Transcripts For KCSM Democracy Now 20170728

Then two catholic worker activists have revealed they secretly carried out multiple acts of sabotage and arson in order to stop construction of the controversial 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. We are speaking publicly to empower others to act boldly with purity of heart to dismantle the infrastructure which denies us our rights. We have seen repeated failure of the government and it is our responsibilityh and integrity, risking our own liberty for the sovereignty of us all. Amy well speak with Jessica Reznicek and ruby montoya about how they set fire to five pieces of heavy machinery being used to construct the pipeline. Then in austin, texas, four undocumented immigrants are arrested protesting trumps crackdown on sanctuary cities and plans to end daca, deferred action for childhood arrivals. Amy chanting undocumented and unafraid we will speak with dreamer, catalina santiago, one of those arrested, and with attorney Jeff Sessions in el salvador, we will talk to alex sanchez about how many immigrants are being wrongfully targeted as gang members. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In an historic defeat for President Trump and the republican party, the senate voted 49 to 51 early this morning on a bill that would have repealed key parts of the Affordable Care act. Three republicans broke ranks to join democrats and independents opposing the legislation Lisa Murkowski of alaska, Susan Collins of maine, and john mccain of arizona. This is Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell conceding defeat about 2 00 a. M. Eastern time. I also want to think the president and Vice President who couldnt have been more involved and more helpful. So, yes, this is a disappointment. A disappointment, indeed. Our friends over in the house, we thank them as well. I regret our efforts were simply not enough. Amy the socalled skinny repeal of obamacare would have eliminated the individual and the employer mandate that requires certain businesses to provide Health Insurance to employees. The Congressional Budget Office said the legislation would add another 16 Million People to the ranks of the uninsured, while increasing the average Health Insurance premium by more than 1200 next year. As the bill went down to defeat, protesters outside the capitol cheered wildly, chanting, yes we did. The senate adjourned with no further votes planned this week. Well have more on the Senate Healthcare debate after headlines. President trump lashed out at republican dissenters overnight, tweeting 3 republicans and 48 democrats let the American People down. As i said from the beginning, let obamacare implode, then deal. Watch meanwhile, both of alaskas republican senators, dan sullivan and Lisa Murkowski, received calls from interior secretary ryan zinke wednesday, who was reportedly ordered by President Trump to threaten projects important to alaska after senator murkowski broke ranks to oppose the republican healthcare effort. Murkowski appeared to retaliate by postponing a vote on six of trumps nominees for posts at the energy and interior departments. Meanwhile, the senate voted 982 thursday to bring new sanctions against russia over its annexation of ukraines crimea region and its alleged meddling in the 2016 u. S. Election. This is republican senator john mccain of arizona. My friends, the United States a America Needs to stand strong message to Vladimir Putin and in the other aggressor that we will not tolerate attacks on our democracy. That is what this bill is all about. We must take our own side in this fight, not as republicans, not as democrats, but as americans. Amy in response, russian president Vladimir Putin accused u. S. Lawmakers of insolence and ordered the u. S. To cut its diplomatic staff by more than 450 while barring state Department Staff from several properties in russia. Thursdays vote sends the sanctions bill to President Trump, whos under intense pressure to sign it amid allegations that his campaign colluded with russia to sway last novembers election. Meanwhile, some republicans are warning President Trump against firing attorney general Jeff Sessions in a potential bid to find a replacement who would in turn fire special counsel Robert Muller and end the investigation into alleged trumprussia ties. Senator chuck grassley, chair of the judiciary committee, said on twitter he would refuse to hold hearings on any new attorney general this year. Meanwhile, South Carolina republican senator Lindsey Graham warned the president hed pay dearly for firing sessions. Fired t sessions is if Jeff Sessions is fired, there will be holy hell to pay. Going after mueller could be the end of the Trump Presidency unless mueller did something wrong. Right now i have no reasonably that mueller is compromised. Amy senator graham also said hes crafting a bill that would require judicial review of any move by President Trump to fire special Council Robert mueller. Meanwhile, attorney general sessions broke his silence thursday, calling President Trumps mounting attacks on him kind of hurtful while defending his decision to recuse himself from the russia investigation. But sessions told fox news trump had the power to fire him. To make a change, he can subtly do so and i would be glad to yield in that circumstance. No doubt about it. But i do believe that we are. Aking tremendous progress amy attorney general sessions made the comments from san salvado, where he met el salvadors president , salvador sanchez ceren, to discuss the transnational gang known as ms13. Sessions trip came as the immigration and Customs Enforcement agency ice, said , its carrying out raids targeting