socalled virtual border wall, which combines surveillance towers, drones, and sensors aimed at detecting Asylum Seekers crossing into the United States. In florida, top Election Officials are being accused of Voter Suppression after abruptly enacting two lastminute rules affecting formerly incarcerated people and the operation of ballot drop boxes. Last week, floridas republican secretary of state announced Election Officials were beginning to flag people for potential removal from voter rolls if they had Outstanding Court debts. A second rule forces ballot drop boxes to be staffed at all times, forcing Election Officials to restructure the setup of ballot drop boxes just days before election day. In more election news, the Supreme Court has reinstated a curbside voting ban in alabama, overturning a lower courts ruling meant to protect people with disabilities during the pandemic. This comes as the texas Supreme Court has ruled to allow drivethru voting, rejecting a challenge from the republican party. The Labor Department reports 787,000 u. S. Workers filed new unemployment claims last week the secondlowest total since march, but still historically high compared to prepandemic levels. This comes as a new report by americans for tax fairness found the collective wealth of billionaires in the united stat has jumped by 931 billion since midmarch. The report also found 22 million u. S. Adults reported not having enough food to eat and more than half of those adults had children in their households. Nearly 62 million u. S. Residents lost work between midmarch and midnovember. President trump has issued an executive order that would grant him more power to easily hire and fire tens of thousands of federal workers. Federal Employee Union leaders have condemned the executive order, calling it the most profound undermining of the Civil Service in our lifetimes and the biggest change to federal workforce protections in at least a century. The order would allow the president to crack down on his critics, for example, Public Health officials who speak out minced against the administrations handling of the pandemic. In venezuela, president Nicolas Maduro has asked lawmakers to begin discussions on Marriage Equality in january. This follows Pope Franciss recent comments supporting civil unions for lgbtq people. This is maduro speaking thursday. I have friends and acquaintances who are happy with what the hope said yesterday. I would leave the task of lgbt marriage to the next national assembly. Amy and polas hight court has declared almost all forms of abortion unconstitutional, titening antchoice lawthat werelready ang the mt restrictive in europe. Protesters marched on the constitutial tribunain warsaw thursday just after the courts ruli. What the government doing us day is not oy taking away our womens rights, but also ouruman right for thfirst time we can confidtly say ipoland we have the wst abortio law in europe. Amy following thursdays ruling, pond will only allow abortions case ofape, inst, or a threat to the the Pregnant Persons Health and life. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. As the u. S. Death toll from covid19 tops 223,000, President Trump and former Vice President joe biden met in nashville, tennessee, in the second and thursday final debate of the 2020 campaign. They sparred over the Trump Administrations response to the pandemic, healthcare, Climate Change, racism, and u. S. Immigration policy. Thursdays matchup was originally scheduled to be the third and final debate, but trump scuttled a second appearance earlier this month after refusing to take part remotely following his hospitalization with covid19. Thursdays debate was moderated by Nbcs Kristen Welker who began by asking President Trump about his handling of the covid19 crisis. Trump praised his response while falsely claiming the 2. 2 Million People were expected to die and falsely claiming a vaccine was ready. Pres. Trump we have a vaccine that is coming. It is ready. It is going to be announced within weeks and it will be delivered. We have operation warp speed, which is the military is going to distribute the vaccine. I can tell you from personal experience, i was in the hospital. I had it and i got better. And i will tell you that i had something that they gave me, a therapeutic, i guess they would call it. Some people could say it was a cure, but i was in for a short period of time. And i got better very fast or i wouldnt be here tonight. And now they say im immune. Whether its four months or a lifetime, nobodys been able to say that, but im immune. More and more people are getting better. We have a problem thats a worldwide problem. This is a worldwide problem, but ive been congratulated by the heads of many countries on what weve been able to do. If you take a look at what weve done in terms of goggles and masks and gowns and everything else, and in particular ventilators we are now making ventilators all over the world, thousands and thousands a month and distributing them all over the world. It will go away. And as i say, were rounding the turn. Were rounding the corner. Its going away. Kristen ok. Former Vice President biden, to you. How would you lead the country out of