Could the United States and iran soon join together to help defend the iraqi state . We will go to iraq for the latest. Then a humanitarian crisis on the u. S. Mexico border. So far this year, 47,000 unaccompanied children have been detained after crossing into the United States. Some are now being held in warehouses come a sleeping in plastic containers. Whenever i made it to the rio grande, i jumped and swam across because i wanted to be with my mom. I was not thinking about breaking the law. I was thinking about escaping an abusive and alcoholic father. To make it to the United States, not for a better life, but just to be with my mother. Looks we will speak with Jose Luis Zelaya, as a 13yearold, he left honduras alone in search of his mother. And Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Sonia Nazario, author of, enriques journey the story of a boys dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Iraqs crisis is deepening as islamist militants have seized two more towns northeast of baghdad. Over the past few days, fighters from the Islamic State of iraq and syria, or isis, have seized several key cities including mosul and tikrit. Kurdish fighters have taken control of kirkuk. Speaking thursday, president obama said he will not reload anything that might help the Iraqi Government. What we have seen over the last couple of days indicates the degree to which iraq is going any more help. It is going to need more help from us and from the international community. So my team is working around the clock to identify how we can survive just provide the most effective assistance to them. I dont rule out anything because we do have a state and making sure that these jihadist are not getting a permanent foothold in either iraq or syria, for that matter. United nations is iraqs refugee population has increased by nearly 800,000 missed fighting this year. More on the iraq crisis later in the broadcast. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has arrived in the United States bowling five years in taliban captivity. The former prisoner of war landed in san antonio, texas where he is expected to continue undergoing treatment for reintegration into society. The daily beast has obtained letters sent by bergdahl from captivity which could help explain why he walked away from his unit in 2009. Clear minded, understanding from leadership was lacking if not nonexistent. Bergdahl wrote that in a 2013 letter to his family, the conditions were bad and looked to be getting worse for the men what were actually the ones risking their lives from attack as well as afghan elements. Please tell d. C. To wait for all evidence to come in. Cuprazil, the 2014 world has kicked off. On opening day, thursday, police in military style gear fired tear gas and stun grenades at protesters who gathered to condemn brazils mass expenditures on the tournament. Clashes erupt in sao paulo near the stadium which hosted the opening game between brazil and croatia. Three workers died building the stadium. Spoketer rafael dolabella while holding a poster of one of the deceased workers. The world cup will be very good for a few people, for the corporations who are building the stadiums, for the corporations that sponsor fifa enough for fifa itself. It is not good for the people of brazil. People wereless being oppressed and some paulo right now. In total, eight workers have died all working on the 2014 world cup grounds including one at a monorail construction site on monday. Protest also erupted thursday in at least 10 other cities including rio de janeiro. In a victory for chile, thealists in government has rejected a massive hydroelectric dam project, following an eightyear activist campaign against it. The project would have involved building five dams on two rivers in the midst of the patagonian wilderness, marking the Largest Energy endeavor in chilean history. The Patagonia Defense Council called the projects defeat the greatest triumph of the environment a movement in chile. In the United States, the federal pills court has ruled Law Enforcement agencies must seek a Court Warrant to obtain the location data of u. S. Cell phone users. The 11th u. S. Circuit court of appeals said warrantless tracking through cell tower locations marks a violation of privacy rights. The u. S. Court of appeals for the fifth circuit upheld warrantless cellular tracking last year, setting up a likely case before the supreme court. Obamareport reveals the administration is pressing local Police Departments to conceal information about powerful Surveillance Technology theyre using to vacuum up cell phone data from entire neighborhoods. The Associated Press reports the administration has taken the unusual step of interfering in routine state public records criminal trials to prevent information about the technology from getting out. The secrecy surrounds equipment like stingray spy devices, which trick cell phones into transmitting a users location and identifying information to police. The city of albuquerque, new mexico has been ordered to pay more than 6 million the wrongful killing of a mentally ill resident in 2011. In a ruling this week, a District Court judge found police were not acting in selfdefense and they punched and shot Christopher Torres in his backyard. Torres, who had schizophrenia, was being served with an arrest warrant for a pervaded assault, but the court said police failed to present the warrant, sparking a confrontation that led to torres being shot dead. A recent Justice Department report found a pattern of Excessive Force in