Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20170220

Mcclatchy who first reporteded n the dhs s memos. Then, 75 years ago o this week, frfranklin deleanor roevevelt signed executive orderer 9066 authorizizing the internment of jajapanese amerinsns. We will speak withth the legendy actotor, george takei, of f str trtrek fame who grew up i in a japaneseamerican internment camp. Dueithout trial and without process, a fundamental pillar of our justice system, we were rounded up, all japaneseamericans on the west coast. Then, with exxons former ceo as secretary of state and a Goldman Sachs alum heading up the treasury, we will look at the many ways corporate e ameria has benefited from trumps first month in office. We have all kinds of people coming in from Corporate America , billionaires, huge contributors, and they are going directlyn matter that relates to corporate interests, their own personal interests, whether or not they will be transgressing the rules. Juan we will speak to Robert Weissman of Public Citizen. All that and more, coming up. Juan welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im juan gonzalez. Homeland security secretary john kelly has drafted sweeping new guidelines to speeeed of the mas deportrtation of undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States. The memos instruct federal agencies to begin hiring 10,000 more agents with immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as , well as the 5,000 more Border Patrol agents. They also detail plans to accelerate deportation hearings and to expand the number of people prioritized for removal from the United States. Mcclatchy is reporting hundreds of thousands more undocumented immigrants in the United States would be subject to whats known as expedited removal proceedings to quickly get them out of the country. According to mcclatchy, children who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors would no longer be protected against deportation, and their parents would be subject to criminal prosecution if they had paid human traffickers to bring their children across the border. President trump says hes also preparing to sign a new executive order banning people muslimven majority nations from entering the United States, but white house Officials Say it will not include people with green cards or visas. A seattle judge refused to order the release of 23yearold Daniel Ramirez medina, who was arrested by ice agents even though he has permission to live and work in the United States under president obamas deferred action for childhood arrivals program, known as daca. Ramirezs supporters rallied outside the hearing on friday. This is Paul Quinones with the washington dream act coalition. Doubtany of us had any trump regime has declared ann open season on all immigrants in this country, that doubt should have evaporated by now. We have seen the federal government break its promise, showing it cannot be trusted. Juan well have more on the Trump Administrations crackdown against immigration and immigrants currently living in the United States after headlines. Two members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the republicans forced them to leave a meeeeting with immmmigration andnd cususts enforcement officials on thurursday. Caucussinois dememocraticc met t California Democratic congresswoman said immigrarant famililies werththrown out of fe ofting abouout the races wave ice rates. Gutierrez leader said, in 20 plus years, i have never heard of the republicans controlling what meetings democrats can have with officials of the executive branch, and i neverr had a staffer asked me to leave a meeting to which i am entitled to i intend. President trump continued to escalate what he callsls his war on the media during his 2020 Campaign Rally in florida on saturday, only one day after he tweeted that the media is the enemy of the American People. This is trump speaking in front of a crowd of about 7,000 in melbourne, florida. President trump thomas jefferson, andrew jackson, and Abraham Lincoln and many of our greatest president s fox with the media and called them out, often times on their lies. When the media lies to people, i will never, ever let them get away with it. I will do whatever i can that they do not get away with it. They have their own agenda, and their agenda is not your agenda. Juan in fact, while jefferson often lambasted the press, he also believed it was fundamental to democracy, famously writing in 1823 to the marquis de lafayette, the only security of all is in a free press. Trump lied or misrepresented statistics repeatedly during saturdays Campaign Rally, including by claiming credit for jobs that were created under the Previous Obama Administration once again exaggerating the u. S. , crime rate, and lying that refugees admitted to the u. S. Are not vetted, when in fact they are vetted in an extensive process that takes two years. During his speech, trump also appeared to invent an imaginary terrorist attack in sweden. President trump here is the bottom line, we have got to keep our country safe. You look at what is happening. We have got to keep our country safe. You look at what is happening in germany. You look at what is happening last night in sweden. Sweden who would believe this . Sweden. Juan this comment sparked widespread ridicule and criticism, including from