Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20170213

President whwho has intrododucea bill t to make calififornia a sancnctuary state. Probably half of my family would be eligible for deportation under the executive order. Amy and we will speak to the head of the new york immigration coalition. First, hundreds of fast food workers plan to converge today on the corporate offices of labor secretary nominee, fast food ceo Andrew Puzder. We will speak to a guest from the restaurant opportunity united group, a former employee at one of puzders rerestaurant, carls jr. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Immigration officials have arrested more than 600 people across the u. S. In the last week. The arrests in at least 11 states including california, new , york, georgia, north carolina, south carolina, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, missouri, and wisconsin have spread fear among immigrants and their advocates. It is not clear if ice, or immigration and customs enforcement, is continuing routine operations or stepping up its deportations in line with President Trumps policies. On sunday, trump tweeted the crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers others are being removed heat tweeted he tweeted. The department of Homeland Security has said the arrests are routine practice. In new york city, ice satsts tht says that it has arrested at least 40 people over the last week. The raids in new york city come despite the fact that nyc mayor bill de blasio has insisted new york city is a sanctuary city. On saturday, hundreds protested the new York Police Departments broken windows policing strategy, under which the Police Target and arrest people for lowlevel offenses, funneling people into a process that can result in deportation. Under President Trumps Public Safety executive order, immigrants face deportation if charged with a crime, even if they are never convicted. Black alliance for just immigration addressing mayor bill de blasio at the protest saturday. He has to get his house in order if he really wants a section where he city, a freedom city, where we can feel free to walk around our own communities without feeling like i did something wrong, just existing, where we do not have to make little mistakes that ruin the rest of our lives. Amy at a march after the protest, Police Arrested five protesters, charging four with crossing against a steady red light and one with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, one of 170 offenses the nypd cooperates with federal immigration authorities on,. We will have more on the immigration raids later in the broadcast. Senior white house policy adviser Stephen Miller repeated President Trumps lies abobout widespread voter fraud in the 2016 election during an interview w with Abcs George Stephanopoulos sunday. He falsely claimed thousands of people were bussed to New Hampshire to vote, a claim that has been widely debunked, including by New Hampshires New Hampshires former Republican Attorney general. Trumps other lies about voter fraud have also been widely debunked. In a separate interview with cbs program face the nation, also sunday, miller said the white house will fight to reinstate trumps travel ban and that trumpps authority will not be questioned. The end result of this is that our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country a very substantial and will not be questioned. Amy the suspension of trumps travel ban was unanimously upheld by a federal Appeals Court on thursday. The administration now seems divided on whether and when to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. A white house official told Media Outlets friday the administration wouldnt immediately challenge the Appeals Court ruling, but only an hour later, chief of staff Reince Priebus said the white house might appeal the ruling. Trump also said he might sign a new executive order to crackdown to ban immigration from some majority muslim countries. It is said the new executive order might include extreme vetting. Many have criticized it as an ideological test. North korea a tested a ballistic mimissile sunday, spsparking widespreadad condemnation from south korerea, china, japan, russia, the europeanan union, nato, and the unUnited States. It is a violalation of the unitd nations resolution. It was a successful launch of an intermediate range missile or the council will hold an urgent consultation monday in response to the launch. The test came trump hosted abe hosted japanese Prime Minister shinzo abe over ththe weekend at the trumpowned maralalago resort in palm bea, florida. The two also played golf at thte Trump International golf club. Ethics gros say the move to host japans leader at Trump Properties is a clear confnflict of interest. Thousands of people rarallied nationwide saturday in s support of p planned parenthood and efforts to counter the planned antiplanned penthood rallies to it opponents said they organize more than 100 rallies in more than 40 stateses for saturday, but in multitiple cities, when they the antitiplanned pararenthooood prototesters showed up, theyey e met by even largrger crowds of people who support the organization. In denver, as mamany as 6000 fro planned parenthood people rallied, compared to only about 250 to 400 evil who rallied to demanding defunding of land parenthood 250 to 450 people who rallied to demand defunding. Of United Nations majority victims last week were women and children. The deadliest strikes were on thursday and friday, when as many as 18 civilians of majority women and children were killed. Thouousands of mexicans marchehn mexico city on sunday to denounce President Trump and his plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants from the United States. This is mexican writer hector aguilar. Insane. That he is allcans have said no to that he is done, and we are against the wall and deportations and all that he is doing to mexicans, acting as if they are enemies. There are families who have been very affected. Children do not want to go to school. It is like a ghetto environment. Amy y in north dakota, military veterans have begun returning to Standing Rock to support the fight to stop the construction of the 3. 