this crisis . You have two minutes uninterrupted. Mr. Biden 220,000 americans dead. You hear nothing else i say tonight, hear this. Anyone who is responsible for not taking control. In fact, not saying i take no responsibility initially. Anyone is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of america. Were in a situation where there are a thousand deaths a day now. A thousand deaths a day. And there are over 70,000 new cases per day. Compared to whats going on in europe as the new england medical journal said, theyre starting from a very low rate. Were starting from a very high rate. The expectation is well have another 200,000 americans dead between now and the end of the year. If we just wore these masks, the president s own advisors have told him, we can save a 100,000 lives. And were in a circumstance where the president thus far and still has no plan, no comprehensive plan. Amy later in the debate, former Vice President joe biden criticized trump downplaying the pandemic. Mr. Biden he did virtually nothing. Then he gets out of the hospital and talks about, oh, dont worry, it is all going to be over soon. Come on. Theres not another serious scientist in the world who thinks its going to be over soon. Kristen President Trump, your reaction . Pres. Trump were learning to live with it. We have no choice. 99. 9 of young people. We have to recover. We cant close up our nation. You have to open our school and we cant close up our nation or youre not going to have a nation. Mr. Biden he says were learning to live with it. People are learning to die with it. You folks home will have an empty chair at the Kitchen Table this morning. That man or wife going to bed tonight and reaching over to tri to touch out of habit where their wife or husband was, is gone. Learning to live with it. Come on. We are dying with it because hes never said. See, you said, its dangerous. Whens the last time . Is it really dangerous still . Are we dangerous. You tell the people its dangerous now. What should they do about the danger . And you say, i take no responsibility. Kristen let me talk about your tuesday pres. Trump excuse me. I take full responsibility. Its not my fault that it came here. Its chinas fault. Amy President Trump and former Vice President joe biden at last nights debate in nashville. To get response, were joined by dr. Ali khan, epidemiologist and the dean of the college of Public Health at the university of nebraska medical center. He is the former director of the cdcs office of Public Health preparedness and response where he oversaw the Strategic National stockpile. He is joining us from omaha, nebraska. Nebraska is one of seven states now seeing a record level of covid hospitalization. Dr. Ali khan, welcome to democracy now can you respond to the last comment of President Trump as he says he is not responsible for this . Good morning, amy. Thank you for the opportunity to join you this morning. Before i responded the last comment, lets step back a little bit and think how unusual this would be if we replaced covid with polio or cholera or dysentery, that we would have a president ialebate and two different opposing opinions about a disease tt the third leading cause of death in america now that was unknown 10 months ago and we would be having a debate on whether or not it is killing people and how it is killing people. It is unimaginable. If you just replace covid with anything else. But that is essentially what is happening. What covid has said very effectively is it has taken advantage of every splinter in our society. First, in terms of biologically elderly males we know are at higher risk than social politically and economically it is an extremely unfortunate circumstance of what is happening. It is actually 300,000 deaths right now. Amy explain what you mean by 300,000 deaths. The 220,000 deaths reported are an under report of deaths. What you need to look at in addition to the actual individual cases that are reported is excess deaths and cdc has recently done a very nice analysis of looking at all excess deaths. These are people who would not have died it is not as if i often hear, o, there were elderly, theyre going to die anyway. That is not true. These are individuals who would not have diethis year, youre dead and that is over 300,000. Yes, while absolutely theres a lot more elderly people who have died, if you loorelatively, there are more deaths among the 25 to 44yearolds and more. Eaths around latinos approximately 300,000 deaths in america, third leadi cause of death for a disease that was unknown in deceer. Amy can you responded the Columbia University report that just came out come the study where researchers blasted the Trump Administration over its disastrous handwringing of the pandemic handling of the pandemic . The authors write talk about what this means, what trump did and did not do as he talks about how well he dealt with the pandemic. Amy, this paper they came out of Columbia University really puts estimates on how many people have unnecessarily died of this disease and interest estimate those preventable deaths. It is always good i appreciate american exceptionalism, but you need to look at what is happening in the rest of the world, china, zero deaths. Their economy in the Third Quarter increased 4. 