Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-02-10 Tuesday

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Headlines for February 10, 2026; Protecting Pedophile Predators: Carole Cadwalladr on Jeffrey Epstein & the Elite’s Veil of Silence; Rep. Joaquin Castro Slams ICE “Prison” Where Children as Young as 2 Months Old Are Held; “I Have Never Felt So Much Fear”: Immigrant Children Speak Out on Life Inside ICE Jail in Dilley, TX

Mark, this is Democracy Now. Have you ever facilitated the sexual abuse of any minor or adult woman by Mr. Epstein? I invoke my Fifth Amendment right to silence. As global fallout continues to grow over the Jeffrey Epstein files, his co-conspirator Galane Maxwell refused to answer questions during a closed-door virtual deposition before the House Oversight Committee. She says if Trump grants her clemency, she will exonerate him. We'll go to London where British Prime Minister Kirstarmer is facing calls to resign for appointing Peter Mendelsohn to be U.S. ambassador, despite his ties to Epstein.

Then to the children of Dili. Hello, my name is Ariana V. I'm 14 years old, and I'm from Honduras. I've been detained for 45 days, and I have never felt so much fear to go. to a place as I feel here. We'll speak to a ProPublica reporter who managed to get inside a Texas detention center to talk with children being held there.

We'll also speak to Democratic Congress member Joaquin Castro, who recently visited Dilley and helped free five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from Dili. There is a two-month-old

baby that's over there. Two-month-old baby that's in there right now. Many children, just like Liam. And so we demand their release. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Narmine Sheikh. The Pentagon said Monday it had blown up another boat in the eastern Pacific, killing two people and leaving one survivor. An 11-second video posted on social media by U.S. Southern Command appears to show three air strikes against a civilian speedboat. Southcom said, without evidence, the boat was engaged in narco trafficking. Since September, the Pentagon says it's conducted 38 strikes, killing at least

130 people it's labeled narco terrorists, without providing evidence or attempting to make arrests. Amnesty International has condemned the strikes as murder and is calling on Congress to hold those responsible for them accountable. Monday's reported attack came as U.S. forces in the Indian Ocean boarded a tanker carrying hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from Venezuela toward China. It's at least the eighth time the U.S. has boarded an oil tanker since the Trump administration moved to control Venezuela's oil supply. In related news, Cuba's government announced Monday it's run out of fuel for commercial aviation, prompting air Canada. to cancel flights to and from the island. The cancellations threaten to further damage Cuba's

economy, which relies heavily on tourism. The fuel shortage comes as the Trump administration has largely shut off energy supplies to Cuba from Venezuela and elsewhere, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other high-level officials seek to overthrow the Cuban government. On Monday, Mexico's government acknowledged it had suspended oil exports to Cuba after leaders came under intense pressure from Trump who threatened new tariffs against any nation that exports fuel to the island. Mexican president Claudia Shanebaum said she was instead sending hundreds of tons of humanitarian goods to Cuba. This sanction being imposed on countries,

that sell oil to Cuba is very unjust. Very unfair. It's not right because sanctions that affect the people are not right. You can agree or disagree with Cuba's government, but the people should never be affected. Israel's security cabinet has approved new measures which would expand Israel's power across the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to seize Palestinian land illegally. On Monday, eight Muslim-majority countries denounced Israel for imposed Israel for imposed. quote, unlawful Israeli sovereignty over the occupied West Bank. A White House official told Reuters that President Trump was opposed to Israel annexing the West Bank,

saying, quote, a stable West Bank keeps Israel secure and is in line with this administration's goal to achieve peace in the region. President Trump is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House Wednesday. This is a Palestinian resident of Hebron reacting to Israel's latest annexation plan. As Palestinians before October 7th, we suffered from successive Israeli governments. But this right-wing government, led by Netanyahu and the far-right minister Smotrich, has intensified actions on the ground, displacement, destruction of land, land confiscation, killing, and vandalism. This government is a fascist government and wants to control all areas of the West Bank. Israeli attacks across Gaza have killed at least seven Palestinians over the past 24 hours.

Four of the deaths came as Israeli forces bombed a residential building, sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, an attack that sparked panic and left several others wounded. Israel has killed 581 Palestinians since a U.S. brokered ceasefire was supposed to have taken effect last October. Meanwhile, an investigation by Al Jazeera Arabic has, found that thermal and thermobaric munitions supplied to Israel by the U.S. have evaporated nearly 3,000 Palestinians in attack since October 2023, leaving behind no remains other than bloodspray or small fragments of flesh.

