Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20140502 : vimarsana.co

Than me will air secret recording showing how the f b i pressured one Muslim Americans living abroad to become a government informant. When i tell somebody if you crossed the street without looking you will be run over, that is not a threat. That is life. You are about to cross the street without looking both ways and im telling you, you might get hit by a car. We will go to sudan to speak with naji mansour and mother jones reporter nick baumann on his piece this american refused to become an fbi informant. Then the government made his familys life hell. Again, yes men strike posing as u. S. Government officials at the Homeland Security congress. All that and more coming up. To democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Ukrainian forces have launched a major assault to reclaim the eastern city of from prorussian separatist sparking the worst fighting since the prorussian uprising began. Forces have shot down two Ukrainian Army helicopters, killing the pilots. At least one separatist has also been killed. Oklahoma has released new details on the botched lethal injection of the prisoner clayton lockett. An account provided by Robert Patton shows that the drugs were administered by a catheter inserted into his growing after medical personnel spent an hour looking for another vein. After the injection the end, and dr. Noticed that the blood vein had collapsed and that the drugs had begun to leak. He was declared dead 43 minutes after the injection began. Shows that also lockett was taser and earlier in the day for refusing to be restrained and taken for xrays. For full coverage of the execution chaos, you can go to democracynow. Org. In the of Sexual Assault military have increased by 50 . Chuck hagel says that this means that more are deciding to come forward. He says he has also ordered further steps. Methods tores better report assaults and seek assistance. With estimates that men comprise of more than half of victims of Sexual Assault in the military, we have to find a cultural stigmas that discourage reporting and be clear that Sexual Assault does not occur because a victim is week, but rather because and offender disregards our values in the law. The Obama Administration has released a list of 55 colleges possibly in stays violation of title ix because of their handling of Sexual Assault complaints. Includes private schools like swarthmore and university of chicago, Public Schools like penn state and Florida State and Ivy League Schools like dartmouth, harvard, and princeton. On thursday, students gathered at Tufts University to back out after they were told that their policies violate title ix. To see our interview with a former tufts student and a brown student who reported rape at their schools, you can go to democracynow. Org. The white house has issued a report on limits on how much companies can collect on users. The report expresses concern about how socalled big data could be used to entrench racial or gender inequality. If people are denied opportunities based on digital snapshots. It also calls for congress to amend that are of privacy law to ensure the standard of protection for online Digital Content is consistent with that afforded in the physical world. The report does not address massive Data Collection by the National Security agency. Ed murray has unveiled his plan to phase in a 15 an hour minimum wage, more than twice the current federal on theirbut depending size, businesses will have between three and seven years to implement the rise. Memberst city council thema sawant opposed mayors plan. She criticized it on Huffington Post live on thursday. There are several components that are on the big business wishlist, a fouryear phase in four big business. Why does mcdonald need for years to bring their workers out of poverty . Let the ceo of starbucks and mcdonalds come to the city council and justify my they need to keep their workers monday longer in poverty. Year of phase in is another year that a worker has to live in poverty. Workers around the world took to the streets on thursday to mark rallies of may day. Here in new york city, attorney reena arora was among those who gathered in Washington Square park to demand rights for workers and immigrants. We have a number of day noters and others that are paid their way get all, robbed of their earnings. There is no recourse for them because up in the claims are so small that no lawyers want to help them fight for their wages numbers are increasing of deportation and other ways to make them vulnerable as a workforce. Square,rally at Union Teacher rosie frishella says that she is standing up against the athletic standards known as common core. Teachers at a Brooklyn School are refusing to administer an english Language Arts test designed to measure common core standards. On may 12 grade english teacher. Today i stood with 29 other teachers and Staff Members and we refuse to give me ela performancebased assessment. The reason is because the first i said that assessment was traumatized for our students. It was way above their reading level. The city was careless and took no consideration in the needs of english language learners. We refuse to demoralize our students. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Im juan gonzalez. Your peace yesterday and today in the New York Daily News is key to finally getting it done, respect. Now thatave heard by the new York City Teachers Union negotiated a landmark agreement with the the Blasio Administration this week where 100,000 members of the union, after 4. 5 years without any pay raises or a contract, have reached a new contract with the city. It is really a landmark agreement considering the bitterness that existed between not just the teachers but also the unions that have been without contracts dating back to the last years of the bloomberg administration. It will be a huge change. The respect issue which i raised in my column, i think, was the key to it. Theonly the teachers but other unions in the city, for the first time, have a mayor that is respecting the collective bargaining process, treating them as equals, sitting down to negotiate how to best deal with the Education System and the wages of those workers in the city. I think the willingness of the blasio to give and take with the ideas aboutvative cutting huge amounts of the cost of Health Care Insurance for city workers, and the other thing which i raised, people are not aware of, new york citys tax revenues are booming. In the first four months of the year, the city was running 700 million over projections on its taxes largely because of the greater than wall street had last year and all the big bonuses that came through this year. Suddenly, the city is flush with unexpected money. Not only was bloomberg willing to negotiate with the unions the blasio willing to negotiate with the unions, he now has money that he did not have previously. They were able to work at 18 increases for the teachers over nine years. Passed,that has already retroactive, and another 4. 