9 . It is not just china. ,ew zealand, taiwan, singapore why, i could go on and on all over the world, countries where they had robust Public Health strategy, decrease cases in their countries, and theyre down to zero or no cases. What this paper says if we have followed what we know the science is, so the science we know how to t rid of this disease. Test, trace, isolate. Community engagement that is masked, social distancing, mask handwashing. The u. S. Would not have had these preventable deaths. This is what happened in the past. I am worried now about what is happening in the future. We continue to see approximately 700 preventable deaths every day in america because we still dont have a containment strategy in america. We still dont have that leadership. Not just the national, but the state and local level. Where is that test, tracing, isolating happening . Where are those national and state and local mandates for masks, handwashing, social distancing . We know what it takes to get this disease under control. It is not a secret from a scientific standpoint. Amy this is the key point you say not just about the past, but the future. As President Trump goes around the country now with his rallies, not clear when the last time was he met with the Coronavirus Task orders, we are talking about possibly as many people dying in the next few months as have died so far in this country, right over 200,000 people you say 300,000 since the beginning of the pandemic. What to be put in place right now . You are the head of the national stockpile, worked at the cdc for years. In you talk about even if it late, what President Trump needs to do with invoking the defense production act . Still getting millions of tests and masks to people. He still says anyone can get a test. It is an absolute lie. You a quite right. We can start today to prevent deaths00 to 1000 happening every day. We have the tools. We have always had the tools. It starts at the top and cascades to the national, state, local, county, city, tribal, territorial level. You need that unified leadership. As i said, just think about it. We are arguing about a disease. This is covid19. It is not good for us. That leadership that we are going to contain this disease, we know what the science is to get this disease under control, use evidence, metrics, data and drive down this disease. The second thing were going to do is need to do, we need to ramp up test, trace, isolate. There obviously are gaps in testing in the United States, but there is a lot of testing in the united but you have to link the testing with action. It is not just about anybody who was a test can get a test. Many people dont need a test. Of the ones who do come if they are positive, have you make sure theyre isolated . Have you found our contact . Have au redeemed their contacts in socially viable manner . If you dont do that, why bother to test people . The third thing is starting at the local level, where are mask mandates . Make sure people are wearing masks. Make sure they are social distance, whatever that looks like in the Community Based on what is going on. Make sure they are washing hands. We have the tools to get america back to work, to get the kids back in school, to get people stadiums. In amy if you could respond to what trump is using as a pretext for not doing anything, and that is saying herd immunity, let e population get sick. My gosh, that is the most unethical disastrous approach that is possible. Herd immunity is a wonderful concept when we use vaccines. However, herd immunity has never been used previously it would be analogous of saying an ebola outbreak, lets go infect everybody so that it is less disruptive in our society. Herd immunity is the maximum death strategy, which is you kill as many people as possible until potentially people are immune. Nobody is so ludicrous is ever try to before. B, it ignores the fact you may have longterm i know people like to say 99 of people survive. At a population level, 1 is still 3 Million People in the u. S. 130we do know potentially people, one quarter people may have longterm heart, lung, kidney, and brain damage. So there are still these longterm side effects that were not accounting for. Finally, if this disease really causes reinfections in four to six months, herd immunity cant work. We get the cold every year. We have not yet had the herd immunity did get rid of the cold virus, which is a type of coronavirus. Amy which goes to one of the first things President Trump said last night. He said he had covid and now is immune. President not or not, if you get infected, you may not be immune forever. And we dont know how long that immunity last. We know there have been some cases our reinfection. That says, how can you have herd immunity if you can get reinfected . Hope youre protected for very long period of time b we need to get the disease down to zero so we dont have infections in our communities most of amy before you go, i want to ask about the Affordable Care act. At one point and the 90 minute debate, trump conflated bidens call for government run public option Health Care Plan with the medicare for all