former swedish Prime Minister carl bildt, who tweeted, sweden . Terror attack . What has he been smoking . Questions abound. Trump later said his sweden comment was in response to a fox news story hed watched the night before about alleged refugeerelated crime. Swedens crime rate has fallen over the last decade, even as it has accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees, including from syria. Trumps rally in florida came as he faced Harsh Criticism throughout the day saturday from arizona senator john mccain and others after he tweeted friday night, the Fake News Media is , failining New York Times, abc, nbc, cbs, cnn is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People ththis is senator mccain speakig to chuck todd in an interview on nbcs meet the press. Senator m mccain a fundamental part of that new world o order s a free press. I hate the press. But the fact is, we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It is vital. If you want to preserve i am very serious and now if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free, and many times adversarial, press. And without it, i am a freight that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That is how dictators get started. Juan that is Arizona Republican senator john mccain. Journalists and editors also condemned trumps comment. Gabriel sherman, the National Affairs editor at new york magazine, called it fullon dictator speak. Fox news anchor Chris Wallace said trumps comment crosses an important line. Antitrump demonstrations continue nationally and rldwide as thousands of , protesters took the streets across the u. S. Over the weekend. In new york city, activists flanked by a marching band and carrying a casket staged a new orleansstyle mock funeral for the presidency. In washington, d. C. , lgbt protesters kissed each other outside trumps hotel to protest the antilgbt policies of his administration. Crowds also took to the streets in chicago, dallas, minneapolis, along the u. S. Mexico border, and in los angeles to protest to oppose trumps crackdown against immigration and immigrants currently living in the United States. Anthe fact that my mom is immigrant currently, i just feel like i need to do this for her. This whole time, she has been working hard to provide for us. Of course, she is part of this country, just like all of us. I hear fighting for her and my father. Juan the weekends protests came after fridays coordinated day of action, billed the february 17 general strike, saw as many as 100 protests and demonstrations across the United States. Organizers with the group strike 4 democracy say as many as 100,000 people participated nationwide. In britain, as many as 10,000 people are expected to join an antitrump protest today, as the British Parliament holds a debate on whether to cancel trumps state visit. Nearly 2 million brits have signed on to a petition calling for his visit to be canceled to to be canceled. This is British Parliament member tulip s siddiq. This is a man who has tainted the Muslim Community from several different desk from seven Different Countries with the same brush. If we allow the visit, what message are we sending to future generations. History will judgdge us if we allow this man to come to our country without offering questions first. Juan in spain, as many as 160,000 people took to the streets of barcelona saturday to demand the Spanish Government admit more refugees. This is meera zaroor, a syrian refugee living in barcelona. People could help us to forget the pain we feel the case we miss our loved ones in syria. Think of us as people, not as a crisis. Were not a crisis, and we did not come here to steal pepeopls houses a are jobs. We came here for a safe place. Juan back in the United States, scott pruitt was sworn in as director of envivironmental protecection agency fridayay, ar the senate vototed 524646 to coconfirm him. His confirmation came despite fierce opposition from environmentalists, senate the kratz, Senate Democrats and , members of the epa itself, who say they fear pruitt will suppress scientific findings and undermine their work, and that the Trump Administration might even seek to abolish the epa entirely. As Oklahoma Attorney general, pruitt sued the epa 14 times. His confirmation and swearingin came only one day after a district judge ordered pruitts former office to release ththousands of pages of correspondence with oil, coal, and gas compananies. Trump met with four possible candidates for National Security adviser over the weekend. Former ambassador to the United Nations john bolton, Lieutenant General h. R. Mcmaster, Lieutenant General robert caslen, jr. , and retired general keith kellogg, who is currently serving as acting National Security adviser. The meetings came after general flynn resigned from the post last week over his december phone call discussing sanctions with the russian ambassador. And trumps top pick for his replacement, retired vice admiral robert harward, turned down the position, reportedly telling a friend the offer sandwich. To a s trumps search for a flynns replacement comes as the white house remains dramatically understaffed. A New York Times investigation reports trump has struggled not only to fill his cabinet with six members still unconfirmed but also to fill the important positions of deputy secretary, undersecretaries