In Sydney, Australia, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Monday to protest a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog and calling for an end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories. is, as most people are saying, a war criminal. He has inside a genocide. He said there's no innocence in Gaza, including babies and children. And I just don't think someone like that should come here. Sydney police were widely accused of using excessive force

after videos showed they fired pepper spray at peaceful protesters, punched demonstrators, including an elderly man, and forcibly removed Muslims who were praying in the street. Dozens of people were pepper sprayed and 27 were arrested. Gilane Maxwell, the convicted associate of the late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, repeatedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer lawmakers' questions in a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee on Monday. After the hearing, Democratic Congress member Melanie Stansbury said Maxwell used the opportunity to make her case for clemency. Her silence can be bought through clemency. It is very clear that that is the message that she is trying to, descend directly to Donald Trump himself, directly.

This comes as several lawmakers are criticizing the Justice Department, claiming that the Epstein files still contain major redactions. This is Congressmember Roel Kana and Congress Member Thomas Massey speaking to reporters Monday. I mean, what we're after is the men who Jeffrey Epstein trafficked women to. We want those names published. Our bigger concern is that there's still a lot that's redacted, even in what we're seeing. We're seeing redacted versions. I thought we were supposed to see the unredacted versions. And that's because the documents produced to justice from the FBI, from the grand jury, was redacted when they got it.

The UN's International Organization for Migration says 53 people are dead or missing, including two babies after an inflatable boat carrying migrants sank off the coast of Libya. The UN agency said, quote, trafficking and smuggling networks continue to exploit migrants along the Central Mediterranean route. So far in 2026, 484 migrants have been reported dead or missing along the route. Here in the U.S., a federal judge has struck down a new California law banning federal immigration agents from wearing masks. U.S. district judge Christina Snyder and Los Angeles ruled Monday that the law discriminates against federal officers since it doesn't make the same requirements of state and local police. She suggested the ban would be lawful if it applied to all officers and ruled in favor of a separate California law that

requires all law enforcement agents to display their IDs. The family of Leca Cordia, a 33-year-old Palestinian woman, are demanding answers after she was hospitalized from a reported seizure while being held in an ice jail in North Texas. Cordia had participated in the Gaza solidarity protests at Columbia University and was arrested by ICE agents last year for staying in the US on a lap student visa. Her family and lawyers have received limited information about her condition. Texas state representative Salman Pujani said, quote, she's not been getting proper nutrition, it seems, and not getting proper sleep. He also mentioned it took nearly 20, hours for Cordia's legal team to confirm she was in the hospital.

There have been multiple court orders allowing Cordia to be released on bond, but the Department of Hopeland Security has repeatedly blocked her release. An immigration judge has rejected the Trump administration's efforts to deport Tufts University student Ramesa Uzturk after she was arrested last year by masked immigration agents outside her apartment. According to her lawyers, she was arrested as part of the Trump administration, crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists. Authorities had revoked her student visa for an editorial she co-authored in tough student newspaper, criticizing the university's response to Israel's war on Gaza.

In a statement, Ozturk said, quote, today I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system's flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government. In climate news, the Wall Street Journal reports the Trump administration is planning this week to formally end the Obama-era scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions end danger public health. The finding is the basis of a 2009 rule that allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to set limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, power plants, and other sources. It's likely Trump's efforts to roll back the finding will face years of years. legal challenges, but its repeal will immediately eliminate climate standards for passenger

cars and commercial trucks. Here in New York, more than 10,000 nurses who've been on strike since January 12th have reached tentative deals on new contracts with hospitals run by Mount Sinai and Mount Fjure. The New York State Nurses Association is recommending members ratify the agreements, which includes salary increases of 12% over three years, improvements to staffing levels, improved workplace safety, and guardrails on the use of artificial intelligence. About 5,000 nurses remain on strike at New York-Pest Presbyterian hospitals while negotiations continue.

And in California, public schools are closed across San Francisco for a second straight day after some 6,000 educators walked off the job Monday. It's San Francisco's first teacher strike in nearly half a century. The United Educators of San Francisco Union is demanding fully funded family health care for workers, improvements to special education, and salary increases that do not come at the cost of concessions or takeaways from schools. This is Megan Adams, president of Smart Union Local 1741, representing bus drivers. We all live paycheck to paycheck. this is something that I know is a sacrifice for all of us, but it's like, you know what,

we all know that the district has the money. This is something that's been proven time and time again. They need to come to the table and they need to make a deal and get it. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Nermaine Sheff in New York, joined by Amy Goodman in Los Angeles. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers around the country and around the world. lawmakers on Capitol Hill are accusing the Justice Department of covering up the names of co-conspirators of the deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as fallout from the Epstein files grows across the globe.

