Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-09-25 Thursday

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Democracy Now! Thursday, September 25, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. I think Florida has done a great job by building it. And whether it's alligator, Alcatraz or anything else you want to call it, It's an amazing facility for what it is. It's not a hotel. It's not supposed to be a hotel, but they've done a great job with it. Hundreds of people who were once detained at the troubled immigration jail in the Florida Everglades, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz, have disappeared.

The Miami Herald reports two-thirds of the 1800 immigrants who were held there in July have gone missing from ICE's online database. families are now unable to locate loved ones. We'll speak with the Miami Herald reporter who broke the story. Then a group of 11 people deported from the United States to Ghana have all been returned to their home countries where they feared torture and persecution. We'll speak to the ACLU's legal urn. And finally, to Yemen. Recent Israeli strikes on two newspaper offices killed 31 Yemeni journalists and media support workers,

making it the deadliest attack on journalists anywhere in the world in 16 years. Our message to the Israeli aggression and its criminal act of targeting civilians at the 26 September newspaper and targeting innocent people, children and women, we will not remain silent no matter what they do. We will not surrender no matter what they inflict upon us. we will respond in kind. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

Israeli military strikes have killed at least 30 Palestinians since dawn in south and central Gaza. Meanwhile, the Palestinian civil defense says an Israeli air strike near a market in Gaza city killed nearly two dozen Palestinians, including six women and nine children Wednesday. They were reportedly sheltering from Israeli airstrikes in a warehouse. On Wednesday, Israeli forces killed Dr. Muhammad Akram al-Kafarna, head of the Palestinian Nursing Association in the Gaza Strip, Chief Nursing Supervisor at Kamal Adwan Medical Complex. Meanwhile, Spain and Italy are sending naval vessels. to protect the Gaza-bound global Samud flotilla after activists said drones attack their boats near Greece.

On Wednesday, activists reported multiple drones attack their boats in the latest attacks on the flotilla. In a statement, the flotilla organizers said, quote, multiple drones, unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed, and explosions heard from a number of boats, unquote. This comes as major news outlets, the BBC, Reuters, the Associated Press, and Agence France Press, AFP, released a short film Wednesday calling on Israel to allow international journalists into Gaza. The film premiered at a committee to protect journalists event in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. French President Emmanuel Macron says President Trump assured him any attempt by Israel, to annex the West Bank would be a red line and would signal end to the Abraham Accords.

This comes as political reports that Trump promised Arab and Muslim leaders during a meeting Tuesday he would not allow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank. Meanwhile, in Israel, at least 22 people were injured in a drone attack Wednesday. Authorities say the drone was launched from Yemen. This comes days after the Houthi's fired a drone at the Red Sea resort city of Eilat in southern Israel. And Israelis protested at Bangorian Airport as Netanyahu was departing to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly. We're here to tell the world and the prime minister, we want to end the war, we want to release the hostages and to finish what wherever we're doing in Gaza. The Israeli government does not represent the Israeli people.

The vast majority of Israelis want to end the war and release the outages. Prime Minister Netanyahu will be addressing the UN General Assembly and meeting with President Trump in Washington for the fourth time since Trump took office. In Texas, a prisoner in an immigration and customs enforcement facility in Dallas was killed on Wednesday when a shooter opened fire from a nearby rooftop. Two other ICE prisoners who were critically wounded in the sniper attack. Investigators say the shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Following the attack, FBI director Cash Patel posted an image on social media showing unused ammunition,

he said, belonged to the shooter with the words anti-ice written in blue ink on one casing. Vice President J.D. Vance said, without evidence, the attack was carried out by a, quote, violent left-wing extremist, unquote. While President Trump responded on social media, quote, this violence is the result of radical left Democrats constantly demonizing law enforcement, unquote. The shooter was identified as 29-year-old Joshua Yan with ties to North Texas and Oklahoma. His acquaintances described him to journalist Ken Klippenstein as someone with a vaguely

libertarian bent who despise both major parties and politicians. generally, a fan of first-person shooter video games, apparently racked up 10,000 games on one website, and the message board 4chan. He once flooded the comment sections of his friend's social media pages with rape jokes. This is the suspect's neighbor, Sherry Gates. Yeah, it's really unbelievable. We know a lot of people in this neighborhood, but I didn't happen to know them. And it's just shocking to me that, you know, our country's come to this point where we can't even talk. We can't share our opinions and ideas without risking being shot or something. In California, 39-year-old Ismail Ayala Uribe was pronounced dead Monday after he was found unresponsive at the Adelanto Ice Processing Center.

Ayala Uribe was brought to the U.S. from Mexico at the age of four and lived in Westminster. in Orange County, his home for most of his life. He was approved for DACA in 2012, but his request to renew that protection was denied in 2016. He died one day after he received emergency surgery for an abscess. His treatment came three days after he first complained of pain and after his cries for help fell on deaf ears at the privately run ICE jail in California, which operated for profit by the GEO group. Ayala Uribe is the 14th person to die in federal immigration custody since January. In more immigration news, CNN reports it's identified more than 100 U.S. citizen children from newborns to teenagers who've been left stranded without parents because of immigration actions this year.