and assistant , secretaries for most agencies. The times reports one of the key barriers is that trump has been vetoing new people and even firing existing officials who have been at all critical of him. On friday, for example, craig deare, the recently appointed head the National Security councils western hemisphere division, was fired and marched out of his office less than 24 hours after he criticized trumps rocky diplomacy on latin america during a private talk at the Wilson Center in washington, d. C. Deare is one of six top officials within the state department who have been fired recently over concerns about loyalty. Trumps two sons, eric trump and donald trump, jr. , attended the grand opening of the Trump International golf club in dubai saturday night, alongside their business partner, dubai billionaire hussain sajwani. The golf course is the first of a series of highprofifile developments that trumps businesseses, which are now runy his adult sons, are slated to open during his time in office, posing potential conflicts of interests. This is donald trump, jr. , speaking at saturdays s openin. Thank you very much incredible to be her looking at ththis amazingng building afterl these years. Thank you very much for the friendship, the partnership. I look forward to working with you for many years. An in somomalia, a suicicide cr bomb k killed at leastst 39 peoe and injured ababout 50 more aftr it exploded in a market in mogadishu on sunday. This is one of the wititnesses. Today as iry shocked saw people crying in pain and others lying on the ground wounded. Others were killed by the car bomb that exploded at the market. They were shopkeepers, pharmacists, and butchers. Juan no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, although somalias president has blamed the militant group alshabab. In iraqi, u. S. Backed iraqi forces launched d a campaign to retake western mosul from isis on sunday, as the u. S. Increased airstrikes against the militants in the city. Human Rights Groups are warning of extreme risk for the 650,000 civililians in the w western haf the e city. The campaign to retake mosul began in o october. Irans foreign minister has warned the United States not to send more Ground Troops to syria, following a cnn report that said the pentagon is considering a plan to deploy a large conventional force to syria. Iran has been backing syrian president bashar alassad, while the u. S. Has been targeting isis, while supplying some training and support to forces fighting assad. In an interview with cnns manpour, the Iranian Foreign minisister said it would fueled more extremists. The p presence of foreign troops in an arab territory against the wish of the government and the people of those territories is, in and of itself, a recipe for these demagogues, these extremists, to rally behind and gain support and recruit new figighters who e disenfranchised youth who have been deprived of their dignity because of policies. Juan and in munich, germany, more than 1000 antinato activists demonstrated outside a conference where u. S. Vice president mike pence another top leaders were gathering. The protesters demanded an end to what they call the war economy. As many as 4000 officers were deployed to police the protests. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. I am juan gonzalez. Homeland security secretary john kelly has drafted sweeping new guidelines to more aggressively detain and deport hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. The memos instruct federal agencies to begin hiring immigrants. And Customs Enforcement agents, as well as 5000 more Border Patrol agencies. Mcclatchy is reporting hundreds of thousands of more undocumented immigrants in the United States would be subject to what is known as expeditedd removal proceedings toto quickly get t them out of ththe country. According to mcclatchy children who arrived in the United States as unaccompanied minors would no longer be protected against deportation and their parents would be subject to criminal prosecution if they had paid human traffickers to bring their children across the border. Homeland Security Director kelly has signed off on the memos, but white house offificials say they yet. Ot official were joined by two guests. One is a White House Correspondent for the mcclatchy washington bureau. His latest article is dhs chief proposes prosecution of parents of kids smuggled into the u. S. And then we have the directing attorney for the Tacoma Office of the northwest immigrant rights project. Welcome both of you to democracy now frankel, tell us about the memos and what specifically they say. Amazing. Re pretty as you pointed out, they dramatically increase the number of immigrants who could be targeted for deportation. Essentially, they wipe away many of the prosecutorial discretion, many of the protections of president obama had put in place. As you noticed, many of the children who were unaccompanied minors, if they arrived here and were reunited with a parent, the white house says it about 60 of them do, they may not get those same protections after they are reunited with their parents. The parents themselves could part ofutorial me, they could face prosecution, because the way the white house sees it, at least according to these memos, the draft memos, they are aiding and abetting human traffickers by