8 billion Dakota Access pipeline, which was approved by the army corps of engineers last week. Water protectors say there are an increasing number of helicopters and bureau of Indian Affairs agents policing the resistance camps. The guardian reports multiple agents from the fbis joint terrorism taskforce have been attempting to contact water protectors, sparking concerns the fbi may be investigating the indigenousled movement as a form of domestic terrorism. Civil rights lawyer Lauren Reagan said, the idea that the government would attempt to construe this indigenousled Nonviolent Movement into some kind of domestic terrorism investigation is unfathomable to me. It is outrageous, unwarranted and its unconstitutional. , water protectors are organizing an indigenous womens gathering for next weekend, february 18 and 19, at the main Oceti Sakowin resistance camp. Meanwhile, activists in bellingham, washington, shut down interstate 5 on saturday as a protest against the Dakota Access pipeline. In california, more than 180,000 people evacuated their homes after erosion caused damage to the spillway at the nations tallest dam on sunday, prompting fears of potential flooding. The oroville dam is about 75 miles north of sacramento. Its already filled after a season of heavy rainfall. On sunday, officials realized the emergency spillway was eroding, prompting a mandatory evacuation for several counties around the dam. At least six new england patriot players now say they wont visit the white house for the traditional super bowl celebration as a protest against President Trump. Defensive end chris long, running back legarrette blount, defensive tackle alan branch, linebacker donta hightower, safety devin mccourty, and tight end Martellus Bennett are all boycotting the visit. Meanwhile, seahawk defensive end Michael Bennett and Miami Dolphins wide receiver kenny stills have pulled out of an israeligovernment sponsored trip to israel next week. In an open letter ththat referenced muhammad ali and quoted olympmpian john carlos, bennett said, when i do go to israel, and i do plan to go, it will be to see not only israel but also the west bank and gaza so i can see how the palestinians, who have called this land home for thousands of years, live their lives. President trump is meeting with israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week in washington. Trump is also meeting the canadian Prime Minister today at the white house. Yale University Says it will rename the residential dorm Calhoun College, named after former Vice President john c. Calhoun, one of the most prominent proslavery figures in american history. The announcement comes after years of organizing and protests led by students of color. On saturday, Yale University president Peter Salovey said, john c. Calhouns legacy as a white supremacist and a National Leader who passionately promoted slavery as a positive good fundamentally conflicts with yales mission and values. Over the summer, a Yale University dishwasher broke a stained glass window at Calhoun College addicting smiling enslaved africans carrying bales of cotton. Here he is speaking about the window and his protest on democracy now i noticed it was a picture that, as soon as you look at it, it just hurts, like, oh, man. Here in the 21st century, you know, we are in a modern era. We should not have to be subjected to those primitive and degrading images. Amy the residential dorm, formally known as Calhoun College, will be renamed for grace murray hopper, a groundbreaking Computer Scientist and yale alum. And last night were the 59th annual grammy awards. British singer adele won a total of five awards, including album of the year for 25 even though many had expected beyonce to win the nights top award for her wildly popular album, lemonade. Even adele said beyonce should broke herhe award and grammy in half while on stage. Beyonce did win two awards for best music video and best urban contemporary album. She was the first of the night to speak about politics in her acceptance speech. Important it is for me to show images to my shoulder and so they can grow up in the world and look in the and see their families, the super bowl, olympics, the white house,e, and the grammys, and see themselves and havave no dodoubt t that they are beautif, intelligent, and capable. Amy other artists also spoke about politics throughout the night, including Michael Jacksons daughter paris jackson, who mentioned the Dakota Access pipeline protests. So much. K you we can really use this kind of excitement at a pipeline protest, guys. Nodapl. Amy meanwhile, j lo quoted a Toni Morrison essay. Actress laverne cox spoke about High School Student gavin grimms fight for the right to use the bathroom that matches his gender identity, a reference that came only two days after the Trump Administration said it was dropping a challenge to a federal injunction prohibiting grimm and other transgender students from having the right use the bathroom that corresponds to their identity. Katy perry wore a planned parenthood pin and an armband reading persist, in reference to elizabeth warrens reading of Coretta Scott kings letter against Jeff Sessions during a debate over his confirmation as attorney general. Senator warren was silenced for reading the letter. Rapper busta rhymes also called out President Trump during while making a guest appearance on stage with a tribe called