5 years in future contracts. Of otherle host reforms over teacher evaluations teachers thatre have committed misconduct, were all done with in the contract. Even the Business Community is lauding the mayor because he managed to do the retroactives but spaced amount over future years so the hit to the citys budget is not that great immediately. As the rest of the country looks at the de Blasio Administration as a weathervane for things to come, whether a Progressive Agenda can succeed. The main thing to understand is most places around the country, unions are giving back stuff, they are getting increases and they are forced to pay higher copays. This has not happened here. It is possible to do it when you use creativity and when labor and management cooperate in a respectful tone. We will turn right down to the immigrants rights protest. Throughout the world, millions marched through the streets to celebrate may day. A workers rights holiday that has its roots in the u. S. When unionized immigrant workers successfully organized to demand an eight hour workday. Many of the events in the u. S. Focused on the need for copper and civic Immigration Reform. This is Dominique Hernandez of the new York State Youth Leadership Council speaking at a may day rally in manhattan. My father worked really hard for me to get my education. Undocumented youth are not eligible for financial aid. That is what we are working on now. As Immigration Reform languishes in congress, undocumented immigrants have increasingly come forward to share their stories in order to call attention to the need for its passage. One of the leading voices has been pulitzer prizewinning journalist jose antonio vargas. He outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in a New York Times magazine. Now a film chronicles his experience, it is called documented a film by an undocumented american. Antonio vargas is a pulitzer prizewinning journalist. I lived the american dream, building a career as a successful journalist, but i was living a lie. Im going to tell you something that i have the whole told a lot of people. Im actually an undocumented immigrant. Is a story, so heres my story. My grandparents legally immigrated from the philippines in the mid1980s. My grandfather decided he would get his grandson to come to america. One morning, my suitcase was packed, i was 12. It has been 18 years since i have seen my mother. I am launching a campaign about what it means to be an american and the fact that i am an american. There are 11 million undocumented people in this country. I am an undocumented immigrant from germany. We mow your lawn, we work at your houses, maybe we are your doctors, nurses. We are not who you think we are. People who have come here illegally should not be citizens of the United States. So what happens if you discover that someone is an undocumented person . A major blow for Immigration Reform today. The senate voted against the dream act. Im a hardcore republican but i do not agree with them on this. You are an illegal alien. Know, im a undocumented i think im breaking the rules by having you in my studio. We dream of a path to citizenship. We dream of contributing to the country we call our home. I have this fantasy that i get a green card and i fly and that my mother is there waiting for me. The trailer for documented a film by an undocumented american, written, produced, and directed by jose antonio vargas. He is with us in new york. The film opens tonight in new york, coming to theaters all over the country. Welcome back to democracy now. , and nowt your journey in the context of what is happening in washington, d. C. Thank you for having me here. I live a few blocks away so it is always nice to be here. I am more convinced now that i was three years ago when i outed myself before we change the politics of the issue we have to change the culture. I have done about 200 events in 42 states around the country while filming. The fact that people still think as if thereexicans, was something wrong with being mexican, and that people think a criminal issue, tells us along way we have to go. For me, the most tragic thing doing the traveling is how many people, after they find out that im filipino, they say you legal and mexican interchangeably. For me, that is the most tragic thing. That is a big cultural problem. People think that just because you happen to be brown or latino , you are not supposed to be here, even if you were born here. , andted to make a film that is why i wanted to direct a film, to make a statement, a cultural statement, not a political one. I worked pretty hard to make sure it was not overly political am a so i could play it in places. I have done a couple of tea party screenings, more conservative events. You started out making a film about the dreamers and somehow, you then decided, reluctantly, to focus on your own story. Could you talk about that story . After the privilege of outing myself in the New York Times, a 4000word essay. I thought after that i was done. Was an insideea job for immigration. s film was anon inspiration. Then i thought, do i want to over politicize the issue . Waiting for superman to get to the dream act. That was the idea i had. Then a year into filming it shifted. Cannotmy friend said you do this film and not put your mom in it. Then i decided to send a film crew to the philippines. And how do i direct a film crew if i cannot go to the philippines . I cannot leave the country. Since august. The footage comes back and as you saw in the film, there is footage of my mom looking straight into the camera. I have seen more of my mother in this film editing her then i have in 21 years. It is very surreal. You made the decision to focus more on your own story and , ofimpact on your family your immigration status. This is what happens. How do you explain i could not write 21 years of not seeing her. I could not write that. In some ways, the film shows that. When she and i skype for the first time on film, that is the reality for so many immigrants separated from their families across the world. I wanted to capture the experience. I think the film does that. Your ownbout experience. You came to the country at the age of 12. Your mother sent you here. She put me on a plane with a stranger who i thought was i uncle. Filipino, everyone is my uncle. I thought everything was fine. I got here when i was 12. My grandparents treated me like one of their own. Ther i got here, i went to dmv to get a drivers permit and that is when i realized the green car that my father had given me was fake. That is when the lies kind of started. One year after that, thankfully, i discovered journalism. The only reason i did it, we did not have books at home. I come from a lower middle class family of workers, service workers. Writing, for me, was interesting to me because it not it meant that i would have my name on a piece of paper. Juan gonzalez, New York Daily News. I thought if i could be