some 25 killings by Albuquerque Police since 2010. The Albuquerque Police have also released new video from the scene of their Fatal Shooting of james boyd, a homeless man with schizophrenia who was camping when police approached him in march. Earlier Police Footage showed boyd apparently agreeing to surrender and turning away to pick up his belongings before officers fire a flashbang grenade, release a dog on him, and open fire. In footage that was released on wednesday, boyd can be heard saying he is afraid to descend from his campsite because officers why should him. One reassures him they wont. The police say they were unable to recover any footage from officer keith sandy, the officer who reportedly fired at boyd first. In berks county, cancel been yeah, a mother of seven has died in a jail cell while serving a twoday sentence over fees related to her childrens absence from school. The age 55, was jailed after failing to pay 2000 in fines and court costs. The ap reports her file included a laundry list of court fees for one case alone, including charges like postage. Police say her death was not suspicious, but the cause remains unknown. Reading eaglehe newspaper, more than 1600 people have been jailed for truancy fines in berks county alone since 2000 am a 2 3 of them women. Louisiana governor bobby jindal has signed an antichoice bill that could close up to four of the states five abortion clinics, including the sole clinics in new orleans and baton rouge. The measure requires abortion providers to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, a step which is often impossible for abortion providers who may travel from outofstate and often dont admit enough patients to meet minimums. Similar measures have shut down more than one third of abortion clinics in texas. Rightsat actress, civil activist, poet ruby dee has died at the age of 91. Her career as a performer spanned seven decades, beginning in the 1940s. She blazed new ground as an africanamerican actress and took on roles with deep political resonance. In perhaps her bestknown role, ruby dee starred alongside p poitier in a raisin in the sun. Along with her late husband, star actor ossie davis, ruby dee protested the vietnam war and marched for civil rights alongside malcolm x and martin 13, junior. She and her husband ossie davis were both emcees at the 1963 march on washington. They later starred together in the 1989 film do the right thing. Poem11, ruby dee recited a for the lives of rights activists james boggs in new york. Prizeont expect to win a for still control and dignity and morning times. Death deserves tantrums. Cked from a new nation, kicks in the groin, classified unacceptable, not to be tolerated, not to be ruled, not to be conspired with. Only then can music from a dance, movies, plays, rap be about life. Life be cherished and adored. Ruby dee, the great actress and activist died at home in new rochelle, new york on wednesday. She was 91 years old. And the broadway actress Audra Mcdonald paid homage to ruby dee as she made history this week at the tony awards. She won best lead actress for her role as Billie Holiday in the production lady day. She is the first actress to win six tonys, and the first to do so in four different categories of performance. She began her acceptance speech by thanking her late parents, and concluded by honoring the legacy of other africanamerican women performers. I want to thank my mom and my up inn heaven heaven for disobeying Doctors Orders and not medicating their hyperactive girl and finding out what she was into instead, and pushing her into the theater. Thank you, mom. I want to thank all the shoulders of the strong and brave and courageous women that i am standing on. Im standing eileen horns shoulders. Maya angelou and ruby and most of all, Billie Holiday. You deserve so much more than you were given when you are on this planet. This is for you. Thank you so much. Audra mcdonald. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. A coalition of immigration and civil Rights Groups has filed a complaint alleging widespread and systemic abuse of Migrant Children by u. S. Customs and border contraction this protection. Theyretions say acting on behalf of of over 100 unaccompanied children mistreated by Border Agents after crossing into the u. S. So far, u. S. Customs and Border Protection reports over 47,000 unaccompanied children have been detained after crossing the border in 2014. Almost five times the number from 2009. President obama has described the situation as a humanitarian crisis. A number of the children have been to tame in shocking conditions. Over 1000 children are reportedly being held at a warehouse in nogales, arizona, some sleeping in plastic containers. On thursday, the Washington Post posted video showing makeshift Holding Areas for detained migrants at the mcallen, texas Border Patrol station. The video shows dozens of women and children sprawled on concrete floors. Earlier this week, nogales and i spoke Nermeen Shaikh and i spoke to two guests. In houston, Jose Luis Zelaya, who fled honduras at the age of 13 in search of his mother. He traveled unaccompanied through Central America and finally reached texas four months later. He is now a phd student at texas a m in the department of education. He is part of the council for Minority Student Affairs at texas a m and a member of the immigrant rights group united we dream. We also spoke to Sonia Nazario in los angeles. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of, enriques journey the story of a boys dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. I started by asking Sonia Nazario about the number of Migrant Children being warehoused in the United States right now. While the surge really started in 2011, we have seen over the last three years a tenfold increase in the number of children coming here unaccompanied, unlawfully, and being placed in federal custody. That doesnt even count the mexican children, nearly 20,000 of those, additionally, who or deported within 24 to 48 hours. These are mostly children from Central America, from honduras, el salvador, guatemala, and there is just this enormous surge. Last month in one day, we saw 1000 children placed in federal custody. On average, 400 children are arriving every single day. Again, the federal government has seen itself completely unprepared for this surge, which two years ago, we had a surge and they opened Lackland Air Force base for a couple of months and got caught with their pants down. Now again, we are seen the same problem. Sonia nazario, you have characterized this problem as a refugee crisis. What do you think the federal government should be doing to cope with these numbers of children, migrants, coming to the u. S. . When i started looking at this i made the journey on top of these trains through mexico myself to document what these children coming here alone, really, a majority of these kids were coming to either work, flee abusive situations with their families in their home countries , or the vast majority were coming to reunify, in many cases with her mother who had left them behind, in her home countries, mom to had come single mothers, the millions to the United States and that their children behind with a grandmother or aunt single be a year or so and lecture much more difficult than they thought it would be, and the separations stretched into five or 10 years or even more. Like the boy i wrote about, enrique, the despair of seeing their parents again, their moms again, they would set off on their own to come and find them and make is very dangerous journey. In the last two years, there has been is huge surge in violence in countries like honduras it has the highest homicide rate in the world. 30 of the population has been extorted by gains or the cartels , and what you see in these neighborhoods like enriques neighborhood, six in 10 kids, the surveys are finding six inch and six intentional and are fleeing for their very lives. Many kids in many instances are not even going to school. That have their parents or other family members murdered by these gangs. Someone yesterday with the Womens Refugee Commission said this is no different than child soldiers in africa, and we treat those children like refugees. Why would we not extend the same kind of treatment to children who are coming from a vulnerable Vulnerable Children to make from our neighbors from the south, why would we not treat him in the same way . I think our government needs to step up its game both in terms of getting these kids out of Border Patrol facilities were quickly. Theyre supposed to do this within 72 hours. And they are not. These are not places where children should spend long periods of time. There is no shower, there is an open toilet, often theyre having to take turns sleeping on the floor because theres not enough space. They should have prepared more shelters and the prepared for this surge, so there were be someplace to put these kids. I think they do need to be treating the more like refugees, screening these children for this kind of treatment. Finally, i think the government needs to provide attorneys to every single one of these children. These kids go, when they are apprehended, they are released usually to a guardian or parent and in order to go to immigration court, but they are not entitled to any kind of public defender. So when they stand before that immigration judge, ive seen very young children, seven years old, eight years old, nine years old, others have seen kids as young as 5, asked to be providing these complex immigration cases before the judge. The government hasnt an attorney who is arguing has an attorney who is arguing why this child should be hurtled back to dangerous situations. These children dont have an advocate other side. I think we measure country by how we treat children and were asking these children to do the impossible, which is to defend the right to be here. Not all should be able to stay, but we should give them due process. What eric holder has done by assigning 100 attorneys and paralegals to do this is good first step, but really symbolic. He needs to really step it up and get a lot more attorneys involved. Jose luis zelaya, tell us your story. How did you come to the United States . How old were you . Good morning. Hondurasually born in in the capital violence of the world. I grew up in extreme poverty. I literally witnessed my brother dying and my moms arms because we did not have money to taken to the hospital. An abusive father, an alcoholic man who used to beat my mother in public, who used to beat me and prevent me from going to an education. Literally separated me from my mother. My mother ran away from him with my younger sister to the United States, and he kept me behind. He forced me to stay behind so i can provide for alcohol for him. My mother migrated to the United States. I stayed in honduras for about two years without her. My father kicked me out and i became a street child. This is the reality that children experience in the streets of honduras. I dug through trash cans to eat food. At intersections. I