The parents were arrested by ice during raids on workplaces ranging from farms to meatpacking plants coming out of ice checkins or when dropping their kids off at school. In Georgia, lawyers for the prominent Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevada have asked a judge for a temporary restraining order to halt his deportation to El Salvador, which they say is imminent. Guevada has been jailed by ICE for more than 100 days, even though an immigration judge granted him bond. Guevada was arrested while live streaming a no-king's demonstration in June, even though he was. clearly identified himself as a journalist. He's lived in the United States for some 20 years and has built a large following for his reporting on anti-ice protests. In China, nearly two million people evacuated Guangdong province ahead of Typhoon Ragasa's landfall earlier today. The storm record-breaking winds and torrential rains with up to a month's worth of precipitation falling

over some areas. In eastern Taiwan, officials say 14 people were killed, 13 others remain missing after the typhoon caused a barrier lake to burst its banks, washing away bridges, submerging vehicles, and leaving the ground floors of homes underwater. The cyclone peaked as the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane is the strongest storm on Earth this year. China's President Xi Jinping said Wednesday, his country plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 7 to 10 percent over the next decade. His landmark pledge in a video address Wednesday to the UN General Assembly, came a day after Trump called climate change, the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.

Green and low-carbon transition is the trend of our time. While some country is acting against it, the international community should stay focused on the right direction, remain unwavering in confidence, unremitting in actions, and unrelenting in actions, and unrelenting in intensity. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's appeal to global leaders to stop Russia from driving a new arms race, warning the combination of autonomous drones and artificial intelligence poses new risks to humanity. Zelensky made the warning during his address Wednesday to the UN General Assembly,

where he said Russia will expand its aggression beyond Ukraine if it's not stopped. Separately, Zelensky told Axios he doesn't seek to lead Ukraine once conflict with Russia. has ended, saying he intends to organize elections if a ceasefire is reached. On Wednesday, a Kremlin spokesperson lashed out over President Trump's claim Ukraine could claw back territory captured by Russia's full-scale invasion, saying Russia has, quote, no alternative but to continue its war in Ukraine. Former FBI Director James Comey's reportedly set to be indicted on criminal charges in Virginia by next week.

This comes just days after Eric Siebert, the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District Virginia resigned under pressure from President Trump after he refused to file charges against Comey. Earlier this week, Trump installed Lindsey Halligan, who was his personal lawyer to replace Siebert. Halligan has no prosecutorial experience. Meanwhile, the FBI says it's found classified documents at former National Security Advisor John Bolton's office last month while executing a search warrant. According to a court filing, the documents reference weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. mission to the U.N. and the U.S. government's strategic communications. Bolton became a vocal critic of Trump after resigning in 2019 and writing a tell-all book about his time in the first Trump administration.

The state superintendent of public instruction, Oklahoma, has announced plans to install chapters of Charlie Kirk's youth organization Turning Point USA at all state public high schools. In a post on social media, Superintendent Ryan Walters wrote, quote, radical leftist teachers unions have dominated classrooms for far too long, and we're taking them back, unquote. In a press release, Walters detailed how students could start a turning point chapter in their schools by gathering at least three students in completing a charter agreement. Turning Point USA would then send the chapter an activism kit. Walters was asked by a local reporter about what would happen to a school if they refused

to establish a chapter of Turning Point USA. Oh, yeah. I mean, we would go after their accreditation. We would go after their certificate. So, yeah, they would be in danger of not being a school district if they decided to reject a club that is here to promote civic engagement. Meanwhile, Oklahoma Republican lawmakers proposed a bill this week that would require all public colleges and universities to construct a Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza on each campus that includes a statue of the late conservative activists. A statue of President Trump holding hands with the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, appeared earlier this week on Washington, D.C.,'s National Mall and was quickly removed.

The installation was titled, Best Friends Forever, and had a plaque that read, quote, in honor of Friendship Month, we celebrate the long-lasting bond between President Donald J. Trump and his closest friend, Jeffrey Epstein, unquote. A group called the Secret Handshake had reportedly obtained a permit to install the statue until Sunday, But the U.S. Park police took down the statue before daybreak on Wednesday. In the New York City mayoral race, Republican nominee Curtis Llewa says at least seven wealthy individuals have offered him money to end his campaign. He vowed to remain in the race where he faces New York Mayor Eric Adams, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and New York Assembly members, Zoran Mamdani. President Trump has previously stated, quote, Cuomo might have a chance of winning if it was a one-on-one.

unquote. In response to the report, Saran Mamdani wrote on social media, quote, another desperate attempt by people who can't stand the idea of New Yorkers electing their mayor instead of billionaires buying one, unquote, the Democratic mayoral candidate said. In France, a judge on Thursday sentenced former president Nicolas Sarkozy to five years in prison after he's found guilty of criminal conspiracy for illegally receiving millions of euros from the late Libyan Liudor Muammar Gaddafi to fund his 2007 campaign. Sarkozy is the first former French head of state in the modern era to be convicted of a crime.