on a piece of paper, it would mean that im here. That is what i did for 13 years, until i was 30. And of course, your time at the Washington Post im sure you covered immigration problems. I remember the guilt i felt during the 2005, those rallies that happened. Semust have been the only jo anywhere in the washington, d. C. Newsroom and i wanted to run away as fast as i could. Did your employers know that you are undocumented . No, of course not. I lied on the forms. That is what makes my case markup located. In the newd myself york times and the film, i admitted that. I had to. What i feel is lacking is a sense of intellectual honesty. Your is a great documentary called harvest of empire. Juans film just debuted on the capital friday night. How do we not include the conversation . Me thatls have shown the American Public is ready for an honest conversation on this issue, not the same talking points that we hear over and over again. What was the response to you outing yourself, both at your workplace, and the u. S. Government . I decided to basically leave all of my jobs. I thought about this pretty carefully. Anybody,be employed by but this is where it gets interesting, i can employ people. I hired about 40 people total probably to do the film. It has been really interesting that way. Ive been forced to become an entrepreneur that way. The reaction from the Journalistic Community has been interesting. I feel like somehow they took away my journalistic you are not a journalist anymore. Now you are this advocate activist. My question to that is, what do you think im advocating for, and why isnt when people of color, or gay people, or women Say Something it is called having an agenda, and when others say it, it is having an analysis . It is an interesting question. Lets go to your film, documented a film by an undocumented american. In the scene, you are speaking on the phone with immigration and customs enforcement, ice. My name is jose antonio vargas. Last summer, i wrote this essay for the New York Times magazine, coming out, basically, as undocumented. I have not heard from anybody. I am calling you guys to get some information on what my status is. I do not have an alien number. I am undocumented. Are you planning on supporting me . You planning on deporting me, why or why not ok, so how do you side with the to decide to start dictation receives again somebody . Take it from there. I guess i was surprised that nobody contacted me. Here i am, i admit to everything, my lawyers tell me to get ready, and then nothing happened. Thousands of people are deported every day. 2 million deportations in five years. Here i am admitting to everything. I was wondering what they would do. I was surprised by the silence. So i contacted the editor of Time Magazine and i said i want to write a story about why they have not supported me. That scene is from the film when i called ice to say, whats up, i have not heard from you. We could not record her for legal purposes. At 1. I said to her, i am on a deadline, i need a comment. She said, we cannot comment on your case. Is aually think that metaphor, in general, for how the Muslim Americans<\/a> living abroad to become a government informant. When i tell somebody if you crossed the street without looking you will be run over, that is not a threat. That is life. You are about to cross the street without looking both ways and im telling you, you might get hit by a car. We will go to sudan to speak with naji mansour and mother jones reporter nick baumann on his piece this american refused to become an fbi informant. Then the government made his familys life hell. Again, yes men strike posing as u. S. Government officials at the Homeland Security<\/a> congress. All that and more coming up. To democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Ukrainian forces have launched a major assault to reclaim the eastern city of from prorussian separatist sparking the worst fighting since the prorussian uprising began. Forces have shot down two Ukrainian Army<\/a> helicopters, killing the pilots. At least one separatist has also been killed. Oklahoma has released new details on the botched lethal injection of the prisoner clayton lockett. An account provided by Robert Patton<\/a> shows that the drugs were administered by a catheter inserted into his growing after medical personnel spent an hour looking for another vein. After the injection the end, and dr. Noticed that the blood vein had collapsed and that the drugs had begun to leak. He was declared dead 43 minutes after the injection began. Shows that also lockett was taser and earlier in the day for refusing to be restrained and taken for xrays. For full coverage of the execution chaos, you can go to democracynow. Org. In the of Sexual Assault<\/a> military have increased by 50 . Chuck hagel says that this means that more are deciding to come forward. He says he has also ordered further steps. Methods tores better report assaults and seek assistance. With estimates that men comprise of more than half of victims of Sexual Assault<\/a> in the military, we have to find a cultural stigmas that discourage reporting and be clear that Sexual Assault<\/a> does not occur because a victim is week, but rather because and offender disregards our values in the law. The Obama Administration<\/a> has released a list of 55 colleges possibly in stays violation of title ix because of their handling of Sexual Assault<\/a> complaints. Includes private schools like swarthmore and university of chicago, Public Schools<\/a> like penn state and Florida State<\/a> and Ivy League Schools<\/a> like dartmouth, harvard, and princeton. On thursday, students gathered at Tufts University<\/a> to back out after they were told that their policies violate title ix. To see our interview with a former tufts student and a brown student who reported rape at their schools, you can go to democracynow. Org. The white house has issued a report on limits on how much companies can collect on users. The report expresses concern about how socalled big data could be used to entrench racial or gender inequality. If people are denied opportunities based on digital snapshots. It also calls for congress to amend that are of privacy law to ensure the standard of protection for online Digital Content<\/a> is consistent with that afforded in the physical world. The report does not address massive Data Collection<\/a> by the National Security<\/a> agency. Ed murray has unveiled his plan to phase in a 15 an hour minimum wage, more than twice the current federal on theirbut depending size, businesses will have between three and seven years to implement the rise. Memberst city council thema sawant opposed mayors plan. She criticized it on Huffington Post<\/a> live on thursday. There are several components that are on the big business wishlist, a fouryear phase in four big business. Why does mcdonald need for years to bring their workers out of poverty . Let the ceo of starbucks and mcdonalds come to the city council and justify my they need