Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-12-05 Friday

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

Headlines for December 05, 2025; Rigging Democracy: Supreme Court Approves Racial Texas Gerrymander, Handing Trump Midterm Advantage; 5,000 Arrests? ICE Descends on Louisiana to Carry Out Raids in World’s “Incarceration Capital”; Trump Calls Somali Community “Garbage”: Minnesota Responds to Racist Rant and Immigration Sweeps; “Alejandro Was Murdered”: Colombian Fisherman’s Family Files Claim Against U.S. over Boat Strike

From New York, this is Democracy Now. Texas is now more red in the United States Congress. In a major victory for President Trump, the Supreme Court rules Texas can use a new congressional map that dilutes the political power of black and Latino voters and could help Republicans pick up five new House seats. We'll speak with Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman, who says the Roberts Court just helped Trump rig the midterms. Then immigration crackdowns continue will go to New Orleans where agents aim to make 5,000 arrests and to Minneapolis, as President Trump escalates his attacks on the Somali.

community there. I don't want them in our country. I'll be honest. Somebody who said, oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care. I don't want them in our country. Their country's no good for a reason. Their country stinks. Weaponizing ice to target black Somali immigrants. This is not immigration policy. This is racism being directed from the president's office. And finally, the U.S. blows up another boat, this one in the Pacific.

Senators watch video of two September strike survivors clinging for life to a boat for more than 40 minutes, countering Secretary Hegseth claims of fog of war. We'll speak with a lawyer for the family of another boat strike victim, this one a Colombian father of four. The families filed the first formal challenge to the strikes. We filed this petition before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. on behalf of the family of Alejandro Carranza, a fisherman who was killed in the Caribbean by the United States without evidence

of any wrongdoing, without trial. We want compensation for the family and we want these killings to stop. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Gooden. The Pentagon's announced the U.S. blew up another boat in the eastern Pacific killing four people. The Pentagon claims the boat was carrying drugs, but once again offered no proof. The U.S. has now killed at least 87 people and 22 strikes on boats since September.

This comes as controversy continues to grow over a September 2nd strike when the U.S. targeted and killed two men who'd survived an initial attack. Nine were killed in the first strike. On Thursday, members of Congress were shown video of two men being killed at a time when they were clinging to the side of their overturned boat for more than 40 minutes. Democratic Representative Jim Hines of Connecticut spoke after watching the video. What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service. you have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion with a destroyed vessel

who are killed by the United States. Lawmakers also questioned Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley. The operations commanding officer, many questions remain, over Defense Secretary Pete Hegset's role. The Washington Post recently reported Hegseth that ordered Pentagon officials to kill everybody. on the boat. This comes as the Pentagon's inspector generals released its report examining Hegsess sharing of sensitive information about U.S. strikes in Yemen on a signal group chat earlier this year. The report found Hegseth's actions, quote, created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots, unquote.

The report also criticized Hegsets' use of a personal cell phone to conduct official business. Hegeseth himself refused to cooperate with the investigation, refusing to hand over his phone or sit for an interview. Israel's military is continuing to pound the Gaza Strip in violation of the October 10th ceasefire. Al Jazeera reports Israeli ships opened fire towards the coast of Han Yunus while air raids struck the city of Rafah. There are reports of explosions in Israeli artillery fire around Gaza City, including airstrike near the Magas. Ghazi refugee camp. Meanwhile, a CNN investigations found the Israeli military fired indiscriminately at starving Palestinians collecting sacks of flour near an aid distribution site near the Zakeem crossing in June, then bulldoze their bodies into shallow, unmarked graves, with some bodies left

to decompose or be partially eaten by dogs. Gaza officials and the United Nations estimate about 10,000 Palestinians remain missing from Israel's more than two-year assault, while the official death toll recently passed 70,000. Public broadcasters in Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Spain said Thursday, they'll boycott the 2026 Eurovision song contest after the European Broadcasting Union refused to hold a vote on whether to exclude Israel. This is Jose Pablo Lopez, president of Spain's national broadcaster. We maintained the same position we had months ago when we said Israel's participation in the Eurovision Festival was untenable for two main reasons.

Firstly, because the genocide it has perpetuated in Gaza. As president of the corporation, I keep thinking that Eurovision is a contest. But human rights are not a contest. Eurovision is among the most popular TV and online events in the world last year, viewers from 150, 56 countries cast votes for their favorite contestants. In New Jersey, protesters picketed this morning outside a Jersey City warehouse that's used to transport military cargo to Israel. A recent report by the Palestinian Youth Movement and Progressive International found the warehouse handles over 1,000 tons of Israel-bound military cargo every week, including thousands of MK84, 2,000-pound bombs that have been used to level Raza. The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional.