killed authored by bernie sanders. Pres. Trump when he talks about a public option, he is talking about destroying your medicare and destroying your Social Security. In this home hope country will come down. Bernie sanders tried it. Biden he is confused. He thinks he is running against somebody else. I beat those other people because i disagreed with them. Amy dr. Ali khan, i am andering if you could, overall as President Trump and after socialized medicine, did not talk about the net walter reed hitter where he dealt with his covid19 isnt that the of hit me of socialized medicine and very fine socialized medicine at that . Military medicine is quite excellent medicine, as is medicare in the uned states, which is an Excellent Health care system in the United States for the elderly and select osteffective. American exceptionalism, if you look outside the u. S. , numerous countries have figured out how solve this universal acce issue. We need to solve that problem in america. People like to talk about the new normal. I like to talk about the Better Normal because there are lots of things about the old normal i did not like. Institutional racism is one of them. Everybody needs to have access to health care in our Better Normal. Amy dr. Ali khan, thank you for being with us epidemiologist and , the dean of the college of Public Health at the university of nebraska medical center. Former director of the cdcs office of Public Health preparedness and response where he oversaw the Strategic National stockpile. He is in nebraska, one of the seven states right now with record hospitalizations. This is democracy now when we come back, we continue with the excerpts of last nights debate. Stay with as. [music break] amy let the rich go bust by the down hill strugglers. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. As we continue to cover the final president ial debate, President Trump and former Vice President joe bidens thursday on the records of her race and criminal justice. Its trying to debate moderator Kristen Welker of nbc. Kristen mr. President , youve described the black lives Matter Movement as a symbol of hate. You have shared a video of a man chanting white power to millions of your supporters. Youve said that black professional athletes exercising their First Amendment rights should be fired. What do you say to americans who say that kind of language from a president is contributing to a climate of hate and racial strife . Pres. Trump well, you have to understand the first time i ever heard of black lives matter, they were chanting, pigs in a blanket, talking about police, pigs, pigs, talking about our police. Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon. I said, thats a horrible thing. And they were marching down the street. And that was my first glimpse of black lives matter. I thought it was a terrible thing. As far as my relationships with all people, i think i have great relationships with all people. I am the least racist person in this room. Kristen what do you say to americans who are concerned by by that rhetoric . Pres. Trump i mean, i dont know what to say. I got criminal Justice Reform done and Prison Reform and opportunity zones criminal Justice Reform done, and Prison Reform, and opportunity zones, i took care of black colleges and universities. Mr. Biden Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist president s weve had in modern history, he pours fuel on every single racist fire, every single one. Started off his campaign coming down the escalator saying hes getting rid of those mexican rapists. He has ban muslims because theyre muslims. He has moved around and made everything worse across the board. He says to about the proud boys, last time we were on stage here he said, i tell them to stand down and stand ready. Come on, this guy has a dog whistle about as big as a foghorn. Amy were joined right now by Rashad Robinson, president of color of change pac. Your response to what theyre saying an overall to the debate . One of the things when these conversations happened about race, we oftentimes hear a whole bunch of disparity or we hear candidates trying to talk about what theyre going to do for the community. Helpful to some extent but i think oftentimes what i hope we can see more from the democrats is actually really leaning into hell Racial Justice is not just about what youre going to do for the community. Racial justice is also a strategy about how we actually went on the wide range of things that we can win on, from Health Care Climate so much more because part of the problem of why we dont have the thing that we need in this country is because of systemet up around racial inequality. So we should not just follow the law that donald trump lays down about racism that is at the heart of his campaign, some of the racial enabling and racism that is at the heart of the republican party. We know all of that. What are we actually going to do to motivate people not just to heat trump, but to love the other side in return . I think that is going to be the ongoing task. Not just about winning elections. It is about governing. It is about having the power to overcome the barriers that oftentimes stand in the way of moving us forward