to keep their workers monday longer in poverty. Year of phase in is another year that a worker has to live in poverty. Workers around the world took to the streets on thursday to mark rallies of may day. Here in new york city, attorney reena arora was among those who gathered in Washington Square<\/a> park to demand rights for workers and immigrants. We have a number of day noters and others that are paid their way get all, robbed of their earnings. There is no recourse for them because up in the claims are so small that no lawyers want to help them fight for their wages numbers are increasing of deportation and other ways to make them vulnerable as a workforce. Square,rally at Union Teacher<\/a> rosie frishella says that she is standing up against the athletic standards known as common core. Teachers at a Brooklyn School<\/a> are refusing to administer an english Language Arts<\/a> test designed to measure common core standards. On may 12 grade english teacher. Today i stood with 29 other teachers and Staff Members<\/a> and we refuse to give me ela performancebased assessment. The reason is because the first i said that assessment was traumatized for our students. It was way above their reading level. The city was careless and took no consideration in the needs of english language learners. We refuse to demoralize our students. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Im juan gonzalez. Your peace yesterday and today in the New York Daily News<\/a> is key to finally getting it done, respect. Now thatave heard by the new York City Teachers Union<\/a> negotiated a landmark agreement with the the Blasio Administration<\/a> this week where 100,000 members of the union, after 4. 5 years without any pay raises or a contract, have reached a new contract with the city. It is really a landmark agreement considering the bitterness that existed between not just the teachers but also the unions that have been without contracts dating back to the last years of the bloomberg administration. It will be a huge change. The respect issue which i raised in my column, i think, was the key to it. Theonly the teachers but other unions in the city, for the first time, have a mayor that is respecting the collective bargaining process, treating them as equals, sitting down to negotiate how to best deal with the Education System<\/a> and the wages of those workers in the city. I think the willingness of the blasio to give and take with the ideas aboutvative cutting huge amounts of the cost of Health Care Insurance<\/a> for city workers, and the other thing which i raised, people are not aware of, new york citys tax revenues are booming. In the first four months of the year, the city was running 700 million over projections on its taxes largely because of the greater than wall street had last year and all the big bonuses that came through this year. Suddenly, the city is flush with unexpected money. Not only was bloomberg willing to negotiate with the unions the blasio willing to negotiate with the unions, he now has money that he did not have previously. They were able to work at 18 increases for the teachers over nine years. Passed,that has already retroactive, and another 4. 5 years in future contracts. Of otherle host reforms over teacher evaluations teachers thatre have committed misconduct, were all done with in the contract. Even the Business Community<\/a> is lauding the mayor because he managed to do the retroactives but spaced amount over future years so the hit to the citys budget is not that great immediately. As the rest of the country looks at the de Blasio Administration<\/a> as a weathervane for things to come, whether a Progressive Agenda<\/a> can succeed. The main thing to understand is most places around the country, unions are giving back stuff, they are getting increases and they are forced to pay higher copays. This has not happened here. It is possible to do it when you use creativity and when labor and management cooperate in a respectful tone. We will turn right down to the immigrants rights protest. Throughout the world, millions marched through the streets to celebrate may day. A workers rights holiday that has its roots in the u. S. When unionized immigrant workers successfully organized to demand an eight hour workday. Many of the events in the u. S. Focused on the need for copper and civic Immigration Reform<\/a>. This is Dominique Hernandez<\/a> of the new York State Youth Leadership Council<\/a> speaking at a may day rally in manhattan. My father worked really hard for me to get my education. Undocumented youth are not eligible for financial aid. That is what we are working on now. As Immigration Reform<\/a> languishes in congress, undocumented immigrants have increasingly come forward to share their stories in order to call attention to the need for its passage. One of the leading voices has been pulitzer prizewinning journalist jose antonio vargas. He outed himself as an undocumented immigrant in a New York Times<\/a> magazine. Now a film chronicles his experience, it is called documented a film by an undocumented american. Antonio vargas is a pulitzer prizewinning journalist. I lived the american dream, building a career as a successful journalist, but i was living a lie. Im going to tell you something that i have the whole told a lot of people. Im actually an undocumented immigrant. Is a story, so heres my story. My grandparents legally immigrated from the philippines in the mid1980s. My grandfather decided he would get his grandson to come to america. One morning, my suitcase was packed, i was 12. It has been 18 years since i have seen my mother. I am launching a campaign about what it means to be an american and the fact that i am an american. There are 11 million undocumented people in this country. I am an undocumented immigrant from germany. We mow your lawn, we work at your houses, maybe we are your doctors, nurses. We are not who you think we are. People who have come here illegally should not be citizens of the United States<\/a>. So what happens if you discover that someone is an undocumented person . A major blow for Immigration Reform<\/a> today. The senate voted against the dream act. Im a hardcore republican but i do not agree with them on this. You are an illegal alien. Know, im a undocumented i think im breaking the rules by having you in my studio. We dream of a path to citizenship. We dream of contributing to the country we call our home. I have this fantasy that i get a green card and i fly and that my mother is there waiting for me. The trailer for documented a film by an undocumented american, written, produced, and directed by jose antonio vargas. He is with us in new york. The film opens tonight in new york, coming to theaters all over the country. Welcome back to democracy now. , and nowt your journey in the context of what is happening in washington, d. C. Thank you for having me here. I live a few blocks away so it is always nice to be here. I am more convinced now that i was three years ago when i outed myself