WEBVTT 00:00:15.250 --> 00:00:18.270 From New York, this is Democracy Now! 00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:21.630 What I’m doing is enabling all qualified Americans 00:00:21.630 --> 00:00:23.380 to serve their country in uniform 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:30.300 and essentially restoring the situation as existed before, 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:35.420 where transgender personnel, qualified in every other way, 00:00:35.420 --> 00:00:38.590 can serve their government in the United States military. 00:00:39.750 --> 00:00:43.360 President Biden reverses the Trump administration’s ban 00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:46.420 on transgender people serving in the military, 00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:49.460 but trans rights are under attack in Montana, 00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:51.480 the Dakotas and other states. 00:00:51.480 --> 00:00:54.510 We’ll speak to the ACLU’s Chase Strangio. 00:00:54.510 --> 00:00:58.510 Then, as Biden proposes a pathway to citizenship 00:00:58.510 --> 00:01:01.430 for 11 million undocumented immigrants, 00:01:01.430 --> 00:01:04.120 what should Biden do about the record number of people 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:06.780 deported during the Obama-Biden years? 00:01:07.780 --> 00:01:10.920 If President Biden is serious about restoring humanity 00:01:10.920 --> 00:01:12.640 to the immigration system, 00:01:12.640 --> 00:01:15.570 he can’t just reverse Donald Trump’s policies. 00:01:15.570 --> 00:01:17.520 He must actually work to repair the harm 00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:19.590 that was done when he was vice president, 00:01:19.590 --> 00:01:23.840 when record-high deportations under the Obama administration 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.760 left immigrant communities across the United States 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:28.990 fractured and financially devastated. 00:01:30.740 --> 00:01:34.590 Then, as the wealth of U.S. billionaires soars 00:01:34.590 --> 00:01:35.950 by over a [trillion] 00:01:35.950 --> 00:01:40.710 dollars during the pandemic, Oxfam is warning COVID-19 00:01:40.710 --> 00:01:42.330 could lead to the biggest increase 00:01:42.330 --> 00:01:45.150 in global inequality on record. 00:01:45.150 --> 00:01:46.850 All that and more, coming up. 00:01:50.950 --> 00:01:54.490 Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:01:54.490 --> 00:01:57.000 The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. 00:01:57.570 --> 00:02:00.320 House impeachment managers have delivered 00:02:00.320 --> 00:02:02.650 an article of impeachment to the Senate, 00:02:02.650 --> 00:02:06.710 charging Donald J. Trump with "incitement of insurrection." 00:02:06.710 --> 00:02:10.000 On Monday evening, the nine impeachment managers 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.700 walked the article through National Statuary Hall 00:02:13.700 --> 00:02:16.220 and the Capitol Rotunda to the Senate, 00:02:16.220 --> 00:02:18.900 where on January 6 a violent mob 00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:22.480 incited by President Trump attacked police officers, 00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:26.290 looted lawmakers’ offices and delayed the certification 00:02:26.290 --> 00:02:28.920 of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:31.640 The violence left five people dead. 00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:34.160 Maryland Congressmember Jamie Raskin, 00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:37.010 who will lead the prosecution against Trump, 00:02:37.010 --> 00:02:39.580 read the article of impeachment to the Senate. 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:41.780 Rep. Jamie Raskin: 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:44.240 "Donald John Trump thus warrants impeachment 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:49.170 and trial, removal from office and disqualification 00:02:49.170 --> 00:02:52.560 to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.060 trust or profit under the United States." 00:02:56.930 --> 00:03:00.960 Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy of Vermont 00:03:01.970 --> 00:03:04.820 will preside over Trump’s impeachment trial — 00:03:04.820 --> 00:03:08.570 not John Roberts, the Supreme Court’s chief justice. 00:03:08.570 --> 00:03:11.610 The trial is set to begin on February 9. 00:03:12.470 --> 00:03:14.660 The Justice Department’s inspector general 00:03:14.660 --> 00:03:16.540 has announced plans to investigate 00:03:16.540 --> 00:03:19.080 whether any current or former officials at the 00:03:19.080 --> 00:03:21.640 Justice Department worked with President 00:03:21.640 --> 00:03:25.420 Trump in his failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election. 00:03:25.950 --> 00:03:29.450 This comes just days after The New York Times revealed 00:03:29.450 --> 00:03:33.620 Trump considered replacing acting Attorney General Jeffrey 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:37.440 Rosen with another DOJ official, Jeffrey 00:03:37.440 --> 00:03:38.980 Clark, who embraced 00:03:38.980 --> 00:03:42.150 Trump’s conspiracy theories about the election. 00:03:43.080 --> 00:03:46.130 In related news, Dominion Voting Systems has sued 00:03:46.130 --> 00:03:50.110 Trump’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani for $1.3 billion, 00:03:50.110 --> 00:03:52.670 accusing the former New York mayor of manufacturing 00:03:52.670 --> 00:03:54.660 and disseminating conspiracy theories 00:03:54.660 --> 00:03:57.090 about the company’s voting machines. 00:03:58.200 --> 00:03:59.430 President Joe Biden said 00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:01.870 Monday his administration would increase 00:04:01.870 --> 00:04:06.730 its COVID-19 vaccination goal — from 100 million shots 00:04:06.730 --> 00:04:10.830 in the first 100 days to 150 million shots. 00:04:10.830 --> 00:04:14.370 That’s enough to vaccinate 75 million people, 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:17.030 a little less than a quarter of the U.S. population. 00:04:17.810 --> 00:04:20.470 Here in New York, health officials have delayed 00:04:20.470 --> 00:04:23.350 opening COVID-19 mass vaccination sites 00:04:23.350 --> 00:04:25.770 at the Yankees’ and Mets’ baseball stadiums 00:04:25.770 --> 00:04:29.540 and on Staten Island due to supply shortages. 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:33.490 In California, Governor Gavin Newsom has lifted strict 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:36.530 stay-at-home orders put in place in December. 00:04:36.530 --> 00:04:39.890 California’s coronavirus cases are down from a massive surge 00:04:39.890 --> 00:04:41.180 over the holidays, 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:46.150 but the state is still reporting over 25,000 new cases per day, 00:04:46.880 --> 00:04:50.470 and many intensive care units are at or near capacity. 00:04:50.470 --> 00:04:55.730 Another 1,800 U.S. residents died of COVID-19 on Monday, 00:04:55.730 --> 00:04:59.920 pushing the U.S. death toll past 421,000. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:03.580 President Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, 00:05:03.580 --> 00:05:06.040 said Monday that, under President Trump, 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:08.390 efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus 00:05:08.390 --> 00:05:10.990 were devastated by anti-mask 00:05:10.990 --> 00:05:13.450 and anti-social-distancing rhetoric. 00:05:13.450 --> 00:05:14.780 Dr. Anthony Fauci: 00:05:14.780 --> 00:05:19.420 "When public health issues become politically charged, 00:05:19.420 --> 00:05:23.920 like wearing a mask or not becomes a political statement, 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:27.260 you cannot imagine how destructive 00:05:27.260 --> 00:05:31.440 that is to any unified public health message." 00:05:31.440 --> 00:05:32.700 In more vaccine news, 00:05:32.700 --> 00:05:35.590 Moderna said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine 00:05:35.590 --> 00:05:37.890 is effective at preventing disease in people 00:05:37.890 --> 00:05:40.680 infected with new variants of the coronavirus. 00:05:40.680 --> 00:05:42.440 But Moderna warned the vaccine 00:05:42.440 --> 00:05:45.040 appears to be less potent against one variant, 00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:47.140 first discovered in South Africa. 00:05:47.140 --> 00:05:50.210 Moderna says it’s working on a modified booster shot 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:54.040 in case it’s needed to combat the South African variant 00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:57.750 or other lineages that might evolve further resistance 00:05:57.750 --> 00:05:59.940 to human immune responses. 00:05:59.940 --> 00:06:02.890 Meanwhile, drugmaker Merck has abandoned research 00:06:02.890 --> 00:06:06.090 into COVID-19 vaccines after two of its candidates 00:06:06.090 --> 00:06:08.770 failed to provoke a strong immune response 00:06:08.770 --> 00:06:11.670 in patients enrolled in clinical trials. 00:06:12.470 --> 00:06:16.120 On Capitol Hill, Senator Mitch McConnell has dropped his demand 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:18.990 that Democrats promise to preserve the filibuster, 00:06:18.990 --> 00:06:21.550 ending a standoff over a power-sharing deal 00:06:21.550 --> 00:06:24.800 between the two parties over how to run the divided chamber. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:27.210 McConnell made the announcement after two Democrats — 00:06:27.210 --> 00:06:30.560 West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema 00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:33.280 — expressed opposition to getting rid of the filibuster, 00:06:33.280 --> 00:06:36.610 which has been used over the years to uphold slavery 00:06:36.610 --> 00:06:39.590 and fight civil rights legislation. 00:06:40.900 --> 00:06:44.400 President Biden has signed an executive order repealing 00:06:44.400 --> 00:06:47.620 the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:49.180 serving in the military. 00:06:49.180 --> 00:06:53.000 Biden also ordered the Pentagon to review the files of troops 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:55.190 who were forced out because of the ban 00:06:55.190 --> 00:06:57.310 and to immediately halt discharges 00:06:57.310 --> 00:06:59.750 of transgender troops now serving. 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:01.780 Lieutenant Colonel Bree Fram, 00:07:01.780 --> 00:07:03.650 vice president of the transgender 00:07:03.650 --> 00:07:06.690 military advocacy organization SPART*A, welcomed the news. 00:07:06.690 --> 00:07:08.150 Lt. Col. Bree Fram: 00:07:08.150 --> 00:07:12.270 "We believe, with four or eight more years of open service, 00:07:12.270 --> 00:07:15.140 looking back, you’ll see a military without transgender 00:07:15.140 --> 00:07:18.900 people just as unconscionable as one would be 00:07:18.900 --> 00:07:21.470 without other minorities that are serving today." 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:24.520 Puerto Rico’s governor has declared a state 00:07:24.520 --> 00:07:27.550 of emergency over gender-based violence, 00:07:27.550 --> 00:07:32.020 following at least 60 incidents of femicide reported in 2020. 00:07:32.020 --> 00:07:34.600 Six of the murders were of trans women. 