Speak with a 13 year old who saw ice officials detain her father as he was taking her to school. And then we look at the mystery behind russias role in the 2016 u. S. President ial election. The president of the United States is accusing the former president of wiretapping him. I think this is something if this happened if, if. Trump accusesent president obama of wiretapping him, the fbi director james comey takes the unusual to have of asking the Justice Department to refute trumps unsubstantiated claim. We will have a debate. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Fbi director james comey is asking the justicece departmento publicly refute President Trumps unsubstantiated claims that former president obama ordered trumps phones be wiretapped during the 2016 president ial campaign. Fbi director james comey president obama, and others have , all rejected trumps allegations, which he first made during a tweet storm on saturday morning. Trump began by tweeting terrible just found out that obama had my wires tapped in trump tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is mccarthyism he then went on to tweet how low has president obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is nixon watergate. Bad or sick guy trump has called for a congressional investigatation ad the white house is standing by the allegations, even though it has not been provided evidence to back them up. This is trump Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaking to Martha Raddatz on abcs tthis week on sunday. Look, i i think hes going of of information he is saying that has led him to believe that this is a very real potential. And if it is, this is ththe greatest overreach and ththe greatest abuse of f power that i think we h have ever seen and a attack on n democracy itself. The American People have a right to know if this took place. Amy it appears the information trump Spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders is referring to is a breitbart article e that has been n rculad within the white house. The e article draws on a t thury report by the far right wing radio host mark levin, who claimed without evidence that obama submitted a request to the secret fisa court to tap trumps phones at trump tower. Both democratic and republican lawmakers, including florida senator marco ruruo, say theyve seen no evidence supporting these claims. This is California Democratic congresswoman nancy pelosi. This is it is called a rap up smear. Make up something and then have the press write about it, then say everybody is writing about this charge. It is a tool of an authoritarirn to just have you always be talking about what you want them to be talking about. Amy the intercept reports that as presesident of the unitd states, trump p has the power to declassify surveillance records. Meaning, if his wiretapping claims were true, he could prove it immediately. Trumps wiretapping claims come amid continued scrutiny over trumump associates communinicas with r russian during the 201616 campaign. On friday, attorney general Jeff Sessions said he will address lawmakers questions about his communications with russias ambassador last year. All nine Democratic Senators on the Senate Judiciary committee have asked Committee ChairmanChuck Grassley to bring sessions back for another hearing, amid allegations he lied under oath in his first testimony. The wall street journal is reporting sessions used Trump Campaign funds for the trip to the Republican National convention where he spoke with , the russian ambassador. Sessssions has recused himself from the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 president ial campaign. The Washington Post reports trump was furious that sessions recused himself. On tuesday, the Senate Judiciary committee will hold confirmation hearing for Rod Rosenstein for Deputy Attorney general, who if confirmed, would takake over the investigation. We will have more on trump, russia and the wiretapping , claims later in the broadcast. The Trump Administration is continuiuing further meaeasureso crackdown against immigration and immigrants currently living in the United States. Reuters is reporting the department of Homeland Security is considering a new proposal to separate mothers from their children if they are caught trying to cross the border together. Currently, families are detained together and are supposed to be released from detention relatively quickly, after which they can continue living in the United States while their deportation or asylum case is processed. But under the new proposal, families would be separated, mothers would be detained, and their children would be placed temporarily in the custody of the department of health and Human Services. The consideration of the proposal comes as federal immigration agents continue to detain people nationwide, including in los angeles where last week ice agents tore a 13yearold girl away from her father, who was detained by ice agents as he was driving her to school. On saturday, mexico opened Legal Centers at all 50 consulates across the United States in efforts to defend mexicans from trumps deportation crackdown. A landmark classaction lawsuit is accusing forprofit Prison Company geo group of violating federal antislavery laws by forcing tens of thousands of detained immigrants to work for free or for as little as 1 a day. The lawsuit was first filed in 2014 and won classaction status last week. It accuseses geo group of f forg people detained at t the denver contract detention facility to work without pay to clean the facility or face solitary confinement if they refuse. It also accuses geo group of breaking colorados minimum wage laws by paying only 1 a day for other work carried out by prisoners inside the jail. Geo group owns and operates the Denver Detention Center under a contract with ice. President trump is expecteted to issue a new executive order tempmporarily banning all refugees, as well as people from six majority muslim countries, from entering the United States. The New York Times reports the new ban would apply to people from syria, sudan, iran, somalia, libya, and yemen, but not people from iraq. Iraqis were included in trumps first muslim travel ban, which was blocked by the courts in february amid massive nationwide protests. Unlike the first ban, the new executive order is also not expected to apply to people from thesese countries wiwith green s or who already have a visa. In california, a federal court in santa ana is slated to hold a hearing today on the case of an afghan couple and their children, who lawyers say were detained illegally at the Los Angeles International airport tuesday and have since been held without justification. Lawyers say customs and Border Protection agents detained the couple and their young children, including their eightmonth old infant, even though they all had valid visas to enter the United States. The International RefugeeAssistance Center says the family received special immigrant visas because the father had worked for the u. S. Government in afghanistan. After reportedly being detained in isolation without access to lawyers, the family was then separated and sent to separate detention facilities where they remain incarcerated. In kent, washington, police are investigating the shooting of a 39yearold sikh man, who was cleaning his car in his driveway friday when a man approached, began calling him names, told him go home to your country, and then pushed him to the ground and shot him in the arm. The man is a u. S. Citizen originally from punjab, india. He survived the attack, which police are investigating as a possible hate crime. E. In oklahoma, three Muslim Students were asked to fill out an islamophobic questionnaire while trying to meet with an oklahoma lawmaker at the State Capitol last thursday. The