Last week, the Department of Justice released over three million pages of files, but many contained major redactions. Millions of more pages remain unreleased. On Monday, lawmakers were granted access to unredacted versions of the documents. Democratic Congress member Jamie Raskin spoke out after seeing some of the files. You know, I saw the names of lots of people who were redacted for mysterious or baffling or inscrutable reasons. The co-authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Republican Thomas Massey and Democrat Rokaneh, held a news conference after viewing some of the files. Our bigger concern is that there's still a lot that's redacted,

even in what we're seeing. We're seeing redacted versions. I thought we were supposed to see the unredacted versions, and that's because the documents produced to justice from the FBI, from the grand jury, was redacted when they got it. So we kept doing the searches for the unredacted information, and it's the identical redactions. that they have. Now, I don't think that's nefarious on the career attorneys that we're reviewing it,

but they obviously haven't gotten the production because our law says that the FBI and the original grand jury needs to be unredacted. I mean, what we're after is the men who Jeffrey Epstein trafficked women to. We want those names published. We're not out to embarrass people. And the problem is we went in their hope. to see that in 302 forms. What we found out is those 302 forms were redacted before they got to the DOJ. In related news, Epstein's co-conspirator, Gulenne Maxwell, who's serving a 20-year sentence, refused to answer lawmakers' questions in a closed-door virtual deposition before the House Oversight Committee Monday. Have you ever facilitated the sexual abuse of

of any minor or adult woman by Mr. Epstein. I invoke my Fifth Amendment right to silence. Have you ever participated in the sexual abuse of any minor or adult woman? I invoke my Fifth Amendment right to silence. During the hearing, Maxwell's attorney, David Marcus, said Maxwell would speak fully and honestly, if granted clemency by President Trump. If this committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path. Ms. Maxwell is prepared to speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump.

Only she can provide a complete account, and some may not like what they hear, but the truth matters. For example, both President Trump and President Clinton are innocent of any wrongdoing. Ms. Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to hear that explanation. This all comes as the release of the Epstein files threatens to bring down the British Prime Minister, Kier Starrmer, over his decision to appoint Lord Peter Mandelson as U.S. ambassador, despite Mandelson's close ties to Epstein. We go now to Britain, where we're joined by Carol Cadwallader. She is award-winning investigative journalist whose substack is How to Survive the Broligarchy. She gained international recognition for her expose on the Facebook Cambridge Analytica data scandal in 2018.

Her most recent piece is headlines, We All Live in Jeffrey Epstein's World. She's also the co-founder of an independent news outlet called The Nerve, launched with five former Guardian journalists. Carol, welcome back to Democracy Now. I want to first get your response to Guillain Maxwell, the co-conspirator of Epstein, who you call in your piece a monstrosity, invoking the Fifth Amendment so she wouldn't incriminate herself, but saying if Trump granted her clemency in exchange, she would exonerate him. Can you respond to all of this latest news? Thanks, Amy. It's so good to be back with you. I mean, I guess what we see with Gillain, which is naked transactionalism, the offer of a quid pro quo arrangement with Trump, which is what this was. That is a pattern of behaviour which we see all through the email correspondence of Gillane, of Geoffrey Epstein, of what's been laid out bare. So I don't think that should come as any surprise or shock to people. You know, we know that there is a global trade in favours between a billionaire class,

between people who are officials of hostile nations, between politicians, between people in Silicon Valley, in Washington, in Westminster, in Israel, across the Middle East. I mean, that's what these documents have laid bare is this exchange of favours. So that doesn't come as any shock. I, you know, it's really good to hear that there are these efforts being made in Washington to unredact the documents. It's really shocking. I mean, it's in one of the most sort of disgusting features, I think, of this data dump is that we can see that these young women have had their names exposed.

And yet these men who are clearly involved are being shielded. obviously there's a big question about why. And I suppose my final point of what these headlines show is that it is absolutely extraordinary that we are seeing this heat and pressure on the British Prime Minister, who was not an accomplice of Geoffrey Epstein, who is not in the files. And yet there is this movement for his resignation. And I think if we get to a situation in which the British Prime Minister is forced out of office, and there is across the Atlantic zero pressure, zero consequences for Donald Trump,

who, you know, thousands of mentions in the files and a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein for years, I find that just, I mean, it's a sort of moral obscenity, I would say. Yeah, so, Carol, there was an associated press report over the weekend. which was headlined, Epstein revelations have toppled top fingers in Europe, while U.S. fallout is more muted. They point out that a prince, an ambassador, senior diplomats, top politicians, all brought down by the Jeffrey Epstein files and all in Europe rather than the United States. I mean, if you could talk about why you think that's the case,

you've also expressed concerns about the fact that your senses that this story, the Epstein story has not been sufficiently covered in the US media. You know, I've been really puzzling over this now for a week. And I've been talking to people and trying to sense check what an earth is going on. And the only conclusion I can come to is that, and this is extraordinary, because the British press, we have so many structural issues with it. However, I think what we're seeing in this moment is that we in Europe are still living in some source of functioning democracy. We are actually still living in societies where we have some norms.