00:07:35.210 --> 00:07:38.230 Meanwhile, right-wing state lawmakers in Montana, 00:07:38.230 --> 00:07:40.440 North Dakota and South Dakota 00:07:40.440 --> 00:07:43.680 are pushing a number of new anti-trans bills. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:45.410 We’ll have more on the fight over trans 00:07:45.410 --> 00:07:49.160 rights after headlines with the ACLU’s Chase Strangio. 00:07:50.640 --> 00:07:53.080 The Senate has voted to confirm Janet Yellen 00:07:53.080 --> 00:07:54.610 to be treasury secretary, 00:07:54.610 --> 00:07:57.980 making her the first woman to ever hold the post. 00:07:57.980 --> 00:07:59.600 During her confirmation hearing, 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:04.260 the former Federal Reserve chair urged lawmakers to "act big" 00:08:04.260 --> 00:08:06.600 on the next COVID-19 relief package. 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:07.810 Janet Yellen: 00:08:07.810 --> 00:08:11.290 "The smartest thing we can do is act big. 00:08:11.290 --> 00:08:12.560 In the long run, 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.470 I believe the benefits will far outweigh the costs, 00:08:16.470 --> 00:08:19.470 especially if we care about helping people 00:08:19.470 --> 00:08:22.150 who’ve been struggling for a very long time." 00:08:22.150 --> 00:08:25.100 The Senate is also expected to confirm Tony Blinken 00:08:25.100 --> 00:08:26.740 to be secretary of state today, 00:08:26.740 --> 00:08:28.660 after he received the support of the Senate 00:08:28.660 --> 00:08:31.190 Foreign Relations Committee on Monday. 00:08:31.190 --> 00:08:32.580 During his confirmation hearing, 00:08:32.580 --> 00:08:34.530 Blinken backed the Trump administration’s 00:08:34.530 --> 00:08:36.990 hard-line approach on China and Venezuela, 00:08:36.990 --> 00:08:40.140 including recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaidó 00:08:40.140 --> 00:08:41.640 as Venezuela’s president. 00:08:41.640 --> 00:08:43.790 Blinken also said the U.S. would move to end 00:08:43.790 --> 00:08:47.030 its support of the Saudi-led war in Yemen. 00:08:47.030 --> 00:08:48.500 During the Obama administration, 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:50.440 Blinken traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2015 00:08:50.440 --> 00:08:51.760 to expedite weapons deliveries 00:08:51.760 --> 00:08:54.810 shortly after Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen began. 00:08:54.810 --> 00:09:00.140 In Yemen, tens of thousands of protesters 00:09:00.140 --> 00:09:02.850 marched in the capital Sana’a Monday, 00:09:02.850 --> 00:09:05.840 condemning former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.810 designation of Houthi rebels as a terrorist organization. 00:09:09.810 --> 00:09:11.740 Aid groups warn the designation 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:14.820 will only exacerbate Yemen’s humanitarian crisis — 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:17.910 already the worst in the world, with millions facing famine. 00:09:18.460 --> 00:09:20.840 In Ontario, Canada, antiwar activists 00:09:20.840 --> 00:09:24.230 held a nonviolent civil disobedience protest Monday, 00:09:24.230 --> 00:09:25.830 sitting in the path of trucks 00:09:25.830 --> 00:09:28.530 carrying armored vehicles bound for Saudi Arabia. 00:09:29.290 --> 00:09:33.100 It was part of a global day of action against the war in Yemen. 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:34.340 This is Rachel Small, 00:09:34.340 --> 00:09:36.900 an organizer with the group World Beyond War. 00:09:36.900 --> 00:09:39.270 Rachel Small: "We’re here today 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:45.700 demanding that Canada cancel its arms trade to Saudi Arabia, 00:09:46.410 --> 00:09:48.400 that companies such as Paddock 00:09:48.400 --> 00:09:51.390 Transport International, who ships the arms, 00:09:51.390 --> 00:09:53.810 GDLS, who produces the tanks — 00:09:53.810 --> 00:09:57.620 we’re demanding that they immediately stop being complicit 00:09:57.620 --> 00:10:01.240 in arming Saudi Arabia and sending weapons 00:10:01.240 --> 00:10:05.310 to the worst humanitarian situation on the planet." 00:10:05.310 --> 00:10:08.120 In Ethiopia, jarring witness accounts 00:10:08.120 --> 00:10:11.030 are emerging of the involvement of Eritrean soldiers 00:10:11.030 --> 00:10:13.970 in the deadly conflict in the northern Tigray region. 00:10:13.970 --> 00:10:16.090 Survivors told the Associated Press 00:10:16.090 --> 00:10:19.710 that Eritrean soldiers looted homes and broke into houses 00:10:19.710 --> 00:10:23.000 searching for and killing Tigrayan men and boys. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:25.870 They’re also accused of targeting thousands of refugees 00:10:25.870 --> 00:10:27.730 and sexually assaulting people. 00:10:27.730 --> 00:10:30.280 Thousands of Eritrean soldiers have fought on the side 00:10:30.280 --> 00:10:32.680 of Ethiopian armed forces in the bloody conflict 00:10:32.680 --> 00:10:34.120 that started in November. 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:36.500 Humanitarian aid workers warned earlier this month 00:10:36.500 --> 00:10:38.590 that hundreds of thousands of people 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:41.010 in the Tigray region could "starve to death," 00:10:41.010 --> 00:10:43.300 as shops were depleted of food weeks ago 00:10:43.300 --> 00:10:45.430 and nearly all of the region’s population — 00:10:45.430 --> 00:10:50.200 some 4.5 million people — need emergency food aid. 00:10:51.020 --> 00:10:54.600 In climate news, a satellite survey by British researchers 00:10:54.600 --> 00:10:59.670 finds Earth’s ice sheets lost 28 trillion metric tons 00:10:59.670 --> 00:11:02.280 between 1994 and 2017 00:11:02.280 --> 00:11:05.150 due to global heating from human activity. 00:11:05.150 --> 00:11:07.090 That’s enough to cover the state of Michigan 00:11:07.090 --> 00:11:10.490 with a sheet of ice 100 meters thick. 00:11:10.490 --> 00:11:11.880 This comes as the White House 00:11:11.880 --> 00:11:14.460 is preparing to announce several executive actions 00:11:14.460 --> 00:11:17.210 Wednesday meant to mitigate the climate crisis, 00:11:17.210 --> 00:11:21.620 including a ban on some new oil and gas leases on federal land. 00:11:21.620 --> 00:11:23.880 On Monday, U.S. climate ambassador John 00:11:23.880 --> 00:11:26.990 Kerry told world leaders at the United Nations Climate 00:11:26.990 --> 00:11:29.200 Adaptation Summit that he was proud 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:32.510 the U.S. had rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement. 00:11:32.510 --> 00:11:34.270 Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban 00:11:34.270 --> 00:11:35.710 Ki-moon welcomed the news. 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:37.060 Ban Ki-moon: 00:11:37.060 --> 00:11:41.450 "This means the multilateralism which has been in disarray 00:11:41.450 --> 00:11:44.370 during the last four years is now back." 00:11:44.370 --> 00:11:46.360 The International Labour Organization 00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:50.740 warns wages fell by $3.7 trillion in 2020, 00:11:51.420 --> 00:11:53.070 with the coronavirus pandemic 00:11:53.070 --> 00:11:55.140 eliminating the equivalent of more than 00:11:55.140 --> 00:11:58.340 a quarter-billion full-time jobs. 00:11:58.340 --> 00:12:02.660 Job losses around the world were four times worse last year 00:12:02.660 --> 00:12:06.470 than during the global financial crisis that began in 2007. 00:12:06.470 --> 00:12:08.720 This comes as the International Chamber of Commerce 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.340 is warning vaccine nationalism 00:12:11.340 --> 00:12:15.070 could cost the global economy $9.2 trillion 00:12:15.070 --> 00:12:17.760 if governments fail to provide poorer nations 00:12:17.760 --> 00:12:20.470 with access to COVID-19 vaccines. 00:12:20.470 --> 00:12:24.170 Nearly half of the losses would impact wealthier countries. 00:12:27.130 --> 00:12:34.060 At least three dozen lawmakers are appealing to President Biden 00:12:34.060 --> 00:12:38.220 to commute the sentences of the 50 people on federal death row. 00:12:38.220 --> 00:12:41.200 In a letter spearheaded by Congressmembers Cori Bush 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:43.980 and Ayanna Pressley, the lawmakers write, 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:46.480 "The legacy President Trump left behind 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.000 is one of carnage and unrestrained violence 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.350 that must be rectified immediately." 00:12:53.090 --> 00:12:56.960 Biden vowed during his campaign to end capital punishment. 00:12:56.960 --> 00:12:59.690 Congressmember Pressley and Senator Dick Durbin 00:12:59.690 --> 00:13:03.110 have also introduced bills to ban the federal death penalty. 00:13:03.830 --> 00:13:05.610 In media news, The New York Times 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:07.160 is facing mounting criticism 00:13:07.160 --> 00:13:09.680 for firing editor and award-winning journalist 00:13:09.680 --> 00:13:14.340 Lauren Wolfe allegedly after Wolfe tweeted she had "chills" 00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:16.670 while watching President Biden’s plane land 00:13:16.670 --> 00:13:19.840 at Joint Base Andrews on the eve of his inauguration. 00:13:20.550 --> 00:13:22.710 The New York Times has disputed this, 00:13:22.710 --> 00:13:25.730 saying Wolfe was a freelancer and not a full-time employee, 00:13:25.730 --> 00:13:28.390 and that she wasn’t laid off "over a single tweet." 00:13:28.390 --> 00:13:30.680 But the paper offered no other explanation 00:13:30.680 --> 00:13:32.930 for its decision to terminate Wolfe. 00:13:32.930 --> 00:13:34.710 Journalists from across the country 00:13:34.710 --> 00:13:36.480 condemned Wolfe’s firing. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:38.730 Author Jillian York wrote on Twitter, 00:13:39.400 --> 00:13:40.810 "The fact that Tom Friedman 00:13:40.810 --> 00:13:45.160 can spout absolute warmongering nonsense about the Middle East 00:13:45.160 --> 00:13:50.360 for decades but NYT fires Lauren Wolfe over a single tweet 00:13:50.360 --> 00:13:53.510 tells you everything you need to know about the New York 00:13:53.510 --> 00:13:55.210 Times." 00:13:56.020 --> 00:13:59.060 President Biden has revived efforts to place abolitionist 00:13:59.060 --> 00:14:01.500 Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. 00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:05.030 The plan was announced by the Obama administration in 2016 00:14:05.030 --> 00:14:08.700 but was delayed until 2028 by the Trump administration, 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:10.630 citing "technical issues." 00:14:10.630 --> 00:14:13.610 Tubman would be the first Black woman to be placed on 00:14:13.610 --> 00:14:15.580 U.S. currency, replacing former 00:14:15.580 --> 00:14:19.830 President Andrew Jackson, who enslaved over 100 people. 00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:23.050 The move was met with mixed responses as racial justice 00:14:23.050 --> 00:14:26.080 advocates on social media argued the U.S. government 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:29.440 should prioritize economic justice for the Black community. 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:32.610 Screenwriter Kashana Cauley tweeted, "Unfortunately, 00:14:32.610 --> 00:14:34.640 due to the black women pay gap, 00:14:34.640 --> 00:14:36.470 if we put Harriet Tubman on the $20 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:40.260 it’ll only be worth $12.20." 