cleaned windshields to provide for myself. But it is a very dangerous place. Honduras is a very dangerous country. Once i was simply playing soccer and it was a driveby shooting during the game. I ended up being shot twice and both my arms. It was then i made the decision i needed to run away. I needed to leave honduras and come to the United States to find my mother. I did not know where she was. A laney was the area code 713, which was houston. I came to the u. S. It took me 45 days to come. It is horrible. It is the worst experience ive ever witnessed from it to be thirsty not have water. To be hungry and not have food. Not even a trashcan to be able to find food was available in the desert. Whenever youre writing the training you see people lose their lives come easy little girls be physically abused by the coyotes. You can do anything because youre a child. I was 13 years old when i came. I wasnt trying to break the law. I was trying to fulfill the law by being reunited with my mother , to reunite with my sister. When i came to the United States, i was in a Detention Center as well and harlingen, texas. We were only allowed to see the sunlight onehour a week. We were only allowed to drink water three times a day. These are difficult situations because these are children. I understand , athis is a Detention CenterChildrens Center in the United States . You could see water once a week, water three times a day . This is what i experienced when i was a child inside a Detention Center, correct. Jose luis zelaya, who fled honduras at the age of 13 in search of his mother. He is now a phd student at texas a m. Also speaking to Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist and author of, enriques journey the story of a boys dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. More fromat story and juan, we will be back in a moment. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. As we continue our conversation looking at the plight of Migrant Children in the United States, speaking to Jose Luis Zelaya and Sonia Nazario. Celaya fled his home at the age of 13 in search of his mother and traveled unaccompanied through Central America in a hellish journey and finally reached texas four months later. Sonia nazario is a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, author of, enriques journey the story of a boys dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. We interviewed them last week, Nermeen Shaikh and i. I asked jose to explain how he made it over the border. It was difficult. My mother hired a coyote, but that man gives you to another man. We experienced a lot of pain to the mexican military. We were robbed. The cartels kidnapped a lot of people. In front of our eyes, they physically abused children and said, what are you going to do . We couldnt do anything. The people who try to stand up for these children were beaten and the the hind in the desert without water. My me, i just wanted to see mother. I try to survive the entire journey. It is so difficult to not have water. I walked a lot, i rode the trains, many times i had to not speak because of a Central American accent. Whenever i made it to the rio grande, i crossed. I jumped and swam across because i wanted to be with my mom. I was not thinking about breaking the law. I was thinking about escaping an abusive and alcoholic father. To make it to the United States, not for a better life, but just to be with my mother. That is what i wanted. I was at a Detention Center for about two months and they reunited me with my mother because i knew my mothers area code, which was 713. You state in the detention facility for two months. Could you talk about the other children who were in a detention facility and how long did they stay there on average . Nothe Detention Center was similar to what were expensing now in arizona. It was a smaller facility. There were about 20 people. There were 20 students in the facility. We were not necessarily mistreated, but we were prohibited of a lot of things. Like i said, we were not allowed to go outside but for one hour to play soccer, and that was the only time we were allowed to go. For me, i was happy i had food. Was happy that i had a shoulder to sleep. I was happy i had a place to shower. But just recently, i went back. I am a recipient of deferred action. I went back to the center to speak to students and share my story of how i came and how i am now a phd student. There went from being 20 students to 200. They created different facilities in the same location. So now youre seeing a place where before we used to have dinner at the table and now students are having dinner in gyms because of the high intensity of population. So when you read about the latest childrens surge, kids surge into the United States, Jose Luis Zelaya, what are your feelings and thoughts . When i first saw the pictures, i cried. My heart really broke for these children because i understand why they came. Many of them had abusive fathers. My father used to beat us with the side of machetes and the side of guns. He used to beat us in public. No one would say anything. The reasons why the children are migrating is because of extreme poverty. Whenever you have no food to eat, a lot of these children result to gangs to be a little provide something for a meal. Whenever your child and myself who rejects this idea to join a gang, you get shot. You get stabbed. You experience this pain. I understand why these children are migrating to the United States, but i also understand the u. S. Is a welcoming country. That we should appreciate