banned president trump's order temporarily banning people from seven muslim-majority y countris from entering the united states. the ruling comes less than two weeks after trump signed the order, sparking protests across the country. we'll get reaction from vince warren, executive director of the center for constitutional rights. then to phoenix -- where the moth massacre. ms. conway: it is new information after -- that there was a man that -- ban. they were the masterminds behind the bowling green massacres. amy: that is fake news. we will talk about real news when the government did feel able -- fear a bowling green massacre from a white supremacist. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a federal appeals court in san francisco has unanimously upheld a suspension of president trump executive order temporarily banning people from seven muslim-majority countries from entering the united ststates. thursday's decision appears headed for an appeal to the supreme court. president trump responded to the ruling, tweeting, "see you in court, the security of our nation is at stake." in washington state, the attorney general who successfully challenged trump's muslim ban, dan ferguson, hailed the ruling. court ofson: the appeals, in a unanimous decision, effectively granted everything we thought. we are a nation of law, and as i have said, as we have said from day one, those laws apply to everyone in our country, and that includes the president of the united states. amy: in their unanimous decision, a three judge panel on the ninth circuit court of appeals ruled courts have the authority to review constitutional challenges to executive actions. the judges also said the government failed to show evidence that anyone from the seven nations cited by trump's travel ban had committed terrorism in the u.s. if the case ends up before the supreme court, a potential 4-4 tie would leave the appeals court's ruling in place. meanwhile, at least one of the judges hearing trump's travel ban has faced threats, prompting local police officers and the u.s. -- u.s. marshals service to beef up security. that's according to cnn, which cited ununnamed law enfoforcemet officials. after federal district judge james robart issued a nationwide injunction last friday halting trump's executive order, trump called judge robart a "so-called judge" and tweeted, quote, "just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. if something happens blame him and court system. people pouring in. bad!" tweeted. jeff sessions has been sworn in as u.s. attorney general. vice president mike pence administered the oath of office to the longtime alabama senator during a ceremony thursday in the ovalal office. afterwds, sessions a addressed reporters, promisingng to get tough on immigration, and claiming that terrorism and crime are surging nationwide. mr./-- mr. sessions: we have a crime problem. i wish the rise we were seeing in crime in america today were some sort of aberration or a blip. my best judgment, hahaving been involved in criminal justice for many years i is that this is a dangerous permanent trend that places the health and safety of the american people at risk. amy: in fact, fbi statistics show the homicide rate has fallen consistently -- and dramatically -- since the early 1990s. and property crimes are at a level last seen in the 1960s. sessions' comments came after president trump falsely claimed the ththe u.s. murder rate is at its highest level in more than four decades. it's actually at one of its lowest point in the last half-century. immediately after swearing in sessions as attorney general, president trump signed three new executive orders addressing crime and d immigration. mr. trump: today's ceremony should be seseen as a clear message toto the gang members ad drug dealers t terrorizing ininnocent people. yoyour day is over. a new era of justice begins, and it begins right now. amy: one executive order seeks to increase penalties on those found guilty of assaulting police officers. a second order directs law enforcement agencies to increase intelligence sharing while going after drug cartels. a third order directs attorney general sessions to prioritize fighting "illegal immigration" alongside drug trafficking and violent crime. in los angeles, scores of protesters marched through downtown and blocked a freeway entrance thursday evening, following reports of immigration raids across southern california. officials with i.c.e. -- or -- the immigration and customs enforcement -- told reporters the agency was only conducting "routine" enforcement. but state senate president kevin de leon and the aclu of southern california report they've received reports of multiple raids of homes across los angeles. meanwhile, the mother of two u.s.-born children who is at the center of an immigration fight in arizona has been deported to mexico. guadalupe garcia de rayos was arrested and detained wednesday during a routine check-in with immigration officials. she had been living in the united states for the past 21 years. garcia's teenage daughter and son reacted thursday to the deportation. >> i am going to keep on fighting -- i am going to keep on fighting for my mom and other families going through the same thing because this is unfair, and it is really sad. >> we want her back -- we want her back in our arms. we want her back over here where she belongs to she belongs with us. we're going to keep on fighting. we are not going to stop. amy: rayos's rapid deportation after a routine check-in comes as thousands of immigrants around the country face similar check-ins. we'll have more on the case of guadalupe garcia and others after headlines. we will speak with her husband. the white house is