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:45.710 The American Library Association has awarded a Caldecott Medal 00:14:45.710 --> 00:14:49.340 to the children’s picture book "We Are Water Protectors" 00:14:49.340 --> 00:14:51.420 — marking the first time in history 00:14:51.420 --> 00:14:54.730 Indigenous people are recognized with the award. 00:14:54.730 --> 00:14:59.370 The book was illustrated by Tlingit artist Michaela Goade 00:14:59.370 --> 00:15:02.190 and written by Carole Lindstrom of the Turtle Mountain 00:15:02.190 --> 00:15:03.560 Band of Ojibwe. 00:15:03.560 --> 00:15:05.480 The book tells the story of a young woman 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:07.560 resisting the construction of the Dakota 00:15:07.560 --> 00:15:09.730 Access pipeline. 00:15:09.730 --> 00:15:11.890 And those are some of the headlines this is Democracy 00:15:11.890 --> 00:15:15.240 Now, Democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:16.940 I’m Amy Goodman. 00:15:27.540 --> 00:15:30.510 AMY GOODMAN: President Biden has signed an executive order 00:15:30.510 --> 00:15:32.760 repealing the Trump administration’s 00:15:32.760 --> 00:15:36.700 ban on transgender people serving in the U.S. military. 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:40.720 Biden also ordered the Pentagon to review the files of troops 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:42.870 who were forced out because of the ban 00:15:42.870 --> 00:15:44.900 and to immediately halt discharges 00:15:44.900 --> 00:15:46.780 of transgender troops now serving. 00:15:47.610 --> 00:15:50.130 On Monday, Biden spoke about the issue 00:15:50.130 --> 00:15:51.830 as he signed the executive order. 00:15:52.920 --> 00:15:54.150 PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: What I’m doing is enabling 00:15:54.150 --> 00:15:55.360 all qualified Americans 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.220 to serve their country in uniform 00:15:58.190 --> 00:16:03.990 and essentially restoring the situation as existed before, 00:16:03.990 --> 00:16:09.150 where transgender personnel, qualified in every other way, 00:16:09.150 --> 00:16:12.330 can serve their government in the United States military. 00:16:12.900 --> 00:16:15.440 AMY GOODMAN: Newly sworn-in Defense Secretary Lloyd 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.380 Austin expressed support for lifting the trans ban 00:16:18.380 --> 00:16:20.810 during his confirmation hearing last week. 00:16:21.890 --> 00:16:23.990 DEFENSE SECRETARY LLOYD AUSTIN: I support the president’s plan, 00:16:23.990 --> 00:16:31.050 or plan to overturn the ban. I truly believe, Senator, 00:16:31.050 --> 00:16:33.400 that, as I’ve said in my opening statement, 00:16:33.960 --> 00:16:37.200 that if you’re fit and you’re qualified to serve 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:38.540 and you can maintain the standards, 00:16:38.540 --> 00:16:40.330 you should be allowed to serve. 00:16:40.330 --> 00:16:43.450 And you can expect that I will support that throughout. 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:46.250 AMY GOODMAN: On his first day in office, 00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:49.100 President Biden also signed an executive order 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:51.640 to extend federal nondiscrimination 00:16:51.640 --> 00:16:54.070 protections to LGBTQ people. 00:16:54.640 --> 00:16:57.230 And Biden has tapped Dr. Rachel Levine, 00:16:57.770 --> 00:16:59.530 Pennsylvania’s top health official, 00:16:59.530 --> 00:17:02.180 to be assistant secretary of health. 00:17:02.180 --> 00:17:03.980 Levine appears poised to become 00:17:03.980 --> 00:17:06.560 the first openly transgender official 00:17:06.560 --> 00:17:08.530 to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. 00:17:09.770 --> 00:17:13.770 As LGBTQ groups praise Biden’s actions in his first week 00:17:13.770 --> 00:17:17.360 in office, right-wing lawmakers in Montana, 00:17:17.360 --> 00:17:20.810 North Dakota, South Dakota and other states 00:17:20.810 --> 00:17:24.750 are pushing a number of new anti-trans bills. 00:17:24.750 --> 00:17:27.790 On Monday, the Montana House passed a bill 00:17:27.790 --> 00:17:30.110 banning trans student athletes 00:17:30.110 --> 00:17:32.650 from participating in school sports, 00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:35.440 and another bill to limit healthcare options 00:17:35.440 --> 00:17:37.150 for trans youth. 00:17:37.150 --> 00:17:40.180 Meanwhile, Puerto Rico’s governor has declared a state 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:43.590 of emergency over gender-based violence 00:17:43.590 --> 00:17:47.990 following at least 60 incidents of femicide reported in 2020. 00:17:48.720 --> 00:17:51.010 Six of the murders were of trans women. 00:17:51.790 --> 00:17:55.510 To talk more about all of this, we’re joined by Chase Strangio, 00:17:55.510 --> 00:17:57.920 deputy director for transgender justice 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:01.460 with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. 00:18:01.460 --> 00:18:03.650 Chase, welcome back to Democracy Now! 00:18:03.650 --> 00:18:05.980 Let’s start off with this executive order 00:18:05.980 --> 00:18:07.210 of President Biden. 00:18:07.210 --> 00:18:09.360 Can you talk about its significance? 00:18:10.090 --> 00:18:11.370 CHASE STRANGIO: Yeah. Thanks, Amy. 00:18:11.370 --> 00:18:12.940 Thanks, Juan. Good to be back. 00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:15.480 So, you know, if we go back in time 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:17.590 to the beginning of the Trump administration, 00:18:17.590 --> 00:18:19.639 some of the very first things that he did 00:18:20.140 --> 00:18:21.930 was to target transgender people, 00:18:21.930 --> 00:18:26.320 first in schools and then, if we recall in July of 2017, 00:18:26.320 --> 00:18:30.110 by tweet, he decided to ban open trans service 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:32.240 in the U.S. military. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.830 So, finally, after years of litigation, 00:18:34.830 --> 00:18:38.170 after trans servicemembers being in this precarious position, 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:42.720 Biden and Secretary of Defense Austin yesterday 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:44.770 lift the ban on open trans service, 00:18:44.770 --> 00:18:46.970 allowing any qualified individual 00:18:47.610 --> 00:18:50.450 who is transgender to continue serving in the military, 00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:52.260 and directing the Department of Defense 00:18:52.260 --> 00:18:54.570 and the Department of Homeland Security 00:18:54.570 --> 00:18:55.790 to implement a process 00:18:55.790 --> 00:18:59.030 whereby not only trans people can remain in the military, 00:18:59.030 --> 00:19:02.760 but can enlist, and then also ensure that trans people 00:19:02.760 --> 00:19:06.920 are able to access healthcare while serving in the military, 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:08.980 and that anyone can have their records 00:19:08.980 --> 00:19:12.490 marking their gender updated to accurately reflect who they are. 00:19:12.490 --> 00:19:13.710 So this is obviously 00:19:13.710 --> 00:19:15.540 an incredibly important development. 00:19:15.540 --> 00:19:18.190 One of the most aggressive examples 00:19:18.190 --> 00:19:20.860 of de jure discrimination against trans individuals 00:19:20.860 --> 00:19:22.990 by the Trump administration is now gone. 00:19:24.420 --> 00:19:25.650 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Chase, 00:19:25.650 --> 00:19:29.910 for those who see the military as a career, 00:19:30.570 --> 00:19:34.610 this issue of executive orders basically determining 00:19:34.610 --> 00:19:38.710 whether trans people can serve is basically — 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:40.410 it could go back and forth. 00:19:41.110 --> 00:19:43.370 What are the prospects for some kind 00:19:43.370 --> 00:19:47.260 of a congressional decision on this issue 00:19:47.260 --> 00:19:50.750 so that we don’t have to depend on the whims 00:19:50.750 --> 00:19:53.350 or the viewpoints of a particular administration? 00:19:54.450 --> 00:19:55.780 CHASE STRANGIO: Yeah, I mean, that’s a good question. 00:19:55.780 --> 00:19:58.180 I think, in many ways, over the past 10 years 00:19:58.800 --> 00:20:00.360 and more, really, we’ve seen, 00:20:00.360 --> 00:20:03.540 because of the failure of Congress to act in so many ways, 00:20:03.540 --> 00:20:06.170 the power of the executive expand substantially 00:20:06.170 --> 00:20:08.210 and so much being done by executive order 00:20:08.210 --> 00:20:10.870 and directives to federal executive agencies. 00:20:10.870 --> 00:20:14.500 I do think when it comes to the issue of open trans service — 00:20:14.500 --> 00:20:16.670 you know, if we recall, even under Obama, 00:20:16.670 --> 00:20:18.450 there was a ban on open trans service. 00:20:18.450 --> 00:20:21.550 It didn’t get changed until the end of the second 00:20:21.550 --> 00:20:25.580 Obama term, in 2016, but after years of review. 00:20:25.580 --> 00:20:27.230 I think what we’re going to end up seeing 00:20:27.230 --> 00:20:30.150 is that after four or eight years of open trans service, 00:20:30.150 --> 00:20:31.600 that it is going to just be something 00:20:31.600 --> 00:20:34.080 that we accept as a matter of course, 00:20:34.080 --> 00:20:37.200 whether or not Congress acts, because the reality is, 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:38.680 is that trans people have been serving 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:40.940 in the military for decades. And the question is: 00:20:40.940 --> 00:20:43.870 Are we going to let them serve openly and proudly, 00:20:43.870 --> 00:20:45.530 or are we going to force them into the shadows 00:20:45.530 --> 00:20:48.020 as the Trump administration had done? 00:20:48.020 --> 00:20:49.920 But the reality is, is I do think 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.020 this is going to be relatively uncontroversial over time, 00:20:53.020 --> 00:20:55.410 because we already have tens of thousands of trans 00:20:55.410 --> 00:20:58.830 servicemembers and hundreds of thousands of trans veterans. 00:20:58.830 --> 00:21:02.510 And so, I think this is an important step in taking away 00:21:02.510 --> 00:21:04.900 some of the most explicit forms of discrimination 00:21:04.900 --> 00:21:07.570 that we had seen under the Trump administration. 00:21:07.570 --> 00:21:09.440 And I think one important thing to note 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:11.330 is that it really wasn’t about the military. 00:21:11.330 --> 00:21:13.129 I mean, this was announced by tweet. 00:21:14.370 --> 00:21:15.650 Defense Secretary Mattis, 00:21:15.650 --> 00:21:17.710 who was defense secretary at the time, 00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:20.070 really had no idea that this was going to happen. 00:21:20.070 --> 00:21:21.870 And this was part of a larger project 00:21:21.870 --> 00:21:24.690 to expel trans people from public life, 00:21:24.690 --> 00:21:26.480 to enact discriminatory measures. 00:21:26.480 --> 00:21:29.410 And so, that’s really the battle that we’re fighting against, 00:21:29.410 --> 00:21:30.680 not only at the federal level, 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:33.070 but, of course, in many ways, across the country. 