ambassador seyed hossein mousavian a former nuclear negotiator. been to greece where protests erupted as the parliament approved harsh new austerity measures in exchange for a third european bailout. >> the workers should not accept these bailouts in these policies because they will be crushed. we must find a way to move through movement, to struggle so we're able to stop the situation. there will be no salvation. there will be no escape with these policies. amy: and we go to texas which is saying there is no evidence of wrongdoing after mass graves filled with bodies of immigrants were found miles inland from the u.s.-mexico border. >> they have a dream to go somewhere else. >> the amount of bodies that have been found in this county are astronomical. >> to happen to be born on the wrong side of an imaginary line which are in the sand. amy: we will speak with reporter john carlos frey who is posed the grapes and found -- exposed the graves and found rampant violations of the law. all of that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. protests erupted in athens wednesday night after the greek parliament approved harsh new austerity measures in exchange for a third european bailout. greek prime minister alexis tsipras won the parliamentary vote by a vote of 229 to 64 but 32 members of his own syriza party voted against the deal, including former finance minister yanis varoufakis. greece's deputy finance minister nadia valavani resigned ahead of -- resign in protest. before the vote, tspiras said he was being forced to accept the austerity measures even though he didn't believe they would benefit the greek economy. >> i will admit the measures we're tabling are harsh and i don't agree with them. i don't believe they will help the greek economy. i say so openly. but i also say i must implement them. that is our difference. amy: meanwhile, tens of thousands of migrants are stranded on the greek island of lesvos as the flood of people fleeing to southern europe from syria, afghanistan, and other war-torn regions continues. on lesvos, the migrants are living in camps lacking basic sanitation and in two small detention centers that are currently at ten times their capacity. the migrants have decried the conditions. >> we run from the death to the death. we find death at each step in our way. we ran from the death of our country am a to find death in the seat and then to find it here in the camp. amy: the town officials however, have said they're unable to address the situation, especially given the country's ongoing financial turmoil. >> it is as if the international community, the european union the red cross, the u.n., have given me a bomb to hold in my hands in the fuse is burning very slowly. and i am desperately crying for help to blowout the fuse. but they are waiting for the bomb to explode before coming to our aid. amy: president obama has begun a campaign to defend the iran nuclear deal ahead of an upcoming congressional vote. on wednesday, obama told reporters the deal was the only alternative to a nuclear arms race and more war in the middle east. >> with this deal, we have the possibility of peacefully resolving a major threat to regional and international security. without a deal, we risk even more war in the middle east and other countries in the region would feel compelled to pursue their own hooker programs. threatening a nuclear arms race in the most volatile region in the world. amy: meanwhile, israel continues to express opposition to the deal, arguing that a stronger iran will threaten the region's stability. "the new york times" reports that israel has been requesting between $4.2 billion to $4.5 billion of military aid from the united states each year for the next 10 years in talks that began prior to the iran nuclear deal's passage. israel currently receives $3 billion a year in u.s. military aid. in afghanistan, taliban leader mullah mohammed omar has issued an indirect statement of support for the peace talks with the afghan government. in a statement to celebrate the festival of eid al-fitr, omar said islam does not prohibit peaceful interaction with one's enemies. meanwhile, "the new york times" reports that in june the u.s. military doubled the intensity of its airstrikes against afghanistan, launching a bombing campaign against militants with the self-proclaimed islamic state in eastern afghanistan. this comes six months after the official end to the u.s. combat mission in afghanistan. japan's lower house of parliament has approved legislation to allow japan to send troops to fight abroad for the first time since world war ii. the vote came one day after as many as 100,000 people gathered near the parliament to protest the move. japanese prime minister shinzo abe has pushed for the nation's pacifist constitution to be rewritten. >> the security situation surrounding japan is becoming increasingly challenging. with this in mind, it is an absolutely necessary legislation to protect the lives of the japanese and also to prevent the country from going to war. amy: many members of the japanese parliament protested within the parliament as well. newly published national security agency documents leaked by edward snowden have revealed israeli naval commandos were responsible for the mysterious 2008 assassination of a top aide to syrian president bashar al-assad. muhammad suleiman was shot and