warningng joururnalists anand lawmakers against criticizing a botched raid by u.s. commandos on a yemeni village last month that left 25 civilians and one u.s. nate -- one u.s. navy seal deae. the bureau of investigative journalism reports the assault killed nine children under the age of 13, with five other children wounded. among those critical of the raid was arizona republican senator john m mccain. lose a mccain: when you $75 million aiairplane, and mo poorly, and american life is lost and -- more importantly, and american life is l lost and wounded, i i did not think you n call it a success.s. amy: on wednesday, white house press secretary sean spicer lashed out at senator mccain and journalists for criticizing president trump's decision to order the raid. secretary spicer: it was absolutely a success, and anyone who would suggest that was not a success is doing a disservice to the life of ryan owens. he fought in that mission, and anyone who suggests otherwise does not appreciate how successful the infirm -- the operation was. i think my understanding my statement is very clear on that. thene who undermines success of that raid owes an apology and a disservice to the life of chief all ends. amy: spicer's comments came as the united nations appealed for $2.1 billion in emergency aid to yemen. the u.n. warns 12 million people face the threat of famine brought on by a u.s.-supported, saudi-led war and naval blockade. back in washington, d.c., the senate confirmed congressman tom price as president trump's health and human services secretary this morning, following a debate that stretched well past midnight. the vote was 52 to 47, with all republicans in support of price and all democrats and independents opposed. price will lead trump's campaign to repeal the affordable care act. a well-known opponent off abortion and for the defunding of planned parenthood. the white house as president trump committed the u.s. to the so-called one china policy, in which the u.s. formally recognizes taiwan as part of mainland china. trump reportedly made the commitment during a phone call with the chinese president on thursday. the move marks a reversal from trump who previously angered chinese officials when he broke from decades of diplomatic precedent by speaking directly with taiwan's president. "the washington post" reports that president trump's national security adviser, michael flynn, privately spoke with russia's ambassador about u.s. sanctions against russia in the month before president trump took office. the call was on december 29, the same day president obama imposed sanctions against russia and expelled diplomats, in retaliation for the alleged russian hacking of the u.s. election. the post report directly contradicts repeated claims by the trump administration that such discussions took place, and appears to run afoul of u.s. law. a spokesperson for flynn backed away from past denials, saying, quote, "while had no recollection of discussing sanctions, he couldn't be certain that the topic never came up." japanese prime minister shinzo abe is set to meet with president trump at the white house later today. tomorrow, the pair are scheduled to play golf at the trump international golf club in palm beach, florida. abe will also stay at the trump-owned mar-a-lago resorort. ethics groups say the move to host japan's leader at trump properties is a clear conflict of interest. meanwhile, writers r reported thursday that president trump denounced a treaty limiting -- reuters reported thursday that president trump denounced a treaty limiting u.s. and russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a "bad deal for the united states" during a call with russian president vladimir putin. reuters cited three unnamed officials with knowledge of the january 28th discussion, who said putin asked trump whether he favored extending the new start treaty, which wawas approd in 2010. trump reportedly paused the discussion to ask his aides what the treaty was, before telling putin it was one of several bad deals negotiated by the obama, and that it favored russia. top lawmakers on the housese ovoversight committee will order an ethics review of white house counselor kellyanne conway, after she e used a tv appearance to promote merchandise sold by president trump's daughter, ivanka. conway made the endorsement on thursday morning's edition of "fox and friends". stuffnway: go by ivanka's -- i own some of it. go buy i it today, everyrybody appeared you can find it online. amy: conway's s comment followea tweet from president trump's official government account wednesday blasting the retailer nordstrom for dropping ivanka trump's clothing line from its stores. trump's tweet read, quote "my daughter ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @nordstrom. she is a great person, always pushing me to do the right thing! terrible!" kellyanne conway's tv sales pitch is a clear violation a federal ethics law. the white house said it had "counseled" conway over the endorsement but declined to say , if she would be sanctioned. house oversight committee chair jason chaffetz, a republican from utah, said thursday he'll ask the office of government ethics to recommend conway be disciplined. chaffetz told reporters, quote, "that is absolutely wrong, wrong, wrong. it is over the top." he said about her comments. meanwhile, congressman chaffetz was met with boos, jeers, and pointed questions thursday, as more than a thousand constituents packed a raucous town hall meeting in his salt lake city district. >> we want to hear it -- the law is exempt from the conflictct of interestst clause. amy: crowd members booed as chaffetz took the stage. they chanted, "let them in!" as at least a thousand more people