00:21:33.070 --> 00:21:34.870 So, whether or not Congress acts, 00:21:34.870 --> 00:21:38.000 I do think once we have sort of policy implementations 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:39.490 from the federal agencies, 00:21:39.490 --> 00:21:42.390 the Defense Department and the Department of Homeland Security, 00:21:42.390 --> 00:21:45.150 I do think that we’re going to see open trans service 00:21:45.150 --> 00:21:46.960 and that after eight, 10 years, 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:50.160 it’s going to be something that we accept as a general matter. 00:21:50.740 --> 00:21:52.800 AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to trans activist 00:21:52.800 --> 00:21:54.460 and author Dean Spade, 00:21:54.460 --> 00:21:56.830 who was speaking on Democracy Now! 00:21:56.830 --> 00:21:59.750 after then-President Trump banned transgender 00:21:59.750 --> 00:22:01.520 people from military service. 00:22:02.740 --> 00:22:04.790 DEAN SPADE: When we lose our critique of militarism 00:22:04.790 --> 00:22:06.730 and of the U.S. military in this debate, 00:22:06.730 --> 00:22:08.060 what happens, in my view, 00:22:08.060 --> 00:22:10.990 is that trans people become sort of a symbolic space 00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:14.580 in which to have basically pro-military advocacy and PR. 00:22:14.580 --> 00:22:16.650 And so, to me, the military inclusion campaign, 00:22:16.650 --> 00:22:19.330 both for lesbians and gays and for trans people, 00:22:19.330 --> 00:22:21.170 has often fallen into that trap, 00:22:21.170 --> 00:22:23.260 only representing the military as a great place 00:22:23.260 --> 00:22:25.430 to work that does wonderful things to protect our country, 00:22:25.430 --> 00:22:28.300 which is not, I think, a progressive view. 00:22:28.300 --> 00:22:30.570 And it rebrands the military 00:22:30.570 --> 00:22:33.580 as a site of liberation and progressive politics, 00:22:33.580 --> 00:22:35.990 which it’s fundamentally not. The U.S. military — right? 00:22:35.990 --> 00:22:37.660 — is, you know, one of the largest sources of violence 00:22:37.660 --> 00:22:39.210 on the planet Earth. 00:22:39.210 --> 00:22:41.509 AMY GOODMAN: Chase Strangio, can you respond to Dean Spade? 00:22:42.220 --> 00:22:44.640 CHASE STRANGIO: Yeah. You know, I don’t think that, 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.010 at least from my perspective, 00:22:46.010 --> 00:22:50.310 I’m hailing this as liberatory, as a progressive intervention, 00:22:50.310 --> 00:22:52.300 in the same way that I look at formal equality 00:22:52.300 --> 00:22:53.990 as sort of an incredibly constrained 00:22:53.990 --> 00:22:58.100 and limited part of the path towards true justice. 00:22:58.100 --> 00:22:59.790 I also think we have to keep in mind 00:22:59.790 --> 00:23:01.540 that while we may critique — 00:23:01.540 --> 00:23:04.790 and should — the larger project of U.S. militarism 00:23:04.790 --> 00:23:06.020 and the U.S. military, 00:23:06.020 --> 00:23:08.650 it remains the largest employer in the United States. 00:23:08.650 --> 00:23:12.970 And what the ban did was take away the employment benefits 00:23:12.970 --> 00:23:14.840 that people had worked decades for, 00:23:14.840 --> 00:23:17.620 their ability to support themselves and their families. 00:23:18.380 --> 00:23:21.810 And this was really about taking away people’s autonomy, 00:23:21.810 --> 00:23:25.310 taking away people’s autonomy over their labor. 00:23:25.310 --> 00:23:27.870 And so, while I share Dean’s larger critique 00:23:27.870 --> 00:23:32.590 of U.S. militarism, I think that as we abolish 00:23:32.590 --> 00:23:35.040 and destabilize these harmful institutions 00:23:35.040 --> 00:23:37.130 that are wreaking havoc across the globe, 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:39.500 that we can’t do so at the expense of the lives 00:23:39.500 --> 00:23:42.460 and well-being of individuals, many of whom are coerced, 00:23:42.460 --> 00:23:44.430 because of systematic racism and poverty, 00:23:44.430 --> 00:23:46.390 into the institutions themselves. 00:23:46.390 --> 00:23:48.500 So, from my perspective, this is a critical moment 00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:50.840 in ending de jure discrimination, 00:23:51.470 --> 00:23:54.690 revaluing the labor and bodies of people 00:23:54.690 --> 00:23:56.920 who have been working incredibly hard 00:23:56.920 --> 00:24:00.920 and were relying on benefits that, for better or worse, 00:24:00.920 --> 00:24:04.330 that we coerce people into receiving in many ways. 00:24:05.120 --> 00:24:06.500 And as someone who — you know, 00:24:06.500 --> 00:24:10.070 I hold a very significant critique of U.S. militarism 00:24:10.070 --> 00:24:12.060 and the Defense Department budget 00:24:12.060 --> 00:24:13.830 and also come from a military family. 00:24:13.830 --> 00:24:15.230 And so, while, yes, 00:24:15.230 --> 00:24:18.350 I don’t want our military enacting violence abroad, 00:24:18.350 --> 00:24:21.390 as it inherently does, when my family member is deployed, 00:24:21.390 --> 00:24:25.000 I also want them to be safe, and that inevitably means 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:26.550 investing some amount of resources 00:24:26.550 --> 00:24:28.320 into a system that I despise. 00:24:29.060 --> 00:24:32.690 And so, I think we have to hold the complexity of that truth. 00:24:32.690 --> 00:24:35.700 It’s not just so simple as we can allow the government 00:24:35.700 --> 00:24:39.490 to ban a group of people from problematic institutions. 00:24:39.490 --> 00:24:44.260 We have to recognize that we are supporting individuals 00:24:44.260 --> 00:24:46.300 while we are fighting against systems. 00:24:46.300 --> 00:24:48.530 And I think this is an important moment 00:24:49.150 --> 00:24:50.710 not only for trans servicemembers, 00:24:50.710 --> 00:24:52.430 but for building trans justice, 00:24:52.430 --> 00:24:55.340 not because the military is a site of liberation, 00:24:55.340 --> 00:24:58.280 but because de jure discrimination by the government 00:24:58.280 --> 00:25:01.880 is an impediment to organizing and survival of our communities. 00:25:02.710 --> 00:25:03.970 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Chase, 00:25:03.970 --> 00:25:06.550 could you talk about the various bills 00:25:06.550 --> 00:25:10.370 that are now at the state level, the anti-trans bills, 00:25:10.370 --> 00:25:12.520 some of which are being voted on this week? 00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:14.410 CHASE STRANGIO: Yeah. 00:25:14.410 --> 00:25:17.180 I mean, I think one of the saddest things for me right now 00:25:17.180 --> 00:25:19.540 is that we had this change in administration, 00:25:19.540 --> 00:25:22.250 and the Biden administration, on day one, 00:25:22.250 --> 00:25:24.150 on the day of inauguration, 00:25:24.150 --> 00:25:27.020 issues this relatively innocuous executive order, 00:25:27.020 --> 00:25:29.400 essentially saying, "I’m going to follow federal law." 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:31.330 Federal law prohibits sex discrimination. 00:25:31.330 --> 00:25:33.390 The Supreme Court has already said that means 00:25:33.390 --> 00:25:36.220 you can’t discriminate against LGBTQ people. 00:25:36.220 --> 00:25:39.620 And yet we have this significant backlash to the very notion 00:25:39.620 --> 00:25:42.250 that trans humanity is going to be recognized. 00:25:42.250 --> 00:25:44.680 And one way that that is manifesting 00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:47.310 are in dozens of bills across the country 00:25:47.310 --> 00:25:49.000 that would ban trans young people 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:52.430 from sports and criminalize healthcare for trans youth. 00:25:52.430 --> 00:25:55.700 And so, at a time where we’re facing epidemics 00:25:55.700 --> 00:25:57.780 of homelessness, a global pandemic, 00:25:57.780 --> 00:26:00.680 so many kids aren’t in school, they’re learning on Zoom, 00:26:01.670 --> 00:26:03.580 they’re not able to participate in sports, 00:26:03.580 --> 00:26:06.590 we’re having states take aim at the bodies of trans young people 00:26:06.590 --> 00:26:09.570 and telling them that not only should they be excluded 00:26:09.570 --> 00:26:12.660 from the activities that their peers are participating in, 00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:14.430 but that the healthcare that they’re relying on 00:26:14.430 --> 00:26:16.540 is about to become a crime. 00:26:16.540 --> 00:26:18.130 Yesterday I spent three hours 00:26:18.130 --> 00:26:20.100 listening to floor debates in Montana 00:26:20.100 --> 00:26:22.900 and just hearing the most horrible things 00:26:22.900 --> 00:26:24.220 about trans people, 00:26:24.220 --> 00:26:26.860 that are directed at young people by their government. 00:26:26.860 --> 00:26:28.130 The long-term costs 00:26:28.130 --> 00:26:30.430 of the introduction of these bills alone, 00:26:30.430 --> 00:26:32.300 let alone their potential passage, 00:26:32.300 --> 00:26:34.080 is going to be felt for generations. 00:26:34.080 --> 00:26:37.560 It is truly painful to hear a movement 00:26:37.560 --> 00:26:39.470 that essentially, at its core, 00:26:39.470 --> 00:26:42.630 believes that being trans is wrong and should be eradicated. 00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:46.870 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And what are the kinds of policies 00:26:46.870 --> 00:26:49.880 that you would hope the Biden-Harris administration 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:53.690 would pursue in terms of trans rights, 00:26:53.690 --> 00:26:55.850 beyond just the issue of the military? 00:26:57.270 --> 00:26:58.610 CHASE STRANGIO: I mean, I think what we want to see — 00:26:58.610 --> 00:27:01.050 and, of course, the first few days are examples 00:27:01.050 --> 00:27:03.360 of just rolling back what we already saw 00:27:04.430 --> 00:27:07.320 as the backwards steps from the last administration. 00:27:07.900 --> 00:27:09.470 I mean, I think what we need to see 00:27:09.470 --> 00:27:11.230 is an aggressive enforcement, 00:27:11.230 --> 00:27:13.500 first and foremost, of federal civil rights laws. 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:15.040 The states that are trying to attack 00:27:15.040 --> 00:27:16.410 trans students should be aware 00:27:16.410 --> 00:27:18.410 that they’re putting their federal funding on the line, 00:27:18.410 --> 00:27:20.560 and we need the Biden-Harris administration 00:27:20.560 --> 00:27:23.590 to take an aggressive position to ensure that trans people 00:27:23.590 --> 00:27:26.190 are fully protected under the law. 00:27:26.190 --> 00:27:29.000 But also, we need to go much further than that. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:32.000 You know, we know that civil rights protections on their own 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:33.740 aren’t going to save trans lives. 00:27:33.740 --> 00:27:35.740 We have people experiencing high rates 00:27:35.740 --> 00:27:37.720 of criminalization and homelessness. 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:40.630 We need aggressive action from this administration 00:27:40.630 --> 00:27:42.360 to end deportations, 00:27:42.360 --> 00:27:46.940 to really have meaningful efforts to decarcerate, 00:27:46.940 --> 00:27:48.480 to end systems of policing 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:51.200 that disproportionately harm our communities, 00:27:51.200 --> 00:27:53.720 to take aggressive stances against bills 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:56.180 like SESTA and FOSTA that criminalize sex work, 00:27:56.180 --> 00:27:59.190 that make it harder for people to survive, 00:27:59.190 --> 00:28:01.110 particularly for trans people of color, 00:28:01.110 --> 00:28:02.650 Black trans women in particular, 00:28:02.650 --> 00:28:04.730 who are repeatedly profiled and targeted 00:28:04.730 --> 00:28:07.060 as sex workers or perceived sex workers. 