before we change the politics of the issue we have to change the culture. I have done about 200 events in 42 states around the country while filming. The fact that people still think as if thereexicans, was something wrong with being mexican, and that people think a criminal issue, tells us along way we have to go. For me, the most tragic thing doing the traveling is how many people, after they find out that im filipino, they say you legal and mexican interchangeably. For me, that is the most tragic thing. That is a big cultural problem. People think that just because you happen to be brown or latino , you are not supposed to be here, even if you were born here. , andted to make a film that is why i wanted to direct a film, to make a statement, a cultural statement, not a political one. I worked pretty hard to make sure it was not overly political am a so i could play it in places. I have done a couple of tea party screenings, more conservative events. You started out making a film about the dreamers and somehow, you then decided, reluctantly, to focus on your own story. Could you talk about that story . After the privilege of outing myself in the New York Times<\/a>, a 4000word essay. I thought after that i was done. Was an insideea job for immigration. s film was anon inspiration. Then i thought, do i want to over politicize the issue . Waiting for superman to get to the dream act. That was the idea i had. Then a year into filming it shifted. Cannotmy friend said you do this film and not put your mom in it. Then i decided to send a film crew to the philippines. And how do i direct a film crew if i cannot go to the philippines . I cannot leave the country. Since august. The footage comes back and as you saw in the film, there is footage of my mom looking straight into the camera. I have seen more of my mother in this film editing her then i have in 21 years. It is very surreal. You made the decision to focus more on your own story and , ofimpact on your family your immigration status. This is what happens. How do you explain i could not write 21 years of not seeing her. I could not write that. In some ways, the film shows that. When she and i skype for the first time on film, that is the reality for so many immigrants separated from their families across the world. I wanted to capture the experience. I think the film does that. Your ownbout experience. You came to the country at the age of 12. Your mother sent you here. She put me on a plane with a stranger who i thought was i uncle. Filipino, everyone is my uncle. I thought everything was fine. I got here when i was 12. My grandparents treated me like one of their own. Ther i got here, i went to dmv to get a drivers permit and that is when i realized the green car that my father had given me was fake. That is when the lies kind of started. One year after that, thankfully, i discovered journalism. The only reason i did it, we did not have books at home. I come from a lower middle class family of workers, service workers. Writing, for me, was interesting to me because it not it meant that i would have my name on a piece of paper. Juan gonzalez, New York Daily News<\/a>. I thought if i could be on a piece of paper, it would mean that im here. That is what i did for 13 years, until i was 30. And of course, your time at the Washington Post<\/a> im sure you covered immigration problems. I remember the guilt i felt during the 2005, those rallies that happened. Semust have been the only jo anywhere in the washington, d. C. Newsroom and i wanted to run away as fast as i could. Did your employers know that you are undocumented . No, of course not. I lied on the forms. That is what makes my case markup located. In the newd myself york times and the film, i admitted that. I had to. What i feel is lacking is a sense of intellectual honesty. Your is a great documentary called harvest of empire. Juans film just debuted on the capital friday night. How do we not include the conversation . Me thatls have shown the American Public<\/a> is ready for an honest conversation on this issue, not the same talking points that we hear over and over again. What was the response to you outing yourself, both at your workplace, and the u. S. Government . I decided to basically leave all of my jobs. I thought about this pretty carefully. Anybody,be employed by but this is where it gets interesting, i can employ people. I hired about 40 people total probably to do the film. It has been really interesting that way. Ive been forced to become an entrepreneur that way. The reaction from the Journalistic Community<\/a> has been interesting. I feel like somehow they took away my journalistic you are not a journalist anymore. Now you are this advocate activist. My question to that is, what do you think im advocating for, and why isnt when people of color, or gay people, or women Say Something<\/a> it is called having an agenda, and when others say it, it is having an analysis . It is an interesting question. Lets go to your film, documented a film by an undocumented american. In the scene, you are speaking on the phone with immigration and customs enforcement, ice. My name is jose antonio vargas. Last summer, i wrote this essay for the New York Times<\/a> magazine, coming out, basically, as undocumented. I have not heard from anybody. I am calling you guys to get some information on what my status is. I do not have an alien number. I am undocumented. Are you planning on supporting me . You planning on deporting me, why or why not ok, so how do you side with the to decide to start dictation receives again somebody . Take it from there. I guess i was surprised that nobody contacted me. Here i am, i admit to everything, my lawyers tell me to get ready, and then nothing happened. Thousands of people are deported every day. 2 million deportations in five years. Here i am admitting to everything. I was wondering what they would do. I was surprised by the silence. So i contacted the editor of Time Magazine<\/a> and i said i want to write a story about why they have not supported me. That scene is from the film when i called ice to say, whats up, i have not heard from you. We could not record her for legal purposes. At 1. I said to her, i am on a deadline, i need a comment. She said, we cannot comment on your case. Is aually think that metaphor, in general, for how the American Public<\/a> things of us right now. No comment. You all know we are here. You know we go to the same grocery stores, your schools, work with you come and drive on the freeway, so what are you going to do with us . What we are that is battling right now in congress. What is the role of states and cities . Thats an important question. Here in new york, the municipal id bill, we hope it passes. Why cant andrew cuomo pass the state dream act, that is is a prize to everyone. To drivers do now to license and legislation in the state . I want to ask you of the responsible politicians. Part of your experience as a reporter was covering the mitt course,ampaign, and of he staked out a position