council on americanislamic relations says questions reflected intentionally distorted ideas about islam, including one that read the koran, the sunna of mohammed and sharia law of all schools say that the husband can beat his wife. Do you beat your wife . The students were seeking to meet with Oklahoma State congressmember john bennett, who in 2014 called islam a cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out. The new york titimes reports over the last six weeks, the Trump Administration has rolled back more than 90 regulations that benefit wall street banks, gun sellers, coal, oil and gas companies, and other corporations. The times calls the rollback one of the most significant shifts in regulatory policy in recent decades. In many cases, the regulatory rollbacks have come after the direct requests of lobbyists or trade industry groups. Trumps administration is expected to continue eliminating more regulations in the coming days and weeks, including rolling back rules that limit car pollution. Small crowds turned out for a nationwide day of protrump demonstration saturday at many of the estimated 28 protest, the program demonstrators were met by counter protesters will stop in berkeley, california, clashes broke out between antifascist protesters in the protrump protesters, some of whom showed up armed with knives and batons and wearing helmets and gas masks. In new york city, about 40 protrump demonstrators rallied their trump tower. There is a lot of misinformation going around. All of Donald Trumps speeches and rallies. Everything i hear afterwards is so washed up that is why i like he reaches to the people directly, whether be through twitter or doing three rallies a day when he was campaigning. There is so much information going on. They are clearly rooted for one side. If you actually follow his intentions, there is no racism or fascism. Just a guy concern for his country. Amy the pentagon is r ramping p military in yemen. On thursday and friday, ththe u. Carrieied out more than 30 airstrikes. Thats compared to 36 airstrikes the u. S. Carried out in all of 2016 in yemen. The pentagon says the strikes were targeting al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. They come after a botched ground raid on a yemeni village in january left 25 civilians and one u. S. Navy seal dead. The United Nations special rapporteur on torture has accused the Mexican Police forces of widespread use of torturure, including sexual violence, electric shocks, beatings, and asphyxiation. The new report says the torture is routinely used to gain confessions s and says the practice is part of the widespread impunity y in mexico. The state of arkansas is plananning to execute 8 8 men wn a 10day period in april, which would be an unprecedented rate of executions in modern u. S. History. Arkansas has suspended executions since 2005, amid challenges in acquiring lethal injection drugs and lawsuits over the drugs used. Arkansas says it is rushing the executions because the States Supply of the sedative midazazom will soon expire. The drug has been linked to painful, botched executions in alabama and other states. In january, an ohio judge ruled ohios lethal injection process was unconstitutional because of its use of midazolam. And a new United Nations report has criticized the United States government over itits handlilinf the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which has faced massive resistance from the Standing Rock sioux tribe of north dakota, as well as members of hundreds of other native american nations. The report says the u. S. Government had failed to communicate with and consult the native americans and showed a lack of good faith involvement. The report was delivered to state Department Officials on friday. On saturday, protesters rallied at Columbus Circle in new york city to oppose the pipeline, which is currently in the final stages of construction following the Trump Administrations approval. This is isha rancho. I think it is especially meaningful to be here. I was born and raised in new york. Every time i pass it, it reminds me how much we blatantly love to rub it in the faces of our Indigenous People that this land is stolen. Im here at the protest because, you know, the fight is not over. A lot of people think it has been finished for weeks or months, but it is not over. We are still protesting in solidarity. It is our duty to win in our duty to keep fighting. Amy a correction to an earlier headline, the wall street journal was reporting that Jeff Sessions used his own Senate Reelection campaign funds, not Trump Campaign funds, to travel to the Republican NationalConvention Last summer. We will have more on sessions, russia, trump claims about wiretapping later in the broadcast. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. We turn now to look at a department of f homeland securiy proposal to radically shift how federal agents treatat undocumented families, including asylum seekers, who attempt to enter the country. Reuters is reporting dhs is considering a propososal to separate mothers from their children if they are caught trying to cross the border together. Under the plan, mothers would be held in custody while children separate mothers from their would initially be placed in the custody of the d department of health and Human Services. Amy texas congressman democrat Henry Cuellar criticized the new proposal. He said bottom line separating mothers and children is wrong. That type of thing is where we depart from Border Security and get into violating human rights. We go now to los angeles where we are joined by marielena hincapie, executive director, National Immigration law center. So this is a proposal, we understand, that is being floated by the department of Homeland Security. Separating mothers from their children. Can you tell us what you understand . Invitation. For the yes, this is a proposal, which means we can still try our best to stop this. This really amounts to state sanctioned violence against children, against families coming to the United States to seek safety. Everything is a administration ofht now is such a lack transparency. We do not have details, except with the media is reporting. Reuters is reporting that there is a proposal based on some meetings that ice has held starting early february. There were some notes from that that have been shared with both msnbc and reuters. Most recently, the reuters reporter was able to confirm with attorneys of the department of Homeland Security this is very much part of her proposal they are seriously considering. Purposeat would be the of separating me mothers from the children that accompany them . Decides cruelty and inhumanity and inflicting emotional psychological trauma . I think it is deterrence. We saw this even under the Obama Administration and the Trump Administration clearly has begun wanting to show that immigrants are not welcome here. Even immigrants were seeking referee refuge. We will callwhat the states proposal if it becomes a final policy. At the deterrence approach has been a failed approach. He cannot deter a mother from making the difficult decision of trying to save her childrens lives. Any mother, any parent will do that. And no wall, no level of detention is ever going to stop that. Amy can you explain exactly how it would work . Mother, putake the her in jail, and what would they do with the children . , again, we dont have that he tells yet. But what we understand that is being proposed is, yes, the family units would first be detained. They would be detained when they arrive at the border. Lets remember these are called currently three family Detention Centers, two in texas and one in pennsylvania. These are jails. These are families been put in jail. The children are sent to health and Human Services facilit