Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-12-24 Wednesday

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

Democracy Now! Wednesday, December 24, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. I am so disgusted with this administration. I think that Pam Bondi and Casper Tal both need to resign. And I would love to see number 47 get impeached over this. The DOJ releases the largest batch of files yet on the federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. What are the most significant revelations? We'll hear from Epstein survivors and speak with investigative journalist Vicky Ward, host of the podcast, Chasing Gillen, the untold story of the woman in Epstein's shadow. Then we speak to longtime immigrant rights activist Jeanette Fisgetta Ramirez, just released.

from a Colorado ICE jail. A judge ruled her detention was unconstitutional. His moment is one mixed emotions in my person and my family, 9-1-7 days, there's long long time in detention. And an update on growing calls to release Palestinian activists La Cordea, who joined Gaza Solidarity protests at Columbia University and has been detained in an ice jail in Texas for nearly 10 months after she went to her ice check-in in New Jersey. We'll speak with Palestinian journalist Leila Haddad.

Hi, it's Leila Haddad, and I'm here at the Prairaland Detention Center in Al-Bara, Texas. I'm here with Travis Fife, who's one of Leqqqqqqqq Kordia's lawyers, and we just got finished with a meeting with her. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. Venezuela is accused the United States of the greatest extortion in history as the Trump administration wraps up economic and military pressure on Venezuela and President Nicolas Maduro. During an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday, requested by Venezuela, Russia and China strongly condemn the Trump administration's escalating attacks, including the seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers and

the relentless bombings of boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Mike Walts told the council the Trump administration would be imposing sanctions on Maduro to the maximum extent. As critics warn, the United States is ushering in a regime change to appropriate Venezuela's resources. Venezuela holds the world's largest oil reserves. Meanwhile, Venezuela's National Assembly's passed a law enacting harsh penalties for piracy in response to the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers.

This is Venezuelan Assembly member Jorge Rodriguez. In consideration, honorable deputies, those in favor of approving the second discussion of the bill for the protection of freedom of navigation and trade against piracy, blockade and other illicit international acts, please indicate with you. The law is approved unanimously. Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, is walking back his comments that Israel plans to resettle the Gaza Strip after suggesting the Israeli military would never leave

the besieged enclave. Speaking at a settlement in the occupied West Bank, Katz mentioned Israel could establish military outposts in northern Gaza. We are deep in Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza. We are there to defend, to prevent what happened. We are standing. As we said, we trust the rock of Israel and the IDF in defending Israel in a fierce battle between jihadist enemies of this kind and Israeli enemies of this kind.

Since the U.S. brokered ceasefire went into effect in October. Israel's constructed at least 13 new military outposts inside Gaza, primarily located along the yellow line in eastern Han Yunus, according to satellite imagery reported by drop site news. This comes as a former close aide to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Netanyahu asked him after Hamas's October 7th attack to come up with a plan to avoid blame for Israel's security failure. Netanyahu's former spokesperson, Eli Feldstein,

made the accusation in an interview as he faces trial for allegedly leaking classified information to the press. In the interview, Feldstein said he was instructed by Netanyahu to silence calls for accountability. Meanwhile, Netanyahu appeared in court in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. He's facing charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse. We are here this morning, the same as every week since the beginning of the trials of Binyamin Netanyahu protesting to make sure that these trials go as planned that Mr. Netanyahu does not receive a pardon, does not escape responsibility for the crimes that he's being judged and the crimes that he's going to be judged for, which are the more

serious ones. But he's going to pay. In Britain, Swedish activist Greta Thunbury was arrested in London Tuesday for taking part in peaceful protests, expressing solidarity with a group of Palestine action political prisoners on hunger strike. Greta Tunbury sat outside the building of an insurance company holding a sign that said, I support the Palestine action prisoners. I oppose genocide, unquote. Activists said the insurance company, Aspen, provides services to Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of an Israeli weapons manufacturer. Earlier this year, the British government banned

Palestine Action under its Terrorism Act. The Palestine Action prisoners started a hunger strike as they await trial demanding among other requests to be released on bond. At least two of the hunger strikers have refused food for over 50 days, with doctors warning they're at risk of death. Days after the December 19th deadline for the release of all files related to the late serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and under enormous pressure, the Justice Department released more than 11,000 files Tuesday, totaling nearly 30,000 pages of documents. This includes emails sent between FBI personnel back in 2019, mentioning 10 possible co-conspirators of Epstein. One is described as a, quote, wealthy businessman in Ohio. The emails also detail that, quote, three have been located in Florida and serve grand jury subpoenas. One in Boston, one in New York City, and one in Connecticut were located and served, unquote.

Yelan Maxwell is the only Epstein accomplice to be charged criminally and is currently serving a 20-year sentence on federal sex trafficking charges. The Justice Department is desperately looking to hire outside attorneys to, work on redactions in the Epstein files it continues to hold. We'll have more on this story after headlines. The Supreme Court Tuesday blocked the Trump administration's deployment of hundreds of National Guard to the Chicago area. The High Court cited with U.S. District Judge April Perry, who first blocked the deployment of troops to Illinois back in October. In a six to three decision, the majority wrote, quote, at this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,

unquote. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker hailed the ruling as, quote, a big win for Illinois and American democracy, unquote. Just minutes after the Supreme Court blocked President Trump's deployment of federal troops to Chicago, Louisiana's Republican governor, Jeff Landry, announced 350 National Guard troops will arrive in New Orleans before New Year's Eve and will stay through February. The troops are expected to join Border Patrol agents who've been cracking down on immigrants in New Orleans. Meanwhile, the Justice Department is suing Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker challenging state laws that restrict immigration arrests at courthouses, hospitals, daycare centers, and public universities. ISIS' so-called Operation Midway Blitz has led to the

arrest of more than 4,000 people in the Chicago area. Data shows only 15% had criminal offenses, which are mostly comprised of minor traffic offenses, misdemeanors, or nonviolent felonies. Jillian Kaler, a spokesperson for Governor Pritzker, said, quote, the Trump administration's masked agents are not targeting the worst of the worst. They're harassing and detaining law-abiding U.S. citizens and black and brown people, unquote. A federal judge ruled Tuesday, the Trump administration must restore federal disaster aid to 12 states that refused to cooperate with federal immigration

enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency FEMA had reduced more than $233 million from Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. In a statement, the Massachusetts Attorney General Andrew Joy Campbell said, quote, this victory ensures the Trump administration cannot punish states that refuse to help carry out its cruel immigration agenda, particularly by denying them life-saving funding that helps prepare for and respond to disasters and emergencies, she said. The Trump administration's banned abortion care for veterans nationwide.

The Department of Veterans Affairs Monday issued an internal memo confirming it'll no longer provide abortion assistance even in cases of rape, incestor, threats to life and health. The policy shift includes U.S. states where abortion is still legal. The move eliminates abortion protections issued for veterans by the Biden administration in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The Center for Reproductive Rights said the rule change was ushered through by the White House Budget Director Russell Vote and VA Secretary Doug Collins, who are openly anti-abortion. Nancy Northa, President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement, quote, everyone should be appalled by this heartless policy. President Trump said he would leave abortion to the states, but he continues to seize new opportunities to restrict it nationally, unquote.

The Trump administration will resume garnishing the wages of people who are on default on their student loans starting in January. billionaire Linda McMahon, head of the Education Department, told the Washington Post, her agency has already notified some 1,000 student loan borrowers that their pay will be seized. Approximately 5 million people are in default. This comes after the Trump administration began withholding tax refunds and social security benefits from some student loan borrowers in default, as it also slashed affordable repayment options for millions of people. Persis U, Deputy Executive Director of Protect Borrowers, said in a statement, quote, At a time when families across the country are struggling with stagnant wages and an affordability crisis, this administration's decision to garnish wages from defaulted student loan borrowers is cruel, unnecessary, and irresponsible, she said. Sudan's Prime Minister presented a plan to the United Nations Security Council Monday,

seeking to end Sudan's devastating war, which has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis since it erupted in April 23. The plan would see the UN, Arab League, and African Union monitor a ceasefire and the withdrawal of rapid support forces paramilitaries from territories from territories under their control. RSF fighters would be placed in camps and disarmed. Those not implicated in war crimes would be reintegrated into society. It's highly unlikely the RSF will agree to such terms. Meanwhile, a senior UN official warned the continued flow of high-tech weaponry into Sudan is worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis. This is UN Assistant Secretary General Mohamed Khalid Khayari. Mr. President, the continued supply of weapons

increasingly sophisticated and deadly remains a key driver of the conflict. Sudan is saturated with arms. Calls to end these flows have gone unheeded, and there has been no accountability. Human rights groups have called on the Trump administration to end arms transfers to the United Arab Emirates until it stops arming RSF paramilitaries who've committed genocide, according to an assessment by the State Department. Meanwhile, fighting continues in Sudan. On Monday, the Sudanese army announced it had recaptured a town in North Cardiffon, State. Elsewhere, Doctors Without Borders is warning of a rapidly spreading measles outbreak in Sudan's Darfur region where hundreds of thousands have been displaced by an RSF offensive.

In Colorado, long-time immigrant rights activist Jeanette Visgett at Ramirez has been released from ICE jail after nearly 10 months of detention. She reunited with her family on Tuesday following her release on bond. Vizgera was arrested in March ambushed by ICE agents during her work break at Target and later transferred to an immigration jail in Aurora run by the private prison company Geo Group. Jeanette Visgata gained national attention in 2017 when she took sanctuary to Denver Church, along with her four children, three of whom are U.S. born, to avoid deportation. I spoke to Jeanette Visgata yesterday, well, more on her release later in the broadcast. And Betty Reid-Soskin, the U.S.'s oldest park ranger, died at the age of 104, 144.

years old. She first became a park ranger at 85 and worked at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California. During World War II, Soskin worked as a file clerk in a segregated union hall in the San Francisco Bay Area. In the 60s, Soskin held fundraisers to support the Black Panthers. In a 2015 interview with the Interior Department, Saskin said, quote, when I'm on the streets or on an escalator or elevator, I'm making every little girl of color aware of a career choice, she may not have known she had, unquote. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman. Days after the December 19th deadline for the release of all files related to the late serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and under enormous pressure, the Justice Department, has just released more than 11,000 files Tuesday, totaling nearly 30,000 pages of documents. This includes internal FBI emails from 2019 that mentioned 10 possible co-conspirators of Epstein, including one who's described as a, quote,

wealthy businessman in Ohio, unquote. The emails also note that, quote, three have been located in Florida and served grand jury subpoenas, one in Boston, one in New York City, one in Connecticut were located and served, unquote. Gelen Maxwell is the only Epstein accomplice to be charged criminally. She's currently serving a 20-year sentence on federal sex trafficking charges. This comes after the DOJ Monday briefly published thousands of additional documents related to Epstein,

the second tranche of documents were available online for several hours, but then disappeared from the Justice Department's website without explanation. The documents contain wide-ranging references to Donald Trump. One email written by an assistant U.S. attorney during Trump's first term in early 2020, found Trump was a passenger aboard Epstein's private jet on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996, and at least four of those flights Epstein's co-conspirated Glenn Maxwell was also present. Trump has not been directly accused of criminal conduct and claims to have cut ties with Epstein decades ago. In a joint statement, multiple survivors slammed the government's recent document dump for failing to redact numerous victim identities while also making, quote, abnormal and extreme redactions with no explanation, like page upon page completely blacked out.

This is Epstein survivor Charlene Rochard, speaking on NBC. I'm very upset with the justice system because there's full pages that are totally blacked out. And I don't know about you, but my name is not a full page. We only ask that our names be redacted. That's all we asked for. So pages and pages and pages of black on black on black is just unacceptable. On Monday, 18 survivors of Epstein wrote a joint letter condemning the Justice Department's release of just a fraction of the files demanded by law and called on Congress to hold hearings to ensure the Trump administration is fully complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. This is Epstein survivor Haley Robson, who voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election responding to the new files.

She was speaking on CNN. At the end of the day, I am no longer supporting this administration. I redact any support I've ever given to him, Pam Bondi, Cash Patel. I am so disgusted with this administration. I think that Pam Bondi and Cash Patel both need to resign. And I would love to see number 47 get impeached over this. This comes as Democratic Congress member Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee,

is asking the DOJ's Inspector General to investigate why the FBI failed to act on a 1996 complaint by survivor Maria Farmer against Jeffrey Epstein that he is his associates were producing child sexual abuse material. Garcia wrote, quote, for survivors like Maria Farmer, her family, and all the people Jeffrey Epstein abused in the decades that followed this unanswered complaint, this was not merely a missed investigative opportunity. it was a profound betrayal by their own government, unquote. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressmember Rokana and Republican Congressmember Thomas Massey, who sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, say Attorney General Pam Bondi should be held in contempt, could be fine for every day she fails to release the full Epstein files. For more on all of this, we're joined in our New York studio by Vicki Ward,

with longtime investigative journalists, host and co-producer of the podcast series, Chasing Guilene, the untold story of the woman in Epstein Shadow, which also became a TV series by the same name. Vicki, welcome back to Democracy Now. First of all, if you can respond to what has happened so far, December 19th was the deadline. That was Friday. Now the Justice Department, days later, after releasing thousands of documents, then erasing them from the website, now calling for U.S. for attorneys in the United States to come to the Justice Department and help them redact, what has been redacted, what has not been redacted, can you respond to all of this? Yeah, I mean, I think right from the get-go, right, right from when months ago, Pam Bondi said, in an interview, oh, I've got the Epstein files sitting on my desk.

I mean, that was the first indication, I think, of the contemptuous cavalier attitude that has gone on inside this Justice Department. Right. She said she was going to release the civil called client west. I don't think that these thousands and thousands of pages were sitting on her desk. I mean, so, you know, I, and it's heartbreaking, frankly, to see the, files being dribbled out. It's so against the spirit in which though the victims went to Capitol Hill, asked for transparency, which bipartisan Congress agreed with them that they are owed this transparency so that crimes like this may never happen again. And now to have this mishmash, which even I, who I'm not a victim of sexual abuse from Jeffrey Epstein,

but I sat through Gillen Maxwell's trial, and I found it very, very upsetting. I think most of us journalists, you know, we're hard-bitten, you know, we've seen some things. It was really difficult to hear the stories of abuse in that courtroom and really difficult to learn the scale of it. And these pages have that story writ large again and again and again. And given the chaos of this rollout, there's no easy way for these survivors to quickly search what they're looking for. I want to see... That was part of the law, by the way.

There had to be a working search function on these documents. And there isn't. And they have to wade through page after page. page after page of very, very difficult stuff. I think just on a moral basis, it's disgusting. It's really important to be talking to you today because years ago, you wrote this piece in Vanity Fair. You're the person who spoke to Maria Farmer. Now, that conversation did not appear in Vanity Fair. And if you can remind our viewers and listeners what happened, because this has to do with the collusion of the press with Jeffrey Epstein.

But you know her story very well. This woman who for decades has tried to stop the abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Gillesne Maxwell. Yes. Well, I didn't speak to Maria Farmer just once. You know, in the fall of 2002, when I was assigned to write this profile of Jeffrey Epstein, I met with Maria. I spoke to her many, many times. And she said, exactly.

what has now appeared in the FBI's files. She said that in 1996 she had had a horrific night while up in a guesthouse of Jeffrey Epstein's home on Les Wexner's estate in Ohio. She'd been up there painting. She was an artist. Epstein and Gillian Maxwell had come to visit her. There had followed some horrible sexual abuse after which she had run. out of the house, taken a dog. The sexual abuse perpetrated by both Glenn and Jeffrey Epstein. But in all of this, she had left behind

a lockbox of nude photographs of her sisters. Not just Annie, there was another sister. And, you know, she was a figurative artist. She, you know, that's the kind of work that she did. And she was

terrified that Epstein was going to do excuse me, you know, something terrible with these, and she got phone calls from both Epstein and Maxwell, saying, threatening her. So she phoned, in fact, she told me she she phoned the police in New York first, and they said, we can't, this is not for us. This is, you know, going across state lines. You have to phone the FBI. She did phone the FBI. Now, the FBI back in the day, I phoned the FBI. They threatened to burn her. But she phoned the FBI back. the lockbox and was worried, desperately worried, you know, what could they do with nude photographs

of her sisters who were babies, teenagers? They were her younger sisters. And, you know, when I was reporting this piece, you know, the FBI tend not to answer journalists like me. So I wasn't able to get that record back then. I also found the police and they didn't, they didn't produce their records, which I wish they had because they had a record too. But, you know, as I think you know, and a lot of journalists know how this tragic story ends, which was that when towards the closing of the piece, I had to go to Jeffrey Epstein and to Gillen Maxwell with the allegations of both Maria Farmer as to what had happened and her younger sister, Annie, who had said very clearly on the record that she had been taken to New Mexico for a weekend and had a state

there. Yes. And, you know, at the age of 16 and had to have a topless massage from Gillen Maxwell and then Jeffrey Epstein one morning jumped into bed for quote-on-quote a cuddle with her. Epstein went berserk when I put those allegations, as did Gillen Maxwell, absolutely berserk, he suddenly sent over a whole bunch of paperwork that he claimed were letters from their mother, letters from them that showed that no, you know, this could not be true. And, you know, the next thing I knew was that as we were closing the piece of fact checker sent me a note saying, you're not going to believe who's now in the office at Vanity Fair. It was Jeffrey Epstein.

Who knows what happened? Meeting with. Graydon Carter, the editor of the magazine. I do not know what was said in that meeting. I will say, Amy, that I didn't. You were about to give birth to twins. I was at home on bed rest. I thought we were done with this piece.

I did find in these files that when the first batch that was released, that there was a section in a binder content. photographs that was called Vanity Fair. I did notice that the photographs in that binder in that section were the ones that were used accompanying my piece in the magazine, which is very unusual because Vanity Fair normally prides itself on its photography as much as it does on its word. So one has to assume they provided the photographs. One has to ask what was the quid pro quo? My piece finally ran. and the pharmacist sisters and their allegations were not in it.

And the reason that is so, so, so terrible and devastating is that we had exposed them, I had exposed them, to Gillesne Maxwell and to Graydon Carter. And the story doesn't end there. The FBI then phoned me about, I want to say a year later, 2004, about the farmer sisters. And I did tell them what had happened. So I would like to see my interview notes somewhere in these files. No, I have not.

But that certainly is not classified information. That is proof once again of all of the information that has not been released. 100%. The other thing I think you see, it's not just the rollout itself that shambles. the content in it kind of paints a picture of a shambolic FBI. You know, this is an FBI that seems to take its lead quite often from the press. I will say it's interesting. You know, I learned that something I'd reported is kind of laid out on the page clearly,

which is that were it not for David Boyes, the lawyer who represented Virginia Jafray, in her civil litigation against Gillen Maxwell, Virginia sued for defamation. Who brought down Andrew, the prince, no longer. Right. And Virginia, as we know, tragically died of suicide earlier this year. But you can see in these files, in that litigation, which was in 2016, you can see notes of conversations. David Boyes went to the feds. He went to the Southern District, said, you need to look at what is in this discovery, need to look at these depositions, because this shows the bigger crime. You see the feds tracking this, but you don't see them doing anything.

Until again, you see them pass around links to the Miami Herald, links to Julie Brown's story in 20, end of 2018. And it's almost like they are having to follow, you know, almost, you know, like Inspector Cluzzo, these breadcrumbs that are left for them by everybody else. And I'm sure the survivors find this really disheartening in a way to watch. Why do you think President Trump has approached this the way he has? And what about the information and all that has come out around him, not necessarily criminal, but the removal of his name from so many different. documents. And then you see his name once in a document that was redacted, and so you know that

it's actually him. He's the one who campaigned on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein documents. Now he had to sign this release into law, but the way they are dragging their feet, talk as we wrap up about what you expect to see the incredible power of the survivors banding together. Well, you know, this is speculation, but my gut, and I do know President Trump, it tells me that he doesn't like a story in which there's any sort of gray or nuance that he isn't somehow the best, the absolute best. And, you know, and this is a story which again and again and again brings up his past and a past that presented a very different portrait of Donald Trump than the one. he would like to portray now. I will say that, you know, having sat in the Maxwell trial, we did see his name come up on the screen, on the flight logs,

in that key period when Maxwell and Epstein were grooming and recruiting one of their major victims up who was attending into Loughan, a school for artistic, gifted children. you did see flight's name again and Trump's name again and again and again on the manifest. And it was a head scratcher because it was really impossible at that time to put the pieces of this jigsaw puzzle together. Because he denied being on any flights and he denied being on the island. Well, and I never saw any records of him being on the island. I don't know if he denied being on any flights, but I think that, you know, you can see if you're Trump, this is all too close for comfort. and it's not very comfortable to have these things out.

And Trump being Trump, he'd rather not address it. And where do you see this going for the survivors and for Pam Bondi? Could she be held in contempt? Well, I really hope Congress does their job. I mean, you know, one of the things we need to see in the Trump administration is the different branches of government actually doing what they're supposed to do and holding each other to account. Finally, you are the expert.

on Ghislaine Maxwell. She is now in a minimum security prison. No sex abuse, no sex perpetrator has been put in a prison camp like she has after she had interviews with what the deputy attorney general, who was Trump's former attorney. Could you see Trump pardoning her and she has appealed for the reopening of the case? Well, I think two of the people who come up, out absolutely appallingly from this latest document done is Gillen Maxwell in her correspondence with the former Prince Andrew, arranging quote-unquote inappropriate girls for him. I think people will be sickened by that regarding a pardon, never say never, but I think President Trump is a man who's concerned at this point with legacy and with history.

And I think if he were to pardon Gillen Maxwell, that bloat would stain all the other things he, the accomplishments he likes to talk about that he's done. So I personally would be shocked. I want to thank you, Vicky Ward. We'll continue to follow the story. Longtime investigative journalist, host and co-producer of the podcast series Chasing Gillain, the untold story of the woman in the Epstein Shadow, which also became a TV series by the same name. When we come back, we speak to longtime immigrant rights activist Jeanette Visgetta Ramirez. She was just released Monday from a Colorado ICE jail after more than nine months. A judge ruled her detention was unconstitutional back in 30 seconds.

Because she's just nothing In the In the area that we We're in middle of the comparsa

us arrastrung a wind to man To see if we're To see us They're going to

To end Luching Unos Of this Tanta Culp They're Moodos

Others They're They're They're They're To If the

violence is a Spego that is a Rompe And NUndra

Never Again Never again by La Santa Cecilia in our Democracy Now studio This is Democracy Now, Democritonau. Mimi Goodman. We turn now to Colorado, where long-time immigrant rights activist, Jeanette Bisgata Ramirez, has been released from an ICE jail after almost 10 months in detention.

Jeanette reunited with her family Monday after she was released on bond following a judge's ruling. Her detention was unconstitutional. She was arrested in March, ambushed by ICE agents during her work break at Target, later transferred to an immigration jail in a Aurora, Colorado, run by the private prison company Geo Group. Jeanette Visgetta gained national attention in 2017 when she took sanctuary in a Denver church along with her children, three of whom are U.S. born to avoid deportation. In May, Jeanette won the Art Robert of Kennedy Human Rights Award. I spoke with Jeanette Visgetta on Tuesday.

You have been in jail for nine months. How does it feel to be free? And this moment is one mixed emotions and my person and my family, nine months, seven days, there's long, long time and detention, but every time I have hope one day I'm released, my legal team worked very strong, I'm continuing my job, same in detention, my community 25 very strong for me saying for nine months, and finally I'm here. I'm very emotional in this moment.

As yesterday, my kids and me as mentioned, a similar one block, the emotions is the real. I'm here other time as possible. Tat to my kids, touch my kids, kiss my kids. my kiddos is very emotional. It's very, very emotional in this moment. Can you talk about what your plans are now and your response to the judge's ruling, Judge Nina Wong?

Yeah, well, I feel happy for the decision, for take this board. My plan later, my case continues. My case not feeling. My case continues. I don't know. For how many times? My plan is this last day, that is year, I'm pasted my time for my family later and the new year. Come back and my job, the activists. I never stopped. That was Jeanette Fisgetta Ramirez speaking with us on Tuesday after she was released Monday after more than nine months in an ice jail in Aurora, Colorado. We'll hear from her, more from her in a minute.

But first, we go to Denver, and we're joined by Jennifer Piper, program director at the American Friends Service Committee, part of a coalition supporting Jeanette. Welcome back to Democracy Now, Jennifer. It's great to have you with us. You all held a rally news conference yesterday. That's why Jeanette had to finish her conversation early with us so she could get to it. Talk about the significance of the judge's ruling. She demanded she be released, not be wearing an ankle shackle. She said that her detention was unconstitutional.

Yes, the district judge, after nine months and many arguments back and forth did rule that on Jeanette's habeas, that her prolonged detention was unconstitutional and ordered that the government hold a bond hearing within a week and that the burden of proof in that hearing would be on the government. Usually in immigration court, you have to prove yourself that you're not a flight risk or a danger and your good moral character. In this instance, that was flipped. And at that court hearing, the government continued to try to impede her right to speech in the public access by denying journalists and observers access to that public hearing for two and a half hours. We finally gained access, but it took us two and a half hours

of arguing with geo and ICE officials to get into that hearing. And talk about what Jeanette has meant and symbolized. I mean, there was a private Senate bill that was passed in her case that prolonged her ability to be free in this country and seek legalization. It was introduced right by Senator Michael Bennett. Yeah, Jeanette's been an activist and a human rights advocate for almost 30 years. And even before she founded the sanctuary coalition here in Denver and utilized that coalition, she's been on labor rights and immigrant activists. So her detention was intentional to try and silence people across the country, not only immigrant leaders, but also

citizens, I can't tell you how many people I heard from that said, you know, if she can't win her case with all of her activism and notoriety over all of these years, what is the chance for the rest of us? And the fact that she is free now after nine months of weekly vigils, incredible work by Liktor Immigration, the Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network, and the Sturm College of Laws, Immigration and Policy Clinic, the fact that she is free right now is emboldening people across this country to continue to take up space and to not cede to this administration's efforts to silence people.

Really, at the end of the day, these corporations, geo group, B.I, the 10 other contractors that have been paid millions of dollars by this administration to try and hunt down our neighbors, their goal is social control. And they've thrown immense power that they have at their disposal at all of us. But this also demonstrates the fragility of their hold over everyday people when we stand up together. Our safety comes from our connection, trust, and continuing to claim space. the public sphere. It comes from doing new things, things that each of us have never done before and being connected across all of these struggles, whether you're a fisherman in Venezuela or Palestine, whether you're a person who's about to lose their affordable care. Every single one of

us in this moment is under attack. And these billionaires, their goal is control. We have to leave it there. I want to thank you for being with us. Jennifer Piper, Director at the American Friends Service Committee, Colorado, because we want to end this segment again with the words of Jeanette Visgetta, who is named one of the 100 most influential people of the year by Time Magazine in 2017. She was released from ICE jail on Monday, spent that day with her family. Yesterday on Tuesday, I had a chance to talk with her. She's the mother of four when she was arrested by federal agents in Denver in March, I'd asked her to describe her time in detention.

I have big jailed protest for nine months inside the detention. Some parts are strong. Some parts I continue navigate, same continue documenting, the conditions and detention, continue to take testimonies. I'm trying to take my brain occupied. for my mental health was broke. Nine months is long time and detention. But I'll

continue to fight. Continue for the condition. Continuify for help people inside, for support and connect for research, my people and detention. But it's difficult, these nine months. It's difficult for everybody

not only for me. I don't care. It's one day, two days, one more. Whatever time and detention, No, it's good. You have described yourself as a political prisoner. Can you explain why? Why you feel targeted?

The attack very bad, my community, for have violation, my First Amendment. I never quiet injustice, not only for the immigrant system, for whatever injustice. My job is the social justice, human rights, civil rights. and labor rights and funding immigrant rights here in Colorado. Obviously, I need a spoke in media. I need a spoke

in social media. Criticize this government and this government go back me. It's the same the last time in the administration 45 but in this time, coming more aggressive, follow me. He arrested me for my

free speech. Can you describe what it was like inside. Can you tell us about the other people inside? Why they were there in the for-profit geo jail in Aurora, Colorado, where you were held? Everybody I need understand this corporation, Geo Processes Center and CCI Corporation, as criminal detention, take billions and billions and money for take people in detention. The company is the telephone, the company is the tablet calls, the company is the commissary, take very billions money for these people and detention.

All people and detention, all immigrants around the world have rights. Need fire, need continuous strong. The coward people only living. My people, my immigrant people, is a strong people. Need continue fight. Do you, Jeanette, have to still check in with ICE? Yes, in January, I need go and check it as the continuous end game in my case. I need notificate 48 hours before in case I need travel in other states as they were, how many days.

This is the plan, the gain, the continue to gain. But okay, and follow everything, whatever I need. I know how excuse the other time arrested me. And I continue my job, only continue my job. And I continue to try remove these restrictions. I see that the judge ruled that you do not have to wear an electronic bracelet. Is that right? shackle on your foot or on your arm?

Yeah, this should, the lawyer government tried to put this restriction, but I don't need it. I know the risk escape. I know I'm not dangerous people for the community. I don't need monitoring my life. I'm activists. I need moving. I need going different states. No need encobracers.

This is only used for continued damage. mental health and continue have control in your life. But I don't need it. I don't have ankle razor. I don't have this positive ad or telephone. No have this restriction. That was Colorado immigrant rights activist, Jeanette Visguera Ramirez, speaking with Democracy Now on Tuesday from Denver, Colorado.

She was freed Monday from ICE detention after nine months. on Monday. A federal judge had ruled, Judge Nina Wong, that her detention was unconstitutional. Up next, an update on the growing calls to release Palestinian activist La Corquardia, joined God's solidarity protests at Columbia and has been detained in an ICE jail in Texas for nearly 10 months. Stay with us. in our midst, we've got fashions, in our midst. Well, I feel like I am no longer able. We got fascist feasting at our table.

They knocked at our door. Montreal musician Paul Carniolo. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show looking at the growing calls to release a power. Palestinian woman from New Jersey, who's been held in ICE detention in Texas for nearly 10 months. La Caucardia was arrested last year at a Gaza Solidarity protest at Columbia University, but the charges were dismissed. Then when she went to her ice check-in this past March, she was

arrested and immediately sent to the Prairieland detention center in Avarado, Texas, where she's been held ever since. Lawyers from Clear on the Texas Civil Rights Project in Boston, University School of Law Immigrants Rights Clinic are helping on her case. NPR's Radio Diaries recently aired part of a phone call between La Corridia and her cousin, Hamza Abashabhan, who talks to her almost every day. I received a call from my mother telling me there are people asking for you from the government. At the beginning, I thought like they're missing a form or something. Okay, I'm just going to solve this issue.

and then, like, I'll have my green card soon. But they took my fingerprints and all that. They said, you're going to Texas. I said, Texas, like, that's really far away. And when I arrived to Texas, the place was overcrowded. How many people are there with you? So right now we're 87. And the capacity of this place is 37.

It's a lot of people sleeping on the floor. Whoa. Yeah. Maybe another word to describe this place, a big bathroom. It's open. Everything is open. There is no privacy. That's La Corquardia speaking from ICE jail in Texas to her cousin.

So the New Jersey. Patterson, New Jersey City Council has just passed a resolution calling for the immediate release of La Caw. And Maryland Senator, Chris Van Hollen, and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, are also calling for La Cordea's release. For more, we're joined by L'Aidad, Palestinian journalists from Gaza, media strategy. who's helping to raise awareness about the ongoing detention of Lechah and just came back from visiting her in Texas. Leila is the co-editor of Gaza and silence, author of Gaza, Ma'am, Palestine, politics, parenting, and everything in between. Welcome back to Democracy Now, Leila. Talk about La Chau, why she has been held for almost

10 months after going to her New Jersey ice check-in. Thank you so much for having me, Amy. That's sort of the question that everyone is asking. I think partly because her case sort of fell between the cracks, she wasn't a student or a public-facing activist per se. She didn't have those support networks. And her case shares a lot in common. Of course, it's interwoven with the cases of all the others that we have heard of.

Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsenna, Mahdawi, Dr. Badr Soudi Khan and Ramesa Ozturk, but it just didn't get the kind of attention that the other cases got early on. Even though, as you summarized earlier, even though two judges have actually called for her release and found that she is not deportable to Israel, unfortunately, the government has been blocking those decisions through various legal maneuvering, and that's partly why she's still being held under very harsh conditions as she, her herself attested to. Laila, the Trump administration mistakenly called her a Columbia student

and tried to say she'd actively participated in anti-American pro-terrorist activities and a pro-Hamas demonstration, what they often called the Gaza demonstrations on campuses across the country. Your response? Leqat Kurdia has been held and has argued in court that she's, that, that, her detention is unconstitutional, that it violates the First and the Fifth Amendments. And it's simply part of a broader trend that we have seen post-Trump to crack down on any dissent and use immigration law to weaponize immigration law to silence dissent and to criminalize free speech, especially when that speech relates to Palestine, to defending Palestinian life, to criticizing

Israel, and to challenging U.S. policy, just as we have seen in all of these other cases. She was motivated to act and to protest exercising her First Amendment rights, which are available to her, even as a non-citizen. Just like so many other people, she was spurred to action by her humanity in as much as she was spurred to action by her own personal loss. The Qat was born in Jerusalem, raised in the occupied West Bank under Israeli military occupation. Her mother is from Gaza. She was separated from her from 20 years because of the Israeli blockade and was keeping in constant touch with her. She came to the United States. legally and her petition for residency was approved to reunite with her mother. She was caring for

her mother and her younger brother who has special needs. And she very crucially, 200 of her family members, 13 since the so-called ceasefire took place, had been killed by Israel with the support and the complicity of the United States. And for all these reasons and for the reasons that millions of us took to the streets, she was protesting not only at the gates of Columbia, but at many other protests as well. I mean, she was arrested last March. It was just days after Mahmoud Khalil was arrested, the Columbia student, and right before Molson was arrested. They have both been released. Mulsin's back at Columbia University. But she remains in jail. Can you talk about what she looks like now? I understand she's lost about a third of her body weight.

Yes. She looked very pale. She has lost a significant amount of weight. That is correct. And she has been detained, as you mentioned, in this ICE jail for almost 10 months, despite this judge calling for her release, despite finding that her that she has, that this, her prolonged detention is likely unconstitutional. And despite all this, and she, I will say she marked also her 33rd birthday, a very solemn 33rd birthday, which she spoke about. about how the other women with her in that facility tried to cheer her up, and they formed a kind of sisterhood and bond. And I will say she advocates on their behalf. Despite all this, in her words, she says the conditions here are designed to break the human spirit, but that despite all this, she derives hope and inspiration from all of the people that continue to advocate on her behalf, and that it has only increased her resolve to continue to be an advocate and an activist, not only for all of these women, but more broadly for Palestinian liberation when she gets

out, inshallah. We just have a minute to go. Leila Haddad, if you can talk about what you're calling for, what Amnesty International is calling for, what senators are calling for, including her own senator from New Jersey, Cory Booker. For her immediate release, there's absolutely no reason for her to continue to be detained, And even though her cousin, that you mentioned earlier, Hamza, her family, had agreed and had actually paid a very high $20,000 bond that was then returned. The government immediately blocked her release.

She's not a flight risk. She's not a danger to her society. She has strong community ties. She has no criminal history. And so we're calling for her immediate release while her case continues to make its way through the courts. And this is the same thing that Senators Van Hollen and Kim and other congressmen from her district as well. have been calling for. She should not be in that ice jail for one day longer. And she faces an imminent risk if she was deported. Lela Haddad, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Palestinian

journalists from Gaza, hoping to raise awareness about the ongoing detention of Lakar Kordia. Palestinian woman from New Jersey arrested at Columbia University protests. Charges were dropped, but has been held for nearly 10 months in a Texas ice jail. are calling for her release. That does it for our show. Happy birthday to Narmine Maria, an early happy birthday to Raquel Rodriguez-Fifths and to Yusra Rusuki.

I'm Amy Goodman.