killed by sniper while he was holding a dinner party at his beachfront home in tartus syria. details of the assassination were included in a secret nsa document titled "manhunting timeline published by the intercept on wednesday. puerto rico missed a $93.7 million debt payment yesterday as the island's debt crisis worsens. puerto rico governor alejandro garcía padilla has repeatedly said the country must renegotiate its debt levels, telling "the new york times" last month that the island was in a death spiral. unlike u.s. states, puerto rico is not permitted to declare bankruptcy. in other economic news, bank of america has announced a profit of $5.32 billion for this past quarter -- double the profit that the bank reported last year during this same time period. this past quarter's profit amounts to about $59 million a day. "the wall street journal" reporting the cost of police settlements for the killings of police misconduct has been set -- soaring. the tenuous it is with the largest local police departments over the past 10 years have paid $1.4 billion in total settlements. more than $1 billion of that money went to cases involving retell it or wrongful imprisonment. new york city -- in new york city, by far the largest leased department has paid out $600 million since 2010, the most settlements of any u.s. city. in mexico, the government has auctioned off the first oil and gas contracts to private companies in more than 80 years following president enrique pena nieto decision to open up the oil industry to foreign and private companies. at the first auction wednesday the houston-based firm talos energy, british firm premier oil, and the mexican company sierra oil & gas bought contracts to drill off the coast of the southern state of veracruz. in other energy news, newly released figures show more electricity was produced in the united states in april from natural gas than coal for the first time ever. meanwhile, the oklahoma supreme court has unanimously ruled that state residents can sue oil and gas companies for damage or injury caused by earthquakes which have been linked to fracking. before the fracking boom, the state had an average of one or two 3.0-magnitude earthquakes a year. now, according to the u.s. geological survey, the state averages two earthquakes of that magnitude every single day. in a new report, global witness accuses european timber companies of feeling the war in the central african republic by making lucrative deals with rebel militia groups. the rebel groups have been accused of war crimes in the ongoing conflict, which has killed thousands of people since it began in 2013 following a rebel coup. in news from capitol hill, house republicans have launched an investigation of planned parenthood. the investigation comes one day after anti-choice activists released a video that appears to show a planned parenthood employee telling anti-choice activists posing as biotechnology representatives that the organization shares fetal tissue with researchers. planned parenthood said that it does not charge for the fetal tissue, which is consistent with the employee's comments in the video. house republicans have launched an investigation, claiming the organization is illegally selling the tissue for a profit. texas has been denying birth certificates to children born in the state if their parents are undocumented. despite the 14th amendment's guarantee of citizenship to anyone born in the united states, texas officials have reportedly been refusing to provide birth certificates to children whose mothers lack u.s. visas. the texas observer reports the refusals began last winter. a group of mothers recently filed a lawsuit against the practice. in an update on a story we reported on wednesday, the animal theme park seaworld has put an employee on leave after reports emerged that he had infiltrated the people for the ethical treatment of animals. according to peta, the employee named paul mccomb took part in numerous protests and attempted to incite violence. in one tweet mccomb, who called himself thomas jones, urged people to "grab pitchforks and torches." seaworld announced it had also launched an investigation. the first of seven fifa officials being held in switzerland on corruption charges has been extricated to the united states. this morning's extradition follows the beginning of senate hearings yesterday to investigate the corruption scandal that has thrown the world soccer governing body into turmoil. on wednesday, senators questioned how much u.s. soccer officials knew about the corruption and demanded an overhaul of the global organization. senator richard blumenthal compared fifa to the mafia. >> the fact of the matter is, that what has been revealed so far is a mafia-style crime syndicate in charge of this sport. the only hesitation in using that term is that it is almost insulting to the mafia because the mafia would never have been so blatant, overt, and arrogant. amy: and president obama addressed the growing controversy over comedian bill cosby. more than 40 women alleged in the last nine months that cosby sexually assaulted them in incidents dating back decades. president obama was asked about cosby at wednesday's press conference. >> would you revoke the medal of freedom for bill cosby? >> there is no precedent for revoking a metal -- medal. we don't have that mechanism. as you know, i tend to make it a policy not to comment on the specifics of cases where there might still be, if not criminal then civil, issues involved. i will say this. if you give a woman, or a man for that matter, without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that is rape. and i think this country -- any civilized country should have no tolerance for rape. amy: president obama at the news conference on wednesday answering a question about bill cosby. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. president obama appeared before reporters at the white house wednesday to defend the u.s.-led international agreement to curtail iran's nuclear program. negotiations were led by the u.s. britain, france, china, russia, germany. critics of the agreement have accused his administration of appeasement. obama challenged his critics to come up with a better solution saying 99% of the world and the majority of nuclear experts" agree that the deal will prevent iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. >> if 99% of the worlds community and the majority of nuclear experts look at this thing and they say, this will prevent iran from getting a nuclear bomb, and you are arguing either that it does not war that even if it does, it is temporary, or that because they're going to get a windfall of their accounts being unfrozen that it will cause more problems , then you should have some alternative to present. and i haven't heard that. and the reason is because the really are only two alternatives here. either the issue of iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is solved to blow medically through a negotiation -- diplomatically through a negotiation, or it is resolved through force. through war. those are the options. nermeen: the agreement reached tuesday will see iran reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98% and cut its number of centrifuges by two-thirds. in exchange, iran will see an easing of international sanctions that have battered the economy, causing food insecurity and medication shortages. congress will have 60 days to review the deal. president obama has vowed to veto any attempt to block the agreement through legislation. congress would need a two thirds majority to override the veto, meaning obama would only needs 34 votes to keep the deal secure. amy: in iran, residents poured out into the streets to celebrate the agreement, which many hope will help lead to a normalization of ties with the west. to talk more about the implications of the deal, we go now to princeton, new jersey, to talk to ambassador seyed hossein mousavian, an associate research scholar at princeton university's woodrow wilson school of public and international affairs. former diplomat who from 1990 to 1997 served as iran's ambassador to germany. from 1997 to 2005, he was the head of the foreign relations committee of iran's national security council. and from 2003 to 2005, he served as spokesman for iran in its nuclear negotiations with the european union. he is the author of, "the iranian nuclear crisis: a memoir," and most recently "iran and the united states: an insider's view on the failed past and the road to peace." welcome to democracy now! do you think this agreement is a road to peace? what do you think is most important about it? >> i'm confident this agreement is a road to peace. the big issue, as president obama said, the agreement prevented the war. could be disaster for the u.s. for iran, for the region, and for international community. second, the deal has closed all possible pathways toward possible militarization, weapon is a of iranian nuclear program. the u.s. and the west were worried if iranian nuclear program in the future would divert toward weaponization. that is why president obama's red line was zero nuclear bombs. no nuclear bomb. the threat line was welcomed in tehran very much because the iranians, they believe and they were reiterating they have never been after nuclear bomb and they would be ready to give every assurances that the iranian nuclear program will remain peaceful forever will start -- forever. after months of tough negotiations, they have finalized 159 pages which would cover american red line, which is no nuclear bomb. we have a heavy walter facility in iraq. iran has accepted to have no reprocessing at heavy water for a long time. as long as you have no reprocessing, it is impossible to make nuclear bomb from heavywater facility. moreover, as a goodwill, iran has accepted to reduce the production of little medium from dish plutonium from 10 kilogram to blow one kilogram because if you are doing processing, you would need 10 kilogram plutonium to produce a nuclear bomb. then went iran is reducing less than one kilogram per year, this would double guarantee that iran would never be after nuclear weapon from heavywater facility. again another confidence building measure, iran has agreed to spend -- to export -- spent fuel from heavywater. even if you have 10 kilogram plutonium, even if you are reprocessing, and you export spent fuel, it is impossible to make their bomb. therefore, all possible measures have been agreed to secure no nuclear weapon from heavywater. then we go to enrichment facility. iran has agreed to enrich below 5%. to make nuclear bomb from enrichment facility, you need to enrich about 90%. as long as you are enriching below 5%, it is impossible