00:28:07.650 --> 00:28:10.700 So we need to hold this administration to account, 00:28:10.700 --> 00:28:14.510 not just to espouse formalistic notions of equality, 00:28:14.510 --> 00:28:17.400 but really build out meaningful programs of justice. 00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:18.900 And that’s going to take a lot more 00:28:18.900 --> 00:28:20.990 than what we’ve seen so far, 00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:24.340 although I will say that the EO at least announcing 00:28:24.340 --> 00:28:27.290 that they will enforce FOSTA, the Supreme Court decision, 00:28:27.920 --> 00:28:29.550 should have an impact on the states 00:28:29.550 --> 00:28:31.500 that are about to risk all their federal funding 00:28:31.500 --> 00:28:33.350 just to target trans young people. 00:28:34.220 --> 00:28:36.600 AMY GOODMAN: Chase, can you talk about the move made 00:28:36.600 --> 00:28:39.260 by the new governor of Puerto Rico, 00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:42.150 who’s declared a state of emergency 00:28:42.150 --> 00:28:46.060 over gender-based violence after a wave of killings 00:28:46.060 --> 00:28:48.900 targeting women and transgender people? 00:28:48.900 --> 00:28:51.460 Can you talk about the significance of this? 00:28:51.460 --> 00:28:52.790 CHASE STRANGIO: Yeah, I mean, 00:28:52.790 --> 00:28:54.390 I think one of the greatest challenges, 00:28:54.390 --> 00:28:56.090 and particularly when we are looking at movements 00:28:56.090 --> 00:28:57.510 from a legal perspective, is: 00:28:57.510 --> 00:28:59.620 How do we deal with the systemic violence 00:28:59.620 --> 00:29:01.250 that is affecting so many? 00:29:01.250 --> 00:29:04.320 And across the United States and in Puerto Rico, 00:29:05.370 --> 00:29:09.230 we are seeing so many trans women and girls murdered. 00:29:09.230 --> 00:29:11.290 We’re also obviously seeing so many 00:29:11.290 --> 00:29:12.570 cis women and girls murdered. 00:29:12.570 --> 00:29:16.390 And how do we deal with the fact that we have systems in place 00:29:16.390 --> 00:29:18.700 that allow for violence to continue, 00:29:18.700 --> 00:29:22.040 and yet the only solutions that we have tend to be carceral? 00:29:22.040 --> 00:29:26.340 And so, I think having leaders, executives, come in and say, 00:29:26.340 --> 00:29:27.590 "This is an emergency" — 00:29:27.590 --> 00:29:29.430 this is a public health emergency. 00:29:29.430 --> 00:29:31.260 This is an emergency of survival. 00:29:31.260 --> 00:29:33.440 And we have to come up with solutions 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:36.360 that aren’t just about sending people to prisons and jails, 00:29:36.360 --> 00:29:39.790 but are about looking at the roots of why people’s bodies 00:29:39.790 --> 00:29:43.980 are so precariously situated that it leads to mass death, 00:29:43.980 --> 00:29:46.270 whether that is at the hands of individuals, 00:29:46.270 --> 00:29:48.160 as we’re seeing in the murders in Puerto Rico 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:50.690 and across the world, 00:29:50.690 --> 00:29:52.650 and at the hands of the government, 00:29:52.650 --> 00:29:54.570 the sort of metaphorical hands of the government, 00:29:54.570 --> 00:29:58.370 because we set people up to be victims of violence, 00:29:58.370 --> 00:29:59.570 whether that’s state violence 00:29:59.570 --> 00:30:01.400 or individually perpetrated violence. 00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:04.030 And so I think we need more recognition 00:30:04.030 --> 00:30:07.270 of the public health crisis of violence against women, 00:30:07.270 --> 00:30:09.940 cis and trans, and then systems in place 00:30:09.940 --> 00:30:12.210 that don’t just rely on putting people in jail 00:30:12.210 --> 00:30:16.280 but actually look at how we can distribute resources 00:30:16.280 --> 00:30:19.570 so people are actually experiencing safety, 00:30:19.570 --> 00:30:21.130 and not just the illusion of safety 00:30:21.130 --> 00:30:23.650 that comes through carceral control. 00:30:23.650 --> 00:30:25.280 AMY GOODMAN: Chase, thanks so much for being with us. 00:30:25.280 --> 00:30:28.880 Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice 00:30:28.880 --> 00:30:32.660 with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project. 00:30:33.190 --> 00:30:36.200 Next up, as President Biden proposes a pathway 00:30:36.200 --> 00:30:40.960 to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:44.010 what should Biden do about the record number of people 00:30:44.010 --> 00:30:47.420 deported under the Obama-Biden years? 00:30:47.420 --> 00:30:49.920 We’ll speak with journalist and author Jean Guerrero. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:51.620 Stay with 00:31:46.600 --> 00:31:48.300 us. 00:32:00.830 --> 00:32:03.130 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, 00:32:03.130 --> 00:32:04.450 The Quarantine Report. 00:32:04.450 --> 00:32:06.520 I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. 00:32:06.520 --> 00:32:08.660 This week, immigrant rights activists 00:32:08.660 --> 00:32:10.660 launched a new campaign called 00:32:10.660 --> 00:32:13.550 #WeAreHome to push President Biden 00:32:13.550 --> 00:32:15.530 and Democratic majorities on Capitol Hill 00:32:15.530 --> 00:32:17.340 to create a pathway to citizenship 00:32:17.340 --> 00:32:20.000 for 11 million undocumented immigrants. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:23.130 Biden included the pathway to citizenship in a proposal 00:32:23.130 --> 00:32:25.740 he announced on his first day in office last week, 00:32:25.740 --> 00:32:29.120 along with six executive orders dealing with immigration. 00:32:29.940 --> 00:32:31.710 Politico now reports 00:32:31.710 --> 00:32:35.100 Congress may break the proposal into parts. 00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:36.890 Biden also ordered a pause 00:32:36.890 --> 00:32:39.580 on all U.S.-Mexico border wall construction, 00:32:39.580 --> 00:32:41.750 but billions of dollars of unfinished work 00:32:41.750 --> 00:32:44.850 remains under contract with the federal government. 00:32:44.850 --> 00:32:47.040 Activists in over a dozen U.S. cities 00:32:47.040 --> 00:32:50.260 held a day of action Sunday urging him to take further steps 00:32:50.260 --> 00:32:52.090 to stop the construction. 00:32:52.090 --> 00:32:55.430 Meanwhile, Biden’s 100-day deportation pause 00:32:55.430 --> 00:32:58.220 took effect Friday, and it’s facing a challenge 00:32:58.220 --> 00:33:00.820 from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 00:33:00.820 --> 00:33:03.300 who argues an agreement the Trump administration 00:33:03.300 --> 00:33:06.000 signed in its final weeks with Arizona, Indiana, 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:08.830 Louisiana and Texas entitles them 00:33:08.830 --> 00:33:11.880 to a 180-day consultation period. 00:33:12.810 --> 00:33:15.230 Since Trump left office last week, 00:33:15.230 --> 00:33:18.260 his former senior adviser on immigration, Stephen Miller, 00:33:18.260 --> 00:33:21.070 has emerged as a right-wing media personality. 00:33:21.070 --> 00:33:23.800 He went on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle Friday 00:33:23.800 --> 00:33:25.880 to attack Biden’s immigration plan. 00:33:26.790 --> 00:33:29.200 STEPHEN MILLER: If you read the text of this order, 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.000 it is breathtaking and mind-boggling in its scope. 00:33:32.550 --> 00:33:36.830 It halts all deportations — all deportations 00:33:36.830 --> 00:33:38.500 — for a hundred days, 00:33:38.500 --> 00:33:40.490 including the most hardened criminals 00:33:40.490 --> 00:33:42.340 living in the United States. 00:33:42.340 --> 00:33:44.890 That means child molesters, sex offenders, 00:33:44.890 --> 00:33:47.320 drug dealers, gang members, 00:33:47.320 --> 00:33:50.360 MS-13, all shielded from removal. 00:33:51.310 --> 00:33:54.640 This is the priority of our new president? 00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:56.710 AMY GOODMAN: Later this week, President Biden is expected 00:33:56.710 --> 00:34:01.160 to issue another executive order to restore asylum protections 00:34:01.160 --> 00:34:02.540 and set up a task force 00:34:02.540 --> 00:34:05.330 to reunify families separated at the border. 00:34:05.330 --> 00:34:07.780 For more on all of this, we’re joined by Jean Guerrero, 00:34:07.780 --> 00:34:11.610 the investigative journalist who profiles Miller in her book 00:34:11.610 --> 00:34:14.270 Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, 00:34:14.270 --> 00:34:16.230 and the White Nationalist Agenda. 00:34:16.230 --> 00:34:18.970 She just published an op-ed this past weekend 00:34:18.970 --> 00:34:21.020 in The New York Times that’s headlined 00:34:21.020 --> 00:34:24.070 "3 Million People Were Deported Under Obama. 00:34:24.070 --> 00:34:26.420 What Will Biden Do About It?" 00:34:26.420 --> 00:34:29.020 Jean Guerrero, welcome back to Democracy Now! 00:34:29.020 --> 00:34:32.760 So, talk about the executive orders that Biden is taking 00:34:32.760 --> 00:34:34.970 and what you want to see him do. 00:34:36.850 --> 00:34:39.120 JEAN GUERRERO: Right. So, so far we’ve seen him reverse 00:34:39.120 --> 00:34:40.680 a lot of the actions that Trump took — 00:34:40.680 --> 00:34:44.350 you know, ending the Muslim ban, reviving DACA 00:34:44.350 --> 00:34:47.340 and stopping the border wall construction. 00:34:47.340 --> 00:34:52.430 But in many ways, his plan sort of goes back to policies 00:34:52.430 --> 00:34:56.780 and approaches that we saw under the Obama-Biden administration. 00:34:56.780 --> 00:35:00.340 He talks about prioritizing serious criminals 00:35:01.130 --> 00:35:04.440 for deportation and maintaining family unity. 00:35:04.440 --> 00:35:08.520 This is something that we saw Obama profess that he was doing. 00:35:08.520 --> 00:35:11.740 He talked about targeting "felons, not families." 00:35:12.560 --> 00:35:15.740 But, as you mentioned, under the Obama administration, 00:35:15.740 --> 00:35:18.140 we saw more than 3 million people deported. 00:35:18.880 --> 00:35:21.640 These are people who had families, jobs 00:35:21.640 --> 00:35:25.050 and homes in the United States, and a majority of these people 00:35:25.050 --> 00:35:28.530 were in fact guilty of only immigration offenses — 00:35:28.530 --> 00:35:30.340 you know, crossing the border illegally. 00:35:30.340 --> 00:35:32.960 These were not in fact serious criminals. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:36.040 So, if Biden merely reverts to the policies 00:35:36.040 --> 00:35:37.440 of the Obama administration, 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:40.920 he’s really ignoring the lessons of that era, 00:35:40.920 --> 00:35:45.310 in which we learned that criminalizing certain immigrants 00:35:45.310 --> 00:35:48.410 or criminalizing immigration overall ends up fracturing 00:35:48.410 --> 00:35:50.570 and financially devastating immigrant communities 00:35:50.570 --> 00:35:51.810 as a whole. 00:35:51.810 --> 00:35:54.840 And so, I argue that if Biden is serious 00:35:54.840 --> 00:35:57.410 about a more humane approach on immigration, 00:35:57.410 --> 00:36:00.340 what he needs is not just to reverse Trump’s policies 00:36:00.340 --> 00:36:02.250 and go back to Obama-era policies. 