on the issues that impact sort of the climate around race, that impacts black and brown communities every single day. Amy can you talk about covid when it comes to the africanamerican community, when it comes to communities of color all over this country, the dispportionate effect . This is part of i think the challenge of how we need to unlock the power of Racial Justice. Only talk about covid, we will hear folks say, black folks are dying. But fact, black folks are being killed by government action, by corporate power, by an insurance industry. Only talk about the structural issue that impacts black communities in passive voice rather than active voice, we spend a lot of our time talking about how do we fix black people and black families rather than fixing the structure that harm and hurt as. We do this across the board, whether it is saying like people are less likely to get a loan from the bank other than saying they are less likely to give loans to black people. When we talked about covid, it is not that covid the disease itself is racist, it is that america is racist. And the structures and the systems that we have set up simply expose all of these challenges. But when we talk about these problems in passive voice, will we talk about these things that are happening to the community, not the poverty and inequality and racism is part of a manufacturer structure, corporate powers, other systems that every turn for fitting from the sort of impact of these decisions, and we end up sort of really focusedn treating communities like they are vulnerable rather than actually treating communities like they have been targeted, attacked, exploited. It leads us to a very different set of solutions when we talk about the structural problems in an active voice rather than a passive voice. Because when we talk about it in an active voice, we focus on solving the problems at hand rather than trying to fix people. Amy i want to talk about for a the debate moderator Kristen Welker, the first woman of color come the first africanamerican over toeside moderate a president ial debate since Carol Simpson did in 1992. These lasty turn in weeks, President Trump went after her viciously, tweeting against her. Yesterday he released the 60 minutes interview before 60 of ans did, walking out interview with lesley stahl. And he said Kristen Welker is even worse. Ofyou saw him on stage sort saying nice things to her befo and after. This is the show man. This is donald trump. I think part of what we have to recognize all the ways he is been able to dohis in his career. I saw a clip going around yesterday a sort of an interview he had with connie chung years ago. The things he said about her afterwards. This is a president that got here because so many folks enabled him. He was on nbcs platform, on Celebrity Apprentice once a week with corporate sponsors while he was going around the country spreading a racist Conspiracy Theory about president obama and was allowed to continue to have that form. When that happened, we sort of lowered the standards of what is acceptable and create sort of situation where some of these things are just allowed as acceptable part of the debate. But the thing i want to say about the debate moderator Kristen Welker, i think she really leaned in aay that we did not see in the last debate. I think she followed up. She really used the opportunity to present both candidates on the issues and try to get them to answer the questions. And for folks who are activists listening, for people who have been showing up to protest and showing up to raise their voice, whether it is online or offline, i think activism was on this date in a very interesting way. I think that is important because we have not had town hall meetings, the sort of opportunities to question the candidates up front, for those moments for immigrant activists and blm activists and climate activists to press the candidates in forums that were more open. But on that stage, i think what you saw was kristen actually pushing these candidates as a result of the larger activism in the space the way the conversation and movement on the street have actually changed the dialogue. And whether it was the first debate that we saw on the democratic side where you saw a whole new set of issues being talked about from reparations to Racial Injustice to white supremacy, but the first time on a president ial debate, i think back to being in middle school during that Carol Simpson debate and probably the first debate i watched at home with my family, really coming off of getting to understand and learn about the president ial debate when my parents in 1988 gave some of our vacation money to jesse jackson, and i think about how far some of these conversations have come, how far we are talking about these issues. I think it is going to be important, if joe biden becomes the president , is that we recognize we cant mistake the presence of our issues on debate stage for the power to actually change the rules. And we are going to have to press and push and challenge and build power. And for folks were out there, theyre going to have to invest in black and brown infrastructure to actually challenge channel that energy. Over the