were denied entrance to the packed high school auditorium. protesters demanded that chaffetz launch ethics investigations into president trump and other administration officials over numerous conflicts of interest. other protesters called out chaffetz over his support for selling off public lands in utah and across the southwest. in north dakota, construction crews have resumed work on the final section of the dakota access pipeline, after the trump administration granted an easement to allow energy transfer partners to drill beneath the missouri river. the construction resumed as opponents of the pipeline filed a last-ditch legal challenge in a federal court in washington, d.c. thursday. they're seeking an order halting construction while a separate lawsuit filed by the standing rock sioux tribe proceeds in court. u.s. district judge james boasberg says he'll hear arguments on the motion on monday. in syria, russian airstrikes killed three turkish soldiers and left 11 others injured in what russian militants described the --irstrike against islamic state fighters. the attack came as russian, turkish and syrian government forces advanced on the city of al bab, which is controlled by isis. in south africa, lawmakers traded punches on the floor of parliament thursday, as opposition politicians denounced presidident jacob zuma over charges of corruption, nepotism, and mismanagement of the economy. the scene played out on national televisision as zuma's opponents sought to interrupt his annual "state of the nation" address. and longtime puerto rican independence activist oscar lopez rivera was returned to the island on thursday to serve the remainder of his sentence, which was commuted by outgoing president barack obama. his official date of clemency is may 17. chicago congress member luis gutierrez confirmed thursday that lopez rivera has been moved from a prison in terre haute, indiana. a spokesperson said in a statement that gutierrez had quote "led a small delegation on a flight that originated in indianapolis, routed through charlolotte, and h has landed in juan." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the wawar and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a u.s. circuit court of appeals has unanimously refused to reinstate donald trump's executive order temporararily banning people from seven muslim-majority countries from entering the united states. the ruling came less than two weeks after trump signed the order which sparked protests across the country. the judges wrote quote "the government has pointed to no evidence that any alien from any of the countries named in the order has perpetrated a terrorist attack in the united states." the judg wenent on to sasay "rather than preresent evidenceo explain the need foror the executivive order, the governmet has taken the position that we must not review its decision at all." president trump responded first on twitter by writing a message inin all caps reading: see youon court, the security of our nanation is at stake! trump later briefly spoke e to reporters at the white house. mr. trump: it is a political decision. we have a situation where the security of our country is at stake, and it is a very, very serious situation. >> thanks, guys. mr. trump: this is just a decision that came down, but we wiwill win the ce. amy: t the ruling was a major victory for the state of washington which took trump to court. washington state a attorney general bob ferguson called the ruling a victory for the u.s. -- u.s. constitution. mr. ferguson: we have seen him in court twice, and we are 2-2. that is number one. in my view, the future of the constitution is at stake. that i is at stake as well. and, look, we respect that the president has broad authority when it comes to issuing executive orders, but they still have to follow the constitution. does s have a choice ---- he can cocontinue to fight this, or he can tear up the executive order and start over. counsel -- i would strongly counsel him to continue the letter. amy: the trump administration now has 14 days to ask the full 9th circuit to review the decision or appeal directly to the u.s. supreme court. trump could also rewrite the executive order. washington state solicitor general noah purcell, who argued the case, welcomed the court's decision. mr. purcell: that is with the court has done in this excellent opinion, a reasonable, thoughtful opinion that considered the arguments and rejected them. this is not a partisan issue. the idea that the government doesn't just get to say something is in the national security interest that having to back that up in anyway way when they are violating people's rights. for more, w we are joined by we're joined now by vince warren, the executive director of the center for constitutional rights. the significance of this decision -- mr. warren: it is an extraordinary decision. with president trump trying to jam through these unwanted executive orders -- we were trying to petition the courts to have the final say on what his authority is, and also, the wisdom, veracity, and legality of what he is trying to do. the court took clear positions for which you have talked about, but i think they are significant. the trump administration took the position this order was unreasonable by any federal court anywhere. -- unrnreviewable by any federal court anywhere. that sounds like george bush because when the court said they have the authority, they cited our case, the center for constitutional rights case that went to the supreme court for that very principle. the court did not take on the first amendment claim of whether this was religious them at -- dissemination, but they really did not have to. primararily, the government put