to make nuclear bomb. second, iran has agreed to the current stockpile to 300 kilograms for just domestic needs. iran has agreed to convert the second enrichment site [indiscernible] and also two thirds of centrifuges would decrease for at least 10 years. and the confidence building measures. therefore, on the transparency also, iran has agreed to all practical arrangements at the maximum level within the international rules and regulations, which is safeguard agreement, which is -- finally, is additional protocol. internationally, on transparency and inspection, we don't have anything more. iran has accepted all three. therefore, iran would be the most transparent nation on its nuclear program. in iran has given the confidence building measures, has accepted measures which no other member of in pt has ever accepted yet like enriching below 5%, like what already i explained for you. that is why i believe the deal is a win for washington. then we go to iraq. i believe it is also window for iran. iranians were telling americans, look, if you want to close all pathway to a nuclear bomb, welcome. we are with you. we have no problem to give you any assurances. but we -- our red line is a legitimate right on the international rule, nonproliferation treaty, to enjoy peaceful nuclear technology. we don't want anything beyond. iranians they got it. the second redline of iranians would be -- was lifting the sanctions. also they got their second redline. therefore, this is a win-win deal. and i believe this could be really a model. this could be used for far, far beyond iranian nuclear issues because if the war powers, if the opponents in the region, they use the iranian model for all countries in the middle east, this would be the only way to assure nuclear weapons-free zone in the middle east. if every a country accepted the same measures, we would never have nuclear bomb. finally, i would say definitely the deal would decrease tension between iran and the u.s., definitely. definitely the deal would help improving iran-u.s. relations. iran and the u.s. now succeeding one big negotiations. they would be able to have dialogue on regional issues -- fighting terrorism and extremism in the region. nermeen: ambassador, could you explain why the negotiations failed in the past over so many years? was it the sanctions regime that enabled the agreement to come to a close now, the sanctions that have been imposed on iran? >> it was the u.s. conventional understanding that if they put sanctions iranians, they would give up the nuclear program. that is why in 2006, to the united nations security console, and they imposed six resolutions with draconian sanctions. and europeans also went beyond the united nations security counsel sanctions, they imposed sanctions on central bank and oil. unilateral sanctions multilateral sanctions, u.n. sanctions, since 2006. then they all believed karen would give up -- iran would give up. but sanctions pushed iran to increase its nuclear capacity. before sanctions, iranians had a few hundred centrifuges. after sanctions 22,000 centrifuges. before sanctions iranians were enriching below 5%. after sanctions, they were enriching to 20%. before sanctions iranians were working with one model of centrifuges. after sanctions, eight models of centrifuges. extremely -- during the sanction period. and then suddenly, the u.s. opened its eyes and saw iran has just three months to break out. and definitely, they would resist sanctions but they would pass the breakout. and then the u.s. would have to negotiate with iran after breakout, which would have to give a lot of concessions. here the u.s. in the world powers, they understood the sanctions have been completely counterproductive. the sanctions pushed iran toward expanding enormous nuclear program. that is why they came to negotiate. this was number one. number two, if you look at the principals desk principals agreed july 14 2015, you would see this is exactly the same principles we proposed eu3, at that time, they were -- in march 2005, when i was spokesperson of nuclear -- of iran. the same principles but for sanctions, we gave to europeans but europeans, they could not make a deal with us. because the u.s. position was zero enrichment. iranians they were saying, iran cannot have enrichment. iran should be the only member of npt, nonproliferation treaty to be singled out, to be discriminate rest, not to have this right. and a radiance definitely were not ready to accept. this was practically the two reasons we could not make the deal and exactly the two reasons. we could make the deal just a few days ago. amy: ambassador, lindsey graham to say the least, has criticized the iran nuclear deal. saying it is tantamount to funding the al-assad regime, hamas, and hezbollah. he was speaking on "the today show" on nbc. >> when iranians tell you this is a win-win, it is probably not. my biggest problem is it would take into largest date sponsored terrorism, the people who have killed hundreds of americans given them billions of dollars and they can use the money any way they would like. might as well write a check because that is where the money is going. we're going to give them more weapons at the passage of five years regardless if they change their behavior. we took a very dismantled approach to the nuclear program and insured there on the path to become a member of