And actually what we are understanding here is that this is a disgrace beyond disgrace, that paedophilia actually is too far. and that we are having some sort of semblance of accountability in public life. And I think the most extraordinary and worrying thing of what is going on in the United States is the scale of normalisation that is happening in which the press is absolutely a structural part of this. I have been shocked, deeply, deeply shocked by the absence of headlines, by the absence of sense-making across the US media that contextualizes what is in these documents that helps people to process them and to understand them.

And I think, you know, there is a sort of self-surrendering self-censorship which is going on in the United States right now. And that I find really deeply worrying. You know, I don't think people realize just to amplify what Nermine just said about who has gone down around Europe. You have Mona Chul, if that's how you pronounce her name, J-U-U-L, the Norwegian ambassador to Jordan, who just resigned after reports surfaced Epstein had left $10 million in his will to her children and her husband, Brad Karp, here in the U.S., chair of the prestigious law firm, Paul Weiss,

Rifkin Wharton, and Garrison, after emails revealed, close personal business communications with Epstein, including helping with the job request and socializing. Peter Mandelson not only had to step down from the House of Lords, the British politician, resigned from the Labor Party following the release of the file showing you received $75,000 from Epstein. Of course, this is what could bring down the prime minister, Kier Starrmer, because of his close relationship to Mandelson. The former Slovak foreign minister and national security advisor to the Slovakian Prime Minister just resigned after emails showed him discussing meeting with young women with Epstein in 2018. Joanna Rubinstein, president of Swedish UNHCR, just resigned after it was revealed she visited Epstein's private island.

David Ross, former department chair at School of Visual Arts in New York, just resigned after emails revealed a longtime supportive friendship. with him. Larry Summers, of course, forced out of Harvard, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary announced he's stepping back from his public commitments, including leaving the Open AI Board. And Morgan McSweeney, Chief of Staff, to the UK Prime Minister, Kier Starmor, and Tim Allen, director of communications for the British Prime Minister, Keir Starrmer, just to name a few. And as you said, Carol, in the United States, we don't see anything like this, except for the promise of exoneration if Trump grants clemency to Ghislane Maxwell, who refused to testify. So if you could also talk about the whole issue you have raised of the connection between child pornography,

the whole issue of, you know, what's going on on the Internet, you're so famous for exposing Cambridge Analytica. and the pedophilia network, the sex trafficking network that Epstein was at the core of that, as in mesh, so many, though brought almost no one down in the United States. Yeah, so there's so much going on. There is so much going on in this story. And this is why, you know, I wrote this piece because I had such problems trying to process what this story is about. because I come at this with a really specific journalistic interests and specialisms. You know, I've spent a decade now looking at Silicon Valley companies, looking at the men who lead them, looking about around their relationship with power, looking at how they have been utterly, they've had total impunity in terms of regulation and accountability. I've also looked really closely at Russia's influence,

across the West, its deliberate strategies to interfere in our politics and elections. I also, Israeli defence and intelligence firms have also been part of this beat, as has Steve Bannon and the far right across Europe. This is all being part of the stories that I've been reporting on for the last decade. And what the files show in absolute clarity in black and white is that those worlds are all connected. And the thing which blew my mind is that they're connected through Geoffrey Epstein.

He is a through line. It's not to say there aren't others, but this is what was the sort of stunning thing for me. And in some ways you can look at him and he's almost like a one man sort of intelligence service, I would say. So that is all revealed. And it's revealed there in detail and complexity.

And as a journalist, I just wanted to get to, like, laying down that evidence. It was like there was sort of scoop after scoop in the emails, which are in those files. But at the same time, I think I found, I had, like I think a lot of people, particularly a lot of women, a sort of emotional reaction, I think, to what is also in these files. Because what it reveals is that there is a billionaire, class across the world who are in close communication, who have connections to this criminal network, who also have connections through to these hostile state governments. And there is literally this sort of playground almost in which there is these hidden

communication, which has now been made visible. And I think the sense of impunity that's sort of just the thing for me which really came out of it. And that mirrors what we are seeing in the world right now in these rising authoritarian times in which strong men rule. And there is this collapse of the rules-based order. And that is what I think that this sort of Jeffrey Epstein almost personifies. We see that through him. and that there is going to be no accountability even for exposed paedophiles and his network. And I think that is a line in the sand.