forward no evidence at all that was related to terrorism coming from the seven countries. as you pointed out, zero cominge of any people from those countries committing terrorist attacks on u.s. soil. what we do have evidence of his the thousands of people that were negatively affected by this order. in fact, the center for consnstitutional rights filed a challenge with the inspector general of the department of homeland security where we laid out some of these horrible things that were going on. brutalized. children handcuffed, held without food and water for up to 18 hours, thrown back on airplanes, and many people have been trying to see lawyers in airports around the country, and the department of homeland security customs and border's officials refused to let them see that. in a couple of cases, people were forcibly made to sign away their visa rights that have been given by the government in order to be deported. outrageousnd of stuff that happens when this narcissistic president -- amy: what does that mean when that -- when they have to sign a waiver of their visa rights? mr. warren: when you are granted a visa, you are supposed to walk through with the vetting that they have. now it means they are stuck in the airport, they are in detention, and in order to deport them, the custom and border officials made them sign a document that said i renounce the right granted to me under the u.s. government's visa program, and that gives them an out. now that this person has renounced to the visa, we will ship them back on a plane, and a number of people reported this is what happened to them, and that is deeply, deeply troubling. amy: so, now, when the ban has been state, they cannot come back in? mr. warren: it means they can come back in -- amy: even though they waved away -- mr. warrrren: those people havea problem -- they will have to apapply to this s government's e department, which i do not think will allow them to come back in, which is also troubling. one government lets them come back in, another kicks them out and does not let them come back in, even though the policy is now frozen and blocked by a court. amy: during oral allotments, justice department lawyer august flentje question the role of the court in reviewing the president's actions. august flentje: the reason we saw immediate relief and a stay is because of the court -- the district court's decision overrides the national security judgment about the level of risk . we have been talking about the level of risk that is acceptable. as soon as we are having that discussion, it should be acknowledged that the president is the official that is charged with making those judgments. i would also like to -- there you arguing, then president's decision in that regard is unreviewable. yes.t flentje: the -- amy: that was tuesday night. bob ferguson responded to the claim. ferguson: the president has asserted that his actions in signing this executive order are heard thele, and you questions posed by the ninth circuit judges -- the question asked is the view of the justice department apartment that those actions are unreviewable, and after a lengththy pause, the answer was yes. here is what the ninth circuit had to say -- - there is no president to s support this cla, which runs contrary to our fundamental structure of constitutional democracy. amy: that is washington attorney general bob ferguson responded. mr. warren: the trip administration took that position for -- trumpet administration took that position for two reasons.. he is up the first president to take thahat position. the second reason they took it is because there was no there there. they knew with the courts reviewed the evidence they were putting forth, which was nothing, the courts would be n waslled to rule this ba not based on useful evidence. we have a regime on vetting that has been heightened by congress. the courts were asked what has changed or what is different ,hat makes this type of ban which is more to come in, and unconstitutional, what has changed to make it different, and they do not have an answer. it is the significant view that a state has now asserted in federal court that what the president says, just because he says it does not mean everyone has to abide by it. people can interrogate the question. it is significant. cannote ruling notes we rely on the government's contention the executive order relies to lawful residence. moreover, in light of the government's shifting interpretations of the executive order, we cannot say that the current interpretation by white house counsel, even if authororitative and bindnding, l persist past the immediate stage of these proceedings." vince warren how do you , interpret this? court is sending a clear message that the evidence put forth by the government, as well as the different things -- you basically cannot trust it. when courts say we cannot rely on an assertion, that essentially means we cannot trust what you are saying to be true to rely on it to build a ruling in your favor. what we had here is a blanket ban. they walked that back. various departmental officials started issuing communiques -- the ban does not apply to permanent residence. they were ththrowing lawful residents out of the country at the same time administration was saying they should come in. it is the veracity of the administration that is at stake. a good friend of mine from the bay area saidid the problem is t so much radical islamicic terrororism, the problem is radicacal, narcissistic presidency, and that is with the course -- and we are all feeling that. a president that is so erratic, throwing things together, cannot possibly be linchpins around which we will build democratic values. they have to be pushed back, sanction, and