paying them to bring their children over. So many more people would be targeted. The idea is that this expedited removal would be incredibly expanded. Currently it is about to buck weeks you can expedite removal of someone. This order says it would be two years here at were talking tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people could be removed very quickly, according to these orders. Juan the white house is claiming that these are only drafts, yet the Homeland Security secretary has s signed ofoff on them. Can you explain the difference in definition here . It is a great question, the same question i have for the white house. I was talkiking at the white hoe last nightht about that. And the way thehe white house explainened it t to me is, essentially, these orders are the final cut of the department of Homeland Security. However, they apply to the donald trump executive order. Thereforee, they have the final say. And according to the white house, they had some questions, some issues with some of the language. They did not say what specifically. They would not give me the details, but they are working with the department of home and security to kind of iron out those differerences, do their de diligence. You have got to remember, as you pointed out, we have had so many protests. The travel ban was blocked by the seattle federal judge. I think they are trying to be a little bit more careful. They do not want that experience again. And i cant assure you, i i can assure you, lawyers and the activist community are getting ready to fight this, as well. Juan there seems to be some confusion about how this would a, the youngacac people in terms of new policy. Can you explain that, as well . Puzzles or orders iscifically do say that daca protected. However, that has not calmed peoples concerns so much. Because in other parts of the order, it says that there will be no protected class. And these orders also go on to say that they expand the definition of who is a criminal immigrant. Not only do yoyohave to bebe convicted of a crime, you can be charged with a crime here and you can actually also be believed to have committed a crime. So it is a wide swath of people who can be targeted. Mentioned. Ca is however, there are some conflicting statements. And we have all seen some of the leaked reports about potentially ending daca. So there are still a lot of questions about daca. Juan the new dhs members come on the heels of fridays a rest of Daniel Medina and washington state, who has permission to live and work in the United States under president obamas program. His arrest alarmed immigrant communities who fear that the Trump Administration would soon target other daca recipients. This is a member of the washington dream act coalition. Declared an open war and open season of all immmmigrantsn this couountry. Evacuated should have evaporated by now. The government has shown it cannot be trusted. Juan also joining us from should desk from seattle is tim wardenhertz, an attorney for the to, office of the northwest immigrant rights project. Welcome to democracy now can you tell us about the situation with the arrest on friday . On friday, the judge in seattle order that mr. Ramirez remain detained in the tacoma detention center. Right now, were trying to ensure that his rights are protected. Like you discussed, he has no criminal record at all. He has been twice applied for and has been vetted and granted protection for arrivals. Despite that, he was picked up by immigration officials. Juan why are they holding him under daca . Tected what are they alleging . Well, i mean, at this under , there is no evidence. I think there have been some statements they have made regarding possible gang membership. N dispute that. As i mentioned, there is absolutely no evidence of that. In fact, in the filing we submitted to the court in seattle, there is evidence of fabrications of evidence regarding that. Juan what are your concerns about not only what the Trump Administration has done so far, but now the worord of thiss new, the memos that secretary kelly has signed off on . How could that affect undocumented immigrants or recipients . Re daca what are your main concerns . Ramirez and his case is a good example of the lack of process that we may be seeing sort of expanded under this administration. I think the expansion of the removal is one part of that. It is dramatic, up to two years. I think it goes even further memoshat, because the discuss having to prove to the satisfaction of an immigration officer that you have been in the United States for two years. Removale is this ex fed where you do not even have a chance to have a day in court. I am not pulled over, sure if i could prove i have been in the United States for two your just based on what is in my wallet. So i think there are a lot of these other pieces, whether it is that or hearing programs held at remote county jails or prisons or the protections being taken away for minors that really chip away at the chance for people to even have a process to figure out whether or not they might have protections. Juan if you could explain mark krill more clearly for folks knowing about immigration laws, before this you had to have been found within, what, 100 miles of a u. S. Border or have been in the country less than, what is it, two weeks or two but months, and now they