00:36:02.250 --> 00:36:06.990 He needs to actually repair the harm that was done 00:36:06.990 --> 00:36:09.740 when he was vice president. And that is going to entail 00:36:10.290 --> 00:36:13.420 providing a pathway to reunification 00:36:13.420 --> 00:36:16.310 for a lot of these families that were fractured 00:36:16.310 --> 00:36:19.110 and separated by the mass deportations. 00:36:19.110 --> 00:36:21.290 He is promising to do this for the families 00:36:21.290 --> 00:36:23.620 that were separated at the border under Trump. 00:36:24.860 --> 00:36:28.000 Those separations caused a lot of outrage in America 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:30.030 and created a sort of amnesia 00:36:30.030 --> 00:36:32.010 for what had happened under Obama. 00:36:32.010 --> 00:36:35.770 And I believe he needs to provide the same sort of pathway 00:36:35.770 --> 00:36:37.660 to reunification for some of these families, 00:36:37.660 --> 00:36:39.700 as well as the mental health services 00:36:39.700 --> 00:36:41.740 that he is promising for the trauma 00:36:41.740 --> 00:36:45.580 that was caused to the Trump-separated families. 00:36:45.580 --> 00:36:47.750 The American Psychological Association says 00:36:47.750 --> 00:36:50.310 that the Obama mass deportations 00:36:50.310 --> 00:36:53.350 caused serious psychological harm to children, 00:36:53.350 --> 00:36:55.410 in the same way that the Trump family separations did. 00:36:55.410 --> 00:36:58.870 And I think that Biden really needs to reckon with that. 00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:03.740 You know, he really needs to reckon 00:37:03.740 --> 00:37:07.070 with the mistakes that were made when he was vice president. 00:37:07.070 --> 00:37:08.350 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Jean Guerrero, 00:37:08.350 --> 00:37:10.860 I wanted to ask you about the — Biden has said 00:37:10.860 --> 00:37:15.320 that he has a plan that would establish a $4 billion program 00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:18.850 to assist El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras 00:37:18.850 --> 00:37:21.370 in reducing the poverty, 00:37:21.370 --> 00:37:24.170 crime and conditions that drive people to the U.S. 00:37:24.170 --> 00:37:26.030 But now, I haven’t done the exact math, 00:37:26.030 --> 00:37:28.560 but I’m pretty sure that $4 billion 00:37:28.560 --> 00:37:30.830 doesn’t even compare to the amount of money 00:37:30.830 --> 00:37:33.070 the United States, in real dollars, 00:37:33.070 --> 00:37:35.530 gave to the Central American governments 00:37:35.530 --> 00:37:39.650 during the civil wars back in the '80s in military aid. 00:37:39.650 --> 00:37:42.200 Do you think that that's a sufficient amount 00:37:42.200 --> 00:37:46.840 to be able to address some of the deep problems 00:37:46.840 --> 00:37:50.710 that exist that drive people to come to the United States? 00:37:52.110 --> 00:37:53.960 JEAN GUERRERO: No, it’s certainly not enough, 00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:57.190 and especially if there’s not accountability and transparency 00:37:57.190 --> 00:38:00.120 in how that money is spent. 00:38:00.120 --> 00:38:02.810 I think that so far, whenever there are conversations 00:38:02.810 --> 00:38:04.800 about providing aid to Central America, 00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:08.360 there’s this huge gaping hole in the conversations 00:38:08.360 --> 00:38:10.620 coming out of Washington, D.C., which is: 00:38:10.620 --> 00:38:13.170 What about all of the — you know, as you were saying, 00:38:13.170 --> 00:38:15.170 the military aid that was provided over the past 00:38:15.170 --> 00:38:19.280 few decades that contributed in a major way to the violence 00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:21.880 that is sending people north 00:38:22.770 --> 00:38:24.270 seeking refuge in the United States? 00:38:24.270 --> 00:38:26.340 And not only that, but also what about the fact 00:38:26.340 --> 00:38:28.100 that a majority of weapons 00:38:28.100 --> 00:38:30.620 that are seized at crime scenes in Mexico 00:38:30.620 --> 00:38:34.460 and other parts of Latin America come from the United States? 00:38:34.460 --> 00:38:37.480 And there’s almost no conversation currently happening 00:38:37.480 --> 00:38:39.930 about the smuggling of weapons 00:38:40.640 --> 00:38:43.880 that contributes to the violence in Central America. 00:38:43.880 --> 00:38:45.290 And I think that that’s something 00:38:45.290 --> 00:38:49.710 that Biden also needs to do something about. 00:38:51.810 --> 00:38:55.890 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And in terms of this whole issue of that both — 00:38:55.890 --> 00:38:59.330 a lot of Democrats and Republicans agree 00:38:59.330 --> 00:39:04.840 on the need to supposedly deport those who are undocumented 00:39:04.840 --> 00:39:10.310 or even permanent residents who are felons or criminals. 00:39:10.310 --> 00:39:13.520 And you write about in your book about your bisabuela — 00:39:14.640 --> 00:39:18.250 no, in a recent article, "No Country for Brown Sinners," 00:39:18.250 --> 00:39:20.650 you wrote, quote, that your bisabuela was 00:39:20.650 --> 00:39:22.590 "one of the bad ones — not one of the model 00:39:22.590 --> 00:39:24.910 Mexicans you’re supposed to care about, 00:39:24.910 --> 00:39:27.560 the ones whose stories some people cherry-pick 00:39:27.560 --> 00:39:29.300 to tug at your heartstrings." 00:39:29.300 --> 00:39:32.050 What about this issue of people making mistakes, 00:39:32.050 --> 00:39:35.280 whether they’re citizens or undocumented 00:39:35.280 --> 00:39:37.730 or permanent residents here in the United States? 00:39:39.090 --> 00:39:40.630 JEAN GUERRERO: Right. So this is very important, 00:39:40.630 --> 00:39:42.500 because over the decades we have 00:39:42.500 --> 00:39:45.710 had these very violent immigration policies 00:39:45.710 --> 00:39:48.220 and this militarization of the border 00:39:48.220 --> 00:39:50.850 based around the idea of the "bad hombre." 00:39:50.850 --> 00:39:53.110 You know, for Obama, it was, quote-unquote, 00:39:53.110 --> 00:39:56.060 "felons, not families." For Trump, it was — you know, 00:39:56.060 --> 00:39:58.180 he was going after alleged criminals and rapists 00:39:58.180 --> 00:40:00.000 and "bad hombres," 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:02.890 not the "good people" that occasionally come across, 00:40:02.890 --> 00:40:04.800 according to him. 00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:06.420 So, this story of the "bad hombre" 00:40:06.420 --> 00:40:09.170 has been weaponized over the decades 00:40:09.170 --> 00:40:12.230 to punish entire immigrant communities. 00:40:12.230 --> 00:40:15.740 By contrasting the, quote-unquote, "bad hombre" 00:40:15.740 --> 00:40:17.760 with the, quote, "good" immigrants, 00:40:17.760 --> 00:40:21.790 who work unnaturally hard and never break any rules, 00:40:21.790 --> 00:40:23.390 essentially what politicians are doing 00:40:23.390 --> 00:40:25.920 is they’re reducing immigrant lives to caricatures 00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:29.740 who can be exploited and expelled from the country. 00:40:29.740 --> 00:40:31.100 And so I think it’s very important 00:40:31.100 --> 00:40:34.010 that we be very careful about the narratives 00:40:34.010 --> 00:40:35.450 that are being used, 00:40:35.450 --> 00:40:39.050 both in the media as well as by politicians. 00:40:39.050 --> 00:40:42.810 I personally come from a lineage of so-called 00:40:43.510 --> 00:40:45.940 what would be considered, quote-unquote, "bad hombres." 00:40:45.940 --> 00:40:48.360 You know, my father is an immigrant from Mexico 00:40:48.360 --> 00:40:50.120 who struggled with substance abuse, 00:40:50.120 --> 00:40:52.570 which is the subject of my first book, Crux: 00:40:52.570 --> 00:40:53.790 A Cross-Border Memoir. 00:40:53.790 --> 00:40:55.770 And so, for me, this is personal. 00:40:56.590 --> 00:41:00.120 My father is the type of nonwhite person 00:41:00.120 --> 00:41:03.110 who is devalued and dehumanized 00:41:04.310 --> 00:41:06.830 by immigration narratives and policies, 00:41:06.830 --> 00:41:08.240 whether it’s Trump’s "bad hombres" 00:41:08.240 --> 00:41:11.310 or Obama’s, quote-unquote, "felons, not families." 00:41:11.310 --> 00:41:14.490 And this is something that I noticed contributed 00:41:14.490 --> 00:41:17.830 to the apathy of people 00:41:17.830 --> 00:41:20.310 in regards to Obama’s mass deportations. 00:41:20.310 --> 00:41:23.610 People thought, "Oh, well these are just — these are bad guys." 00:41:23.610 --> 00:41:26.580 You know, most of these were men, 00:41:26.580 --> 00:41:28.830 and people just kind of shrugged 00:41:28.830 --> 00:41:30.560 that they didn’t have to be in the country. 00:41:30.560 --> 00:41:32.530 But I spoke to a lot of these people. 00:41:32.530 --> 00:41:37.150 I documented their skeletons in the border desert 00:41:38.120 --> 00:41:40.770 after they died trying to be reunited with children 00:41:40.770 --> 00:41:42.890 in the United States. These are men whose only crime 00:41:42.890 --> 00:41:44.810 was being in the United States illegally, 00:41:44.810 --> 00:41:49.170 having looked for a better life for their families. 00:41:49.170 --> 00:41:51.850 And so, I think that Biden needs to be very careful 00:41:51.850 --> 00:41:53.250 about the narratives that he’s using. 00:41:53.250 --> 00:41:55.810 Right now he’s sort of falling into that same trap, 00:41:55.810 --> 00:41:58.890 where he’s saying, "You know, my immigration policy 00:41:58.890 --> 00:42:00.850 is about prioritizing serious criminals." 00:42:00.850 --> 00:42:03.810 But what that does is it sort of like marries 00:42:03.810 --> 00:42:07.050 the concept of immigration in the public imagination 00:42:07.050 --> 00:42:10.210 with the concept of criminality. And that is something that we, 00:42:10.210 --> 00:42:13.520 as a country, really need to walk away from, 00:42:13.520 --> 00:42:15.910 because it contributes to a lot of the hatred 00:42:15.910 --> 00:42:18.620 and the resurgence of white supremacy 00:42:18.620 --> 00:42:20.730 that I document in my book Hatemonger, 00:42:20.730 --> 00:42:24.030 where people just begin to associate people who come here — 00:42:24.030 --> 00:42:27.340 whether they are refugees or asylum seekers or immigrants, 00:42:27.980 --> 00:42:30.070 they associate them with criminality. 00:42:30.070 --> 00:42:31.280 And that’s simply not the case. 00:42:31.280 --> 00:42:34.240 Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes 00:42:34.240 --> 00:42:35.710 than native-born people, 00:42:35.710 --> 00:42:38.690 according to practically every study 00:42:38.690 --> 00:42:40.430 that has been done on this issue. 00:42:40.430 --> 00:42:42.970 AMY GOODMAN: Jean, you write in your New York Times 00:42:42.970 --> 00:42:47.330 op-ed about how an immigrant from Guatemala, Lucía Quiej, 00:42:48.040 --> 00:42:52.520 attended the 2016 Democratic presidential primary debate 00:42:52.520 --> 00:42:55.710 with her five children, who had not seen their father 00:42:55.710 --> 00:42:58.440 since he was deported three years earlier 00:42:58.440 --> 00:42:59.970 under President Obama. 00:42:59.970 --> 00:43:02.200 She asked the candidates about their position 00:43:02.200 --> 00:43:05.150 on deportations and family reunification. 00:43:05.150 --> 00:43:06.630 This is what she said. 00:43:06.630 --> 00:43:12.370 LUCÍA QUIEJ: [translated] I want to ask you a question. 