years, can be a force multiplier for more people to want to participate in our democracy because they see the results of the type of change that participation brings about. Amy i want to go to Kristen Welker of nbc. Stinko the bills you supported in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the incarceration of tens of thousands of young black while amount of drugs and their session. They are sons and brothers and fathers and uncles whose families are still to this day, some of them suffering the consequences. So speak to those families. Why should they vote for you . Mr. Biden one of the things is that in the 1980s, we passed 100 , all 100 senators voted for a bill on drugs and how to deal with drugs. It was a mistake. Ive been trying to change since then, particularly the portion on cocaine. Thats why ive been arguing that in fact we should not send anyone to jail for a pure drug offense. They should be going into treatment across the board. That is what we should be spending money. And thats why i set up drug courts, which were never funded by our republican friends. They should not be going to jail for a drug or an alcohol problem. They should be going into treatment. Treatment. Thats what weve been trying to do. That is what im going to get done because i think the American People have now seen that in fact it was a mistake to pass those laws relating to drugs. But they were not in the crime bill. Pres. Trump but, why didnt he get it done . See, its all talk, no action with these politicians, why didnt he get it . Thats what im going to do when i become president. You were Vice President along with obama as your president , your leader, for eight years. Why didnt you get it done . You had eight years to get it done, now youre saying youre going to get it done because youre all talking and no action, joe. Mr. Biden we got 38,000 prisoners pres. Trump you got nothing done. Mr. Biden 38,000 prisoners were released from federal prison, we have there were over a thousand people who were given clemency. In fact, we are the ones that put in the legislation saying we could look at pattern and practice of Police Departments and what they were doing, how theyre conducting themselves. I could go on, but we began the process. We lost an election. That is why im running, to win back that election and change his terrible policy. Amy there is joe biden and trump. Trump taking on the crime bill. Rashad robinson, if you can respond . Disinformation. I think this is part of the challenge that organizations like mine have in parsing this through word donald trump is somehow trying to make himself and advocate for criminal Justice Reform raven drug reform when we know is history. Im not here to defend the democrats on criminal Justice Reform. I am here to say theyre the party we have the best chance of pushing to do the right thing. The folks most likely to be nervous about disappointing us on this issue. But both parties have a lot of work to do. And that is without fault or equivalencies. I think the thing that is important is joe biden and his campaign are acknowledging the flaws and the problems in previous decisions about how they dealt with drug policy, how they dealt with criminal justice, acknowledging on the stage last week that the 94 crime bill was a mistake. I think that is important and a representation of a lot of pushing challenges from those outside and inside of the campaign. And now we need to see that translate into the type of necessary toat actually make changes on those things. D the type of changes that are not just sort of cosmetic changes that stop the bleeding but actually the type of changes that restore peoples livesnd dignities that have been sown for them. We have laws on the books that are simply designed to target and exploit black people, and it starts all the way down with marijuana that is essentially legal for rich people and white people in this country. And we still see black and brown people being locked up all the way up to the disparities in other drugs. It has failed. It has not worked. We actually have to build systems of harm reduction. Systems that allow for people to have the things that they need and people to have the privacy in their lives that they need as well. But i do think as a fundamental change in the conversation and the debate. But i think once again, you have the sort of show man in donald trump that is willing to say anything. He is trying an interesting dance on the stage. On one hand, making deep appeals to Law Enforcement and on the other hand trying to make these appeals to black men at the same time. Be doing it in ways that can confusing and complicated but because he is such a show man, sometimes it can get over. Th disinformation about where he actually stan on the issue is part of why we have to continue to challenge. But it is also why the democrats cant just make this about hating trump. They have to continue to fight and build and put out the policies that are going to change lives and remove barriers and systems that have stood in peoples way. Amy Rashad Robinson, spokesperson for p color of changeac. Will he come back, we will be joined by Erika Andiola and get her response to the issue raised of the 545 immigrant children in this country, where are their parents that the Trump Administration separated from them. Stay with us. [music break] amy the kids are still in cages by nancy sanchez. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. We spend the hour looking at the final president ial debate after President Donald Trump and democratic challenger joe biden faced off in nashville, tennessee thursday night. Moderator Kristen Welker asked about immigration. Kristen the United States cant locate the parents of more than 500 children, so how will these families ever be reunited . Pres. Trump children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels and theyre brought here and they used to use them to get into our country. We now have as strong a border as weve ever had. Were over 400 miles of brand new wall. You see the numbers. And we let people in, but they have to come in legally and they come in through kristen but how will you reunite these kids with their families, mr. President . Pres. Trump but let me just tell you. Let me just tell you. They built cages. They used to say i built the cages, and then they had a picture in a certain newspaper, and it was the picture of these horrible cages and they said, look at these cages. President trump built them. And then it was determined they were built in 2014. That was him. They built cages. Kristen do you have a plan to reunite the kids with their families . Pres. Trump yes. Were working on it very were trying very hard. But a lot of these kids come out without the parents. They come over through cartels and through coyotes and through gangs. Kristen Vice President biden, let me bring you into this conversation. Quick response, and then another question to you. Mr. Biden these 500plus kids came with parents. They separated them at the border to make it a disincentive to come to begin with. Be real tough. Were really strong. And guess what . They cannot coyotes didnt bring them over. Their parents were with them. They got separated from their parents. And it makes us a laughingstock and violates every notion of who we are as a nation. Kristen let me ask you a followup question. Pres. Trump kristen, they did it. We changed the policy. They did it. We changed mr. Biden we did not separate the pres. Trump they built the cages. Who built the cages, joe . Mr. Biden lets talk about what were talking about. Lets talk about what were talking about. What happened . Parents were ripped their kids were ripped from their arms and separated, and now they cannot find over 500 of the sets of those parents and those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. Its criminal. Its criminal. Kristen let me ask you about pres. Trump kristen, i will say this. We brought reporters, everything. They are so well taken care of. Amy we go now to phoenix, arizona, to bring Erika Andiola into this conversation. She is advocacy chief at raices action, the refugee and immigrant center for education and legal services. She is also the host of the podcast homeland insecurity. As you listen to this discussion, these 545 children this has been raised, the government was forced to admit this come as groups like the aclu and others could not find the parents of these children who are still in the United States. Explain this situation and what protest responded. Yes. There are still kids here in the United States who have not been able to be reunited with their parents. We have to remember why that is. The reason for that is the majority of these children were not tracked. Their parents for not tracked by the u. S. Government when they were taken away from their parents and from their family bers, so what trump said what he claims that he is taking care of these children, that he wasnt the one who is putting them in cages. These are lies. And also, i want to make sure youre not just focused on the cages. What the cages are really is structures that were created by the border patrol, which call them dog kennels, used to hold migrants who come not just children, but also individuals, adults and families when they first crossed the border. We need to make sure that doesnt happen anymore. Under thewas there Obama Administration and even before that. What trump did come he literally created a policy called zerotolerance which took children away from their families at the border so they would send a message, what trump would say, to other migrants so they would not come anymore into the United States. Zerotolerance policy was created by delta donald trump. He is not owning up to that. These children are still to figure out how to find their parents and the United States is not doing enough to be able to make that happen. Amy i want to go back to debate moderator Kristen Welker of nbc the first to raise in the president ial debates the issue of immigration. Kristen mr. Vice president , the Obama Administration failed to deliver Immigration Reform which had been a key promise during the administration and also presided over record deportations as well as family detentions at the border before changing course. So why should voters trust you with an immigration overhaul now . Mr. Biden because we made a mistake made. It took too long