expanded it to two years explain the difference. The existing regulations around i think they stem from 2002 they limited the use of a fed removal to folks found within 100 miles of the border and there is a sort of time and location limitation on the removal. With these memos would do would remove that. So it would leave anyone in the United States to be subject to that removal unless a kid prove to the satisfaction of the immigration officer arresting them that they had been in the United States more than two years. It takes away geographic limitation and takes away hugely expanded, and like i mentioned before, maybe not even that limited twoyear limit. Juan Franco Ordonez, you have a new article that talks about how many of these policies were foreshadowed by a memo that the genereralg attorney Jeff Sessions s sent to the obaa administration l last year. Could you talk a about that . G general jeff i just talked with the white house yesterday about it, too. I got a hold of this letter that you are referring to the Jeff Sessions wrote in july of 2016. It basically outlines two of those most controversial points that we were talking about earlier. Jeff sessions, in his letter, talked about the 60 of parents that part of me, the 60 of unaccompanied minors that come to the United States who eventually end up meeting with their parents who are here illegally, and he specifically questioned thensecretary jeh johnson and then attorney general Loretta Lynch why they were not being humanely removed from the country. He also, and those letters, pointed out that these parents were subject to prosecution. Thatthink what it shows is this is not out of the mainstream thinking of the Trump Administration. Sessions oureff current attorney general, but Stephan Miller was a big heart of these exact orders desk executive orders, and he was part of Jeff Sessions staff. So he has been part of the discussions for a while. The Administration Last night said, look, these policies are things that Law Enforcement has been asking for. So i think were going to get some clarity pretty soon on those things. You is not necessarily, know, new stuff, i guess that is what i am trying to say. Juan Something Else that is not new is the existence of the Deportation Machine. You have said in some of your articles that trump does need to create a Deportation Machine because the Obama Administration already did that. Yeah, i mean, that is exactly right. You cannot forget that obama, moreany years, supported people on the country illegally than any other president. It was up to 2012 through 2014 that he was doing it. You mentioned the person who got kicked out of the meeting, and i think that shows what kind of fight is ahead. Gutierrez when after president obama a few years ago, calling him a deep order a deporter i n chief. Juan has kind of taken a lot of us were curious whether donald trump would take away some of the prosecutor general discussion that he did. But they have taken further steps in going after some of the unaccompanied minors and their parents. It will be interesting. Juan finally, tim wardenhertz, your organanization of the northwest immigrant rights project, what are you gearing up now in the coming months . What kind of efforts will you be making in terms of Immigration Reform or attempts to beat back what is coming from the Trump Administration . I think there are a lot of different pieces we are working on. We are of the litigation regarding the muslim ban, and if there are any new orders, we certainly would be looking at challenging those. I think, as was mentioned earlier, regarding these new draft memos, i think there are policies and know that we believe are unconstitutional and that we would also be looking to challenge. Talking to, were communities about the fear of these memos and the rhetoric, folks were undocumented and folks who are documented, and i have been doing outreach around the state, as have many other folks in our organization. And to this fear is really hard to overstate. I had a question the other day from a woman who was talking about her husband who had a green card for 14 years. They are from mexico and said they planned a trip next month to visit family in mexico, and she was wondering whether or not it would be safe to do so, whether or not she is a u. S. Citizen and he is a green card, whether they could leave the country and expect to be allowed back in. I think they should be. And i think that the fear that immense. Tes is so we are working on different levels, both representing people in immigration court, trying to case,olks stop it in each and also doing community education, as well. Juan ok, i would like to think both of our guests for being with us, tim wardenhertz of the northwest immigrant rights project, and Franco Ordonez of mcclatchy newspaper. Thanks for joining us. When we come that, the legendary actor george takei, on the 75th anniversary of fdr authorizing the internment of japanese americans. Stay with us. [music break] juan james browns funky drummer. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war anand peace repoport. I am juan gonzalez. 