they were. amy: so, where does this go from here? far be it for you to say what president trump is going to do, but what are the paths he can take -- he said "see you i i court." there are a couple they can take. one isis when they move for the emergency order to get rid of the block for the ban, they also filed an appeal in the ninth circuit court of appeals. he could continue to argue that appeal in the ninth circuit. amy: the complete ninth circuit, which is what, 27, 28 districts? mr. warren: it is a large number of judges, and you have to apply to get that kind of hearing. that process could take a long time, and while that is happening, the ban is still in effect. amy: the ban is not in effect. mr. warren: i'm sorry, the ban is not in effect, and he runs the risk of having it in play during the whole period. he can take it to the supreme court. i am not a heading man when it comes -- betting man learned comes to this president, but when you are tweeting in all caps, that seems like where it is going, and the supreme court can hear the case and decide whether they want to overturn or not. eventually, if he loses the case, it goes back down to the district court where they have an actual hearing. amy: the district court's judge robart. robart in: judge seattle. there are a number of options. it is s hard to say where they e going to go, but it is clear the administration is on the back foot here. amy: that is involved in this case. there are other cases in courts, like one in virginia, in massachusetts -- what happens with those. mr. warren: those cases are proceeding, and they are waiting to see what happens here. bart put a blanket stay on the ban. other courts are waiting to see what happens. if it turns out this stay gets overturned for some reason, other courts can m move in with different theories, different sets of facts, and we might be able to see this all over again in different courts. amy: what about donald trump's comments about the judges, calling robart a so-called judge, and i in the midst, as ty are deliberating, -- deliberating, talking about the proceedings been disgraceful, and now we hear one judge needs more security because of threats? mr. warren: it is troubling, and it is disgraceful that the president of the united states democraticde by a process that has been around in this country for over 20200 yea. it also, frankly, smacks off authoritarianismsm. when you look back at regimes that have come to power, one of the things they do is try to make people afraid. this whole muslim terrorism thing is a tool to get people to be afraid. the next thing they do is attack the e press. the next thing they do is attack the courts. that is what we are e seeing he. -yearis not over a third regime. this is over 21 days. this is really problematic. the biggest threat we have is how this president operates within our democratic principles. amy: and the reports that judge goresuch said, talking about the attacks on judges is being demoralizing and disheartening -- it is not -- although president trump said this was a lie, this press spokesperson, sean spicer -- his own transition team guide said he made these comments. mr. warren: it is significant for a couple of reasons. i am not a fan of neil gorsuch. if he is confirmed, and goes to supreme court, it will be bad news for a lot of things we care about. one of the things about all federal judges, particularly conservative judges, they do have a sense of decorum and process. we found this in the bush administration when we were doing cases on guantanamo. there are certain things that even conservative judges cannot abide -- unfortunately, they care less about people's bodies and people's lives, but they care more about the decorum of the democratic principlples and the role of the judiciary. i am not surprised neil gorsusuh said those things and feels those things, and even as we e o through four years, no matter what number of republican judges the administration puts in, he will have this problem. amy: quickly, what has not gotten the attention, because this is so major, the continuation of the stay on the muslim than, thursday, president trump site three new executive order -- one seeks to increase penalties on those found guilty of assaulting police officers. a second direct law-enforcement agencies to increase intelligence sharing while going after drug cartels, and a third directs the attorney general to prioritize illegal immigration along g drug trafficking and violent crimes. mr. warren: those executive orders are out of the national fraternal order of pololice plplaybook. the sum total of those orders means massive new resource is going to law enforcement on the federal, state, and local level. the order that has to do with police officers that you were mentioning really is the beginnings of what we are calling a blue lives matter regime. we have seen this in states where there are increased penalties -- criminal penalties for assaulting, sometimes even insulting police officers, built on the idea that if you are black, gay, or a woman, that someone us all to it is worse, and there should be -- if worse, us all to it is we are seeing that for police officers and i it does not make sense. one of the visit of ororders you mentioneisis the attororney general is to look at crime reduction -- crime is not going up. it has not been going up for 30, 40 years. the other part of the executive order was talking about restoring public safety, as if we do not have public safety now. you pointed this out -- the attorney general has to look at rising crime in three areas -- drug trafficking, violent crimes, and illegal immigration. this is the first time i have seen the status of being undocumented looked at