to get it right. Took too long to get it right. Ill be president of the United States, not Vice President of the United States. And the fact is ive made it very clear. Within a 100 days, im going to send to the United States congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people. And all of those socalled dreamers, those daca kids, theyre going to be immediately certified again to be able to stay in this country and put on a path to citizenship. Pres. Trump he had eight years to do what he said he was going to do. And ive changed. Without having a specific, we got rid of catch and release. We got rid of a lot of horrible things that they put in and that they lived with. But he had eight years he was Vice President. He did nothing except build cages to keep children in. Kristen Vice President biden, your response. Mr. Biden the catch and release, you know what hes talking about there . If in fact you had a family came across and they were arrested, they in fact were given a date to show up for their hearing. They were released. And guess what . They showed up for a hearing. And this is the first president in the history of the United States of america that anybody seeking asylum has to do it in another country. Thats never happened before in america. Amy Erika Andiola, if you can respond to the obamabiden record and also this whole issue of catch and release . Trump falsely said only 1 of people show up for immigration hearings, and it is Something Like 75 . That is correct. There is a lot there. The first thing ill say is it is something that i found positive to hear biden say that they made a mistake. I think they made many mistakes. It was not just that they did not do Immigration Reform right away. That need to congress to pass and they did not push hard enough. But in the meantime, they created a deportation system and detention system that now has been used and even made worse by donald trump. I want to make sure that is said because we have to fix those mistakes if biden is elected. We have to make sure we are pursuing pushing congress but also at the same time that we are dismantling the disputation Deportation Machine that was strengthened by the Obama Administration and now terribly used by the Trump Administration. This, catchaying and release, with everything he is now claiming back to the Obama Administration, well, he has made all of this even worse. And the fact is that what he has done right now with asylumseekers is completely inhumane. We have literally almost dismantled t entire us process for migrants. What you have are people stuck in mexico waiting because of remain a mexico policy who are now camping intense on the others of border with their children and now dealing with covid. They cant get in. Like you said, the majority of people who arellowed to come, who are allowed to share their story of why they need to be in this country seeking asylum and even the chance to see a judge, show up stuff we know this. Our attorneys represent these migrants and immigrants, and we know that they show up and that we show up to court will we have to do it which they just need the chance to do it. Trump has dismantled that. Amy i want to end with trump and biden on Climate Change. It has to be replaced by Renewable Energy over time. I stop giving to the oil industry. I stopped giving them federal subsidies. You wont get federal subsidies to the gas, oh, excuse me to solar and wind. Pres. Trump yeah. Mr. Biden why are we giving it to oil industry . Pres. Trump we actually give it to solar and wind. Thats maybe the biggest statement. He is going to destroy the oil industry. Will you remember that texas . Will you remember that pennsylvania, oklahoma . Amy i want to bring Rashad Robinson of color of change pac back on the issue of climate crisis. I thought it was a big step biden to be so clear. I know his campaign is walking that some aspects of it,ut the larger pieces be so clearly on the stage about oil. Then you have donald trump on the other end at every turn not actually issuing a belief aut anything, but speaking specifically to states, talking about the strategies, sort of what he does i do think that we are seeing the results of a lot of work and effort and activism of pushing the Democratic Party a raising the stakes on what were facing in terms of climate and in terms of what has been allowed by major corporations to be able to pollute our environment particularly to be able to put so much pollution right at the back door i black and brown community. Amy Erika Andiola, you tweeted last at that you grew up near and exxon mobil plan. As the pandemic shows every time theres something happening in the environment, people of color, communities of color, black communities, native american communities, a document of people are the ones who suffer the most. We need to make sure that Climate Change is at the top of the agenda of the next president. We dont know what biden is going to do, but at this point, we know what trump they wanted to do a deal. They have essentially been at war with israel every box donald trump announces a u. S. Brokered a deal between sudan and israel. Palestinians call it a new stab in the back. Hello. This is al jazeera live