75 yearsrs ago yesesterday prest , franklinin delano roososevelt signed executive orderer 90 that 66 forced more than 120,000 men, women, and children of japanese descent into internment camps. This included nearly 70,000 american citizens. The united statates of america wawas suddenly and deliver it we attackcked by navaval and air fs. F the empire of j japan as commander in chief of t army and the n navy, i have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. Juan over the weekend, a day of Remembrance Day o of rememembrance evevents were e hd acro the country. Many peoe e are asking if story can repeat itlf. Theampaign trail, nald umump exicitly cled for muslim ristry hi and he has attendedoan regees and travers froseven mority muim natns. In annterview wh abc in 2015, trump defded his oposal f totalnd comple ban onuslimsntering th unit states ancompar it to thactionof fdr. Mr tru it is different for fs sution germans,talian japanes you kn, many yea ago f internmt camps . Mr. Trumpthis was areside highly rpectedy a here i he did t same thg. If y y look athat he s doin it was r worse. He was tking aut the geans. Are now awar. Juanour next gst says ef the rkest chters in ameran hiory has ben to rept itlf. Whe joined b george takei, legendaractor and y rights activi, who gw up in a internnt camp,est knowfor pling lieunant sulu on tar tr. S broadwayhow, an allegice, scrned on thday ofemembran. Itasbout the iernment o japane amerins, inspir by thtrue sto of hi familys expeence. Gege takei welco to democracy w weave hadou on e show before. Ey can y talk out yourwn fami pose a expience a what y went throh aa child with thenternmenpoliciesnd fdr . Yesteay was csidered the day of rembranceand i memberedy childhd prisonnt at thhome of t mano put behindis barbedire fence, frklin delas me at hyde par i spokon my merieshere, and i spe about at morning. Parents g me upery early thatorning, togher wi my brother, a year younger, and my baby sister, still an infant. My brother and i were told to wait in the living room while they did some packing back in the bedroom. The two of us were just gazing out the front living room window , and we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway carrying rifles with shiny bayonets. They stopped on the front porch. Juan this was where . Garner street, a twobedroom house. And they began pounding at the front door with their fists. It was a terrifying sound. My father came out a and ansnswd the door, literally at gunpoint we were ordered out of our home. My father gave my brother and me little packages to carry, and we followed him out onto the driveway and waited for our mother to come out. And when she came out, she had our baby sister in one arm and a huge duffel bag in the o other d tears streaming down her face. I told this to a packed h house audience a at the roosevelt acrery on the 1000plus estate of Franklin Delano roosevelt. It was a strange feeling. Juan your family was eventually interned where . We were first taken to the horse stables at santa anita race track. Were taken there on a trek with other families that were rounded up. They took usus over to the stabe area, and each family was assigned a horse stall, still pungent with the stink o of hore manure. For my parents, it was a degrading, h humiliating experience to take their three children and arrange the cots for us to sleep inin. I i was a fifiveyearold kid t, and for me, the perspective was totally different. I thought it was kind of fun to sleep with the horses sleep. So my childhood experiences were quite different from my parent pain and anguish in the humiliation, the degradation, and the enrichment that they went through the enragement they went through for over four years. Juan i seem to recall it was not only a liberal president , roosevelt, who backed this en,icy, but wasnt earl warr attorney general, a famous Supreme Court justice, also very much stoking antijapanese phobia throughout california . Earl warren was in a vicious man. Was an ambitious man. He wanted to run for governor. He saw that the single most popular issue in california at the time was the block of japanese movement. Im using a long word for japanese. It was an ugly, three letter word. He made and installed an astonishing statement as attorney general, top lawyer of the state it said we have no byorts of spying or sabotage japaneseamericans, and that is ominous, the fact that there is no report. He said the japanese are inscrutable to it cannot tell what theyre thinking. So it would be prudent to lock them up before they do anything. So for this attorney general, the absence of a purchase was the evidence. And it went into the war hysteria of that time and it reached all the way to president franklindelano war delano roosevelt. Juan how long was your family interned . Over four yearsrs. We were taken from the horse stables to arkansas, and we were imprisoned there, barbed wire fence, guns pointed at us, for about a year. Initially, after pearl harbor, young japaneseamericans rushed to Recruitment Centers to volunteer to serve in the military. This act of patriotism was answered with a slap on the face. They were denied military service and categorized as illegal aliens at we were neneither. We were not the enemy, and we were not aliens. Raised, educated in the United States, mostly on the west coast. So with that outreach, we were put into these b barbed wired prisonon camps. ,ut a year after imprisonment after they completelely took everything a away from u us, thy realalized there was a wartimime manpower shortage. And here are these young people they