quest. I just want to thank president agent orange for perpetuating the evil throughout the United States. I want to thank president agent orange. We come together, we the people, we the people. Amy and those are some of the headlines. Now,is democracy democracynow. Org, the war and peace support. Kyl de today, jon juan today, hundreds of fastfood workers plan to converge on the corporate offices of labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder and demand the fastfood mogul withdraw his nomination. Pupuzder is headad of the compay that franchises the fastfood outlets hardees and carls jr. He is a longtime republican donor who has been a vocal critic of raising the minimum wage, the fight for 15 movement, paid sick leave, and the Affordable Care act. His Senate Confirmation hearing is scheduled for thursday. The hearing has been postponed four times previously. Last week, he became the second of trumps cabinet nominees who has acknowledged hiring an undocumented worker. The first was commerce secretary nominee, billionaire wilbur ross. Similar practices have led to the rejection of past cabinet nominees, including two of president clintons nominees for attorney general in 1993. Amy the riverfront times in st. Louis also reports that puzder was accused of abusing his former wife multiple times. Puzders exwife even went on oprah decades ago in disguise to speak about the domestic violence. Meanwhile, a recent survey by Restaurant Opportunities Center united has found a shocking twothirds of women working at puzders restaurants experience Sexual Harassment at work. Of puzder workers said theyve onethird had some of their wages stolen or not received requirired breaks. The report also called into question the food Safety Standards at puzders restaurants, with nearly 80 of puzder workers saying theyd prepared or served food while they were sick. Well, for more, we go now to washington, d. C. Where were , joined by saru jayaraman, cofounder and codirector of the Restaurant Opportunities Center united, known as roc united. Their new report is titled, secretary of labor violations . The low road Business Model of ckcke restaurant incs Andrew Puzder. And in los angeles were joined , by Maggie Guerrero who worked as a shift leader addict carls jr. For two years. I believe the date is set for thursday for puzders confirmation hearing, put off five times. It is quite astounding. Can you talk about your concerns about the head of carls and hardees becoming secretary of labor under donald trump. It has to be understood that as the leader of cke restaurant is ceo butew puzder also a leader in the National Restaurant association, a trade lobby that has essentially lobbied for almost a century to keep wages as low as inhumanely possible, including keeping wages for fast food workers at 7. 25 and tip workers at 2. 13 hour. Today, we are highlighting the fact that the which has been stuck at 2. 13 an hour for a quarter century, and it is that cut of policy that Andrew Puzder has been lobbying for successfully for the last many, many decades. In his own restaurants, andy could has said i wish i replace these workers with robots and i do not actually believe in the minimum wage at all, but has been found in serious violation, not only by our of labor. It has found that more than half of his restaurants were in violation of basic wage and hour laws, like not paying overtime, not providing breaks, workers working off the clock, and worst of all, as you mentioned, just incredible amounts of Sexual Harassment. Juan on the minimum wage and the fight for 50, here he is, andy p puzder, on fox Business News in 2015. If your concern is to create entrylevel jobs for young americans, then a 15 minimum wage is something you should be protesting against. Dr. Carson brought this up, Labor Participation for minority uses a really very low. There is an article about that from a year and a half ago. Even if you look at labor anticipation from 16 to 19yearolds from every race, you get historic lows this year, and that goes back to when the recording of the data started in 1998. So fewer young people are working. If your objective is to bolster and support the union andnd you are not thahat concncerned about whether young people will have entrylevevel jobsbs, you shoulb protesting in n favor of a 15 mininimum wage. I think most people are concerned about young people in this country, and fewer people are concerned about this labor. Juan that was andy puzder in 2015. Last year in an interview w wita business insider, labor secretary nominee puzder sang the praises of restaurant automation. He said that machines are always polite, always upsell, never take a vacation, never show up late, never a slip and race or in age, sex, or discrimination case. In other words, robots are completely docile workers as far as he is concerned. W wemean, the fact that when didid this survey, we did it ovr the holidays, a bigtime for restaurant workers, and 900 workers from his Companies Reached out to us. It was overwhelming. Andfilled out the surveys, twothirds of a mostly female workforce said they experienced very scary, pretty horrific, Sexual Harassment. You heard about the ads at with nearly naked women, and young women were asked by customers, why arent you dressed like the women in the ads . I will take you anyway, and then followed them out to the parking lot, grabbing them, touching them to workers complaining about these things and management doing nothing at all. Is, if you want a robot who willing to be touched and not complain about it, you know, i suppose that is the direction you want to go. Clearly, he has not done that. He has not automated his restaurants. He still has tens of thousands of workers in his restaurants. They are really suffering or they would not have reached out to us. Juan what