And the daughter of a New Mexico state legislator is accusing her father of putting the priorities of the Israeli government over his constituents. New Mexico State Senator Jay Block was part of a bipartisan delegation of 250 lawmakers who visited Israel earlier this month for the 50 states' won Israel conference in which they were lobbied by the Israeli government for more funding. After the trip, Block declared Israel is not committing a genocide in Gaza and said the Israeli military is doing, quote, everything possible to avoid killing Gaza's civilians, unquote. On Tuesday, 28-year-old Maddie Block called out her father in a TikTok video. A Republican state senator in New Mexico just got back from his trip to Israel, which was not like a personal vacation, by the way.

It was him and a bunch of his other Republican cronies who got invited to Israel for what I can only assume was just like a propaganda trip. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. And I'm Nadmien Sheikh. Welcome to our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. Hundreds of people who were once detained at the troubled immigration jail in the Florida Everglades, Alligator Alcatraz have disappeared.

The Miami Herald reports about two-thirds of the 1800 immigrants who were held there in July have gone missing from ICE's online database with their families unable to locate them. Earlier this month, the Federal Appeals Court ruled the jail could continue to operate despite reports of abuse. Trump welcomed the news. I think Florida has done a great job by building it. And whether it's alligator alcatraz or anything else you want to call it, it's an amazing facility for what it is.

It's not a hotel. It's not supposed to be a hotel, but they've done a great job with it. For more, we're joined by two guests. In Miami, Thomas Kennedy is a policy analyst with the Florida Immigrant Coalition. And in Washington, D.C., Cherchauda Skupta is a reporter with the Miami Herald, who co-wrote the new report headline hundreds of alligator alcatraz. detainees drop off the grid after leaving site. We welcome you both to Democracy Now. Shisho, let's begin with you. You broke this story. Talk about how you got this information,

what documents are available. How many people are missing or disappeared? So my former colleague, Anna Sabayos, obtained two rosters of alligator Alcatraz detainees in July. And those rosters accounted for a total of a little more than 1,800 men who were held at the facility. After a month around end August, when the facility was winding down its operations, we matched the detainees in the rosters to ICE's online locator system, and we found that around 800 of them had no records, and roughly 450 of them had a result called Call Ice for Details, which is a pretty vague notation.

We spoke to attorneys who said that that notation can mean anything. It could mean that someone is being processed for intake into a facility. It could mean that someone is being transferred from one side to another, or it could also mean that a person is about to be deported. And, Shishu, can you tell us whether anyone has indeed contacted ICE to find out what's happening with these detainees? Yes, we spoke to the attorney and family members of one person who was held at Algate or Alcatraz. He's a Cuban national named Michael Borago Fernandez. He was at the site for around a month.

and in early August, he was shifted to Chrome Detention Center in Miami, which is a federal detention center, unlike Alligator Alcatraz. Then around Labor Day, his family realized that he has been sent to a federal detention facility in San Diego County in California. and they got this information through the online locator system, but he stopped calling them, and when his lawyer tried to contact him in the California facility, the staffers there kept telling him that we don't have anyone by that name,

you should call ICE, and then the lawyer went to ICE, and ICE would just refer him back to the California site. And this went on for around a week, until they finally heard from him. But by that point, he had already been deported to Mexico. And Shishu, talk about the significance of this. I mean, what is the distinction in practical terms? In other words, in the ways in which detainees are kept track of

and processed through the immigration system in a federal agency versus a state-run facility? So if a detainee is in a federal facility, they will appear in some form in the ICE case locator, and attorneys will have access to them. It is a very complex process, but attorneys know how to navigate this process. They know who to call. They know how to set up interviews with these people. they know how to have private calls with their clients. But because this was a state-run facility, there were jurisdictional issues

because it was a very rushed process in which this site was set up. There was issues surrounding legal access between attorneys and clients. And even when they were transferred out of this facility, I've spoken to attorneys who've said that, you know, we don't know who to call. Sometimes we call a person who is listed as the contact person or is the contact person at, like, a site where he's supposed to be kept. But we don't even know whether that person is the right individual to call to set up a discussion with my client.