early on as being part of the chorus of the self deportation group. Talk about your experiences then. The firsted romney time he ran for president in 2007, then i came back four years later, as an undocumented immigrant, holding a sign and crashing a romney rally. The first time in my life that i held a sign. As a journalist, i was trained never to do that. It was a surreal experience old and that sign. It when i crash that rally, what theinteresting, again, general lack of information that people have on this issue. This band was like, why dont you just get in the back of the line . The two things i always get asked is why havent you been deported . I dont know, ask the government. And number two, why dont you just make yourself legal . Such an outrageous question. Such an outrageous question. In the film, we go through the form and we show you, i cannot get past line 2. People think that we just go to an office and fill out a form. That is not how it works. Lets go back to your film. In this scene in alabama, you interview a republican farmer named Lawrence Calvert<\/a>. I own 32 acres here. Are you born and raised here in alabama . Yes, born and raised. I do not farm on the scale that i did at one time for the simple reason that i am getting older. Taco is the nickname of my latino worker. It is a friendship and he works with me. I would rather say he works with me than for me. If i go to his house, his three children hug me like my grandkids, and hug me. Son among thettle youngest. Latinos are scared. If they are here illegally, they are scared. If they are here legally, they have family members they are scared for. In adea that i have paco vehicle with me, im liable also and can be arrested. That is telling me, the state of alabama, telling me who my friend can be. Im a conservative and a hardcore republican but i do not agree with them on this. I think you have an immigration problem. Farmer Lawrence Calvert<\/a> in the film documented a film by an undocumented american as we wrap up how his views fit into the National Picture<\/a> here and where we are headed. Republican can have a conversation with Lawrence Calvert<\/a>. He speaks to this issue with more nuance and sensitivity than most of the Republican Leaders<\/a> in the state of alabama and some of our own Republican Leaders<\/a>. You show the film at the college of paul ryan. Thiss, Miami University<\/a> past week. White,00 kids, leslie conservative. It was wonderful. For them, they have grown up with this issue thinking another thing. One woman came up to me afterwards and she kept shaking her head. She said, this is not what i thought it was going to be. I said, it is not what you think it is. That is our job. These media and Culture Campaign<\/a> that i run, this is our job, to elevate this issue and take it out of the political realm. Beingant to thank you for with us. You are now headed around the country as the film opens. We will be in los angeles, phoenix, san francisco, denver, all through may and june. Jose antonio vargas, pulitzer prizewinning journalist and filmmaker. His new film is called documented a film by an undocumented american. It is opening tonight in new york. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. When we come back, we will go to sudan and we will also speak with mother jones reporter nick baumann about the federal authoritys threats against a person who refused to collaborate with them. Stay with us. [music break] new yorks own rude mechanical orchestra performing on may day. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Details have emerged about the fbis efforts to turn Muslim Americans<\/a> living abroad into government informants. An expose a in mother jones magazine chronicles the story of an american named naji mansour were, after he refused to become an informant while living in kenya. He saw his life and familys life turned upside down. He was detained, repeatedly interrogated, and ultimately forced into exile in sudan, unable to see his children for years. He ended up spending 37 days in a prison in sudan. After he was released, fbi agents approached him again. This time, naji mansour decided to record the conversation. During the call, the agent informs him he may be hit by a car. On thursday, the recording was published by mother jones. If you had any business going on today or anything like that, you will find out how miniscule and worthless it was compared to this fork in the road. What are you talking about . Come out and say, what fork in the road are you talking about . I dont care, im getting out of here. When i tell somebody, if you crossed the street without looking, you will get run over, that is not a threat. You are about to cross the street without looking both ways , and im telling you, you might get hit by a car. That is not a threat. That is a solid piece of the device. That was a phone conversation of an unidentified fbi agent pressuring mansour to become an fbi informant. The story is part of the new film this american refused to become an fbi informant. Then the government made his familys life hell. We are joined now by naji mansour were via democracy now video stream from sudan. Joining us from washington, d. C. Is nick baumann, who wrote the piece for mother jones magazine. Nick, lay out the story. As you heard, this is a story about not jim ensor not jim ensor, who did not want to become an fbi informant, and what happened to him and his family after he made that decision. Start the story, and the best way to start is with s mob, a longtime government employee, and his sister, and they are in south sudan, it is in the middle of the night, a dangerous place. They are wandering the streets naji because he had disappeared. They do not know where he is. They were told that he was being held in a blue building somewhere but they do not know where that is. Imagine, if this is your child or brother, and you are an american living abroad, having no idea where that person is and having to search for them. 90 leaves, and i think, with a few good reasons to believe, that the u. S. Government orchestrated the bad things that happened to him and his family. , tell us how you later discover that you came into the crosshairs of the fbi. Why did they begin to target you initially . Talk about those Early Experiences<\/a> you had. In 2008, i was working in dubai, with an i. T. And due to the financial crisis, i came back to nairobi in late 2008. In 2009 to cancel my visa, returned to nairobi. I had on numerous occasions, offers, my place in kenya, our family house in kenya, to travelers or anyone else that would like to come by. This is a Family Tradition<\/a> we have. We have traveled most of our have been given accommodation, and we have given accommodation. When i came back from the emirates, i get a call from an , who itance in dubai knew of not so much, but we had several conversations. Some occasion, one or two to do occasions, i offered for him to come to kenya, or if he was ever in kenya, he should look me up, Something Like<\/a> this. He