as a crime that has to be reduced through enhanced punishment, through enhanced things like that.. that is a big problem we need to keep our eye on. amy: and that is it we're going to look at next -- a woman whoho in t the midst of all of this hs lived here for 21 years, mom of two american-born children in arizona was deported yesterday. we will speak to her husband. vince warren, thank you for being with us. we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break] migrating birds. the mother of two u.s. born children was at the center of immigration fright -- fight in arizona has been deported to mexico. guadalupe garcia de rayos was arrested and detained wednesday during a routine check-in with immigration officials. she had been living g in the united states for the past 21 years, but had been arrested in 2008 during a raid on a water park in maricopa county, and convicted of a felony for using forged documents in order to get a job. advocates say her arrest signals a clclear shshift by the t trump administrationon to deport p pee who considered a "low-priority" -- are considered a "lowow-priority" for removal unr president obobama. an executive order issued during the first week of his presidency vastly expanded those facing removal to include anyone found guilty of any offense, as well as accused of crcrimes, but not convicteted. speakiking from mexico on thursdayay, she said problems started with the infamous sheriff joe arpaio, a longtime supporter of trump. >> arpaio. >> arpaio, arpaio -- i was the victim of former county s sherif joe arpaio. after following through with the process, all was good. i was given permission, was working, andnd every thihing was going well. then the f felonies came back ad made me a criminal. for them, ima, no. the simple fact that i worked made me a criminal to them. i do not think that it is just.. >> imagine that i underwent a checkup every year, and they wait and see that everything is od, and ththen they say no. they cannot give me permission, ththat i will be arrested. they practically took away my rights that i had. rapiduadalupe garcia's deportation after a routine check-in comes as thousands of immigrants around the countryy face similar check-ins. on wednesday, hundreds protested her removal by surrounding the van carrying her away from the immigration office where she was taken into custody. one man locked himself to the wheels of the van while others blblockaded it with ththeir bod. >> stop the kidnapping -- not i'm h here, -- i'm m here becaue today is her mom,m, tomororrow t may be my momom. - the trump administratition [indiscernible] he i is not going to stop. we have to stop. amy: for more we go to phoenix where we are joined by aaron rayos, husband of guadalupe garcia de rayos who was just deported to mexico. who was just deported. his wife, guadalupe had been living in the united states for two decades, and leaves behind two teenage children who were born here. and we are joined by francisca porchas, the organizing director or puente arizona, a grass-roots human-rights movement for migrant justice. she live-streamed the protests on wednesday as people attempted to prevent the deportation. -- the deportation van from moving forward. we welcome both of you to democracy now! aaron rayos --h tell us your thoughts, where your wife is, , where your children are. : my wife and children are at the border of mexico. you describe what happened on wednesday -- how does this you describe what happened on wednesday -- how does this all go down? mr. rayos: she went for a regular check in with ice. she has been doing this for the past eight years, every year, a letter of, say ok, you have not been anything wrong with the law. just come back in a year. so, last wednesday, what happened is she went to a regular check-in, and they decided to arrest my wife because under the new trump administration, with his new laws that he has signed, it is a priority now according to his new executive orders. amy: i mean, this was incredibly fast. arrested when she voluntarily went -- she went for her annual check in. she was arrested, and she w was supported the next day. yes, that is what they did to my wife. this is just shock for me. mean, i haveuse, i no words for it. it is just unbelievable. francisca porchas. you live stream this whole thing, but work on this every day. onlain what were the grounds which she was taken after being here for 21 years. ms. porchas: she has a felony conviction. let she said in her interview, she is a victim of arpaio. arpaio, for a long time, terrorized, and colluded with a racist county prosecutor, county attorney here, bill montgomery, who decided to give felonies, 6, to some of these folks caught in a workplace raids. he d deported almost 700 people, did almost 90 raids. she is technically priority because she is a felony conviction. president obama stated it was felons over families, which we disagreed with, so it is a well-oiled machine that president obama built, and now trump is operarating at 100 mils an hour. so, can you explain what happened years ago -- when she was arrested, eight or seven years ago -- what will she arrested for at work? it was a workplace raid. theporchas: arpaio went to place she worked and pick up a lot of people because they were working without proper documentation. butwasn't physically there, he demanded the paperwork of people working there without papers. it was a house raid. they showed up at her house early in the morning and took her. it was traumatizing for the entire family. she spent a few months in detention and fought to be able to stay in this country. the case remained open. many people whose cases are open right now, some people who have closed cases are going