categorized as enemy aliens , and they drafted them. So they came down, of all things, with a loyalty questionnanaire. Itit was put together inin a sl, ignorantnt way. Agree justaracious question was question 28, 1 sentence the two conflicting ideas. Would you swear your loyalty to the United States of america or swear your loyalty to the emperor of japan . Juan the issue of loyalty is now front and center in sermons front and center. In november, a trump pac spokesperson defended the internment camps. This is carl higbee of Great America pac speaking to fox news with megyn kelly. We did it during world war ii with the japanese. Come on, you are not proposing we go back to the days of internment camps, i hope . Not at all. That is the kind of stuff that gets people scared, carl. Just saying there is precedent for it. I am not saying i agree with it. You cannot be citing japanese internment cans as precedent for anything the president elect will do. The president needs to protect americans first. If that means having some sort of registration, until we identify the true threat, i support it. Juan that was carl higbee of the Great America pac, a protrump pac. The correlation between what happened then, and you said this was against japaneseamericans him and d from what is happening now with trump and the muslim ban . The very fact that he brought that up to justify whahatever plans they have for muslims shows that he has not learned the lesson of the internment of japanese americans. Because if he has really learned that lesson, if he studied that, he would know that t the lessons we must never do that again. Ronald reagan apologized for it and pledged a 20,000 token redress for that. T to00, which totaled up 1. 6 billion. Is totallyigbee, ignorant of that part we must not do it again. The fact he brought it up shows his ignorance. Juan but there were some people who were targeted for internment who resisted it can you talk about one particular case and what it meant and how the courts reacted . Well, they did challenge it after they were in prison. Person, but a couple and also an attorney. They challenged it all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1944, the middle of the war, they were denied justice. They failed. But after the war, in the 1970s, they challenged it again, the finding of the Supreme Court. They went all the way up to the federal court, and the federal that there was a fault in the original ruling. Those words, by calling it by its latin name. The government did not appeal that to the Supreme Court, so it ended there. Supremeas in the courts original ruling, and it should never happen again. , in congress, later on terms of reparations that was when reagan apologized. Congress passed the Civil Liberties act. There was this 20,000 token redress paid. Ofy went in the order of age the recipients, and i did not themine u until 1991, and letter of apology was signed by with georgebush, h. W. Bush on the 20,000 check. Juan talk about your decision or do you have been very much of an activist much of your life, but your stance now in terms of what is going on with the Trump Administration, why you feel it is so important to speak up now . On so many issues, not just the muslim travel ban, but issue after issue. His president is delusional he just made that Statement Last week that his administration is operating like a finely tuned machine. E. He doeoes not r realize the disr that his administration is. The attack in yemen. The series of f failures. Hehe is a danger. The real l terrorist is donald trump. Donald trump is the terrorist president of the United States, and his raging is going down, down, down, and he still t talks about the fafantastic support tt he has been getting. We are going through an incredible time in american history. Juan i want to thank you, george takei, legendary actor and activist. When we come back, Robert Wiseman of Public Citizen on corporate trust. [music break] juan say it loud, i am black and brown. James brown, whose drummer passed away saturday. Ththis is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. I am want gonzales. There has been a whoholesale corporate takeover of f the government. Thats the conclusion o of a new report coming out today by the Watchdog Group Public Citizen. The report looks at how Corporate America has benefited from trumps first momonth in office. Rex tillerson, the former ceo of exxon, is now secretary of state. Goldman sachs alum now serve several top posts. Steven m mnuch as treasuryry secretary, steve bannon as white house chief strategist, and gary cohn as director of the United States National Economic council. Trump has also signed executive orders to help undo the doddfrank wall street reform law and repeal rules requiring Financial Advisors to give advice based on their customer best interests. Last week, President Trump bragged about his plans to cut regulations across all industries. President trump we are cutting regulations bigly. Were really cutting them by massive amounts. The Auto Industry just left a week ago, and they are very happy with what we are doing. Everyone is. I think just t about everyone i, the financial industry, we have a lot of different investors. Were cutting regulations in just about every industry. In fact, i cannot think of any that we are not a juan joining us now is Robert