congressional map designed to help Republicans pick up as many as five house seats next year. A lower court had previously ruled the redistricting plan was unconstitutional because it would likely dilute the political power of black and Latino voters. Liberal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, quote, this court's stay ensures that many Texas citizens for no good reason will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced year in and year out is a violation of the Constitution. We'll have more on that story after headlines. The FBI is arrested a 30-old man from Virginia for allegedly planting pipe bombs near the Republican

and Democratic National Committee headquarters in January 2021 on the night before the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The suspect, Brian Cole, is expected to appear in court today. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has asked a judge to re-jail a participant in the January 6th insurrection who'd been pardoned by President Trump. The Justice Department made the request after the man, Taylor, Toronto, showed up near the home of Democratic Congressmember Jamie Raskin, who served on the January 6th House Select Committee. Security has been increased for Congressmember Raskin. In October, Toronto was sentenced to time served for making a threat near the home of former President Barack Obama. Obama. A federal grand jury in Virginia's declined a second attempt by the Justice Department to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James on charges she lied in her mortgage application.

In a statement, Lettisha James wrote, as I have said from the start, the charges against me are baseless. It's time for this unchecked weaponization of our justice system to stop, she said. It's the latest defeat for President Trump's campaign of retribution against his political enemies. The Trump administration's reportedly considering a third attempt to obtain an indictment against James. In New Orleans, about 30 activists were ejected from a city council meeting Thursday after calling for ice-free zones and asking local leaders to do more to protect immigrants. During a public comment period, members of the public went to the microphone one by one and were cut off when it became clear they wanted to do. speak on immigration, which wasn't on the formal agenda. And I'm asking city council for ice-free zones, make all city-owned property ice-free zones

and prohibit ICE and DHS from using city property to stage their operations. No collaboration with ICE. City Council must pass ordinances that codify non-collaboration between the city of New Orleans and ICE, including all of its offices. As I say previously, that is not germane. Thank you for your comments. The protests came as the Border Patrol announced a surge of more than 200 federal immigration agents into New Orleans, which the agency is calling Operation Catahoula crunch. They aim to make 5,000 arrests over two months. We'll go to New Orleans later in the broadcast.

Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasrallah has alleged fraud after his conservative rival, Nasrera, regain the lead, as election officials continue to tally up votes from Sunday's election. Nessarala also accused President Trump of interfering in the race by publicly backing Sforah. Some election officials have also publicly criticized the election process. On Thursday, Marlon Ochoa, who serves on Honduras' national electoral council, decried what she called an electoral coup. She said, quote, I believe there's unanimity among the Honduran people that were perhaps in the least transparent election in our democratic history, unquote. President Trump welcomed the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congress. Congo and Rwanda to Washington, D.C. Thursday for the signing of an agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict in the Eastern DRC. Trump also announced the U.S. had agreed to bilateral deals that will open the African nation's reserves of rare earth elements and other minerals to U.S. companies.

The signing ceremony was held in the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. During the event, Trump struggled to keep his eyes open. This follows other recent public appearances where Trump appeared to fall asleep. number of times. And once again, Trump was spotted wearing bandages on his right hand, which appeared bruised and swollen, covered with makeup. That fueled further speculation about the president's health. On Monday, the White House said the results from Trump's recent MRI exam were perfectly normal after Trump was unable to tell reporters aboard Air Force One what part of his body was scanned. What part of your body was the MRI looking at?

I have no idea. It was just an MRI. What part of the body? It wasn't the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it and I got a perfect mark, which you would be incapable of doing. Goodbye, everybody. Thank you, you, too. In business news, Netflix has announced it'll buy Warner Brothers and a deal worth at least $72 billion. The deal could reshape the entertainment and media industry as it will give Netflix control of Warner's movie and TV studios as well as the HBO Max streaming service. In labor news, a dozen striking Starbucks workers were arrested in New York City.

Thursday as they block the doors to the Empire State Building where Starbucks has a corporate office. Starbucks workers at over 100 stores are on strike. In New Jersey, Democratic Socialists Joel Brooks and Jake Efros have made history after winning election to the Jersey City Council. They're the first socialists elected to public office in New Jersey in over a century. This follows the historic election of Democratic Socialists or on Mamdani as New York City's next mayor. A University of California students been ordered to serve 90 days in jail for breaking into a Sonoma County poultry slaughterhouse and freeing four chickens. 23-year-old Zoe Rosenberg of Berkeley received the sentence on Wednesday after a jury convicted her in October of felony conspiracy and three misdemeanor counts. She was ordered to pay more than $100,000 to Petaluma Poultry, which is owned by the agribusiness giant Purdue Farms.

Rosenberg, supporters with the group direct action everywhere say the chickens she rescued were worth $24. They're reportedly alive and well at a sanctuary for rescued farm animals. Rosenberg told supporters her action was prompted by investigations that found routine violations of California's animal cruelty laws at Petaluma Poultry Slaughter Houses. I heard among the living that the air quality was so poor that chickens were struggling to breathe. I myself was struggling to breathe, even with a K-N-95 mask as I investigated this facility. And we have been calling on the California Attorney General to take action because the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office has made it abundantly clear that they do not care about these animals whatsoever,

that they care far more about the profits of Purdue, a company that makes over $10 billion a year on the backs of these animals. And the Trump administration has ended a policy granting visitors free access to national parks on the federal holidays June 10th and Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Instead, the 116 parks that charge entrance fees will now waive admission charges on June 14th, President Trump's birthday. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Reindeer. report. I'm Amy Goodman. A major victory for President Trump. The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Texas to use a new congressional map designed to help Republicans pick up as many

as five house seats in next year's midterms. A lower court previously ruled the redistricting map was unconstitutional because it had been racially gerrymandered and would likely dilute the political power of black and Latino voters. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, quote, this court's stay ensures that many Texas citizens for no good reason will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution, Justice Kagan wrote. For more, we're joined by Ari Berman. Voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones magazine, his new pieces headlined the Roberts Court just helped Trump rig the midterms. Ari is the author of

of minority rule, the right-wing attack on the will of the people and the fight to resist it. Ari Berman, welcome back to democracy now. Talk about the significance of this Supreme Court decision yesterday and what exactly was Samuel Alito's role. Good morning, Amy, and thank you for having me back on the show. So the immediate effect is that Texas will now be able to use a congressional map that has already been found to be racially gerrymandered and could allow reporting. Republicans to pick up five new seats in the midterms. And remember, Texas started this whole

gerrymandering arms race, where state after state is now redrawing their maps ahead of the midterms, essentially normalizing something that is deeply abnormal. It was an unsigned majority opinion, but Samuel Alito wrote a concurrence, basically saying that the Texas map was a partisan map pure and simple. And remember, Amy, the Supreme Court has already laid the ground. work for Texas to do this kind of thing by essentially saying that partisan gerrymandering cannot be reviewed in federal court no matter how egregious it is. They have blocked racial gerrymandering in the past, but now essentially what they're allowing to do is they're allowing Texas to camouflage a racial gerrymander as a partisan gerrymander, and they've given President Trump

a huge victory in his war against American democracy. It's overturned a lower court ruling. What are the role? of the courts now with the Supreme Court of ruling again and again on this? Well, basically what the Supreme Court has done is it's given President Trump the power of a king and it's given itself the power of a monarchy because what happens is lower courts keep striking down things that President Trump and his party do, including Trump appointees to the lower courts. The Texas redistricting map was struck down by a Trump appointee who found that it was racially gerrymender to discriminate against black and Latino

voters. What the Roberts Court did was overturned that lower court opinion, just as it's overturned so many other lower court opinions to rule in favor of Donald Trump and his party. And one of the most staggering things, Amy, is the fact that the Roberts Court has ruled for President Trump 90% of the time in these shadow docket cases. So in all of these big issues, whether it's on voting rights or immigration or presidential powers. Lower courts are constraining the president. And the Supreme Court repeatedly is saying that the president and his party are essentially above the law. So you have talked about the Supreme Court in 2019 ruling in a case ordered that court should stay out of disputes over partisan gerrymandering. Tell us more about that.

It was really a catastrophic ruling for democracy. What it said is that no matter how egregiously a state gerrymanders to try to target a political party, that those claims not only can't be struck down in federal court, they can't even be reviewed in federal court. And what that has done is it said to the Texas of the world, you can gerrymander as much as you want as long as you say that you're doing it for partisan purposes. So this whole exercise made a complete mockery of democracy because Texas goes out there and says, we freely admit that we are drawing these districts to pick up five new Republican seats. President Trump says we're entitled to five new seats. Now, that would strike the average American as absurd, the idea that you could just redraw

maps mid-decade to give more seats to your party. But the Supreme Court has basically laid the ground for that to be okay. And even though racial gerrymandering, discriminating against black, and Hispanic voters, for example, is unconstitutional, which is what the lower court found in Texas. The Roberts Court continually has allowed Republicans to get away with this kind of racial gerrymandering by allowing them to just claim that it's partisan gerrymandering. And that's what happened once again in Texas. Where does this leave the Voting Rights Act? And for people, especially young people who, you know, weren't alive in 1965, explain what it says and its

importance that. The Voting Rights Act is. is the most important piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by the Congress. It quite literally ended the Jim Crow regime in the South by getting rid of the literacy tests and the poll taxes and all the other suppressive devices that had prevented black people for being able to register and vote in the South for so many years. It has been repeatedly gutted by the Roberts Court, which is ruled that states with a long history of discrimination like Texas no longer have to approve their voting changes with

the federal government. Court has made it much harder to strike down laws that discriminate against voters of color. And now they are preparing potentially to gut protections that protect people of color from being able to elect candidates of choice. And I think the Texas's ruling is a bad sign, another bad sign for the Voting Rights Act, because a lower court found that Texas drew these maps to discriminate against black and Latino voters, that they specifically targeted districts where black and Latino voters had elected their candidates of choice. And the Supreme Court said, no, we're okay with doing it.

So it was yet another example in which the Supreme Court is choosing to protect white power over the power of black, Latino, Asian-American voters. So where does this leave the other cases? You have California's Prop 50 to redraw the state's congressional districts, but that was done another way. It was done by a referendum. The people of California voted on it. And then you've got North Carolina.

You've got Missouri. Where does this leave everything before next midterm elections? Yeah, there's a lot of activity in the court so far. A federal court has already upheld North Carolina's map, which was specifically targeted to dismantle a district of a black Democrat there. The only district they changed was held by. a black Democrat in the state. In Missouri right now, organizers were trying to get signatures for a referendum to be able to block that district, which also targeted the district of a black

Democrat, Emmanuel Cleaver, California's law is being challenged by Republicans and by the Justice Department. The Supreme Court did signal, however, in its decision in Texas, that they believe that the California map was also a partisan gerrymander. So that would lead one to believe that if the Supreme Court's going to uphold the Texas map, they would also uphold the California map. We've also seen repeatedly that there's double standards for this court, that they allow Republicans to get away with things, that they don't allow Democrats to get away with. They've allowed Trump to get away with things that they did not allow Biden to get away with. But generally speaking, it seems like the Supreme Court is going to allow states to gerrymander

as much as they want, and that's going to lead to a situation where American democracy is going to become more rigged and less fair. Ari Berman, voting rights correspondent from Mother Jones Magazine, author of Minority Rule, the right-wing attack on the will of the people and the fight to resist it. We'll link to your piece, the Roberts Court just helped Trump rig the midterms. Next up, immigration crackdowns continue nationwide. We'll go to New Orleans, where agents are expected to make 5,000 arrests. And to Minneapolis, as Trump escalates his attacks on the Somali community there,

calling the whole community garbage. Stay with us. On your hands And I'moose the Ardome Your Al-Qaeda You haughty come And I'ma'i'i'i'i and duffa'all'i'i'i'n'a'i'n'h'a'n'a'n'hs'a'n'hs'a'n't

And now the time I call out to you, composed by Ahmed Kaboor in 1975, and performed at a Gaza benefit concert on Wednesday by the NYC Palestinian Youth Choir. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We turn now to New Orleans and southeast Louisiana where more than 250 federal immigration agents launched Operation Cataula Crunch this week. They reportedly aimed to make more than 5,000 arrests over two months. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam says the operational target, quote, the worst of the worst, unquote. But local officials say they're skeptical.

City council member Leslie Harris responded, quote, there are nowhere near 5,000 violent offenders in our region. What we're seeing instead are mothers, teenagers, and workers being detained during routine check-ins from their homes and places of work. So far, agents have targeted the parking lots of home improvement stores like Home Depot and workers at construction sites. At New Orleans City Council hearing Thursday, about 30 protesters were removed after demand. Standing city leaders do more to protect immigrants calling for ice-free zones. In a public comment session, residents went to the microphone one by one and were cut off when it was clear. They wanted to talk about immigration, which was not on the formal agenda.

This is Mitch Gonzalez of Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition. After his mic was cut, he continued to try to be heard. We delivered a letter to City Council on November 21st. I'm part of the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition. We requested a meeting. This should be on the agenda. It should be on the agenda. Public safety is at...

Little kids are not going to school right now. People are not going to take it to say to the parents but not a good point in. Please, I'm begging. Shand church! And right now it's about the safety of the people who live here. But I promise you, in just... If these people are planning to stay here for two months

and take as many as 5,000 of the people who live in the straightest and the world... They're the people who work here. There's the people who clean dishes here. There are the people who take care of the elderly and the nursing home. For more, we're joined by Omedo Lopez, legal director for Isla, immigrant services and legal advocacy based in New Orleans. Welcome to Democracy Now, Omero. If you can start off by talking about what exactly you understand this plan is,

as they move in 250 immigration agents, they say they're making 5,000 arrests in the next two months. What's happening to New Orleans? Yes, thank you, Amy, for having me on. We have seen the officers come into the city and the surrounding areas as well. And the fact that they're looking for a specific quota that they have a number that they're going after makes it clear that they're not targeting as they claim the worst of the worst. Instead, they're going to target whoever they can. And as the Supreme Court has unfortunately authorized them, they're using racial profiling as part of that approach. They're calling it Catahula Crunch.

Louisiana's state dog is the Cattahoula. Explain what they're saying here, what Christy Gnome is talking about who the immigrants are that they're going after. Yeah, they originally had called it the Swamp Sweep, but I guess they thought SS was a little bit too on the nose, so they went after Cattahula Crunch instead. And what they're saying is they're going to target, you know,

folks who have criminal backgrounds, or at least that's the purported position from the higher-ups at least, there was a video of Bovino recently saying he's going after immigrants. He was asked, who are you targeting? What are you looking for? And he said this is an immigration raid. And so he's, they're focusing on immigrants across the board. What we've seen has been folks at work, folks at their check-ins, people around schools, ICE officers setting up around, or CBP officers setting up around the schools. And the fear that's being, the fear that's coming into the, being sowed in the community is really the true intent of what their, of their

operation here. Catahoula Crunch named after the Louisiana state dog. Didn't Homeland Secretary Christine Nome famously shoot her dog? That is a story that's come out, yes. Many ICE officials who now work at the national level came up through Louisiana. Is that right? Can you talk about them? And who are the hundreds of agents moved in to do these arrests?

Yeah, Louisiana's playing a oversized role when it comes to immigration enforcement throughout the country. The former wildlife and fisheries secretary here in Louisiana is now one of the deputy, or is the deputy director of ICE nationally. Our former area New Orleans ICE director, field office director, is also at headquarters. There are various deportation officers here from Louisiana who have gone. to work at headquarters, and so the approach that they used to take or that they have taken in Louisiana since 2014 to incarcerate as many people as possible, quickly to put warehouse and deport people from the state is something that seems to be the structure that is being operated now from the

national headquarters. Louisiana, in other parts of the country, we know it particularly here when it comes to detention. You have Mahmoud Khalil, who is the Columbia student, who was imprisoned in Louisiana. You have Ramesa Ozturk, the Tufts graduate student who is imprisoned in Louisiana. Talk about the overall detention complex in Louisiana. Louisiana has a history, a terrible history, of being the incarceration capital of the world, and that is no different when it comes now to immigration detention. And Louisiana's number two when it comes to the state with the second largest detained

immigrant population in the country next to Texas. However, we're not a border state. We also don't have a large immigrant population by numbers. Instead, what Louisiana does is it receives a lot of people who are detained around the country. And so the additional aspect of what happens in Louisiana is that we have these very rural, isolated detention centers in central Louisiana, central and northern Louisiana, which are very far away from, from major metropolitan or from major population centers, which means what you end up with

is people removed from their legal and support systems. So when you had someone like Macon-Colillo being moved down here from New York, what you had was removing him from his social network, from people who could assist him, from being able to provide him with assistance. same thing with Ramesa Ulsterk. And these were highly publicized cases, places where folks had large support networks. And so when we deal with folks who don't have those support networks, who don't have that publicity, who don't have that kind of support, and you have them in such a remote, isolated area, what you end up is basically warehousing folks without giving them an opportunity to fight their case

and be able to present a viable case through actual due process. You can't help but notice that New Orleans is a blue city and a red state, Louisiana. Louisiana has the most detention beds outside of Texas. Can you talk about the consent decree that was overturned last month, Ometto? The consent decree was overturned last month by the Justice Department, and they wanted to get rid of it. It had been in place for over a decade here in Louisiana that did not, or here in New Orleans, that had not allowed the local sheriff's office to cooperate with ICE. the new sheriff. We don't know exactly what she's going to do. But what it does is it removes

this tool that existed, which was originally implemented because of previous abuses that had been determined by a federal court that Louisiana, that New Orleans police, New Orleans Sheriff's office should not be cooperating and had ordered the Sheriff's Office not to cooperate. Without that consent decree in place, it's now up to the sheriff. And so there is a movement on the ground it from advocacy groups and from other organizers to push the sheriff to continue to have that kind of policy, but we'll see what comes from that. And can you talk about the people you represent? I mean, I think it's really important, not only in New Orleans, but around the country.

A number of the people being picked up are going to their court hearings. They are following the rules, and they end up being arrested. Yeah, the majority of people who are being arrested, the majority of calls. that we're receiving are from folks who are going through the process, whether they be children who originally applied through the special immigrant juvenile status process and are awaiting their ability to apply for residency, whether it's spouses of U.S. citizens who are going to their interviews and are being picked up, whether it's people who have immigration court hearings and have filed their applications and are attending the hearings are going, again, they're doing

it, quote unquote, the right way, and that's who is being picked up. Those are the folks who are the low-hanging fruit. Those are the folks who are going to be targeted. There's a reason that these officers are going to work sites and not necessarily doing in-depth investigations to identify folks that they claim are a danger to the community. Instead, what they're doing is they're taking folks out of our community, our neighbors, our friends, our family members, and that's who they're detaining and they're sending into these terrible detention centers in order to try to quickly deport them from the country. Omera Lopez, I want to thank you for being with us.

Do you have a final comment on the City Council hearing that was held yesterday as mics were turned off on person after person who was calling for ice-free zones? Yeah, we hope that City Council will take a stance. We understand that they don't necessarily have a ton of power over federal actions, but the point here is about the values that the city stands for and what we are going to demonstrate to our community and to our residents. of who we support, what we support, and what we stand for in the city. Omera Lopez is the legal director of Isla, the Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy based in New Orleans, Louisiana. As we go from New Orleans to Minneapolis, we turn to Minnesota where more than 100 federal immigration agents are conducting operations this week as President Trump escalates his attacks on the Somali community in the state. The Trump administration halted green

card and citizenship applications from Somalis and people from 18 other countries after last week's fatal shooting of a national guardsman near the White House. One of those guardsmen died. Another is fighting for his life. That was one in Afghan man who once worked for the CIA, shot two members of the guard. During a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump attacked the Somali community, making comments that were later widely condemned. I don't want them in our country, I'll be honest with you. Somebody would say, oh, that's not politically correct. I don't care.

I don't want them in our country. Their country's no good for a reason. Their country stinks, and we don't want them in our country. I can say that about other countries, too. I can say it about other countries, too. We don't want them to help. We have to rebuild our country. You know, our country's at a tipping point.

We can go bad. We're at a tipping point. I don't know if people mind me saying that. but I'm saying that we could go one way or the other, and we're going to go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilan Omar is garbage. She's garbage.

Her friends are garbage. President Trump's comments at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Congress member Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American, first refugee congress member, called President Trump's comments. his obsession with her, as she described it, creepy, said he needs help. Trump made similar remarks on Wednesday. On Thursday, Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walls called Trump's racist tirades dangerous.

He also noted the vast majority of Somalis who live in Minnesota are American citizens and legal permanent residents. It appears very little is being done. They bring these folks in from Texas or somewhere like that. I'm sure they're too cold to get out of their cars to harass people. but they're doing it in New Orleans. It's all about show. It's not about.

They demonized an entire group, potentially 60,000 people based on racial profiling. There are only about 300 people with the protective status that were here. For more, we're joined in Minneapolis by Jaylani Hussein, executive director of care.

That's the Council on American Islamic Relations. Welcome to Democracy Now, Jelani Hussein. If you can start off by responding, to President Trump's comments, calling the Somali community garbage and singling out Ilhan Omar, calling her garbage, as he said, that they should leave the country. You were born in Somalia. You came to the United States as a child.

Can you talk about the danger this puts you in when the President of the United States talks about an entire community? in this way. Well, I think it's extremely, thank you for having me, I think it's extremely disappointing. And especially, I think Americans across this country should be abhorred. And most importantly, you know,

we understand why we're being attacked. We believe it's actually because of our success. Somali Americans have been in the United States now for more than 30 years. We came here partially because of our refugee status, and the doors were actually opened by George Bush Sr. And, you know, the fact that this attack is happening to this community and continues to happen, we believe, is because of the fact that we fill the three trifecta, we are a black immigrant, and we know that President Trump continues to attack black. people, whether they're descendants of slaves here in the United States or African immigrants. We see that majority of the countries that have been banned are African.

Also, the fact of immigrants, and of course being a Muslim. And I think those trifectas continue to make it easy to scapegoat. We know that they're foreign entities that want, including Israel, as well as the Hindu extremists, in this country, who want to reverse the course of what is actually taking place in this country, which is, for the first time, Republicans waking up to these wars, to these never-ending wars, and the carnage of what happened in Gaza. And so we know that that's an element as part of the reason why this community is being targeted. You're saying because it's a largely Muslim community, Jailani?

Yes, absolutely. And I think that, you know, there is an effort to try to demonize Muslims. This has always been the case. If you demonize Muslims, then you can get away with killing Muslims abroad. This has always been the case from the Afghanistan work to the Iraq War. We know that. And I think many young Republicans and many, obviously, progressive Democrats and Democrats across this country and perhaps the future of this country do not want to have a government that,

spends majority of its time in wars of killing other people and not taking care of Americans here. I think that's at the center of it. However, you know, it's been interesting to have these hundred plus ICE agents dissent on our state. And so far, what we've heard is literally them detaining U.S. citizens. I think that yesterday we learned that they've maybe only picked up five Somali Americans who are going through the immigration process. I'm wondering if you could also comment on what happened in November, Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott, declaring your organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations Care, the country's largest Muslim civil rights group, a foreign terrorist organization.

It's not even clear that he has the ability as a governor of a state to classify an organization in this way. I think it fits the same pattern of behavior that we have seen where Israeli first politicians are doing the bidding of Netanyahu. We know that Kerr has actually had a spy who had connections to the Netanyahu government, who infiltrate, one of our care chapters. We are the largest civil rights organization. It is because of the fact of how effective we are in ensuring the rights of American Muslims and others that we become a target for these groups. And so, you know, it's been widely condemned. And the reality is, is this is where they go. You know, this is kind of the targeting that we have seen. And we expect that. And perhaps there will be even more. But it's, it's, it's,

I believe, on deaf ears because more and more people are reading now, more and more people are awake, and there's a younger generation of Americans, I am really hopeful, will not be duped by the same type of rhetoric that we have seen in the past. So you have the largest Somali-American population in the United States in the Twin Cities, Minneapolis, St. Paul, around, what, 84,000 people, with approximately three-quarters, 73 percent of Somali immigrants being naturalized citizens. This is imperiling Republican candidates and political figures. I've seen people concerned about whether they will be elected. There are Somali Republicans and Democrats. I saw a father and business owner yesterday saying he voted for

Trump. How does he talk to his children about him calling, Trump calling his children, garbage. But if you can talk about the citizenship and President Trump threatening to take away, if this is even in his power, re-examine naturalized citizens? Yeah, I mean, these threats have been there. It's part of their plan.

I know that we estimate about 58% or a little more than that of Somali Americans are actually born here. So we have a pretty young community. And about almost 80%, actually, we have some higher numbers of those who are either lawful residents or majority being U.S. citizen. We've been here for 30 plus years. We have built ourselves to be a fabric of this great state of Minnesota, not only in the urban core, but in greater parts of the state. And so, yeah, this efforts to try to do that is interesting. But it is part of this effort to try to, again, target immigration in this country.

And I believe it's not only racist, but it's a plan that is to kind of respond to that kind of white nationalist effort that we have heard for so much. To the other point politically, you know, Somali Americans, just like any other community, are not monolithic. You know, we have seen an actually a sharp increase of Somali Americans supporting Republicans in the state of Minnesota, including President Trump. And there are many of them. Some have publicly declare that they are out of the Republican Party and others are asking hard questions. And here's an interesting thing. You know, the Republican leadership in the state of Minnesota understand what is happening. In fact, you know, they are kind of right now silent and not choosing to come up and say, you know,

these are community, this Somali-American community, and many who even voted for them, are not garbage, and the president was out of line. Can you tell your own story, Jaylani Hussein, how you came to the United States from Somalia?

You know, this is one thing that I think people don't understand, you know, as an immigrant child or refugee child, nobody wants to leave home. I never, as a young child, ever imagined leaving anywhere. I remember living next to the airport, and I would see planes leave.

And as a child, you might have wanted to get on a plane and see things. But home is always home. And because of that civil war, which I hope we get a chance sometime to talk about that because people don't realize how the United States foreign policy plays into destabilization, including my own country, because Somalia was part of the Cold War that the United States and Russia interfered with our own government and created us to have wars with our neighbors in Ethiopia. But I left Somalia and as a child, and I came here to Minnesota, and my father always says that, you know, we came to one of the coldest places, but we found people with warm hearts.

And today, you know, I'm as in Minnesota as you can get. And there's something unique about Minnesota. Minnesota also has a large number of other immigrants, including folks from Laos, the monk population, and as well as a large other Latino and South. American community. And it's interesting, you know, it's starting to be really unique. And for those who have visited us here in the state of Minnesota, would find that, you know, robust diversity that is growing in the heart of the Twin Cities. But Minnesota has not only embraced Somali community, but, you know, you start to see that our food and the things that we do are also part of the growth of the state. And so, you know, just joking to reporters that I was in a

deer stand a couple of weeks ago, even though I didn't get a deer. And that's what it is. You know, we, when we come together and we live in this great country and try to make it even a better country, that is really the story of the immigrant community. And that's something that is not only hopeful, but in this moment we are really asking, especially Minnesotans and folks across the country to speak up. And I know, and I've heard from Republicans, individuals, I've heard of so many people who are not only shocked and dismayed by what the president has said. And yesterday we had faith leaders who spoke up and many other community members are speaking of. And yesterday we also called for a national day of action on Saturday,

December 13, for folks to speak up across this country to stand with Somali Americans, but also other immigrants in this country. You know, this is a native land, and other than the force enslaved of African Americans, everyone else has really an immigrant story, and that's the story we need to tell. And, you know, I hope this message goes to, you know, Melania. I know she is an immigrant herself,

and I think she in this moment could potentially speak to the president and maybe even present a different story to, the president. Demonizing an entire community for the act of individuals is wrong. I also think for many people who are asking these questions, you know, this is the oldest story using crime to define a community. This is what media has done. They constantly lead with crime and subjected without really giving it nuanced. And that's why today we have one of the largest mass incarceration of people of color. even though crime doesn't have race or anything else.

So this is a moment, I think, for our nation. We have seen vile things that the president has said, but in these moments we need to come together and respond. But I also am asking for people to know, especially those on social media today, who are projecting this hatred toward the Somali community. We believe some of those people are actually acting on behalf of foreign governments, and we need those individuals to be to be investigated.

And if they are acting for foreign government, that they need to register in that manner. Jelanis Hussein, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Executive Director of Care, Minnesota. That's the Council of American Islamic Relations, born in Somalia, came to the U.S. as a child. As the U.S. blows up another boat, this one in the Pacific, and senators watch video of two September strike survivors,

clinging for life to a boat for more than 40 minutes, countering Secretary Hegset's claims of fog of war. We'll speak with a lawyer for the family of another boat strike. This one, a Colombian father of four. The family's challenging the strikes. Stay with us. I, ah, ah, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha hame, I'm chie. In tuffe, gavet, I'm chie, perfor on hame, amchee, in caffee, in gaffo on hame, in chie. In cuffe, in gaffaute, in chast of zitone, and on Khamshi, Wana Amshi, Wana Ani, Wana Amshi, Wana, Wana, Wana Amshi, as I walk, written by the Lebanese musical composer Marcel Khalifa, performed here in New York at a Gaza Benefort, NIC, Palestinian Youth Choir, this week.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The Pentagon's announced the U.S. blew up another boat in the eastern Pacific, killing four people, claiming the boat was carrying drugs, but once again, offering no proof. This comes as the controversy continues to grow over the first U.S. boat strike September 2nd, when the U.S. targeted and killed two men who had survived an initial attack. Nine others were killed in the first strike, September 2nd. The U.S. has now killed at least 87 people and 22 strikes on votes since September. The U.S. has not provided proof that the vessels' activities or the identities of those on board. But now the family of a fisherman from Colombia has come forward and has filed the first formal challenge to the U.S. military strikes. In a petition filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the family says a strike on September 15th killed 42-year-old Alejandra on very.

Carranza Medina, a fisherman from Santa Martha, Colombia, a father of four. His family says he was fishing for tuna and marlin off Colombia's Caribbean coast when his boat was bombed, that he wasn't smuggling drugs. At the time, President Trump claimed the strike killed three narco-terrorists. We have proof. What you have to do is look at the cargo that was like it's spattered all over the ocean, big bags of cocaine and fentany all all over the place. And it was. Plus, we have recorded evidence that they were leaving. A video released at the time shows a small boat exploding in flames.

For more, we're joined in Pittsburgh by International Human Rights Attorney Dan Kavallach. He filed the petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of the family. Welcome to Democracy Now. Explain what they are saying, Dan. Thanks for having me, Amy. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty simple. The claim that the family is making is that Alejandro was murdered. You know, I was asked by one reporter, you know, was Alejandro innocent? And I, you know, my response was all these people who have been killed are innocent because you're innocent until proven guilty. None of these people were charged. None of them were put on trial and convicted. This is not how a civilized nation should act, just murdering people on the high seas without proof without trial.

So explain, has the Trump administration gotten in touch, has the Colombian government stood up for the victims of this boat strike? has the U.S. government presented any evidence that, in fact, the person you're representing, Andres Kadanza Medina, was in fact a narco terrorist? No, the U.S. has presented no evidence. They have not responded at all to our petition. And in terms of the Colombian government, the truth is I got in touch with the family of Alejandro through the Petro administration, through President Petro. Petro of Columbia. So they are standing up to this. They are actually President Petro's

creating a commission of lawyers to investigate more killings that have happened of Colombians in the Caribbean. So explain the response in Colombia to the killing of your client. You say in the petition the family's been threatened by right-wing paramilitaries for speaking out about Mr. Kudans's death? Can you tell us more? Yeah, well, you know, the sad thing is that right-wing paramilitaries, which the United States helped to create and help to fund for many years, still exist in Colombia. And so, yeah, when the family came out publicly about the murder,

they did receive death threats from right-wing paramilitaries, and in fact, they ended up being displaced as a result of these threats. But again, the government of Columbia is behind them, is supporting them, and there's a lot of outrage in Colombia about these killings. And what's happened, by the way, Amy, is that, you know, again, fishermen are now stopping going out to sea to fish because they're afraid they're just going to be blown up, which is, you know, makes sense. I mean, I wouldn't go out there either. Explain what it means to bring a petition in front of the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. What is this commission? What power does it have over the United States?

Yes, well, first of all, the Inter-American Commission is part of the Organization of American States. We brought the claims under the American Declaration for the Rights and Duties of Man, is the oldest human rights instrument in the world. It was actually agreed to in Bogota, Colombia, in 1948, even before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was agreed to. And the commission does have jurisdiction over the United States to investigate the United States for these types of crimes, which these are crimes, and to require the U.S. to respond to them.

In the end, they will issue a report making recommendations, We hope for compensation for the family, also telling the U.S. to stop these killings. In the end, you know, the U.S. could choose to disregard these recommendations, but we think with a positive decision from the Commission combined with public pressure, which is building, that we can bring justice to this family and stop these killings on the high seas. you filed the first formal complaint do you expect others to follow oh yes we do of course and uh you know again the columbian government is reaching out trying to find more families and i am happy to take on more cases i think this is one of the most significant human rights cases right now certainly in the hemisphere i mean because it's not just about well killings but it's about the rule of law. You know, it's about the idea that you, that a government like the United States

could just murder people based on mere accusations. As I say, it's no different than, you know, going down the street here in Pittsburgh and the cops saying, oh, I think that guy's dealing in drugs and just blowing that person's brains out. No one thinks that's correct. We just have 10 seconds. Do you hold out hope for the Senate investigation, both Republican and Democrat, raising serious questions about these bombings? Five seconds. I am elitist hopeful, Amy. Again, I think the tide is turning against these killings. The American public is disgusted by them. So, yeah, I think there's hope. We're going to have to leave it there. Thank you so much, Dan Cavallack, International Human Rights Attorney.

I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.