called me and asked me to accommodate two young gentleman, his friends. I thought they would be coming from the emirates, but i cap apparently they came from england. When i was asking for more information, the phone had cut. Happenedeno to be on a watchlist, they came to stay with me, and after two weeks, my home was raided by. Ocal Law Enforcement<\/a> after the rated i was not there, i read it in a story i secured some legal documentation barring my door partition deportation, which is what they usually do to young men married to kenyan women. Once i obtain the documentation, i hated myself into the Antiterror Police<\/a> unit, and they question me for give you a days and then let me go. After that, i brought myself to the u. S. Embassy to report this, to the counselor section, to a person called mike fogarty. In theasically brought deputy rso had a security head of security. And he basically came in quickly agents. Fbi i agree to sit and talk with them. It was from that time that the fbi was involved in my case. I want to turn to another clip, in the conversation between you, naji mansour, and an fbi agent. He tells you they are scrutinizing not only you but your mother. What im trying to say is you do not want to come into the embassy to do it, fine. We said we would do it outside of the embassy. Meeting has not been a priority to you, in fact, you have not wanted to sit with us since we talked, since i was back in country. You say you want to get things resolved, i say there is crude neon you, your mom. She is employed by the consulate at the consulate through a contractor and you are saying you do not want to come to the embassy and there is good reason for that. Exactly. The scrutiny on my mother has nothing to do with anything. I told you the situation here. Heards country, have you of the expression beggars are not users . I am on contract. I am not giving you any illegitimate excuse. I have bent over backwards and i really do not like your tone. What do you have on me . I have done nothing. Naji mansour, speaking with the fbi. Naji, can you talk about what happened next . Basically, i have not heard buttape in a while, basically another fbi agent came on the phone. At that time i was very angry because they had basically started to pressure me to meet with them at a time when i was in a meeting, just to put things in perspective. At that time i was in sudan for about one month. I was basically started my life jobs,trying to do random and they were pressuring me to meet at a time when i could not make it. I had not refused to meet with them, but i refused to meet with them at that time. I told them that i could meet with them later but they were really pushing for me to meet with them. Kind of got insulted i was already apprehensive to the idea of meeting them because of what i was told about them in my detention in cuba. Camewards, another agent and he told me i should come. He does not buy into my lies, something to that effect, and that i should meet with him, and if i dont, my life would change. That is when i say, what are you talking about, fork in the road, which will i take . He would not go into detail but he said that there will be a series of events that would take place, and then he is out of it. Sure enough, after the conversation, four days later, my mother, a government contractor, was fired from her position, one day after she signed a new contract with your company her company. You mention your detention. Can you talk about what was the pretext or the reason you were detained or what happened to you . Shortly after the raid at my house in kenya, i went to uganda to visit my two older children. On my way back into kenya, they refused me entry. I went there to stay with my mother who was staying there. At the same time, it was in the plans to go there and start a rugged laptop business that had already been engaged in. Basically i was therefore two juba. , living in about two months of me being there, my mother decided to go back to kenya for a business meeting, some type of business travel. I used the opportunity for my wife to come over and visit me. She was only there about five days. One day before she was supposed two stateback, security men showed up at my place and said i needed to come in for questioning. We said, fine, no problem. By that time, i had an idea why they wanted to question me. I would imagine what ever in kenya had spilled over to juba. I did not know why at this point. We went in and we were not seriously questioned, but at the they basically threw us into a dark cell, two ells, and theyc did not really tell us anything. They never accused me or charged me of anything. They wanted to know what happened in kenya. I told him. And then basically i repeated the story to them very openly. You know other people that have been pressured in the way that you have . I have come across other. Eople who have been pressured during my experience with an organization in kenya called the muslim human rights forum, we came across several people who were pressured in different ways with regards to becoming. Nformants being under tension at the time was used as detention at the time was used as a form of duress to get them to accept becoming an informant. Could you putn, this in the context of fbi efforts around the globe to ,arget americans who are abroad who, for one reason or another, one them to provide information, because they believe there could be ties to terrorist groups . The fbi is very concerned about what he would call homegrown terrorism, terrorism by american citizens. It is especially concerned about people going abroad to receive training or meet with terrorist groups, stuff like that. Of the of this, because huge need for informants, there are about 15,000 informants in the u. S. , basically one in every mosque in america, it is always trying to recruit. One of the ways it does this is on americansure citizens, usually muslims, traveling abroad. In saw a recent lawsuit which a number of american muslims charge that the fbi and government were using the nofly list to pressure them to become informants. Basically told they cannot return to the united dates unless they cooperate with the fbi. This phenomenon that we are talking about in this case, which is called crossing tension , is when american citizens are picked up by foreign governments and either questioned in a similar way to what the fbi is interested in, or actually questioned by the fbi itself. There are a number of cases like this that ive reported on. The way that i heard from naji in the first place was i reported a story about an american who was living in sudan and told the fbi he was not interested in becoming an informant and was later arrested when he was traveling in the united arab emirates. He said he was detained and tortured there, asked questions, like what the fbi had asked him. He sawmailed me after the story and said i had a similar experience. That is how i found out about najis story in the first place. In that article, you write