00:43:12.370 --> 00:43:14.070 I have a deep pain. 00:43:16.070 --> 00:43:18.160 Me and my children have a deep pain 00:43:18.160 --> 00:43:20.720 because my children’s father was deported 00:43:20.720 --> 00:43:23.930 for not having a license. He was a hard-working man. 00:43:26.450 --> 00:43:28.690 What can you do to stop the deportations 00:43:28.690 --> 00:43:30.390 and reunite the families? 00:43:31.750 --> 00:43:33.130 SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: I will do everything 00:43:33.130 --> 00:43:37.690 that I can to unite your family, your children. 00:43:37.690 --> 00:43:40.970 HILLARY CLINTON: And I will do everything I can to pass laws 00:43:40.970 --> 00:43:43.040 that would bring families back together. 00:43:44.060 --> 00:43:45.920 AMY GOODMAN: Jean Guerrero, you write in your New York Times 00:43:45.920 --> 00:43:47.160 op-ed, 00:43:47.160 --> 00:43:49.570 "Today, the meaning of 'separated families' 00:43:49.570 --> 00:43:50.840 has narrowed, 00:43:50.840 --> 00:43:53.170 with Biden’s reunification task force 00:43:53.170 --> 00:43:55.530 focused on those separated by Trump. 00:43:56.380 --> 00:43:59.470 Lucía’s family has been erased." 00:43:59.470 --> 00:44:01.819 Talk more about this and what needs to be done. 00:44:02.410 --> 00:44:03.750 JEAN GUERRERO: Exactly. 00:44:03.750 --> 00:44:07.610 You know, when I was reporting on these mass deportations, 00:44:07.610 --> 00:44:10.490 there really wasn’t a lot of outrage in America. 00:44:10.490 --> 00:44:13.290 And I remember wondering what it was going to take 00:44:13.290 --> 00:44:15.130 to get Americans to object 00:44:15.130 --> 00:44:18.080 to the violence of our immigration policies. 00:44:18.080 --> 00:44:20.590 And we saw the outrage come about 00:44:20.590 --> 00:44:22.330 during the Trump administration, 00:44:22.330 --> 00:44:25.040 when we had the "zero tolerance" policy 00:44:25.040 --> 00:44:27.970 and this policy of separating asylum seekers 00:44:27.970 --> 00:44:29.620 at the U.S.-Mexico border. 00:44:29.620 --> 00:44:31.790 Obama separated families in the interior, 00:44:31.790 --> 00:44:33.070 families with roots, 00:44:33.070 --> 00:44:38.340 families with homes and jobs and children in the United States. 00:44:38.340 --> 00:44:41.020 So the profile of the victims was different. 00:44:41.020 --> 00:44:46.280 And what it made me realize is that most Americans care 00:44:46.280 --> 00:44:49.800 very deeply about inhumane immigration policies, 00:44:49.800 --> 00:44:53.770 but they care mostly when it involves victims 00:44:53.770 --> 00:44:57.100 that they see as innocent or as exceptional. 00:44:57.100 --> 00:44:59.090 So, under the Trump administration, 00:44:59.090 --> 00:45:02.910 it was very hard for people to actually perceive the families 00:45:02.910 --> 00:45:06.510 that were victims of immigration policies as "bad hombres," 00:45:06.510 --> 00:45:10.620 because we were seeing that the profile of these people, 00:45:10.620 --> 00:45:12.890 mostly people — mothers and children 00:45:12.890 --> 00:45:15.239 coming from Central America and seeking refuge, 00:45:15.800 --> 00:45:18.349 fleeing death threats and extreme violence at home. 00:45:19.370 --> 00:45:21.530 And so, it’s sort of this double standard that we have. 00:45:21.530 --> 00:45:25.360 You know, in the United States, we’re conditioned to delight 00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:28.220 in white male misbehavior in our culture. 00:45:29.220 --> 00:45:33.430 Meanwhile, we’re conditioned to see flawed Brown or Black men 00:45:33.430 --> 00:45:36.750 as, quote, "animals" or, quote, "monsters" or, quote, 00:45:36.750 --> 00:45:38.580 "thugs" or invaders. 00:45:38.580 --> 00:45:43.810 So this demonization of flawed nonwhite men contrasts 00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:47.460 with our cultural fetish for white male antiheroes, 00:45:47.460 --> 00:45:51.030 which you see in our movies like American Psycho or TV 00:45:51.030 --> 00:45:53.080 shows like Breaking Bad. 00:45:53.950 --> 00:45:56.940 And I argue in my op-ed that until our narratives, 00:45:56.940 --> 00:45:58.210 our national narratives, 00:45:58.210 --> 00:46:01.010 afford immigrants, Brown and Black immigrants, 00:46:01.010 --> 00:46:04.450 the same license to err as white men, 00:46:04.450 --> 00:46:07.100 they will be dehumanized by our institutions. 00:46:07.100 --> 00:46:08.400 You know, Stephen Miller, 00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:10.990 who I profiled in my book Hatemonger, 00:46:10.990 --> 00:46:14.630 grew up idolizing white antiheroes 00:46:14.630 --> 00:46:18.880 like Martin Scorsese’s mobsters and John Wayne’s cowboys, 00:46:19.490 --> 00:46:21.350 meanwhile reading about immigrants 00:46:21.350 --> 00:46:24.310 described as monsters and beasts in white supremacist novels. 00:46:24.310 --> 00:46:26.380 So, his white nationalist agenda 00:46:26.380 --> 00:46:28.950 is the natural outcome of a culture 00:46:28.950 --> 00:46:34.410 that glorifies bad white man and dehumanizes Brown and Black men. 00:46:34.410 --> 00:46:37.350 And so, I think that that double standard is in play here 00:46:38.030 --> 00:46:41.870 when you see — when I talk about the importance of Biden 00:46:42.470 --> 00:46:46.040 not merely reverting to Obama-era policies of saying 00:46:46.040 --> 00:46:48.370 that he’s going to prioritize serious criminals, 00:46:48.370 --> 00:46:50.630 because, again, that just marries the concept 00:46:50.630 --> 00:46:54.320 of immigration and committing minor immigration offenses 00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:57.030 with some kind of national security threat, 00:46:57.030 --> 00:46:58.730 which it is not. 00:46:59.660 --> 00:47:02.400 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Jean, the long-term solution 00:47:02.400 --> 00:47:06.830 clearly is a new comprehensive immigration reform law. 00:47:06.830 --> 00:47:10.130 And at least Biden has put forth his plan 00:47:10.130 --> 00:47:13.170 that would include a path to citizenship 00:47:13.170 --> 00:47:16.130 for the 11 million undocumented within eight years. 00:47:16.130 --> 00:47:19.610 That’s considerably better than back in 2014 00:47:19.610 --> 00:47:21.100 when they were talking about 10 years, 00:47:21.100 --> 00:47:23.120 and that didn’t get anywhere — I mean, 13 years. 00:47:23.120 --> 00:47:26.710 And before that, in 2006, they were talking about 10 years. 00:47:26.710 --> 00:47:29.190 What are the prospects that you see right now 00:47:29.190 --> 00:47:32.170 for that being able to be passed in Congress, 00:47:32.170 --> 00:47:36.220 especially given the reality that once those 11 million 00:47:36.220 --> 00:47:39.080 are able to become not only permanent residents, 00:47:39.080 --> 00:47:41.400 but citizens, politics in this country 00:47:41.400 --> 00:47:43.560 is going to decisively change? 00:47:44.260 --> 00:47:47.550 So, I’m wondering your sense of how many Republicans 00:47:47.550 --> 00:47:50.970 there would be right now in Congress 00:47:50.970 --> 00:47:53.590 to be able to agree to pass immigration reform? 00:47:55.650 --> 00:47:58.360 JEAN GUERRERO: Well, I think that there is going to be 00:47:58.360 --> 00:48:00.280 very little Republican support for this bill, 00:48:00.280 --> 00:48:04.050 but it is a possibility that we’ll see some Republicans 00:48:04.050 --> 00:48:09.290 revert to the conversations that were being had in 2013 and 2014, 00:48:09.290 --> 00:48:11.930 when they were talking about the importance 00:48:11.930 --> 00:48:14.840 of courting the Latino vote and embracing the Latino 00:48:14.840 --> 00:48:17.470 vote and diversifying the Republican Party 00:48:17.470 --> 00:48:20.680 and campaigning in communities of color 00:48:20.680 --> 00:48:22.750 in ways that they never had before. 00:48:23.930 --> 00:48:25.760 These are conversations that the Republican Party 00:48:25.760 --> 00:48:29.890 was having about the need to reform itself several years ago, 00:48:29.890 --> 00:48:34.500 and completely took a 180 when Trump and Stephen Miller 00:48:34.500 --> 00:48:36.930 came into power and decided to double down 00:48:36.930 --> 00:48:41.100 on courting the white working class, 00:48:41.100 --> 00:48:43.199 particularly the white male working class. 00:48:44.750 --> 00:48:49.010 And so, I do think we may see a return to those conversations. 00:48:50.060 --> 00:48:52.160 And I think this is an extremely significant bill. 00:48:52.160 --> 00:48:55.360 You know, it would provide these 11 million undocumented people, 00:48:56.350 --> 00:48:58.350 who contribute economically and in so many 00:48:58.350 --> 00:49:01.970 other ways to this country, with a pathway to citizenship 00:49:01.970 --> 00:49:05.690 if they pass a background check and if they’ve paid taxes. 00:49:06.790 --> 00:49:09.870 One way that I think that it could go a lot farther 00:49:09.870 --> 00:49:12.130 than what has so far been proposed is, 00:49:12.130 --> 00:49:14.330 you know, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, 00:49:14.330 --> 00:49:17.960 she is planning to introduce this resolution 00:49:17.960 --> 00:49:22.010 that completely rejects the quid pro quo 00:49:22.010 --> 00:49:24.510 framing of previous immigration reform efforts. 00:49:24.510 --> 00:49:28.500 So, instead of offering protections in exchange 00:49:28.500 --> 00:49:31.570 for increased militarization, it completely rejects that, 00:49:31.570 --> 00:49:35.100 and it says we need to dismantle the deportation machine 00:49:35.100 --> 00:49:39.380 completely and completely decriminalize immigration. 00:49:39.380 --> 00:49:44.570 Instead of deporting everyone here who is here illegally 00:49:44.570 --> 00:49:46.920 or who has committed a minor offense 00:49:46.920 --> 00:49:50.220 like driving without a license, like Lucía Quiej’s husband, 00:49:50.220 --> 00:49:53.600 there will be scalable civil consequences. 00:49:53.600 --> 00:49:56.150 So, for example, you may have to pay a fine 00:49:56.150 --> 00:49:57.790 for committing an immigration offense. 00:49:57.790 --> 00:50:00.900 You may have to do community service. 00:50:02.380 --> 00:50:04.970 And it also provides a pathway to reunification 00:50:04.970 --> 00:50:07.320 for any families that have been separated 00:50:08.380 --> 00:50:09.590 by the U.S. government, 00:50:09.590 --> 00:50:11.230 regardless of who separated them, 00:50:11.230 --> 00:50:14.140 because this resolution is driven by a respect 00:50:14.140 --> 00:50:17.240 for human rights rather than political considerations. 00:50:17.240 --> 00:50:18.780 And I think that’s one way in which 00:50:18.780 --> 00:50:22.880 the Biden administration can go a lot farther. 00:50:22.880 --> 00:50:24.210 AMY GOODMAN: So much more to talk about, 00:50:24.210 --> 00:50:25.620 but we’re going to have to have you back, Jean. 00:50:25.620 --> 00:50:26.940 Thanks so much for being with us, 00:50:26.940 --> 00:50:28.860 Jean Guerrero, investigative journalist, 00:50:28.860 --> 00:50:31.910 author of Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, 00:50:31.910 --> 00:50:33.730 and the White Nationalist Agenda. 00:50:33.730 --> 00:50:35.570 And we’ll link to your piece in The New York Times, 00:50:35.570 --> 00:50:38.030 "3 Million People Were Deported Under Obama. 00:50:38.030 --> 00:50:39.890 What Will Biden Do About It?" 00:50:39.890 --> 00:50:44.380 Next up, the inequality virus. Stay with us. 00:50:44.380 --> 00:51:31.110 [break] 00:51:31.110 --> 00:51:33.420 AMY GOODMAN: "Freedom for Some" by South African musician, 00:51:33.420 --> 00:51:36.370 anti-apartheid icon, Jonas Gwangwa. 00:51:36.370 --> 00:51:38.780 He died over the weekend at the age of 83. 00:51:38.780 --> 00:51:40.170 AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! 00:51:40.170 --> 00:51:41.390 The Quarantine Report. 