about the argument that with a lower minimum wage, you have a greater workforce Participation Rate in the country . What is amazing about that is that our industry right now is going to the worst labor shortage in the history of our industry in every major metropolitan area, even as wages are going up. The plurality of his restaurants are in california, where wages are going up to 15 him and we are experiencing the worst labor shortage in the history of the United States and the restaurant industry. If the contrary jobs continue to grow at ever increasing rates, even as wages are going up. Of issuesve a number to discuss around the labor secretary nominee. We will see if that hearing actually does take place on thursday. And we will go to his personal life, abuse of his wife and what this means. Our guest is Restaurant Opportunity Center united, she is with them. And we will speaeak with a workr placese of carls jr. s of work that puzder is ceo of. Stay with us. [music break] bandthat is a chicano punk from east l. A. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Juan we are looking at labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder, head of the company that franchises fast food outlets hardees and carls jr. Hundreds will be demanding that he withdraw his nomination today. By two are joined guests, cofounder of Restaurant Opportunities Center united. Their new report is secretary of labor violations. In los angeles, were joined by someone who works as a shift for t twoa carls jr. Years. Maggie, talk about your concerns and what your concerns are about Andrew Puzder. Good morning. In less than a year working there, i was sexually harassed at a coworker approached me and said he wanted to have sexual relations with me and asked mike manager not to schedule me with him anymore and to do something about it. She said she would talk to him. After that, she still managed to schedule me with him two more times. I brought it up with hr, and they just brushed off, saying i came too late. On top of that, he promised me a raise for my shift leader paid that i never received. They just kept passing it back and forth, general manager to the district manager, singh asked them, ask them. I did not want to quit because i had to pay for my college education. I needed it right now, so i had to drop out of school because i do not have enough to pay for my college. Juan how much money did you make when you started . What were your hours like . What kind of benefits did you have, if any . I did not have benefits. I was alwaysys just mamaking mim ate here it i started off nine dollars, which was minimum wage at the time. Post the e washington reportrts puzders chains, restaurants, have been the subject of multiple Labor Department investigations over wage theft. Workers. To more than 80,000 in penalties. The companies have been cited with more than 30 health and safety violations here at what were some of the problematic conditions you had at your place of work . Harassed. Exually i had the wage theft, as well. I never got my raise for the shift leader position that i had , and many other people were sexually harassed and had wage theft, as well. Amy last month, workers at hardees spoke about widespread wage theft and abuse at his restaurants during therum that was hosted by massachusetts senator, elizabeth warren, and washington senator patty murray. This is the former general manager of carls jr. My name is laura make donal, and i worked for the enterprise for more than 20 years. I actually worked in california. I moved to tucson recently. I want to tell you what it is like to work for mr. Puzder. Everything at cke is controlled from the top. There are thousands of pages and manuals they control everything. There are strict standards. Every restaurant has to meet strict standards for wages, service times, drivethroughh times, and a a long list of othr standards. Meeting all the standards is a huge amount of work. Cke requires all its general managers to be available 24 7. They s specifically tell you you must always be available by phone to address problems in the restaurant, answer calls from the district manager. The work is nonstop. I work more than 60 hours a week. Until 2009, cke paid a flat salary to general managers, even though we do the exact same work as hourly employees, the combat a refused to pay any overtime are even to pay anything to recognize the fact that we always work more than 40 hours each week. Amy so if you can weigh in on this hearing that took place, where it took place did senators hear it who are going to be deciding the fate of Andrew Puzder, whether he will become the labor secretary . Absolutely, yes. It was put on by senator murray and senator warren. They will be part of the hearing. Senator warren has put out a number of questions today to puzder in a 28page letter, calling on his qualifications to run the department when he, per our report, really should be indicted by the very department he is being charged to run. One of our members actually l. A. At that hearing from who worked at a comely for 18 years. At the end of his 18year career at carls jr. , he had his paychecks stolen from his manager. He inquired about it, and after inquiring about it, he was essentially terminated after a few weeks. That is the kind of treatment this company has given to workers who worked in the company for a very, very long time. The hearing was packed hearing testimony has been heard by millions of people online. It is in the cripple story that is getting out there it is an incredible story that is getting out there. It is amazing the man is being considered to run the very department that should be indicting his company. Juan i wanted to ask about his other activities. He is not only a businessman, leader of the restaurant association, but he is also very