Wiseman, prpresident of Public Citizen. Welcome to democracy now talk about this month that has transpired in terms of Corporate America. Astounding. En to some extent, it has been overlooked as people are rightfully outraged about the muslim ban, threats to the first amendment, whatever kooky thing trump has done today with russia. But this is really the first month of the administration, and giftould expect bestowing after gift after gift on Corporate America throughout his administration. We have the most corporate cabinet in the history of the United States. You mentioned a few of the many people coming from the corporate class into the administration could we have chief executives and Corporate Leaders with the president nonstop. The first thing he did on his first working day was meet with corporate executives. He sat down with ceos of the pharma, they, big airline industry. Each time he leaves and says were going to cut regulations on you, meaning we will free you on the restraints of health and safety pharma, the airline and Worker Rights and lt you profiteer without restraints. He signed a series of executive orders designed to dismantle the Affordable Care act, to undo dodd frank, to make it virtually impossible to issue new regulatory protections for americans, meaning were going to see more unsafe food, more dirty air, more dangerous autos them a more dangerous drugs on the market, reduced protections for workers on the job, whether it is health and safety or overtime rules or prevention andnst wage theft, and on on it when he says he is deregulating every industry y in americica, he means it. It has beeeen a remarkable gift fromom the and on seen an amazing amount of the first 30 days, and there is a lot more to come. Add on all the corruption run his personal businesses, and we corporate station corporatization of the government. Juan he has what i call his two for one executive order. For every one executive order or regulation you produce, you have got to get rid of two more. Can you talk about how that will affect world making . It is actually in place and ll rulemaking to protect health and safety, consumer interests him and workers. The executive e order says that for every new rule, an agency has to do to about things. They h have to look at t the cof the new rule and offset it. And for every new rule they adopt, they must eliminate at least two existing rules. So a car Safety Agency wants to adopt a new rule on brake safety, they will have to get rid of rules on headlights and steering columns. Absolutely, utter lunacy. Ubut it is part of the objective of the executive order. We think it exists with a whole air act job clean is to advance clean air. When they do rulemaking, theyre supposed to look at a particular issss, not try y to offset it. T. That is s true across ththe governmement and we hav sued, along with others, t the administration, saying this executive order violates a number of statutes and the separation of powers, both unconstitutional. We hope to get this thing struck from the books, because it will memean no new protections fofor americans during the course of the next four years, assuming he is in office that long. Juan politico obtbtained leaked audio of trump speaking, welcoming club members to stop by while he interviewed potential cabinet picks. Besident trump we will interviewing everybody. Secretary of state, everybody will be coming in. I dont know if you want to come around, but if you want to, it will be an unbelievable day. So you might want to come along. Juan this whole idea, whether there atis club maralago and thhe ability of his members having access to these socalled decisions. I it is another r piece of te astounding c corruption. That tape and the reports fromm the New York Times about maralago, and makes it very clear that at his clubs, where people pay to be members, in the case of maralago 200,000 a head for an initial agency, they are not regular people, and he asks them for advice or they offer advice on their own. So you have this direct access to the president based on your ability to pay. That is absolutely unprecedented. There is one example that stands out above the others, which is carl icahn, an old friend of the president , who has been named his special regulatory advisor. He is not an actual government employee. But he has a special advisory had aand he is reportedly decisive effect of her choosing who would lead the environmental protectition agency and the securities and Exchange Commission, the twowo parts of e government that historicallyy relates to his business empire, his investment empire. Of couourse, we e have a guy rug the epa who has been hostil e to the agency, aiming to destroy it. We have a guguy nominated to run the secucurities andnd Exchange Commission who is very likely to adopt laws that will benefit carl icahn himself. Juan Robert Weissman of Public Citizen, thanks for joining us. That does it for todays show. I am want comes all is. Thanks for joining us for another edition of democracy now democracy now is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. Email your comments to outreach democracynow. Org or narrator discover the northern reaches of the planet with explore, through live highdefinition web cams and expeditions deep into the arctctic. Experience this remom, wild r region like n never befo. [wind whtling]