undocumented teenagers it accuses of being members of ms13 and other gangs. The criteria ice is using to assess gang affiliation reportedly includes whether teenagers have tattoos, Wear Clothing typical to a gang, or even spend time in an area thats known to have gangs. During a News Conference at the white house thursday, acting ice director thomas homan spoke in front of a series of images of young brown men with tattoos, saying his agency was now deporting undocumented immigrants whove been arrested for a crime even if they havent been found guilty. Infor those that get booked connie jail come under the prior administration, they needed a conviction before we can put a detainer on them. That is not necessary anymore. If you have been arrested for a serious crime and are in a county jail, were going to take the person into custody. Amy the ice campaign against ms13 came as new details emerged about the 10 migrants found dead from heat exposure and asphyxiation in the back of a tractortrailer in a walmart parking lot in san antonio, texas, last weekend. One of the migrants, 19yearold frank fuentes, was brought to the u. S. As a toddler from guatemala and raised in Northern Virginia before he was deported last march. At the time of fuentess deportation, ice said the teenager was suspected of having ties to ms13. His friends dispute the accusation. Fuentes former classmate juan benitez told the Washington Post growing up where we grew up, it was just easier for the government to label him as a statistic and say that he was affiliated with a gang. Growing up in a rough neighborhood we stayed away from people like that. It was the only way to be safe. Before his deportation, fuentes was a recipient of daca, or deferred action for childhood arrivals, which grants Legal Protection for some young immigrants to live and work in the United States. We will have more on the fight of undocumented immigrants to protect daca later in the broadcast. In connecticut, an undocumented mother who took sanctuary in a New Haven Church to avoid deportation to guatemala has won an emergency stay that will keep her in the u. S. At least for now. The order by a federal judge will see the immigrations and Customs Enforcement take another look at the case of nury chavarria, the mother of four children who has been living in the United States for 24 years. The department of justice said in court papers wednesday that federal civil rights law does not protect workers from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The assertion came in a legal brief filed by the Justice Department lawyers in a federal case involving a skydiving instructor who said he was fired after a customer objected to his status as a gay man. The plaintiffs lawyer says the Trump Administration is on the wrong side of history in arguing people should be excluded under title vii of the civil rights act. About the this is human condition and the right to be free from employment discrimination and to protect your family, especially if you can get married as a gay person. Amy top u. S. Military leaders pushed back thursday against President Trumps order, made in a series of three tweets, banning transgender people from serving in the armed forces. Marine corps general joseph dunford, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, said the announcement caught him by surprise and that the military would continue to allow transgender soldiers and officers to serve until defense secretary james mattis received specific instructions from the president. This is general mark milley, chief of staff of the army, speaking thursday. To date, walking in here, ive yet to receive and limitation guidance, directives, from the department of defense general mattis. We grow up and learn to obey the chain of command. My chain of command for secretary of army and the secretary of defense, right . And the president. So we will work through the implementation guidance when we get it. Amy trumps ban on transgender troops could impact as many as 15,000 people. Its unclear whether they would face honorable or dishonorable discharges. At the white house, divisions among senior staff were on full display thursday after newly appointed Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci railed against leaks in a series of expletiveladen interviews. On wednesday, scaramucci phoned new yorker correspondent ryan lizza and demanded to know who leaked details about a white house dinner to lizza, threatening to fire the entire White House Communications team. Scaramucci then accused trumps chief of staff Reince Priebus of being the leaker, predicting priebus would soon be asked to resign and calling him an effing paranoid schizophrenic, a paranoiac. Scaramucci also took a swipe at trumps chief strategist steve bannon with a crude reference to a sexual act, and added what i want to do is i want to effing kill all the leakers and i want to get the president s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American People. On thursday morning, scaramucci phoned into cnns new day program, where he compared his relationship with Reince Priebus to the biblical brothers cain and abel, and said leakers should be met with harsh punishment. The White House Leaks are small potatoes relative to things that are going on leaking things about syria or north korea were leaking things about iraq. Those are the types of leaks that are so treasonous, that 150 years ago, people would have been hung for those types of leaks. Amy at the white house, press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders declined to say whether President Trump still has confidence in his chief of staff. In jerusalem, over 100 palestinians