active in other sort of republican issues. Argue knowledgeable about some of those . Yes, he has been very ideological on issues of choice and all kinds of issues pertaining to women. He has supported mostly republican but some democrats on these issues. And through the National Restaurant association, he has spent millions of dollars to prevent the minimum wage from going up and other worker fighting against health care reform, against policies like paid sick days. So this is a man who, you know, paid like 700,000 dollars towards the trump campaign, a very ideological republican capitalist that really, you have to understand, with Andrew Puzder going into the head of the department of labor, that is giving this trade lobby that has been lobbying really since slavery times, to keep wages as low as possible are not have them at all. You are essentially giving the National Restaurant association a seat in the cabinet and complete control over the very department that is supposed to be looking out for the welfare of workers. In 2015,ox and friends andy puzder claimed many workers do not want higher wages because they are afraid of losing government benefits. Here he is speaking on fox. It is the welfare cliff. You get to the point where if you make a few more dollars, you lose thousands of dollars in benefits. For some people, it is of they pay the rent or feed their kids. So we have people who turned out promotions or if minimum wage goes up, they want fewer hours because they are afraid they will go over the cliff. It makes the distance between independence and dependence, to broaden the gap. Youre looking for good people to run your stores. If they would take the next step , the next step of the latter, they could be a manager making 80,000. They do not want to limit the free stuff from the government. People in. Y locks it locks them into poverty, and we need a different system. Amy that is Andrew Puzder on fox and friends. What is your response . The amazing thing about these comments is that they are essentially admitting that they, as anst cke, but industry, are relying on taxpayer dollars for the survival of their workers. The kinds of benefits they are stamps,about our food medicaid, all kinds of public assistance that these workers rely on because their wages are absurdly low. The real solution is not to find a way to allow these workers to continue to rely on these taxpayerfunded benefits that to pay them enough that they can survive without benefits, which is what most of these workers want. In fact, the taxpayer pays 16. 5 billion on taxpayerfunded then if its just for this one industry alone. So it is imporortant to realizet the National Restaurant association raising minimum wage because these workers need to defense, which they are essentially relying on to subsidize their workers wages and survival. It is an unsustainable Business Model, and the real solution is to raise the wages to the point where workers do not have to rely on that. Juan and then there are the Corporate Executive speared rooster made about 4. 4 Million Dollars in 2012. Some years, it is estimated he made as much as 10 million. For his own medical expenses, they are extraordinary, larger than some workerers wages a ana whole year, just f for medical reimbursements. Amy let me ask you about this new controversy that has come out, and he puzder facing increasing witticism over his admission that he hired an undocumented housekeeper. He says he and his wife employed an undocumented housekeeper for a number of years and then fired her after learning she did not have u. S. Work documents, in the midst of him being considered for secretary of labor is when he fired her. He also says they provided her help in attaining u. S. Documentation. Puzder is the second of trumps cabinet nominees who acknowledged hiring an undocumented worker. The first was wilbur ross feared similar practices have led to the rejection of past cabinet nominees, like two of president clintons nominees for attorney general in 1993. Your response for his hiring of the undocumented housekeeper and what happened next in this issue across, whoever does this . I think the key question is, if this man did not know that his Domestic Worker was undocumented, then wide didnt to pay taxes for her employment in the first place . He said he learned about her status and then went back and the truth ises that this man employs millions of undocumented workers. The industry relies on immigrants, both undocumented and documented. The National Restaurant association has said many times that the industry would collapse without these workers. The real question is, under what conditions do these workers survive and work in this country . The administration, same as bringing on this man who is now said he definitely had an undocumented Domestic Worker and has many more in his company, in the same breath, they said they are going to get rid of mimillis of undocumented workers. When you put the National Restaurant association, which has said so many times that this industry would collapse without these workers, in charge of a cabinet position, you know that they do not actually want to get rid of these workers. They want to create a climate of fear, in which workers, like robots, will not speak up and will not complain about anything at all here that is what is going on here. It is a schizophrenic kind of policy in which you have one man in charge of workers who has hired undocumented workers and says he prefers robots. On the at her hand, the administration is going out and talking about immigration enforcement, when we all know absolutelyceos depend on these workers, not just Domestic Workers, but in their companies, to do the work and make millions. Amy and the accusation against puzder, domestic abuse, by his exwife, who even went on oprah