the nuclear club. and arabs are going to go get their own weapon. you're creating a nuclear arms race. you're giving them more money and weapons. not a good deal. amy: ambassador, if you could respond to this? this is tantamount to funding al-assad regime, for mass, and has below. this matters because right now this global agreement, the agreement with all of the countries, not just the united states goes to congress and has to be approved. president obama has vowed to veto if they don't. >> the argument of senator graham and other senators opposing the deal and prime minister netanyahu and some arab allies of the u.s. is that the deal would strengthen, and power iranians -- and power iranians to increase aggression and invasion. this is the argument they make. let's be realistic. and last five decades, israel has invaded six times its neighbors. saudi arabia and the last 5, 6 years has invaded two countries -- bahrain and yemen. united states of america in the last five years has attacked afghanistan and one has -- once has attacked iraq. in nato, which the u.s. also dissipated arab allies participated, they attacked libya. all these military invasions have created the region today we see. they have made the region completely unstable. some countries they have collapsed. some countries are at the verge of collapse. terrorists have been spread all over the region. iranians during the last 200 years, have never invaded any country. and iranians, they are the only country in the region which they were attacked, invaded by arabs -- saddam hussein invaded iran in 1980. for eight years, killing injuring over one million iranians. iranians are the only country after second world war have been bombarded by chemical weapons. saddam used chemical weapons. the united states of america unfortunately, the europeans they provided material and technology for saddam hussein to use weapons of mass distraction against iranians, chemical weapons, killing and injuring 100,000 iranians. now iran is blamed. who did all these aggressions who made the region a mass? it was not really iran. iran is helping iraq to fight isis. it is true. iran has been invited by iraq government to help because no other country is ready to help by military in ground. iran is the biggest country, the most important country helping iraq to fight isis in iraq and in syria, who are funding these terrorists? the u.s. allies in the region. vice president joe biden said last year, very clearly that our main problem in the region are rl our own allies. it was stated officially by the vice president of the u.s. are therefore, why iran should be blamed because of hedge money because of invasion of other countries. we can see the record of the u.s., arab allies in the region israelis invading frequently creating wars and iranians in the last two centuries have never invaded any country. therefore, i really believe that totally the argument is baseless and is misleading the public opinion. american public opinion, they know very well american invasion of iraq and afghanistan cost them trillions of dollars thousands of american lives and caused such a mess in the region. nermeen: ambassador, i think one of the criticisms that has been leveled against iran has to do with the extent of its support for the al-assad regime. even the u.n. envoy to syria last year said that iran provides up to the experian dollars a year to syria. could you respond -- $6 billion a year to syria. could you respond to that? >> there is stability and integrity of syria is threatened by isis. they are now taking over about half of syria. if al-assad collapsed, the alternative is isis. joe biden was right that the u.s. allies made a big mistake to support the terrorists to fight assad because they've created such a situation in syria. we should think assad is better or isis? iranians believe assad is better than isis. iranians leave a should support assad to fight isis. this is exactly what they are doing in iraq. there helping iraq government to fight isis. i believe the u.s. international community, they should join iran to help assad to fight isis, then find a peaceful transitional solution for resolving the syrian crisis. amy: ambassador, we only have -- >> free election. amy: i want to ask one question it seems to be a major misunderstanding in the u.s. it is about the money iran gets with the lifting of the sanctions. it is often referred to, why should we give them this money? explain what the money is. >> the money definitely would go for iranian economy. iran desperately needs the money . amy: but where's the money coming from? >> the money is, first from the blocked iranian assets. amy: so this is the sale, for example, of iranian oil. >> iranian oil would, after six months, they would be able to increase, definitely, the deal would help iranian economy, no doubt. but believe me, iranians would use every dollar -- this government, which i know them, they would use every dollar to build up their economy. amy: so this is an aid from other countries to iran, which is my point, this is iran's money. >> this is iranian money definitely. this is their own money, which would be released. however, when they left the sanctions, of course, iranian economy would function much better. amy: ambassador seyed hossein mousavian, thank you for being with us. we will continue to follow this as the controversy builds and congress right now. ambassador seyed hossein mousavian is an associate research scholar at princeton university's woodrow wilson school of public and international affairs. former diplomat who served as iran's ambassador to germany. he was the head of the foreign relations committee of iran's national security council. served as spokesman for iran in its nuclear negotiations with the european union. his book "the iranian nuclear , crisis: a memoir," and most recently, "iran and the united states." when we come back we go to south texas. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we turn now to texas where several cases of immigrant abuse have surfaced, both at the beginning of life, and in death. the texas observer reports this week the state has been denying birth certificates to children born to undocumented parents. despite the 14th amendment's guarantee of citizenship to everyone born in the united states, texas officials have reportedly refused to provide birth certificates to children whose mothers lack u.s. visas. a group of mothers has filed a lawsuit against the practice. meanwhile, about 250 children held in a detention center for immigrants and asylum seekers were given an adult dose of a hepatitis a vaccine earlier this month. crystal williams of the american immigration lawyers association told huff post live what happened. >> they were given a double dose of the hepatitis a vaccine. many of them very likely already had the vaccine just a couple of days before. the whole thing was inexplicable will stop at the same time very and dramatic of what has been going on there. incidentally, several of the children to develop problems from the vaccinations, whether is from the hep a or not, we don't know. there are a couple of children whose legs swelled so much that they were very -- unable to walk. it was a child with severe vomiting with diarrhea. the solution to this, as it was to everything, almost everything in the facility, is tricked more water. that is the answer to everything. drink more water. amy: and in the latest scandal texas has claimed there was no evidence of wrongdoing when the bodies of immigrants found about miles inland from the mexican border were placed in mass graves. the bodies were gathered from the desert surrounding a checkpoint in falfurrias, texas, in brooks county. an investigation was launched after the mass graves were exposed last november in a documentary by the weather channel in partnership with telemundo and the investigative fund. in this clip, reporter john carlos frey speaks with dr. krista latham, of the university of indianapolis, at one of the sites where scores of migrant bodies were been buried. >> they are unmarked. they are unidentifiable and there is no information on these individuals. we anticipate at least several hundred may still be buried within the cemetery. >> as i investigate why so many lost migrants are dying in brooks county, i hear about forensic teams from baylor in indianapolis universities who spent the past two years exhuming migrant bodies. >> i just feel like everybody deserves to be mourned properly. they still have parents or siblings or spouses or children that are wondering what happened to them. we're doing this for the families. >> for years, the previous sheriff would give the bodies to a funeral home that charged taxpayers over $1000 per body, then buried them anonymously and a corner of this cemetery. can you describe what kind of bags the individuals were buried in? >> they are buyer hazard backs trash bags. >> just regular trash bags? >> trash bags. we found coffins that were right next to each other on all four sides because there were so many people buried in that area. we took one down and found schools in between the variables. we just can't leave any dirt unturned or we might miss some buddy. >> way, you have coughing coughing, coughing and in between you have skulls? >> sometimes. these are mass graves. everyone is different. >> so you should just dump a back into a hole in the ground. . >> would you want your son or your mom or your sister buried that way come your brother? this isn't how you want someone you love to be buried. amy: well, for more, we are joined now by the reporter you heard in that clip. his own investigation revealed new evidence that indicates rampant violations of the law with these mass graves. john carlos frey is a documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist at the nation institute. his latest report is, "graves of shame." it follows up on last year's report "the real death valley." ,john welcome back to democracy , now! >> thank you. amy: explain to us where these mass graves came from. who is buried in them? >> the mass graves are in a small rural county in texas called brooks county, very poor county. the migrants mostly come from central america and mexico and they find themselves crossing the u.s.