to be reopened. e asked her to come back every single year to check in just to show that she was not fleeing, so when she shows up this year, the eighth year, she was told she could no longer go out on her own reconnaissance and continue to check in. she was going to be apprehended and put on deportation proceedings. we did a lot of work advocating for her. we reached out to senator mccain, congressional leaders, the mayor of her city. they all reached out. even the tactics that had worked under president obama with pressure from republicans and democrats did not work for her, even though she is one of the most "sympathetic" immigrant cases. amy: so, can you describe what you found -- what you live streamed, the protests, and what happened to the protesters that attempted to stop the van she was in? ms. porchas: we knew they were going to take her out. when they apprehended her, we knew they would take her out to that is a processing center -- not a joke. she could not spend the night. we were waiting -- not a jail. she could not spend the night. we were waiting at every door. they close the office, and around 8:00 p.m. is when we saw a bus try to come out of the front doors, and because we know ice, and have been doing this a long time -- we knew it was a decoy, it was not the bus she would be coming out of and it was a distraction. nononetheless, her children anda lot of folks sat down to block the bus, so we knew it was probably the other door, and many rushed to the back door where a van was leaving. folks immediately put their bodies in front of that van and in the back of the van so it would not back up, and started chanting. we could see flashing lights inside of thean and realilize she e was in the b back of the . we chanted, rallied around her. i think, more than anything, we wanted to ensure through the lilive strtreaming thatt we were to get this message out. right now,, we need people to rise up across the country. we saw a beautiful manifestation of thihis across airirports a ce of weeks ago, and now is when our people, the people considered undeservingng, the pelele that have felony convictions, any type of criminal records, are going to be sought after. more than anything, we wanted to get them out to the general public, and we saw yesterday people rise up -- and we hope people do this across the coununtry. wife left rayos, your mexico when she was 14 years old. how old are your two children now question mr. rayos: --now? mr. rayos: my son is 16, and my daughter is 14. amy: can you talk about the effect on you, and the effect on them? off, like first francisca mentioned, we were victims of arpaio in 2008. it was sad to see my son, in 2008, when arpaio's officers went to my house -- i was not there. around eights years old, he saw how his mom was taken away from him, handcuffed. that is traumatizing for a kid that is eight years old that does not know what is going on. why is police going into a house and took their mom away? i mean, it is really frustrating. we have been suffering a lot, and now we are suffering -- now we are victims of trump. it is traumatizing for our kids. we think of our kids, not just of ourselves, our kids, and all it is affecting. they will not have trust for police because what is going on now with police officers, the sheriff, ice. it is creating fear for our teenagers. amy: i wanted to go out with your children's voices who are now with your wife. the teenage daughter and son reacting to the deportation of their mother. fightinging to keep on for my keep on fighting for m my mom and otother familieses going through the same thing. this is unfair, and it is really sad. >> i want her back, right in arms, over here. where she belongs. she belongs with us. we're going to keep on fighting. we are not going to stop. amy: that is jacqueline and angel garcia talking about their mother. thank you for being with us. frfrancisca porchas is the -- and aaron rayos. this is democracy now. when we come back -- a bowling green massacre -- not the one kellyanne conway talked about, but what about another one? stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "swing low sweet chariot." this is democracy now, , the war and peace report, i'm amy goodman. we and the show with a bowowling green mamassacre -- not the attk manufactured by counseloror kellyanne conway, but a an extremist attacked in bowling green, ohio. an fbi raid uncovered assault rifles, body armor, and ammunition amassed by the suspect to prosecutors later determinined was planning to cay outt mass kikillings. radicalect is not a muslim -- he is a white supremacist. his name is richard schmidt. wasral authorities say he planning targeted attacks on african-americans and jews. ofestigators found the lists names to be assassinated. he was sentenced to less than six years in prison after a federal judge said prosecutors had failed to adequately establish he was a political terrorist. his case is not the only one involving terror threats by a white supremacist that received little coverage by mainstream media. on monday, the trial of was -- heminister -- was traveling to kill using a machete. he saw himself as a religious warrior, and wanted to kill muslims to show his cocommitment to his christian god. his trial began on the same day that the president falsely claimed during a speech to u.s. central command at macdill air force base in florida that the media is intentionally covering up terrorist attacks. president trump: we have seen what has happened in paris, nice , all over europe -- it is happening. it has gone to the point where it is not t being reported, , an many caseses, the very, very dishonest press is not reporting it. amy: coming to our next guests, the cases that the