were injured thursday after Israeli Security forces fired rubber ola and loved stun grenades at worshipers there a mosque. Some of those hurt suffered broken bones. The crackdown came after authorities removed cameras and other security measures around the site, which is sacred to both muslims and use following weeks of intense protest by palestinians to many unfettered access to the site. In wisconsin,s. Republican Governor Scott walker, House Speaker paul ryan, a President Trump are backing a plan that would see the hightech manufacturer foxconn build a 10 billion factory in the state in exchange for 3 billion in tax credits. Governor walker says the factory, which would produce flatpanel display screens, would add 13,000 jobs to wisconsins economy. In fact, foxconn has said the factory would only provide an initial 3000 jobs with the potential to add more in the future. Critics say thats unlikely to happen, as the plant will probably be highly automated, and that taxpayers may end up paying 1 million per job created. The jobs will carry an average salary of 54,000. In garfield county, oklahoma, sheriff jerry niles and five of his subordinates will face manslaughter charges after a prisoner died in june when he was held in a restraint chair more than 48 hours without adequate food, water, or medical care. Oklahomas attorney general says 58yearold anthony huff was placed in a restraint chair on june 6 and found unresponsive on june 8, still bound to the chair. Hed been arrested on a public intoxication charge. Prosecutors say the jail staff failed to provide huff his medication for heart disease, hypertension, and other disorders, and failed to provide him with water every 2 hours as required by law. And in sports news, Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman john urschel said thursday he will retire from the nfl after a recent study that found virtually all pro Football Players show signs of a degenerative brain disease known as cte. The 26yearold player called the decision difficult, but said he would move on to pursue a doctorate in mathematics at m. I. T. Two years ago, urschel suffered a concussion in a helmettohelmet collision, which he says affected his ability to think well mathematically. A study published this week in the journal of the American Medical Association found that, of 111 nfl players whose brains were studied, 110 of them had signs of cte, which can lead to memory loss, depression, and dementia often years or even decades after players retire. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. In an historic defeat for the republican party, the senate voted 49 to 51 early this morning against a bill that would have repealed key parts of the Affordable Care act. Nays are 51. Ayes the amendment is not agreed to. Amy as the bill was defeated, protesters outside the capitol cheered and chanted yes we did. The loss was a stinging defeat for President Trump and for republicans who have spent seven years vowing to repeal and replace obamacare. This is Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, conceding defeat around 2 00 a. M. Eastern time. I also want to thank the president and the Vice President who could not has been more helpful. And more so, yes, this is a disappointment. A disappointment, indeed. Our friends over in the house, we thank them as well. I regret that our efforts were simply not enough this time. Amy the socalled skinny repeal of obamacare would have eliminated the individual and the employer mandate that requires certain businesses to provide Health Insurance to employees. Its defeat came after the Congressional Budget Office said it would have added another 16 Million People to the ranks of the uninsured and increased premiums by at least 20 . The bill was only made public around 10 00 p. M. Thursday night, giving senators only two only a few to review it hours before they had to vote. Joining every democrat in opposing the measure were republicans Susan Collins of maine, Lisa Murkowski of alaska, and arizona senator john mccain, who returned to washington this week after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Right now as i mentioned earlier, i am voting no unless i see that there is a cap to a conference that will come out with a result that will address the challenges. State iss quo in my unsatisfactory. That is why im working with the governor of money they my state who has proposed three different amendments that i will be putting up for votes as we go through. If it satisfies the governor, then i would be satisfied. Right now my governor is not satisfied. Amy when the actual vote came, it was senator mccain standing in the floor of the senate who gave, with a pause, a thumbs down. There was a gasp in the Senate Chamber post up senator Charles Schumer shushed the democrats from cheering. It around what it one point seemed a likely victory for trump. In 2010, then candidate trump said of mccain, who was held as a prisoner of war in vietnam for over five years he was a war hero, because he was captured. I like people who werent captured. Hes been losing so long he doesnt know how to win anymore. Meanwhile, this morning President Trump responded to the defeat on twitter, writing 3 republicans and 48 democrats let the American People down. As i said from the beginning, let obamacare implode, then deal. Watch for now, the Health Care Debate appears to be over. The senate has adjourned and there are no further votes this week. For more, we go to washington, d. C. , where were joined by margarida jorge, coexecutive director of healthcare for america now. Welcome back to democracy now can you talk about what took place just hours ago . Well, certainly, senator