-mexico border trying to evade a checkpoint and walking about 40 miles in what amounts to 100 degree heat and 100% committed he. many of the individuals die. they do not have identification on them. the process by which the county and officials in the area try to identify them is pretty meaningless. his individuals are buried in a county cemetery basically dumped into a hole in the ground. many don't have markers or proper burial techniques. these graves in the last couple of years have been exhumed so the individuals can be identified or at least the attempt to be identified. nermeen: john, who do you think should be held accountable for this? >> well, the county is responsible. anybody who was found deceased in the county, there is a procedure by which individuals who handle the remains have to try the best they possibly can to try and identify the individuals. for example the county coroner is supposed to take dna evidence and cement that to our missing persons and unidentified database. the cemetery is supposed to have a plot plan. if you're looking for the remains of a particular individual, you're supposed to be able to find exactly where they have been buried. it goes on down the list. from law enforcement to county officials to private mortuary companies -- any individual who has contact with the remains are culpable here. all of those people a just and and the organizations i named have been negligent. amy: john carlos frey, you report hundreds of migrants have died in the sweltering texas brush, some while waiting hours for border patrol to respond to their 911 calls your documentary features sigfredo palomo. he and his brother josé fernando palomo came to the u.s. hoping to escape violence in el salvador. but after they crossed the border, fernando fell ill and the two were abandoned by their guide. in this clip, sigfredo describes how he had called 911 repeatedly as his brother fernando lay dying. >> and then he started to hallucinate. his body or his limbs are no longer functioning -- were no longer functioning. he did not recognize me, and that just killed me. >> this is sigfredo moments after he is been rescued. it is been 11 hours since he first called 911 and over three hours since dispatch got accurate coordinates. the border patrol never shows. it is local police who, in order to retrieve his brother's body. amy: that is an excerpt from "the real death valley." continue to take us on this road and talk about dna evidence, what the state authorities are doing, what you feel needs to be done as the controversy today is all about donald trump calling mexicans rapists, john carlos. >> yeah, the individuals i have found, especially in this particular area, are not rapists. host of the people coming to this area are fleeing high -- horrible violence and economic oppression. their coming to the u.s. to present themselves, to seek asylum, which is perfectly legal in the united states. it is the way we manage asylum seekers. we asked him to come to the u.s.-mexico border and make a claim of asylum. that is what happened in this case. some people find themselves lost in this vast ranchland area and the elements are inhospitable and many individuals die. even in death, the individuals the remains are improperly prepared and buried, as you just mentioned, the case of dna -- all and identified individuals the state of texas by law are supposed to have a dna biopsy. even if we don't know who these individuals are, maybe sometime in the future they will be cross-referenced with family dna samples. on down the list, the way the bodies were prepared, the way the bodies were buried, and now that they've been exhumed, we have found out that the bodies were improperly taking care of. the texas rangers, who are the preeminent and elite group in the state of texas who do investigations were tasked with investigating why there were mass graves also they found no criminal wrongdoing. that is exactly why i picked up the investigation myself. i found over a dozen violations of texas and national law with respect to the way the remains were buried. of the culpability here come all the way from county supervisors all the way up to government officials, even rick harry, who is actually the governor at the time who actually is pretty close friends with the private mortuary -- i'm sorry, the private funeral company who is responsible for burying the bodies. the largest funeral copy service in the country was actually responsible for bearing the bodies and we found individuals buried in shallow graves four inches below the surface, people buried without containers, individuals were buried without any identification information whatsoever. people buried in trash bags in biohazard bags. we even uncovered an individual who was buried in a milk crate. so these are all violations of law i just listed in the texas rangers themselves found no criminal wrongdoing whatsoever in this case. nermeen: john carlos frey, you spoke to some of the people crossing the border in that area. could you explain what they told you about the conditions they were fleeing and the risks are willing to take despite how dangerous it is attempting to cross into the united states along the border in texas? >> yes, exactly. and to the point of donald trump, these are not people coming from central america or mexico to rate american women -- rape in mecca and women. these are individuals fleeing extraordinary violence. if you know anything about central america, el salvador, nicaragua, honduras suffering from great gang violence, cartel violence. people are not safe. children cannot play in the streets past 5:00. people locked themselves in their homes and their windows are barred. many individuals hire private security to protect themselves. people are extorted on a regular basis in their jobs and in their businesses. in order to make