disguised to speak about it. She said puzder assaulted and batted her by striking her violently about the face, chest, back, shoulders, and neck without cause, and she severed severe and permanent injury. His exwife would later withdraw the allegations as part of a 1990 child custody agreement. How does this fit in . I will not comment to what happened to his wife since she withdrew her charges. I will say it is important to keep that in mind as you look at the ads. You have seen these ads of carls jr. Restaurants in which they have nearly naked Women Holding up bururgers in front of theieir breasts or lying on t te floor eating a burger r or feedg each other in naked positions. You u look at the data from ouor report andnd other reports showg that young women, often very young women, 16, 17, 18 year old girls, were harassed, grabbed, asassaulted in various ways and told b by customers, wireded you dressed like e the girls in thee ads . Clearly, this is a man who doeos not respecect women a at all, is fine with women being degraded, and he has said ugly women do not sell burgers. And he is also fine with young women being assaulted in his restaurants when they are trying to do their jobs. Of women in our survey said they had been sexually harassed in various ways weird that is 1. 5 times the rate of the rest of the industry, which already has five times the rate of Sexual Harassment of the entire rest of the economy. You are talking about the worst sexual violator of any company and thisry that is the man who is in charge of the welfare of women workers in our country. As organizer of the restaurant, as an organizer of roc, i wanted to ask about these raids across the country. Over 600 evil. In a moment, we are going to speak to the senate in california. The effect on working people in hardees, and all over the country, where this has meant. It is the largest employer of undocumented workers, immigrants. What we are seeing is these raids, these actions are really meant to strike fear in the hearts of workers, to keep them from speaking up, to keep them from doing anything that would expose themselves or make themselves a target. And what we need to do as a nation, as an industry, is standup. Many of our employers have come forward and formed with a call sanctuary restaurants, not saying they will harbor undocumented immigrants but saying they will stand by their workers of all identities. As workers, we need to continue to resist. We cannot allow them to think were going to roll over as they engage in these kinds of actions. On march 8, International Womens day am a we are calling for a National Action on the department of labor. We will gather in front of the department of labor with thousands of women workersrs across the country. Amy thank you both for being with us. When we come back, were going to california, sacramento, the state capital, to talk with the Senate President , to talk with kevin daly on kevin de leon, about sanctuary state and what is happening about these raids, many raids taking place in california. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. I am amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan immigrant communities across the country are on edge after federal immigration agents arrested over 60600 people in te past week in the largest raids since donald trump became president. Raids were reported in at least 11 states, including california, new york, georgia, north carolina, south carolina, illinois, indiana, kansas, kentucky, missouri, and wisconsin. It is not clear if ice, or immigration and customs enforcement, is continuing routine operations or stepping up its deportations in line with President Trumps policies. On sunday, trump tweeted, the crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers others a are being removed the department of Homeland Security has said the arrests were long planned and routine. Amy human rights activists say it is a clear shift by the trump up administration to deport people considered a low priority for removal after president obama, an executive order issued expanded the group of immigrants contended priorities for deportation, including those without criminal records and those accused of crimes but not convicted. The president of the california n,ate senate, kevin de leo will be e joining us a and a mie to it hehe spoke out a again the raids. I can tell you, half of my fellow family would bee eligible for d deportation of th order. If they have false identificication or a false drivers license prior to u u falseing ab60, they haveve a greeeen card. Anyone w who has f family membes who arare undocumented knows s t almost entntirely everybody has secured some sort of false identification. That is what you need to survive. Amy to talk more about this, we talk to kevin de leon. N. Were also joined by steven chu here in newen troy york. Senator, talk about what you were describing in this clip. So when President Trump says we it deporting criminals, what means to have a criminal record when you are undocumented. Good morning, amy. That was a testimony during the senate Public Safety hearing in sacramento at the state capital with her guts to my measure, the california values act. The reality is this, the vast hardworking,ry lawabiding, taxpayer residents of california and of the nation who are currently undocumented, many of them do possess some form of identification that they probably secured to get access to employment. This is quite common, and you would not be able to do so, say, if you arels jr. , undocumented without securing some tab of identification. The reality is there is a lot of fear and panic. The levels of anxiety are extremely high, especially among children, americanborn children, of these lawabiding, taxpaying residents of california because of the most recent raids