mccain has long had a reputation as a maverick. I think some of us were questioning that earlier in the week when he voted in favor of the motion to proceed, and then gave an impassioned speech about the very secretive and corrupt process by which this whole repeal effort has moved forward. The press conference that he and his colleagues, Lindsey Graham and ron johnson from wisconsin, gave just hours before he voted against the bill, again, just i think senator mccaskill from my old state of missouri said it well when she said, working in the senate right now is like being in the twilight zone. That press go to conference. Ahead of the vote yesterday afternoon, when republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina threatened to pull support of the socalled skinny bill. Here is the problem. The whip in the house is suggesting to some that whatever we send becomes the final product, there will be no conference, and im not going to vote for the skinny bill if im not assured by the house there will be a conference from a idea and other ideas can be taken up so we can actually replace obamacare. Im not going to vote for a bill that is terrible policy and horrible politics just because we have to get something done. Amy that was republican senator Lindsey Graham. He went on to call the skinny bill a fraud. The skinny bill as a policy is a disaster. The skinny bill as a replacement for obamacare is a fraud. To skinny bill is a vehicle find replacement, not a replacement in and of itself. The policy is terrible. Individualte the employer mandate, which we want eliminated, but we have an overall solution to the problem of obamacare so youre going to have increased premiums and most of obamacare stays in place. Not only do we not replace obamacare, we politically own the collapse of health care. I would rather get out of the way and let it collapse than ss approach where it is now our problem. Amy Lindsey Graham, after calling the skinny bill a fraud and disaster, actually voted for it. But the man he was standing next to, who came out with his morning as well that he would not vote for this unless they got a guarantee from House Speaker ryan that the house would not just adopt the senate bill, the man standing next to Lindsey Graham at that News Conference, john mccain, voted against it. Margarida jorge, so what happens now . Ofwell, i mean, a couple things happen now. So one thing is that President Trumps comment, his tweet following the vote that obamacare, we should just wait for obamacare to collapse, is not an arbitrary comments. It is a comment he has made many times. It is going to implode, collapse, this and that. The reality is, obamacare is fine. What he is really saying is he and his administration will do everything in their power to make sure that they do not enforce and protect this law, even though that is their job since they run hhs. One key thing, as you have been saying and senator graham just said, that would have been rolled back in the vote wouldve been the individual mandate. National level, President Trump and hhs have already stopped enforcing the individual mandate. They have absolutely every intention of making sure that they sabotage obamacare. We are already starting to see spikes in premium. We know the Insurance Industry has commented over and over and over again that what is driving these increases, premiums, is not collapse of the law, it is uncertainty in the market that is being driven by the repeal efforts, the president s refusal to enforce the law, and his noncommittal stance toward costsharing reduction payments that are essential to lowering costs for consumers in the law and helping insurers to be a little provide the coverage. And so that costsharing reduction and sabotage is still out there. That is going to be critical. The second thing that is still out there is the attacks were seeing on medicaid and medicare and the house budget on the gop side. Lawarlier versions of this of the repeal bill, we saw not just a repeal of the Affordable Care act, not just a rolling back of the expansion of states that the 31 expanded, but an outright attack on the Traditional Medicaid Program that is turning 52, by the way, this weekend. This is the Program Providing health care to seniors. Over 70 Million People. The proposal has been all of these repeal proposals have had the proposal to create caps in medicaid that would make dramatic changes in the program permanently cut its funding. We see that very same proposal, except deeper cut in the house budget that is moving at the same time that we have all been following through appeal debate. So the health care fight is far from over because we can expect 1. 5 trillion in cuts of what is been proposed to medicaid and the republican budget. And another almost 500 billion cut to medicare, which the republicans are proposing to andher voucherize privatizing the bill. We will see many different types of attacks for many sectors on health care. The trump sabotage peace of this is something that a lot of folks are not paying attention to that is critical. The sabotage of the law in perpetuating its failure is what the conservatives will then use as the rationale for taking a second try at repeal in the coming months. Amy as the amendments flew in the senate on thursday, lawmakers voted down a singlepayer Health Care Amendment introduced by republican senator steve daines who said it was aimed at putting Senate Democrats on the record on the issue. But senator bernie sanders, a longtime supporter of a singlepayer, denounced the amendment as a political trick designed to embarrass democrats, ahead of the health care vote. Vote foris prepared to this legislation, and if he can get maybe 5, 6 or republicans to vote for this legislation, i think we can win it. And i think the United States can join the rest of the industrialized world and finally guarantee health care for all people. Amy the amendment failed to pass after no lawmakers from either party voted for it. Is a bigenator sanders proponent of medicare for all. Margarida jorge, what happens with that and will democrats move forward with that like the conyers bill in the house . I think democrats there is certainly a lot of openness to the rigors solutions to health care. For years, we have been doing regulations and these kinds of fall smaller fix its. The system itself is a problem because it is not driven by health care, but by profit. And mostly what we are having in this country is a conversation about the healthInsurance Industry, not a conversation about Actual Health care. So i think there is growing openness frankly, whether or not democrats take up medicare for all, whether or not they take up negotiations for Prescription Drug companies, another great bill that senator sanders has sponsored, really depends on grassroots pressure in the same way that stopping repeal has really depended upon grassroots pressure. This is still the United States, still a democracy. Ofis if the citizenry constituents want something, it is up to us to organize come to show up and make that demand. Especially in districts where we have the greatest access to members. The same level of grassroots pressure that we saw around stopping repeal that we expect to see around stopping the cuts to medicaid and medicare in order to get huge textbooks to rich people in the budget fight. If we want medicare for all, we have to go to senator sanders and we have to go to a lot of senators and show the demand for that is out there. Amy margarida jorge, thank you coexecutiveh us, director of healthcare for america now, and healthcare for america now education fund. When we come back, two catholic workers admitted they committed the dakotaainst access pipeline. They will tell their story. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to iowa, where two catholic worker activists have revealed they secretly carried out multiple acts of sabotage and arson in recent months in order to stop construction of the controversial 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Jessica reznicek and ruby montoya said that on election day last year, they set fire to five pieces of heavy machinery being used to construct the pipeline. The two then taught themselves how to destroy empty pipeline valves, and moved up and down the pipelines length, destroying the valves and delaying construction for weeks. They say their actions were inspired by the antinuclear Plowshares Movement which used nonviolent direct action to target Nuclear Warheads and military installations. On monday, they spoke out outside the iowa utilities board office. This begins th Jessica Reznicek. We are speaking publicly to empower others to act boldly, with purity of heart, to dismantle the infrastructure which denies our rights. We are civilians have seen repeated failures of the government and it is our duty to act with responsibility and integrity for the sovereignty of us all. Mistaken, we acted from our hearts and never threatens human life or personal property. But we did do is fight a private corporation that has run rampantly across our country seizing land and producing polluting the water supply. Amy that was Jessica Reznicek and ruby montoya speaking monday. After delivering their statement, the two used a hammer and a crowbar to damage the letters of the iowa utilities board sign in protest of its recent decision to reject a lawsuit by environmental groups to revoke the pipelines state permit and force it to shut down. The women were arrested and jailed overnight for destroying the sign and now facing possible arrest at any time for committing multiple acts of sabotage. I spoke to Jessica Reznicek and ruby montoya earlier this week. I began by asking ruby to talk about what they did and why they were coming forward now. Went toection night, we we saweasement site and over six or seven pieces of heavy machinery there. We went with our supplies and we filled these coffee canisters up with gasoline and oil. Replaced those coffee canisters on the inside of the cabs of , on theavy machinery seats, and we pierced those coffee canisters so that the Flammable Liquids would spread. In efforts matches to make this machines obsolete. Having exhausted all other avenues of political thisss and resistance to Petroleum Pipeline that, to my knowledge, is the largest in the United States as far as the capacity that it is able to carry the oil. Amy Jessica Reznicek, how did you know where this pipeline was . I knew exactly where this pipeline was because it is not one in 15 miles from this studio. It runs through the county i was born in, cold county, iowa. I deftly took a lot of inspiration from what i saw is Standing Rock. But i what is impacted greatly by this. My home city streaking water could be destroyed when this pipeline breaks. So it is not a matter of having to find it, it found me. Amy so the investigation into the damage to the pipeline has been ongoing. Apparently committee authorities did not have leads into who committed these acts of sabotage, so, jessica, why did you and ruby decide to come forward on monday . I guess one of the main felt very ruby and i disheartened by the fact the oil is now flowing through the pipeline. Obviously, we cannot pierce through empty vows anymore. They are not empty. We halted construction of an down the line for several weeks, turning into months. We are now at the