that he was beaten on the soles of his feet, kicked and punched, held in stress positions as interrogators demanded that he cooperate. He talks about the fbi trying to make him an informant. I was visiting portland, oregon, and they needed my help. Said, you have to be willing to help us, and then we can tell you. They would give me money, i would live a good life, they said, dont you want to make good money . Work with us. I told them that i do not plan to be an informant or whatever they were trying to do, but i told them that if there was anything that i know, i would tell you. But as far as me going to anybody and trying to be secretly bringing information, i would not do that. Nick baumann, talk about the significance of these clips that we have played of naji mansour and the fbi. Is thatignificance here a lot of these cases, you have to take the word of the people who are making the allegations. s case, it is well documented. He has the recorded interview with the fbi agents where they confirm or at least corroborate some of his allegations. I obtained a document assessing the intelligent document regarding his detention, confirming that he had been detained when he said he was, and for how long he was detained. I talked to kenyan officials who confirmed his problems there. There is a lot of corroboration for the story. I do not want to be naive. Of course, it is not totally uncommon for Law Enforcement<\/a> to pressure or even threaten people they want things from, but the thing you have to keep in mind about these recordings is that these fbi agents are not stupid and they know that they are in sudan, talking on the phone. There is a good chance that sudanese intelligence is listening. Also a good chance that their conversation is being recorded. These are things that they were willing to say, knowing that ey might have been recorded. What Everyone Needs<\/a> to think about is what they would have said if they did not think that there was a chance they would be recorded. Im wondering if you got responses from the fbi, not only about the effort to try to get him to be an informant, but also to threaten and target family members if he refused. That is the straightest part of this. Lets say you do not believe naji, you take a worse case scenario, and he knew that these guys saying in his house were bad guys. And he is a bad guy himself. Even if you believe all of that, that does not necessarily mean that his family is guilty at all. His mother is a longtime employee of the u. S. Government, work for the u. S. Agency for international development, had security clearance, handled baggage for laura bush, when she. Isited kenya his brother was a marine who served two tors in afghanistan. His sister also worked for the government. All these people had trouble with the law since naji refused to become an informant. As you heard earlier, his mother lost her job. The question is what justifies that . The government in general, the fbi, state department, u. S. Agency for international development, none of them were willing to answer those questions. They were willing to talk generally. The state department did confirm najis detention and that they had visited him in detention, but in terms of the firing of his mom, there is not much information. Naji mansour, if you could explain why you decided to come nationalirst time on and international television, the significance of releasing these fbi calls for you . I wanted to come out with this since i was detained in juba. I told the embassy, they had a form, and i told them to alert everybody, immediate, my state senator, everybody. Unfortunately, they did not do so. After i was released, my mother had some concerns, the blowback that would come to us if i did go to the media. On, this is till happening, the government is still asking me out for coffee. The last time i went to the embassy to renew my passport, a sickly this is not going away, we want our lives back. I want to thank you for being with us, naji mansour, speaking u. S. From sudan, the government retaliated against him when he refused to become an fbi informant. Nick baumann, we will link to your piece. His new expose a is this american refused to become an fbi informant. Then the government made his familys life hell. This is democracy now when we come back, the yes men strike again. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. With juan gonzalez. The yes men have struck again. Members of the activist group spoke at the Homeland Security<\/a> congress, posing as u. S. Government officials. At the conference they announced the fictitious new government plan called american Renewable Clean Energy<\/a> network, to convert the u. S. To 100 Renewable Energy<\/a> by 2030. This is a member of the yes men who identified himself as , as the waterman secretary of policy implementation. It is a great honor to be here to make this announcement. On behalf of the department of energy, im very excited to announce today a great new plant. It is beginning a process that will do nothing less than convert the United States<\/a> energy grid into one that is powered entirely by renewable sources. We are going to do it in only slightly more time than it took to win world war ii. America Renewable Clean Energy<\/a> is part of president obamas Climate Change<\/a> action plan. It will put ownership of Energy Production<\/a> directly in the hands of small companies, local entities, and entrepreneurs like yourselves. The u. S. Currently generates around 10 of our energy from her global sources, placing us 113th in the world. By 2030, america will produce 100 of our energy from Renewables Come<\/a> establishing us once again as a beacon of innovation and progress and as a Global Leader<\/a> in confronting the supreme challenge of Climate Change<\/a>. [applause] everyone asks, how long will the screen movement go on for . Think about that as long as thef, sun shines. The grass grows. The wind blows. We will have energy. Was Gitz Crazyboy<\/a> posing the homelandl from security association. After that, they let the crowd in a line dance. All we need to continue to grow. To find out more, we are joined by three guests, Gitz Crazyboy<\/a>, actually an indigenous tar sands activist. Andy bichlbaum is with us. Is also with us, who played the assistant to benedict waterman. This congress, Homeland Security<\/a> congress, what is it . This is a congress that is about contractors who want to get government contracts to do things like fortify the border or other Homeland Security<\/a> issues. They pay a lot of money to go, and we got in coming gave an announcement that the u. S. Would convert to entirely Renewable Energy<\/a> by 2030. As was the department of energy, i was from the department of energy come a and i announced this plan, teaming up with the department of defense and bureau of indian affairs, to convert the u. S. To Renewable Energy<\/a> by 2030, which is feasible, and everybody was thrilled. And they believe you. 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