a living, in order to live safely, there is no recourse. people are threatened with their lives on a regular basis. many of the individuals i've spoken to who have fled those conditions come to the u.s. obviously, seeking a better life. so for a presidential candidate such as donald trump to denigrate -- denigrate the poor and suffering and use them as a political platform for his own well-being is tantamount to cowardice. these are individuals who have no recourse. they would not leave their home countries, there coulters, their languages just to come to the united states to do harm. there are people who are suffering and a desperate need. amy: is sort of makes you think about what the pope would say, pope francis, who stood up for the poor and the suffering. john carlos frey, thank you for being with us, documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist at the nation institute. "graves of shame" is his latest piece. when we come back, we go to greece. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: protests erupted in greece wednesday as the great government approved harsh new austerity measures in exchange for a third european bailout. the greek prime minister alexis tsipras won the parliamentary vote by vote of 229 to 64. but 32 members of his own party voted against the plan, include and former finance minister yanis varoufakis. resistivity finance minister nadia valavani resigned ahead of the vote. >> i'm not going to vote for this agreement. this means i cannot stay as a member -- i cannot stay in the government. i surrender my ministry. nermeen: greek politicians approved the harsh austerity measures just days after voters rejected similar reforms in a referendum. the measures include retirement age increases, tax hikes, public spending cuts, pension adjustments, and collective bargaining restructuring in up to $94 billion. ahead of the vote on wednesday, prime minister alexis tsipras expressed his own reservations about the bailout, but urged parliament to support it anyway. >> i will admit the measures we're tabling are harsh, and i don't agree with them. i don't believe they will help the greek economy. i say so openly. but i also say that i must implement them. that is our difference. nermeen: the vote came amid worker strikes, peaceful marchers and clashes against police and protesters. protesters spoke about why they opposed the deal. >> i'm here to protest against the austerity program of the new greek government because it is program much worse than that of the right wing and they're using the so-called left-wing government in order to implement the program that they could do it with the right-wing. >> i don't have a job. do you see that? and now the thing is, they don't go to take more people jobs. going to fire people because they don't have an up money to pay. >> i think the working masses as the new memorandum goes on, they will realize they will stay with the program and abandon the government. amy: for more, we go to thessaloniki, greece's second largest city, where protests were also held wednesday. we are joined by theodoros karyotis, a sociologist, translator and activist who has been participating in grassroots movements and protesting austerity in greece. welcome to democracy now! can you talk about the vote that took place in the great yesterday and the response in the streets? >> yeah. as they announced it could be a package of really harsh measures in the main opposition to the measures right now is their own base syriza party, including many associations linked to syriza, and as we saw of members of their own parliament -- the protests in the streets [indiscernible] packages were voted in. that is probably the outcome of two weeks of campaign of terror and blackmail on behalf of the central european bank and their partners mainly, who have greece on a chokehold, a financial chokehold, and have tried to instill fear on most people in order to accept this austerity package. nermeen: could you explain, are protesters there calling for greece to leave the eurozone? >> of course, one of the main criticisms of the anti-austerity movement is it is never really open to public dialogue. the future of greece outside the eurozone. it is never really talked about a plan b. saying that plan a of ending austerity within the eurozone created by force of [indiscernible] amy: i'm going to interrupt because we have breaking news from wall street journal. eurozone finance ministers agreeing prince will to grant three-year bailout to greece. your quick response? >> ok, the -- as i was saying, there is a turning of the public feeling right now. they realize eurozone is not compatible with social justice. so there are more and more voices [indiscernible] amoco i want to thank you for being with us, theodoros karyotis sociologist, translator , and activist who has been participating in grassroots movements and protesting austerity in greece. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!] anders show," we speak to author and architect keller easterling about the role that architects can take to shape a better world. and we speak with scientist helen caldicott about facing the nuclear threat. all that and a few words from me on police and women in crisis-- the real versus the seemingly violent. welcome to our program. [music playing]

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