00:51:41.390 --> 00:51:43.290 I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. 00:51:43.290 --> 00:51:46.260 We look now at growing inequality during the pandemic. 00:51:46.260 --> 00:51:48.710 A new report finds the collective net 00:51:48.710 --> 00:51:50.290 worth of U.S. billionaires 00:51:50.290 --> 00:51:55.460 grew by more than $1.1 trillion during the pandemic. 00:51:55.460 --> 00:51:58.650 The Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness 00:51:58.650 --> 00:52:00.520 said those gains could, quote, 00:52:00.520 --> 00:52:03.560 "pay for all the relief for working families" 00:52:03.560 --> 00:52:06.390 in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package 00:52:06.390 --> 00:52:08.380 President Biden has proposed, 00:52:08.380 --> 00:52:11.420 while leaving the nation’s richest households no worse off 00:52:11.420 --> 00:52:13.810 than they were before COVID-19 hit. 00:52:14.420 --> 00:52:17.520 Meanwhile, a new report by Oxfam International 00:52:17.520 --> 00:52:20.570 shows it could take more than a decade for poor people 00:52:20.570 --> 00:52:22.160 to recover from the pandemic, 00:52:22.160 --> 00:52:25.810 and urges governments to take urgent action and, quote, 00:52:25.810 --> 00:52:28.990 "set concrete, time-bound targets to reduce inequality." 00:52:28.990 --> 00:52:30.330 Democracy Now! 00:52:30.330 --> 00:52:32.580 recently spoke with economist Darrick Hamilton, 00:52:32.580 --> 00:52:35.160 who wrote one of the report’s forewords. 00:52:36.680 --> 00:52:39.150 DARRICK HAMILTON: What we should not be concerned about right now 00:52:39.150 --> 00:52:40.880 is austerity politics, 00:52:40.880 --> 00:52:43.150 some notion of deficit constraint. 00:52:44.110 --> 00:52:46.330 AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Oxfam America 00:52:46.330 --> 00:52:48.350 vice president Paul O’Brien. 00:52:48.350 --> 00:52:51.210 The new report, "The Inequality Virus: 00:52:51.210 --> 00:52:54.460 Bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus 00:52:54.460 --> 00:52:57.920 through a fair, just and sustainable economy." 00:52:57.920 --> 00:52:59.790 Paul, welcome back to Democracy Now! 00:52:59.790 --> 00:53:01.490 Lay out what you found. 00:53:02.630 --> 00:53:04.330 PAUL O’BRIEN: Thanks, Amy. Thanks for having me. 00:53:05.120 --> 00:53:06.820 Well, it’s worrying. 00:53:07.440 --> 00:53:08.760 The last time we did this report — 00:53:08.760 --> 00:53:10.280 we tend to do it around Davos, 00:53:10.280 --> 00:53:12.610 when the rich gather, and usually in fur coats. 00:53:12.610 --> 00:53:14.310 This time, it’s virtually. 00:53:15.350 --> 00:53:17.690 The last time, it was bad, and it’s gotten a lot worse. 00:53:17.690 --> 00:53:19.980 In every country that we looked at, 00:53:19.980 --> 00:53:22.310 inequality has gotten worse during the pandemic. 00:53:22.310 --> 00:53:25.580 And perhaps it’s not surprising, but it is really worrying. 00:53:25.580 --> 00:53:29.550 So, the richest 10 people, they ended up making half 00:53:29.550 --> 00:53:31.960 a trillion dollars during the pandemic. 00:53:32.620 --> 00:53:35.870 The richest thousand got all the money 00:53:35.870 --> 00:53:39.350 that they lost from the pandemic back, 00:53:39.350 --> 00:53:43.360 and got to the same level of wealth within nine months. 00:53:43.360 --> 00:53:47.290 But at the same time, it has been disastrous 00:53:47.290 --> 00:53:49.240 for people on the wrong end of poverty. 00:53:49.870 --> 00:53:52.760 The reality of it was that most people on the planet 00:53:52.760 --> 00:53:58.840 Earth were one crisis away from going into deep poverty 00:53:58.840 --> 00:54:01.990 or extreme poverty. And that crisis happened. 00:54:01.990 --> 00:54:05.060 It happened in health terms. It happened in economic terms. 00:54:05.060 --> 00:54:06.700 It happened because they were locked down 00:54:06.700 --> 00:54:09.540 or they were forced to go out into precarious jobs. 00:54:09.540 --> 00:54:12.080 And so, all around the world now we are seeing folks 00:54:12.080 --> 00:54:14.900 struggling on the wrong end of inequality, 00:54:14.900 --> 00:54:16.820 while those who have been the beneficiaries 00:54:16.820 --> 00:54:19.369 of our broken economic system have done quite well. 00:54:20.750 --> 00:54:22.820 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Paul, could you talk especially 00:54:22.820 --> 00:54:25.570 about the impact in the U.S. on African Americans 00:54:25.570 --> 00:54:27.020 and women in particular? 00:54:27.020 --> 00:54:31.110 You note that one in five Black women lost their jobs 00:54:31.110 --> 00:54:33.400 between February and April of 2020. 00:54:34.470 --> 00:54:35.820 PAUL O’BRIEN: Yeah. Well, let’s talk about it 00:54:35.820 --> 00:54:37.970 in both health terms and in economic terms. 00:54:38.690 --> 00:54:41.290 In health terms, the really troubling fact 00:54:41.290 --> 00:54:44.030 is that this has disproportionately landed worst 00:54:44.030 --> 00:54:46.280 for Black and Latinx communities. 00:54:46.280 --> 00:54:49.030 If they had faced mortality rates 00:54:49.030 --> 00:54:51.010 at the same level as white communities, 00:54:51.010 --> 00:54:54.780 there would be 22,000 people alive today that are not. 00:54:55.710 --> 00:55:00.310 And a lot of it is because of how our economy is structured 00:55:00.310 --> 00:55:02.780 in terms of economic inequality. 00:55:02.780 --> 00:55:06.920 So, if you’re in the top quartile of income 00:55:06.920 --> 00:55:08.170 in the United States, 00:55:08.170 --> 00:55:11.540 you have a 90% chance of having paid sick leave. 00:55:11.540 --> 00:55:13.760 But if you’re in the bottom quartile, 00:55:13.760 --> 00:55:16.870 less than half of you are going to get paid sick leave. 00:55:16.870 --> 00:55:20.650 You’re out there as an essential worker or as a frontline worker, 00:55:20.650 --> 00:55:22.880 or you’re often in the care economy, 00:55:23.390 --> 00:55:28.190 looking after kids or the vulnerable or the elderly. 00:55:29.150 --> 00:55:31.680 Or you can’t do what I’m doing right now, 00:55:31.680 --> 00:55:34.340 which is to sit behind a desk, do your job and get paid. 00:55:34.340 --> 00:55:36.470 You have to be out there taking risks. 00:55:36.470 --> 00:55:40.270 So, in both health terms and in economic terms, 00:55:40.270 --> 00:55:43.760 this has been really rough for American workers. 00:55:43.760 --> 00:55:45.420 And we work alongside some of them; 00:55:45.420 --> 00:55:47.830 I’m happy to reflect some more personal stories 00:55:47.830 --> 00:55:49.530 if that’s helpful. 00:55:50.260 --> 00:55:52.280 AMY GOODMAN: So, women have been particularly hard hit 00:55:52.280 --> 00:55:53.540 by the pandemic. 00:55:53.540 --> 00:55:56.530 Some have described this whole thing as a "she-session." 00:55:57.090 --> 00:55:59.080 During the month of December, women in the U.S. 00:55:59.080 --> 00:56:04.670 lost a net 156,000 jobs, while men gained 16,000 jobs, 00:56:04.670 --> 00:56:09.870 meaning women accounted for all the 140,000 net jobs lost. 00:56:09.870 --> 00:56:13.410 What this means, this setback for women in this country, 00:56:13.410 --> 00:56:15.830 decades, and what has to be done, 00:56:15.830 --> 00:56:19.600 and particularly around COVID and who gets sick, 00:56:19.600 --> 00:56:22.310 who dies, who gets access to vaccines, 00:56:22.310 --> 00:56:24.460 not only in the U.S., but around the world? 00:56:25.920 --> 00:56:27.560 PAUL O’BRIEN: Precisely, Amy. 00:56:27.560 --> 00:56:31.630 And the data around the world, I’m not sure it’s even worse, 00:56:31.630 --> 00:56:37.280 but it is terrible in terms of how it has discriminatorily 00:56:37.280 --> 00:56:38.580 impacted women. 00:56:38.580 --> 00:56:41.180 A lot of it is because in the informal economy 00:56:41.180 --> 00:56:43.430 you’ve seen 2 billion workers go out of work. 00:56:44.090 --> 00:56:46.290 Women are often on the frontlines 00:56:46.290 --> 00:56:48.020 of undersecured labor. 00:56:49.130 --> 00:56:50.930 In the Middle East and North Africa, 00:56:52.050 --> 00:56:54.360 many of them have been forced to give up their jobs 00:56:54.360 --> 00:56:57.890 at 40% higher rates of job loss, 00:56:57.890 --> 00:57:00.340 even though they were already discriminated 00:57:00.340 --> 00:57:02.400 against to start with in terms of getting jobs. 00:57:02.400 --> 00:57:04.120 And we’ve seen this in Latin America 00:57:04.120 --> 00:57:09.270 and sub-Saharan Africa, too. So, without specific protections 00:57:09.270 --> 00:57:12.210 designed to make our economic system more gender-just, 00:57:12.210 --> 00:57:13.980 to provide basic social protection, 00:57:14.750 --> 00:57:16.180 when you have a pandemic like this, 00:57:16.180 --> 00:57:18.279 it’s going to hurt women more, everywhere. 00:57:19.730 --> 00:57:21.490 JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the 10 richest men in the world, 00:57:21.490 --> 00:57:22.770 according to your report, 00:57:22.770 --> 00:57:24.720 have seen their combined wealth increase 00:57:24.720 --> 00:57:28.110 by half a trillion dollars since the pandemic began? 00:57:29.100 --> 00:57:31.510 PAUL O’BRIEN: Yep. And just to put that in context, 00:57:31.510 --> 00:57:35.480 that’s enough to vaccinate everybody on the planet Earth 00:57:36.380 --> 00:57:37.770 to get rid of this pandemic. 00:57:37.770 --> 00:57:39.760 And that’s just the profits they’ve made 00:57:39.760 --> 00:57:40.990 during the pandemic, 00:57:40.990 --> 00:57:43.270 the additional moneys they’ve made. 00:57:43.270 --> 00:57:45.600 And, of course, yes, it would be a good thing 00:57:46.120 --> 00:57:47.950 if they all sat around a dinner table and said, 00:57:47.950 --> 00:57:49.460 "You know, we’ve made this extra money. 00:57:49.460 --> 00:57:52.670 We had enough to start with. Let’s get rid of this pandemic." 00:57:52.670 --> 00:57:54.300 But, of course, our economic system 00:57:54.300 --> 00:57:57.400 can’t rely exclusively on their largesse. 00:57:57.400 --> 00:58:01.790 What we are not doing is articulating 00:58:01.790 --> 00:58:04.340 and then passing the legislation 00:58:04.340 --> 00:58:07.690 that turns that from a voluntary philanthropic exercise 00:58:07.690 --> 00:58:09.850 into something they are required to do. 00:58:09.850 --> 00:58:11.120 AMY GOODMAN: And what would that look like, Paul? 00:58:11.120 --> 00:58:13.310 We have 15 seconds. 00:58:13.310 --> 00:58:14.780 PAUL O’BRIEN: Well, I wrote a book about it, 00:58:14.780 --> 00:58:16.410 so Power Switch. 00:58:16.410 --> 00:58:18.210 We’ve got a Biden and Harris administration. 00:58:18.210 --> 00:58:19.450 It can’t just normalize. 00:58:19.450 --> 00:58:22.630 They’ve got to pass a range of policies economically, 00:58:22.630 --> 00:58:24.130 in terms of social protection, 00:58:24.130 --> 00:58:27.220 that require corporations and the wealthy to pay their taxes 00:58:27.220 --> 00:58:28.900 and get that money into the system, 00:58:28.900 --> 00:58:30.750 so that people have the social protection 00:58:30.750 --> 00:58:32.110 and economic opportunity 00:58:32.110 --> 00:58:34.950 they need to lift themselves from this pandemic. 00:58:34.950 --> 00:58:36.820 AMY GOODMAN:* Paul O’Brien, we want to thank you so much 00:58:36.820 --> 00:58:40.060 for being with us, vice president of Oxfam America. 00:58:40.060 --> 00:58:43.020 We’ll link to the new report, "The Inequality Virus: 00:58:43.020 --> 00:58:46.640 Bringing together a world torn apart by coronavirus 00:58:46.640 --> 00:58:50.440 through a just, fair, sustainable economy." 00:58:50.440 --> 00:58:53.980 A very happy belated birthday to Charina Nadura. 00:58:53.980 --> 00:58:56.260 I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. 00:58:56.260 --> 00:58:59.210 Remember, wearing a mask is an act of love.