and educate these children and give them the opportunities that i have been given. These children are smart. If we educate them, they also can become phd students. I am not an example, just a sample of the population of students and what they can become if given an opportunity. It breaks my heart to see their situation. I hope the u. S. Government does the right thing with these children and gives them the opportunities that i have been given so that they, too, can serve their country and also contribute to the United States economy. Sonia nazario, you wrote a book called, enriques journey the story of a boys dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. Enrique was also from honduras. We have just heard Jose Luis Zelayas story. How similar is the story you tell in your book . Enriques mother leaves him in the capital when he is just five years old. She many women in honduras, just could not feed her two children enough. She could not see sending them to school past the third or fourth grade. Many women in honduras ascribed to me when their kids start crying with hunger at night, they fill a big glass with water and stir in a steep being teaspoon of sugar and a little tortilla dough to fill their bellies up with something. His mother came to work in the u. S. And he felt desperate to be with her again. He was left with a paternal grandmother when he was 11 and 12 years old on Christmas Morning he would stand at the door of his grandmothers wooden shack and pray to god on Christmas Morning, please, i just want one thing bring my mother back to me. When he was 16 years old after 11 years of not seeing her, he said out to go find her and really he wanted answers to one question, which all these children want answered, does she really love me . Because she said she was sent for me quickly and she hasnt. He left with little more than this little scrap of paper with his moms phone number inked on it. When i was on the train routes in mexico, these kids, i was amazed they would stuff that little slip of paper and the soul of their shoe and the waistband of their genes, wrapped in plastic so when they crossed rivers, hopefully, that precious number would not smudge. He has his little slip of paper and virtually no money, so he travels the only way he can, which is gripping on to the sides and tops of these freight trains that travel up to mexico. The journey took him eight attempts. Mexico deported him seven times. We are not the only country the reporting a lot of people. It took him 122 days and 12,000 miles. He faced bandit alongside the rails that tried to they rock kids, rate them, kill them. There are gangsters control the train tops. I would see on these trains because i made a threemonth journey on top of these freight trains to reconstruct his story, i would see gangsters, 10 and 20 of them, roaming the train tops from car to car and say, your money or your life. They will strip you of your close look for any points they can find, and sometimes just for the heck of it, throw you down to the turning wheels below. These kids faced corrupt cops. A dozen Police Agencies i counted that rob these children and rape the girls in many cases and then deport them to the southern border. They face the train itself, which the migrants call the beast because theyre crossing mexico, enrique was crossing illegally and he could not get the train station so you get on and off these trains as theyre moving. I saw hundreds of children and others who have lost arms and legs to this freight train. It is a testament to the determination that you hear and joses voice of what these children are willing to do to reach the United States. No wall is going to stop a kid as determined as i saw with enrique. Now there is this added motivator, huge motivator of the surge in violence in honduras where kids are seeing dead people on the street every day. One in 10 children are not leaving their homes ever for fear of being kidnapped. Were seeing younger children. One in four children were girls. Now nearly half are girls. Parents consent for girls for fear that they may be raped. Now there is such desperation because the gangsters go to the girls coming out of school and say, youre going to be my girlfriend or i am going to kill your whole family. Theye girls dont agree, grab them and rape them and put them in a plastic bag and rape them. The violence has gotten so much worse since henrique made his journey and jose made his journey. There is that draw of coming to redefine with the mother, but theres also this enormous violence that is pushing these kids out of these countries. A lot of this is fueled by our drug use in the United States. We consume more Illegal Drugs than anywhere on earth. 80 of the cocaine from latin america is being funneled through honduras. You have the cartels and the gangs vying for those routes. That is fueling a lot of this violence in honduras. And a comment of some republicans, for example, the hill saying some republicans allege lacks enforcement of immigration laws by the Obama Administration is wanted more more Illegal Immigrants to send their children and that the deferred action for childhood , is up foraca renewal, prompting republicans to link it to the surge of Child Migrants i think it was senator rubio in florida saying the rumor is out that only children will be able to stay. So theyre trying to get their children here, sonia . It is certainly true the smugglers will use anything to pump up their business. They are certainly telling thele, once you get into United States, youre home free. Theyre lying to people. That may be helping to generate business for them. Senator rubio should know that daca is only for people who have arrived by 2007. People after that to not qualify. Assertions seem rather ridiculous in terms of the tr, United Nations has seen a 700 increase in asylum claims just last year in neighboring countries. Costa rica, nicaragua, belize. These children arent just playing to the United States, but to many countries. Theyre trying to get out of this danger zone, this war zone. Interviewed for hundred of these children asking, why are you leaving . What are the reasons for this exodus . 