phase where we have to deal with the reality that this that we failed. As resistance here in iowa goes. And now oil is flowing through it. Theres really nothing more to do now then come forward and let the public know continue this Public Discourse about what that , and, where we are heading the consequences of it. Amy ruby, you talked about beginning this action of sabotage on election night. Why the significance of this day, election day, and then talk about what happened in the ensuing weeks, what exactly you did. Well, election day, it was very serendipitous. Coincidence. Ned by i remember the next day, we were with the mississippi stand caravan. Other comrades had crawled into the Dakota Access pipeline and occupied it for over 15 hours at least. So i remember showing up there ring siteoines river bo in stubbing a later by the action that we took the previous night because we knew through the actions of mississippi stand, they had halted the boring process to pearly. Temporarily. Through the actions that jessica and i took the prior evening, we had also halted construction temporarily. That felt great and we saw the effectiveness of these peaceful means to take fire and other materials to these empty structures of metal to disable them so they could not continue their process of destruction. Thatme went on, we saw construction continued and that type was being put into the was being put into the ground. So our only viable means was to somehow obstruct this pipe. That material is made of steel. We had to figure out something that would melt it or somehow make it obsolete. Thingsegan to look for that would cut through that amount of steel and that turned out to be oxygen acetylene, which burns at like over 2000 degrees. That melt steel. So after acquiring that proceeded and valves allty of the valves were empty. In luhanskrst account, i will, piercing through a vowel there. Until we raninued out of supplies, hitting multiple valve sites. Amy what are the significant of these sounds . They are Access Points to shut off the flow of oil. Occurred with a group of in the tar sands area of alberta, canada. So you can physically shut these valves off if there is oil in them. Since there was not oil in them, this is the part of the pipeline that is exposed. The rest is underground and underneath our waterways. So with this steel exposed, instead of having to operate a bulldozer and try to dig it up, find theseer to exposed valves and cut underneath the seams of these valves, because they have seams. If you cut underneath the seams, its a lot more effective in terms of them having to dig it up further and costing them more money and more time in pushing untilhat completion date our goal was for them to exhaust their financial means so they would stop with this pipeline. Amy Jessica Reznicek, there are many who would say that destroying private property like this is violence. Your response to this . I completely disagree. I think that the oil being taken out of the ground and the machinery that does it and the infrastructure which supports it, this is violent. These tools and these mechanisms the industry and Corporate Power and government power of colluded together to create this is destructive. It is violent and it needs to be stopped. We never at all threatened human life. Actually, well are acting in an effort to save human life, to save our planet, to save our resources. And nothing at any point was ever done by ruby nor i were ,nything outside of peaceful deliberate, and steady loving hands. Amy can you explain what file shares actions are, for those who dont know . You are both catholic workers, jessica and ruby, living of the catholic worker house in des moines. Can you explain what the Catholic Worker Movement is all about . We have a rich tradition theted by dorothy day in 1930s. We have a rich tradition, both in assisting underprivileged people in our communitys via osup kitchens, hospitality, shelters for Homeless People who live with and activities, and we also have come under flipside, we also recognize the resistance that is needed to help bring underprivileged people back up to the same level as the people who are taking the money from them. Ruby and i focused on the resistance aspect here in the des Moines Catholic worker. We have followed suit, and i believe we are inspired by mr. Phil berrigan, the house we live in is named after, and we do understand the need to dismantle infrastructure when it poses a threat to human life and liberty. Amy let me talk about and ask you about that tradition of the berrigan brothers, father Daniel Berrigan and Philip Berrigan, who helped launch the International Nuclear Plowshares Movement. Father dan and others poured blood and hammered warheads at a ge Nuclear Missile plant in pennsylvania in 1980. I asked father Daniel Berrigan about this during an interview i did with him around a decade ago. The workers with the changing the shift and found there was really no security were talking about. Very easy entrance. In about three minutes, we were looking at doomsday. The weapon was before us. Warhead about to be shipped to texas for its payload. So it was a harmless weapon as of that moment. We cracked the weapon. It was very fragile. It was made to withstand the heat of reentry into the atmosphere from outer space. It was like eggshell, really. Motto,had taken as our the great statement so we did it. We poured our blood around it. We stood in a circle. I think reciting the lords prayer until armageddon arrived as we expected. Amy and of course, father dan berrigan and his brother Philip Berrigan and others, the kingsville nine bang catonsville nine burned the draft files of people in catonsville, maryland, using napalm that was used in vietnam. Do you consider this a plowshares action . It has been cap terrorized by ruby and i characterized by plowshares, rolling and extended plowshares action. Amy at the end of your statement on monday, standing in front of iowa utilities board office. Can you explain its significance and why you then turned around and started ripping off the metal letters from that sign as the police moved in to arrest you . The our utilities board here in iowa granted the dakota permits using Eminent Domain as a public utility for this pipeline. So the company was allowed by the iowa chilis board to come in and seize land from farmers to put this ritual impact light underneath their fields. So the iowa utilities board here in iowa was he because to good Dakota Access and Energy Transfer partners for able to sidestep the impact statement. So each state had its governing body to either grant or deny these permits to build this pipeline. Here in iowa, that was the iowa utilities board. It was granted under the guise, under the lie of a public utility. This past friday they released another decision yet again doing and ruling ing, favor of the Dakota Access pipeline and Energy Transfer partners. So that is why we were there. There have been many protests, vigils, hunger strikes and front of that building with no response. Public commentary hearings with no response from the sport. , she is of this board under investigation for corruption. The list goes on and on as to why the iowa utilities board is and the allows of the Dakota Access pipeline to come through iowa. So we could not have picked a better place to release our statements. And with trying to remove all of the letters from the iowa utilities board, we dont feel that they represent iowans nor do they have their best interest in mind. Clearly, time and time again, they are siding with these Oil Companies because of corruption. Amy and the Dakota Access pipeline, overall, what it means to you . Did you and jessica go to the resistance camps at the time of the last year during the height of the resistance . I actually met jessica on the priorpi river prior to that, i was a preschool teacher in boulder, colorado. I found out about the Dakota Access pipeline and read about what they were intending to do to put these 30 Petroleum Pipes underneath dirty Petroleum Pipes underneath our major waterways here in the united dates. I was aghast by their intentions. So i quit my job and went to Standing Rock and i was greatly comforted by the amount of people that were there, the amount of helping hands ready to do resistance work and community work. I was following the Dakota Access pipeline so closely that i found out about Jessica Reznicek starting an e ncampment. I went there because i knew there were not a lot of people there. Amy jessica, how did you get involved with the Catholic Worker Movement . Im at the catholic workers when they were here in des moines, when they were at the forefront of the local occupy movement happening here at the iowa state capital. Quit college i dropped out of college and went to zucotti park to occupy new york. I received a call from a close cousin of mine here in des moines and said, hey, they are occupying des moines right now with Something Like 30 something people that just got arrested yesterday. So i came back to des moines and got plugged into all of the organizing that was going on here around the theres a lot happening here. Time and time again, i looked at who were the key leadership roles in that movement, although, it was a little us s movement. Leaderles i thought, i should check these folks out. I started volunteering at the house. We have a soup kitchen open five days a week. Begin to volunteer five days a really it isn, and been quite the journey ever since. Amy so at this point, you have not in charge with anything but pulling off the letters of the sign were you were on monday when you made your statement . That is correct. While we were incarcerated overnight for the criminal mischief charge, we did have federal agents pull us out of our cells individually to address the statement. Ruby and i said we did not want to cooperate or communicate with them, and we were then released back to our cells. They have let us know they are aware. Amy that was Jessica Reznicek and ruby montoya, catholic two worker activists who admitted earlier this week to carrying out multiple acts of sabotage against sections of the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in iowa. When we come back, we look at immigration. Undocumented immigrants who were arrested. Jeff sessions, the attorney general, is currently in el salvador. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We end todays show with the Trump Administrations crackdown on immigrants living in the u. S. And growing resistance to these policies. This week, immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ice, carried out raids targeting undocumented teenagers it says are affiliated with gangs. Ices criteria for assessing possible gang affiliation includes whether teenagers have tattoos, Wear Clothing typical to a gang, or even spend time in an area thats known to have gangs. The National Immigration law center criticized the raids, saying we have seen babies labeled as potential gang members. During a White House Press briefing thursday, acting ice director thomas homan used a series of scare tactics to sensationalize the gangs, particularly ms13, and spoke in front of a series of images of young brown men with tattoos. Ingang members are involved a broad range of criminal activity, including murder, extortion, narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking, human smuggling, and other crimes. Make no mistake, organized violent and the safety of our communities, not just a major metropolitan areas them a but in our suburbs. Amy this comes as attorney general Jeff Sessions is in el salvador today, where he says hes addressing issues of Gang Violence by gangs like ms13. Speech, President Trump called them animals. , yet seen these animals. They dont want to use guns because it is too fast and it is not painful enough. So they will take a young, 16, 15, andl others, and they slice them and dice them with a knife because they want them to go through excruciating pain before they die. And these are the animals that we have been protecting for soul long. Well, they are not being protected any longer, folks. Amy the following day on wednesday, 15 immigrants and their allies blocked an intersection near the Texas State Capitol in a peaceful sit in protest to repeal repeal sb 4, texass harsh new antiimmigrant law. They also called on the Trump Administration not to end the daca program, or deferred action for childhood arrivals, which has given more than 750,000 young immigrants to live, work, and study in the u. S. Among those arrested were four Daca Recipients who chanted undocumented and unafraid. Amy for more were joined by two guests. In san antonio, texas, were joined by catalina santiago, a daca recipient who was arrested shes a volunteer organizer with wednesday. A number of different groups. And in los angeles, were joined by alex sanchez, executive director and Founding Member of homies unidos, a Gang Violence prevention and Intervention Program with offices in los angeles and denver and el salvador. Catalina, talk about your arrest, what you risked arrest as a dreamer. Hi, yes, my name is catalina. I am a daca recipient and i did risk arrest by participating in the civil action. I remember going into the street and feeling really determined. People were asking me if i was afraid. I kept saying, im no longer afraid. As you mentioned, a couple of ,ears ago, right before daca folks who were also undocumented took to the streets and rallied and protested. They came out saying we were no longer afraid, that we were undocumented and unafraid and unapologetic. I think wednesday was a huge reminder of that, of taking action. But also to show that we are not afraid. Amy alex sanchez, in these last few days, many arrest have taken place. Ice arrests of teenagers. Jeff sessions is in el salvador. Some i say he is fleeing from attackingtrumps tweets on him. But he is there he says to talk about gangs. What are your thoughts on the Trump Administrations approach to immigrants right now and talking about immigrants as gang members . I think it is a dangerous path, real concern in regards to how many of the unaccompanied minors are fleeing violence from Central America can be on wrongly charged were assumed to be gang members and process for deportation. I think it is a dangerous role because it has many of our young youth afraid of going into the court hearings. They are skipping their courts, making them to portable immediately. Terrorizing the psychologically our communities, immigrant communities from being able to walk freely in this country. Conference the news on thursday, the ice acting director spoke a lot about gangs. He also talked about targeting teenagers and saying they dont have to wait before someone is convicted. They just get want to get people who are arrested. Theyre using gangs as a pretext of going into our communities and letting our let them. Community nobody likes gangs. Obviously, gangs commit crimes. The efforts to eradicate the gang problem have never been addressed at the federal level to really look at the circumstances that creates a gettingironment, youth involved in the gangs. So to continue demonizing Certain Community based on a takinguth advantage of that rhetoric to continue the antiimmigrant movement that he has. Amy what do you think is most important yucca we just have a minute. I want to ask you both this el salvador is considered gangs with terrorist organizations since 2015. It is now violating the civil we and due process dont know what sessions is going to come back with. We know theres been social cleansing, extrajudicial killings in el salvador. People are fleeing behind those policies. Basically, now were looking at sessions coming up with policies that we dont know where theyre going to take us. That is the most dangerous thing to expect. Amy catalina santiago, 15 seconds, but what youre demanding now . I think the threat against our immigrant community are nothing new. They have always been there. I think because of the political atmosphere we are currently living in, we are going to continue to receive these threats that are going to bring in more violence, more deportations, more family separations. That is why it importantor all of us to ce together for all of the immigrant communities to come together and take action, which is atrategy that is never failed us. And to take high risks because that is only way we can win. Amy catalina santiago and alex sanchez, they keep her being with us. That does it for our show. Happy birthday rob young. [captioning made possible by democracy now ] ellies real good food, i tackle the challenge we all face every morning with no brainer breakfasts like my makeahead mini frittatas with Morning Glory baked oatmeal, and two quickie jump starter standwiches, Peanut Butter and grapes wrap, and avocado toast with egg. Lets get em goin right now on ellies real good food. lively guitar strumming [voiceover] funding for this series has been provided by. [voiceover] luvo, full servings of fruits and veggies,