that have taken place during the past week. When President Trump campaigned on deporting the most violent, those who are criminal felons, he made it very clear just recently through his executive order that he is going to broaden the eligibility, the criteria for deportation, and the reality is we have innocent mothers and innocent fathers, hardworking individuals who will be rounded up because of the broadening of the criteria, and they will be making children fatherless and motherless, separating children from their mothers and mothers from their children. What i am trying to do, or what my colleagues in california are doing, is to make sure that the federal government does not commandeer our local Police Agencies and state Police Agencies can use our tax dollars as an extension of the Trump Deportation machine. Juan you mentioned families separating. We reported last week on a case in phoenix, arizona area the felony conviction that they referred to in her case, the on the crime was that she had been rounded up several years during , andd by sheriff arpaio having false identification as the basis by which a then, suddenly now, she has been deported with her two u. S. Born children and her husband is still in the United States. This is obviously a growing problem. If you expanded the definition of a dangerous felony, folks subject to deportation, to include, as you say, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who have had to resort to false identification to be up to work, which is why they came here in the first place. That is correct, juan. President trump campaigned on the promise he would actually the port very dangerous criminal felons. The reality is, the executive , they have ththeir sights set on hardworking residents of california and other parts of the country, new york, florida, texas, and elsewhere. The case in arizona, the case of guadalupe, whon, is married and has been a resident of arizona since childhood and has two americanborn children, teenagers, i believe, checked in with ice authorities. All of the setting, the attitude of ice changed quite dramatically after the inauguraration of president tru. Ae clearly did not is not gang member, not a violent offender, clearly not a rapist or thug or murderer. Nonetheless, ice detained her. She checked in with her on a voluntary basis and now has been deported. This is not who we are as a nation and not who we are as a state, like california. We do not separate children from their mothers or mothers from the children. It is an american spirit it is not american. It is my deep concern that he is planting the seeds of fear, mistrust, anxiety, of chaos. Ii am especially concerned ababt young c children, because you he young g children, boboys and gi, who arare deeply f fearful t thn they are the waiting for they been detained by ice agents because they have a broken tail light or they have an expired drivers license . These are not criminals. These are individuals who make up the fabric c of who you are s a greatest n nation and state in the world. Juan in terms of what is happening here in new york, is there really a substantial difference between what is going on now in the first weeks of the Trump Administration and what was occurring under the obama years . And little bit of a differerence here. Under the obama administration, we saw hundreds of thousands of people being deported. That is a problem we need to understand. Amy millions. Millions. The obama administration, at one point in one year, deported nearly 400,000 people. So this kind of activity has been occurring. The problem with ice saying these are simplply routine operatations is that we are in a moment that is anything but routine. As ave a president who, candidate, rennie single most antiimmigrant campaign in the history of the United States. In the f first week of his prpresidency, he declarered warn immigrant t communities. He has said d he will ramp up enforcement t activity and deportations, triple the ice force, expand greatly been the birth of kinds of offenses people can commit. We are talking about potentially 5 Million People that could be deported, according to this executive order. The idea that ice turns around and says, look, these are routine operations and we should not be in fear or hysteria, there is a little bit of leading the victim. It is their actions in this moment and in this time that is causing this. Amy i want to talk about sanctuary cities and states. Kevin de leon, you have introduced a bill to make california sanctuary statete. Lastly, bill oreilly asked trump about your bill. As you know, i have very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime. Therere are a lot of p problems. We give tremendous amounts of money to california. California, in many ways, is out of control, as you know. Obviously, the voters agree. D funding is your weapon of choice. President t trump well, it is a weapon. I do not want to defund anybody. I want to give them t the money they need to properly operate as a city or state. If they have sanctuary cities, certainly, we e will have to do that. Amy kevin de leon, your response . D funding of the state of california, and what does a sanctuary state mean . Where the sixth largest economy, not nationally, but in the entire world. We are an incredible tapestry of different ethnicities and immigrants from all over the nation and the world. Let me underscore something. I am going to make up a word. I think he is weaponizing federal funding. When a president makes the threats he has made as of recent, hes going to witithhold dollars from california, what hes doing is threatening Senior Citizens who have early signs of dementia or alzheimers or children on the spectrum of asp burgers or autism. He is threatening to punish or hurt peoeople. It is meanspirited and convicted of, spiteful less. That is not who we are as a nation. Just as importantly, it is. Llegal, unconstitutional it is not a monarchy. The president cannot threaten a state like california to withhold dollars. Let me be very clear about something. Those dollars belong to the people of california. They are our tax dollars by hardworking californians. They are not Donald Trumps dollars. He is not giving it to us out of the largess of his hard, a gift to california. Those are the Hardworking Taxpayers of california. I want to make sure that were not caught in the Deportation Machine of donald trump. In order for donald trump to be successful in separating children from others and mothers from children, he needs to commandeer local sheriffs, state highway patrols. We need an extension of the federal immigration authorities spirit i want to make sure he does not use our tax dollars, hardearned tax dollars, two separate children from their mothers by, during our local Police Agencies. Im clearly aware that federal is the solen law exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government and Homeland Security. But if you think the state of california is going to cooperate with you, be very clear about one thing, were not going to lift one single finger or spend cent to help this man separate families. Juan new y york city, obviousl, is in the same situation, declaring new york city a sanctuary city. Your sense of the threats of the cut off the funds to municipalities, especially i in lieu of the fact of how much money new york city provides the rest of the nation. There is a threat, but the termrm sanctuaryry is a littttlt misleading. Really, were talking about two things. One, conference should confidentiality policies this is when the city and state employees are talking to people, they are not asking about immigration status. And then there are policies this a of peopople are caught up in e criminal Justice System and ice issues a detainer, those do not have to be respective here it is a commonsense policies that make our cities and states safer. There is a mayor of new york city who believes so strongly in these policies that he filed a lawsuit that went to the Supreme Court and said, if you are undocumented and hardworking, we do not want you to feel like a fugitive. We want you in the city that was Rudy Giuliani in 1997 the route if it was good enough for r himn 1997, and should begin a an et donald trumpmp in 2017. Sanctuary is a little bit misleading. I think the issue is that we do need to make sure that, in california and new york, cities and states are not doing anything to actually make deportations happen. But there is nothing that stops ice, as we saw this past weekend, nothing that stops ice from coming to new york city and doing raids, engaging and actions that will sweep people up. Soso we need to make sure that when people use the term sanctuary, theyre not providing a misleading senense of hope tht ice cannot come into the cities anand states, because they can. Amy kevin de leon, how do you protect people in los angeles and san francisco, throughout california, sacramento around this issue that, of course, ice is their rating people . Do you think los angeles was targeted for being a sanctuary city . People are talking about that in austin. Activists say that the governor and texas has cut off funds to austinin becauause he wants to a ban on any kind of sanctuary legislation. , the agree with steve terminology, sanctuary city, sanctuary state, is a bit misleading here at a gives a perception that as long as you invisible shield, youre safe, but it is not the reality. You canre undocumented, be detained, and can eventually be deported. Hopefully after due process but the reality is this, it is very difficult to know if Homeland Security and ice stepped up efforts because of donald trump are because of a lack of transparency and accountability. During president Barack Obamas administration, there was more collaboration and corporation. The reason why is that they did not want to instill fear and panic among immigrant communities throughout Southern California and elsewhere. That is not the case with this new administration. It was difficult to secure the necessary information to know exactly who they were going after and who they were not going after. That leads to mistrust. A couple things i want to highlight is when donald trump says sanctuary cities breed more crime, that could not be farther from the truth. We have data that states sanctuary cities actually have less crime than nonsingh shorey cities. Let me go back to the governor of the state of texas and his punishment for a great city like austin, texas. This shows you how diffefent states are dealing with the issue of immigration or the lack of immigration reform. This is a clear reflection of the abdication of responsibility, political and legal responsibility of the congress to deal with this issue,e, combining borderr secuy and pathway to legal residency. Amy i want to end with steve choi. If ice comes to your door, do you have to open it . Youou do not have to open i. If thehey ask questionons, you o not have to answer them are you can request a lawyer. Amy they have to have a wawarrant . What we have found is often that ice thinks s they are going to a certain place, and they will call them collateral targets. Theres a third term, about people that is their term. We do need to educate folks because they have rights and are guaranteed, and we need everybody to know about that. Amy thank you, steve choi and kevin de leon. That does it for our broadcast, democracy now awawawawkckw [overlapping news reports] [train horn] [news reports continue] [horns honking] [alarms sounding] [wind blowing] [bird squawks] [trilling] charles theres no greater sensation than taking on Mother Nature herself. Its ki