And what is the state saying to you, Shershaw? What is Florida explaining that difference between federal and state and what DeSantis, the governor of Florida, the deals he has made, the contracts with the money flowing in, ICE getting more money now than they ever had? So Florida, per our last estimate, Florida has spent more than $200 million setting up alligator Alcatraz. And obviously, it was ordered to be, you know, operations to be winded down, which they did. But then an appeals court issued a stay on that order. So it's a bit unclear about what's happening at the site now. He, in general, the Disandis administration has taken a very hard stance on immigration. And he has made Florida among a leader in the states, which are.

cracking down on violators of immigration laws. But in terms of, you know, our story about people sort of falling off the grid after being moved out of Alligator Alcatraz, his office did not comment. They referred us to ICE, and ICE did not issue any comment either despite multiple requests. Thomas Kennedy, you work with the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Can you talk about the panic of families right now when they can't find their loved ones? We're talking about Alligator Alcatraz, which is the term that Republicans dubbed this Everglades detention jail. And also what they also have dubbed Deportation Depot, another jail in Florida.

But talk about both and what the families are doing. Sure. So we, you know, we actually connected and worked with the family of Michel Borrego, who was just mentioned. And, you know, basically this is what I call the administrative disappearances. Because Alligator Alcatraz is a completely state-run facility, and the state of Florida is trying to avoid a NEPA process, National Environmental Protection Act, environmental study, because this facility sits in. ecologically protected land that actually has a dark sky designation, they neglected to sign federal legal agreements that give the state the authority to detain immigrants. And because of that, it's one of the reasons why the people detained there don't show up in public databases,

as previously mentioned. And that creates a host of problems for the family members and those detained there, right? While by not showing up in these public databases, it it is easy to deny them due process and legal recourse. People are deported promptly before scheduled bond hearings. People are hospitalized often. This guy, Michel Borrego, you know, we connected with his mother, Janace, both of Cuban descent, he actually had to endure a hemorrhoid-related surgery while detained the alligator alcatraz and was transferred over to candle hospital where most of the hospitalizations that take place in that facility end up. And he was there for three days after his surgery and was immediately transferred over to alligator alcatraz again, where he did

not receive adequate medical care for his recovery and was denied even the most basic medicine to alleviate pain, for example. And these hospitalizations, which, you know, also have included cardiac incidents, you know, follow-up. There was a guy that we met whose fiancé told us that he had exploratory heart surgery just a week before being detained and was suffering from a ruptured kidney while in this facility. these hospitalizations are not recorded nor acknowledged by the state of Florida, the Florida Department of Emergency Management, which administers the facility, nor by the hospital itself. Even though we saw and we recorded and documented ambulance is going in and out of the facility constantly,

upwards of a dozen sometimes a day, because of the terrible conditions that have been outlined in this program and many others, right? So again, it creates an environment where due process is denied, legal recourse is denied, accountability is denied, transparency is denied, medical incidents are not recorded, which puts the detainees under further medical exposure and threat. And right now, things are so bad. I mean, the Miami Herald did a great job obtaining this list of people detained there, right, and cross-referencing. people to the ice locator to show up, to show what we advocates have been arguing for weeks, right, that this is a systemic issue and that people actually do not show up in these databases, which creates all of these problems, right? But, yeah, I mean, what we are seeing at Alligator Alcatraz is basically a new model of immigration detention

where a state-run facility is operating as an extrajudicial black. side, completely outside of the previous models of immigration detention in this country. And it's grabbing, making what was already a terrible system somehow even worse. Thomas Kennedy, we want to thank you for being with us. We hope you can stay with us for a post show in Spanish for our Spanish website to talk about this crisis of immigrants disappearing. Where are they? Florida Immigrant Coalition, Shire show Des Gupta.

is with the Miami Herald. He broke the story. Hundreds of alligator Alcatraz detainees drop off the grid after leaving sight. Next up, a group of 11 people deported from the United States to Ghana end up then being deported to their home countries despite fearing torture and persecution. We'll speak to the ACLU's Legal Earned.

Stay with us. And you can only view you with what you got. You don't have to. pretend that you got to know more because you are young, Latin and proud, young Latin and proud, young Latin and proud, young Latin and proud, young Latin and proud, because you woke up feeling like this you woke up knowing that you be you for the rest of your, Life for the rest of your life. Because you are young Latin and proud.

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We continue now on the subject of immigration and turn to the case of a group of West African men who were granted protection from deportation to their home countries on account of legitimate fears of persecution or torture at home. So the Trump administration instead sent them to Ghana. Ghana is one of a growing list of countries that have signed third country agreements with the U.S. to accept deportees from other countries. This is the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, speaking earlier this month. We were approached by the U.S. to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the U.S. And we agreed with them that West African nationals, you know, were acceptable because all our fellow West Africans don't need a visa to come to our country. country. So if they decided to travel from U.S. to Accra, they don't need a Vista anyway. So if you're bringing our colleague West Africans back, I mean, that's okay. And so I think that agreement has

been activated, and a first batch of 14 national scheme. But it appears the deportees did not stay in Ghana for long. Upon arrival, they were detained, and within days, it appears Ghanaian officials began repatriating the men to their home countries, exactly where they feared going. In the lawsuit filed by Asian Americans advancing justice and joined by the ACLU, attorneys assert the U.S. sent the men to Ghana with full knowledge they would then be sent to their home countries. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chetkin said she was alarmed and dismayed at the men's removals

and that they, quote, appear to be part of a pattern and widespread effort to evade the the government's legal obligations by doing indirectly what it cannot do directly, unquote. But she said her hands are tied. For more, we're joined by Legal Earned, Deputy Director of the ACOU Immigrants Rights Project, also adjunct professor at Columbia Law School on the team representing some of the people sent to Ghana. In recent weeks, Lee won a major case in which one of the most conservative, if not the most conservative, federal appeals court panel in the country,

ruled President Trump cannot use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to speed the deportations of people. His administration accuses of membership in a Venezuelan gang. Lee, welcome back to Democracy Now. Talk about this case of the men being sent to Ghana with the U.S. fully knowing that Ghana will then send them exactly where they fear, where they fled from, their home countries. Yeah, thanks, Amy.

and you've described it perfectly. I think, and unfortunately, this fits a pattern of the Trump administration trying to evade court orders. So what's happened is these individuals have gone to immigration court, and the immigration court has said, you can be removed from the United States, but you cannot be removed to your home country because it's more likely than not you'll be persecuted or tortured there. So the United States government knows they can't send these. individuals to their home country.

They're prohibited by an immigration court from doing so. So what we think they're doing is finding third countries. And Ghana may just be the tip of the iceberg, sending them to the third country like Ghana, knowing full well, and we actually think directing the third country, in this case Ghana, to send them on to their home countries. So it's a complete ruse to get around the order from the immigration judge. The United States government, at a minimum, knows very well. that the third country is going to send them on to persecution or torture.

And again, we think probably directing them. And as you said, Judge Chutkin felt her hands were tied because they were already on the move. So what that suggests is that we're going to need to potentially bring a lawsuit for people still in the United States to stop the policy prospectively. So we are trying to get our hands around exactly what's going on. Obviously, the United States government is not playing this out in public. so we're going to have to do some digging, but it's becoming more and more clear that this is the United States government's way of sending people to persecution and torture, using these

third countries to shield what they're doing. Lee, could you explain how these third country agreements came about in the first place? Was there anything like this prior to the Trump administration or in his previous one? Yeah, that's a very good question. So there's always been what's called diplomatic. assurances, but they've been used very sparingly and only on an individual basis. So there are times when an individual can't be sent to their home country. The United States finds a third country to take them, but adopts a diplomatic assurance with that country that they will not be

persecuted or tortured there. And because it was done so rarely and only with individuals, it could be monitored much more carefully. Are there safeguards in place to make sure this particular individual be safe in this third country. What the Trump administration has done now has said, we're going to do these categorically. We're going to get countries. We're going to pressure countries into taking as many people as we can send there and claim that they'll all be safe there. So we don't think that the individuals will all be safe in the third country. But what's happening now with Ghana is a whole other chapter of this. Not only are they sending dozens and dozens of people to third countries under the claim that they'll be safe there.

But now they're having these third countries, send them on to countries where it's clear they won't be safe because an immigration judge has already found they won't be safe. So the third, yeah. Let's turn to a declaration by a plaintiff who goes by the pseudonym KS out of concerns for his safety. He made the declaration while in hiding in the Gambia. The declaration reads in part, quote, on March 7, 2025, I won deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture from my home country of the Gambia

due to the specific risks of torture and death I face there on account of my sexuality. I spoke repeatedly with two Ghanaian immigration officials named Ibrahim Liang Hani and Ayamon. I explained to them my fear of returning to the Gambia the basis of my fear and the fact that I'd won protection from being returned to the Gambia under the Convention Against Torture. I told them I wanted to stay in Ghana for my safety. The official, Ibrahim, just told me that my final destination was the Gambia, based on orders from ICE officials and his Ghanaian superiors. I'm now living and hiding in the Gambia with the help of my sister. I'm seeking a way out of the country as soon as possible for the sake of my life. Do you know, K.S?

Well, he's one of the plaintiffs in the case. I can't reveal obviously where he is, or I mean, specifically or exactly what's going on. for safety. But I think his case is a prime example of what the United States is doing. So when we went before the judge, the government repeatedly said, well, we're sending people to Ghana, but they'll be safe there. And we pointed to KS and said, but you know KS now. We've told you, God has been sent on to the very country. An immigration judge said he cannot be sent to because he's being in danger of torture there. And the United States states, government said, well, we have a diplomatic assurance with Ghana that that won't happen. And we said,

but it has happened. And they kept saying, well, the court can't do anything. And so what I finally said out of an exasperation is, why aren't you concerned? You claim you have a diplomatic assurance with Ghana, not to send people on to torture. If you really have that, why aren't you concerned? Why do you need a court order to call Ghana and say, you're violating this diplomatic assurance? Well, of course, the Trump administration remained silent, didn't say anything. But the United States government should presumably be just as concerned as we are if Ghana is breaking the agreement. The truth is Ghana is not breaking the agreement.

The truth is the United States has told Ghana to send these people on to their home countries. Lee, can you talk about the Trump administration trying to send Kilmar-Abrego Garcia to S. Watini, formerly Swaziland? I mean, already having sent him to El Salvador to the mega prison, Seikot, then one of the lawyers admitting that they were wrong and they eventually brought him back, now deporting him to Africa, where he has no ties? Yeah. So this is a situation where the United States government is intent on putting him in a bad situation.

They admitted candidly at least one law. who's now been fired has it candidly admitted it was a mistake rather than admitting that mistake the Trump administration keeps doubling down and doubling down and now is going to send him to a country she has no ties but you know that his case has gotten a lot of publicity because of that mistake but it's part of a pattern we right now the United States government is sending people all over the world to places they have absolutely no ties to and so this is a remarkable break from prior administrations, both Democratic and Republican. So let's go to Trump's words, in fact, talking about asylum seekers just earlier this week

at the opening of the UN General Assembly. When your prisons are filled with so-called asylum seekers who repaid kindness, and that's what they did, they repaid kindness with crime, it's time to end the failed experiment of open borders. You have to end it now. Let's see, I can tell you. I'm really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.

So that's Trump speaking earlier this week at the UN General Assembly opening in New York. So, Lee, your response to that, and of course what he said is not new, he's repeated it multiple times, and also said that he's going after the worst of the worst. Yeah. So two things about that. One is, I think when people said they wanted more immigration enforcement, they were voting for an abstraction, sort of a vague abstraction. Now that people are seeing what's happening in practice,

I think you're seeing pushback because it's very clear he's not just going after the worst of the worst. The administration is consistently seeking to arrest, detain, and deport people who have no crimes whatsoever. Families who have lived here for decades, who have paid taxes or working, maybe their children are U.S. citizens. So that's absolutely clear

that notwithstanding the administration's, constant refrain that they're only going after the worst to the worst. That's not true. But let me also talk about specifically asylum, because I think what's gone underreported is the fact that right in the beginning of the administration, he claimed that migrants were quote unquote invading the United States, and he ended all asylum. So people say to me, well, doesn't the border need some fixing? And we are all in favor of revision to border policy, if it can be reasonable and have due process. I don't think people understand is that the Trump administration has tried to eliminate all asylum by any means. So that means you come here, even if you present lawfully at a port, even if you have

absolutely overwhelming evidence, you will be persecuted on account of your religion or your political opinion. There is no way in the United States any longer to apply for asylum. That puts us in a small handful of countries, Iran, North Korea, that don't have an asylum system. remarkable turn of events for the United States. After we made the solemn promise after World War II, we would never send people back to danger without even a screening. People are constantly saying to me, well, didn't the border, you know, the solemn process needs streamlining? Fine, but I don't think people realize there is zero pathway for people in danger now to apply for asylum in the United States. That's an extraordinary turn of events. We have challenged it. We won in

court so far the government has appealed. I suspect they go to the Supreme Court. But people need to keep an eye on that because it's simply not true that there's a way to apply for asylum any longer. You're in danger. The United States no longer gives you a safe haven, no matter how much danger you're in. Legal Alert, Deputy Director of the ACLU Immigrants Rights Project, thank you so much for being with us. When we come back, we get an update on the Gaza's global smooth flotilla. But first to Yemen, where recent Israeli strikes on two newspaper offices killed 31 Yemeni journalists and media workers making it the deadliest attack on journalists anywhere in the world in 16 years, back in 20 seconds.

Bo-foo-safu-can-a-fou-sa-foo-you-di-a-can-a-fou-a-foo, yeah, dii-a-cona. Bo-foo-foo-safu-and-can-a-a-go-so-you-dher. Bo-foo-foo-so-foo, yeah. Bofu Saffu Yeah, by Amadou and Mariam, performing in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now. I'm Amy Goodman with Narmine Sheikh. The Committee to Protect Journalists says recent Israeli strikes on two newspaper offices in Yemen killed 31 journalists and media support workers, making it the deadliest attack on journalists

anywhere in the world in 16 years. An additional 22 journalists were also injured in the strikes. CPJ said the attack was the second deadliest attack on the press ever recorded by the organization. The Israeli attack on September 10th targeted a newspaper complex in Sanaa that housed several media outlets tied to the Houthi government, the Houthi movement. Israel and the Houthis have traded attacks since Israel launched its assault on the Gaza Strip in October 2023. On Wednesday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for a drone attack on the southern Israeli city of Eilat. We go now to Niku Jafarnia, a researcher in the Middle East and North Africa Division for Human Rights. Rights Watch, investigating human rights abuses in Yemen and Bahrain. Thanks so much for being

with us, Nico. Explain what happened, the day it happened, the buildings that were struck, most importantly, the fact that 31 journalists and their staff were killed. Thanks so much for having me, Amy. Yeah, on September 10th, along with several air strikes that Israeli forces carried out in Yemen. They targeted what the Puthis describe as their moral guidance director at headquarters, which houses a media complex in the center of Sana. We're talking about the very center of the city, which is incredibly packed with people. It's right next to the old city of Sana, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. And the strikes occurred in the evening, on a Wednesday evening, where it happened to be that one of the newspapers that's housed in this media complex

was actually producing its paper for the next day. They produce a weekly paper that goes out every Thursday. And on this Wednesday evening, many journalists were inside of this media complex to produce the paper for the next day. And so when the attacks occurred, they ultimately killed, according to, you know, mainly Houthi-based sources, including one of the newspapers, 31 journalists. They also killed civilians who were walking on the street at the time. and one child was also killed in the attack. And we're talking, again, about, you know, these are civilians. Civilians have been killed in numerous Israeli attacks on Yemen.

And this is just yet another situation in which Israeli forces are killing journalists, as they've already done in Gaza, as they've done in Lebanon, in a new territory and thus far have not received the international condemnation that they should be. So, Nico, could you explain, what human rights watch is calling for an arms embargo on Israel and, if you could elaborate. Yeah, we've been from the very start of hostilities calling for an arms embargo from countries that are continuing to support Israeli forces. We have documented, like many other organization, war crime after war crime after war crime, as well as acts of genocide and

extermination in the context of Baza. We've documented war crimes in Lebanon. We've documented war crimes in Yemen and in Iran, all committed by Israeli forces. And yet we are continuing to see as Western states, particularly the United States, continue to provide support not only financially, but also through weapons that are then being used in these attacks. We have found remnants of U.S. guidance munitions in attacks that have been carried out, that we have been carried out, we deemed to be war crimes in the context of Lebanon. And yet we, regardless of all this documentation, again, not just from human rights watch, but from organizations and investigators all across the world, we see that these governments

are continuing to support Israel. And even those that have made some statements across Europe condemning Israel's actions, they still are continuing to support them, you know, behind the scenes. And so we have been calling for an arms embargo. Neku, could you put these attacks in the context of what Human Rights Watch has documented in Yemen, namely the increasing pressure and indeed also attacks on journalists in Yemen by Houthis and the government? Yeah, I think what's honestly one of the most devastating aspects of this attack is that journalists in Yemen are already facing abuses from domestic authorities there.

And that's been true for there. been, you know, more than 11 years of conflict at this point in Yemen, and parties on all sides, in particular the Houthis, the Southern Transitional Council, which is backed by the UAE, and the Yemeni government have all carried out widespread abuses against journalists. We actually just released a report last week documenting a lot of these abuses, describing the ways in which these groups have arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, tortured so many journalists over the last 11 years. They've also shut down media institutions

and in some cases even killed journalists and detained social media influencers just for posting something on social media. So again, already journalists have been facing extremely dire conditions in the context of Yemen. And now they are also facing attacks by Israeli forces that are targeting them. Niko Jafarnia, we want to thank you so much

for being with us. Human Rights Watch researcher in the Middle East and North Africa. We're going to link to your report titled Israeli forces attack on Sanaa kills journalists, Israel, Yemen authorities targeting media workers. This is

Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman with Nirmine Sheikh. Spain and Italy are sending naval vessels to protect the Gaza-bound global Sumud flotilla after activists said that drones repeatedly attacked their boats near Greece on Wednesday.

In a statement, the flotilla organizer said, quote, multiple drones, unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed, and explosions heard from a number of boats. Activists also said the strikes on Wednesday marked the seventh attack on the flotilla. The Global Samud flotilla set sail after Israel blocked two earlier attempts

by activists to reach Gaza by sea. Passengers aboard the flotilla, there are many boats, include the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela's grandson, the South African MP Mandela. We're going now to the flotilla to speak with David Adler, the co-general coordinator of the Progressive International. He has a new piece in The Guardian headlined, we are sailing to Gaza. Here's why. David, we see your hair blowing. We see you're on the ship. Can you explain what is taking? place for people who haven't followed this flotilla, what is it? And the significance of

Italy and Spain sending their naval ships to protect you? This global Samud Flotilla is the largest humanitarian convoy in history to traverse the Mediterranean Sea, from Barcelona to Tunis to Sicily, to here in Crete, and onward to Gaza, with a mission that's very simple but very urgent, which is to break the siege and to a step. a permanent humanitarian corridor at sea to deliver critical aid to the starving people of Palestine. It is not an exaggeration, Amy, to say that this unprecedented mission, whose vessels number greater than the sum of all previous efforts from 2008 forward of Freedom Flotilla and its affiliates to try to reach Gaza has faced.

Bureaucratic sabotage has suffered from drone attacks in the Port of Tunis when we were on the boats, attacked with incendiary devices. But most terrifyingly, just here at sea before we entered near to Crete was two nights ago when for several hours there were a bombardment. I mean, you have to imagine under the cover of darkness. We can't see these drones. We can hear them, but there's no lights on them. And all we can hear the sounds of explosions. All we have is CCTV footage of the bombs being dropped onto the boats with an obvious intent. to damage beyond repair these sailboats and therefore to deter the mission from going forward. In many cases that was successful, some of the boats were damaged on repair and others were able

to repair them. I think there's one little detail that your listeners and your viewers might be interested in, which is as they're deploying this illegal, a deeply criminal act of violence against a civilian humanitarian mission like ours. They also jammed our communication channels with what, with Abba, with Letch, Lay Your Love on Me, which, of course, is a reference, a not so subtle reference to the Swedish activist aboard Granite Tunberg, as you mentioned, in the introduction to the segment, Amy. So it is in the wake of those really terrifying attacks that kept us up all night and put our lives at risk, that we put on a message to the world, in particular a message to the

governments of the Mediterranean, not just to send a declaration or an recognition of our diplomatic our humanitarian ambitions to protect our lives, but ensure the success of our mission, which is the structural one, is to set up a new corridor to reach the people of Gaza when the points on land have been so famously, so infamously blocked from access. How many boats are there, David? Right now we're about 40 boats that have joined together from the three fleets, Barcelona, Tunisia, the Maghreb fleet, and Italian fleet, and we're meeting six more boats that are now coming from Greece, which should be between 40 and 50 boats, again, an unprecedented number of humanitarian missiles

that is now setting set on the final leg to reach the shores of Gaza. David, you're breaking up a little, so we're going to fix that sound. And while we do, we're going to go to who you just referenced, the Swedish climate activist Greta Tunberg. This is Greta speaking when the flotilla stopped in Tunisia. The messages we have to Palestinians and Gaza are many. First, that I'm absolutely disgusted and appalled to live in a world where our people in power every day are betraying Palestinians and how there are so many people who can seemingly just accept the extreme injustice and the mass slaughtering of people without doing anything.

so for that I am a heartbroken and this is not about me or my feelings at all but I'm heartbroken to live in that world what is happening now for example in Gaza City should not come as a surprise because Israel has been very clear from the beginning that this is their intent they have genocidal intent that they want to take over

the Gaza Strip which is such a serious war crime and the world has not listened right now people are more and more waking up, but at what cost? What is happening is, of course, an attack on Palestinians, the Palestinian identity and the Palestinian nation, and all the countess of people whose suffering is being reduced to numbers and UN resolutions.

But this is also an attack on humanity, on international law, on every sense of humanity we have left and that is a huge, huge risk. Of course, risk is not the right word. It is a threat to everything we hold here. What we are claiming to do is to act in line with international law. We are hearing the calls from Palestinians who are urging the people of the world

to step up, to end our complicity and we are doing a very small part of that. the bare minimum to act to uphold international law, human rights any risk we could be subjected to is of course nothing to what Palestinians are risking every day

just trying to survive for example the extremely brave Palestinian journalists who we are all in depth for for them reporting about what is happening on the ground. They risk their lives every single day to tell the story

and the biggest risk is how we have allowed fascism and racism to escalate to such an extent that history keeps repeating itself. So that's the climate activist. Grette Tunbri. She's one of many activists on board some 40 ships in the Samud Flotilla that have hit by drones. Drop site news is reporting Trump envoy, Tom Barrack, admits Israel bombed the global Samud

flitel ships in Tunisia earlier this month. That's where Greta was speaking. We're talking to live on the ship, David Adler, co-general coordinator of the Progressive International. So David Adler, just before we finish, if you could say what exactly are you carrying on the ship to Gaza, and what are you calling for now? We are carrying these ships. Some of them are humble motor cruisers like the family boat where I'm stationed, the lead vessel of the broader fleet, some of them are even humbler sailing boats, are packed to the gills with basic and critical humanitarian aid,

baby formula, medicine, food, and water. However, we're not naive about the scale of the suffering in Gaza and the scale of the humanitarian crisis that requires a much larger and more ambitious response by the states whose good faith obligations under international law require them to respond on the genocide convention. So that's why I put so much emphasis on this infrastructural element of our mission. We are not here to drop the aid and go home and pat ourselves on the black.

We have five seconds, David. We are here to establish a humanitarian corridor for states themselves to assume their responsibilities and to deliver the aid at the scale that Gaza requires. David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International, one of the people on board the Samud Flotilla headed to break the siege in Gaza. Spanish and Italian naval ships have gone to pre-Garital. protect them. I'm Amy Goodman with Nirmine Sheikh for another edition of Democracy Now.