press is ignoring are not those involving muslim terrorists, but those of white supremacists and white nationalists committing hate crimes and planning attacks on muslims, jews, african-americans and other marginalized communities. california, a.c. thompson is a journalist with propublica, where he is a team leader for a project that documents hate crimes, bias incidents, and racial extremists. and join us here in new york, a columnist for "the daily beast he highlighted richard schmidt's case in his article "when the government really did fear a bowling green massacre - from a white supremacist." and dean obeidallalah is a columnist for ththe daily beastt and host of the "dean obeidallah show" on sirius xm radio. he's written several times about robert doggart, most recently in the article, "the terror trial we're really ignoring." a scene thompson --a.c. thompson we begin with you -- the bowling green massacre you are writing about. hadthompson: richard smith -- richard schmidt had spent years in the army. he got into a street altercation and killed three people, a man named anthony torres. 13 years in prison. when he got out of prison, he was banned from owning firearms. despite that, he amassed a rifles,arsenal, assault shotguns, pistols, 40,000 rounds of ammunition, body armor. the federal government found out about his arsenal, basically by accident. they were investigating a counterfeit sports good ring. he had a business selling schmaltz -- sports memorabilia, and they traced packages of counterfeit nfl jerseys to his businesses in bowling green, and when they got there they found something much more worrisome than counterfeit goods. they found a huge arsenal or and by a felon who was not allowed to have guns, the more worrisome than that, what they found was a membership card for the national alliance, a white supremacist group linked to more than 200 murders, and an indication that he was associate with a neo-nazi skinhead group that is active in ohio and around the country. they believe he was plotting to kill a series of people in ohio and michigan, videotape the killings, and then email them to follow white supremacists. amy: so, when you heard about the bowling green massacre that kellyanne conway was talking about, that in fact did not exist and she repeated over and over again in different interviews -- your thoughts? mr. thompson: look, people make mistakes in public speaking, i could make one right now, but what is worrisome about the bush administration, -- the trump administration, excuse me -- or seems to be in ephesus on one type of terrorism, one type of crime, -- there seems to be in an emphasis on one type of terrorism, one type of crime, islamic radicals, when in fact we have white nationalist, extreme religious fundamentalists, that have been committing tribes in this country for decades. slate documented nearly 40 of these types of incidents since the oklahoma city bombing, and you could make a much, much longer list. in ohio, around the same time mr. schmidt was going to trial, there was another incident where a gentleman was angry about something he saw on fox news, went to a mosque in west toledo, ohio, said it on fire, that $1.4 million damage to the mosque, and that case is another one that has gotten very little attention.n. amy: dean obeidallah, you look at the list that president trump put out of terrorist attacks -- all of them muslim, none of them involving muslim victims. talk about it. mr. obeidallah: the game plan during the primaries was to drum up fears for muslims, in addition to latinos, immigrants, and demonizing women and disabled. we are not done that as president he would continue the game plan of trying to divide our country by saying muslims are a danger, and now i will lie to you. the only threat out there are muslims. that is the same argument he made when that trial began in tennessee. a man who plotted to come to new muslims inand kill african-american community. amy: that trial is going on right now. mr. obeidallah: it is they four, day five of the trial. that is not the only case -- we have a man sentenced to 30 years radioactiver building weapons to kill muslims. he was a member of the ku klux klan. in september, three men called the crusaders, as in christian crusaders, plotting to kill muslim somali refugees in kansas. this week, a man that burned down a mosque in orlando, a hate crime that had prior convictions. there are people that want to kill me because i am muslim in my community. donald trump does not talk about that. amy: what about quebec? mr. obeidallah: in quebec, a man who was at least in social media a supporter of donald trump, walk into a mosque, scores wounded, not one tweet about that. he tweets more about nordstrom then these people being killed. he will tweet about a man in paris he takes a machete out. radical islam -- france is afraid again. i have seen what third-world dictators do. he is mimicking that. you have the reporter making the same point -- i see it another way -- it is bone chilling, scary. our community feels alone. thankfully we have other people standing with us. amy: is the justice department tracking white supremacist attacks? i assume they: are charged to -- there is the executive decision to reprioritize asset. i had a meeting. i said loretta lynch told us that she stands with the muslim community, and he said that she is a high-ranking political appointee, he said we don't stand with anyone. we stand with the law. in the context of my question, that was bone chilling. amy: dean obeidallah and a.c. thompson, thank you for being with us. we will continue the conversation and posted online. that does it for our broadcast. that does it for our broadcast. i'm amy annenberg media ♪