And what we are seeing is that these women are not getting justice. They're getting the opposite of justice. Their predators, the offenders, the men who are complicit in this, are being aided and abetted in keeping their ideas. identities revealed. And I think that sense that they're not going to get justice as the victims of Israel are not going to get justice, as the victims of Russian aggression are not getting justice. And I think that realization that this is the world that we are living in now, that was one of the profound things which affected me from my week of dealing with this material. And I think the other

thing which it really made me think about is actually how so much of our society, there is a pedophiliac, sorry, there is a pedophiliac. I'm so sorry, I can't pronounce it. There is this pedophiliac element which crosses hidden. It's submerged, but it is part of our society. And that is some of these people who are in the files, these Silicon Valley Tech Bros, it's their companies which are facilitating that in so many ways. A quarter of the traffic across the internet. You know, a quarter of all searches are for porn. The most popular, numerous search terms are for teens for barely legal content. We don't see that.

It's not on the open web that we see, but it is, of course, absolutely there. And I think we have this understandable reluctance and resistance to recognize this current in our culture. And for me, Epstein should be the reckoning where we are looking at this, where we're forced to look at this. And instead, we see this veil of silence. And I think that's really profoundly disturbing. And I think that the US press is not stepping up to the moment. It's not serving its readers and its viewers. And I think that has huge consequences.

I mean, Carol, that's an extraordinary and perhaps not very well-known statistic that you just cited, namely that as you write in your piece, most tech platforms derive a huge percentage of their profits from sexual interest in children. Porn represents 25% of all internet searches. And according to Porn Hub, Teen is the most search for term. So if you can talk about that, how is it that tech platforms make a profit from the searches of sexual interest in children?

And whether you think this Epstein scandal will do anything to change the public discourse about the sexual abuse of teens, including what regulations may be put in place on these tech platforms that enable this? I mean, I think sexual interest in teens and access to that material is grown exponentially because of the internet. There is, you know, we know that. There's the amount of sexual content increases every single day. But it's more than that because what we know is that recommends algorithms and systems

connect people to this, to this material. So what might have been a fleeting interest becomes up, you know, next up in people's feeds. We know that AI's large language models are being fed on this content across the internet. That is being baked into the future. We know because it was being reported from internal documents in Instagram, from Instagram that its recommender system actually connects paedophiles to teenagers. So we, we, there is a, but we, as I say, we, we sort of draw this veil of respectability over it. We sort of, we don't like to think about it. It's not there in the Google searches that is kind of, you know,

it's not coming up necessarily. I mean, what I found one of the most helpful things about Twitter under Elon Musk is that he has made this stuff visible. There is sort of disgusting content out there. And that's why people, you know, left that platform. But that's, again, it's not an engagement. And to go to the like, oh, is there going to be a reckoning? There is not going to be a reckoning in a reckoning.

a culture and a society, which is now America, in which there is a cowardice, I think you have to say that about the way that this story is being treated in America. There is just not this seriousness being brought to it. And that, I think, is both in the geopolitical consequences of what these documents show. We can see these very, very clear connections between, for example, Russian state, officials and Silicon Valley. That is there now and Epstein is a conduit in that. So we're not seeing the geopolitical consequences. But also, you know, I've just been, you know,

I've been really thinking about it. There has been some excellent journalism as ever by journalists and journalistic teams. And I'm sure that they will be doing more. There will be deep dives. And I'm really glad and pleased for that. But I look at the front page. of the New York Times today.

I look at the front page of the Washington Post today. And there is nothing that spells this story out and its importance. And I feel that is a sort of, it's a lack of an understanding. It feels to me of what journalism and news media should be about in an element of moral leadership in very, very troubled times. And, you know, in the middle of this story last week, we saw this absolutely devastating and disgusting, frankly, sacking of 300 journalists at the Washington Post. And as much as that, you know, it's another devastating blow against the press in the US.

And for that to happen, I felt in the middle of this particular news cycle is, you know, it's devastating in itself. also a symbol of what is happening. And I, you know, I say this as a foreigner sitting in London. And I know it's very different for people, for US citizens inside the country. But what is happening to your country is so alarming. But yet it is being normalized by its treatments in the, across the media. And I think that, you know, it's why independent outlets like yourself. And, you know, as we can see across the ecosystem, these new insurgent outlets, of which the thing that I've set up in the UK, the nerve is part of, are increasingly important because we're not massive corporate entities

with massive corporate interests who can, I think, be sat on or intimidated by power in the same way. And so, yeah, I find it extraordinary that the press is so cowed in this moment. Thank you so much, Carol. Carol Cadwalader, award-winning investigative journalist whose substack is how to survive the brolicarchy. She gained international recognition for her expose on the Facebook Cambridge Analytica data scandal in 2018.

Her most recent pieces headlined, We all live in Jeffrey Epstein world. She's also the co-founder of an independent news outlet called The Nerve, launched with five other former Guardian journalists. Coming up, we'll speak to Democratic Congress member Joaquin Castro and a ProPublica reporter who managed to get inside a detention center in Dilley, Texas to talk with children being held there.

We'll be back in a minute. Stay with us. Said you're going to shoot me down, put my body in the river. Shoot me down, put my body in the river. And the whole world sings. Sing it like a song. The whole world sings like there's nothing. going wrong. He shot her down.

He put her body in the river. He covered her up, but I went to get her and I said, my girl, what happened to you now? I said, my girl, we've got to stop it somehow. Body Electric by Linda Segera of Hooray for the Riffraff, performing in our Democracy Now studio on Monday, February 23rd. Hooray for the riffraff will be performing as part of Democracy Now's 30th anniversary celebration at the historic Riverside Church in New York.

Other guests will include Angela Davis, Naomi Klein, the Nobel Prize winning journalist Maria Ressa, Michael Stipe, the jazz legend, Winton, Marsalis, and more. See DemocracyNow.org for information. and tickets. The tickets are going fast. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Nermine Sheikh with Amy Goodman. Democrats have reportedly begun tentative negotiations with the White House just days before funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to expire on Saturday, threatening with another partial government shutdown. Democrat lawmakers are calling for reforms on federal immigration enforcement. as part of a deal to negotiate more funding for DHS.

Among their demands are requiring federal immigration agents have judicial warrants when carrying out raids and end to racial profiling and new guidelines for use of force. Though many progressives have argued this falls short, demanding agencies like ICE be dismantled or abolished. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement late Monday,

Republicans shared an outline of counter proposals that, quote, included neither details nor legislative text. The initial GOP response is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE's lawless conduct. The negotiations came in the wake of the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Preti, killed just weeks apart in January by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Last week, President Trump signed the consolidated, funding bill hours after it passed the House, ending a partial government shutdown.

The legislation included only a two-week extension of funding for DHS. This all comes as the heads of ICE, Todd Lyons, Customs and Border Protection, Rodney Scott, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Joseph Edlo, are set to testify before the House Homeland Security Committee today. For more, we go to Washington, D.C., where we're joined by Congressmember Joaquin Castro, Democratic representative from Texas, whose district includes San Antonio. Congress member Castro recently visited ICE South Texas jail in Dilley, where he met with five-year-old Liam Ramos and his dad, Adrian Heath, helped free Liam and his father from

Dilley, escorting them back home to Minneapolis. Congress member Castro, welcome back to Democracy Now. If you can talk about your experiences in Dilley, the number of children, it's shocking and hearing, families yelling, Libertad, liberty from the jail, and how that relates to the upcoming vote. I mean, the Department of Homeland Security will, what, run out of, not run out of funds because they have an enormous amount of funds, but you have to vote on whether or not to continue their budget. Well, I was in Dilley in late January and then back again to help release Liam Ramos and his dad. And the best way I would describe the Dilley facility is that it's a kind of trailer prison.

There are 1,100 people there. None of them have committed any crime because you're not sent to Dilley if you've committed a crime. and they're in 12-person rooms, multiple families, up to 12 people in a single room. There's cameras everywhere, their movements are controlled. It's like prison where when you come in, you leave your belongings, they're inventoried. When you walk out, as when I walked out with Liam, they give you all your stuff back. And what I saw with Liam was what I saw with a lot of the kids. They've been traumatized by the experience.

He wasn't eating very well. He was sleeping a lot. He was despondent, missing home, missing his mom. That's the case not only for him, but for a lot of the kids that are there. And I think the most shocking thing to me going through there was when I asked one of the folks who worked there what the youngest person there was. And he told me eventually that it was a two-month-old baby who was in basically that trailer prison. And so, you know, we asked people also, we were trying to get a sense for, well, how do these people end up here? We asked them how many were seeking asylum, how many had court cases, how many had used a CBP1 app, which was supposed to be an orderly and efficient way to apply for asylum and then come into the United States rather than rushing the border. And there were a big chunk of people who had used that app, for example. And so you have a lot of people who did things the right way and now are shell-shocked to find themselves in a trailer prison in rural Texas and on the verge of being deported, even though they followed the government's advice for how they should apply for asylum

and come into the United States. Congress member Castro, if you could talk about, first of all, how Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been collaborating with Trump in these efforts, and you've called, in fact, for ICE to be disbanded and have also joined demands for a Homeland Security Secretary, Christy Noem, to be impeached. So if you could talk about that. There really is no separation at this point between Governor Abbott in Texas and Donald Trump and the federal ICE.

The reason I say that is because for the first time in Texas's history, Greg Abbott has embedded, has deployed the Texas National Guard into detention centers, including into Dilley where kids are imprisoned. And so he's having the Texas National Guard do back office functions related to deportation. So what that is done is freed up more ICE officers to go into the streets of Minneapolis, to go to Chicago, to go to Los Angeles, to go even into San Antonio, where ICE agents just a few days ago basically barged into a home without presenting any warrant at all and without explaining what they were there for.

And so Governor Abbott is a supporter of this. He's enabled it, and he should be asked about that. And with respect to the budget, I guess folks have to understand that in the quote-unquote big, beautiful bill not too long ago, the Department of Homeland Security got $150 billion extra dollars above and beyond their annual budget. ICE by itself got $75 billion, extra money. So nobody wants a government shutdown, even for a single agency, because if there was a shutdown, it would only be the Department of Homeland Security. But money is not an issue for them. They've got plenty of money well beyond their annual budget. So I hope that Republicans will agree to what I would consider, and I think most Americans consider basic safeguards that help protect constitutional rights and human rights of Americans.

But right now, Republicans, the only thing that they're willing to do is to follow. Donald Trump, and they're stubbornly refusing at this point to do anything else. Congressmember Castro, there are also Democrats who join with the Republicans. So what do you say to your fellow Democrats? And also, as we talk about Liam Ramos and his family, you've said the Trump administration's filed for the expedited deportation of Liam and his family. People might have thought this family, you know, the situation is done. They're together again in Minneapolis. DHS said on Friday, it's seeking a deportation order for Liam. They have a pending asylum case. If you can address both, Democrats in Congress and then the family. Well, to my

Democratic colleagues, I would ask folks to consider first visiting these detention centers, which are actually prisons. I went to another one in Pearsall, Texas, called the South Texas Ice Processing Center, which is adults only. But if you go in there, it is a prison prison. And again, the vast majority of people have committed no crime at all and are yet are sitting in this prison. But most of all, I would ask them to consider what's going out on in the streets, talk to the families that have been affected, the individuals that have been affected by really what has been a lawlessness by ICE, going into homes with no warrant, going into businesses with no warrant, roughing people up in the streets, obviously killing two Americans. And I think,

we can't act like it's business as usual and continue funding them with their annual budget when they're operating beyond the law. With respect to Liam's case, you know, Donald Trump has this obsession or this grudge against certain things. In Georgia, for example, he continues to look for the ballots that he believes cost him the election in 2020. In the case of Kilmer Obrigo-Garcia, he keeps trying to deport this man again, even though Gilmer is back in the United States and hasn't committed, you know, any other violations.

And it looks to be the same thing with Liam Ramos, is even though you've got a five-year-old kid who's already been deeply traumatized by this experience of imprisonment, he's going after him again and picking on him in the same way that he bullies other people. And unfortunately, that's what we're seeing now. I'm glad that the judge a few days ago granted a continuance to the family to make their asylum claim. I hope that ultimately they'll be able to stay in the United States. And before we go, Congressmember Castro,

we wanted to get your response to the latest news about Jeffrey Epstein, the late convicted sex offender. If you could respond to the latest news, Gislane Maxwell pleading the fifth during House Oversight Committee hearings yesterday, and where you think this is going to go? Well, I saw the news yesterday that Jislane Maxwell pleaded the fifth, and the Fifth Amendment is an important constitutional right. At the same time, the evidence seems to be overwhelming that she and so many others, elite members of society from government, business, academia, and other industries were essentially

operating beyond the law and abusing young children. And I don't mean to be glibed by this reference, But movies at this point is the only way that I can describe what we're reading and seeing. This really seems to be some kind of cross between eyes wide shut and the movie hostile. The reason I say that is because there are references to torture to the mass purchase of sulfuric acid. You know, it's clear that there was what appears to me some kind of evil club of people who were invited to participate in this ugly debauchery. and ultimately I will say this. I hope that it happens now. I'm glad that there are three million documents that have been released.

Everything should be released, except for the victim's names. I believe that all the other names of people involved should be released, should be unredacted, whether they're Republican or Democrat, whatever their income or their station in life, if they did something wrong based on what we see in those files, they should be held accountable. So whether it's now or when Democrats take over the House, I believe next January, there has to be a rigorous and serious effort to hold people accountable for their actions. Subpoenas, bringing people in, making sure that folks are held accountable for what they did. Representative Joaquin Castro, thank you so much for joining us, Democratic Congress member from Texas.

When we come back, we look at ProPublica's new investigation. the children of Dilley, and hear the voices of two children being held there. Back in 30 seconds. Oh, and tell me what's a man with a rifle in his hand going to do for a world that's so sick and sad. And tell me what's a man with a rifle in his hand going to do for a world that's all gone mad. He's going to shoot. me down, put my body in the river, and cover me up with the leaves of September like an old sad song. You heard it all before.

Well, Delia's gone, but I'm settling the school. That's Body Electric by Alinda Segarra of Hurray for the Riffra performing in our Democracy Now studio. And again, to see them and Michael Stipe and Marsalis and Angela Davis and, Naomi Klein at the 30th anniversary event celebrating Democracy Now on February 23rd. Go to DemocracyNow.comaciness.org. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Nermines Sheikh with Amy Goodman. The Children of Dilley, that's the title of a new ProPublica investigation into the South Texas Family Residential Center, a sprawling ice detention complex in the town of Dili, a few dozen miles from the southern border with Mexico. It's run by the

private prison company Core Civic. Dilley was first opened by the Obama administration in 2014. In a moment, we'll be joined by a ProPublica investigative reporter who went inside Dili. But first, we turn to the voices of two children held inside. This is a nine-year-old girl from Venezuela, Suzec Fernandez, speaking to ProPublica describing what life is like for her at Dilley, where she's been held for over 50 days. Honestly, honestly, I don't feel good because there's always, always an officer around, like bothering me. I can't go anywhere, and if I need to go to the bathroom, they won't let me because I have to go with my mom. So it's annoying, and I just have to stay in my room.

And this is 14-year-old Ariana Velasquez, reading a letter she wrote while detained at Dilley. She's a high school student from Honduras who's lived in the United States with her mom for seven years. Hello, my name is Ariana V. I'm 14 years old and I'm from Honduras. I've been detained for 45 days and I have never felt so much fear to go to a place as I feel here. Every time I remind myself that once I go back to Honduras, a lot of dangerous things could happen to my mom and I. My younger siblings haven't been able to see their mom in more than a month. They're very young and you need both of your parents when you're growing up. Since I got to the center, all you will feel is sadness and mostly depression.

Those were the words of Ariana Velazquez, a 14-year-old girl from Honduras. detained at Dilley. We're joined now by ProPublica investigative reporter Micah Rosenberg. Welcome to Democracy Now. Micah, tell us more about Ariana's story and the children detained at Dilley, whom you spoke to. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. And I think one of the main takeaways here is that children who are at this center, in the past, the center had mainly been used to hold families who were recently crossing the border. Many who have since the Obama administration, it's been open and families were coming there in the hopes of coming into the United States for the first time. But now there's been a real shift because border crossings

have dropped to record lows. And many of the children who are now being sent there are being arrested by ICE around the country. And some of them like Ariana have been living here. years. You know, they speak perfect English, as you heard. They were detained sometimes in the middle of their school years. And in some cases, they're now entrenched American lives. In the case of Adiana, she has two younger U.S. citizen brothers and brother and sister, a kindergartner, and a toddler, who were not sent to the detention center. So she was, she and her mother were separated from them. Can you talk, Micah, about core civic? running Dilley and talk about who is profiting financially from the locking up of children?

Well, the operator of this facility is CoreC Civic, as you mentioned. It's a private prison firm that has operated ICE detention centers for many, many years. The other major private prison firm is Geo Group, and there's also other firms that run ICE detention centers. And so These are sort of long-standing companies that have worked in coordination with ICE. They say that they're subject to a number of audits and oversight that they take health and safety as a top priority. But now there's, you know, because of the huge amount of money that's being injected into ICE and especially into detention, these companies are set to earn more money as they expand. And there's other companies that are interested in sort of getting in the detention game. We've written about tent companies to build tent camps.

They're also talking about taking over warehouses and converting those into detention facilities. And so there's a lot of companies that are sort of waiting in the wings to make more money. Well, Micah, you've written another piece titled Investigative Peace. I sent 600 immigrant kids to detention. in federal shelters this year. It's a new record. Are you referring to 2026? And if so, if you could elaborate on that, we just have a minute.

Yes, that was a separate piece that we wrote last year. And this is sort of a separate thing that's happening where, in addition to this family detention center where parents and children are held together, there's federal shelters where kids who are unaccompanied are housed. And so what we found is that ICE arrests inside the United States, in some of the federal shelters, cases are separating children from their parents and those kids are being sent alone to this network of shelters where before also only housed, usually only housed border crossers, are now housing kids who have lived in the United States for many years.

Micah Rosenberg, thank you so much for joining us, investigative reporter at ProPublica. We'll link to your new piece, The Children of Dilley. And again, on Monday, February 23rd, Democracy Now will be celebrating our third. 30th anniversary at Riverside Church in New York. Guests include Angela Davis, Naomi Klein, Maria Ressa, Michael Steipp, Winton-Marceles, Mosab Abu Toh Tohah, V. Hooray for the riffraff and more. See DemocracyNow.org for more information.

We look forward to seeing you all there. I'm Nirmin Sheikh in New York with Amy Goodman in Los Angeles. Thanks so much for joining us.