58 said, it is because of this violence. In honduras, nearly half of these kids have been personally affected by the violence. Someone in her family had been threatened or killed and so only nine of these 400 children cited the possibility of being able to stay in the United States legally. Very few cited that as a motivator for coming to the United States. August datess all the real reasons children are coming, which is number one, the violence. Number two, as usual, historically the case, to reunify with the parent who left them behind. Sonia nazario, how did you decide of all of the children trying to make is very difficult journey to the u. S. , to focus on enriques story . Of written a result about him, his life is in danger in honduras and he cannot go back. But i was looking to tell the typical story of these children coming to reunify with the mother. At the time, the average age of a child entering the United States alone and unlawfully without apparent was 15 years old. Yearsat has dropped to 14 old. Were hearing anecdotally it has dropped even further. One in six of these children is 12 years old or younger. When i was on the train, i traveled with a 12yearold boy. Conductors had seen sevenyearold children making his journey across four countries by themselves. I dont know if your listeners can imagine their sevenyearold tossing four countries facing bandits, gangsters, and all of these people try to fight you down and kill you throughout mexico. I was trying to write about the typical story. In laredoin a shelter in a church. He was on his eighth attempt to get through mexico. His experiences work typical of what these children face. One night he had six gangsters on top of the train nearly beat him to death. They shattered his teeth, beat his face with a wooden club trying to still the few coins he had on him. They stripped his close off and histed to strangle him with clothing. He is on top of that train thinking, im going to die. My mother will never know what happened to me. Luckily, the train jostled violently and he was able to get away from his gangsters and fling himself off the train that was going 40 miles per hour, and save himself. And he is how old . He was 16 when he started the journey and 17 when he finally completed his journey and reached his mother in north carolina. Lets talk about solutions. Jose luis zelaya, what do you think has to happen . I think what needs to happen with these children is exactly what happened to me. Give them the opportunity, give them the opportunity to reunify with their families. We are seeing through studies that these are children who are migrating to another country through no fault of their own, but because they are forced. Theyre being forced out by poverty and extreme violence and by the reality that they dont have a father figure and their mother may be in the United States. These children came here, and i came here and i was given an opportunity. I was given an opportunity to read a file with my mother. I was put in the school system. The teacher inspired me. I was told to seek education, and i did that. I think these children need to be treated with dignity. Number one, they need to be aven basic needs such as place to shower, a place where they can use the restroom, a place where they can sleep in a bed. These are children who are five and six and seven years old. A are scared. They are emotionally and psychologically hurt. They may not express it because back in her own countries, if they spoke, they were beaten or hurt. They may not be able to express what theyre feeling right now, but i tell you, there is a lot of fear going on in their lives right now. I remember the first day when i went into the Detention Center, i could not stop crying the entire day because i thought i was going to be sent back to honduras. I was afraid i would be sent back to an abusive father and once again i would be beaten. These children, first of all, need to be seen by psychiatrist. They need to be evaluating. They need to be given the resources of a human being. They need to be given the ability to education. President obama categorized this as a committed during crisis. We need to act. We are a strong country and we should not be treating children the way we are treating them. We need to give them the same opportunities s, the solution to what should happen to what do leave the number of these children would be right now, thousands . Were talking about 90,000 children arriving and being placed in federal custody this year. 100 already commit even 100, even estimates of 140,000. We will see the numbers grow as we see the violence grow in Central America. What should happen with them . As was mentioned earlier, we we needd foremost a tw to treat these children as children and treat them with dignity. We need to address the root causes of what is causing these children to flee. Until we do that, the numbers will keep owing up. Our approach to undocumented immigration, unlawful migration, has been i think the solution by the left and right have both failed to permanently slow the flow of people. We have tried more broader enforcement, guestworker programs. We tried pathways to citizenship. Border enforcement has nearly sealed in these parents. Toy view it less likely circulate back home, so theyre bringing their kids more relativel readily. Tipperary workers dont go home of time. Ertain period the last time we legalize people in 1986, they came out of the shadows, which was a good thing, but they brought their family and friends illegally. This has caused the numbers to continue to grow. I think we need a completely different approach i think john kerry needs to formulate a foreignpolicy that brings every tool we have at our disposal to try to create more economic and democratic opportunities in four countries that are sending 74 of the folks coming here without permission i think we need more foreign aid. You see governments in europe who provide more foreign aid to honduras than we do. We need trade policies that allow more goods from these countries and other countries, trade policies that do the opposite of what nafta did. Nafta allowed corn to surge in the countries like mexico and corn farmers cannot compete. The price of corn went down 70 . One million corn farmers migrated to the United States as a result. We need to help educate more girls. When you do that, they put off having kids until they are older. They have fewer children. That can reduce the pressures to migrate. We can do things like helping to organize the 40 billion in remittances they go back to countries in latin america that migrants send back. To organize some of that money to create jobs and factories and Economic Opportunities as some hometown associations of migrants have already started doing in the United States. I think theres a lot we can do to change the violence and the Economic Conditions in these four countries if we have the will to start doing that. Rather than keep trying the three semipro just that we keep trying over and over again that have failed to help keep migrants were they really want to be, which is in their home countries with everything they know and love and keep Families Together in countries where they would rather be. The effects of the coup in the ponderous, the affected had me was position on the coup that zelaya . Anuel the 1800s. Back to in 1911, we have a free for company. Have a long and sordid history in Central America supporting elites and the military who want to concentrate power instead of redistributing wealth. Supportwe do need to more democratic governments who are willing to redistribute wealth. The u. S. Was the first government to acknowledge after the 209 coup in honduras that the new government installed itself. Much of latin america disagreed with that position. I think both in terms of our policies in latin america and our drug use in this country 29 people according to recent 20 Million People in this country needed drug treatment and did not get it in the past year. We have a lot of culpability in terms of the conditions we are singing places like honduras and what is causing these children to flee for their lives. What is the overall solution for comprehensive Immigration Reform . What would it look like to you, Sonia Nazario . Certainly, the first thing is to treat these children better when they are arriving into the United States. As i said before, i am on the board of an Organization Called kids in need of defense. We recruit pro bono attorneys to represent these kids in court. I think the government needs to be providing more of these attorneys so there is real due process in his courtrooms where you see kids just shaking with fear, clutching their teddy bears, wetting their pants in front of these judges because theyre being asked to present these complex legal cases. There should be a dream act in terms of helping these kids who came here and their parents broke the law, but they were coming with their parents, to allow them to come out of the shadows. Think more the solutions longterm, and we have to start looking at this longterm, is helping to deal with these root causes in these countries and helping turn around the conditions in these countries. Sonia nazario, Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, author of, enriques journey the story of a boys dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. From lospeaking to us angeles. And Jose Luis Zelaya, who fled honduras at the age of 13 in search of his mother, now a phd student at texas a m. He was speaking to us from houston. When we come back, iraq. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We turn now to iraq. A representative of the most senior shiite cleric has called on iraqis to take up arms against what he called terrorists who have overrun large swaths of the country. The call comes just hours after islamist militants seized two more strategic towns northeast of baghdad, moving the country closer to disintegration. Over the past few days, fighters from isis, the Islamic State of iraq and syria, have seized several major cities including mosul and tikrit. According to the United Nations, hundreds of people have been killed in mosul, many summarily executed. Hundreds of thousands have fled mosul, many afraid iraq you forces would bomb the city. Meanwhile, kurdish fighters have taken control of the oil city of kirkuk. On thursday, president obama said he wont rule out anything that might aid Prime Minister maliki. I think it is fair to say in our consultations with the iraq ease, there will be some shortterm an immediate things that need to be done literally and our National Security team is looking at all the options, but this should also be a wakeup call for the Iraqi Government. There has to be a political component to this so that sunni and shia who care about building a functioning state that can bring about security and prosperity to all people inside of iraq, come together and work diligently against these extremists. And that is going to require concessions on the part of both shia and sunni that we havent seen so far. Meanwhile, wall street journal reports iran is sending ds forces intolqu iraq. A Senior Iranian official told reuters that shiites in iran are so alarmed by the gains of the sunni insurgents that it may be willing to cooperate with washington in helping baghdad fight back. For more, we go to the city of najaf to speak with sami rasouli. He moved back to iraq at the height of the war in 2004 after living abroad for nearly 30 years. He left iraq in the late 1970s and eventually moved to the u. S. Where he was a beloved restauranteur in minneapolis with his restaurants and thats. Now in najaf. Sami rasouli metellus what is happening in your country right now. Will stop i hope everything is all right in the u. S. , especially in new york where you are. But certainly, iraq is not. We should look at the broader pictures since 2003. One of the most important objectives of the invasion of militaryestroyed its since thet was built 1920s. It was described before is the most powerful force army in the world. Important objective also is to divide iraq. As you see from the latest advance when isis took over kurdishight away, the power in Northern Iraq took over city inthe most rich the northern part of iraq. So now the scenario so the isis forces will come down to baghdad and probably will be a big fight. Willafter that, the south be with the shia and the sunnis already have their area, and the kurds have their place i mean, the provinces, which is kirkuk [indiscernible] what we see, it is hard to toieve that 1500 fighters cover the whole province. It is described as a thirdlargest city in iraq, mosul. There were Government Forces estimated by four military brigades, about 60,000 army withnnel who were equipped heavily armed equipment, tanks, andirpower,. Arge logistic abilities so say to protect the province of mosul. But they fell. They left their equipment, which is purchased with lots of money for the fighters, and at the border of mosul and kirkuk, the Kurdish Forces took those equipment, the government equipments as a gift, actually. Isis . O are those by iraqit is believed ease their part of the socalled al qaeda, were created by the the saudis partially in fight the ussr when the ussr occupied afghanistan in the 1970s. The other major part is the generals from the previous army, the Saddam Hussein army, who are in armyined and experts matters. Beside them, the sunnis who lived in the western provinces who felt they were taking advantage of and not being treated by the shia government in baghdad. And with them, of course, some islamist extremists from chechnya maybe, afghanistan come in north africa, and some other countries like souders, for example. Sami rasouli, i want to get to two quick points. The significance of representative iraqs most on iraqia clerics is to take up arms to me is calling the terrorist. In idea that iran sending forces, iran working with washington, d. C. To shore up maladie. You are shia like regime in baghdad. What do you think needs to happen . Do you see iraq falling apart . Do you see baghdad being taken, falling . Definitely. , it isroy the country not enough to vomit, but to have an inner fight. That is what has been going on since 2003. Dividing iraqis in ethnic groups shia, christian, muslims. That is what is going on after the invasion. Piece, and now we see it falling apart, unfortunately. The first country to injured, if youre member, the iraq intive chaos, so 2003 and then the other arab countries followed suit in libya, egypt, tunisia today, and syria. , is reallyrab spring not the arab spring. This spring never has borne fruit for the countries that are affected by it. Who used the israelis to launch wars every 10 years and then every five years. We are going to see the arabs killing themselves from killing each other, unfortunately. Sami, what do you think the u. S. Should do . President obama has not ruled out airstrikes, talking about shoring up the maliki government. What do you think the role of the u. S. Should be right now . I think the u. S. Should get out of the area. What is going on is controlled by the huge embassy in baghdad, run by at least 5000 employees. They have nothing to do except monitoring iraq, advising the Iraqi Government what to do. And also monitoring the area surrounded by iraq. The estimatedde 10,000 military forces who are stationed there to protect the interest of the embassy and the u. S. So i think they should leave the end thet to intervene, war in afghanistan, and pulled out their forces, and let the arabs and the countries of the area solve their problem. But it is not going to be easy. It is going to take some time. Eventually, they will figure out a way member, there was a Security Agreement between iraq and the u. S. In 2011. And that agreement, i think, dont apply u. S. To defend iraq but to sell some lowquality of arms sami rasouli, we have to leave it there. Thank you for joining us from iraq. Democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate t