Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-01-16 Friday

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Headlines for January 16, 2026; ICE Arresting U.S. Citizens, Using Banned Chokeholds: Explosive ProPublica Report; “Autocratic Power Grab”: Trump Threatens to Invoke Insurrection Act, Deploy Troops to Minnesota; Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil Speaks Out as New Ruling Could Lead to His Rearrest, Deportation; “All That’s Left of You”: Oscar-Shortlisted Film Traces Palestinian Family’s Love & Loss Since 1948

New York, this is Democracy Now. The Insurrection Act is a tool at the president's disposal. As you know, it has been used sparingly, but it has been used by previous presidents in American history. As President Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act to send troops to Minneapolis, we'll look at a new pro-publicate investigation and how ICE agents are detaining U.S. citizens and repeatedly put the lives of civilians at risk. In our recent ProPublica investigation, we found that immigration agents across the country have used dangerous chokeholds, carotid restraints, and other moves that can severely restrict breathing and blood flow more than 40 times. This is even though their own use of force policy bans things like chokeholds, and their training highly discourages these moves because of how dangerous they can be.

Then to Palestinian activist, Columbia University graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, a federal appeals court ruling could result in him being re-jailed and deported. The September administration is still attempting to deport me, to detain me. So this is what I'm concentrating on right now. And, of course, you know, the occupation is still happening. The genocide, although there is a ceasefire, so-called ceasefire, there is still Palestinians being killed. We'll speak with Mahmoud Khalil and his lawyer. Finally, to Palestinian-American director and actor Shereen Davis. Her new film, All That's Left of You, has been shortlisted for an Oscar.

It's a feature film about three generations of a Palestinian family living under occupation. They take your land, your money. Call this a life? Don't be foolish, son. One of the film stars is the famed Palestinian actor, Mohamed Bakri. He died in December. All that and more coming up. Welcome to DemocracyNow.

DemocracyNow.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. President Trump's threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to send active duty military personnel to Minnesota, where large-scale protests continue to resist the Trump administration's surge of thousands of federal immigration agents into the Twin Cities region. Writing on a social media platform, Trump claimed professional agitators and insurrectionists, unquote, were, quote, attacking the patriots of ICE who are only trying to do their job, unquote.

Trump's threat came as three children were hospitalized for tear gas inhalation after federal agents surrounded a car carrying a family of eight Wednesday evening as they were attempting to drive to their home in North Minneapolis. Witnesses say the agents deployed concussion grenades and tear gas with at least one device rolling under the family's van where it exploded, set off its airbags, and began filling the vehicle with toxic smoke. Bystanders then rushed to help pull the family from the van as the children inside gasped for air. Destiny Jackson told TV station KMSP. Her six-month-old infant stopped breathing and lost consciousness. When we did finally get out the car, of course, my baby was like this, so I did do the CPR

and knock-to-mouth. And there were people, there was multiple people in the house who were pouring milk all over my other kids' face and trying to get a tear gas off of them. On Thursday, federal agents fired tear gas outside the federal building in Minneapolis, where ICE detainees are being jailed. Former prisoners there say they were tightly packed into a large holding cell, denied requests for water or use of a toilet, and witnessed other prisoners with untreated injuries. Meanwhile, ICE's actions have devastated Twin Cities businesses run by or patronized by immigrants. This is Luis Reyes Rojas, owner of Paneda Kakos. Our last resort is to go down to the basement, to the office. office and hide ourselves. That's what we're doing. It's worse than war. We have a plan A,

plan B, and plan C, because we don't know how much longer we can endure this. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class action lawsuit over the Trump administration's surge of immigration agents to Minnesota, describing it as a mass racial profiling campaign resulting in an unprecedented level of violence against Minnesotans of color. The lawsuit reads in part, People targeted by ICE have been handcuffed, tackled and beaten by federal agents. Agents have broken car windows, drag people from their cars, and use pepper spray and tear gas against compliant, nonviolent people, unquote. This comes as a federal judge in Minnesota Thursday ordered the release of a Liberian man ruling that heavily armed immigration agents violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they broke into his home using a battering ram, without his consent and without a judicial warrant.

Newly released records from the Minneapolis Police and Fire Department's reveal that Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three, killed by an ICE agent last week, suffered two gunshot wounds to her chest, one to her forearm and a possible gunshot wound to the left side of her head. The records reveal Goode was not breathing and had an irregular pulse when first responders who were delayed by federal agents and had to approach on foot finally reached her. Blood was flowing from her left ear. Her pupils were dilated. Medics performed CPR on good until they arrived at the Hennepin County Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The death of a Cuban immigrant who was jailed in an ICE detention camp in Texas was likely a homicide. That's according to the Washington. Post, which reported El Paso County's medical examiner found the preliminary cause of death for 55-year-old Geraldo Lunas Campos was, quote, asphyxia due to neck and chest compression. Lunas Campos was arrested last July, pronounced dead on January 3rd at Camp East Montana, a sprawling immigration detention tent camp at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso. ICE claimed the Cuban father had died after, quote, experience. medical distress, unquote. But El Paso officials reportedly told his daughter they'll likely

rule his death a homicide pending a toxicology report. Lunas Campos is one of four immigrants who died in ICE custody during just the first 10 days of this year. The Pentagon said Thursday, it's moving a carrier strike group toward the Middle East as the Trump administration continues to threaten air strikes against Iran. The USS Abraham Lincoln and accompanying warships and aircraft are currently in the Indo-Pacific region and should take about a week to reposition. On Thursday, the White House said, quote, all options remain on the table, unquote, as it announced new sanctions against Iran citing the ongoing crackdown on anti-government protesters. This as the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, David Barnia, is in the United States

with plans to meet Trump's mid-east envoy, Steve Whitkoff, in Miami. At the United Nations, Iran's deputy U.N. ambassador said any attack would be a violation of the U.N. charter and said his nation is prepared to fight back. Iran seeks neither escalation nor confrontation. However, any act of aggression direct or indirect will be met with a decisive, proportionate, and lawful response. U.S. forces have seized another royal tanker with ties to Venezuela and the critical. This is the sixth vessel to be captured by the Trump administration as part of a broader campaign to control Venezuela's oil industry since a U.S. military strike earlier this month led to the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife from Caracas. Venezuela's interim president, Delci Rodriguez, is increasingly collaborating with the Trump administration on Thursday.

Rodriguez announced she'd move to propose a reform in Venezuela's hydrocarbon law, which would facilitate U.S. foreign investors to access Venezuela's oil. This comes as protests against U.S. imperialism have spread across the region. Demonstrators in Colombia gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Bogota. It is an attack on all of Latin America, and therefore all of Latin America must mobilize to confront and resist this onslaught of imperialism, which, as Trump himself said, is an imperialism that only seeks profits and only six profits and oil without regard for human beings. Meanwhile, the remains of 32 Cuban officers killed in the U.S.

attack on Venezuela arrived in Havana, Cuba on Thursday. The officers were part of President Nicolas Maduro's security detail, thousands of Cubans lined up the streets to pay respects as the island remains on high alert amidst escalating threats by the Trump administration. Here in the United States, right-wing Venezuela and opposition figure Maria Corina Machado, met with President Trump at the White House Thursday, where Machado said she gave her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump. The pair posed for a photo in the Oval Office with Trump smiling as he displayed the medal in a large golden frame. Trump called the transfer a, quote, wonderful gesture of mutual respect, unquote. In response, the Nobel Peace Center wrote on social media, quote,

A medal can change owners, but the title of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, cannot, unquote. The Washington Post previously reported President Trump was not willing to support Machado because she accepted the peace prize instead of rejected it. A source told the Post, if she had turned it down and said, I can't accept it because it's Donald Trump. She'd be president of Venezuela today, unquote. Several European countries have deployed soldiers to Greenland after President Trump signaled he may seize the semi-autonomous Danish territory by force. The deployment by France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, and the U.K. is largely symbolic with only a few dozen personnel deployed alongside Danish forces for joint military exercises.

Article 5 of NATO's charter says an armed attack against one member is considered an attack on all, but the charter does not specify a course of action if one NATO member attacks another. Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip Thursday, mostly in a series of airstrikes on residences. Two homes were destroyed in an area of Dera-Bala that was designated by Israel as a so-called safe zone. A third home was bombed in the New Seid-Aft refugee camp. Among the dead is a 62-year-old Palestinian woman

killed by Israeli gunfire in southern Gaza. Israel's killed nearly five Palestinians per day. On average, since it agreed to a U.S. brokered, so-called ceasefire deal, October 10th, bringing the death toll to 400 Palestinians and the number of injured to more than 1,250 since the truce. The latest killings came even as the Trump administration announced the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement. President Trump announced Wednesday he'd form a so-called Board of Peace for Gaza with himself as chair alongside a 15-member committee of Palestinian technocrats

given the assignment of governing post-war Gaza. This, as the United Nations warned, it could take more than seven years to clear over 60 million tons of rubble in Gaza that's piled up for more than two years of attacks by Israel. A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that freed Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil from a Louisiana ice jail in June. Advocates fear the move could pave the way for the Trump administration to re-arrest Khalil, now a Columbia University graduate who became the first pro-Palestinian campus protester to be Jewish. jailed by Trump officials as part of a nationwide crackdown. We'll speak to Mahmoud Khalil later in the broadcast.

President Trump's once again said the 26 midterm election should be canceled because he expects his party to lose. Trump made the remark in a closed-door interview with Reuters telling the news agency, quote, it's some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don't win the midterms. Trump continued, quote, when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election, unquote. It's at least the second time this month. Trump has floated the idea.

And in media news, some employees of CBS News expressed concern after their network cited two anonymous U.S. officials on Wednesday to report that the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis suffered internal bleeding to the torso after the incident. That's according to the Guardian citing internal emails, which reveal top CBS News editor Barry Weiss expressed a high level of interest in the story on an editorial call on Wednesday. CBS News Senior Vice President, David Ryder, pushed back, writing, I'm no doctor. But internal bleeding is a very broad term and can range in severity.

We do know that the ICE agent walked away from the incident. We have that on camera, he said. This comes after CBS's new news anchor, Tony DiCopil, concluded his second ever broadcast of the CBS evening news with a lighthearted segment about Secretary of State Marco Rubio displaying AI-altered meme photos of Rubio and saluting him as the ultimate Florida man. Rubio's hometown fans, which are many around here in Miami, it is a sign of how Florida, once an American punchline, has become a leader on the world stage. Marco Rubio, we salute you. You're the ultimate Florida man.

And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now. Democracy Now. or the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York, joined by Democracy Now co-host Juan Gonzalez in Chicago. Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. We begin today's show, looking at ICE's escalating use of violence and force. Last week, an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, 37-year-old mother of three in Minneapolis, sparking nationwide protests. On Thursday, President Trump threatened to invoke the insurrected Act and send troops to Minnesota. Following the shooting of Renee Good, ICE's violent tactics have

come under increasing scrutiny. A new investigation by ProPublica documents more than 40 cases of immigration agents using banned chokeholds and other moves that can cut off breathing. In one case, ICE agents violently arrested an ICU nurse in California named Amanda Trebek while she was documenting ICE operations in the Los Angeles area. Two plainclothes masked agents were filmed pinning her against the pavement as they knelt on her back. One agent put his knee on Trebek's head for a brief moment. Get off. Get off.

Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. Get off. You're going to do. This is public property property, sir.

This is a public property. Streaming live. This is ICE beating her up. I'm where I need to be 10 feet. You guys get her in the van? Sir, you okay? Yeah. Amanda Trebek was then held in federal custody.

After her release, she appeared on Democracy Now. They came out in a convoy. They jumped out of the vehicle. As you could see, they append me to the ground, and they handcuffed me. They took me into an unmarked vehicle. They did not read me my wrong. rights. They didn't tell me where I was going. They shut the vehicle. They drove me to the other side

of the non-civilian side of Terminal Island. And basically, they kidnapped me. We're joined now by ProPublica reporter Nicole Foy. Her latest article headlined, we found more than 40 cases of immigration agents using banned chokeholds and other moves that can cut off breathing. In October, Nicole also revealed how ICE detained more than 170 U.S. citizens. Nicole Foy, welcome to Democracy Now. It's great to have you with us. Why don't you lay out your latest findings? Talk about these potentially lethal chokeholds, which are, in fact, illegal? Yes. My coworker, Mackenzie Funk and I, we spent most of this last year documenting aggressive tactics by immigration agents. And what we found is that over the last year, Immigration agents across the country have used these really dangerous and banned by their own policy, chokeholds and carotid restraints, as well as many of these also dangerous kneeling on people's necks, kneeling on backs like we saw with Amanda, in ways that can really restrict your breathing and your blood flow, which is one of the reasons why their own training actually highly discourages this types of arrest, but we've seen it across the country. And Nicole, can you talk about some of the specific examples that you document, for instance, are Arnold Bazan, a 10th grader in Texas? Yes.

He was, that's a case that I think really sticks out because he is a 16-year-old U.S. citizen, and he was really violently arrested with his father in a store in Houston. You can hear him in the video as officers are putting him in a chokehold. screaming that he's a minor, that he's 16, he was going to school, that he's a U.S. citizen. And yet he told us that that didn't matter. The agent continued to use a chokehold on him that, again, is banned unless there is a call for deadly force. And when we showed videos like this one to a number of police officers, other former

immigration officials and top DHS officials, they were really appalled. and they had no idea what could have prompted this level of deadly force, especially against someone like a 16-year-old U.S. citizen who really had really difficult and dramatic injuries to deal with in the aftermath. Now, there is a federal ban on chokeholds and similar tactics of any officers from your reporting who've used these tactics faced disciplinary measures? We've yet to find any evidence that they have. We asked the Department of Homeland Security if they have disciplined any officers, especially in cases where we showed them these videos and said your own policy bans, the use of a carotid restraint, the use of a chokehold.

Have these officers been disciplined? And they did not answer us, would not tell us if any had been disciplined for these tactics. And they stood very firmly behind their officers' actions and said that they were acting with the utmost professionalism and even using. a reasonable amount of force. I wanted to read from your piece. Immigration agents have put civilians' lives at risk more using more than their guns. An agent in Houston put a teenage citizen into a chokehold, wrapping his arm around the boy's net, choking him so hard.

His neck had red wilts hours later. A black masked agent in Los Angeles pressed his knee into a woman's neck while she was handcuffed and appeared to pass out. An agent in Massachusetts jabbed his finger. and thumb into the neck and arteries of a young father who refused to be separated from his wife and one-year-old daughter. The man's eyes rolled back in his head, and he started convulsing. That's what you wrote. Tell us more about these cases.

I think the case of the young father in Massachusetts is particularly disturbing and was really disturbing for so many of the bystanders who were there witnessing it and recording it. Like you said, he refused to be separated from his young daughter, a one-year-old, who was in the car with him in between him and his wife. Agents had come to arrest his wife, but she also didn't want to leave her one-year-old behind. She said that she was still breastfeeding and she couldn't leave the child behind. And in an effort, and we know this because we reviewed body cam footage and bystander footage, we know that officers really wanted them specifically this this young man Carlos to let go and he wouldn't let go of his daughter or his wife and so you can see in the video the moment when an agent decides to reach around from the back and press his fingers and thumb into his neck and he appears to start having a seizure and he shakes so

violently that his young daughter who is of course crying is shaking with him he did end up getting to be released with his daughter. But he's filed a lawsuit alleging not only excessive force, but also alleging that ICE officers delayed medical attention when he requested it on the scene. And so it's really a difficult video to watch. But these arrests are playing out around the country and often in full view of cameras and witnesses. And this issue of ICE arresting American citizens. You mentioned there have been about 130 of them, including about a dozen elected officials. Could you talk about some of those cases, especially the case of Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales?

Yes. So last year in October, and this count was only updated as of October 2025, we had found that more than 170 U.S. citizens in total were arrested around the country by immigration agents, around 130 of those were actually arrested after accusations of assaulting officers or during protests or because they were alleged to be obstructing ICE activities. But there were also many other U.S. citizens like Dosei who were arrested and detained because of the fact that immigration agents believe that they were not U.S. citizens. And this is despite evidence that was often presented. to them at the time of arrest or afterwards by family members.

I believe that is the case of what happened with Dulce, that she presented a birth certificate. And yet that she was still detained for a number of days over the holidays, if I'm remembering correctly. Dilsue Consuelo Diaz Morales' case first gained national attention when one of her attorneys took to the internet out of frustration with the lack of legal process and progress in the case. My name is Victoria Slatton. I'm an immigration attorney. I currently have a client who is a U.S. citizen who is in ICE custody. They're blatantly ignoring orders from the court. They're not allowing me access to my client. And I am at a loss and I'm incredibly angry. Dilsa Consuelo Diaz Morales was finally released from ICE detention earlier this month. And this is how NBC4 Washington reported on her release and reunion with her five-year-old son. This is the moment when Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales is once again able to embrace her son. I'm feeling very happy, very emotional. The 22-year-old mother says she was overjoyed,

and it was an incredibly emotional moment when she saw her son once again. She says she was detained by ICE agents on December 14th in front of her family near her home in Baltimore. She says, I just said, I. agents told her to get out of the car because she was being detained. She says she tried to explain to them that she was born here in Maryland, but she says they didn't believe her. In your ProPublica Exposé, what has surprised you most, Nicole? I think one of the most surprising things is maybe that both, like, this is just happening

around the country, and often just really in full view of cameras, whether people, whether immigration agents are arresting U.S. citizens. And they're grabbing cameras. And grabbing cameras. I think that is really like as someone who is a journalist. And so, of course, as a huge advocate of the free press, it is perfectly legal to document these activities. And yet many of the U.S. citizens who have been arrested by immigration agents believe that they were arrested because they were filming and after they were told to stop filming. And agents are usually masked. How can they be held accountable? You are documenting illegal actions. I think it's really difficult. We're of course, seeing a number of states and other municipalities try to find some way to allow their residents to file lawsuits against officers. But that's really difficult when not only have are these agents masked. The government is not telling us usually when who someone is that has committed an act of excessive force or something like that. But on top of that, the institutions

within ICE and DHS that are supposed to hold these officers accountable and at least conduct some type of internal review have been just completely stripped of personnel and authority. I want to thank you very much for being with us. Nicole Foy is a reporter for ProPublica covering immigration and labor. We'll link to all your recent pieces. Coming up, President Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act and send troops to Minneapolis. We'll talk about the significance of this and also speak with Mahmoud Khalil about a ruling that tamed down in court yesterday. Could it lead to his re-arrest and possible deportation?

Stay with us. From the safety of secret committees, they talk about the danger of war, a spin of a coin on a could mean 10,000 men maybe more. They sanitize all their decisions. Far from the smell of the gun. They draw up their plans with precision and wait for the deed to be done. Then they all stop talking.

And the may answer, my friend. my friend. In the heat of the battle, a soldier cries out the law's name. Ain't there somebody brave? Gonna call it a day. It's a whole world going slowly and saying. A protest song by Richard Myhill.

Here on Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report, I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. President Trump threatened to send military troops into Minneapolis Thursday in response to ongoing protests against the immigration crackdown in Minnesota. An unprecedented 3,000 federal ICE agents are currently deployed in Minneapolis, St. Paul, in operation what they are calling Metro Surge, posting on social media. Trump wrote, quote, If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don't obey the law and stop the professional agitators

and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the Insurrection Act, he said. Protests against the Ice Crackdown, Minnesota are ongoing, have only intensified since last week's shooting of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, poet, and mother of three. Trump's comments came after a second person was shot by ICE. Julio Cesar Sosa Seles is a Venezuelan National shot in the leg following a traffic stop in the Twin Cities.

This is White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt speaking to reporters yesterday. The Insurrection Act is a tool at the president's disposal. As you know, it has been used sparingly, but it has been used by previous presidents in American history. And I think the president's true social posts spoke very loud and clear to Democrats across this country, elected officials who are using their platforms to encourage violence against federal law enforcement officers who are encouraging left-wing agitators to unlawfully obstruct. legitimate law enforcement operations. For more, we're joined by Bahra-Asme, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. Welcome to Democracy Now. In a moment, we're going to talk about what's happening with the Columbia University graduate of Mahmouda Khalil. But we wanted to start by talking about the Insurrection Act. What does this mean that Trump could invoke it?

What does it mean for Minnesota and the country? Well, just to say the invocation of the Insurrection Act, which is an invocation of martial laws, like equal parts, it's, you know, lawless and terrifying. In this country, we are not, in a constitutional republic, we're not supposed to have the military policing municipalities because the military, if you think about, is not subject to law. It's subject to executive will and power.

And we're governed by municipalities are policed by police departments that are accountable to the mayor and to the public. So the Insurrection Act does permit the use of the military in extremely limited circumstances where, for example, there's insurrection, which was used by Lincoln during the Civil War, Sherman trying to crush clan terrorism in reconstruction and to integrate southern schools. But the insurrection that's supposedly happening here is, as they say in horror movies, coming from inside the house. It's not from the people of Minneapolis. It's from

the ice, paramilitary ICE agents themselves who are fomenting this violence. And I'd note, you know, Trump probably sees this as a civil war. He's inverting the reasons for using the Insurrection Act, which had been to tamp white supremacy in the past, and now it's being used to support it. And could you talk about the most recent use of the Insurrection Act back in 1992 and during the Rodney King riots in L.A., the difference between that situation and what we're seeing across the country now? Well, first, there was, you know, bona fide, demonstrable violence and where the police department, which requested aid in L.A. could not control themselves.

There's no actual violence here, except that being perpetrated. portrayed by the instigators, which is this paramilitary force of ICE. Local officials have not requested, in fact, rejected aid. And the motives are different. There, at least, there was a bona fide belief that the violence required additional police support via the military. Here, this, as we all know, is being leveraged as part of an autocratic power grab and wait till there's maybe just a simple flare-up during a midterm election.

and if the military gets deployed at that time as well. And of course, this comes in the aftermath of the Supreme Court striking down President Trump's attempts to mobilize National Guard troops to Chicago and other cities. Did you talk about the connection there? Yeah, surprisingly, for this Supreme Court, they instituted some limitations on the possibility of using at least the National Guard. This is a slightly different legal question. I'm a little bit worried, given that this court's fascinated embrace of executive power, that they would give the Trump administration

more leeway to use its judgment and discretion to deploy military force. But we need to be, obviously, in the courts and in the streets protesting this kind of gratuitous use of military violence. We want to turn to another issue. A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that freed the Palestinian activist, the Columbia University graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, from Louisiana ICE jail in June. Advocates fear the move could pave the way for the Trump administration to re-arrest and deport him. Mahmoud Halil was arrested and jailed in March for taking part in campus protests at Columbia University. as a graduate student. He was the first non-citizen student targeted and arrested by the Trump administration for pro-Palestine speech, detained for months, first in New Jersey, then in Louisiana, before a federal district judge in New Jersey granted a habeas petition in his case, saying his

constitutional rights had likely been violated. Now in a split two-to-one decision, the Third Circuit Court of appeals has overturned that ruling on jurisdictional grounds, saying Khalil should have first appealed his removal in immigration court. For more, we're still joined by Bahra Asmi, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, as well as Mahmood Halil himself, who's joining us via Zoom. Welcome back to Democracy Now, Mahmood. Can you talk about your response to the judge's decision and what this means for you and your family? your wife and your baby dean, who was born while you were imprisoned in Louisiana? I mean, this ruling is absolutely disappointing.

This administration, the Trump administration is trying everything in its power to come after me, to put the full weight of the government to actually make an example out of me. And this means that I would be separated from my U.S. wife and son, who both were born in this country. And it's just like it underscores how this administration is weaponizing the legal system, how fragile due process can be when our rights are treated as conditional rather than guaranteed. And I must be clear, like it's absolutely, I have an amazing team. You have Bahar with you in the studio. We're going to explore every avenue until we feel.

feel vindicated. Yet this administration will continue to go to these ideological judges to get rulings in their favor. And basically, as you said, what they want me to do is to wait for an immigration process that's fully controlled by the Trump administration to get justice from this process, which is, we know this wouldn't happen, that this immigration judge quote-and-code, will not let us develop our case to bring it on appeal. So imagine that I have to wait to do that. And 10 months now after my detention, the U.S. government has not brought a shred of evidence that I broke any laws, that I spoke anything in support of terrorist organizations, yet they

continue to open eyes the legal system. Well, Mahmoud, the Secretary is still. Marco Rubio has claimed that your very presence spreads anti-Semitism, your very presence in this country. How do you respond to this Trump administration narrative that they've created about you? No, I mean, this is an administration that spreads hate. This is an administration that actually embrace the actual anti-Semites that supports the new Nazi parties across Europe to come and claim that my presence here is about anti-Semitism. It's not, you know, I'm here to support Palestinian rights,

the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for their social determination and liberation. And again, we told them we want to see them in court, and that's what they don't want to do. They want to take this case into immigration court, which they fully control. so we don't have to present or they don't have to present any evidence. And as Judge Young yesterday, in another case in Massachusetts said, that what happened in this case is essentially an unconstitutional conspiracy between Rubio himself and Neom, the Secretary of Homeland Security,

to pick up certain people, to twist the laws and to go after people they don't like. This is a judge, a Reagan appointee judge, who said that. They are conspiring to do that, to make an example out of me. So they chill the speech of everyone in this country, regardless of their status. So you were the first of the students to be arrested. Then there was Mosan Madawi, who's now a Columbia graduate student. There was Reza Ozturk, who was a Tuft graduate student, all released. You have filed a $20 million lawsuit against the Trump administration, claiming you were falsely imprisoned, maliciously prosecuted, deliberately smeared.

And in the case, Judge William Young called Mr. Trump an authoritarian and said the administration's actions targeting non-citizens student protesters violated the First Amendment. that decision only applies to members of two academic organizations in the case. If you can respond to that, Bahra, and Mahmoud, if you can respond to this lawsuit that you have filed against the Trump administration. Start with Mahmoud. Absolutely. I mean, we're seeking accountability for all the injustices that happened against me and against other students.

and this administration needs to pay for all these lawless actions that they are committing. So this is just like one action towards that end. And this is why they are retaliating against me, because I'm also standing up against their actions, and they don't like that. They want people to just submit to their authoritarian practices and to their lawlessness, which I will not make that happen. It will continue my advocacy until Palestine is free.

How do you keep Mahmoud Khalil free, Bahra? Well, just to reassure everyone, this decision taking away jurisdiction from the district court is not, doesn't immediately go into effect. So the order releasing him is still in effect and will be in effect until the appeals process is exhausted. and we have a number of legal options to continue to seek to revise or reverse this split two-to-one decision, which comes over a very persuasive dissent and which is contrary to decisions in other courts of appeals. But ultimately, Judge Young is right. This is an authoritarian action by this government.

He also talked about how Rubio and others have a fear of freedom. Imagine being so cowardly and ashamed of the First Amendment that rather take on the speech that you disagree with, you try and imprison those who dissent from U.S. foreign policy. That's the classic kind of extrajudicial detention or arbitrary detention. That's the hallmark of autocratic regimes. But Behear, this whole issue of Judge Young's decision on the free speech rights of non-citizens, the appeals panel claiming that he lacked subject matter jurisdiction. Could you explain the logic of that?

Yeah. So to be clear, the appeals court in the headquarter in Philadelphia did not take on the illegality of the detention, which basically every court that has reviewed this policy is found unconstitutional. It's cited a technical jurisdictional provision of the immigration laws. to say that the federal court, which is a constitutional court, cannot hear these claims. It has to be put through the immigration process and the immigration courts. But what people need to understand is the immigration courts are not real courts.

They're part of the executive branch. That's why we wanted our constitutional claims to be heard in a real court, a real constitutional court. And, you know, that's where these kind of constitutional claims can be, not in a court that rubber stamps the executive branch's policies. Just going to end this segment with New York City mayors or on Mamdani, posting on social media, quote, last year's arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression. It was an attack on all of our constitutional rights. Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues,

Mahmood is being threatened with re-arrest. Mahmoud is free and must. Remain free, the mayor of New York City said that Zoran Mamdani. Your final response, Mahmoud Khalil, as you sit here in New York City, now a free man. You know, I would say like this is, all these attempts are just to really distract us from what's really happening, which is Israel genocide and Gaza and Israel's action against Palestinians and whole of Palestine. And also to distract from the fact that this administration just two days ago sent $3.3 billion to Israel from our money, from our tax money. And this is why I was protesting and this is why I would continue to protest.

Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, and Bahra Azmi, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Coming up, we speak to the Palestinian-American director and actress Shireen DeBee. Rhythm of Love by Ahmed Ali Arslan. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We turn now to a feature film that looks at seven decades of Palestinian history through the lens of one family's experience over three generations beginning in 1948. The film is all that's left of you,

the Palestinian-American director and actress Shireen Diabas. The film is Jordan's official entry for the international feature Oscar. It's been shortlisted. This is the trailer. We should go home. Why, you scared? No one ever thought any of us in heaven. I'm here to tell you how it started. I am the sea in my depths all treasures dwell. They take your land, your money. Call this a life? Don't be foolish, son.

Get on the ground. Get on the ground. I wanted to protect you. I was afraid for you. As long as dad is here, you don't have to be scared. What use are we as parents if we can't protect our kids? Your humanity is also resistance. Don't forget the power of your humanity.

It's the one thing no one can take away from you. I wanted to explain why we are here, what my family went through. That was the trailer for the film, all that's looked. left of view, appearing in the film as the renowned Palestinian and actor and director Mohamed Bakri, who died in December at the age of 72. Bakri appears in the film alongside his son's Adam and Saleh, who are also actors. This is a clip from the film depicting a loving and playful interaction between a grandfather, Muhammad, and a grandson, played by Sanad Akabretti.

The military invasion of Lebanon, known as Operation Latani and the following massacres. What's the rush? Can't even greet your grandpa? Your sweetheart? Your best friend? Who else do you have? What a crazy family. I smell the scent of a human.

Grandpa. I'm too old for that game. Too old. You? With grandpa, you can never grow up, especially not with this game. Take it back. Take it back. Take it back.

No. Take it back. Okay, okay, I take it back. How was school? Boring. I had a feeling you'd say that. That's why I have a surprise for you. A clip from the film All That's Left of You,

featuring the late great actor Mohamed Bakri, who passed away in December. We're joined now in the studio by the film's director and star, Shireen Davis. It's great to have you with a Shireen. What a powerful film. It's opening in New York in three theaters. It's now there.

doing the Q&As and all these theaters at the Angelica and New Plaza, as well as Kipps Bay, and Los Angeles and San Francisco, and opening all over the country. Tell us the story, this multi-generational narrative that is so critical to understand today. Well, the story follows one Palestinian family and traces really love and loss over three generations from 1948 until almost the present day. And really, it's the story about how history shapes us. It's about how political events shape people and change relationships within family and really change the fates of families. That's really the story.

But I think at its heart, it's really about the extraordinary will that it takes to survive political turmoil and personal loss. And, you know, if you want to probe even deeper, I think it's really about choosing our humanity. you know, looking for meaning in grief and choosing humanity, even in the most difficult of circumstances, which Palestinians have done and do every single day. But, you know, for some reason, the world just never gets to see that. And Shereen, you began shooting this film in the occupied West Bank before October 7, 2023. But then after the Hamas attack and Israel's genocidal launching of a genocidal war on Gaza, you continued to film in the West Bank, even as Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank escalated. Could you talk about the impact on your crew as you

were doing this filming and the war was continuing to expand in Gaza? Well, we actually evacuated shortly after the events of October the 7th. We were based in Ramallah at that time. We had prepped the entire film. We spent months working with a huge crew on the ground in Palestine. I had foreign crew who had arrived in Palestine in early October of 2023. And really within days of October the 7th, things became extremely tense. West Bank cities and towns were being sealed off. Checkpoints were closing. And it was clear that we weren't going to be able to move around. My foreign crew wanted to evacuate. Their families were worried. They were scared. And so by October the 10th, we were forced to evacuate. At that point, we went to Cyprus where we had always

planned to shoot a small part of the film, and we decided to start with that small part and, you know, thinking perhaps we can then return to Palestine. But, you know, the situation continued to escalate and escalate, which forced us to make a decision. You know, we either delay the film and wait to return to Palestine, or we continue making it. And, you know, we go to Jordan. And we decided to continue. We had a lot of momentum, and we didn't want to delay in getting this important story out, knowing everything that was happening. You know, one of the most challenging things, I think, was really making a movie about what was

happening as it was happening. You know, we found ourselves making this film about the ongoing neck bit as we're witnessing an even bigger neck bit. And it was like life and art were merging, and we were suddenly shooting scenes that we were witnessing come out of Gaza. And that took a huge emotional toll on. all of us. It was extremely, you know, challenging and painful. But in many ways, the film became a container for our love, for our compassion, for our grief, and we just poured ourselves into it.

And in that way, the film was really such a gift to be able to create at a time of such devastating destruction. And can you talk about, I mean, this film is released as Muhammad Bakri dies, one of the stars in your film, a man you have worked with his whole family, Salo, we've had on Democracy Now as well, his son who stars in this, Adam, his son, what it meant for this to come out in the aftermath of his death, but also the moral dilemma at the heart of the film. It's a spoiler alert, so I won't say what it is. Well, I mean, you know, I'll say, you know, working with Muhammad was such an honor for me. I had been a huge fan for so long. He's a giant of Palestinian cinema. You know, his five decades spanning career really happened alongside

the creation of Palestinian cinema, the rise of Palestinian cinema. And he's sort of one of the founders of that. And I had been just a long-time admirer, had always wanted to work with him, such a fan of his kids as well. Five out of six of them are actors. And so there's this Palestinian family acting dynasty.

And as I was casting this intergenerational portrait, it was my dream to really cast an actual family in these roles. Working with Muhammad was just amazing. I mean, he's so disciplined, he's so rigorous, he's so committed. He has more integrity than anyone I've ever met. And he just was so there and present. And, you know, the kind of actor who, you know, I would call cut and he would say, no, let's do it again, let's do it again, I can do better, just always really striving to kind of be his best. And you can see that in his work and the immense depth and nuance and humanity and humor that he brings to the film. You know, I'm so happy that he actually got to tap into that

talent of his because, you know, he hadn't gotten to do a lot of, a lot of comedy. He did come to our European premiere where he saw the film for the very first time this summer. And he just was so proud of the film. Well, we're going to continue this conversation when we went folks to go to DemocracyNow.org to see it. Shereen Diabas, Palestinian-American director, producer, screenwriter, actress, her feature film, all that's left of you, has been shortlisted for an Oscar. It's opening around the country. It's in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco now. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez.